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Naomi Shin is an Assistant Professor of Spanish and Linguistics at the University of New Mexico. Her two primary areas of research are: 1) Spanish in the United States and how it is shaped by bilingualism and language contact, and 2) the acquisition of Spanish during childhood (among both monolingual and bilingual children).

How do we teach grammar in classes that include both native speakers and second language learners? Challenges arise: native speakers intuitively know grammar rules, but often don’t know formal labels used to describe grammar. In contrast, second-language learners can often cite grammar rules, but rarely do they follow these rules consistently in their speech or writing. This scenario can trigger linguistic insecurity. As Krashen (2000:441) writes: explicitly teaching grammar rules sends “a message to the [native speaker] that he or she does not know his or her own language, while an outsider does.” Linguistic insecurity can lead to language loss because people who feel they don’t speak a language well tend to avoid speaking that language.

The first time I taught Advanced Spanish Grammar at the University of New Mexico, second-language learners breezed through the grammar topics, while native speakers struggled. I applied for a teaching fellowship, which gave me time and support to redesign the class. The solution I chose is to teach about how grammar varies depending on place, social group, and social situation. This new “Spanish Grammar in Society” class highlights differences between textbook rules and how people really speak in their everyday lives, drawing on examples like había versus habían to introduce plural nouns (había/habían muchas sillas en el salón ‘there was/there were many chairs in the room’). Understanding había versus habían requires knowledge of grammar: students need to grasp subject-verb agreement to understand why speakers often say habían muchas sillas even though the textbook rule requires había. Thus, the course covers core grammatical concepts, while also allowing Spanish speakers from diverse communities to understand how and why their own variety might differ from textbook descriptions of grammar. Moreover, the course aims to increase appreciation for all varieties by highlighting the sociopolitical contexts that lead to one variety becoming the so-called ‘standard’. The response so far has been profound and even moving. One student said: “the knowledge I gained in class was not only academic but also moral … I learned … [not to] judge people based on the way they speak ... when people don’t follow textbook rules, that doesn’t mean they don’t know how to speak.” To be sure, the grammar in society class covers fewer grammar rules than traditional approaches do, but the trade-off is clear: the coverage of grammatical concepts is deep, and the lessons about humans and society are even deeper.

Reference

Krashen, S. 2000. Bilingual education, the acquisition of English, and the retention and loss of Spanish. In A. Roca (Ed.), Research on Spanish in the United States: Linguistic issues and challenges, 432-444. Somerville, CA: Cascadilla Press.