Teaching Standard English Grammar

English was my second language. It was not until I was 5 or 6 that I began to learn to the formalities of standard English grammar like the rest of my peers. Unlike my peers, however, I struggled with going home to a family who had no idea if my attempts to use proper grammar were right or wrong. Over the years I assumed I knew what most would call proper language, leading to my interest in the English field. I have always had an idea of what grammar was, and thought I knew how to use it. Nevertheless, I began college not being able to differentiate or label an adverb or a preposition. Uninformed and clueless, I was left thinking about how grammar education worked? And most importantly, would I be fit to be an English teacher?

Throughout my

Linda M. Christensen’s Teaching Standard English: Whose Standard, argues the importance of valuing students individual use of language while still giving them the power and knowledge of standard grammar as it benefits the future. Similarly, chapter 1 of Grammar Alive explains the significance of comprehensive education that acknowledges the differences in the definition of standard English, still teaching standard English because of its importance. Contradictory to these claims, Randi Weiner’s Schools in N.Y. Give Grammar Short Shrift, argues the deterioration of grammar has created revulsion in communication as technology has taken over. In integrating these various points to my personal experience, I have found that Standard English education lacks sufficient focus in classrooms. Although I believe the appreciation of everyday informal vernaculars is crucial to accepting different social groups, I also believe standard English grammar needs to be taught to all students as it serves to benefit society in professional settings.

Human bias has constructed the belief that a person’s use of language makes them

Growing up I went through elementary school being told what a noun and verb were and when to finish a sentence. However, concepts were never expanded or retaught in later years and led to forget. As I transitioned into high school, many teachers noticed the lack of knowledge concerning punctuation and sentence structure, but, not knowing “whether grammar is in their curriculum” they decided to “stick to basics” (Grammar Alive). Grammar is no longer taught in schools because of a new focus on technology and “on spell check engines” (Weinter). This has led us into a trail of “deterioration of grammar” through the “era of relevance” with efforts to connect children “with their subjects, the allegedly drier aspects of language were put aside, so as not to get in a child’s way” (Weinter). Language education has been dropped with the excuse that "spell check will fix it," nonetheless, this limits our ability to ever know why it was fixed or how to fix it on paper or pencil. The Grammar Alive chapter compared with the Weinter rant provides a widely used excuse for the decline in grammar education. Though the shift in educational focus seems natural with the rise of technology it is hurting students as we send them out into higher education without