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10.21.16
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Teaching Grammar(s)
Purpose
As
Micciche reminds us, you can anticipate sitting on a plane with a stranger
who asks what you do for a living, and after you explain that you are
an English teacher, the person will inevitably respond, "I guess I better
watch my grammar." This situation demonstrates the public perception that
the teaching of English, especially writing, is conflated with the teaching
of grammara
perception that has roots in Current Traditional
Rhetoric pedagogy. But what exactly do we mean when we evoke the term
"grammar"? innate grammatical knowledge? grammatical etiquette?
stylistics? And what should weor better yet, can weteach in
the composition classroom? Today we will define grammar and discuss what can do, cannot do, and should do as writing instructors.
Before
Class
Activity:
Evaluating Student Writing
You will
be given a sample of student writing with the assignment. Each of you
will be given specific context about how you should perceive the piece
of writing.
- This
writing sample is a rough draft.
- This
writing sample is a final draft for the first paper of the semester.
- This
writing sample is a final draft for the last paper of the semester.
Consider
your assigned context and evaluate the paper accordingly. Although you will have the same task as others, you will be working individually. Then, using the readings, develop a teaching strategy that you will use to teach this student and students like this student how to revise their papers. You will have
thirty minutes. Be prepared to discuss the decisions that you made and why
you made them.
Discussion:
What to do
We will first discuss Hartwell's Five Grammars
- Grammar 1: " Inherent" grammar–"set of patterns in which the words of a langauge are arranged"
- Grammar 2: Descriptive grammar–"description, analysis, and formulation of formal langauge patterns"
- Grammar 3: Prescriptive Grammar–What we call "usage." Also referred to as "linguistic etiquitte."
- Grammar 4: "The grammars used in the schools" (ex. "Never start a sentence with 'Because.'")
- Grammar 5: Rhetorical Grammar–"Grammatical terms used in the interest of teaching prose style"
The
discussion today
will address the following questions:
- How is
the way we address oral grammar different than how we address
- Hartwell,
in 1985, argues that the grammar debate is over? What is your opinion?
Justify your response. written
grammar?
- How, according to Micciche, is grammar rhetorical?
- How does
issues of grammar correspond with the rhetorical appeals?
- Why are
non-standard productions of English a problem for the academy?
- What
is Matsuda's
argument? What is Troutman's argument? How are they approaching the
issue of language diversity similarly and differently?
- How do
the issues that Matsuda and Troutman describe speak to the discussion of teaching grammar rhetorically
(Miccichi) and the different definitions of grammar (Hartwell)?
- How
have you decided to address grammar in the writing course you designed?
How might Micciche, Matsuda and/or Troutman talk about your pedagogy?
- What
questions or comments do you have about these articles?
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