HOW TO DO GRAMMAR WITHOUT BETRAYING THE D ISCOURSE - THE CASE OF GRAMMAR EXERCISES

Grammatical exercises rarely, if ever, take into account the discourse value of the utterances they induce the learners to produce. This may help explain why so many students simply cannot transfer to real usag e the structures they have systematically practiced. The first part of this article consists in briefly clarifying the various functions tha t can be attributed to grammar in second language education. Two probl ems are then examined concerning the relationship between discourse an d grammar within grammatical exercises and, with the help of concrete examples, suggestions are offered to better integrate these two compon ents of every communicative act.