What about spoken English? How did I learn to pronounce words properly and to speak fluently? By listening and by conversing.
And written English? I wrote. And wrote. And wrote. And I knew that without filling my head with ideas–by reading, listening and conversing with other people–I would have nothing to write about even if I knew ever rule in grammar.
Who cares about terms like conjunction and subjunctive verbs? Are the terms as important as the ability to communicate and communicate well? See, what’s the use of knowing all the rules in grammar if one has nothing to write or talk about? Language is a tool for communicating and communicating is discourse.
I don’t know what the fixation with theoretical education is all about. And it isn’t just with the teaching of English. Theoretical education is the rage–and has been the rage for the past so many decades–even in the teaching of subjects like science. In elementary and high schools, how many go beyond the usual chemistry experiments, the SOP in biology of dissecting frogs, etc. etc.? How many high schools encourage students to apply theoretical physics lessons by making them build simple machines?
The ability to apply knowledge isn’t even just a matter of utilitarian value. It has to do with in-depth understanding. A person who sees a theory at work will understand and remember it far better than by reading about it in textbooks.
I think that the DepEd needs to rethink its concept of education.
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