If you’re reading this, it means you care. It means you care about reforming the way writing is taught. Whether you’re seeking to completely change your methods or just looking for some inspiration as to where the problem truly lies, read on. I won’t promise that my answers will satisfy everyone – for that would be truly impossible – but I can, at the very least, say that they have resulted from my own truth, my own experiences, my own observations. That truth must count for something. If it doesn’t, disregard what I’m going to say, but do so with the knowledge that the teaching of style and grammar will never improve until you open yourself up to every perspective possible.

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We can all agree that grammar plays an important role in the development of language. How important that role may be depends on whom you ask. Some argue that it provides regulated structure key to forming coherent sentences; others see grammar rules as suggestions that are useful but overall serve a less critical function in the world of writing. I fall in the middle ground between these two sides. I spent all of my elementary education with my nose in a grammar book for one hour a day, five days a week. Did this affect my ability to write well? The answer varies day to day, depending on the height of my frustration levels with words. I’d like to say yes because otherwise I wasted a good portion of my education. But the truth will out, as they say – my writing didn’t improve. Therefore, what’s the importance of grammar education at all? My answer for this question is more consistent. Grammar is the fundamental baseline of the written word. It allows language to be understood by everyone because it provides rules – yes, rules, not guidelines – to follow. For this reason, grammar should be taught first, before the nuances of writing come into the picture. Grammar instruction, however, needs to change.

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The status quo of grammar instruction lacks pizazz. Now, I know that the purpose of this instruction isn’t to entertain. But the fact remains that grammar instruction bores everyone, me included. We may love grammar, but we can’t deny that learning it is dry and repetitive. Furthermore, grammar is taught in such a way that it isn’t applicable to writing down the road. To amend both of these issues, grammar should be taught within context. That context can be reading, or writing, or both, or something else entirely. I argue for teaching grammar within the context of literature – literature being a loose term considering the age at which children learn grammar. Reading exists in the curriculum of most schools already, so ingratiating grammar instruction into that reading shouldn’t prove to be too difficult. Have the students learn the grammatical concepts and give them exercises to do based in the reading. This way, they are analytically seeing the concepts in action and are simultaneously engaged in the learnings.

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Once students have this common ground of grammar, the scope of their writing instruction needs to grow. It generally does so as things are currently, but it needs to happen sooner. I didn’t learn how to write rhetorically until my first year of college education. I knew how to write a five-paragraph academic essay, sure, and how to write somewhat creatively, but the latter came from my own personal experiences, not from anything I learned in school. I had a complete lack of ability to write for a specific genre, let alone a specific audience. It would be in the best interest of students to introduce them to this concept of genre-based writing early on in their education, perhaps around the middle school level. This middle school age is where grammar instruction begins to slow down, shifting instead to literary analysis and vocabulary memorization (another issue entirely, but for a later time). Thus, there should be a switch from traditional grammar instruction to writing instruction. Rhetoric as a concept may be too complex for proper comprehension at this age but writing for different genres is not. Students know how to identify literary genres; any teacher can discern that much. Therefore, teachers should use the students’ knowledge of said genres and apply it to writing exercises. Ask the students to imitate a Maximum Ride book (a series I read for my eighth-grade literature class) or a nonfiction memoir such as Night by Elie Wiesel. This imitation will enable students to learn about writing for specific genres while also exposing them to the varying styles of published authors. The style exposure will eventually transfer into the students’ own writing, as imitation has been supported as having a strong effect in improving writing.

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At this point, the foundations exist. Students have a strong innate sense of proper grammar, they understand that writing is subjective to a situation, and they have dipped their toes into the infinity pool of style. Where do we go from here? Perhaps the next step is to try to teach style. But style is inherently individualized, so how can that be done? This question perpetuates in the minds of writing teachers because the answer eludes us all. It would be best to think of the answer as an open approach to teaching style. One of the biggest complaints I had with my writing instruction was feeling stifled in my own written style – a fault not of my past teachers, but of the English curriculum they are required to satisfy. This curriculum requires us to demonstrate certain qualities that determine our writing as objectively good. The problem here exists in the fact that writing isn’t objective. It can’t be. But since it’s treated as such, the personal style that exists in every single person fails to thrive as it’s choked out for something stiff and bland. Therefore, teachers should understand that time must be set aside to bring awareness to style as a concept and to give students the freedom to explore that style without fear of punishment. This result can be achieved through free write exercises and individualized writing assignments, both with an emphasis on personal voice and stylistic moves that fit the situation for which they are writing.

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The last move in language instruction is one of synthesis: stylistic choices using grammar. I said that my opinion on the use of grammar lies somewhat in the middle. I do believe that it plays a fundamental role in writing, but there are times when it isn’t necessary to follow the rules so closely. To know the rules is to know how to break the rules. For example, I’ve been using the informal “you” and “I” throughout the entirety of this piece. I did this stylistically to relate to the reader, though it may not always be the most grammatically effective to do so for every situation. To communicate that the rule breaking is okay, there should be some lesson on the techniques of finessing style. In other words, students need to learn how to use, abuse, and disregard the previous grammatical learnings based on the rhetorical situation. This lesson will further diverge students’ styles from the norm. And once they understand that style lies in deliberate choices pertaining to specific situations, their personal style will flow unblocked because they won’t worry about pleasing the whole world – a lesson all writers should heed for the growth of their written word.

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