Grammar & Language Awareness

              Grammar is an extremely important part of learning a L2.  Brown chapter 22 talks about how there are three dimensions of language that are all interconnected.  These three parts of language are grammar, semantics, and pragmatics.  Not one of these dimensions is sufficient on its own.  It’s important to be careful not to overwhelm students with linguistic terminology, but to embed it in meaningful, communicative contexts.  There is debate as to whether or not grammar teaching should even be an isolated class.  There are ways to teach grammar that are more meaningful to students.  Learners need to have the opportunity to use the language in communicative tasks.  It’s important to focus on forms that are problematic for specific learners.  Explicit grammar teaching is more effective for more advanced levels.  What does appropriate grammar teaching look like for beginning levels?  Do beginners need more than recasting, incidental focus on form, and corrective feedback? 

            Kumar chapters 7 and 8 talk about language awareness and activating intuitive heuristics.  Language awareness is a crucial part of language and content education.  The English language has so many rules and exceptions that it can be difficult to use correctly.  It’s helpful to have an awareness of why the language is formed the way that it is in order to understand it and use it correctly.  A person’s intuitive judgment can also help them learn the structures of the L2.  We have a natural tendency to know when something is wrong, even if we don’t know how to fix it.  In order to help learners with their discovery of themselves and their new language, it is beneficial to show them that structures are characterized by form, meaning, and use.