Ahmed Sahloub, Egypt
I think at this stage students should not be hindered while speaking and generating their ideas by focusing on grammar. It's important to encourage fluency and let them try to communicate to convey their message. Grammar can have its own time to concentrate on but not when teaching speaking.

Amelia, Argentina
When teaching speaking to intermediate students, who are supposed to have a good knowwledge of grammatical structures, we give more emphasis to vocabulary, introducing a wide range of topics and situations for discussions. We encourage communication, rather than grammatical accuracy. Grammar points can be explained at a later stage.

Dick Bird
The answer is, of course, is that there is no answer. Sometimes grammar is more important, sometimes vocabulary is more important, sometimes they are equally important, sometimes neither is important (and when they were only halfway up they were neither up nor down). What is important is to analyse very carefully what you think your students need (pragmatically and linguistically), analyse the language they require to realise those needs, and to think very carefully about how you are going to teach it.

Wendy, Italy
If students have reached intermediate level, they should have learnt most of the basic grammar necessary for everyday conversation; at this stage it is better to concentrate on vocabulary by introducing a wide variety of situations and topics for discussion, and encouraging students to read and listen as much as possible. Additional grammar points can be dealt with as and when they crop up. However, below intermediate level, I usually concentrate on basic grammar, as the foundation on which to build - in my experience it's much more difficult to correct bad habits than to teach good ones right from the start.

Ahmed, Egypt
I think at this stage students should not be hindered while speaking and generating their ideas by focusing on grammar. It's important to encourage fluency and let them try to communicate to convey their message. Grammar can have its own time to concentrate on but not when teaching speaking.

Richard
About 10% of my English class is grammar. The learners are there to speak English not to,"grammar", English.
Just ask the adult students!

Elisabeth Boeck
For learners with little understanding (and, as a consequence, appreciation) of grammar I support the wholistic approach, i.e. teaching chunks of sentences, idioms, phrases rather than explicitly drilling grammar structures. I think there is a chance that in such a way they manage to produce authentic sounding English rather than artificial textbook English. And grammar is taught 'through the backdoor' as it were, it being incorporated in those lexical items already. They take it on board unwittingly.

Alexei, Manila
I remain vehement in my uncompromising stand on the equal importance of grammar and vocabulary in learning the English language.

The only way to maximize a person's proficiency in English is to use a two-pronged approach: emphasizing both grammar and vocabulary. Continuous practice and refinement on these two dimensions of the language will ultimately lead to eloquence.

I consider this as something of the utmost importance because I have noticed that most of us Filipinos have begun to exhibit a serious deterioration in terms of our proficiency in English. This is most disquieting because it shows that we are losing our competitive advantage in this globalized world.


Debrah Hill
If the students are intermediate then they should be able to form the spoken word gramatically correct, as they should already have a knowledge of grammatical structures. However, if the students are below intermediate then I would concentrate more on the vocabulary as the grammar can be built upon at a later stage, and without the vocab there is no conversation. It's also important to remember that students who are learning English as an additional language may not have the confidence to try again if they keep being corrected.

Francisco Sanchez, Spain
When students ask me what is more important grammar or vocabulary, I always put them the building metaphor. Grammar is the cement and vocabulary are the bricks of the building. Without one or another the building cannot be built but remember that a basic grammar is normally enough to carry out a simple conversation whereas without vocabulary you cannot build anything. A sound basic grammar plus a rich vocabulary is the key to success.

Anon
I give more emphasis to vocabulary is how I wanted to vote!! I think that students need vocab with emphasis on pronounciation so that even if the phrase is badly structered the student can be understood. Its like "skimming", no need to understand every word in the text. I spend a lot of time on correct pronounciation in my classes with tongue teasers etc.