The Importance (Or Lack Thereof) of Literacy in Modern Society

The controversy of grammar is indeed a touchy subject, especially amongst future English teachers. It is interesting to me how we began this class discussing the importance of students exercising freedoms in their writing, how this freedom is arguably the most important aspect of an English classroom. Yet once the issue of grammar surfaces, we, as future teachers, are hasty to renege on our push for freedom in the classroom and instead stress the importance of structure and rules of the language.

I've spent a great deal of time thinking on this topic, as I have been the student of another language. I spent the first five months of this year immersed in Chilean culture. The things I discovered about the usefulness of grammar were astounding. Having studied the Spanish language grammatically for seven years prior to my immersion, I anticipated being able to communicate effectively fairly quick. However, what I found was that students who had solely been immersed in Spanish language and had never studied grammar prior, excelled in their language acquisition. Their fluency far exceeded those of us who tripped ourselves up on grammar, unable to fluently express our thoughts because we were so concerned with following the "right" rules of the language.

On the flip side, when those students who could speak fluently were asked to write an essay or complete a grammar worksheet, this they were unable to accomplish on account of not having learned the rules of the language.

Patrick Hartwell addresses this concern in his essay, "Grammar, Grammars and the Teaching of Grammar", saying "William Labov, speculating on literacy acquisition in inner-city ghettoes, contrasts 'stimulus-bound' and 'language-bound' individuals, suggesting that the latter seem to master literacy more easily. The analysis here suggests that the causal relationship works the other way, that it is the mastery of written language that increases one's awareness of language as language".

Considering these experiences, I am under the conviction that grammar is only important to master to the extent to which you utilize it. If you are being asked to write many formal essays, knowledge and mastery of grammar is of utmost importance to you. Thus, the grammar issue is an issue that must be addressed individually. In schools, grammar is incredibly important. But beyond this? We can survive on much smaller dosages of the format.