Is Grammar Important and Should It Be Taught in Grade Schools?

All through schooling, since third grade, we have been taught grammar. Grammar i s defined at dictionary.com as the study of the way the sentences of a language a re constructed. By the time I was a senior in high school and had to memorize the 17 comma rules, plus all the other punctuation rules, it was no surprise to me that I barley remembered two rules from all the years of my schooling. By having to memorize over 40 rules in about three weeks it is still no shock to me that I barley learned them or how to apply them still to this day. I usually underst ood where to place certain punctuation marks but I couldnt explain the exact rule for it like I was asked to know. Most teachers and professors believe that gra mmar is important and the grammar handbook should be known and memorized. In con trast, there is reason to believe that the use of grammar and importance of the handbook is not as useful as it is made out to be. Why do we use grammar? How many of us have been given a handbook of grammar rule s and everything we wrote was right or wrong because of the lucky chance of foll owing a rule or unfortunate chance of violating a rule? Do these rules really m ake our writing better/ correct as most teachers and professors claim, or can we just throw them aside? John Dawkins describes the use of Grammar as a rhetorica l tool used to place emphasis on certain parts of a sentence. He uses a princip al called raising and lowering in which clauses are more or less separated by th e use of punctuation. If emphasis should maximum, a period or a semi- colon wou ld be used If the emphasis should be medium, a colon or dash would be used and a comma or nothing for minimum emphasis (Dawkins 147). The higher or more abrupt punctuation like a period causes more separation, more of a pause than a lower mark like a comma. For example, compare these two sentences: She wanted to go to the store- until she lost her money. And She wanted to go to the store until she lost her money. Until she lost her money was emphasized because of the dash. Th e second sentence, which had no pronunciation, was given much less emphasis. Da wkins describes grammar as a use of how we want readers to read our writing inst ead of using a bunch of rules so that we are handbook correct. He says Learning to punctuate effectively requires only a little knowledge of grammar, much less than most English teachers will grant (WAW 150). He goes on to say that we need to understand what independent and dependent clauses are but we know this based on everyday speaking, reading and writing. I agree. If my English teachers had me focus on content and challenged me to read and write more instead of memoriz ing the entire grammar handbook, my effectiveness of grammar in my writing would have been much better. If I am writing for someone else to read, dont I want to put the emphasis on what I want to reader to read rather than write for a stupi d handbook? Now we see that the grammar handbook doesnt have to be followed rule to rule so w hat should be taught? It is also questioned that teachers shouldnt teach grammar until later in high school or have other methods than teaching directly out of t he handbook. Three authors of the book To Grammar or Not To Grammar, have an opini on about the way grammar is taught. The writers of this edition said Both our per sonal teaching experiences and the findings of research studies support the conc lusion that most students do not benefit from grammar study in isolation from wr iting, if indeed our purpose in teaching grammar is to help students improve the ir writing (e.g., Hillocks and Smith, 1991) (Weaver, McNally, and Moerman 18). T hese teachers have experienced the ways that kids work and respond to the teachi ng of grammar and they believe it is clear that kids do not respond to grammar w ell if it is taken out of context of actual writing. They believe that the stud y of grammar can be very helpful though. The choice and placement of these gramm atical options join with word use and other features to create a distinctive sty le and voice in a piece of writing. Thus, guiding students in sentence expansion and revision is critical to helping them become more effective, not just more c orrect, as writers (Weaver, McNally, and Moerman 18). This is a true point. When we are taught how to connect clauses, we are able to longer choppy sentences an d make them more efficient and flow better. But what 6th, 7th, or even high scho ol student is ready to understand the entire handbook like they are taught? Gram mar was a big mess of confusion for me and I tried hard to learn the rules. It

was so hard to remember all the parts of a sentence and all else that came with it. That didnt help me write. I was learning the basic concepts of writing- I di dnt need a group of rules trying to govern the concept that I was still learning. In the English Journal by Jean Sanbon, she also reiterates this point. She says , What is important in school is not grammatical analysis or the teaching of as y et undeveloped forms but continuing performance in all aspects of language- read ing writing, speaking, listening-which will encourage, not teach, syntactic matu rity. Language continues to develop through the use of language, not through exe rcises in the naming of parts (Sanborn 74). Jean describes young people learning grammar as a process where they have to step outside of themselves to examine a p rocess. He goes on to explain that this results in frustration and confusion of t he kids and they take a step backward educationally (Sanborn 76). A way I think about this concept is learning to play basketball or any sport. You have to le arn how to dribble, pass and shoot before you learn plays. It may take years of rec basketball before you can learn really complicated plays if you are willing to go to that level. If you are taught plays before you get the fundamentals do wn, then you will be so frustrated and overwhelmed that you will probably quit. The same is with writing. If you are trying to write well Rhetorically for the reader, and you know some basic concepts of how to use grammar, is it really ne cessary that you are drilled with a million techniques that are not essential to the reader. I think that he writers of To Grammar or Not to Grammar put it best. For us, the qu estion is not a simple dichotomy, To grammar or not to grammar? Rather, the questi on is, What aspects of grammar can we teach to enhance and improve students writin g, and when and how can we best teach them? In the context of writing is our short answer, but we keep learning more ways as we keep taking risks as teachers. (Wea ver, McNally, and Moerman 19). This makes sense. If we learn plays slowly as we learn the mechanics of the game, then we will grow in wisdom towards the game a s our coordination grows. In other words, students will be able to take on outs ide grammar as they continue using common sense grammar. The use of grammar can be effective in punctuation in making sentences efficient and rhetorical. But, the handbook should not be the bible of all writing. It s hould merely be a guideline that writers can refer to. When younger, kids can le arn the ideas of certain punctuation but they live in a world where they talk, r ead and write all the time. Grammar is common sense to them. They know how to c onnect words to make effective sentences without the confusion of adding in some grammar rules. At the very end of the writing process when language, concepts, and rhetoric have been understood, then the rules can be looked at but something should not be considered a grammatical error for not being identical to the han dbook. Students should learn grammar from the handbook as a referral when they a re in late stages of high school. It should not be forced on to Children when th ey are young. Grammar is a tool to help our writing but for rhetorical purposes .

Works Cited Dawkins, John. Teaching Punctuation as a Rhetorical Tool. College Composition and Communication 46.4 (1995): 533-48 print. Sanborn, Jean. "Good Wine before Its Time." National Council of Teachers of Engl ish. 75.3 (1986): 72-80. Print. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/818870>. Weaver, Constance, Carol McNally, and Sharon Moerman. "To Grammar or Not to Gram mar: That is Not the Question!." Voices from the Middle. 8.3 (2001): 17-33. Prin t. <http://www.learner.org/workshops/middlewriting/images/pdf/W8ReadGrammar.pdf> .