Interview in the English Department

"Grammar is like a piano, I play by ear." -Joan Didion

As an English major, I chose to interview Professor Chris Anderson. I learned that in addition to his other duties he is the man who trains the Teaching Assistance for their writing classes. As a student of Rhetoric and Composition, Anderson not only teaches technique but shows the Teaching Assistances how to evaluate papers, in other words, what to do with grammar. His advice is to mark down for grammatical mistakes, but don't identify what the mistakes are in the student’s paper, simply make them aware that it was grammar that affected their grade. Anderson says marking students errors doesn't help them to write better. However, he shared that when he does this the next paper was almost always significantly better.

Anderson, well aware of the 20 most common errors that we are studying in class, says this is his experience as well. However, within these 20 most frequent errors, problems with punctuation are generally the most common mistakes. Anderson thinks students generally know what they are doing, and errors are typically an issue of performance, not competence. By which he means, generally students make mistakes that they would correct if they simply read their paper aloud, or allowed themselves time to revise. But for the occasional errors of simply not knowing, it is beneficial for the teacher to find major pattern of errors so that the right issues could be addressed if need be. Anderson does not, nor do the TA's, take any class time to teach grammatical terms. In writing 121, for instance, they merely have a handbook, and continually practice by editing their own mistakes.

Because of my own personal interest in teaching high school English, I asked Anderson if he thought these same practices of self-taught, editing your own mistakes, was what he felt would be best in a high school setting. He agreed that this was a good technique in secondary schools as well. Anderson feels that any problem that people want to blame on a lack of grammar knowledge in high schools is simply a problem on not writing enough. He says there has been no correlation found that links that knowledge of grammar with the ability to write well. But one thing that writing 121 students use is St. Martin's Press web page, which has interactive grammar capabilities, he did think maybe this could be a useful tool for teachers. As far as a change over time, Anderson has not seen one. He doesn't feel that students are any better or any worse at grammar then they were when he began teaching. Writing is a form of behavior. Writers know they have to behave in certain ways to write well, and that is what they do.

In Anderson’s own writing, he has written many books, he has just internalized grammar. It has become second nature to him, so that he doesn’t even have to think about it. He does like to do a lot of free writing, and then go back and revise and edit. He did share that lie and lay still confuse him occasionally, but through reading and writing he has developed a natural instinct for grammar use, which he wishes to instill in his students.

Interview

In an interview with Professor B of the English department, I was informed how important grammar truly is when writing, speaking, and being able to think at the highest of levels. Professor B informed me that grammar not only affects the way a student relates his or her thoughts, but also grammar affects the way a student thinks. When a student's grammar is limited, their language if affected as well; consequently they are not able to relate as deeply to certain ideas and positions that other students whom are well versed in grammar are able to. I was offended by this comment initially. I am not very well versed when it comes to describing each detail in a sentence, but as I spoke to others about this response, I was enlightened to the idea that Professor B was not cutting down my ability to think, but simply stating that someone with a better understanding and use of grammar may be better able to use language to their advantage when relating a certain position or idea to someone.

In my interview, I asked professor B how important grammar was in his profession, as a writer and as an English teacher. He responded with the idea that grammar is the vein of writing and without grammar, the thought process of all individuals would be hindered immensely. Thoughts that are incomplete lack clarity, and this was one of the frequent problems professor B identified in the interview. Lack of clarity and use of concrete words and descriptions is the biggest problem many young college students have when trying to relate their thoughts on paper. Because they do not understand the basic functions of language, nor do they understand how to use language in order to convey their thoughts in the clearest manner possible. Through this interview I realized that grammar is necessary not only to writing majors and English professors, but also to the rest of the literate world, because without proper grammar, your thinking is limited to a lesser degree.