· Why are we still conflicted about prescriptive vs. descriptive or traditional vs. new grammar instruction?
· Why does grammar remain “the right way to talk”, “proper grammar”, “good English”?
· Why does grammar instruction so often exist in school only in relation to writing, punctuation, or usage?
(1) I complained that it was hot.
(2) *I complained the heat.
(3) *I complained the doctor.
(4) I complained quietly that it was hot.
(5) *That it was hot was complained by me.
(6) a. I felt the heat.
b. The heat was felt by me.
Ms. Angela Roh, 9th and 10th grade English teacher, Lacey, Washington:
I try to bring linguistics into the classroom all the time; in small ways, every day and in more significant ways, as often as I can.
Small ways:
· reminding them about informal and formal registers in writing and in speech
· I broke out my book from my History of English class when a student asked me what the style of English was called during the Puritan times, as they were writing a newspaper for the Crucible.
· with vocabulary, I always have the students deal with parts of speech and the function of words in sentences to help them use the new words correctly and to show them how much they already know about the parts of speech
· they laughed at me for using y'all! Those stinkers! I explained to them using French and Spanish (languages they are familiar with) as examples of why using y'all is not only acceptable but really useful
· same with using "they" as a referent to a nongendered, unspecified person; eg Someone called for you. Oh, really? What did THEY say? I told my students to use it but to be aware that there are old school grammarians out there that will try to tell them that they are wrong. I explained the whole thing to them so that they could have an argument ready for anyone who told them different :)
Big ways:
· When we read Langston Hughes, Mark Twain, etc. I usually give a lesson on dialects in America and how they are a reflection of region or social group and do not reflect intelligence or lack thereof. It's really interesting when the students read the poem "Mother to Son" by Langston Hughes and think that because he says "life ain't been no crystal stair" that he is dumb and uneducated. They are pretty much taken aback when I whip out my dialect lesson and also inform them that Langston Hughes was college educated. The dialect lesson gives them a richer appreciation for whatever we are reading and also teaches them a thing or two about judging others. In addition, it's also fun to say things like "chowda head" and tell them about a teacher who says "caught" and "cot" as different words :) I also have the kids examine their own dialect with this lesson and try to get them to understand that if they were somewhere else in the US people might think they talked weird too.
· when we do slave readings in American Lit, I talk about pidgins and creoles. And I will talk a little about Gullah when we read some Brer Rabbit.
· when we read Native American literature we talk about Native American languages in general (history, structure, etc.) and how those languages have influenced our own. The kids STILL say "habu" all the time and I have heard from other teachers that it has seeped into their classrooms as well![1]
I'm really not sure how linguistics could be irrelevant to teaching, especially English! We use it every day!
One of my biggest challenges as a high school English teacher is that when I get the kids, they really have no idea about grammar. Some of the kids even ask me what an adjective is! The focus in education these days is whole language and they really don't teach grammar much anymore. A lot of teachers focus on usage through Daily Oral Language (daily grammar exercises in which the students correct sentences and discuss the corrections). But the days of graphing sentences are gone! I do wish, however, that they came to me knowing at least their parts of speech and how to analyze sentences.
(7) The froobling greebies snarfed the granflons that boofed nargily with great libidity.
(8) a. I see beauty everywhere.
b. I see beautiful things everywhere.
(9) a. *I see beautiful everywhere.
b. *I see beauty things everywhere.
(10) The mouse saw the cat in the tree.
(11) S
3
NP VP
2 2
Det N V NP
the mouse saw 9
Det N PP
the cat 2
in NP
2
Det N
the tree
(12) The mouse saw the cat from the tree.
S
3
2 9
Det N V NP PP
the mouse saw 2 2
Det N P NP
the cat from 2
Det N
the tree
Works Cited
Barry, Anita K. (1998) English Grammar: Language as Human Behavior. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Lobeck, Anne (2000) Discovering Grammar: An Introduction to English Sentence Structure. New York: Oxford.
Morenberg, Max (1997) Doing Grammar. New York: Oxford.
Vaida, Clifford J. (1996) Liberating Grammar. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Wardhaugh, Ronald (1995) Understanding English Grammar: A Linguistic Approach. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Kristin Denham
English Department and Linguistics Program
Western Washington University
516 High St.
Bellingham, WA 98225
(360) 650-3217
[1] Habu/haboo is a word from Lushootseed, a Salish language, that used to be spoken all around the Puget Sound area where Ms. Roh teaches. It is a word used by the audience when listening to a story to indicate that they are listening, they are still awake, they are understanding.