When you were in school, “grammar” instruction most likely only included sentence structure, word formation (roots, prefixes, suffixes, etc.), and punctuation. And you probably had the idea pushed on you by teachers that some grammar is “good” and some is…well, not. You might even be one of the MANY people out there thinking “I hate grammar!”

Guess what? Grammar can be beautiful, and there is so much more to it than what most of us were taught in school! This post is a primer on how language scientists think about, study and teach about grammar.

What even IS grammar?

Language scientists define grammar as the set of patterns predictably followed by speakers when they use language to communicate. We ALL use grammar all the time, usually without thinking about it – our brains unconsciously store the patterns of sounds, words, sentences, meanings and social interaction in the languages we know fluently. All languages and dialects have their own grammar, and all grammars include some common features.

Grammar is multifaceted

Language scientists generally recognize five levels of grammar that are common to all human languages and dialects:

• Phonology – the rules for how speech sounds combine to form morphemes and words
• Morphology – the rules for how word segments or morphemes (you know these as roots, prefixes, suffixes, irregular verb forms, etc.) combine to form words
• Syntax – the rules for how words combine to form phrases and sentences
• Semantics – the rules for how meaning is assigned to and interpreted from words, phrases and sentences
• Pragmatics – the rules for how words, sentences, meanings and paralinguistic behaviors like facial expression and body language combine to form acts of social communication

So those word-building and sentence structure worksheets most of us did as kids? They only gave us a small glimpse into the range of language patterns we were expected to know. Semantics sometimes gets mentioned in high school literature studies where nuances of meaning are part of the analysis, and pragmatics shows up in special ed settings, but sadly, these two very important facets of grammar are left out of most mainstream ELA curricula. Imagine how much less awkward middle school could have been for all of us if we had been taught strategies for making sense of complex meanings and social communication!

Grammar is universal and equal

Humans are a social species. We survive by working together. That means people everywhere need to have tools to communicate with each other. We all need ways to signal when we need things, to get things we need but don’t have, to accurately interpret what other people are communicating to us, and to engage in social interaction with people in our communities. Language enables us to do all of these things, and knowledge of grammar enables us to use language.

Every language and dialect have a grammar that includes the five levels listed above. And one central assumption of language science is that every dialect’s grammar is equally as good as every other dialect’s grammar at empowering its speakers to communicate effectively. In other words, there’s no such thing as “bad” grammar in language science!

Grammar is DEscriptive and contextual, not PREscriptive and absolute

In language science, grammar “rules” serve the same function that scientific “laws” serve in the physical sciences – they describe and predict patterns of language use in a specific context. In other words, grammar rules explain how people DO use language, they don’t prescribe how people SHOULD use language.

The work of language science involves observing, analyzing and drawing conclusions about how language is used by people to communicate in different contexts. In a linguistics research study, this might look like collecting recordings of people from different regions and analyzing differences in pronunciation, sentence structure or nuances of meaning. In an elementary school classroom, it might look like asking students to observe, describe and compare how language forms are used similarly and differently at home and at school and then draw conclusions about ways to use language in different settings.

Language scientists don’t use terms like “good/bad,” “correct/incorrect” or “proper/improper” when talking about grammar. You’re probably thinking, “What?!” Bear with me for a minute.

In language science, things we say or write are said to be “grammatical” if they follow the expected patterns of the dialect in which they’re used, and “ungrammatical” if they do not. Whether an utterance is grammatical or not depends on context – for example, texting the letters “brb” to a friend to indicate that you’re about to be unavailable for a short time is perfectly grammatical as a texting convention, but if you needed to excuse yourself momentarily from a business meeting or a job interview, it certainly wouldn’t be grammatical to exclaim, “Bee arr bee!”

By helping our students (and ourselves) understand what constitutes effective language use in different contexts, we can help them (and us!) to become mindful and fluent communicators in all settings, from texting their friends to writing an A+ essay. And by eliminating the idea that someone’s grammar is “good” if it matches standardized academic English and “bad” if it doesn’t, we can create a more inclusive and welcoming learning environment for students from diverse language backgrounds.

Teaching about grammar in Language Science vs. in ELA

English teachers teach grammar. Language science teachers teach about grammar using science. In other words, we teach scientific methods and analysis techniques for the observation and interpretation of how people use language. The result is the same – our students come away from class (hopefully) able to explain the grammar patterns used in a particular language context; the methods of getting there, however, are usually very different.

Memorizing grammar rules and then demonstrating their application on worksheets and tests has traditionally been the core of grammar instruction in American English language arts classes. I went to a progressive school in the 80’s and 90’s that emphasized diversity and inclusion, and most of the grammar instruction in my English classes nevertheless followed this paradigm. To my school’s credit, there was definitely acknowledgement that we were learning the grammar rules for formal academic English and that other grammar patterns are used in other contexts; however, the rote learning component was still centered, and we didn’t hear or read much representation of other dialects.

Language science, in contrast, centers the process of inquiry and equips learners with scientific tools and strategies to analyze what they observe about language use across contexts. For example, instead of just memorizing and demonstrating the rules for how to use linking verbs in academic English, students might examine their own knowledge of how the copula (a fancy language science word for “linking verb”) is used in academic English and compare that to how they do or don’t hear it used in other dialects of English. Teachers, if you’re fortunate enough to have students in your class who speak Arabic or use ASL, I highly recommend that you invite them to share how the copula works (or doesn’t) in those languages for comparison. Which brings me to the next point….

Using language science tools and methods to do collaborative inquiry as a team in your classroom can have powerful results! Humans are generally fluent in the phonology, morphology and syntax of our native dialects by the time we’re five years old, and by then we also have the solid beginnings of a grasp of semantic and pragmatic patterns in our language community, even if we won’t fully master them until much later – this means students at all grade levels arrive in class with a wealth of language data stored in their heads. Centering students’ internal expert knowledge of their own native grammar(s) as the starting point for group inquiry about language patterns creates a host of opportunities for analysis, reflection and community building. Encouraging students to get curious and ask questions about how they and others use language and then to explore the answers to those questions scientifically not only helps build inquiry and language skills, but also fosters a learning environment where everyone’s knowledge and ideas have value.