The Role and Goals of Grammar Teaching

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International Journal on Integrated Education

p-ISSN : 26153785
The Role and Goals of Grammar Teaching
Kurbanov Ya.
Karakalpak State University, Uzbekistan
Abstract: This article deals with the role and purpose in teaching grammar, discusses in detail
the grammar-translation method, provides the opinion of well-known grammarians.
Keywords: didactic, active, native speaker, consciousness, meaning, regularity of language,
lexical units, structure, speech utterances, create, study, end in itself, system of rules.
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Grammar is the object of constant disputes in the methodology. There are different approaches to
solving the question of the role and place of grammar in the study of foreign languages.
With the grammar-translation method, grammar was the starting point and the goal of learning.
"Free art" - "grammatica" (lat.) – was considered one of the components of any education and
aimed to teach proficiency in a foreign language, to provide information on philology, including
when reading a text, to exercise mental gymnastics. Teaching of any language was carried out
through grammar, as a rule, built on the model and likeness of Latin. Grammar was studied as a
special subject and an end in itself.
Currently, there is a more objective approach to assessing the meaning and places of grammar in
teaching foreign languages: now it is not a goal, but one of the important means of teaching
foreign languages. Nevertheless, students most of all do not like to study grammar in foreign
language lessons.
How should grammar be taught at school? German linguist G. Helbig names three types of
grammar A, B, C [5,150-155].
Example 1. Die Deutsche grammftik kommt mir komplizierter vor, als die Englische. – German
grammar seems to me more difficult than English. – This is an example of grammar A. Here we
mean a system of language rules that exists in the language practice of its speakers, regardless of
its description in linguistics.
Example 2. Ich habe mir die neue Duden – Grammatik gekauft. – I bought myself a new Duden
grammar. – This is grammar B, in which a linguistic description of the system of rules of a
particular language is given. At the same time, we mean models of language construction, many
of which are presented in school textbooks. G. Helbing divides this grammar into B1 – linguistic,
and B2 – didactic grammar.
Example 3. Seine Intonation ist gut, aber seine Grammatik ist fehlerhaft. – He has a good
intonation, but he makes a lot of grammatical mistakes. – This is grammar With, - "Grammatik
im Kopf" - Grammar in the head. Let's imagine what has been said schematically.
As we can see, grammar B2 (didactic) should be studied at school, which, thanks to the methods
and methods of teaching used, can and should become grammar S. A. A. Leontiev calls this
grammar active, describing the functioning of linguistic means in speech grouped by meaning.
We are talking about universal meaningful categories, typical meanings that are embedded in the
consciousness of every speaker, regardless of what language he is a native speaker of. A person
talking about a phenomenon, fact, reality, there is a need to ask about the cause, place, conditions
or goals of the action, etc. To express these meanings in each language there is a certain set of
linguistic means and rules. Objectively, there is such a situation that a person always speaks
according to the rules, i.e. in accordance with certain laws of language that are objectified in the
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rules. Speakers are not always aware of these rules: literate and illiterate alike speak according to
the rules, although with different degrees of literacy. Is it possible to accurately convey a thought
using a set of lexical units? No, you can't! Lexical units only name an object or phenomenon.
The relations between them are reflected in grammatical meanings (L. V. Shcherba: "Vocabulary
is a fool, grammar is a good fellow"). Grammar organizes vocabulary. Grammatically, the
relations between S and P, the defined and defining action and object, temporal, spatial, causal
relationships of phenomena, the speaker's relationship to the expressed thought and to the
interlocutor are expressed. With the help of grammatical structures, it becomes possible to
convey the finest nuances of thought [3, 123-126].
As you can see, grammar performs the function of the building material of speech (oral and
written). It permeates the entire language. This is the skeleton on which all words, speech
utterances, texts are held. Grammar is the circulatory system that feeds a living language; the
foundation on which a building called a "Foreign Language" is being built. Grammar can be
compared with traffic signs, with a geographical map, with a city development plan. Grammar
helps us to communicate in a language, to live in that language, to create.
The importance of studying the grammar of foreign languages also lies in the fact that it helps us
to better understand the grammatical structure of our native language, develops logical thinking,
observation, the ability to analyze and generalize, i.e. in the process of studying it, developing
educational and educational learning goals are realized.
In high school, learning grammar is not an end in itself. Teaching grammar of a particular
language aims to teach the student to speak correctly and understand the text being read. This
means that the task is not to master the grammatical system of a foreign language, all its forms
and constructions, but to develop the skills and abilities of grammatically correct speech (within
the framework of the school curriculum).
In addition to its great practical significance, grammar teaching also has educational
significance. The student catches the difference between the means of expression in his native
and in the studied languages, which expands his linguistic horizons. In addition, it has long been
noticed that grammar develops logical thinking, and most importantly – develops the skills of
correct speech based on self-observation and self-control.
At school, students are given grammatical material in the minimum amount (grammatical
minimum) necessary for the development of skills and abilities of speech activity, which is
reflected in the program. Special attention is paid to the ability to choose and use the material in
oral and written speech. The selected grammatical material should be sufficient to ensure the
practical purpose of learning a foreign language at school, provided for by the program [4].
As you know, the program requires the creation of skills to express your thoughts and understand
the thoughts of others orally and in writing, but within certain limits. In the methodological
literature, a fair idea was expressed that the basics of language proficiency should be laid in
secondary school, which will allow further "finishing" after graduation, depending on the choice
of profession [2, 79,80]. An overestimated minimum of grammatical material would lead to
negative results, given the limited number of hours allocated to a foreign language. The question
arises about the rational selection of this material. The principles of selecting the grammatical
minimum for secondary school were developed by Soviet scientists [3, 128]. As a result, the
following categories of selection were developed:
a) the frequent occurrence of grammatical phenomena in oral speech and in school texts;
b) the possibility of the form and design to serve as a model for other forms and designs;
c) the possibility of forms and structures to be combined with other forms and structures;
d) Finally, the grammatical minimum will include phenomena typical of this language.
The content of teaching grammatical material includes the following [1, 115-116]:
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1. Mastering grammatical forms, parts of speech, their semantics and functions (within the
school curriculum).
2. Knowledge of the rules for the use of these forms, depending on the communication
situation and context.
3. Development of skills and abilities in the use of the grammatical material of the program in
oral and written statements, in particular the development of the following skills:
a) selection of the structure of a typical sentence adequate to the speaker's intention and
relevant to the situation;
b) registration by the speaker of the selected words to fill in a standard sentence according to
the norms of the language being studied;
c) The choice of service forms and the correct combination of them with significant words.
Grammar teaching in secondary school is based on the following provisions [1, 116]:
1. Observing the connection between theory and practice.
2. Consideration of the grammatical material of the program as an indicative basis for speech
activity.
3. Different approach to teaching grammatical material intended for oral speech and reading.
4. The communicative orientation of the exercises.
References
1. Andreyavskaya-Levenstern L.S. Methods of teaching French in secondary school. M.:
Enlightenment, 1983. - 243 p.
2. Galskova N.D. Modern methods of teaching foreign languages. Teacher's Manual. Moscow:
ARKATI, 2000. - 267 p.
3. Leontiev A.A. Utterance as an element of psycholinguistics and communication theory //
Text syntax. Moscow: Nauka 1979. – 260 p.
4. The program for secondary school. Foreign languages. Moscow: Prosveshchenie, 1997. –
199 p.
5. Heilbig G. Wieviel Grammatik braucht der Mensch? In Deutsch als Fremdsprache. – 1992.
S. 150-155.

The Role and Goals of Grammar Teaching

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e-ISSN : 26203502

International Journal on Integrated Education

The Role and Goals of Grammar Teaching

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