Is it important to study grammar when learning a language?

Last week I met a new student. She is American and has studied Italian for a year, achieving a B1 level. But when she speaks, her level is that of a beginner.

It brought me back to the time when I moved to Brighton six years ago. I had studied English at school for five years, and my English level was intermediate, but when I got there the only thing I knew how to say was: “Hi, my name is Maria!”

Therefore, I asked myself: “How important is grammar when studying a language?”

When I teach, my greatest wish is to make my students to acquire a language naturally, as if they were living in a foreign country. This is because I have experienced first-hand that this is the best way to acquire a language.

Yes, I said acquire, not learn. Do you know the difference?

When you learn something, it goes into short-term memory, and after some time it will be forgotten. When you acquire something, it stays in your memory for the rest of your life!

Think of a child when he starts to speak: this is a natural language acquisition process and the language will remain in his mind forever.

Another example? Those of you who have lived abroad for some time, as I have, know that the same thing happens in this situation.

Let’s go back to the question about grammar for a moment: do children study grammar before they start speaking? No! So why should we?

And this does not only apply to speaking, but also to reading. Think about it. Do you focus on grammar when you read a text written in a foreign language? I bet you don’t. Instead, your focus is on understanding the meaning of the words and the general sense of the sentence.

I recently discovered that one of my students learned Italian by reading: he had to read Italian texts for his dissertation. Once again, grammar came later!

Ok, actually some grammar is necessary when learning a language, but for a secondary reason: grammar gives the student confidence. It is an anchor that he can grab when he feels insecure – I considered it as such myself!

But if I think back to my first year in Brighton, I went from beginner to advanced level studying very little grammar. I would go to my teacher Mandy’s class, we would talk (we talked a lot!) and then she would give me exercises to do at home and I would do them half an hour before our next meeting. And anyone who knows me knows that’s how it is! I always do things at the last minute if I can! As, I think, the vast majority of people do.

But when Mandy and I talked, I learned so much: vocabulary, expressions, idioms.

That’s why, when I’m with my students, I prefer to talk, to let them talk, answering their questions about grammar as we go along, or letting them discover it little by little, a grammar “in a nutshell”, so to speak.

Another thing I learned from my teacher is to make mistakes. When I made mistakes, Mandy didn’t always correct me, and I do the same with my students. Imagine if, when you were little, your parents corrected you every five minutes!

Constant corrections block the communication process, whether they come from the teacher or the student, and the latter is something that happens a lot in my lessons.

Why? Because students often fix their attention on grammar, and they want the sentence to come out perfect.

But remember this: it’s much better to say an imperfect sentence and be understood than to get stuck trying to say a perfect sentence!

What about you? What importance do you give to grammar when studying a language?