Elizabeth,

 

I think that psychologists wouldn't describe people as either
"left-brained" or "right-brained," since almost everyone has two
functioning hemispheres. But your point is sound that some people (like
you and me) really take to drawing sentence diagrams, and some others
don't. I teach a course to English majors that is heavy on
tree-diagrams. Some are whizzes at it. Others not so much. Fortunately,
I've found that almost everyone without a learning disability can pick
up on them with practice, and they can be a great way for students to
visualize the structure of sentences. 

 

You are absolutely right, however, in saying that all teachers must gear
their instruction to the actual students in front of them, must make
adjustments for the abilities of individuals, and must NOT expect all
students to be like us.

 

Dick Veit

________________________________

Richard Veit
Department of English
University of North Carolina Wilmington

________________________________

From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Elizabeth Clark
Sent: Monday, November 20, 2006 1:21 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Right vs. Left Brain in Teaching Grammar

 

I'm a new member (so new that my check hasn't even come back).  I
learned about ATEG when I read The War Against Grammar by David Mulroy.

 

As an adjunct teaching mostly developmental English and first-year
writing courses at college in the Denver metro area, I've seen how
little students know about grammar--and writing.  The developmental
coordinator at one college said that the students had been taught
grammar in public schools but "it didn't take."  From what I've read and
observed, that doesn't seem to be the case; students generally aren't
being taught grammar--at least not methodically.

 

I have a hypothesis, and I'm wondering if anyone has read or heard
anything related to it.  (You may have discussed this before.)

 

Here's my idea:  From what I've observed, most K-12 language arts
teachers and English faculty seem to be right brained but the
traditional method of teaching grammar is left brained.  I happen to be
left brained (I was a math major until I was a senior), and I enjoy
teaching grammar and diagramming sentences.  I think the "traditional"
step-by-step approach should work well with left-brained students, but
right-brained teachers find it boring and don't want to learn or teach
grammar that way.  Maybe we need two methods of teaching grammar--or
more--to suit different learning styles.

 

Elizabeth Clark

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