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/