The pendulum swings back? April 18, 2007

The title of this article caught my eye right away: “Grammar gets more respect” by Dennis M. Clausen. Grammar? Respect? Splendid.

As it turns out, I like the article a lot, so I’m going to go ahead and copy/paste the whole thing.

I suppose it was only a matter of time before a university professor who writes a column would start talking about English grammar. For readers who want to run for the exits at the mere mention of the word, this is your first opportunity.

For years, most of my students at the University of San Diego indicated that they studied very little grammar in their local K-12 classes. In recent years, however, informal surveys of my students reveal that instruction in grammar is back in vogue in our local schools. My son, a fifth grader, is studying so much grammar that I gave him one of my college handbooks to use as a reference tool.

The San Diego County Office of Education certainly believes grammar is an essential tool in the teaching of English composition. Searching the SDCOE’s Web site for the word “grammar” reveals numerous programs to assist teachers and students who are struggling with the rules of English grammar. The SDCOE’s Web site, which reflects the courses and subjects that are taught in our local schools, is reassuring to those of us who still believe grammar plays an important role in the writing and editing process.

History has witnessed some wild swings in the way grammar is taught. The generations prior to 1960 were thoroughly indoctrinated in the rules of grammar. The 1960s and 1970s saw a 180-degree swing in the other direction, as many educators argued that grammar should not be taught at all. Instead, they believed students would naturally learn the principles of grammar if they were required to read and write extensively.

Today, the pendulum is swinging back in the other direction again. The new SAT has a multiple-choice section on grammar that will require K-12 teachers to teach the subject at all grade levels. These educators will seldom win popularity contests. They may, however, be the difference between a student receiving a letter of acceptance or rejection from a major university.

There was a time when some of my students referred to me —- none too affectionately, I am afraid —- as the “grammar god” because of my relentless insistence that their writing had to respect the basic rules of English grammar. I have mellowed somewhat. I have seen too many writers with a little knowledge of English grammar lord it over others who occasionally violate some obscure grammatical rule. On the other hand, I am loath to join the ranks of those who insist instruction in grammar serves no useful purpose.

Students do not need to memorize 300 pages of grammar to be effective writers, but they do need to understand some basic grammatical principles to edit their papers more effectively if they are to succeed in our universities and in life.

Grammar is merely a set of conventions that have evolved over the years so writers can communicate their ideas more clearly and forcefully. Without these conventions, traffic on the information highway would move as slowly and chaotically as traffic on our city streets if we removed all signs and traffic lights.

Nuff said!

I agree that I had little grammar instruction… after 8th grade anyway. After I started high school I learned that the official grammar policy was that the students should be able to figure out grammar themselves based on the examples they encounter in books and magazines. This was a surprise to me, who had had proper sentence structure instruction for years, and a shock to my mother and her family full of schoolteachers. Not teach grammar? Barbarians.

So I was pleased (though once again, surprised), when I read that grammar is making an educational comeback. (I haven’t noticed such a thing.) This could be a bad sign, however, when it combines with the topic that many of my classmates’ blogs deal with: STANDARDIZED TESTING. Shudder. If grammar is showing up on tests, then it will have to be taught, right? And so it begins.

“On the other hand, I am loath to join the ranks of those who insist instruction in grammar serves no useful purpose.”… so am I. I think that Mr. Clausen is right in stating that “Students do not need to memorize 300 pages of grammar to be effective writers, but they do need to understand some basic grammatical principles to edit their papers more effectively if they are to succeed in our universities and in life.”

BASIC GRAMMATICAL PRINCIPLES are a great compromise. Not only will students’ writing be a little more polished (because written and spoken English do not work the same way), but they will have a head start in their foreign language classes, too.