These are fundamental issues that need to be addressed and updated on a regular basis as those of us in the profession seek to impart the knowledge and skills required, not least because living languages are in a constant state of flux and, in the case of English in particular, evolving at an ever-increasing rate. It was with anticipated pleasure, therefore, that I began reading veteran BBC broadcaster John Humphrys’ book “Beyond Words” (Hodder & Stoughton, 2006), the sequel to his “Lost For Words.” The subheading for the more recent of the two is “How Language Reveals the Way We Live Now.” Humphrys expands on this in his introduction by saying: “Language is more than a tool for expressing ourselves. It acts as a mirror to our world, reflecting back to us the way we live. Our choice of language and the new words we create reveal an enormous amount about how we lead our lives today and how society is changing.”The grammer dilemma
One of the dilemmas that has faced teachers of English for some considerable time relates to the teaching of grammar. This has applied not only in the world of teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) but historically from the decision made in the UK in the 1970s to abandon the formal teaching of grammar to students in English classes in England. My generation was the first not to have been “burdened” with formal grammar lessons. Humphrys summarizes what his first book on language was about: “In ‘Lost For Words’ I was not saying that language should never change [because of course it always does] but that grammar matters. One of the daftest things we ever did to our schools was to stop teaching it to children. Academics who should have known better came up with the absurd notion that rules somehow confined children, restricted their imagination. I argued that the opposite is true. Understanding the basic workings of grammar -- even if you don’t observe all the rules to the letter -- can liberate. If you don’t know how to construct a sentence, how can you express yourself?”
In my general introduction to the advanced level courses, I always ask my students this question: “What constitutes fluency in a foreign language and how do you know when you have got it?” I always get a variety of fairly predictable answers, especially from Turkish students, used, as they are, to rigorous and repetitive teaching methods in their schools and universities: correct and appropriate vocabulary; correct use of grammar (aha!); pronunciation; near native listening and reading skills; being able to speak without hesitating and internally translating everything; and so on. All of these are true, but I surprise them by repeating what one linguist once said: fluency in a language is knowing how and when to break the rules. Rather like driving a car, for example, to drive safely yet be able to have some fun and use different techniques requires a full knowledge of the rules in the first place so that breaking them doesn’t involve breaking your car, yourself or, God forbid, someone else. The same idea is revealed in comedy. One of the hardest things to understand and to carry off in a foreign language is telling jokes. Because verbal comedy has always depended on playing with words, meaning, context and syntax, comedy quintessentially demands a rock-solid foundation in the structural grammar and vocabulary of the language used. Jokes translate very badly from one language to another for this very reason.
Many of the expats working in Turkey are teaching English in state schools, private schools, universities or private language schools. Most of them have studied at university but not necessarily English and have taken a TEFL or CELTA course to obtain a certificate to teach English as a foreign language. These courses range from a few hours online, to a mixed online and real teacher training to an intensive month-long program in situ with real students in real classroom situations. Pedagogical skills and techniques aside, the majority of those I have worked with admit that their weakest link is their knowledge and use of grammar. Most of the questions I was asked by staff related to grammar, although the Turkish teachers generally outshone their foreign colleagues by their in-depth understanding of grammar.
So does grammar, which includes punctuation, really matter? Professor David Crystal (www.davidcrystal.com) is considered to be the expert’s expert in linguistics, with more than a hundred books on the subject to his name. He believes that so long as we are intelligible we can be as cavalier as we like with the rules and conventions of language, including punctuation. In a sense, this may be true. Here is an example from a former head of English in a comprehensive school: “Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deson’t mttaer in waht order the ltteers in a word are, the only iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sittl raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the human mind deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the word as a wlohe. Amzanig huh?” Try that on your students! The head of English explains, however, that it is the knowledge of the rules that makes understanding of this piece possible: “What is not made clear, of course, is that in order to decipher the jumble, your own mind has to have a semblance of order in the first place. This is exactly why we need rules and conventions.” (Quoted by Humphrys, ibid p. 26)
Punctuation matters
To observers and users of English, such as Humphrys, punctuation also matters. Most English teachers are, I imagine, familiar with Lynne Truss’ best-seller on punctuation “Eats, Shoots and Leaves” (Profile Books, 2003). The title comes from the following story: “A panda walks into a cafe. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun a fires two shots in the air. ‘Why?’ asked the confused waiter, as the panda makes towards the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder. ‘I’m a panda,’ he says, at the door. ‘Look it up.’ The waiter turns to the relevant entry and, sure enough, finds an explanation. ‘Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves’.” You get the point.
If our students are to have any hope of progressing to the Nirvana of fluency they so crave, then we are going to have to ensure that we are fully up-to-speed on the rules and conventions of modern English grammar and are able to explain and demonstrate them in as comprehensible, accessible and enjoyable way as possible. Many of you may be like me insofar as you learnt grammar not from your English lessons in school or university but by studying other languages. In my case it was Latin and French, which were taught in a traditional manner and thus forced us to come to terms with the nuts and bolts of the language. In Latin we did exercises called parsing which involved deconstructing sentences into their individual grammatical parts. Turkish teachers of English do this and know how to pass the knowledge on to their students. How many of us could say the same? And Turkish students appreciate this. It answers their perennial question, “Why?” Let’s see if we can get it write.
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