THE PRESENT GRAMMAR SYLLABUS AT THE UNIVERSITY: KNOWING OR DOING?

Abstract

he present paper sets as its main objective the elaboration of a pragmatically sensitive grammar-teaching model. The model aims at enabling the intended population of university students of English as a foreign language in Algeria to manage the structure of clause appropriately, i.e., to understand clauses as formal entities and use them appropriately to communicate. This will be taught through a discourse framework, an area of language use which extends its scope of inquiry beyond sentence boundaries. A specially adopted methodology is suggested, presenting learners with relevant discourse and pragmatic input through ad hoc materials and activities, and providing them with instances highlighting features of language use. Once the input is sufficiently provided, students are expected to understand and produce discourse elements and routines on a pragmatic basis.