Week 6: Comment

First, in response to your question about language competence, my EFL background and
experience convince me that EFL students often lack all the four communicative competence
(grammatical, sociolinguistic, discourse, and strategic) because the national English
curriculum is grammar-oriented, and it neglects communicative goal and real-world use of
grammatical rules. As a result, students easily forget many grammatical rules even thought
they learn these rules continually from grade 6 through grade 12, even year 1 and 2 at
university.
Do two students master the same grammatical rules and competence if they spend the same
period of time for learning and learn the same grammar curriculum? Not necessarily yes.
Because in addition to motivation, there are many other things, for instance, lots of practice
exercises and different language activities.
Second, I agree with you that there are many advantages of using games in grammar
teaching and learning. Games are motivating, they also promote students’ interaction,
improve students’ language acquisition and as a result they increase students’ achievement
in terms of ability of communication, knowledge of vocabulary, and other language skills.

Doan, N. T. M., & Tuan, L. T. (2010). Teaching English grammar through games.
Studies in Literature and Language, 1(7), 61-76.