Studenci germanistyki o roli gramatyki w mówieniu - czyli : dlaczego poznanie poglądów uczących się jest do osiągnięcia sukcesu koniecznie potrzebne

Over the last three decades beliefs about language learning have been the subject of many theoretical and empirical publications. This paper aims to present the views of Polish students of German studies and, in particular, their opinions about the relationship between the knowledge of grammar and the ability to speak German as foreign language. The data for the study were collected by means of dialogue diaries. The results seem to indicate that grammar is traditionally perceived as an external set of rules, patterns for sentence building rather than part of language in general, not as a source of making meaning, but as a formal system. Thinking about grammar during speaking can be helpful, but it can also impede it. According to the students, using grammar unconsciously, i.e. without thinking about grammar rules, is a sign of growing communicative competence. In the discussion part, an attempt is made to identify factors determining such beliefs and experiences, and new prospects for investigating them in an educational context are suggested.