At 7:00 p.m. on October 23, 2019, an excellent academic lecture entitled“Significance of Grammar and its Teaching Revisited”was held at School of Foreign Languages. This lecture was delivered by Professor Cheng Xiaotangandpresided over by JiangLing,ViceDean of School of Foreign Languages. Postgraduates, teachers of School of Foreign Languages and some backbone middle schoolteachers attended the lecture withenthusiasm.
At the beginning of lecture, Professor Chengillustrated the importance of grammar learning for second language learnerswith a brief introduction of the book,Grammar for the Soul. Then, he discussed thecontroversial topic, “thegrammaticalcompetence forsecondlanguagelearners” with some instances.He notedthat a second language learner needs a good command of grammar knowledge, logical thinking, conceptual comprehension as well as judgment on time and space. In addition, he pointed out three problems in grammar description and teaching, which resultin SLL’s lack of abilities in grammar learning. Firstly, the explanation of traditional grammar on the meaning of grammatical forms or constructions is not accurate enough. Secondly, the explanation of traditional grammar on the meaning of grammatical forms or constructions is not comprehensive enough. Thirdly, the traditional grammar and grammar teaching attachmore importance to the forms, but neglecting the use of grammar forms or constructions in the context.
At the end of the lecture, Professor Cheng gave detailed answers to the audience’s questions. He concluded that grammarwasan important way to convey meaning, and learnersneededto understandthe way of conveying the grammatical meaning.Besides,teachers should guide students to know how grammar conveysmeaning in some situations, instead offocusing onthe forms of language.
Within the atmosphere of intellectual enthusiasm, this wonderful lecture and humorous language of Professor Cheng impressed the attendees deeply. At the same time, this lecture also deepened their understanding of grammar and significance of grammar teaching.
Cheng Xiaotang, the former Dean of School of Foreign Languages and Literature of Beijing Normal University, is entitled member of The National Advisory Committee on Teaching English Language to Majors in Higher Education under the Ministry of Education, executive director of China English Language Education Association, executive director of China Functional Linguistics Association and deputy president of China Association of Language and Education.(author: Yan Xiaoyu)
