English Grammar

Course Description

Analysis of Modern English structure using the methods of traditional grammar. Topics studied: parts of speech, grammatical functions, phrase, clause, and sentence types, and nominal and verbal categories. Nature and usefulness of prescriptive rules of grammar. How to teach traditional grammar as presented in the secondary English curriculum. Instruction will encourage students to demonstrate critical understanding of traditional grammar, of contemporary syntactic analysis, and of the strengths and weaknesses of those systems in secondary education.

Learning Outcomes

• Perform syntactic analysis on a variety of English sentences to demonstrate their understanding of analysis methods and sentence types.
• Evaluate the significance of syntactic analysis to educators.
• Apply syntactic analysis to enhance their own writing or to decode the writing of other people.
• Recognize the impact of cultural, economic, political, and social environments upon language.
• Appraise diversity in language use, patterns, and dialects across cultures, ethnic groups, geographic regions, and social roles.
• Explain the effects of the history of English on its syntactic structure.
• Explain the impact that conventions of grammatical description have had on educational presentations of English grammar.
• Explain the concept of English grammars and why they are plural and not singular.
• Explain basic concepts in morphology and syntax.
• Apply course concepts to discussions of writing and writing instruction.

Requirements

Quizzes and exercises on grammar rules. Midterm and final exam. Research paper on relevant contemporary issue relating to grammar or the teaching of grammar. Students will also be expected to complete additional projects and participate in activities that ask them to learn, apply, interpret, and reflect on the traditional rules of English grammar. Reflective journals may be a required component of the course. Students may be asked to work cooperatively to explore topics, methods and perspectives on teaching English grammar within the secondary English curriculum.

Prerequisites

• ENG101