7.1 Special Interest Group on Progressive Approaches to Teaching Grammar, Error, and Effective Writing

Special Interest Group on Progressive Approaches to Teaching Grammar, Error, and Effective Writing - Patricia J. McAlexander

Chair Peter Dow Adams put out 23 chairs for this grammar SIG—and 23 people came. This was a positive sign, for it was a rainy Friday night in New Orleans and the session was literally “off the map”: the Kabacoff Room had not been put in the Conference Center rendering in the CCCC program. Already those attending showed persistence and strong interest in the subject of grammar and error!

Peter began the session by giving some background on attitudes toward teaching grammar: it was, he said, a mantra at 4C’s (based on Hillocks’ research) that teaching grammar did not help students with their writing; he noted that it had, in fact, become almost a stigma to teach grammar. One of the problems with grammar, Peter admitted, was that it was so often intuitive. Defining a sentence as a “complete thought,” for example, was a terrible definition. But he went on that a sea change was about to take place, and that we needed to find approaches to grammar that DO do good, perhaps with assistance from linguists. As an example, he cited Rei Naguchi’s test for a complete sentence: does it complete the sentence “I know that ______”? One participant also brought up the concept of “rhetorical grammar”: that grammar was a set of conventions, not commandments, and that the grammar we choose to use affects our meaning. Another participant pointed out that in the past few decades, the study of grammar and error had been associated mainly with basic writing, but that its study was useful to all levels of writers.

We went around the circle with participants giving their grammar background and interests. There were linguists (Rei Naguchi); high school teachers (who commented that there was little grammar instruction in high school—in fact, little since 4th grade); a director of a writing center interested in how tutors can be trained to be better teachers of grammar; and college teachers interested in such subjects as the use of computers and technology as related to grammar, creative teaching of grammar, grammar for ESL students, and college-level grammar classes.

Peter handed out information on The Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar (www.ateg.org) and a 23-page bibliography, starting with Amari, Nicole, “Style: The New Grammar in Composition Studies,” and ending with Yagoda, Ben, “When You Find an Adjective, Kill It.” Participants left their names, emails, and interests with Peter, who put together a contact list and emailed it out to everyone on it. Anyone interested in having their name added to the list can email Peter at padams2@ccbcmd.edu.

Acknowledging that students themselves want to learn grammar and that we should work on “progressive approaches” to teaching it, the group adjourned at 7:30, promising to keep in touch and meet again next year in San Francisco.