Excerpt from Framing Grammar Within Literacy Instruction-
Lu Huntley-Johnston
As an English teacher I am regularly asked to comment on the perceived decline in student writing skills by well-intentioned people who believe that more direct and focused instruction on the mechanics of writing are needed. My typical response is that while direct instruction in grammar and writing mechanics is needed, the context and timing of that instruction are the more significant issues. This article describes one approach to preservice language arts instruction in which issues of grammar are preceded by examination of audience and purpose. This approach incorporates developments in advanced literacy instruction, and may be adopted by teachers at all grade levels.
I did not want to spoil the evening by telling the woman she was wrong about language. Luckily the hostess arrived to escort us to our table, interrupting the conversation about teaching grammar. Once we were seated, our focus shifted to the menu; the teaching of grammar, forgotten. I was relieved because I knew this person had made up her mind. In her opinion, teachers are not teaching the parts of speech, and students—not knowing the difference between a preposition and an adverb—cannot write or speak correctly. Errors in spelling and usage found in newspapers, magazines, and television confirm for her that the problem is getting worse all the time. From her standpoint, plain and simple,English teachers often hear such comments by well-meaning people. I try to stay out of the traps they set, but I am not always successful because they so easily strike a nerve. I've found out the hard way that what they want is the opportunity to argue with an English teacher and let us know how bad they think language use is today. Many feel an urgency to tell us what we should do to solve the language problem as they see it. As they see it, however, may be the problem if understanding language and language users is reduced to the incorrect usage of a pronoun or a spelling mistake, if errors are perceived as evil, and people are expected to "know better." Usually what I have to say on the subject only makes it worse. I believe language is always rule governed, whether those rules appear in English grammar handbooks or not. William Labov (1982), for example, demonstrated the complex linguistic structures of street corner language; Shirley Brice Heath (1983) identified the variety of rules governing the language of millworkers. The child who says "I goes" is employing conventional rules of grammar with an irregular verb. The point is not that students don't know language rules, but that they haven't always internalized the conventional language patterns of the dominant culture. I also believe appropriate speech and writing is determined by context, purpose and audience. Standard English has its place, but the richness of language is revealed through a variety of means: informal conversation among friends, colloquialisms, and dialect. We are not in danger of losing our language, but we are in danger of never understanding it if we think incorrect pronoun usage is a moral failing or that variations from standard English are improper and substandard.