Grammar in the Writing Center:

Facilitating our students foray into Punk Rock

Joe Cirio

Lets make something clear:

Traditional grammar instruction is not
linked to learning to write well.
Braddock, Lloyd-Jones, Schoer (1963)
The teaching of formal grammar has a negligible
or, because it usually displaces some instruction
and practice in actual composition, even a
harmful effect on the improvements of writing

Grammar instruction is often about

power
The instructor (or tutor) wields this grammatical
truth that is handed out to the passive student
Paulo Freire:
In the banking concept of education, knowledge
is a gift bestowed by those who consider
themselves knowledgeable upon those whom
they consider to know nothing

One more quote

Geneva Smitherman
when you lambast the home language that
kids bring to school, you ain just dissin
dem, you talkin bout they mommas!
Two things: (1) students should be actively
participating in understanding their social
positions and (2) correcting a persons
language use implies a deeper, personal
attack

Does this mean that grammar

errors* shouldnt be addressed?
Of course not
In fact, withholding a conversation about
grammar may be just as harmful to a students
writing than correcting their language use

Carl Glover and Byron Stay:

Through an understanding of grammar, as opposed to
rote memorization of forms, students can begin to see the
connections between grammatical choice and audience,
and more important, they can begin to understand what
these choices say about themselves as writers and as
human beings

Punk Rock
Correcting a persons grammar does not begin a
conversation
We may want to move away from correcting and
toward implication:
I understand what you mean here, but your readers
may make some assumptions about you and about
your subject that you dont want them to make
Students may then have the gumption to participate
in the grammar debate, not passively adhere to it.

Now to talk out the other

end of my mouth
Working with ESL students

Addressing Lower Order Concerns:

Common Grammar Mistakes
All non-native speakers of English are influenced by their first (L1)
language in the process of second language acquisition (SLA).

FIRST LANGUAGE (L1) INTERLANGUAGE SECOND LANGUAGE

(L2)
Interlanguage is the linguistic system that emerges when people
learn a second language. It has features of both the first
language and second language.

I. AGREEMENT
Agreement is a grammatical relation between two elements
in which one element prompts the correct form of another:
(1) I have three cups.
(2) Peter speaks English.
(3) Yesterday I played basketball.

Why do agreement errors commonly occur for L2 writers?

1. Japanese nouns use separate counters instead of noun markers for number.
English

Japanese

I have one pencil.

Watashi wa itsu no enpitsu o motte iru.

I have one pencil.

I need three pencils.

Watashi wa sanbon no enpitsu o motte

iru.
I have three pencil.

2. Chinese verbs have no inflectional endings for tense, person and number.
Inflectional Endings
Inflectional Endings for Tense
for
English
Chinese
Person and Number
I eat chicken.
I ate chicken yesterday.

W ch jru.
I eat chicken.

English

Chinese

I walk.

W zu. / I walk.

Zutin w ch jru
le.
I eat chicken
yesterday.

He walks.

T zu./ He
walk.

They walk.

Tmen zu./
They walk .

II. ARTICLES
An article is a word (a, an, the) that is used with a noun
to indicate the type of reference (definite/indefinite)
made by the noun.
Why do L2 writers make mistakes with English articles?
1. Many Asian languages, including Chinese and Japanese, lack
articles (equivalent to a, an, the).
English

Chinese

The pencil is yellow.

Enpitsu wa kiiro desu./ Pencil is yellow.

A/the pencil is over there.

Enpitsu wa asoko ni aru./ Pencil is over

there.

II. ARTICLE CHART

An article is a word (a, an, the) that is used with a noun to indicate
the type of reference (definite/indefinite) made by the noun.

COMMON NOUNS
Count Nouns

Noncount
Nouns

PROPER
DefiniteNOUNS
in and of
themselves
No article is needed to
mark definiteness

SINGULAR

PLURAL

Indefinite

a(n)

---

---

Definite

the

the

the

*Exemptions: The United

States of America, etc.

How to Avoid Grammar

Mistakes: Error Logs
Keep an error log to note reoccurring errors and raise a writers
awareness of them.
Sentence with
Errors

Description of Error

Explanation or
Notes

Corrected Sentence

I need pencil.

Missing the article

a

When a noun is
singular and
indefinite, an article
(a, an) is required
before the noun.

I need a pencil.

I need three pencil.

Agreement error.
Needs a marker for
number

When a noun is
plural, a marker (s,
es) must be added
to the end of the
noun. There is an
exception for
irregular nouns
(mouse, mice).

I need three pencils.

Some take-aways
Implication is a move toward a
conversation
Our goal is to prompt our students to
reflect upon their choices and positions
Pointing toward patterns
Its not unusual for writing center tutorials
to close with open-ended discussions of
politics, power, and the correct use of the
semi-colon (Glover & Stay)