The problem with focusing on #grammar

by Andrea Sharp

What was your first experience of learning English? For most it was at school and the experience and outcome is varied, depending on the student and their learning style.

Many have no formal language training at all. I came into language training a little late but I always had an interest in the written word.

I do have lots of business experience (21 years) and when I started to teach in a language school I felt that I had a different approach to many.

I often noticed that the “rules of grammar” held students back.

It wasn’t the school that particularly stressed that these rules were the backbone of learning, but the students themselves held them in high regard and seemed to get worried if they didn’t learn them in a traditional way.

Learning grammar is often promoted as the backbone of English language but in fact most English native speakers don’t learn this way. It is learnt by listening to the main care giver. Learning grammar is organic.

Grammar rules are important but to be really honest it is the motivation to learn that is the most important. Communicating becomes effective through gaining the correct vocabulary and being able to respond spontaneously.

We learn more quickly when we are having fun and can express ourselves freely.

I was lucky that I was able to confirm my suspicions about grammar when a friend introduced me to an Austrian English professor, Markus Weisinger and I was pleased to know that someone else had the same opinion. In fact he had wrote a book about it (The gift of the Gab).

It is important to learn English in a way that you feel your authentic self, you must feel comfortable and feel free to talk without having your mind questioning the grammar rules as you go along, this just upsets your fluency and pronunciation.

It’s ok to make mistakes, we all do and sometimes these things help us grow, we show a bit of vulnerability and our personality shines through with it.

I’m not saying that you can forget grammar all together, it has its place and in time you need to learn the structure of a sentence etc, but this doesn’t have to be in a way that you become fearful of learning altogether.

Learning English can bring high rewards, a new job, home travel and relationships. Don’t let a few rules get in the way of that.