3.2 Development of Grammar
Language is always in flux and dynamic, so is grammar, an important component of language. During the passage of time, there were many aspects in human society that have experienced changes, which influenced language. Therefore, the development of grammar is also significant. There were different frameworks and types of grammar being developed by degrees. In this section, two distinctive types: formal grammar and functional grammar will be introduced. 3.2.1 Formal Grammar
According to Khatim (2013), grammar is established when a significant number of people use the language in the same structure, or particular ways, and rules for grammar would be established gradually. There should be formal rules for grammar so as to act as a guidance for language usage. As pointed out by Khatim
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English in the past has been greatly influenced by Latin grammar. Principles, facts and rules of Latin grammar contained a larger body than that of English grammar. In other words, Latin grammar is more standardized and precise, so as formal grammar. People who teach formal grammar hoped that this large impact of Latinized Material could be retained (McLaughlin, …show more content…
McLaughlin points out that a grammar lesson with exactly the same contents can actually be a kind of formal grammar teacher or functional grammar teaching, depending on the purpose of the teacher that rather the teacher want to give mental training to the students, or want them to really apply what they have leant to their speeches. As Coffin, Donohue and North (2013) mentioned, even the two kinds of grammar could be presented in completely different ways, connections between them could still be
Every language has a grammar: a set of patterns and rules that we learn to use when we're reading.
It was mainly formed depending on the rules that English is made up of a particular subject that explains the presence of the structure and features of the language involved. The analysis that was given in this phase was that the features of the language were the same in the sentence grammar without a tendency to favor particular forms. The theory, however, did not explain any forms that were in existence in simple English. It is precarious to make bias perception concerning the matter, although there existed interest in the nature of the English language theoretically by itself. The most important reason for this urge was to make the available skills more relevant to learners. It was also aimed at providing learners with outline form that gives the priority in science studies and forego other forms that they might not have come across in their lifetime. It further shows that ESP course should give more importance to these
Grammar teaching has been a hot issue when it comes to language learning and acquisition. As so many issues arise, same goes to the research that has been conducted to calm down the tense. The knowledge of Grammar is not only a necessity for the native speaker but to the second language learner as well. Grammar knowledge is the core element of the production of speech that we use to communicate. This interest has brought me to review the article by Zhou Ke, which concerns about the inductive approach to English Grammar teaching. Inductive approach starts with exposing students to examples of language use or even immersing them in the use of the target language items and then prompts students to generalize the patterns of the language (Thornbury,
In 1789, however, Noah Webster published a dictionary entitled, Dissertations on the English Language. Even though no major changes were made, he established an “American standard” and ensured that change would be made, but it would be gradual. By the nineteenth century, it was clear that revisions had to be made in the curriculum of prescriptive pedagogy to keep up with the ongoing changes in the world. The fact of the matter is that the vocabulary, pronunciation, and pragmatics of the English language are constantly changing, and a prescriptive pedagogy alone is not the most effective method of teaching grammar.
Perhaps no one would have expected a 1956 work on the study of languages to end up one of the most influential ideas in computer science. The work was Three Models for the Description of Language by Noam Chomsky. In it, Chomsky outlines a hierarchy of grammars with each one more robust and powerful than the last. This was just the beginning of what is now called the generative approach to linguistics. The generative view is that a system of rules govern our abilities to produce grammatical sentences. If we can understand these rules, we can gain a rigorous approach to understanding the underlying structures of the world languages. By looking at Chomsky’s work we will see this scientific approach to the study of languages and learn about powerful grammars that all modern computer systems rely on.
He makes an important hypothesis that universal grammar (UG). UG is a characterization of these innate principle of language faculty, I-language. (5) He then postulates some detailed structure of UG. It is a system of conditions on grammars, constraints on the form and interpretation of grammar at all levels, from the deep structures of syntax, through the transformational component, to the rules that interpret syntactic structures semantically and phonetically. The study of linguistic universals, which is classified as formal or substantive, is the study of the properties of UG for a natural language. (6) Substantive universals concern the vocabulary for the description of language and a formal linguistic universal involve the character of the rules that appear in grammars and the ways in which they can be interconnected. Language-acquisition device uses primary linguistic data as the empirical basis for language learning to meet explanatory adequacy that is defined in UG, and to select one of the potential grammars, which is permitted by UG.
English is a complex language because it is the mixture of Latin and some other languages. Standard English is what grammarians adopted a series of rules to make English correctly used. In Bill Bryson’s essay “Good English and Bad”, he used historical evidence to show readers how English rules are defined and changed by grammarians. While in the article “Why Good English is Good for You”, John Simon stresses how English users should use this language in a more proper way. Both of Bill Bryson and John Simon suggest people should follow the English rules, but they ignore English are used differently depends on who uses it, how people use it in distinct ways and when it is suitable for people to follow these English rules.
Furthermore, it is apparent that English syntax, or the study of sentence structures is synonymous with much of the study of English grammar; Syntax in a reductive explanation is the study of sentence structure (Finegan, 2015, p. 178). In chapter 1 of Curzan (2003), theoretically, the evolution of English has eliminated its use of grammatical gender and this has
After discussing grammar in class, I learned that it is not just a simple definition. By looking at different examples, I was able to learn how grammar is present in many different aspects of my life. A good example of this would be dance. I started taking dance classes when I was young and I continued throughout high school. There are many different styles of dance, and things would be done differently in each style of dance. For example, with modern, students are usually able to dance barefoot, while with jazz students usually where a specific type of jazz shoe, and with ballet there are pointe shoes. At my studio, there was a specific type of pointe shoe that was worn by some dancers who were more experienced, so when I was little I would
The rules of grammar can be frustrating to me, especially when there seem to be more exceptions to the rules than times when they apply. Some rules make more sense than others and seem obvious, while others are easy to forget once you get started writing something. Fortunately, grammar is something plenty of people struggle with and can be improved on.
Prior to my senior year, I remember just one grammar lesson. “He Eats, Shoots and Leaves” was a picture book that my fifth grade teacher read to the class. The author wrote every sentence twice, with a comma in a different place each time. Moving the comma would completely change the meaning of the sentence in order to emphasize the importance of punctuation. It was funny, creative and I enjoyed it. I definitely sat through many grammar lessons throughout elementary school, but none - aside from “Eats, Shoots and Leaves” - stuck with me. In elementary school learning grammar was something that I would have to tolerate before I could get to the more creative aspects of English class which I loved, however as I’ve gotten older I’ve come to understand
Grammar is defined as the way sentences of a language are constructed. In the article “Texting and Writing” it states how teachers have reported findings that students are using abbreviations for words such as “2” for “to” or “gr8” for “great” (404). Being in the habit of texting and using abbreviations can cause students not to use proper grammar that should be used in formal writing. Another example is people are engaging
Some linguistic models try to explain the development of second language acquisition. The three most common models are (1) the Universal Grammar Model, (2) the Competition Model, and (3) the Monitor Model. The Universal Grammar Model refers to the system of principles, conditions, and rules that are properties or elements of all human languages. At the same time, each language has grammatical rules that vary from one language to another. Thus, Chomky states that different languages have a limited possibility of different grammatical structures (1975). Therefore, second language learners base their second language acquisition on universal principles common to all languages, and on the force of the particular rules of each language. All of those can be concluded that as a human, especially as children, we have vary form of rules in language, in this case is second language.
It is not uncommon to say that grammar instruction plays an important role in language teaching. Regarding the status and importance of grammar teaching, a variety of opinions have been made. Batstone (1994) states that “language without grammar would be chaotic: countless words without the indispensable guidelines for how they can be ordered and modified” (p. 4). More vividly, Wang (2010) makes two similes. She compares grammar to the frame of a house, which is a decisive factor to ensure the solidness of it. Additionally, she regards grammar as a walking stick, whose function is to help and support students to learn English. Thus, the nature of grammar instruction manifests its own significance as it helps students
In the classroom relating to descriptive grammar learners can be encouraged to move away from a prescriptive approach to grammar by using a guided discovery in which they look for examples of variations in use in authentic texts. These examples can be compared to prescriptive rules in order to decide if they are useful or