I'm afraid I agree with Anne on this one. Grammar needs to be dealt with on a case-by-case basis, depending on where your students are and what they understand. These two articles don't seem to help us with practical problem of dealing with an essay that we are literally having trouble reading because the writer's understanding of sentence structure is so poor. Is this a class or cultural thing? Sometimes, but sometimes it results from genuine reading or conceptual problems (though, granted, dyslexic students with well-off parents will most likely have access to better learning resources than those that don't).
I feel like these essays are both approaching grammar with the idea that all grammar errors are equal. An employer might not notice that a submitted resume uses the term media as a singular, but she probably WILL notice a they're/their/there error, and will mostly likely make a judgement for it. Shouldn't students understand the practicality of following rules in a professional setting. Shouldn't they know that there ARE certain expectations if you want to be able to effectively communicate with others?
I think we also have to take into account the REASON why students are making grammatical errors; some are simply the result of sheer laziness. The ironic error Micche quotes--"However, only through subsequent assignments, however [sic], can we assess students' mastery over errors"--seems to be the result of a revision. In reworking this sentence, the author clearly neglected to take out the extra "however." Is this egregious? No, not really. But if a student writes "pubic spaces" instead of "public spaces" because he was too careless to proofread, isn't it on us as instructors to point out that these kind of errors make a BIG DIFFERENCE with how your writing will be accepted? Students also make errors because they might not know that two words have legitimately separate meanings or perform separate functions (conscious/conscience, allusion/illusion, ascent/assent). Is it presumptuous of us to ask students to fix these problems?
Jen, your example made me think of this YouTube video, which is great to show to students to emphasize the importance of proofreading, as well as for a good laugh:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OonDPGwAyfQ
I agree that I think a lot of students just don't understand that they made a mistake. If no one ever corrects them on pronoun usage or semicolons, then they're just going to continue to make those mistakes, and eventually, look really silly in a business email or something one day. I feel like we owe it to our students to remember that no matter how brilliant your idea or voice or style is, if it's simply unreadable, no one will take the writer seriously.
"Making a Case for Rhetorical Grammar," is not about "grammar as a fix-it approach." Micciche wants us as teachers to help our students, "see language as having empowering and sometimes transformation potential, and to critique normalizing discourse that conceal oppressive functions." It's not just about class, it's also about gender and race. It's no accident that you've had students who don't know how to construct a sentence and haven't been taught how to think critically.
ReplyDeleteMicciche encourages us to teach rhetorical grammar (not to ignore it) because the student that understands how to use it effectively will be "more liberated" and a more "active citizen."