The role of grammar in language teaching

Seminar paper from the year 2006 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: 1,7, University of Paderborn, language: English, abstract: Learning a new language always implies learning its grammar. In what depth should then teaching grammar be part of the teaching unit and what important aspects of the Second Language Acquisition should be considered by teachers in the classroom? There is also the question how the students in general acquire grammatical structures. This paper first gives an introduction into the history of language teaching which is followed by an overview of different aspects of the Second Language Acquisition and an example for a study on the Teachability Hypothesis. I chose this study because it was a subject of interest in the seminar 'Issues in Applied Linguistics' and was the topic my group worked on for a presentation. To show how grammar teaching is understood in the classroom, a summary of the different options in language teaching is given afterwards. The conclusion at the end not only serves as a summary of the paper but also sums up the answers to the questions asked above and shows the problems behind them. It is followed by a bibliography and an appendix.