Personal Opinion on Universal Grammar and Functional Grammar theories.

 Personal Opinion on Universal Grammar and Functional Grammar Theories


Berry (2021, p. 19) defines grammar as, "the system of rules that enables users of a language to relate linguistic form to meaning."

In analysing the validity of the two theories of  grammar and their application to language learning, I have come to the following conclusions. I believe that language learning is not a one-size-fits-all notion. Each learner is an individual, with different experiences and backgrounds, needs, personalities, cultural and social values, genders and learning styles. These factors influence how an individual learns. I believe that the inevitable ongoing changing nature of society and culture, alters and creates potential complexities in language learning and teaching.  I will discuss how the two theories, Universal Grammar and Functional Grammar, can be used in second language learning.

One potential issue that is created in the area of language learning are personal pronouns. Personal pronouns can be used to develop a relationship between the speaker and listener, writer and reader such as using “we”. They can be plural such as “they” or singular such as “I”. Personal pronouns are used to refer to the person speaking first person, being spoken to second person spoken about, third person. With social change, the complexity of the usage of personal pronouns must be acknowledged, such as with the LGBTQIA+ usage of they/them. The meaning of the personal pronouns is constantly changing. This shows the changing nature of society/culture and the need for the teaching of grammar to be able to adapt to the changes. This change is more easily catered for in functional grammar, where the social needs of the individual and their needs in daily life are considered. Personal pronouns are an issue with the UG view however.

The essential purpose of language is to communicate with others and to understand the world. The functional approach to language views the language choices available to create different meanings, which vary according to the social context. It is useful to have the grammatical categories provided by the UG approach, such as noun groups and prefixes.  As Berry (2021, p. 34) notes however, UG's "use of formulae, make it - unashamedly - inaccessible;" and the theory was in fact, "never meant to be applied to language teaching." It is then essential that this knowledge is applied using the functional approach, to form different meanings, according to the social situation. The functional approach views how language is used in a variety of contexts in our daily lives.  Language learners need to learn how to use language for a range of social circumstances, when speaking, writing and reading. 

In my teaching experience, I  use activities such as shared and guided reading, collaborative writing and brainstorming. I incorporate the functional grammar approach when I implement the teaching cycle of  scaffolding for student learning, increasingly encouraging student independence. I teach grammar in the context of a whole text, not out of context and label grammatical features as they arise. The aspects of grammar that I work on depends on the learner's needs and if the learner is experiencing difficulty in that area. 

This approach to grammar teaching, provides the learner with a more meaningful, individualised and successful experience in their English language acquisition journey.

Berry, R. (2021). Doing English grammar: Theory, description and practice. Cambridge University Press.


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