The Future of Education
A Retrospective Research on the Place of Grammar for the Future of Language Education
Dönercan Dönük, Mersin University (Turkey)
Abstract
A Retrospective Research on the Place of Grammar for the Future of Language Education
Dönercan Dönük
Mersin University
Turkey
It is a fact that the mode of English instruction has followed various paths throughout time, for it has been handled with a wide range of approaches, methods and techniques. Naturally, this inevitable change can be traced back to the theories in the psychology of human learning, which also influenced the theories in language teaching. As an extension to this shift, the curriculum, the course books and the related materials designed to meet the learner needs in line with each methodology have displayed a range of forms, and, needless to say, they keep changing every passing day. As the basic component of the language teaching, grammar acts as an agent which has been affected most by the changes in forms of language instruction. Despite being the backbone of a language, grammar has undergone a great deal of controversy as for its place in language instruction due to the fact that each teaching methodology deals with it from a different perspective, attaching importance to it at varying extents; thus, placing it into practice with a variety of options. This retrospective study aims to have a closer look at the issue of grammar represented in each method or approach by referring to the resources of the time such as course books, teaching materials, supplementary books and dictionaries. The data to be compiled from a great deal of resources available for the researcher are intended to serve for the description of the language teaching modes as they changed over time by comparing and contrasting the place of grammar in the three basic phases of human learning; namely, structuralism, cognitivism and constructivism. Additionally, by relying on the findings on a scientific basis, the research intends to make futuristic projections for the methodology and means through which grammar should be treated in the future for a safe and accurate language practice.
Keywords grammar, English language Teaching, Futuristic, methodology
