Morocco World News – Mohamed Benhima
“Language teaching and learning has always been a controversial area within applied linguistics. According to Corder (1973), “what to teach or learn can be described in linguistic terms as grammar […] or in psychological terms as language skills” (p. 137). Although grammar refers to what we know about a language such as phonology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics, language skills are about what we do with language. This includes listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Controversies often arise when the boundaries between these two areas become blurred, as in the case of treating “grammaring” as a language skill. In this respect, the present article will attempt to explain the background of the issue surrounding “grammaring,” followed by a tentative definition of the term and a description of the techniques for its implementation. The teaching and learning of grammar has always been one of the most hotly debated topics in the field of language education. The controversy over what, exactly, grammar is led to the development of different models that attempted to account for grammar differently. Grammar was considered a method of language teaching and learning within the so-called Grammar-Translation Approach. Within this approach, which draws from philology, grammar was viewed as the core of language. However, with the shift from philology to linguistics, the notion of grammar has changed accordingly. With the eruption of modern linguistics, grammar began to be described as a system of structures in addition to vocabulary and pronunciation.”(more)