Did You Study Grammar in High School?
In 1985, the National Council of English Teachers, an organization that definitely did not foresee the future of blogs, social media, hot lines and hastily sent tweets, emails and texts, issued a resolution :
[T] • • • • • • • The use of discrete grammar and practice exercises not supported by theory and research is a deterrent to improving students’ speaking and writing skills, and … to improve both, class time at all levels should be devoted to opportunities for meaningful listening, speaking, reading and writing.
This makes some sense: instead of doing grammar exercises out of context, students should spend their time actually doing English through books, discussions, and essays.
Applicants noted that extensive data from a 50-year study showed that teaching grammar in isolation does not improve the speaking and writing skills of students and that it actually inhibits the development of students’ speaking and writing.
So if you went to “high school” in the US in the 1980s or later, it is possible – if your Language Arts teacher did not see the utility in making sure you know how to identify the dangling modifier – you got some vague instructions on the difference between verbs, nouns and adjectives that were sent to you along the way. Result? Our channels are besieged by people proving their excellence through Buzzfeed quizzes such as “ How much of a grammar nerd are you? ”While many of us worship the altar of Mignon Fogarty and use a semicolon with the uncertainty of a foal trying to get up.
Of course, scholars debate how best to teach English grammar forever – Martha Colln and Craig Hancock, in A History of English Grammar in United States Schools, cite “minimalist grammar and its anti-knowledge position,” “political pressure against imposition. an elitist language ”and“ the general public’s failure to accept grammar as anything other than a scattered set of prescriptive prescriptions ”are just some of the forces stalling the crusade to rhetorically teach grammar in public schools.
What grammar did you get in school? Was that enough to be successful in high school and beyond? Do you consider yourself a “grammatical nerd”? Or should we all just relax, stop pointing out people’s mistakes and let the language develop regardless of what we learned in school?