Question:
On a mailing list about teaching (other language) to English-speakers,
participants have complained that British students seem to be
allergic to grammar and don't seem to know words like "noun",
"adjective", "verb" and so on.
I recall being told about grammar in both English and foreign language
lessons. Does this no longer happen? Are the people on this mailing
list exaggerating? How can you study a foreign language (to any useful
extent) without knowing what verbs, adjectives, tenses and so on are?
Answer:
I went through the UK school system in the late 70s and 80s. Not once
did I ever have a "grammar" lesson in English. The focus then (and maybe
it still is) was on performance and usage, and not on being able to
describe the technicalities. It was only later that I decided to teach
myself the terminology, etc.
I never took any foreign languages at school, so I don't know about that
side of it. You can't really lump the two things together -- your native
language lessons and foreign language lessons -- as if they are both the
same kind of thing.
To use your native language(s), you don't *NEED* to know the terminology
and the technical details. It's all there, in your head, learnt from the
moment you first start listening to your parents talking to and around you
when you're a very young infant.
It's only when you try to describe what you already know or when you want to
learn a second language (as a foreign language) that you need to revert to
knowing what nouns and conjugations and tenses are
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