Working on grammar at school in L1 education: empirical research across linguistic regions. Introduction to the special issue

Should we teach first language grammar in compulsory schooling at all? Some reflections from the Spanish perspective

“…For some years, the role of grammar teaching has been the subject of intense debate in the international context. While on occasions it has triggered enraged controversies that go beyond the academy (e.g., the case of England, see Cameron 1995), such teaching is considered necessary by studies conducted in a number of countries in which the debate ranges from a general consensus to an increasing need to re-think its role and recover its value in Language Arts (Myhill 2009;Locke 2010;Hudson 2016;Giovanelli & Clayton 2016;Pieniążek & Štěpáník 2016;Boivin, Fontich, Funke, García-Folgado & Myhill 2018;Rattyä, Awramiuk & Fontich 2019). While such studies have been conducted in accordance to country-specific idiosyncrasies, three general ideas are shared: grammar knowledge plays an important role in improving language use (especially in writing), such a role is still underexplored, and there is a need to further unpack the "grammar knowledge / language use" connection.…”

Grammar education at the turn of the millennium. The case of Poland

“…Bain, Fitzgerald & Taylor, 1992;Halliday & Mathiessen, 2004;Milian, 2015;Myhill, 2018;Svalberg, 2012). In any case, the role which grammar contents play in language education is ambiguous, and while some maintain that grammar instruction should be narrowed down, some also argue not to close down the debate, especially with regards to grammar-writing interplay (see for a debate Boivin et al, 2018;Locke, 2010).…”

“…The aim of teaching language was one of the lively discussions then. There was also an international debate on the role of grammar in L1 teaching, and this remains a current dilemma (Boivin et al, 2018;Fontich & Camps, 2014;Locke, 2010;Macken-Horarik et al, 2011;Ribas, Fontich & Guasch, 2014;Spolsky & Hult, 2010).…”

Between Linguistics, Language Education and Acquisition Research. Introduction to the Special Issue Linguistics for Language Teaching and Learning

“…Some researchers claim that there is no significant evidence for the positive effect of grammar instruction on language use (Andrews et al 2006;Graham et al 2012). Others, on the other hand, argue with that view as supported by a weak empirical basis and postulate that teaching grammar can beneficially affect writing competence (Myhill et al 2012;Myhill 2018). However, there is a growing consensus that research into the efficiency of grammar instruction should provide for the effects of a different approach to grammar teaching and the role of a teaching method.…”

“…The present special issue is the outcome of a seminar convened by the University of Białystok and devoted to the question of how linguistic research can assist L1 education, especially in language teaching and learning. On top of that, the volume builds on previous collaborative projects navigated by the researchers working for ARLE(Kerge 2014;Boivin et al 2018; Rättyä et al 2019).The texts collected in this special issue come from four different linguistic circles: Spain, Poland, Portugal and Slovakia. Despite diverse topics and different research perspectives, the idea behind all these studies is one -the improvement of linguistic education with an emphasis on L1.The volume opens with a paper by LUDMILA LIPTÁKOVÁ, who attempts to answer the question of what developmental linguistics can offer to L1 education.…”