Hello guys, I have a question for you.
Some people in the internet saying that study grammar rules is not good because babies do not learn to talk like that, what do you think?
I just watched both videos posted here, and these are my thoughts:
Regarding Claudio's video - I think the problem there isn't that students are taught grammar. It's that students don't practice speaking. You can't speak well without grammar, but you also can't speak well without practice.
Regarding Rene's video - I agree with some of this guy's points (when speaking, you don't have time to analyze and construct sentences according to correct grammar), but not his conclusion (therefore, don't study grammar). Unless you are an incredibly gifted learner, you probably won't learn grammar just by listening. As a personal example - I'm studying Korean, and as part of my study I watch Korean TV shows with English subtitles and try to catch as much of the Korean as I can. There have been several grammatical constructions that I've heard but have no idea what they're for; -(으)니까 at the end of a sentence is one example. No matter how many times I hear these, I can't understand what they mean or how to use them. So, I have to study grammar, and when I finally get to that lesson, I'll be excited and think, "I've heard this! Now I know how to use it!" I think, once you've <em>learned</em> the grammar, and you know how to form the constructions and have a general idea of when they should be used, listening to correct grammar and practicing speaking are absolutely important, and that you can't learn to speak fluently without that practice. But listening and speaking alone won't get you there.
I think we are not babies anymore so we are able to learn the grammar, and we should to. :)
To add to Amy's comment, people are much more patient with children's attempts at speaking and speak to them slowly and clearly. They are also more accepting of children's mistakes, so children don't feel like they being judged harshly when they make errors.
I think these people don't understand how foreign language learning is different from first language acquisition. When a baby learns their first language, they just kind of <em>do</em> it. They don't have to think about it, and they don't have anything already in their brain that causes them to make a mistake. But when an older child, teenager, or adult learns a second (or 3rd, 4th, 5th, etc.) language, it's different. You already have words that you know for most everything in your environment, and you already know grammatical patterns that you've practiced your whole life. You either have to successfully forget all of this, or you have to study and memorize the differences.
Also, even if we ignore everything I just said, children take ages to fully learn their first language! Part of that is brain development, but part of it also must be language acquisition. An 8-year-old child cannot communicate on an adult level, even in his or her native language. In fact, about the earliest we can expect children to communicate like adults is around age 13 or 14, maybe 12 if they're especially brilliant. I don't know about you, but I don't have 12 spare years to devote to total-immersion learning in each of my target languages!
So, I'm definitely going to stick to studying grammar - but not so much that I never practice speaking, listening, reading, and writing.
