Pupil preconception as a source of solutions to lingering problems of grammar teaching?

Abstract

The main aim of the paper is to show pupil language preconception as a fundamental part of L1 teaching. This theorisation is compliant with the model of educational reconstruction and constructivist principles in education which are the sources of the modern productive culture in education. Based on concrete examples of grammar matter in Czech, the study demonstrates how research into pupil preconceptions can guide teaching grammar so that it is functional, communication-oriented and cognitively challenging. The results of the presented studies show that even pupils of primary school possess developed preconceptions of language phenomena, which, however, school education often ignores. This fact is later a potential source of various lingering problems and failure of L1 teaching. The study illustrates (a) how it is possible to use language preconceptions as a source for modelling the curriculum of L1 teaching, and (b) how lingering problems of L1 teaching can be linked to the fact that pupils' understanding and thinking about language is mostly neglected.