Calling a Truce to
the Grammar Wars. Content Area: Grammar.
T. Leo Schimitt, New York University, USA
Brian Skelton, Fox Valley Technical College, USA
I ran into Keith S. Folse in one
section in which we were having a dicussion between descriptivism and prescriptivism.
Participants were divided up into two groups. Folse, Deryn Verity and I were
part of the smaller group which consisted of twelve prescriptivists. The larger
group, composed of twenty one participants, did not believe in explicit grammar
teaching. During the debate Folse made it clear that grammar has to be
explicitedly taught at higher levels, but that lower level students do not have
enough vocabulary for complex grammatical explanations that introduces the
titles, thus simple explanation is to take place. The other group argued that grammar
must be taught in context, meaning that grammatical instruction be done as
questions arise. The conclusion that I came to is that there has to be a middle
ground between prescriptivism and descriptivism in order to teach grammar
communicatively, within a context, as questions arise while teaching it
explicitly.
At the end
of the presentation I introduced myself to Folse as a Grad student from CSULA
and I asked him if he happened to have any handouts from his presentations. He
gave me his notes, which in this case consists of a copy of two units of his
book, Clear Grammar 2 (2012).
This sounds like a very memorable experience. I hope you had an opportunity to make your stand during the debate. Middle ground always sounds like a good idea and saving grace. In my understanding of explicit vs. impicit grammar teaching just means to be flexible and adjust to students and circumstances.
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