melt 104 Grammatical Structure of English

1. Pedagogical grammar
By: Remegia Javier

2. Pedagogical Grammar
• Is a description of how to use grammar of a
language to communicate, for people wanting to
learn the target language. It can be compared with a
reference grammar, which just describes the
grammar of the language.
• the focus is on how grammatical items may be
made more learnable or teachable

3.  Pedagogical grammars contain assumptions about
how learners learn, follow certain linguistics theories
in their descriptions, and are written for a specific
target audience.

4.  A pedagogical grammar is designed for teaching
and learning purposes rather than as definitive
analysis of a language point. As such, the approach,
content and analysis frequently differ from a
linguistic grammar.

5.  The pedagogical Grammar is designed to the needs
of speakers learning English; the focus is on helping
students improve accuracy in academic writing.
There is a strong contrastive nature to the analysis as
some (but not all) errors result from transfer from the
mother –tongue. The content is based on analysis of
students writing.

6.  Pedagogical grammar refers to the grammatical content
taught to a student learning a language other than his or her
first language or the methods used in teaching that content.
The goal of this type of grammar is primarily to increase
fluency and accuracy of speech, rather than to impart
theoretical knowledge. Someone studying in an applied
linguistics field such as Teaching English to Speakers of other
Languages (TESOL) is likely to be required to take a course
in pedagogical grammar. A pedagogical grammar may also be
a grammar textbook designed to assist in learning a language.

7.  Courses in pedagogical grammar often teach students about
grammatical concepts that are intuitive to a native speaker, but may
be difficult for a non-native speaker.
 A native English speaker needs little instruction in order to invert
words in a sentence to form a question; that is,
"You do know me" becomes "Do you know me?"
Someone learning English as a second or foreign language,
however, might need an explanation of how to make this inversion.
This is especially true if his or her first language forms questions in
a completely different way. While explicit teaching on this area
of grammar would be tedious and unnecessary for first-language
speakers, it may be important in pedagogical grammar.

8.  Pedagogical grammar occupies a middle ground between the
areas of
A. prescriptive grammar
Sets forth rules about how language should be used
correctly. It prescribes language the way a doctor prescribes
medicine by saying what ought to be done.
Focuses on the sequence or word order to become clearer
B. descriptive grammar
describes how speakers actually use language without
consideration for whether it conforms to "proper" rules.

9. What’s the goal of pedagogical grammar?
It is to help non-native speakers achieve fluency, and
accuracy.
Conclusion
In order for a language learner to speak well, most of his
or her utterances will need to conform to the grammatical
rules set forth in prescriptive grammar. On the other hand, it
helps to understand the way native speakers actually use
language — through descriptive grammar. This is necessary
for the learner to make sense of slang or other non-standard
ways of speaking, such as ending sentences with prepositions.