Teaching English Grammar in Primary School

Abstract

This paper deals with English grammar and its position in the language teaching process. Grammar was for long taught for its own sake and this approach has done more harm than good because such knowledge of an algebraic kind of accuracy does not give learners the ability to communicate in real life situations. Fluency and accuracy are complementary and interdependent phenomena. Grammar does not work in isolation, but it should be used to preserve semantic relationships and to consider the discoursal factors. A new departure should be seen in which pedagogical grammar with consciousness raising will play an active role in the acquisition of the language. Teaching grammar at primary school begins with mechanistic drill exercises in the first phase and is gradually transformed into cognitive in the third phase. The teaching process should proceed in concentric circles spreading progressively the knowledge of the precedent phases.