The chapter begins with a brief discussion of attitudes towards grammar among the various constituencies concerned with it, before going on to establish the relevance of grammar teaching by confronting two trends that in the past fifty years have challenged its relevance: firstly, the movement towards a more communicative approach to language teaching, and secondly, research into second language acquisition (which claimed that what learners learnt was not what teachers taught). While results from the latter initially supported the case against grammar, the modern consensus is that formal instruction can be helpful given the right circumstances. As regards the former, it is pointed out that despite its unpopularity in educational circles, grammar has continued to play a central role in many classrooms. The chapter concludes with a discussion of an area which has not been in dispute: the need for teacher grammatical awareness.