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High School English Teachers Chatboard

Using humorous short fiction to teach grammar?

by Janet Byron Anderson, PhD

Nov 20, 2017

Let me first wish all of you happiness, health, and family joy during the coming holidays. I'm posting as a guest.

As a professionally trained linguist (PhD., U of Pennsylvania), I learned through field work that checking language as real people use and evaluate it is an antidote to over-reliance upon untested theories, and to the arrogance that an abstract approach often engenders.

Therefore, I'm reaching out to you, real teachers in the field, for advice. I'd be grateful to learn from you two things.

First, what criticisms do you have of the way that grammar is presented in the textbooks or other resources that you use? (You don't have to name titles or authors. Your criticisms alone will help me.)

Second, what would you think of a new approach—humorous short fiction--to teaching grammar, especially the more problematic areas of grammar, for an audience of adults; that is, people of high-school age and older? Since this approach is new, you nee...See MoreLet me first wish all of you happiness, health, and family joy during the coming holidays. I'm posting as a guest.

As a professionally trained linguist (PhD., U of Pennsylvania), I learned through field work that checking language as real people use and evaluate it is an antidote to over-reliance upon untested theories, and to the arrogance that an abstract approach often engenders.

Therefore, I'm reaching out to you, real teachers in the field, for advice. I'd be grateful to learn from you two things.

First, what criticisms do you have of the way that grammar is presented in the textbooks or other resources that you use? (You don't have to name titles or authors. Your criticisms alone will help me.)

Second, what would you think of a new approach—humorous short fiction--to teaching grammar, especially the more problematic areas of grammar, for an audience of adults; that is, people of high-school age and older? Since this approach is new, you need to see what it looks like. An example of my experiments in this area is found in my short humorous "Message from the Infinitive" posted on my website. [Sorry, forum rules prohibit links, but if you type this title in Exact, on Google's Advanced Search, the story will pop up early in results.] If you can spare a little time, please read it and let me know what you think.

Where am I coming from on this?

As an independent linguist, I edit peer-reviewed articles and also work as a language & linguistics consultant for agencies that seek my help. In addition, as a service to community, I tutor kids ages 6-17 in language. I've been dismayed by errors made by adults, most of whom have higher degrees (including PhDs and MDs), who certainly learned the basics when they were younger—but they forgot, or barely paid attention when the rules were taught. I cast blame this way: "Most people resist grammar because they think it's dull. So it's understandable that they'd forget what they never liked in the first place".

However, the sheer magnitude of errors and of the educated people committing them made me question my assumption. I began to think, "No, most people resist grammar because it really IS dull". We grammarians and linguists must make this right. Hence my experiments with a new approach. "Message from the Infinitive" is one of them. If you like it, let me know. Please feel free to download it and use it pedagogically. Just give credit.

It would be a blessing to hear from you. And please continue your excellent work.

Janet

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