In the first article of the series ‘Learning a Language’, it was revealed that the immersion method is an effective way to acquire a second language. Within this method, grammar plays a subordinate role, as it turned out. But what does grammar education look like within the immersion method?
A Look Back: Grammar in the Grammar-Translation Method
The effectiveness of immersion in a foreign language has been proven, but what about the grammar-translation method? Does this approach have no effect? As the name suggests, this method focuses heavily on the explicit teaching of grammar rules. Often, after the instruction, students work in a workbook where fill-in-the-blank exercises dominate. Research shows that students score high on such exercises during a written test. However, when students find themselves in a spontaneous conversation, they rarely apply the learned grammar rules. While communication is the intended goal of learning a foreign language.
Goals Surrounding English
Since 1986, teachers of grades 7 and 8 are required to teach English as a subject in primary education. In secondary education, English is also a mandatory subject. The National Expertise Center for Curriculum Development (SLO) has therefore established guidelines for both primary and secondary education. For primary education, it is noted:
In primary education, the teaching of the English language is mainly about oral communication and reading simple texts. – SLO
In secondary education, the emphasis is on the sub-skills of listening, writing, reading, and having conversations. No goal is solely focused on grammar because grammar is a tool to shape the language rather than a goal in itself. The oral communication, or conversations, which serve as the basis for the immersion method, are also reflected in the guidelines for primary and secondary education. In primary education, the emphasis is even on communicating in English rather than on the other sub-skills.
Implicit vs. Explicit
The guidelines indicate that grammar education does not have its own goal. Suppose there is no explicit grammar education during the acquisition of a second language. What does language acquisition look like then? It involves intensive and continuous exposure to the target language and there must be a necessity to communicate in that language. However, these conditions are not feasible in the daily practice of school. So, what should we do now?
Gerard Westhoff, professor of modern languages, states that explicit grammar education becomes unavoidable at some point to facilitate the transition from standard conversations to creative conversations.
It appears that simple grammar rules can be learned implicitly, but when complex rules come into play, explicitly teaching those rules is more effective. Delaying grammar education is preferred, but giving it up is not.
Immersion and Grammar
For effective grammar education, the teaching must align with the grammatical developmental level of the student. The needs of an individual student should therefore be leading. Nowadays, digital possibilities offer a solution to work at the desired level. Also, when students communicate with each other, they will use their own level. A student at B1 level applies more complex grammar rules in their sentences than a student at A1 level.
Thus, during communication, students are also engaged in grammar education. It even appears that more learning gain is achieved when explicit grammar education is part of a communicative and meaningful language method. Some even call it crucial to adopt such an approach. How this communicative approach looks in practice, you can read in the next article.
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