ISSN 0909 9328 ISBN 87 7701 525 8 No 7, 1997: Theme: From grammar - to system acquisition

Editors for no. 7: Karen-Margrete Frederiksen, Karen Lund, Ulla Pia Ohrt, Micharl Svendsen Pedersen

Contents

Foreword: From grammar - to system acquisition

The language chronicle
Anne Holmen: Bilingualism is not a handicap

Karen Lund: Give grammar some content - FULL TEXT

Peter Harder: What is functional grammar?

Leni Dam: Grammar in an autonomous class

Gisela Håkansson: A problem of word-order

Ruth Flensted: Grammar training

P. Frederiksen & S. Knudsen: Second language process writing and grammar - FULL TEXT

Kirsten Haastrup: The role of grammar in the new Folkeskole syllabuses

Jeremy Watts: Grammar and textbook systems

J. Bostrøm & J. Lahey: Grammar teaching in courses of vocational education - an overall orientation

Henrik Lærkes: A way of seeing things - on aspect in Russian

Ulla Pia Ohrt: WhoÕs going to make grammar?

Sonja Friedrichsen: Contrastive grammar

Johannes Wagner: Grammar, language knowledge, awareness - and a little bit more

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From grammar - to system acquisition

There are subjects where form and detail are crucial. In mathematics every comma counts; in programming and other computer work a small error can have disastrous consequences. Nobody seriously questions this sustained systemisation. In grammar. too, we can talk of systemisation, though grammar has always had a troubled existence in teaching - and outside it. Positive recognition of the services of grammar is a scarce commodity.

This has to do with the dual nature of language subjects - they deal with both skills and content. Traditionally, there has been a deep split between working with grammar, vocabulary and essays (the boring end of the subject) and working with literary texts (the exciting end of the subject). Double prejudices - grammar is parrot-learning; reading literature is all feeling and empathy - have been and continue to be rife.

These prejudices have a grain of truth in them. Grammar teaching has been hampered by a view of grammar that has weathered more than a century, a tradition that saw grammar as being an autonomous system that had no relation to the content side of language. This has sometimes led to teaching practice lacking any kind of horizon.

But just as the content side has changed in appearance over the past couple of decades - towards a broader understanding of culture, literature and society - the skills side of language teaching has also changed dramatically. There is greater focusing now on languageÕs functions: What human and social needs are fulfilled by language? What language acts are carried out by us in what situations - and to what end? At the same time, there has been a greater focusing on the content of language: What ideas are aroused by our using language, i.a. vocabulary and suffixes? How does language influence our cognition and perception of the world? And there has also been greater focusing on the dynamics of language acquisition: How do children and adults acquire verbal communicative competence?

Several of SprogforumÕs numbers have looked at this shift of emphasis, e.g. the numbers on vocabulary (no. 4) and communicative competence (no. 6). Now it is the turn of grammar which, over the past ten years in particular, has been re-defined within linguistics as functional grammar, meaning that grammar is regarded as a system of categories each of which has a certain use-potential, i.e. a range of possibilities for creating particular perceptions of a content nature in language users: actions, processes, states, amounts, attitudes, time and place determiners, etc.

We begin with an article by Karen Lund which states that the acquisition of grammar, or the system, must be seen as being controlled by the semantic and pragmatic function of language. Then, Peter Harder discusses what the concepts function and functional mean in relation to grammar, in the light of his recent thesis on functional semantics. Leni Dam presents a number of experiences made with grammar teaching in a class with pupil autonomy, and Gisela Håkansson shows how difficulties linked the acquisition of grammar can be linked to the language of the class teacher, with examples from teaching materials.

After this, Ruth Flensted gives an example of grammar teaching in courses of commercial education with a focus on production.

Then Pernille Frederiksen and Stine Knudsen discuss how it is possible to focus on grammar topics in process writing (in Danish as a second language) and Kirsten Haastrup gives an account of the ideas behind the foreign language syllabuses in the Danish Folkeskole, regarding the role of grammar as an aid to understanding and language production. Jeremy Watts gives examples of how writers of textbooks have sought to change the role of grammar as the communicative approach gained ground. He also raises the question of just how much actual teaching practice has changed. Jette Bostrøm and Janice Lahey give an example of grammar teaching in courses of commercial education, focusing on reception. And Henrik Lærkes writes about how, with the aid of a conversion method, one can facilitate the acquisition of a grammatical area that is normally not readily accessible for Danes: aspect in Russian.

Sonja Friedrichsen emphasises that in teaching Danish as a second language there is much to be gained from working in conjunction with the grammar of the native language - to the extent with which one is familiar with it. Ulla Pia Ohrt lists several ways of working with grammar, taken from an international seminar.

Johannes Wagner has written a letter to the editors which contains a reaction to the Henning Nølke article on grammar in Sprogforum no. 6.

In the language chronicle, Anne Holmen outlines a necessary pedagogical approach for teaching bilingual pre-school children. She distinguishes between a language point of view and a holistic point of view - arguing for the latter.

The editors

Translated by John Irons

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