"Grammar
is the greatest joy in life, don't you find?"
--Lemony
Snicket, The Wide Window
Do you remember the third book
in the Series of Unfortunate Events series,
when Aunt Josephine used grammar as a secret code to tell the Baudelaire children
where she was hiding? She knew that "correct" grammar was powerful,
but also that there could be uses and reasons for "incorrect" grammar as well. This idea--that there is a
time and place for every type of grammar--is a lot of what we'll be talking
about in class this year. Hopefully, by the end of second semester, we'll all
be comfortable enough with the times and places for different types of grammar
that we'll never commit a faux pas like the one that convinces Count Olaf to
throw Aunt Josephine into Lake Lachrymose!
Grammar instruction has a long
history, and a lot of that history has been spent dictating "correct"
and "incorrect" grammar (Dean 1). However, thinking about grammar
in these terms implicitly assumes that there is a "right" and a
"wrong" in grammar--and that one way of speaking is superior to other
ways of speaking. However, we know from our everyday lives that this isn't
necessarily true. Think about the way that you speak when you're talking to
your grandmother or other important elders in your life. Now, think about the
way you speak when you're texting or sending a Snapchat to one of your friends.
These grammars are probably significantly different, but both of them get the
job done. Would you want to use your texting grammar with your grandmother or
your grandma-speaking grammar in your texts? Probably not. Each discourse is
appropriate for different times and reasons. The question is, which grammar is
best for which contexts?
These questions get at the root
of the ideas of functional grammar, and this is what we'll spend a lot of time
thinking about this year. Functional grammar is a way of looking at language
that says that the types of language used are determined by context. Thus, if
you decide to use informal speech when texting, you are making that decision
based on your perception of what would make sense for your audience and medium.
We will focus on looking at language, always asking what is appropriate for the
current situation. Because of this, our ways of thinking about grammar and
language will be influenced by our perceptions of what is "effective"
and "ineffective," not what is "right" and "wrong."
Language, after all, is far too complex to have one right and one wrong way to
go about using it. With these different types of languages, though, it's common
to think that one type of language is implicitly better than others; for
instance, like Standard English is better than Southern Accented English or Californian
English. We'll try to get at the heart of these types of stereotypes through
our class texts 1984 and Things Fall Apart.
With these works, we'll talk about the ways that language is used to control
and define peoples. What does it mean to have a "standard," and what
does that take away from others? What are the strengths of a "nonstandard"
language? How does it allow us to express ourselves or our ideas differently?
We'll also discuss the ways that we, as a society, intrinsically make
assumptions about people based on the ways that they speak. Like Mr. Ramsey's class,
studied in Jill Ewing Flynn's article, "The Language of Power: Beyond the Grammar Workbook," we'll have discussions about
these languages, making sure to treat each way of speaking as what it is--a
strategy that people use in legitimate ways to communicate with each other. No version of English is inherently better than any other
(Flynn 2).
Of course, there's a legitimate
caveat to this approach to grammar. It's the fact that you all need to
take--and pass--a state-mandated test at the end of next year. That test is
going to ask you the "correct" ways to phrase and punctuate ideas, so
we'll also have to deal quite heavily with standard grammar expectations. However,
as a class, we are going to want to be very careful about the ways that we talk
about standard grammar. After all, knowing standard English is a very useful
skill to know, even beyond a public school testing context. Standard English is
the language you will want to use when you are applying to colleges or jobs
someday, and it's the language that people will expect you to use when you are
in professional contexts for the rest of your life. However, I pledge to do my
best to make sure that we aren't learning this grammar in stiff ways that feel
inapplicable, because, as Bonnie Mary Warne points out in her article
"Teaching Conventions in a State-Mandated Testing Context," trying to
teach grammar when it means nothing to students doesn't do anything useful. It
is only when students want to learn skills that they will internalize them
(Warne 25). To learn Standard English in interesting, useful ways, we'll
approach it from the standpoints of readers and writers. However, to make sure
that we are ready for standardized testing next year, we'll also do practice drills and
spend some time looking at the ways they format their questions on the test.
Much of our strategies and views
on looking at grammar from a reading and writing perspective will be drawn by
the principles of Harry R. Noden in his book Image Grammar: Teaching Grammar as Part of the Writing Process. Because
we are looking at grammar in a functional way--thinking about the ways that we
can benefit from using different types and dialects of English to be effective
or ineffective--we'll also think about grammar and punctuation as a tool that
we use to communicate something about ourselves. Noden writes a lot about how
different grammatical styles add a certain flavor to a work: for instance, how
run-ons and fragments add variety and a sense of wildness to a piece that
perfect, "grammatically correct" sentences can't quite equal (107). Similarly, we'll talk about how sentence structure contributes to the
meaning of a piece. When we are learning about correct comma usage in lists for
the standardized test, we'll talk about the benefits and disadvantages of the Oxford comma,
and when we're learning about passive and active voice, we'll discuss instances
where both constructions are appropriate. Much of our discussion will be fueled
either by what we read or what we write. While we make our way through our
class texts, we will come across opportunities to use the talents of the
authors to understand the benefits of different grammatical structures. We also,
as Weaver, McNally, and Moerman advocate in their article "To Grammar or
Not to Grammar: That is Not the
Question!", will repunctuate
paragraphs in these works with sentence-combining exercises to gain ideas of
how small changes in writing can make large differences in tone or meaning. We
may sometimes find that we like our versions better than the professional
author's, and that's okay. This will help us gain perspective in to different
voices and styles (Weaver, McNally, and Moerman 6). In addition to approaching grammar from a literature
standpoint, we will also utilize a writing approach with a personal portfolio
project.
Our writing assignments will be
spread throughout the year, and we will approach them with plenty of time for significant
planning, writing, and editing. For planning, we will frequently use writing
prompts from Image Grammar to try and unlock new and inspiring tones,
ideas, and descriptions. Then, we will prewrite, testing out four to five
specific grammatical constructions. In
the editing stage, it will be up to you to choose the constructions that you
like and the ones that you think create the most effective piece of writing.
You may use nonstandard English in these pieces, but I will ask you to defend
your choices in our writing conferences.
In addition to these more
creative pieces, we will also dip our feet in texts from other disciplines,
like technical writing, scientific writing, and newspaper writing. In each of
these cases, we will study a professional document from these fields, discuss
the specific attributes of its grammar, and then attempt to mimic it with our
own subjects. This will hopefully give you some experience writing in other
genres, as well as help you see how the audience and purpose makes a difference
in what type of writing you choose to use in your work.
In the end, I hope that these
methods of approaching grammar will help you start thinking about grammar as a
tool that can be manipulated, not a set list of rules that must be followed.
While we will spend quite a bit of time on Standard English, as it will help
you in your professional and scholarly lives, we will also look at other
varieties of English and gain familiarity with the appropriate times to use
them. You will always have the freedom to use nonstandard forms of English in
your creative writing samples, as long as it is done effectively and you can
make a good argument for your decisions. If you can come out of this class able
to make effective grammatical decisions for a variety of different reasons and
purposes, and feel like you have control over your words and can express
yourself in the way you like, then this year will have been very successful by
my standards. Just remember: if you can determine when to use different types of grammar effectively for different purposes, then you'll have a leg up on Aunt Josephine--and hopefully won't be thrown to the leeches in Lake Lachrymose.
Works Cited
Dean,
Deborah. "Shifting Perspectives about Grammar: Changing What and How We
Teach." English Journal 100.4 (2011): 20-26. Proquest. Web.
29 April 2014.
Flynn, Jill Ewing, and Lisa Storm Fink. "The Language of Power: Beyond the Grammar Workbook." English Journal 100.4 (2011): 27-30. Proquest. Web. 29 April 2014.
Noden,
Harry R. Image Grammar: Teaching Grammar as Part of the Writing Process.
2nd ed. Portsmouth: Heinemann, 2011. Print.
Snicket, Lemony. The Wide Window. New York: Scholastic, 2001. Print.
Warne,
Bonnie Mary. "Teaching Conventions in a State-Mandated Testing
Context." English Journal 95.5 (2006): 22-27. Web. 7 April 2014.
Weaver, Constance, Carol McNally, and Sharon Moerman. "To Grammar or Not to Grammar: That Is Not the Question!" Voices from the Middle 8.3 (2001): 17-33. Proquest. Web. 23 April 2014.
