ABSTRACT |
This study stemmed out as the result of general weaknesses detected in
the teaching of grammar within the specific context of the English
Philology curriculum at the University of Santiago de Compostela. A
survey was conducted to find out the views English majors had regarding
grammar teaching with the purpose of implementing the existing
programme. The results obtained indicate that students see value in the
study of grammar although they favour more practical, descriptive and
functional approaches rather than theoretical, prescriptive and formal
perspectives to language. Learners' general assessment of grammar
courses in the English Philology curriculum is quite positive although
the time allocated for these seminars is regarded as rather short.
Syntax is the students' preferred area of grammar and self-discovering
activities are rated positively; however, they question the relevance of
grammatical terminology and the usefulness of contrastive analysis
across languages. The paper concludes by suggesting the need of
exploring new approaches to the teaching of grammar which will be based
on the use of new technologies, such as the Internet, and general and
learner corpora.
|
