Rizal Technological University

Boni Avenue, Mandaluyong City

College of Education

Implication of Syntax in Pedagogy

Submitted by:

Samson, Angel A.

CED-02-101 P

Nov. 18, 2019

Submitted to:

Prof. Lynn Besa

INTRODUCTION

Language is the most important thing in communication. Without language , we cannot convey
information to other person. One of this is syntax. According to Dijatmoko (2016) syntax is a
branch of linguistics which studies the arrangement of words to form phrases, clauses, and
sentences. Syntax is very important to know because it is related sentence structure A good
sentence structure. A good sentence structure is needed to form meaningful information to another
person. One of the difficulties of learners is producing correct and meaningful sentence. They
cannot produce it because they do not understand the grammar of the sentence and they are lack
of vocabulary. Therefore it will be hard to formulate correct grammatical form. It is important
especially to the young learners to recognized word order and sentence structure, because as the
learners get older and progress with English, it becomes more difficult to correct syntax problems.
In this paper, the importance of Semantics will be discuss.

DISCUSSION

The study of syntax in linguistics is quite challenging since the learner has to know how to put
words in a sentence to make it sensible and avoid ambiguity (Smith, 2015). Many people know the
meanings of many words, but it is difficult to put the words in a sentence that makes grammatical
and logical sense. A sentence is supposed to communicate something to the listeners. Words
arranged in a sentence can give a particular meaning; the same words rearranged can give a
different message to the listeners. To become proficient in a language, syntax is one of the most
important aspects to be considered. Most of the learners of a language have problems in the topic
of syntax than all other topics in the study of any language. Syntax is the learner’s first attempt to
understand creativity in language and its limits. The learner may want to say something like " Want
these I books" which the words should be arranged as, " I want these books" but since it is hard for
him/her to construct the sentence correctly it will just lead to confusion.

Syntax is somewhat interesting, providing of course that one is interested in the study of language
and linguistics. It is interesting how we, as human beings, have such extensive knowledge of words
and their meanings, and how we are able to put them together into grammatical and well-formed
sentences rather than into something that is ill-formed. Let's take another example :

*The woman went down the road

*The bag went down the road

Both of these sentences are grammatical; nevertheless, there is something odd about the second
one. This is where syntax comes in and explains the puzzle. The syntax is a rule that governs the
combination of words in a sentence to construct a correct one. It also connects the combination of
smaller units like phrases, clauses, and small sentences into compound sentences. A learner who
does not have a good mastery of syntax properties of a language might end up constructing
ambiguous sentences that can be confusing to the listener. According to Vadja(2014) The
knowledge of syntax allows learners of a language the liberty to construct different sentences with
the same meaning, and this makes their work easier and enhances their understanding of the
language .

As a future Educator of Language, it is important to have a knowledge in Syntax because we are

the one who will embark knowledge to the students. It is also important to mention that we don't
learn a language by imitating what other people say, but by using the surface structure to construct
a meaning. This can be explained by how learners develop rules for language, they produce
sentences that they have never heard, and although they may be grammatically correct, they are
facing an exception, and that's why they are sometimes wrong at the time of producing language.
It is important to state the role of the teacher. A teacher who understands syntax can help students
to acquire academic language, due to some structures are almost never heard in casual talk, and
only appear in academic texts.

CONCLUSION

Remembering all the rules and applying them is difficult, but once you have learned the rules, start
to understand how the theory actually works, and try to apply it - everything will just fall into place.
In a way, syntax is quite mathematical because you need to apply the rules to almost everything
you do. However, most of the English Majors dont like Math subject, but if you start to comprehend
everything about syntax you absolutely enjoy every single thing about it and will surely be retain
in your mind. According to Dulay & Burt (1997) students retain what they learn when the learning
is associated with strong positive emotion.

As future Educator, Syntax can be used in improving grammar in writing. When the students know
types of words, phrase, and the sentence patterns, they become more knowledgeable on how to
make a good grammatical sentence. It is proved that study the sentence structure in syntax, the
learners can improve their grammar in writing. In the study of a language, syntax skills are very
important since they help the learners to understand the structure of the language in a systematic
and structural way. A learner who does not understand the syntax aspects of a language finds it
difficult to understand the sentences written or spoken in the particular language. Learners who
have a syntax skill deficiency demonstrate inconsistency in the order of words when speaking
(Children’s Speech and Language Services, 2015). Therefore, it is important for learners of a
language to understand the syntax properties before the study of higher aspects of the language; it
will make their understanding much easier.

References

Estrada J. (2016). "Syntax to Teaching". Retrieved from

https://www.scribd.com/doc/299215264/Implications-of-Syntax-in-Teaching
Yulianto O. (2014). "The use of syntax in Teaching". Retrieved from
https://www.academia.edu/6195743/The_Use_of_Syntax_in_Improving_Student
s

Lubin M. (2018). "Simple guide in teaching Syntax" Retrieved from

https://www.fluentu.com/blog/educator-english/esl-syntax/

Smith J. (2016). "What students say about linguistics: why study syntax?". Retrieved
from https://www.llas.ac.uk/resources/paper/3097.html

Anonymous (n. d). "The Importance of Syntax in the Study of a Language". Retrieved
from https://writemydissertation.com/the-importance-of-syntax-in-the-study-of-
a-language/