Do we even need to formally learn it?

There are many opinions within the language learning community on the part of teachers and learners regarding grammar.

Some people believe that a grammar-based approach is key to efficiently learning a language. They claim that a thorough grammar study is necessary for understanding the structure of the language. They insist that without understanding grammar, a language would be a jumble of words difficult to decipher. Some go as far as to say that they first need to have a good grasp of grammar even before starting learning the language. I call this a purely analytical approach. Continue reading »