Grammar in writing

Grammar in Writing

Introduction

s of discussion concerning the notion of grammar , such as its importance in teaching and learning of English as foreign language (EFL , have traditionally occupied theoretical linguists as well as people who teach foreign language . They have given rise to fiery polemics and considerable unsteadiness in the importance grammar affords to written communication . In recent years , after an interval of three decades or so during which the function of grammar in school-based EFL teaching and learning has been made seem unimportant if not actively opposed , arguments in

support of the need for explicit and coherent grammar teaching and the fact that EFL students should be taught that it is an aid to shaping effective and appropriate messages can increasingly be heard . In this , the role of grammar in EFL learning , the usefulness and advantages of explicit grammar instruction in written communication , and grammar as a tool that increases accuracy and fluency in EFL students will be discussed

Grammar is an Essential Part of Written Communication

In an important research on grammar , Henry Widdowson suggests (1988 ,

. 151 ) that grammar frees us from a dependency on context and the limitations of a purely lexical categorization of reality . This means that grammar allows EFL students to generate an unlimited number of sentences with a limited set of linguistic resources and to talk about everything in existence beyond here and now . In much the same way in his written work on grammar , Rob Batstone states (1994 ,

. 4 ) that it is through grammar that EFL students can modify words methodically to enhance and sharpen the expression of meaning ' and that , without grammar , English would be disly and confused . EFL students use grammar when they modify words and when they relate them to one another to transform into words widely applicable concepts , such as (Grauberg 1997 ,

.69 tense , for example , present , future , past signaled by verb inflection aspect , for example , temporality (such as progressive ) signaled by verb inflection mood , for example , declarative , interrogative , imperative or subjunctive expressed by verb inflection hypothetical distance , for example , imagination communicated through 'if clauses the relationship between sender and receiver , realized , for example through word , cases and prepositions social proximity or distance , for example , directness versus indirectness expressed by choice of formal or informal modes of address psychological proximity or distance , expressed , for example , through use of direct or indirect speech , or point of view , expressed , for example , through lexical phrases

By that means , the 'rules ' of grammar facilitate written communication grammar is a device for indicating the most common and recurrent aspects of meaning which it would be tedious and inefficient to incorporate into separate lexical items (Widdowson 1988 ,

. 151 . In other words , grammar allows EFL students to keep the vocabulary able to be managed that is needed to communicate effectively and accurately about both simple and complex subjects

As an essential part of written communication , grammar also allows EFL students to make relationships of words within sentences or...