Why Is Grammar Important For Children To Learn?

Why Is Grammar Important For Children To Learn? thumbnail

Recently, grammar has been argued to no longer be an important area of study when it comes to English language. Technological aids are being used in classrooms and workplaces worldwide that enable grammar to be easily corrected at the click of a button (without the individual necessarily learning the rules) and there is a greater acceptance of incorrect grammar in professional and academic settings. We’re here to argue why it remains important for children to learn grammar.

The Britannica Dictionary defines grammar as the “rules of a language governing the sounds, words, sentences, and other elements, as well as their combination and interpretation”. In other words, grammar allows us to effectively communicate with others and share information, ideas, thoughts, opinions and arguments clearly.

The correct use of grammar skills is still a very relevant part of English language learning, and this article will explain a few of the many reasons why you should encourage your child to understand and learn grammar concepts (which are still prevalent in US and UK national curricula).

Grammar allows for effective written and verbal communication

Whether your child is writing a new piece of work or trying to verbalize an idea, thought or opinion, knowing correct English grammar will definitely help them to get all their points across effectively. The use of correct grammar rules will ensure that the readers of the piece understand exactly what your child is trying to explain, describe or argue!

This will in turn improve the overall reading experience, as there will be a clear emphasis on the ideas your child discusses in the piece. In other words, using correct grammar results in clear writing.

Whether they’re story telling or analysing factual information, applying correct English grammar principles will allow them to present their thoughts successfully.

Good grammar shows care and interest for the topic at hand

If your child writes adhering to all the right English grammar principles, they implicitly demonstrate interest and care for the topic at hand. It also shows respect and consideration for their readers, including teachers and fellow peers who may be asked to read and provide feedback on their work.

Additionally, good grammar saves time and is a very easy way of making a piece of writing more digestible for whoever is reading it, as there won’t be a need for re-reads or reflection.

When a piece is well written, it instantly suggests that the author is passionate, and knowledgeable about the themes explored, which in turn exudes a sense of confidence and care for the theme of the piece.

Children writing together

Proper grammar creates a good foundation for academic writing

All academic writing should not only be well-informed and well-researched, but also well-structured, well-paced and logical.

Good grammar helps your writing to appear all of the latter, in turn adding credibility to your work.

It’s important to start teaching grammar to young children as soon as their academic journey begins, as grasping grammatical concepts is a big part of english language development and something that they’ll use for the rest of their lives, whether they choose to carry their studies on to college level or decide on a different career path.

Poor grammar can cause misunderstandings and misinterpretations

Failing to apply correct grammar rules to a piece of writing often result in sharing wrong or even opposing ideas, opinions or views, which in turn raise issues depending on the topic at hand. Grammatical errors can lead to a complete misrepresentation of themes explored, and as a result, in missing assignment requirements, failing to touch on recommended points of discussion or as mentioned above, even raising more serious issues depending on the purpose of the written piece.

Teaching grammar ensures that your learner can successfully create a clear text structure with the aim to provide the audience with the best possible reading experience and an understandable succession of points, to reach a logical conclusion based on the arguments explored. This will allow your child to learn how best to plan and prioritize key points and arguments depending on the purpose of each piece of work completed.

Another scenario which highlights the importance of using correct grammar is when we consider the potential different audiences that could read a piece of writing. For example, for native speakers, whose first language is English, it may be easier to look past grammatical errors and still understand the main topic at hand, as well as the argument the author is trying to share with their readers. On the other hand, we must remember that people who use English as their second language may be used to different grammar rules, as foreign languages have completely different rules to follow, including contrasting sentence structures, and different ways to punctuate texts.

In summary, good grammar will make your child’s work accessible to a wider audience and allow more people to enjoy your child’s writing!

Grammar boosts communication skills and academic confidence

Applying correct grammar rules will help your child build academic confidence!

All the points mentioned above show how using correct grammar principles can have a great, positive impact on your child’s writing skills development, and building confidence is just an added “bonus”.

As your child learns about different grammar rules and builds general English grammar skills, they’ll start being mindful of the way they organize their thoughts in both written and verbal forms. This will lead to eloquent and confident communication, which also serves as a great opportunity to work on self-expression and reflection.

Having a strong, informed understanding of how to correctly apply grammar rules to effectively communicate in written form will do wonders for your learner’s academic confidence, especially as they continue building their writing skills and way of thinking and discussing increasingly complex topics. Grammar therefore, continues to play a prominent role in assured written pieces.

Conclusion

Learning and understanding grammar rules as a young learner can be challenging, and even frustrating at times. Here at Night Zookeeper, we’re passionate about eliminating the stress and pressure some children feel toward learning by making reading and writing fantastically fun! Our online reading and writing program focuses on helping children develop core learning skills, and one of the topics we cover is, you guessed it, grammar!

We feature a wide variety of different grammar activities, from fun games to interactive lessons on our fantastically fun reading and writing program! Try it for FREE!

We’d love to hear what effective learning techniques you have found to teach your child all about grammar principles - be sure to share them with us via email or through our social media pages:

Extra Reading:

Walker, R., 2022. To what extent does grammar teaching help children learn to write?. [online] IOE - Faculty of Education and Society. Available at: <https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2022/mar/what-extent-does-grammar-teaching-help-children-learn-write>

FRIEDMAN, J., 2010. Why I Don't Care About Grammar (and Why You Should Stop Worrying). [online] Writer's Digest. Available at: <https://www.writersdigest.com/general/why-i-dont-care-about-grammar-and-why-you-should-stop-worrying>

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