Reading for Content?
I think that perhaps I was unclear when I mentioned my problems with lower-order concerns/sentence-level errors/grammar mistakes. My problem with these things is not that they "irritate" me. There are plenty of things that irritate me about student writing that I am perfectly able to look past when reviewing a student's paper (e.g. the title in bold, the text in Arial font, 1.5 spacing). When lower-order concerns become a problem is when they prevent me from reading the student's paper not because they are irritating and therefore distracting, but when they prevent the paper from expressing coherent thoughts. The idea that I should "read for content" idea implies that I can read it in the first place. If the student isn't expressing his ideas in proper English, how am I to know that he's expressing ideas at all? Isn't that like a student turning in a paper in Spanish and saying that he deserves an A because his ideas are there even though he hasn't expressed them in a language I can understand?
I think we should teach students that grammar is important because it's a contract with your audience: an agreement to transact communication with a standard set of symbols and sounds. When you use bad grammar, you break that contract with your audience, and so betray their trust in you as a speaker. Your audience has no reason to listen to you, respect you, or assume you to be an intelligent person. This may sound harsh, but haven't we all judged people who slipped the wrong "their" into an email, or raised our eyebrows when someone said "irregardless" in conversation? I know I have. I know that even one slip-up has altered my perception of a person, and I think it's wrong for us as teachers to send our students out into the world thinking that everyone will be so benevolent as to "read for content."
I think we should teach students that grammar is important because it's a contract with your audience: an agreement to transact communication with a standard set of symbols and sounds. When you use bad grammar, you break that contract with your audience, and so betray their trust in you as a speaker. Your audience has no reason to listen to you, respect you, or assume you to be an intelligent person. This may sound harsh, but haven't we all judged people who slipped the wrong "their" into an email, or raised our eyebrows when someone said "irregardless" in conversation? I know I have. I know that even one slip-up has altered my perception of a person, and I think it's wrong for us as teachers to send our students out into the world thinking that everyone will be so benevolent as to "read for content."
posted by Faith | 4:21 PM
3 Comments:
Faith,
I do know what you mean by the other messages our language can send. I think it is importnat for students to see the many forms language can take and the power these have. I also want to be aware of how we change the type of language based on the situation. I don't want to send a message to students that there is one standard way of talking and writing for all situations. In January there was a documentary on PBS that was a follow-up to a 1980s documenty on the Story of English. In this new documentary, "Do You Speak American?", Robert MacNeil travels the country, sharing many forms American language takes on, and shows how in many ways the various forms of American English are changing more than becoming alike.
When I taught in rural Nebraska, I had kids in my classroom who spoke quite differently, even though they all looked alike. I tried to recognize the importance of their various uses of language, but also provide variety of opportunities to try on different languages (or codes), much like a different wardrobe. I loved the comment from a Denver teacher who said, "You don't plow in a prom dress." To help with this, I wanted students to write in their home versions of English, such as in writing personal narratives/autobio/memoir, to hear and write the language that was true to home, family, social settings -- this language was standard or conventional for these situations. I also provided times for them to write for different audiences and purposes in which different standards/conventions were needed. For instance, we wrote letters to elected officials about various political issues. In these letters we could practice "code switching" and see how our language could change and why. It was in these writings (and in most of the writing we did) that students used conventional standard edited American English.
Perhaps these examples and concerns do not apply as much for college. And by offering the idea of code switching (varying language use and styles) I'm not saying we should not require students to edit their papers for standard edited American English. I just don't want to perpetuate a belief that one set of language usage is right or wrong in all situations.
I wanted to respond to both Amy and Faith because I completely agree with both of them. Faith, you are right in saying that there are many problems we can ignore in wirting, but that assumes that we can read the paper in the first place. Based on working in the writing lab, I have not been overly concerned about the grammar problems. Sure there are consistent problems (the semicolon is the error I seem to discuss over and over again) but for the most part, grammar is not what catches my eye in the papers I read. (And I would be interested to know how many grammatical errors are due to the fact that the students don't know the proper usage and how many are due to the fact that they don't take enough time reading their paper before they turn it in.)
Amy, I've seen parts of both the old and the new "Do You Speak American?" and I also find the varieties of language fascinating. I think making students aware of their ability to code switch is relevant, even for college students, because being aware of choices is always empowering. Sometimes I even worry that my writing abilities are mired in academic discouse and I am not able to diversify because I rarely practice other forms of writing. (Although I have listened to myself talk when I visit my family, and I realize that my language does change, particularly when I am talking to my Grandma, which is cool.)
I guess I want to agree that we have a certain responsibility to our students to help them use correct grammar because people will judge them by it, but at the same time, we can promote an attitude the focuses more on understanding grammar than obsessing about it.
Jennifer,
I wanted to address something that you hinted at. I think that there are some students with problems in writing, but rarely do I see papers that are so grammatically incorrect that they are unreadable or where the punctuation is so bad that I can't understand. I think that is why there is such a focus on ideas because those grammar and punctuation issues at that level are not happening all of the time.
Then there is also the argument that when students finally write about something that they care about, then they will also begin to care about the audience and then begin to become concerned with correct usage.
I enjoyed reading what everyone wrote. Thanks.
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