Teaching Grammar in Context, by Constance Weaver Chapter 4 response

In chapter four of Teaching Grammar in Context, Constance Weaver discusses moving away from the concept that departures from the adult standards in children’s writings are errors. Instead, in the light of the fact that children learn the structure of language through their own discovery rather than through direct instruction, these “errors” should be seen as children forming and testing their own hypothesis on language, which is a step in the learning process. It is important to allow children to test the theories that they have formed and learn in that way, as well as through direct instruction. I think this shows a large issue with how grammar is taught. My school used a system called Shirley English. This consisted of a workbook with a great amount of already formed sentences that we were required to label. I think it is much more important to first teach and allow students to create their own sentences. I think even after kids have gotten the basic structure down, teachers should still limit labeling, and promote students creating their own work, as the goal of grammar is primarily to teach the students how to use it correctly, more than to simply recognize correct grammar.  

            Weaver continues to describe the importance of errors as a component of growth.  A few things to remember about the learning process are that people do not learn something all at once. A child may be learning what verbs are, but still not yet understand how to use tense. Another important thing to remember is that something a child has already learned may not be applied to their work as they learn something else. A child may have figured out how to use past tense, but as they learn future tense, they may forget to apply past tense to other sentences. Another thing to think about is that children can learn through generalizations, even if it sometimes leads to some errors. You may teach a child that past tense verbs end in –ed. This works well for many verbs, but a child may then change go to goed instead if went. This will result in a couple of errors in exceptions, but it leads to the child grasping the general rule. The exceptions can be taught after the general rule is grasped. If a child is not using some errors, than they are also probably not trying or learning.

            An important thing to remember is that errors are also a natural result of instruction. Errors are not necessarily a sign of poor teaching. They are signs that the learning process is occurring. The issue comes if the instructor does not see a development in the errors.  The first step in the development is that errors become more sophisticated errors, even if still errors. This shows that the child’s thought process on the topic is developing. The goal is obviously to eventually eliminate the errors, because the students has completed the learning process and figured out the correct way of doing something. This shows the importance for teachers to change their view of what an error is. It is about welcoming and taming errors gradually, rather than slaying them.