Leading by example… April 17, 2007

I have to admit that this article made me laugh a little. It is from allafrica.com, a source that collects articles from all over the African continent. In this location, the content is in English, though it is a secondary language in many African countries. This particular article deals with the problems encountered by English language learners. “Mauritius: What You Need to Succeed in English Language” by Raj Paneken, outlines the “three essentials” that are needed.

My amusement stems from the way in which it is written. Here is the description of the “three essentials” of learning the English language:

The downward trend in English language is attributable to three factors, namely grammar errors, usage of correct tenses and vocabulary spiced with orthography. With an anaemic vocabulary along with a sketchy knowledge of grammar and verbs, the student writes but gropingly.

The emphasis placed on vocabulary, spelling, tenses, etc. becomes humorous when the article is read; quite apart from the few instances of incorrect verb tenses that I found, the lexical choices are often just off the mark. One of my personal favorite characteristics of English is the ginormous vocabulary we have accumulated from centuries of exposure to other languages. This allows for a specificity and precision of meaning that would be lost if we did not have so many choices. It has gotten so that some perfectly good words have lost their respectability. The word “good,” a member of the English language since the early days of Old English, was not allowed in any formal writing done for one of my high school English teachers, because she felt that there were synonyms that have taken on other nuances and connotations that we could use instead. The narrowing of borrowed words has led to a decreased usefulness for poor “good.”

The large vocabulary is intimidating for non-native speakers, and can lead to interesting usage and interpretation, as seen in the article I referenced. Of course, this could be imagined on my part, because I also thought that Eragon, by Christopher Paulini, is an example of slightly ill-chosen vocabulary to the point of the book being showy and overwritten. My reading circle group members did not all agree with my diagnosis.

Actually, I think that Eragon is a good example, because it was written by such a young author. No matter how precocious he was, or how much of a prodigy, there is no escaping the fact that he wrote the book at age 15. Fifteen year old writers are something we are all anticipating dealing with, and I think Eragon reflects an immaturity that comes with limited writing experience. Experience is a key factor in developing “good” writing styles, (in fact, it was the only factor in my high school, where we were given zero grammar and little writing instruction). This is alluded to in the article, though the author seems to think that many of these writing habits cannot be acquired from exposure to good examples.

The learning of any language demands a solid notion of its grammar if we want to write the language in question with ease, fluency and assurance. Grammar cannot be learnt by mere reading. Knowledge of grammar acquired in this way is always shaky and sketchy since no explanation is given why a sentence is framed in this way or that or why a particular word or tense is used in the sentence building, etc. Grammar has to be learnt and understood.

Reading will not tell us why “Due” should not be used at the beginning of a sentence or why in a sentence like: “Paul as well as Susan and Mary is coming to the party” the verb is singular when there are three persons in the sentence. Or again why in a sentence like: “This is one of the worst accidents that have happened for some time” the verb takes a plural form when many would be tempted to consider the complement in the main clause to write down the verb in the subordinate clause.

Though many of these habits will, in fact, come from writing, the article is correct in pointing out that the WHY is not explained unless one has grammar instruction. I think it is embarrassing that people who have learned English as a second language will sometimes have a better grasp on the workings of English than a native speaker will. To me, this is reason enough to study grammar. Most of my friends in high school said they understood English much better after studying a foreign language, because they learned the vocabulary and logic of grammar.

Returning to my Eragon example, I think that Paulini shows a tendency of the imitation that comes in adolescent writing. The somewhat pretentious vocabulary is an exercise in sounding important and learned, while the subject is a decent and interesting imitation of a popular genre in YA lit- fantasy. Though the style is by no means perfected, it shows a knowledge of the way English works.

By reading YA lit that adolescents find interesting (such as fantasy stories) and writing often as practice, the practical aspects of grammar can be perfected. Technically, I think that we should still include grammar instruction in English classes, but my blog is having a difficult time being convincing of that.