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Regarding learning a new language, it's important to be able to communicate. Students want to be able to communicate in the language they are learning even if there are some mistakes and that's ok. On the first stages of learning the communicative aspect is most important. Many schools nowadays focus on this aspect with lots of conversation, trying to teach students the same way a native speaker would learn how to speak his/her native language, like a baby would, for example. It may work for a while, it may give them some tools to start communicating. But the fact that they already now one language - at least - makes it more confusing than it is to a baby who doesn't know any languages, because they inevitably will try to do some comparisons to their native language. That's when grammar comes in. It gives them the necessary knowledge and tips to avoid this kind of confusion. From my teaching experience, students would be able to communicate somehow but never exactly right. They needed more grammar input and exercises to help them shape their new language skills. When I would teach them basic things like how to turn a sentence into negative or interrogative forms it would open a new universe of possibilties for them and it was just surprising that they didn't know that already - taking in consideration they were upper intermediate students. Lack of grammar exercises and input would leave them feeling kind of lost, don't knowing exactly how to deal with certain structures, verb tenses and etc. If it may be confusing with grammar, can you imagine without it? Grammar is absolutely necessary to help them learn a new language. Some simple mistakes like having a comma in the wrong place - or not having it at all - may change the meaning of the sentence. And many languages don't even have commas, making it more difficult for them to understand. Therefore, grammar is important so students can express themselves conveying the right meaning. When learning grammar students may face a huge variety of difficulties, depending on what their native language is. The human brain works making comparison - something is because it isn't other things, like a chair is chair because it's not a table or an airplane, for example. On language learning they will try to compare the new language with the one they already now. It's a two-way street, for it can clear some doubts but most of the time it will make the learning process more confusing. For example, spanish and portuguese are very similar languages, so it's very hard for portuguese speakers to speak proper spanish, they will resort to vocabulary, pronunciation and structures that are similar but not right. The more distant the new language is, the better. If an english speaker would try to learn japanese, propably he would do good, because he just can't make comparisons to his native language, meaning he would have the right pronunciation and would not mistake one word for another, regarding vocabulary. Grammar is the basis for learning a new language and using it properly. In conclusion, it's important to get them to communicate but it's important to give them grammar knowledge so they have the tools to better understand the new language and also build their confidence, so they can communicate properly. It will also help the students give a good impression to the person they are communicating with and build their fluency in the new language. That's why it's important to teach grammar.
