Mind Over Matter

How To Teach Grammar Grammar is one of the core components of language, and it plays a crucial role in communication, comprehension, and expression. However, there is an ongoing debate among language teachers and researchers about how grammar should be taught in the classroom. Should grammar be taught explicitly, with clear rules and explanations, or implicitly, through exposure and practice? What are the benefits and drawbacks of each approach? How can teachers balance the need for accuracy and fluency in their students' language use? In our academic context, explicit grammar teaching is practised in English language classes from grade one to undergraduate education. I can safely claim that despite repetitive teaching of the same language forms and rules, many students fail to master English language skills. I will explore these questions and discuss the importance of grammar teaching in the current English language teaching pedagogy. I will also provide some practical tips and ex

Contemporary ELT Methods and Approaches  English language teaching (ELT) is a dynamic and evolving field that demands adaptability and innovation to meet learners' and teachers' diverse needs and expectations. ELT faces many challenges and opportunities in Pakistan, where English is widely used for instruction, communication, and business.  However, teaching English as a second or foreign language is highly demanding in the contemporary age when students have various needs and preferences.  How can teachers adapt their methods and approaches to meet the demands of the modern world?   One of the main challenges is integrating modern ELT methods and approaches into the existing teaching practice, which is often influenced by traditional, teacher-centred, and exam-oriented pedagogy.  Here are some suggestions based on current trends and research in English language teaching.  Adopt communicative language teaching.  Communicative language teaching is an approach that emphasises the

Implications of Universal Grammar for Second Language Learning What is Universal Grammar Universal Grammar (UG), a theory by Noam Chomsky, proposes that humans have an innate biological component of the language faculty that facilitates learning human languages. According to Chomsky, there are universal principles and parameters that constrain the variation among languages, and children use these innate constraints to acquire their native language from a limited and often imperfect input.  The different models of UG try to account for how UG works, what it contains, and how it interacts with other factors that influence language acquisition and learning, such as input, the native language, and performance. The Principles and Parameters Model.  This model assumes that UG consists of universal principles that apply to all languages and parameters that can vary across languages. For example, one principle is that every sentence must have a subject, and one parameter is whether the subject