Critical Response

I have chosen two approaches to be penned down later on. The approaches are;

Descriptive vs. Prescriptive grammar (refer article1) and Covert and Overt approach

(refer article 2). These approaches seem very perfect yet who knows it has some issues

regarding that. In Prescriptive and Descriptive approach, an article entitled “To Teach or Not

to Teach (Grammar)—No Longer the Question” (refer issue 1) highlights that English

teachers of later generations joined the profession embracing ideas of descriptive; also

called transformational grammar. In my personal opinion, teachers have to obey to the

traditional rules that English should be taught prescriptively because Prescriptive grammar is

what speakers should or shouldn't say and the most clear statement is Prescriptive approach

is primarily concerned with laying down rules for usage and stop language deterioration. As

teachers, teaching prescriptive grammar is essential since that is what we struggle for.

The other article highlights that “Linguistics is descriptive, not prescriptive.” (refer

issue 2) So, if linguistics is descriptive and not prescriptive, then why do we have prescriptive

rules anyway? Well for me, one of the reasons is prescriptive grammar is a set of standard

rules that is necessary for students learning English as a second language, for example “red

book”. In other case, for lower primary school kids, it is considerable to teach descriptive

grammar first because at this range of ages, we need kids to know and like the language

first, not the structure yet.

The Overt and Covert approach is also known as inductive and deductive approach in

teaching grammar. I have found an issue said, “How can a teacher decide which method

is the best choice for a given topic?”( refer issue 3) Several researches state that the

inductive approach may be more advantageous than the deductive approach (Herron &

Tomasello, 1992), others suggesting that the deductive approach is more successful

(Robinson, 1996; Seliger, 1975), and the remainder making no distinction between the two

approaches (Abraham, 1985; Rosa and O’Neill, 1999; Shaffer, 1989). Well it differs from this

article, “To Grammar or Not to Grammar: That Is Not the Question!”( refer issue 4) In my

opinion, for lower primary school kids, it is better to start with covert approach and the upper

primary school pupils, the teacher can go for overt approach. Let the pupils have fun learning

the language first and then follow with the overt approach for example teach nouns,

pronouns, verbs and others through songs.

In conclusion, the issues of teaching grammar are considerable if we know how to

cater with it to suit our pupils’ needs.

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