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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