Memo Two & Three

Memo Two & Three…

            I feel like my research is taking me into a completely different direction than I originally thought. When I first began this project I wanted to explore grammar, and if it was being taught in the classroom, and how it plays a significant role in writing. My focus and opinion was that grammar should be taught at every age level from the elementary level to the post-secondary. Im starting to shift my view point, although I still maintain that grammar should be taught at all levels I am focusing more on how grammar is absent in the majority of college level English courses because  these courses are generally literature driven and analysis dependent. Unless you are specifically taking writing course there is little instruction of grammar if any. I vaguely remember my first “English” course at CCRI and it certainly focused on writing rather than literature. I think it’s safe to assume that all of us were required to take this “First Year Writing” or “Composition” regardless of what college you attended. I do remember a brief, very brief mention of grammar and I believe that I received a packet of the parts of speech. I just find it amazing that as an English major I have not been taught grammar, only corrected on it. I find that I not am interesting in exploring grammar instruction in post-secondary schools versus elementary or secondary. I came to this conclusion after reading and discussing what is expected of college students, especially their writing. I started this journey with one idea and it has taken me somewhere else and I partly blame JSTOR. This amazing resource makes it difficult to focus on one specific thing and I feel myself wandering! I digress…

            My research has led me to NCTE, National Council of Teachers of English and with Titles like “ Grammar in the Schools of  Today” and “ Teaching Grammar in the Context of Writing” have really opened my eyes and changed my opinion, sort of anyway. I look forward to finding more articles relevant to my new focus and exploring this topic even further. To summarize these articles the point that the authors are making is this; that grammar should be taught but it the methods of teaching grammar have to change. I can live with that, but how do we teach it? What new creative ways can we teach our students something that could and has been considered to be boring? Why aren’t the “old methods” working? And can we place all the blame on the teacher’s instruction without displacing blame on the students themselves? Learning is pro-active right? These are the questions that I am dabbling with and some questions have not been thought of yet. I have to go to my primary sources to hear firsthand accounts of ways to teach grammar and ways in which help the learning of grammar.

            Originally, my focus was on elementary and secondary levels where I was going to interview teachers and students. The various perspectives included second, seventh, and eleventh grade students and teachers. Although, I might still explore these levels for my own purposes but I feel that I am going to have to contact some of my professors and classmates. It would be interesting to write a paper and disperse it to various faculty members in the English department and see how much focus is placed on grammar. Perhaps I can use my own writing and other students writing as a resource. My papers always have comments relating to grammar but unfortunately I have no idea what some of those comments mean. Does knowing how one teacher corrects grammar indicative of his or her colleagues? Probably not, perhaps it is simply the preference of the teacher. I have had some professors who heavily dissect grammar while others are more content focused, is either more right or wrong? I have no idea… I feel like I need to stop before my topic eludes me…. Until next time folks!