A RETROSPECTIVE EVALUATION OF GRAMMAR & VOCABULARY TEACHING PRACTICES FOR MORE EFFECTIVE FOREIGN LANGUAGE EDUCATION

Abstract

As grammar was once perceived to be the essence of language instruction, for many years foreign language teachers have emphasized grammar rules in their English lessons. This practice was first challenged by text linguists who claimed that the context, the mind or achieving meaning are significant factors that need to be considered in language teaching. The second challenge came from researchers who conducted corpus studies. Their findings, based on the analysis of large sizes of corpora, started the ongoing ‘grammar’ or ‘lexis’ debate which is still valid today. This study investigates these two opposing views by providing a historical review of grammar and vocabulary teaching practices in foreign language education. By sharing different views related to the ‘grammar over lexis’ or ‘lexis over grammar’ dilemma, this reflective review discusses that grammar and vocabulary teaching should have equal importance in language classes in light of recent developments in foreign language education. To this end, this article discusses that in this era undertaking a lexico-grammatical approach, which blends grammar and vocabulary teaching with holistic attitudes, is a prerequisite for evidence-based contemporary foreign language teaching practices.