Czech Teachers´ Subjective Theories about Teaching Grammar

Modern subject didactics of the mother tongue postulates that the fundamental goal of teaching the mother tongue is the communication goal and that grammar instruction has a supporting function in the development of communication skills. However, research into teaching processes shows that grammatical-normative and formal-cognitive approaches to the language curriculum predominate to a large extent in practice, and that the teaching grammar is understood as an end in itself, rather than as a means. The causes of this fact are various, but especially from international research it can be concluded that what are known as the subjective theories of teachers (teachers’ beliefs) have a significant influence. Our goal is to explore this phenomenon in the reality of the Czech school. In the article we will present the results of two pilot probes focused on the teacher's concept of the communication-functional approach and on the position of grammar in language education.