The Crash Course

Grammar needs to be taught in college English classes.

• “The Erasure of the Sentence” by Robert Conners (2000) in CCC 52:1, p. 96-127
• “The Erasure of Language” by Susan Peck MacDonald (2005) in CCC 58:4, p. 585-624

It needs to be taught in a taught in a different way

than most college instructors learned it, if they learned it –> and if they did, the most likely learned it as something to be “performed,” kind of like trained seals (actually trained sea lions … my training as a biologist mandates that I correctly identify this animal — pretty much a trained response in me). 

• http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/02/the-wrong-way-to-teach-grammar/284014/
  

Proposed new ways

1. Rhetorical grammar

   • “Making a Case for Rhetorical Grammar” by Laura R. Micciche (2004) in CCC 55:4, p. 716-736
   • “Rhetorical Grammar: A Modification Lesson” by Martha Kolln (1996) in English Journal 85:7, p 25-31

2. Functional Grammar

   • “Beyond Grammar” by Ann Evans (2011) in Pedagogy: Critical Approaches to Teaching Literature, Language, Composition and Culture 11:2, p. 285-300
   • Grammar and the Teaching of Writing: Limits and Possibilities by Rei R. Noguchi (1991) NCTE
     • Authors weigh in
       

Theoretical Backing for rhetorical/functional/”performative” grammar

• Judith Butler explains the performative

Example rhetorical/functional/performative grammar lessons:

• Sharks teach grammar

• Monkeys & Giraffes teach grammar

• A LESSON in AGENCY 
  • Agency in The Color Purple Sentences (pdf)