Finding a Way to Encourage Grammatical Change

Ashley,

I second your thoughts about Lindemann's chapters ten and eleven. I too, am not a huge fan pertaining to the subject of grammar. However, I do appreciate the concept of sentence combining. I believe that it will give students additional opportunities to improve their writing.

I also agree with you, that if students can learn how to correct grammatical issues, it would be the icing on the cake, but there are usually more underlining problems at hand. The problems that I normally encounter in student writing are, transitioning, paragraph formation, lack of focus, absence of a thesis and topic sentences. Sentence structure and the use of arranging words are not usually high on the list of priorities for many students.

In chapter ten, Lindeman states, "Students need risk-free opportunities to practice sentences, especially complex sentences. Such practice should take place in the context of composing longer stretches of discourse" (164). I agree with this. Students should be given more opportunities to work on sentence structure. I also believe that when there is a form of punishment(lowering of a grade)attached to writing, I myself fall into the trap of perfecting every word, every sentence and paragraph. I usually wind up missing obvious grammatical mistakes that I do not intend. You might even catch some in this blog.

Although I do like the concepts of sentence combining and the fact that "Words can change"(175), most students that I tutor are less concerned with understanding sentence structure, and more concerned with passing the class. I agree with Dr. Cauthen when he mentioned that giving a student feedback when it will do some good is most beneficial. This way, they can visually see what their strengths and weaknesses are. If I had this type of pre-writing in most of my composition and literature courses, I believe that I would have learned how to revise more adequately and thoroughly.