I believe what this line of research says -- the kind of grammar that has occupied our classrooms for decades (probably longer) does not improve the students' abilities to write well. In some ways it must have been easier teaching English fifty or sixty years ago: traditional grammar analysis was codified and familiar, and just about everyone, both teachers and students, knew what to expect, especially after years of experience with grammar texts and classes. At the same time, of course, few people really worried about whether that traditional analysis was accurate or not, or whether it was the most helpful approach to teaching students about language structure, or whether speakers of minority dialects were unfairly disadvantaged in their education.
It seems that grammar drills may deprive our students of freedom and imagination and instead teach them to be passive recipients of information. If our students spend enormous amounts of time studying the formal patterns in which the words of a language are arranged rather than being invited to read, discuss what they read, and write about it, then, obviously, they digest little about composing and the highly involved decision-making that goes along with that process.
Like Veronica, I found Williams' emphasis on usage problems in Chapter 6 helpful and practical.
No comments:
Post a Comment