What is Grammar's Role in the Writing Process?

With differentiated teaching, students are offered a variety of different questions, lessons, activities, and assignments so that all learning styles and strengths are represented in the classroom and in the curriculum. A lesson in a standard secondary school English class that takes a break from the literature and the writing and focuses solely on grammar exercises and assessments can provide such differentiation. Such grammar lessons give students who struggle with the critical and creative aspects of an English course a chance to showcase their ability to succeed on more factual, objective assignments and tests. But, for grammar lessons to be effective, at least in secondary school, research shows that the relevance and importance of the grammar must be made clear; a connection to the reasons for knowing the grammar must be inherent in the lesson (Weaver, Bush, Anderson, & Bills, 2006). This means that grammar must not be taught in isolation where students become conditioned to think of grammar as a skill disconnected from the writing process (Weaver, et al., 2006). Grammar must be part of the writing process. Let's first look at how grammar is an important part of the pre-writing process.

Probably the most important objective of pre-writing is developing a focus - a specific topic or opinion that the essay will support. This focus often is communicated in a thesis statement - a clear, concise sentence that articulates the essay's topic and / or opinion. The key words here are clear and concise. Research indicates that a grammatically simple sentence is one that prevents cognitive interference for the reader and is easy to understand and process (Wagner, Jescheniak, & Schriefers, 2010). When teaching thesis statements, teachers can take advantage of this part of the writing process to teach grammatical concepts such as sentence structure, and the proper use of modifiers. Using simple structure and limiting modifiers are ways of writing a clear, concise thesis statement.

References

Wagner, V., Jescheniak, J. D., & Schriefers, H. (2010). On the Flexibility of Grammatical Advance Planning during Sentence Production: Effects of Cognitive Load on Multiple Lexical Access. Journal Of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, And Cognition, 36(2), 423-440.

Weaver, C., Bush, J., Anderson, J., & Bills, P. (2006). Grammar Intertwined throughout the Writing Process: An "Inch Wide and a Mile Deep". English Teaching: Practice And Critique, 5(1), 77-101.

Websites for English Teachers

Using Google Maps to Enhance the Literary Experience

Settting - The Call of the Wild

In addition to helping students become more convincing, creative, and effective communicators, English class allows students to experience the world, its history, and its people through the various, creative forms of literature - probably the main reason why English is superior to all other subjects! The characters, settings, themes, and figurative language found in the literature are not only educational, teaching us important lessons about the world, people, and ourselves, but they are entertaining, exciting and fun to read. As any competent reader will tell you, books take you to another world. Sometimes, however, the world presented in a piece of literature is unfamiliar. This unfamiliarity can be an obstacle to one's reading comprehension and, thus, to one's appreciation of the work. Everyone knows that reading comprehension  largely depends on one's knowledge of vocabulary, but another important component of reading comprehension is one's background knowledge. Background knowledge allows a reader to relate to the story, to picture the setting in one's mind, to have a better understanding and appreciation for the characters' challenges, dialogue, and experiences. For example, take the classic novel The Call of the Wild by Jack London - an epic adventure of a dog's journey from southern California to the wilds of the Yukon. The setting is is an integral part of the novel as it provides the obstacles necessary for the plot, character development, and theme. The geographical scope of the adventure is immense and difficult for young students to fully grasp and appreciate unless they themselves have made such an epic journey. Of course, we can't take a field trip to the Pacific Coast and trace the character's long, dangerous journey. But, there are ways to take virtual field trip using the power of the Internet.

Using Google Maps, students can view satellite images of the geography, topography, and terrain of a novel's setting. Of course, it's not like actually visiting the setting, but the detailed maps provided by Google are impressive, and they provide readers with good background knowledge for understanding and appreciating the literature. As an assignment, teachers can have students add place marks on the map where important events from the novel take place. They can add titles, descriptions, and links to the place mark and gain a deeper understanding of the setting, the characters' challenges, and the themes.

Google Maps

Using Purdue's Online Writing Lab to Supplement the Writing Curriculum

For me, the most important aspect of an English curriculum is the writing. Whether it's a writing assignment for school, a letter to a friend or family member, a set of directions, a college application, a job application, or some type of professional proposal, effective written communication is an essential skill that all people need to use at some point in life. As English teachers, we need to come up with relevant and engaging ways to teach students how to write properly and effectively, but who want to add another text book to the students' backpack?

Fortunately, the Internet provides some very useful resources for developing effective writing skills. One such site is Purdue's Online Writing Lab, or OWL. In addition to providing detailed information, explanations, and exercises for writing essays, research papers, resumes, and job applications, including the writing process, grammar, and mechanics, students and teachers can contact OWL with writing related questions for personal help on assignments. Teachers can use this site in lieu of a text book and provide students with a comprehensive, interactive, and engaging way of supplementing the curriculum.

OWL