Thanks to Bill McCleary for a thoughtful message.
There definitely are big problems with our traditional model of how people
learn -- not just stuff they really already know, such as the grammar of
their language, but also stuff that they really have to be taught, such as
how to read and write and how to do math (at least most of us have to be
taught most math). Psychology is showing us just how different the
learning process is from our ancient model. We will have to change methods
to match the cognitive development we call learning.

There are some big differences between native-speaker and second-language
teaching, though. When teaching a native speaker grammatical analysis and
terminology, we are really teaching them to bring to conscious awareness
rules and definitions they already know. And then there is the whole
complicating mess of correct/incorrect English -- the teaching of grammar
gets fused with social acceptability issues, which muddies the waters
significantly and causes motivation problems. Add to that the inadequacy
of many traditional-grammar rules and definitions, and it's no wonder very
many students just don't learn it, especially students whose home grammars
are different from the standard dialect's grammar.

Second-language-learners don't already know the rules of the language
being taught. It is also less controversial to teach them the standard
dialect of the target language. Also, the rules and definitions in good
ESL grammars are more accurate and therefore more helpful than those in
grammars for native speakers, although no grammar book covers all the
nuances or handles all the exceptions.

As to whether explicit teaching, memorizing, and practice of grammar rules
is helpful for second-language learning -- the jury is still out on that.
Studies have given conflicting results. There are many factors that come
into play in learning a new language. The field of SLA
(second-lg.-acquisition) has spent the last thirty or forty years trying
to sort them out. From my own experience as a learner, it is clear that an
adult can internalize many grammar rules. I studied German for 7 years in
HS and college; then I lived in Germany for two years. When I later
started learning about German linguistics, I found that I had internalized
far more rules than had ever been taught to me in my classes by living
with its speakers. Reading for my classes and in the real German-speaking
world probably also helped. But I also spent hours practicing and
memorizing some of the more difficult points of German grammar, such as
the messy agreement rules for gender, number, and case in noun phrases.

I think there is a place for some explicit rule-study for most learners.
But practice in real communicative situations, as near as you can get to
being in the country of the target languge, should always take precedence
over it -- more time should be spent talking IN the language rather than
ABOUT the language. The younger the learner, the truer this is.

My ESL background is a strong influence on my views of native-speaker
grammar teaching. It's one of the things that makes my work with English
grammar for native speakers so exciting for me.

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Johanna Rubba   Assistant Professor, Linguistics              ~
English Department, California Polytechnic State University   ~
San Luis Obispo, CA 93407                                     ~
Tel. (805)-756-2184     Fax: (805)-756-6374                   ~
E-mail: [log in to unmask]                           ~
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