Even Fritz is Confused...

I like to think of myself as being pretty proficient in the English language. However, through Williams’ examples of common usage errors, I am left feeling more foolish than I felt at page 171. Apparently, I still have usage errors galore in both my speech and writing. No matter how often it is explained to me, I will never inherently know the difference between lay and lie or affect and effect. Instead, that knowledge is reserved for last minute editing or just plain avoidance. It isn’t because I “have not read enough to note and then internalize the distinction” (Williams 184). Oh, trust me. I have researched these distinctions too many times to count. But as with our discussion on spelling (remember achieve and acheive?), it is just one of those things that is not automated. Even if I studied these pesky words daily, I suspect I will always have to stop and think.

From Williams’ readings, I can’t help but feel that it is no wonder those trying to learn English cite it as the hardest language to learn. I’ve spoken it for twenty years and still can’t get it right, and as Williams suggests, I probably never will. In the meantime, I'll just hope that no one catches my minor usage errors. And I call myself an English major?

Similarly to English Language Learners, I feel the research within this chapter gave support to the argument of teaching English as a second language to urbanized African American youth. Williams writes that “language patterns consist of both grammar and usage, and they duplicate closely the language of a child’s home and community. . . . These patterns become deeply embedded in the brain as part of the neural network and are very difficult to change” (178). To these children, Standard English is another language entirely. It is not due out of laziness that urban students speak Ebonics. The true cause is ingrained neural patterns which are used to approach language. Avoidance or denial of this fact will not suffice in the classroom.

However, I feel using elements of the Traditional Approach can benefit students from diverse backgrounds such as these, as well as language learners. Knowledge of grammar is extremely important when learning another language in order to determine word order and foreign language structure. When studying Latin and German, I would continuously compare facets of English grammar to the new information I was presented with in order to make a lasting connection. Usually, it was the only way I could “get it”.

Unfortunately, I was taught grammar and all that it envelops through solely the Traditional Approach. Williams writes that “large numbers of college freshmen have no more knowledge of English grammar than fifth graders” (177). This is my fifth year of higher education, and admittedly, and quite sheepishly, I fit within this category. I could explain a gerund to you… after I looked it up. These abstract and complicated terms and rules just aren’t in my general working knowledge. As a student, I feel I would have benefitted from grammatical exercises that were more applicable to “the real world” as I knew it. As teachers, we should not forget the substandard approaches of our past, so that we can change our methodologies in the future.