A proposal of reflection on English Grammar Teaching Una propuesta de reflexión sobre la enseñanza de la gramática inglesa

 
 
Figure 1. Comunicative approach 
The reflection requested by the author regarding cross grammar teaching and its 
pertinency in English language learning can be exemplified by means of this house-shaped graph. 
All the skills intertwine at some point of its treatment with the grammatical component. 
This connection should not be left behind for the sake of keeping up the integrality and 
functionality of the English teaching process. 
Viewed from this transversal perspective, grammar is an upright-like post that fastens the 
common linguistic construction in which the skills dwell. They need this column to be safe and 

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feel strong. But the grammatical basis cannot do much by itself; without its language mates, it 
would be of very Iittle use, speechless and unprotected as well. 
So that grammar can feel alive and be helpful, it needs the skills which do have the spoken 
sounds of vowels and consonants or their combination, speech music and wording. 
Uppermost there is the roof whose communicative sufficiency relies on the harmonic 
consistency of all its parts. 
With all intention, the author includes the term understanding, not seen as a key skill but 
as a needful psychological process to accomplish an active communicative act. 
The connection between grammar and the abilities in the English learning process is 
mediated –in the first place- by making a proper dosification of the type of information that is 
going to be presented to the students. “The teacher selects the material from the textbook, modifies 
it as needed, and presents it in such a way that its meaning in language be clear and memorable 
enough.” Acosta (1999). According to this same author, this didactic implication is known as data 
input. 
Secondly, the more the grammatical component and the leading skills are internally 
attached one to the others; bigger will be their relationship and reciprocal complementation. 
Through the fixation stage the students make immediate use of the linguistic material that 
was dealt with. This is the right time for the intensive practice of the linguistic elements comprised 
in the communicative function. In the learning process this is called data intake. 
Thirdly, along with the practice of the linguistic and communicative arsenal, there is also 
a spiral-like progress in communication. Such growth is certain when grammar and skills come 
forth together through a real communicative manifestation. This didactic implication has to do 
with the data output. 
The author considers that in the English language teaching process, the teacher is 
continuously supplying new information due to some reasons to be taken into account while 
teaching such as: the psycho-pedagogical diversity of the group, the students’ learning styles and 
their linguistic curiosity. This is the moment in which the teacher plays his role as a guide, a 
knowledge- provider, and a controller of the teaching activities. 
In this cross-grammar teaching, the teacher should schedule a time space (main minute 
or main moment) as a reminder of the grammatical objective of the unit as he presents or practices 
the linguistic material (phonetical or lexical). Perfect occasion to solidify theory and practice, too.
Acosta, R. (2005) asseverates that” when learning a language not only its grammatical system is 
acquired, but also its system in use, depending on the people, the location, the objectives, the 
modes of communication, among other factors of the context”. 
The layman terms used by this author in the explanation of the linguistic construction 
serve to decode the linguistic gears operating in foreign language learning. 
For any English language learner – no matter the age- is easier to think of how a house is 
built up since it is better sensorially perceived than overwhelming him with a sophisticated 
exposition on the psychological aspects that take part in the learning process. 
Making the students active participants in the construction of this house will commit them 
more profoundly with their own learning. 

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To do the practical exercises the child needs to think how the language is used in 
responding to a given situation; sometimes he would play the role of a constuctor, a teacher, a 
bricklayer; or act out as if he runs into a foreign child. Enríquez O’ & Farrill, I. (2006), just to 
mention some examples. Logically, to succeed in adequatedly representing the communicative 
situations he needs to reveal his imagination, fantasy and creativeness. 
If the teacher keeps in mind the before-stated didactic principles, he will be more likely 
to attain a higher communicative competence as well. 
The author’s experience as a teacher of English in all types of education and teaching 
levels allows him to allege that the observation of the so-called cross grammar is pertinent if it is 
approached like it has been portrayed so far – right in the middle. 
Furthermore, there are other benefits (already seen at Ernesto Guevara Language School) 
of which the students can take advantage, in case the professorship makes this suggestion their 
own: 
1. It raises the students’ linguistic and communicative self-assurance for they feel more secure 
at speaking or writing since grammar-related mistakes or misinterpretations are lesser. It is a 
fact that at some point they might need help regarding lexicon supply at the time of 
speaking about a certain topic, but it would not stop the communicative performance. The 
teacher should encourage the conformation of strategies headed to solving learning tasks, 
vocabulary, linguistic patterns, pronunciation, speaking, listening, reading comprehension 
and writing, as those suggested by Pulido Diaz, A. (2005). 
2. Cross grammar reinforces the principle of the sistemic character of teaching inasmuch as the 
student realizes the intra-connection among all the lessons of the unit, being the 
grammatical bridge the linking element.
Take, for instance, the forms of the verb BE in present (am, is, are); if the learner fixes 
this pattern, then automatically he will be able to use it in context through practice.
This linguistic habit is indispensable to efficiently produce conversational- like situations 
concerning these communicative functions: greeting, asking and telling the time, asking and 
giving personal information (name, age, telephone number), nationalities, occupations, and some 
others. 
A: How are you? 
B: I am fine. 
A: How is your brother Frank? 
B: He is O.K. 
A: What time is it? 
B: It is 10.05 a.m. 
A: What is your name? 
B: My name is……………. 
I am………….. 
A: What are their jobs? 
B: They are carpenters. 
Every time the teacher gives a lesson, he would dwell on the grammatical point of the 
unit. 

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Therefore, this is not a matter of adding isolated contents, one unplugged from the others; 
but integrating those linguistic units towards a common objective: the mastery of the 
communicative activity. 
It is said that grammar learning is not the end in English- language teaching; however, if 
it is not consciously taught- at least through the skills- then it will hardly become the means that 
is meant to be. 
3. The cross-grammar approach stands out the learners` role as leading actors of their self- 
learning performance for they turn themselves into the active doers of the speaking and 
writing tasks. 
A comparative study (grammar only) on the learning outcome in the students of fourth 
and first level from the Language School in Guisa shows how the grammatical mastery is 
gradually on the increase in both the oral and the written component.