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Grammar in the second language classroom
The advantages and disadvantages of teaching Grammar
The importance of grammar to students
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After reading this article I saw a different perspective on why children cannot write. In today’s world grammar is being put to the side and not focused on in the classroom. It seemed like it was the children that tried to avoid learning grammar. English class in the past were filled with lessons on grammar. Grammar was enforced in every aspect of schooling. Children were taught to speak in a proper manner and because they were taught to speak correctly they wrote in a proper way as well. As technology evolved and texting came more profound grammar was becoming a lost art. In Dana Goldstein’s article ,‘Why Kids Can’t Write’, she talks about what teachers are doing about grammar. The teachers are not doing much about the grammar issue in schools. Goldstein is correct in saying that teachers today do not have much training in grammar and are not proficient in grammar themselves. Younger teachers believe in letting children write what they feel. There is no structure for this form of writing. Because children are not taught grammar they are struggling more on standardized tests. The SAT was altered and the essay portion was …show more content…
When I was in grade school and high school I was taught grammar everyday no matter what the subject. That is not the case anymore. Grammar is not taught like it used to. Teachers are avoiding the fact that they are not teaching grammar. They want children to write more about what they feel then write about facts. Some teachers, when it comes to a child’s writing, do not want to make a child feel like what they wrote is wrong. Goldstein points out that teens today struggle more on college essays and in college because they are not taught correct grammar. Kathleen Sokolowski said that she went to Catholic school and grammar was a major element in her studies. I went to Catholic school as well and it was the same way. I knew others that were in public schools that did not learn grammar like I
According to the reading, Writing as a Mode of Learning by Janet Emig, knowledge is described as “an act of knowing that enters as a passionate contribution of the person to know what is being known, which is a coefficient that is no mere imperfection but a vital component of a person’s knowledge.” Essentially, knowledge is composed of what a person, association or discourse community knows about what is already known in their area of expertise or fully know what could occur in a certain situation, similar to how a rhetor must prepare and know what rhetorical situations might occur at any moment during their speech or writing. Knowledge is created to prepare for various outcomes and situations as goals are being constructed in a discourse community.
In cullington’s article, it is evident textspeak has led to an increase in the neglect of punctuation, grammatical errors, and lack of emotion in formal writing. However, another argument comes up that textspeak is beneficial to students’ writing skills. Such an argument sees textspeak as a way of self-expression that allows an individual to create a voice that is carefully expressed and constructed. As such, textspeak, as brought by new technologies spurs creativity and supports the utilization of creative thinking skills to allow the students to come up with new ways of expressing themselves. Additionally, Cullington’s article acknowledges the accomplishment of the creation and invention of the new language of communication.
Perfection is not always the answer. I found myself wishing that I had Murray as a teacher. It would be interesting to see if writing badly actually makes ones writing experience different. Instead of policing the writing, Murray actually cares about what is actually being said and that shows that his students are important and that he cares about their voice. Readers can feel satisfied that there is at least one teacher who tries to understand and is actually doing something to change writing in his classroom. Murray finished his essay by saying, “What matters in the journey – at least initially – is not what kind of car you’re driving but where you end up.” This leaves the reader knowing that it is okay if you choose to write with perfect grammar the first time or write badly then go back and fix mistakes if you desire to do so. The readers leave with an extra tool to use when
National Children’s Alliance was formed in 1988. It’s a body for Children Advocacy Centers. The Advocacy Centers are child friendly facilities for law enforcement, child protection, prosecution, mental health, medical and victim advocacy professionals work together to investigate abuse, help children heal from abuse and hold the offender’s accountable. There are currently over 700 children advocacy centers throughout the communities across the United States . The National Children’s Alliance have partnered with organizations such as the National Child Abuse Coalition, National Coalition to End Child Abuse Deaths, American Academy of Pediatrics and many others. Through partnering the National Children’s Alliance is trying to “Empower local
Thousands of people from around the world immigrate to America for many reasons, like wanting to start a new life with their families or fleeing from persecution. Because of this, there are many children who speak only a little bit of English or children who speak no English. Many of these children learn how to speak near perfect English in school, but do not know how to write in proper English because teachers do not focus as much on this aspect. These children eventually grow up and go to college. They are then left with a difficult task of constantly writing proper essays in proper English. Many of them end up in the Writing Center for help, but the tutors are put into the challenging position of deciphering their essays and helping them
Classrooms have shifted focus within the past couple of years, and Stanley Fish decided to see what exactly composition courses have been teaching. Subsequently, he asked to see the lesson plans of the 104 sections, after reading these lesson plans he realized only four classes focused on, “…training in the craft of writing. (Fish 2)” Fish argues that “...unless writing courses focus exclusively on writing they are a sham, and I advised administrators to insist that all courses listed as courses in composition teach grammar and rhetoric and nothing else. (Fish 2)” By saying this he believes that classes don't focus entirely on what English classes are supposed to teach. He came to this conclusion one day while he was grading papers for a graduate English class, in the midst of doing so, he found a common error. The inability to write a clean English sentence. The definition of an English class is, “A course or ...
This contributes to Pinker’s idea that the English language is failing. First, children lack the self-esteem to write a solid paper and from there, will not ask for the help they need. Lee Warren states in his paper, “The biggest factor affecting learning for lower class students is a lack of confidence based on real or perceived weaknesses in preparation” (Warren). Simply because a child is not from the highest class and they are intertwined with these high class students they feel they cannot learn as well and that shows in their work. This should not be a factor and this is where teachers need to step in with their set fundamental rules that all children should face when writing. Teachers need to apply the fundamental rules as well as ensure every child in each class feels equal and like they are capable of being a proper writer. Pinker tries to say “[that] once introduced, a prescriptive rule is very hard to eradicate, no matter how ridiculous” (Pinker 374). This is completely false. What needs to happen is teaching authorities needs to step in and fix the problems by starting with young children and following through until they are done school following with a repetition of this for all
Grammar Matters “People are judged everyday by their grammar.” suggests Lynne Truss, the bestseller of Eats, Shoots, and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance approach to Punctuation. People are downgraded in the workforce or just in school if someone uses incorrect grammar. In spite of critics, grammar is critical to learn in school. Even though Brock Haussamen says grammar isn’t important, Mignon Fogarty, Douglas Rushkoff, Lynne Truss, and Kyle Wiens think otherwise.
“Writing, form of human communication by means of a set of visible marks that are related, by convention, to some particular structural level of language” (Encyclopædia Britannica). It all started in 4th grade. The grammar, the writing, and the dreaded 5 paragraph structure. In today’s world, kids learn the 5 paragraph structure and clinging onto it throughout middle school, high school, and even in college. A couple questions asked when talking about structure is why are students taught to write in this form, when and why would you not want to use this form, and why should we not be teaching the 5-paragraph structure to children in today’s society. Society thinks that this rule helps kids prepare their writing skills for the future, but is it really just holding them back? The world of literacy is constantly changing, so yes it is holding children back.
As you walk around just take the second to notice that almost everyone you passed is quickly twiddling their thumbs across their phone screen. Ding. Someone’s iPhone just received a new text, two-seconds later, Swoosh. Did you figure out what the New Age English Language is yet? Yes, you are correct, texting. Since the first text message was set on December 3, 1992, our english language has been growing and evolving and it not stopping yet. Critics will claim that texting is destroy our english language as a whole. These critics do not understand that texting has formed from our modern day english. When thinking of texting, many fail to see that texting has become one of the newest form of the english language. In order to have a successful educational experience, one must be able to incorporate the benefits of texting which include having a strong understanding of grammar
In her article, Tyre quotes Steven Graham, a professor of education instruction at Arizona State University. He explains that this new trend was based on the theory that writing skills should be “caught, not taught.” Tyre describes how this approach involved getting rid of the old, tried-and-true methods of writing instruction in favor of more interesting, creative writing assignments. This meant that teachers no longer focused on lessons in grammar and mechanics. Writing instruction in grade school now involved students keeping writing journals filled with personal stories and poetry.
This emphasises the need for teachers to draw children in and engage them so they are able to develop in their learning. However, many factors can cause a barrier for children to achieve in writing and teachers have to find approaches and tactics to tackle this. Speech, language and communication are the foundations of everything we do, we are able to express our needs, build relationships and articulate our thoughts. Without these foundations or if these foundations are not secure, it can impact on children’s attainment in literacy vastly. It is important for the practitioner to be able to assess each child on a regular basis so that they are able to identify any speech, language or communication issue as early on as possible so that the child still has the opportunity to develop further in school.
Writing a college essay can be a difficult process for many students. It takes time, thought, strategy, writing ability, and comprehension. After reading the peer review paper, it appears that it takes all of those things, as well as compassion, to read a student’s paper. In reading the peer review paper, the author of this paper wondered if English was the student’s second language. Students whose primary language is not English will often transfer their writing abilities and strategies to their second language (Kroll, 1990).
Early childhood education is an issue that is examined both by media and academic professionals, both of which are represented by Alison Gopnik, a writer and professor (Gopnik, 2013). Gopnik (2011) found that over the years, parents and teachers work to their fullest to instruct children to read at very young ages. It can be Interpreted that reading skills take priority over creative skills, since children are instructed to read even in the womb (Gopnik, 2011). “Thus, the pressure is rising to make kindergartens and nurseries more like schools” (Gopnik, 2011). This pressure has come from the law since 2001, when preschools were pushed to become more academic (Gopnik, 2011). Creativity is a key component of success in later adulthood for problem-solving and cognitive abilities (Plucker, 2010). Creativity used to be the central focus of education studies (Plucker, 2010). At the turn of the century, and more recently, problem solving took first place along with creative thinking (Gruber, 2011). This essay will prove that the current education system tends to eventually pull children away from creativity. It will demonstrate how there is a greater amount of creativity in younger children as opposed to older children. This will be shown through the theories of Howard Gardner and Jean Piaget. In order to prove that education has moved away from a creative focus, this essay will examine the three phases of creativity, multiple intelligences and the U-shaped curve by Gardner, as well as Piaget’s constructivist theory and beliefs on retrogression, which is the idea of growing to show how we eventually pull away from visual art (Nolley, 2010). While this paper focuses on the development of visual arts in reference to the works of Howard Gar...
There are many different definitions of children’s literature and even varying definitions for literature and children! Before the nineteenth century, very few books were especially written for children. Since then, changing attitudes towards childhood and children’s development, along with the increased sophistication of print technology, have led to the development of children’s literature as a major industry. There is, however, no simple, straightforward definition of children’s literature that can be applied with equal validity at different times and in different contexts. Just as concepts of ‘child’, 'childhood’ and ‘literature’ have changed over time, so too have definitions of ‘children’s literature’. It is not a simple matter to define ‘childhood’ or ‘literature’. Some writers maintain that children’s literature differs from adult literature in degree only (Lukens, 1995); others (Lesnik- Oberstein, 1996) maintain that it differs in kind, that is, that the word ‘literature’ when used in the context of ‘children’s literature’ cannot necessarily be related in any straightforward way to the word ‘literature’ as used in other contexts. Thus, for example, Bottigheimer argues that children’s literature is “an important system of its own”. To complicate matters further, there are those who maintain that to be included in the category of ‘children’s literature’, writing must be of ‘good quality’. Thus, for example, Hillman would exclude from the category of ‘children’s literature’, writing that is “stodgy,” “too predictable,” or “too illogical.” Precisely how one determines whether a work meets these extremely vague criteria largely remains an open question.