Name : Pipavat Gopi Y
Sem : 3 ( M.A. English)
Batch Year : 2015- 2017
Topic
:-
Grammar, Vocabulary and Discourse
Paper : English language
teaching. (ELT -1)
Batch: 2015
- 2017
Submitted to :- Parth
Sir,
Department of English
Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University
Introduction :-
In
this assignment I tried to cover all the things from Grammar, vocabulary and
Discourse. In this assignment we are going to illustrate this all three terms.
First of all let’s talk about Grammar. That how grammar plays vital role in
teaching-learning of English language.
Grammar
:-
WHAT
IS GRAMMAR ?
This word Grammar is a Greek word which means " Art of letters”.
The first systemic grammars originated in
Iron Age India with Ya ska ( 6th century BC ) , Panini (4th Century BC ) and
his commentators Pingala ( C.200 BC ),
Katyayana and Patanjali ( 2nd century BC ).
" Grammar is its infinite power .To
shift the structure of a sentence alters the meaning of that sentence .
"
There is a difference between American
English and British English. ·
British English is the form English used in the United
Kingdom. It includes all English
dialects used in the United Kingdom.
American English is
the form of English used in the United States. It includes all English
dialects used in the United States.
AME means American English and
BRE means British English.
Definition of Grammar :-
Grammar means the whole system and structure of a language or of
languages in general, usually taken as consisting of syntax and morphology
(including inflections) and sometimes also phonology and semantics.
In the
language Grammar is one type of structure of our ability to express our
ideas and ourselves. With the help of Grammar we can find meanings of words,
arrange them in proper structure and it’s designed them in proper order. We can
understand the language very well. It can help faster precision, detect
ambiguity and exploit the richness of expression available in English.
In linguistics, grammar is composition of
phrases, clauses and also many other things. The term refers also to the study
of such rules and also includes morphology, syntax and phonology. The
definition of Grammar is divided into ten parts:-
Ten
Parts Of Grammar :-
1. Comparative Grammar
2. Generative Grammar
3. Mental Grammar
4. Pedagogical Grammar
5. Performance Grammar
6.
Reference Grammar
7.
Theoretical Grammar
8. Traditional Grammar
9. Transformational Grammar
10.
Universal Grammar
But in ELT there are two types of grammar.
1. FORMAL GRAMMAR :-
It is starting base of
grammar. It takes as their starting point the form or structure of language,
with little or no attention given to meaning or context and language use. Main
central aim of formal grammars is to explain syntax without recourse to
pragmatics.
2. FUNCTIONAL GRAMMAR :-
Functional grammar is very
different from formal grammar. It starts from a very different position. Formal
grammar is accept the challenge to explain how the sentence is. Functional
grammar is more interested in explaining the differences in use between two
sentences.
Example :-
Formal
:- He plays cricket.
Functional
:- Cricket is played by him.
WHY DOES GRAMMAR MATTERs ? :-
“Grammar matters not only for how it
transfers power but for its intrinsic beauty and qualities "·
· Grammar is so important for
writing and speaking skills.
· Grammar is a part of
literature and also important for communication.
· It is important to use your
words properly in order to get your point across effectively and while
practicing well basic grammar can also improve your skills.
· Grammar is very helpful in
every field like, school, collages, and job and in public matter also.
· Grammar is bounded many things
like verb, adjective, adverb, speeches, phrases, clauses, prepositions, conjunctions
etc.
" If you can't win an argument ,
correct their grammar instead. "
CURRENT AND FUTURE TRENDS of Grammar :-
HOW TO TEACH GRAMMAR ? :-
There are many various
systems in grammar learning and teaching. The question is how to teach grammar
with technology? Grammar is connected by many basic things like:-
1. Sentence structure
2. Terms of grammar
3. Grammar peeves
4. Effective writing
1.
SENTENCE STRUCTURE :-
Sentence structure is shows the power of grammar and it’s
depend on many things like adjective, verb, noun, adverb and phrases. The
sentence structure should be complex or single.
Grammar
Activities :-
Activities
and practice base tasks make students punctual in grammar and also in language.
With the help of different activities we should teach and learn grammar easily.
" Good grammar is like personal hygiene ,
you can ignore it if you want ,
but don't be surprised when people
draw their conclusions. "
There
are many activities regarding grammar.
Now
let’s talk about Vocabulary.
Vocabulary
:-
Vocabulary
and language teaching is written by Ronald Carter. In this book he talks about
1. Quantitative Questions:-
Quantitative questions start from
investigations into the number of words the learner knows or may need to know
at a particular stage of learning. Issues of frequency, the construction of
core vocabularies, definitions of the size of vocabularies required for
specific tasks such as reading are uppermost.
2. Processing Questions :-
How we process language input has been a main
orientation in second language acquisition research. The paper by Haastrup in
this volume takes vocabulary processing as a starting point, exploring in
particular how a group of learners develop lexical differencing strategies in
their processing of new words.
3. Evaluation Questions :-
In order to test a learner's knowledge of a word, it is necessary to understand
fully what it means to 'KNOW a word' or at least what it means effec7 tively to
process lexical input. In his paper Arnaud investigates, by means of a
'multi-trait – multi - method' procedure, the extent to which separate tests of
vocabulary and grammar are valid.
4. Questions of Difficulty :-
Definitions of 'difficult words' or 'easy
words' are key elements in the question: 'what does it mean to know a word?'
They are bound up with further questions of why some words are easier to recall
than others, why some words can be retained over periods of time while others
are more difficult to retain and what part is played by the specific learning
encounter with a word in processing retention and recall.
5. Developmental Questions :-
These latter papers show an involvement with
questions of pedagogic strategies for vocabulary development which only
underline the vital requirement of knowing more about vocabulary acquisition.
Now
let’s talk about Discourse.
Discourse
:-
Definition of
Discourse :-
The study of Discourse is
the study of language independently of the notion of the sentence. This usually
involves studying longer (spoken and written) text but above all it involves
examining the relationship between a text and the situation in which it occurs,
So even any short notice can be also studied as discourse.
It
is behavioral unit.it is set of utterances which constitute a
recognizable speech event Example a conversation, a joke, a sermon an
interview etc. In its historical and etymological perspective this term is used
in different perspective like,
1
. Verbal communication.
2
. All the fine talks.
3
. Direct or Indirect speech.
4
. To chat.
In order to narrow down the range of possible meanings,
the modern linguists have given different views or definition.
Example :-
Discourse is written as well as spoken: every utterance
assuming a speaker and a hearer as discourse.
(Benevolences, 1971: 208-9)
An individualize group of statements and sometimes as a
regulated practice that counts for a number of statements.
(Foucault, 1972: 80)
The specification with the
term is that ‘discourse must be used with its social purpose’ this is the main
specification of discourse.
Hawthorn (1992) says text may be
non-interactive whereas discourse is interactive .Means to say text in
non-interactive that it only fulfill the function of conveying
some meaning. But discourse is always involved in two ways responses in
some formal or informal conversation and dialogues etc.
Hawthorn (1992) further says ‘discourse is linguistic
communication seen as a transaction between speaker and hearer. While text is
also a linguistics communication (either spoken or written) seen simply as a
message coded in its auditory or visual medium’
We can say Discourse and Text have something in common as
both use the medium of language whether in sign language. Both have some
meaning that they try to convey.
But text has a limited
scope as compare with discourse. In other words we can say discourse is
somewhat broad category in the system of language, and text deals with the
written form of language.
Discourse has different
form as Discourse of advertising, Discourse of Racism and Discourse of Medical
etc. but text has no such forms. Discourse can be found with in text, and not
vice versa. Text has its maximum interpretation in its own self but
discourse has a lot of things above the language level.
The terms Text and Discourse are
often used interchangeably to refer to language
‘Beyond the Sentence’.
A further complication is that the
terms Text Linguistics and Discourse Linguistics
have, respectively become strongly associated with the study of either written
texts or spoken recordings or transcripts.
Conclusion :-
So, with help of different
examples I tried to cover all three terms related to teaching English. In
English teaching method this three terms are very important Grammar, Vocabulary
and Discourse.
