What does “grammar” mean?
Usually we equate the teaching of Grammar with the teaching of Syntax. However Grammar is defined as the total knowledge of a language and as such it is much more than Syntax. When we talk about grammar, Phonology, Morphology, Semantics, and Pragmatics also need to be considered. This common equation of grammar = syntax has contributed to the omission of the teaching and practice of a very important component of the language: Phonology.
Typically, a grammar lesson provides students with oral and written exercises followed in most cases by a hand-on- experience in which the new structure is used in a real communicative situation. Even in this new millennium a pedagogical harmful trend persists when teaching grammar: students do not get any instruction on how to pronounce the new structure; in most cases not even a hint! The truth is that we have separated Grammar and Pronunciation when in fact they are the two sides of the same coin. The following examples will show us how these two areas of knowledge need to be taught together.
Much more to learn than word order
Let’s consider that our students are practicing giving commands or instructions such as “Give her an apple”. Apparently, if we only consider its structure we can assume that it is quite a simple utterance which poses almost no difficulties for our students. Its simplicity may cause that important phonological components may pass unnoticed for our students while in fact there are plenty to teach in the given phrase if Phonology is considered. relevant aspects such as the emphasis of content words: give and apple; the omission of the sound /h/ in the pronoun her since this sound is linked to the previous word and the fact that this phrase needs to be pronounced as one piece and not as four different words according to the linking patterns that characterize natural speech such as consonant +vowel and vowel +vowel. Also, our students need to get the right rhythm pattern when saying the phrase which usually requires practice.
Another example is the teaching of phrasal verbs which is quite a challenge since teachers spend valuable lesson time explaining the difference between transitive or intransitive phrasal verbs or on motivating students to use phrasal verbs when speaking English, not an easy task for Spanish speakers. However, usually a basic instruction on how to pronounce phrasal verbs is not given and then our students do not know if they have to stress the word speak or the preposition up in the following example: Please speak up.
Pronunciation and listening comprehension
The teaching of pronunciation will enhance the listening comprehension skills of our students. Once our students have developed a good understanding of the main features of the English phonological system they will be able to cope with the characteristics of natural speech. Going back to our example of “Give her an apple,” if our students are not trained on its correct pronunciation they will not be able to understand it nor to say it in a natural way.
Should Grammar and Pronunciation be taught apart?
What is Grammar anyway?
Reference
An Introduction to Language. Victoria Fromkin and Robert Rodman.
Holt, Rinehart and Winston, editors.
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes, 41 seconds
Really interesting and thought-provoking article. Pronunciation is always a bit of a tough topic to handle.
Pronunciation shouldn't be neglected when going over new structures, and the teacher's job is to make sure that they actually know how to pronounce these structures- it may take a bit of research but we're teachers anyway! We should always research! By practising pronunciation when introducing a grammar point, there is an element of communicative value involved, as comprehensible pronunciation will ease understanding.
Pronunciation, we should not forget, is more than just the individual sounds of the language. Particularly, practising stressed and weak forms is crucial, because as we know English is stress-based and so pronouncing every word -as we do in Spanish- sounds unnatural and may cause strain on a listener. The example of phrasal verbs is really spot-on, and I may add working on past modals (would have, could have) as a challenging case.
All in all, I believe that pronunciation is a key component of our teaching duties and should be given its place in every lesson.
Quite inspirational and helpful article indeed. I hope every teacher may follow these meaningful guidelines and teach grammar and pronunciation together so that students become better language learners.
It´s really a thorny issue as today TESOL pundits embrace a more hollistic approach to language, more purpose-oriented and thus talk about intelligibility along with the idea of English as an international language and being permissive or more open to different varieties and not only American or British but also Indian, Japanese or even Peruvian English! There are initiatives to lay out an international phonemic alphabet in which different ways of pronouncing single consonant and vowel sounds by speakers whose mother tongue is not English are accepted. Bear in mind that in the near future non-native speakers of English will outnumber native ones and that unfolds a change in terms of language power or dominance. So no more perfect "shwas" is the motto today as a reaction to the failure of having second language learners acquire the so-called "near-native accent".
On the other hand it´s not only a matter of "knowing" or being told how to pronounce but also there are psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic elements involved (e.g. the issue of identity) mostly ignored by the average language teacher; in the end individuals make the final personal decision to sound the way they want to sound when speaking in a foreign language as long as communication is not impaired.
By the way, phonology is not the same as pronunciation. Linguists study phonology to describe features and processes diacronically or synchronically in a given languge the way it is actually spoken by its speakers. It´s not meant to be as prescriptive as teaching normative grammar.
Finally I recall being a witness to a successful exchange between a an Austrian and his Peruvian counterpart in a software company in Lima exchanging information about systems with no problems arising from their "foreign accents". I could notice strong phonological features of both German and Spanish still present in both speakers´pronunciations; however they sort of "tuned in" to each other´s idiolect through meaning negotiation and could successfully carry out their communicative task for quite a long time. This really struck a chord in me as I too was a heartfelt advocate of a perfect nasal american accent to demonstrate someones´s proficiency in English.
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