The grammar we teach

Second language teachers are great consumers of grammar. They are mainly interested in pedagogical grammar, but they are generally unaware of the work of theoretical linguists, such as Chomsky and Halliday. Whereas Chomsky himself has never suggested in any way that his work might be of benefit to L2 teaching, Halliday and his many disciples, have. It seems odd that language teachers should choose to ignore the great gurus of grammar. Even if their work is deemed too technical and theoretical for classroom application, it may still shed light on pedagogical grammar and provide a rationale for the way one goes about teaching grammar. In order to make informed decisions about what grammar to teach and how best to teach it, one should take stock of the various schools of grammar that seem to speak in very different voices. In the article, the writer outlines the kinds of grammar that come out of five of these schools, and assesses their usefulness to the L2 teacher.