The Role of Grammar in the Communicative Approach to Second Language Teaching

There have been arguments and counter arguments among the ELT practitioners regarding the role of grammar in teaching English as a second language with the aim of developing communicative competence of the second language learners. This paper investigates the role of grammar in communicative language teaching which aims broadly to apply the theoretical perspective of the Communicative Approach by making communicative competence the goal of language teaching and by acknowledging the interdependence of language and communication. The objective of this study is to provide valuable insight to the ELT practitioners regarding the place of grammar in the communicative approach. Firstly, the theoretical aspects of Grammar, the communicative approach to second language teaching and communicative competence put forward by different scholars in the field of second language teaching are discussed in detail. Secondly, the research methodology discusses the research tools and the number of respondents to collect data for this study. Finally, the data were collected and analyzed to derive findings of the study. The findings have revealed that the teaching grammar plays a vital role in developing communicative competence of the second language learners. At the same time, the study has pointed out that teaching grammar is not only the aspect of second language and the sole focus of second language teaching. Instead, it should be taught along with the language skills to achieve the communicative competence of the second language learners.