Teachers and students either seem to love grammar or loathe it… why do you think that is?

I think it depends on what kind of brain you’ve got. If you have a more analytical approach to things, then you probably enjoy learning grammar. But I think most people recognize that it is the building blocks of language. Sometimes teachers and students may not feel like doing it, but, like medicine, you know it does you good.

There has been a lot of press coverage about the decline in native speakers’ use of English grammar. Do you think it’s a fair criticism?

The teacher side of me wants to address the confusion between less and fewer and the case of disappearing adverbs, but language is a living thing and there will always be developments. I suppose, as with everything, it’s where we draw the line about what is acceptable.

Technology in the language classroom is a hot topic, and it seems that every new ELT publication has a CD-Rom or DVD attached to it. What’s your opinion on this?

Technology in the classroom can be great fun, provided that it is simple to use and not presented as the answer to all teaching or learning problems. We have to bear in mind that as learners become more used to dealing with technology outside the classroom, they expect to find it used within the classroom environment too. It brings variety and can change the pace of a lesson, so it’s good news really.

　I think that CD-Roms can help with study outside the classroom, and since learners can work at their own pace, it can help to take the pressure off them to perform to the standards of their fellow students. In my opinion it should be another tool to help students learn, and not the answer to all teaching or learning problems.

　

　 Helen Naylor has been teaching English to adults for over 30 years, and is a Cambridge ESOL examiner.