Grammar and Language

 

Reading and writing can be fun and exciting, but they can also be complicated and frustrating, especially when going over the rules of how we should write. I was never a fan of teachers going over grammar rules. It was my least favorite part of writing in class, and I'm still not a fan of teaching them to students. The problem with grammar and language is that teaching grammar is about setting rules, and language involves a sense of creativity and individuality. These two sides can be confusing for students to master simultaneously. For students, writing is something that is done with creativity. Even when students write essays on the same topic, there will still be that amount of creativity and specific choices that students make when creating their point. Their choice of diction or use of figurative language all show their vision and identity. The problem is that studetsn are still finding their voice out loud and in writing. When we want the student to apply their innovativeness while sticking to the rules of grammar, it can be overwhelming, and usually, one or two things don't stick. In my blog today, I want to talk about how I integrate different forms of language to help students' reading comprehension. 

Starting with grammar is problematic because it is hard to find fun grammar, even for teachers. It's not always our favorite thing to teach; we know students do not find it interesting. It can make it difficult for teachers to find new or more approachable teaching methods. Ways I want to approach grammar is to stop approaching grammar with how it's done the wrong way. What I mean by this is how, in the past, we would show students what not to do when writing sentences. Give them a page of text and tell students to correct their mistakes. If students start with a slight knowledge of grammar, no matter the grade level, It will not help them to know the incorrect way only. Studies have shown how this can hurt students. In the article "Daily Oral Language, the Bell Tolls for Thee: A Critique of Daily Sentence-Editing Exercises." Karen Prezzetti discusses how repeating grammar errors pushes the idea further into the student's conscience, making it more memorable when students begin writing. "Many experimental studies have shown that when people are exposed repeatedly to misspellings or grammatical errors, these patterns become reinforced in their writing. "Similarly, repeated exposure to correct spelling and grammatical structures is correlated positively with the ability to produce accurate spelling and grammar" (Pezzetti, 5). I want students to know the correct answer and the wrong answer. The balance is to prioritize the correct answer and make sure that you explain why something is incorrect or correct. To incorporate this, I look at more significant chunks of text instead of small sentences. This gives students more context to cover when understanding grammar mistakes. It will also mean more for students if the text belongs to something more meaningful with your teaching curriculum. I would use articles, passages from novels, and even magazines to incorporate grammar in an everyday setting so students can find them more easily in everyday shared reading. 

Students can struggle with grammar because grammar is often broken in the real world of writing and literature. That can be difficult for students to understand when we require them to use the correct grammar in their work in the classroom, especially when we show them works of literature that break grammar rules without explaining. There are more ways to teach grammar than giving them the wrong and correct answers. Though it is a start to understanding grammar, grammar can involve learning how a text's dialect, tone, and diction can change how some grammar rules apply.

In the article "From Finding Error to Finding Wonder: A Shift in Grammar Instruction" by Eileen Shanahan, she talks about how, in her classroom, she makes students write more to understand their own grammar choices so they can understand and defend their writing choices. "When writing their essays, students draw on these and other concepts as they apply ideas in writing; this is the "show" part of the essay. The "tell" is in the form of comment boxes added in the margins where students explain their rationale for employing concepts or the rhetorical effect they intended to achieve by using them" (Shanahan, 3). I would show them different levels of mentor text that can provide examples of how the author chose to make that grammar mistake to amplify the meaning of their text. Emily Dickinson's poetry is a great example. In many of her poems, she purposely misuses commas and apostrophes. We, as readers, could correct them, but would they turn out to be the same? Her poems are unique and set her apart, and with these specific grammar choices, we can dictate the meaning of her poems. Have students be aware of other writers' thought processes and how they regulate them. It helps students process their thoughts when writing. Similar to having the students practice seeing the correct grammar function, it keeps them on a familiar path of recognition.

I want to learn more about incorporating different ways to teach students about grammar and to improve their reading comprehension. Hopefully, you learned something new, or I was able to spark your interest in doing your own research.

Pezzetti, Karen (2018) "Daily Oral Language, the Bell Tolls for Thee: A Critique of Daily Sentence-Editing Exercises," Language Arts Journal of Michigan: Vol. 34: Iss. 1, Article 7

Shanahan, Eileen (2021). “From Finding Error to Finding Wonder: A Shift in Grammar Instruction,” The National Council of Teachers of English: Vol. 28: Iss. 3