Courseless: How To Master Grammar In Any Language

By Jazmin Quaynor on Unsplash.

In all of language learning, one word incites fear, disgust and exasperated sighs; one word that causes learners to steer clear of some languages; one word that dominates student study sessions: Grammar. Throughout my experience in the classroom, I've noticed that grammar is the greatest hurdle for students - regardless of language. It's what teachers spend the most time explaining, what self-learners put of learning. It's a stumbling block.

But it doesn't have to be.


Grammar has become the bogeyman of second language acquisition for one reason:

Learners believe it's full of new, difficult concepts that they will never master.

Which is ridiculous. Because we use grammar everyday in our first language. And while terms and elements of grammar may differ from language to language, the functions are generally the same.

When we convey information, we include certain things. You may remember it from writing class, the five question words: Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How.

Who - the subject, noun

What - the action, verb When - time, adverb

Where - place, object or prepositional phrase

Why - reason, subordinate clause

How - manner, adverb

Where the Problems Start

• Students have low confidence in their ability to learn grammar, because they have forgotten what the terminology means. They don't consciously know the grammar in their native language. Which means before any second language instruction, they should freshen up on what their language includes. If a student doesn't know what a direct object is, they will have problems learning concepts like the accusative case.
• New terms are intimidating. I know learning the case system was terrible for me at first. Because I didn't understand the function of the case system. I didn't connect it to what we have in English. So words like "accusative" and "dative" were completely alien to me.
• We forget that grammar is function, an equation. Think of vocabulary as raw material. You can use it, but not to its full potential. If you polish it up with grammar, if you insert these variables into the equation, you'll be understood. 

Be as relaxed as this traveller photographed
by Steven Lewis when learning grammar.

How To Build Confidence

• Review the grammar of your native tongue. That way the new grammar doesn't seem so foreign.
• Create a grammar journal to make notes as you go along. Or better yet, keep charts. that list functions of each element, so you can use a guide as you go.
• Before you start practicing something, make sure you understand the function. What is that element's purpose. Otherwise you won't be able to use it outside of workbook exercises.
• Practice diagramming sentences. Start small. But this will help with vocabulary building as well as grammar. And the best part is you can do this in the beginning. Even just labeling what each part of the sentence does, without having the specific names, can help you in the long run.
• There are always exceptions but they only prove the rule.

Finally, don't be intimidated by grammar. Even native speakers make mistakes. What's important is to practice. Grammar can only help you in achieving fluency.

And if you need a place to start, why not try out my course on Udemy: How to Master the Grammar of Any Language  It's free for a limited time - coupon Freelang2 - so what do you have to lose?