Wednesday, 7 August 2013 - 5:56 PM EDT

While I pride myself on speaking and writing 'well' (i.e. the Queen's English, so to speak), determining how and when to teach grammar in an English classroom is a very difficult question. One doesn't want to discourage any local or cultural dialects the students might have, since this could be taken as dismissive of that entire culture. Expressing oneself in standard English, however, is a trait that many colleges and future employers look for in their applicants, a fact that makes teachers desperately want to teach grammar. Case in point: last night I corrected the grammar of the contestants, choreographers, and judges on "So You Think You Can Dance" several times.

Another problem I and my contemporaries could encounter is that, speaking from my personal experience, grammar was never explicitly taught to us during our school days. In spite of this paucity of formal instruction, I learned what was 'right' by speaking and listening to my parents, good-quality television and radio shows, reading extensively, learning a foreign language, and the occasional notes left by my teachers in the margins of my essays. Thus, I often know what's 'right', but I can't explain why to my students, which is utterly useless to them and makes me very apprehensive about attempting to teach grammar outright.

Thus, although as English majors we are desperate to have our students learn to express themselves in perfect conventional English, it is often a daunting prospect. Not only does one have to balance the concerns expressed above, but one also has to consider the amount of time one has to cover the material in the year's curriculum and how one can make learning grammar 'fun' for students (a difficult task). It is a question with no easy answer, but hopefully the best English teachers will find a happy medium that will work for their classes. 

Monday, 12 August 2013 - 10:52 AM EDT

In my experience with grammar, I have a good sense of what is “correct” based on what looks right, but I struggle with the actual definitions of grammatical terminology. That is one of my biggest insecurities about becoming an English teacher because I am worried that I will blank and forget the definition of a participle or an infinitive. I may know how to use the proper mechanics of writing (mostly), but I have a hard time articulating what I have done. One of my favorite things about the paper writing process is editing and proofreading. I love checking for a consistent verb tense and ensuring that I put the punctuation on the correct side of quotation marks. But I haven’t done a sentence diagramming activity since I was probably in middle school. I don’t even know if educators still teach that skill.

My experience with grammar originates from middle school language arts classes. I also think that learning a foreign language helps with understanding grammar because if we cannot conjugate verbs in English, then it will be much more difficult to learn that skill in another language. When I need to use a reference, I frequently turn to the Purdue OWL. For definitions on terminology, I use “The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms” (Murphin and Ray). As a general reference, I use “The Little, Brown Essential Handbook: Second Custom Edition for New York University” (Jane E. Aaron).

It is important to teach grammar in the English classroom, but I think that it is more useful to know how to apply the skills than it is to simply define them. I don’t think we can expect our students to become strong writers if we don’t teach grammar. Even though I’m sure both students and teachers alike would rather not take class time to go over grammar, it is still important. In addition to learning grammar to become stronger writers, students need to understand standard grammatical forms in order to see how it can be manipulated with creative writing. 

Monday, 12 August 2013 - 1:56 PM EDT

My relationship with grammar is a tumultuous one.  I enjoy basic standards that are often forgotten by many when speaking, but recognized in writing (sometimes).  However, punctuation often scares and confuses me when writing.  Although I appreciate the art of striving for what’s known as being “grammatically correct,” I’m left with mixed emotions as sentences become more complex and I’m left wondering how anyone can be comfortable with punctuation.

Grammar was always treated as a separate entity of sorts when taught in the classroom.  Up until high school, when grammar became a “correct these circled mistakes in your revision” type of lesson, grammar was considered language arts, while reading was considered English.  Grammar lessons were relatively boring as a story was generally ignored.  Mechanics, in the end, have come to be a sarcastic “I’m smarter than you” joke when talking with friends and a stereotype that if a friend doesn’t know something, I will.

Grammar is a necessary skill and should be taught at the elementary and early secondary level, but should not go much further from there.  Once students display a grasp of grammar that is sufficient enough to communicate (in all forms) effectively the focus should remain on maintaining that understanding.

Tuesday, 13 August 2013 - 1:54 PM EDT

Tuesday, 13 August 2013 - 2:34 PM EDT

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I have an interesting relationship with grammar. In short I absolutely hate having to think about it, but take pride in not having to think about it. When I was in high school, a rather sub par private prep school in northeast Connecticut, our English classes were very philosophical, theoretical, and lofty. We sat at round tables and discussed the literature we read. It was lovely, and was definitely an experience that instilled in me my love of reading. However, there was a serious black hole of content material that was ignored. We wrote persuasive and creative essays that were graded for both content and grammar, but we were never given grammar lessons. (Note: I also went to a private middle school, which was very subpar, an institution that also ignored grammar)

            This meant that I technically learned some grammar through the editing process, but those scavenged skills proved insufficient when I arrived in college as a declared English major. I think my distaste for grammar began at this point. Up until then I had written pretty well based solely on my own exposure to good writing through reading, and my editorial work on my own papers. Then suddenly, believing I was a great writer, I arrived at college and received papers back with obscene red marker corrections. It turned out that I knew very little about grammar.

            What resulted was a sort of baptism by fire that saw me cramming in grammar knowledge so that I could keep up. What also resulted from this experience was a distaste for and almost embarrassment about my lack skills. I was oddly self-conscious about it.

            Though my abilities improved and my paper grades increased, I still don’t feel like I have a great handle on the mechanics of grammar. I believe that my grammar use is correct but I fear having to relearn the grammar specifics to teach it effectively. Though I enjoyed my experiences in English class as a whole, and though I want to emulate aspects of that teaching style, I plan to build in grammar skills as well. 

Tuesday, 13 August 2013 - 4:31 PM EDT

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I appreciate good grammar, however, pretty much anything strict and regimented is bothersome to me.  Traveling through 12 years of Catholic School grammar was often placed above content in the ELA classroom.  As result, I shied away from it.  Somehow it was synthesized into my writing abilities regardless of my lack of appreciation for it, undoubtedly through writing an innumerable amount of papers.  I appreciate possessing the ability to write using well-structured grammar.  I feel that grammar is a necessary component of efficient print communication and therefore extremely valuable, especially in a day and age where texting, emailing, and blogging are key elements to everyday communication.  I am tormented by grammar in speech.  I appreciate cultural variance in language and the unique nature of an individual’s audible form in communication.  I enjoy accents and slang.  I appreciate the improvisational elements of the spoken word, such as the emotional influence on tone, word choice and pronunciation.    

I like the idea that there exists a “Verbal Ecosystem” in language (Burke, 257).  This identifies language as a living, breathing, and evolving part of humankind.  Why not look at language in a “how does it work?” way rather than a “is it correct?” way (Burke, 257).  In the English classroom grammar must be practiced in order to help our students learn to become the most efficient communicators possible.  I do believe that in order to communicate with precision, an individual must have a foundation of grammatical comprehension. Grammar should be taught to work in conjunction with style and rhetoric in order to produce productive communication.   

Tuesday, 13 August 2013 - 7:29 PM EDT

According to the Common Core, grammar should be taught in every subject area; however, something tells me that English will be the only place where direct grammar instruction will take place. This isn’t such a bad thing because, for the most part, grammar is learned through osmosis anway—students will naturally pick up grammar conventions by reading and writing often. In his chapter on grammar, Burke says that students should “read read read” if they want to improve their grammar skills. Explicit and direct grammar instruction is simply not as effective as learning grammar through exposure to exemplars.

            Having said that, explicit grammar instruction becomes necessary when students are struggling with recurring grammatical errors in their own writing. In order to correct a recurring problem students and teachers must both have a deep understanding of content-specific vocabulary and grammatical conventions in order to identify, discuss, and fix the problem. For example, telling a student not to split infinitives will not have any effect on the student if he (or she) doesn’t know what an infinitive is. Conversely, telling that same student to write something the teacher’s way “just because” will be equally ineffective. Teachers must give students the vocabulary and understanding necessary to discuss the complexities of grammar and style conventions when they arise.

            Where does my opinion on grammar originate? I have almost no in-depth understanding of grammar, which scares me. Let me clarify—I lack the vocabulary to explain to students what I have taught myself about grammar by reading and writing. Right now I am the teacher that will tell you to do things my way “because that’s the way you do it”. Of course, this is something that I want to improve upon for the benefit of my students, but my main point here is that I did not receive any comprehensive grammar instruction in my own high school or higher education. I would like to make sure that my students leave high school with a better understanding of grammar conventions than I did. But that begs the question: if I got this far without specific grammar knowledge and understanding . . . is it that important to learn anyway?

Tuesday, 13 August 2013 - 8:15 PM EDT

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Unfortunately, the last time I formerly learned grammar was in grade 5 in a completely different country, Jamaica.  I actually have fond memories of learning grammar.   I like understanding how things work and studying grammar was like looking under hood of a car and having someone point out the parts, how they connect and function together to help the car move.   Also, while growing up English though familiar was also foreign to me because no one around me strictly spoke it.  English, true English was spoken on the news, by politician and by teachers predominately during the hours of school.  So, I was always aware of English’s foreignness.  It came with its own rules and culture that I had to be indoctrinated in to truly become a citizen of it.   Therefore, I always thought learning grammar was a necessary part of that process.

However, after migrating to the United States, I have never had any formal instruction of grammar again.  My classmates and I accessed information about grammar through grammar books which in retrospect functioned more like tourist guides that gave us survival tips to get by without the opportunity to reach proficiency.  I also remember teachers recommending that we consult a grammar book to answer any questions or to correct our writings, as if developing an innate knowledge of the mechanics of English wasn’t necessary or a priority.  Grammar was treated like a foreign country that we occasionally visited could always navigate with a book.

So although I am somewhat confident in my knowledge of grammar, that confidence is aligned with the understanding that there things that I always need consult a book for.  I even find myself checking a grammar book to reassure myself of what I already know.   This shouldn’t be the case and ELA education could do a lot to make students more proficient in grammar.

I think that some teachers take for granted that students aren’t going to learn the mechanics of English through osmosis.   It is not just sitting out there in the ether waiting to be absorbed.  Most students will only hear Standard English in the classroom even though they are not considered ELL students, and the students that hear Standard English at home also need to be taught the mechanics of the language formally.  Grammar has to be an integral part of the English classroom if it is the language students are going to be taught in English and expected to represent what they have learned in English. 

Tuesday, 13 August 2013 - 9:51 PM EDT

Coming from a tri-lingual individual, grammar (in any language) scares me to death. I always try to sound as intelligent as humanly possible and one of my biggest fears is miscongugating or making up words. You caught me in class last week by making up a tense for the word "run". I think my opnion of grammas has always come from my love of language. In that regard, it is the same as someone's love of music or science; at times, mistakes are made but it does not lesson your attempts to understand the concept wholly. Grammar absolutely has a place in the classroom. It is important for students to understand the constructs of it in order to produce fluid responses. Grammar is crucial in any type of writing. It takes a mastery of it in order to break its conventions -- Cormac McCarthy is a flawless example of this with his complete disregard for sentence structure. Unfortunately, fragments and run-on sentences do not lend themselves very well to solid academic writing.