Workshop: Grammar across the Curriculum: Workshop at 2017 Linguistic Institute

Ohio State University, The, Columbus OH

Investigators

Abstract

From a linguistic perspective, "grammar" refers to the system of implicit rules that govern the construction of words, phrases and sentences in a language. This award will support a one-day workshop about the teaching of grammar from a descriptive linguistic viewpoint, addressing the challenges, opportunities, and strategies for grammar instruction across the curriculum. Understanding grammatical structure is a central part of understanding human language, and linguistic knowledge is increasingly seen as part of the core knowledge students should acquire as part of their education at the primary, secondary, and higher education levels. The workshop will educate junior scientists and teachers, improving grammar pedagogy, and increasing dialogue about connections between linguistic research and teaching. Furthering linguistic knowledge on the part of the public is additionally important for addressing linguistic prejudice that exists in society; the workshop will include discussion of how dialect variation can be incorporated into grammar courses, as a way of improving understanding about language as one dimension of social diversity. By facilitating collaborative dialogue about the links between linguistic research on grammar and grammar pedagogy, the workshop will simultaneously contribute to linguistics research and teaching concerns. Ultimately, the event will develop an agenda for making grammar pedagogy a more systematic concern, as part of a larger project of increasing attention to the scholarship of teaching and learning in linguistics. Five invited speakers, all respected scholars and experienced teachers of grammar and related subjects, will address themes related to the teaching and learning of grammar: Attitudes, Goals, Frameworks, or First- Versus Second-Language Study. Each speaker's talk will be followed by ample time for a question-and-answer session, enabling audience members to respond and contribute. Two other sessions will provide opportunities for interaction, exchange, and practical implementation. To address a larger theme of Methods, a methods-sharing session will allow participants the opportunity to present their own teaching tools, assignments, or strategies, and to get feedback on potential strategies. A final roundtable will give participants the opportunity to raise new questions or revisit unanswered ones.