Proposal for an Official ATEG Bibliographer
Delma McLeod-Porter
Lake Charles, LA
A proposal presented at the
Sixth Annual Conference of the NCTE Assembly for the Teaching of
English Grammar,
July 27 & 28, 1995.
Pennsylvania College of Technology, Williamsport, PA.
I. Description of Bibliography
The ATEG Bibliography will resemble The Bedford Bibliography for Teachers
of Writing, prepared by Patricia Bizzell and Bruce Herzberg. With input
from members and colleagues interested in publications relating to grammar
issues, entries could eventually be arranged topically. For example, the
bibliography could include such sections as the following: traditional
grammar, which might begin with brief annotations of early grammars (i.e.,
Reed-Kellogg) and continue with those grammars today that embrace what
we have come to know as traditional grammar; though the bulk of these texts
might have been published prior to 1950, interest in and teaching of traditional
grammar still flourishes and such texts would be included in this section;
structural grammar, which might include an overview of the texts published
in the forties, fifties, and sixties; transformational - generative grammar,
which would provide a brief overview of the T-G grammars. The historical
section would conclude with annotations of work (functional grammar, government-binding,
etc.) since the sixties and seventies.
Following the historical section, the bibliography would then be arranged
topically. One section might be called grammar for middle-school teachers
and focus on texts and articles that dealt directly with that grade-level;
another might address grammar and composition at the college level. Topics
would be dictated by the texts being generated by teachers/scholars.
II. Collection of Citations for Bibliography
Citations could be collected in a number of ways. ATEG members who run
across interesting books and articles could send citations to the bibliography
through mail, by phone, fax, or e-mail. Publishers’ representatives are
always eager to provide updates on new texts. Texts are often advertised
in scholarly journals and at conferences. Scholars themselves network so
that colleagues know what is being done in the discipline. Computers should
facilitate collection and recording of citations.
III. Dissemination of Bibliography to ATEG Members
The bibliography could be initially distributed through e-mail, on diskette,
or in paper copies. Eventually, we might be able to provide a more professional
document (again, The Bedford Bibliography for Teachers of Writing comes
to mind), should we find a publisher willing to accept our document as,
perhaps, an ancillary text to something like a grammar handbook. In time,
we could present it as a monograph to NCTE for publication.
IV. Sample Bibliographic Entry
Haussamen, Brock. Revising the Rules. Traditional Grammar and Modern
Linguistics. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Co., 1993.
Haussamen begins by providing a connection between the grammar that
we teach in our classrooms with some of the historical and linguistic events
that have shaped current pedagogies. The introduction is brief and understandable.
Using the historical/linguistic framework, he then examines grammatical
concepts (tense, pronoun agreement, adverbs, punctuation, and the like)
within that framework. However, instead of simply tracing the growth of
these linguistic features, Haussamen uses this framework to explain idiosyncrasies
that may have, heretofore, seemed arbitrary. Not satisfied with just grounding
the grammatical elements in the past, Haussamen offers suggestions for
teaching in the here and now and, in some cases, predicts the direction
linguistic change is heading.
Revising the Rules is a useful text for a methods course for
English majors and would be helpful to any teacher who has felt the need
to answer his/her students’ "But why do we do that" questions. The extensive
bibliography makes the book even more useful in the college classroom where
undergraduates frequently need a jump-start to get them going on research
projects.
Editor's Note: This proposal was accepted at the conference.
For more information, contact Professor Porter at:
McNeese State University
Department of Languages
Lake Charles, LA 70609
Office phone: (318) 475-5337/475-5326
FAX: (318) 475-5189
E-mail: DPorter@McNeese.edu