Nancy,

Needless to say, I applaud your championship of diagramming.  I'd
like to recommend that you look at a short book by Jerome Bruner, The
Process of Education (1960).  This is a summary of conclusions reached by
a prestigious panel of educators seeking to improve education in the
sciences in the wake of Sputnik.  Its lessons seem to me to have obvious
relevance to the central educational importance of "formal" grammar and
diagramming.  In retrospect, I wish I'd included it in The War Against
Grammar.  Bruner's basic point is that the key to mastering any subject is
grasping its underlying structure, e.g., "The most basic thing that can be
said about human memory, after a century of intensive research, is that
unless detail is placed into a structured pattern, it is rapidly
forgotten.  Detailed material is conserved in memory by the use of
simplified ways of representing it."  To me at least the application of
such truths to the grammar controversy seems obvious.  Hopefully, to you
too.  In any event, good luck in Kansas City!

David Mulroy


On Tue, 8 Mar 2005, Nancy Tuten wrote:

> Hello. I am brand new to the list. I cannot tell you how excited I am to
> have discovered this group and to have a place to go for questions. I have
> browsed through your archives and find the conversations engaging.
>
>
>
> I read with much interest your January discussion on diagramming sentences.
> I teach the traditional grammar class for English majors at my institution.
> I inherited the tradition of using diagramming as a major teaching strategy
> for this class, but--once I mastered it (is that possible?) myself--I have
> always found it very useful as a way of teaching students syntax--and I have
> always used it in the context of helping them to become better writers.
>
>
>
> In about two weeks, four English majors and I are presenting at the
> International Sigma Tau Delta meeting in Kansas City on the topic of whether
> diagramming sentences is an effective teaching strategy. The title of our
> presentation is "Minding a Pedagogical Gap: Confessions of One Teacher and
> Four Students Sold on the Value of Sentence Diagramming."  Despite reports
> to the contrary, we see tremendous value in having students use diagramming
> to improve their understanding of syntax and find that--at least for
> students who care enough about their writing to want to improve--it does
> make a difference in the clarity, flow, and logic of their writing. Of
> course, for those students who plan to teach (and even for those who, as
> undergrads, tutor in our writing center), understanding syntax makes it
> infinitely easier to help weak writers understand why their sentences are
> awkward or unclear.
>
>
>
> In preparation for the panel, two students have been researching the history
> of the debate over whether there is value in teaching grammar (diagramming
> in particular) in isolation from writing. I am not a specialist in this
> field and would value the advice of this group about seminal essays/studies
> the we should be sure to include in our brief overview. We have read David
> Mulroy's "The War against Grammar," for example, and recognize the important
> role the 1985 NCTE report and statement played in advancing the notion that
> grammar taught in isolation is unproductive.
>
>
>
> Are there other major statements along those lines that we should know
> about? Also, has there been a landmark article published in recent years
> that might suggest that the tide is turning back--that we now realize we
> have thrown out the proverbial baby with the bathwater (pardon the cliche),
> either in terms of grammar instruction in general or of diagramming in
> particular?
>
>
>
> If my question is not of interest to the list, please feel free to respond
> to me directly.
>
>
>
> Thanks,
>
> Nancy
>
>
>
> Nancy L. Tuten, PhD
>
> Professor of English
>
> Director of the Writing-across-the-Curriculum Program
>
> Columbia College
>
> Columbia, South Carolina
>
> [log in to unmask]
>
> 803-786-3706
>
>
>
>
> To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at:
>      http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
> and select "Join or leave the list"
>
> Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/
>

To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at:
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
and select "Join or leave the list"

Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/