Grammar ,
Vocabulary and Discourse
Name: Pritiba B. Gohil
Roll No. : 21
Course
No. 12 – A: English Language Teaching
– 1
Topic
:- Grammar, Vocabulary and Discourse
M.A. English Semester - 3
Batch: 2014 - 2016
Department of English
Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar
University
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.
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 of 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:-
·
Sentence structure ,
·
Terms of grammar ,
·
Grammar peeves ,
·
Effective writing .
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 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.
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
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.
