I was posed an interesting question the other day by one of my clients: "What is grammar, and do you think you know enough to teach it, and should you teach it?"

Being particular about correct written and spoken communication and taking pride in knowing my conditionals from conjunctions, my immediate reaction is to say "Yes, of course I know enough and yes, we should focus on grammar!" but as I thought about it, I realised a few things.

Let's think about what grammar actually is: Grammar brings structure to a language; it is the set of rules present in every language that dictate how words should be used, the forms they should take and the order they should be placed in.

These rules or 'system' include syntax (how words combine into phrases), morphology (the formation of words), phonology (study of sounds in isolation), and semantics (the science of meaning in language forms). Hence it forms the base of all language; with each language having it's own system and grammatical structure. In some languages it can be very complex and English is one example and it is essential to understand the rules to be able to communicate effectively.

Grammar determines how sentences are structured, for example, that auxiliary verbs (e.g. will) come before main verbs (e.g. arrive) in affirmative sentences.

Grammar also tells us which word form should be used and when. This knowledge of how words change and the different forms they have is called 'morphology' and literally means 'the study of change.' Words change their form to express different meanings whether it's to denote how many of something there are, whether something happened in the past or present, and who something happened to. Understanding morphology is essential to having a full grasp of a language - for example knowing the different forms of 'drink' (drank, drunk); knowing the comparative and superlative forms of 'quick' (quicker and quickest), and knowing that this can also be in an irregular form e.g. for 'good' it is 'better', and 'best'.

There are many examples of grammatical choices we make when using English and native speakers will tend to just know these rules with no true understanding of why a sentence is structured in a certain way.

Grammar brings depth and variety of meaning to what otherwise would just be a jumble of words.

So, Grammar definitely has a place. Now to the question of whether English language teachers should have a firm foundation of grammar and should we teach it?

The short answer to this question is "yes". A language teacher needs to understand the grammatical structure of the language they are teaching. Grammar forms the base of a language, it determines sentence structure, and the correct forms of words to use. Without at least some knowledge of this it will be very hard for the teacher to explain the complexities of any language.

When teaching something new to someone it is important to have a 'system' for reference to help explain the irregularities and make sense of the sometime irrational word forms and sentence structure. The "whys"? then at least have some explanation for the student. They may not make immediate sense but it takes the argument away of whether it is right or wrong. If the teacher does not have this depth of knowledge in a language the student will soon become frustrated if their questions are not answered and they may start to question how much the teacher actually knows! Naturally, as a student becomes more proficient with a language so their thirst for knowledge increases and the teacher must be one step ahead, or at least keep up.

Grammar offers that system or set of rules that can help the teacher "teach" the language in a comprehensive way and for the learner to grasp the basics. This understanding of the fundamentals of how a language is structured provides a strong foundation to build on. If the basics are not there from the start confusion, embarrassment, re-work will all likely follow for the learner. Native speakers of any language are taught the grammatical structures or syntax of their language as children and to enable typical ESL students to have that same grasp of the language the teachers need to be equipped with a strong understanding of the grammatical system.

Whatever any teacher teaches to their students, it has to be appropriate and in line with the student's learning objectives. This is extremely relevant for ESL students who are typically learning English for a specific purpose, whether it's to study in Australia, converse socially with English speaking friends, or go on to teach English themselves. The style of teaching will differ and even the type of pronunciation taught will change. It is not about the preferences of the teacher that determines this but the needs of the student. So it may well happen that a language teacher does not focus on the grammatical structure of sentences and phrases but instead focuses on the types of colloquial phrases that would be appropriate and the "schwas" that are created when a vowel is shortened and are a natural part of speaking English with proficiency. In essence the teacher focuses on breaking the language down and teaching the 'lazy' or informal uses of words and phrases. This would be relevant for the ESL students wanting to learn English to converse socially with their English-speaking friends, however I would argue that it wouldn't be appropriate for the ESL student learning English to then go on and teach English himself.

Grammar is a complex subject to learn and with so many native speakers not having a true grammatical understanding of their own language it begs the question why it is important for ESL students to learn about it and for language teachers to know about it. However it is a natural and very necessary part of any language and a student will limit his proficiency with the language he is learning, if he is not taught the basics.

So, having deliberated the question, my answer is I feel it is important for the language teacher to have a firm foundation of grammar in their target language to offer a comprehensive learning experience. Whether they actually utilise it and teach the grammatical structure will depend on the needs of the student.

Based in Singapore and proud of her English heritage, Sarah Schubert unleashes people's potential through their voices. Many Leaders and subsequently businesses struggle to excite, energise and lead people through business growth. They don't talk enough or when they do they say the wrong thing or say it in the wrong way leading to confusion and misunderstanding. Sarah coaches and trains Leaders to use their voice and communication skills to empower and excite people; she partners with businesses to implement transparent and successful communication strategies to ensure everyone is aligned. Success does speak for itself - would you like to know how?

Visit her website at http://www.newvoicecommunications.com email her at sarah.schubert@newvoicecommunications.com or call her on +65 9789 0802 for more information on the services offered.