Fostering foreign language grammatical competence. Ways of representing linguistic knowledge

Abstract

This study presents the framework for mastering foreign language grammar within a University curriculum. Fostering learners’ grammatical competence (GC) is identified as a desired effect of grammar acquisition. The premise is advanced that to achieve this target, the teaching and learning process has to take into account multiple factors, which might facilitate enhancing GC. It is hypothesized that developing GC can be efficacious on condition that the teacher considers cognitive profiles of the students and takes into account affective determinants of grammar acquisition. Multiple ways of presenting linguistic knowledge are emphasized in the paper. Specifically, the key idea is that rationally combining various types of linguistic input may turn out conducive to the understanding, conceptualization, and internalization of the subject matter.