I believe that I will always have to work at learning grammar. Before I came to college, I did not have structured grammar education. As a result, I am a twenty-two-year-old who must constantly refer back to grammar guidelines. Just as Milner and Milner state in a grammar section in Bridging English, I believe that "grammar...means different things to different people" (79). Bill Gribin attempts to classify grammar into three useful parts: Grammar 1 (our unconscious knowledge of grammar), Grammar 2 (our conscious knowledge of grammar), and Grammar 3 (our concern for proper usage). I agree with Milner and Milner that too often people, when debating grammar instruction, leave out one of these essential grammar components. After all, every student will be exposed to different language environments and there is a time and a place for particular words. I think it is important for English teachers to keep these different grammars in mind as they teach students.
Because I do not have experience yet with grammar instruction in the classroom, it is hard to say which method for teaching grammar is most effective. I do think that some of Burnette's strategies (presented in "Daily Grammar Practice") work through grammar concepts as students are encouraged to write daily. I like her idea of sentence diagramming. I diagrammed several sentences in college courses and, even though they were not the most entertaining exercises, they really helped me learn grammar. A necessary evil if you will. I believe that diagramming sentences and instruction that doesn't isolate individual parts of speech make it easier for students to learn grammar in a more whole sense, as they see how unique words and phrases connect. I agree with Barton's view that "connecting written, read, heard, and spoken language" (86) is significant teaching grammar to students. As an English teacher, I will not always be able to make grammar lessons exciting, but I know that, if I work hard, I can make them meaningful.
1 comment:
You bring up a good point about not being previously "well educated" in grammar. It seems that the grammar philosophy of today is to teach by using good grammar . . . and we all know that's impossible to do 24/7. I honestly feel like grammar was phased out of education because no one knows where to put it. The 11th grade students I observe daily could use a grammar lesson everyday. My cooperating teacher commented that high school teachers assume middle school teachers took care of it and middle school teachers assume that elementary school teachers took care of it and elementary school teachers think that the students will get those basics later in school. Some people don't know when to teach it, others don't know how. The seasoned teachers of today had grammar teachers that drilled exercises and rules into their head, resulting in the word 'grammar' sending chills up their spine.
So when should we teach grammar? I almost think it should be something that it done every year, building on what is already known. I am a student, like you, that has little to no instruction on grammar. This little piece of missing education makes me nervous to answer questions in front of a classroom of students.
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