ELT 224

• The grammar of our first language is learnt naturally and implicitly through interactions with other speakers and from reading.
• Explicit knowledge of grammar is very important, as it gives us more conscious control and choice in our language.
• Building this knowledge is best achieved through a focus on grammar within the teaching of reading, writing and speaking.
• Once pupils are familiar with a grammatical concept, they should be encouraged to apply and explore this concept in the grammar of their own speech and writing and to note where it is used by others.
• Young pupils use more complex language in speech than in writing, and teachers should build on this, aiming for a smooth transition to sophisticated writing.
• Tacit knowledge is intuitive and not tangible or verbalisable, for example, recognising from a facial expression that someone is anxious.
• Explicit knowledge is codified, recordable, communicable and verbalisable, for example, knowing how to change a tyre on a car.
• Tacit grammatical knowledge is the most important for being an effective language user and we acquire substantial tacit knowledge as we learn to speak, for example, young children who over-learn past tense in English and say ‘we goed’ instead of ‘we went’.
• Explicit grammatical knowledge is accessible and usable grammatical knowledge, for example, an adjective provides more information about a noun.
• Explicit knowledge is ‘learning’ knowledge: it can be used to develop greater understanding, to solve problems, to share thinking, making it pedagogically important.
• Prescriptivist theory of a grammar-writing relationship argues for the  importance of grammar in securing correctness in written expression: how  language should be used.A descriptivist theory of a grammar-writing relationship argues for the  importance of investigating how grammar is used in different texts and  contexts: how language is used.
• A prescriptivist theory of a grammar-writing relationship argues for the  importance of grammar in securing correctness in written expression: how  language should be used.
• A descriptivist theory of a grammar-writing relationship argues for the  importance of investigating how grammar is used in different texts and  contexts: how language is used.