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Content Based Grammar Instruction
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As a graduate student, grammar was seldom if ever discussed in any of my comp theory classes. It was not until I delved into the mysteries of teaching ESL that I realized that grammar had a subtle, yet vital, role to play. I began to realize that for nearly all of my BW students English was a second language. The grammar needs of native speaking and non-native speaking students are different, but I still maintain that although I often have some ESL students in my BW classes, Academic English is a new language for all of them. Even in ESL instruction, modern theorists have moved away from the old methodologies of grammar translation because students were simply not retaining information. Instead, communicative language learning and content-based grammar instruction have proven to be more effective tools for teaching language. Students are taught language in ways that give every step meaning, and each student leaves the classroom each day with information he or she can use. It should be no different in composition instruction for native English speaking students.
This is not the first time that the subject of grammar has been approached as a topic of discussion. In a module from last year, Karen S. Ueling’s “Teaching about Language” examined various ideologies spanning nearly forty years. It is evident that the pioneers and crusaders of composition studies felt, and still hold, that grammar instruction should have limited space in the Basic Writing classroom, or any composition classroom. Yet Ueling maintained that grammar instruction should not be entirely absent from the BW classroom and gave several nice recommendations for ways to incorporate grammar into lesson plans in ways that would not become oppressive to our struggling writers. I would like to expand on this idea a bit and offer ways in which I have incorporated content-based grammar instruction into my Basic Writing classroom as a means in which to give meaning to learning without stifling creativity
Content-based grammar instruction involves showing students how grammar works within texts. This can involve using either the student’s own papers or using published texts. What makes this very different from the old drill and practice ideology is that the student is never looking at grammar at only the sentence level. This type of instruction entails using at least paragraphs to contextualize how grammar works. For example, I might ask students to circle all of the pronouns and underline all the antecedents in each sentence in one paragraph of a text they are working on. They then would check to see if all of those pronouns and antecedents agree. Then they would trade papers with a partner who would then check it again. During this activity I would be circling the room, checking over papers, and answering questions. Once corrections have been made in that paragraph, it is then the student’s responsibility to check the rest of his/her paper. I have done many activities like this in peer review sessions. It does not take a lot of time, and I am able to slip in grammar lessons throughout the semester without taking up too much class time that I would rather devote to reading and writing activities. I have recently even found a couple of textbooks that incorporate this methodology, and I am currently using them in my Basic Writing classrooms.
I am personally of the belief that students can go far as academic writers with limited grammar instruction. I think most of us would agree that by working with the revision process and guiding students on a case-by-case basis, their writing will improve. From time to time there are problems that need to be addressed by the entire class, and at the community college where I am employed I am expected to send my students to English 101 or 107 knowing the parts of speech and how to find the subject and verb of a sentence. Using this content-based method, I am able to instruct my students in a way that we can all feel comfortable with while the instruction continues to be meaningful.
For many of us, questions concerning grammar instruction continue to be problematic. I hope my ideas will be helpful to some of you, and in turn, I would be interested in hearing how grammar is addressed in other basic Writing programs.
Questions for consideration;
1. How do you approach grammar in your Basic Writing classrooms?
2. Is there pressure from administrators or other faculty to increase grammar instruction?
3. What benefits might students reap from more grammar instruction in the Basic Writing classroom?
4. How does knowing the parts of speech make one a better writer?
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