ENGL 316: Approaches to Grammar

CRN: 91048

This syllabus subject to minor changes during the term.

Required Texts:

Hacker, Diana. The Bedford Handbook for Writers. 7th ed. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2006. (H)

Morenberg, Max and Jeff Sommers. The Writer's Options: Lessons in Style and Arrangement. 7th ed. New York:Longman, 2003. (M)

Weaver, Constance. Lessons to Share. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1998. (W)

Catalog Description:

ENGL 316 – Approaches to Grammar

Credits: 4.00

(Old) Gen Ed-Language & Logic

(New) Gen Ed—LC (Category Five: Study of Logic, Language, and Culture)

(Writing Intensive) Study of various traditional and nontraditional approaches to grammar with specific applications to and illustrations from the field of composition. Special consideration will be given to the linguistic and rhetorical theories that inform the study of grammar. Prerequisite: Upper division standing.

General Education Curriculum:

This course focuses on the logic of language—on language as a system—with special emphasis on the linguistic and rhetorical theories that inform the study of grammar, as well as the connections between language (including dialect), culture, literacy, and their relation to the differences between oral and written discourse and the problem of transference. Students successfully completing English 315 will have met four hours of the General Knowledge: Category Five: Study of Logic, Language, and Culture requirement. The course addresses the following outcomes in Category Five: Study of Logic, Language, and Culture:

Upon completion of course work in this category, students should be able to

demonstrate awareness of cultures other than the student's own

Means of Assessment: Students must account for the nature and function of American dialects and their grammars and how dialect affects literacy, especially school writing conventions and the syntax of American Edited English (AEE), during class discussion and several in-class exercises; they must also characterize the oral and literacy challenges faced by English as a Second Language (ESL) Learners, through in-class exercises and study guides focused on the subject.

analyze common communication barriers

Means of Assessment: Students explore the nature and function of American dialects during in-class exercises, including a film study guide on the subject; students must demonstrate understanding of the logic of error and the importance of analyzing error patterns, particularly with regard to nonstandard American dialects and English as a Second Language, during in-class exercises and formal reflections on the subject; students must demonstrate understanding of the cognitive, linguistic and compositional difficulties of mastering standard written English, particularly for those who employ a nonstandard dialect or for whom English is a second language through formal written reflections on the subject.

analyze language as a reflection of culture and history

Means of Assessment: Students must account for the nature and function of American dialects and their grammars and how dialect affects literacy, writing about the subject in in-class exercises and a film study guide; students must analyze the underlying philosophy of language from which traditional grammar proceeds (the part-to-whole approach of traditional grammar instruction) through formal written reflections on the subject; students must demonstrate understanding the relation of traditional grammar instruction to the current-traditional paradigm (part-to-whole) for teaching writing and American Edited English (AEE) through formal written reflections on the subject; students must demonstrate understanding of the cognitive, linguistic and compositional difficulties of mastering traditional grammar or AEE (the transference gap) through formal written reflections on the subject; students must demonstrate understanding of the conflict between the traditional or prescriptive notion of grammar and nontraditional approaches to grammar instruction and the place of grammar instruction in the teaching of writing through formal written reflections on the subject; students must demonstrate understanding of the politics of grammar (why the teaching of grammar is controversial and how to address the conflict) through formal written reflections on the subject.

use language effectively and fluently to explore differences among points of view.

Means of Assessment: Students must employ a number of nontraditional approaches to grammar that force them to write from multiple perspectives and must reflect on the experience in formal written reflections on the subject.

COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course will focus on a study of basic elements of traditional and nontraditional grammar with specific applications to and illustrations from learning and teaching English. Students will put their knowledge of grammar into practice through traditional and nontraditional grammar exercises. The course should prove valuable for prospective teachers, for whom it satisfies a requirement, and also for anyone interested in how our sentences come together or in a review of grammar and working on his or her own academic writing style. However, most of our conversation will focus on the teaching of writing, with special emphasis on grammar, in elementary and secondary classrooms. Therefore, you must have a real interest in this subject—teaching grammar—in order enjoy the course.

ENGL 316 Outcomes

By the end of the course students should be able to

analyze the underlying philosophy of language from which traditional grammar proceeds (the part-to-whole approach of traditional grammar instruction).
understand better why the traditional approach to grammar tends not to work.
understand better the traditional categories of grammar (what's to be found in a handbook like Hacker's and how to use it).
understand better the difference between the traditional and the linguistic definitions of grammar (the prescriptive and descriptive definitions).
understand better the relation of TRADITIONAL grammar instruction to the current-traditional paradigm (part-to-whole) for teaching writing and the standard dialect.
understand better the relation of the LINGUISTIC notion of grammar to the emerging paradigm for teaching writing (the whole-to-part approach).
understand better the differences between oral and written discourse and the problem of transference.
understand better the cognitive, linguistic and compositional difficulties of mastering traditional grammar or Standard English (the transference gap).
better analyze sentences for grammatical correctness.
compose grammatically correct simple, compound and complex sentences, through combining and other means.
write better academic/analytic prose at the upper division level.
understand better what's involved in teaching grammar.
see more clearly how to construct an effective approach to teaching grammar.
understand a number of alternative approaches to teaching grammar.
understand better the conflict between the traditional or prescriptive notion of grammar and nontraditional approaches to grammar instruction and the place of grammar instruction in the teaching of writing.
understand better the politics of grammar (why the teaching of grammar is controversial and how to address the conflict).
understand better the cognitive, linguistic and compositional difficulties of mastering standard written English.
understand better the nature and function of American dialects.
understand better the nature of ESL instruction.
understand better the logic of error and the importance of analyzing error patterns.
discover grammar is a much more interesting and complex subject than previously thought.

UWR Writing Intensive Outcomes:

Students will produce at least 5,000 words (including drafts, in-class writing, informal papers, and polished papers); 2,000 words of this total should be in polished papers which students have revised after receiving feedback and criticism.

Means of Assessment: Thirty written assignments.

Students will practice the forms of writing and reflect upon the nature of the writing used by graduates and professionals in the discipline the course represents.

Means of Assessment: Study Guides and Reflections require formal, academic writing and reflection on the features of academic writing.

Students will write at least one paper integrating information from more than one source, employing the appropriate documentation style for the discipline represented by the course.

Means of Assessment: Some Study Guides and Reflections require comparison of academic texts.

Students will draft, revise, and edit their formal written work.

Means of Assessment: Students are encouraged to get feedback from the instructor on drafts of Study Guides, Reflections, and Exercises, particularly if they are having trouble with the assignments; students with a pattern of scores of 7 (C-) or below on assignments must review the assignments with the instructor and then are encouraged to work on drafts of future work with the help of a Writing Tutor or the instructor. Nearly a third of the assignments are drafted in class.

Students will seek assistance from a Writing Tutor in the Writing Lab when needed and when referred by the instructor.

Means of Assessment: Students with a pattern of scores of 7 (C-) or below on assignments must review the assignments with the instructor and then are encouraged to work on drafts of future work with the help of a Writing Tutor or the instructor. It is the student's responsibility to follow through on sound advice from the instructor and Writing Tutors.

Students must complete all UWR writing-intensive courses with a C- or better, in order for the course to count for the UWR.

Means of Assessment: Final grade/grading scale.

UWR Writing-intensive courses must allocate at least 30% of the overall grade to formal writing assignments, with at least 25% of the overall grade based on evaluation of individually written papers that have been revised after feedback.

Means of Assessment: Formal written assignments and exercises constitute 100% of the grade for the course; all are individually written and evaluated and each may be revised after feedback, before being graded.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS.

Writing. English 316 is a writing intensive course. Writing requirements include 10 in-class exercises followed by formal Reflections, 10 Hacker Study Guides, and 10 Morenberg sentence combining exercises. In-class or extended Exercises and Reflections, Study Guides, and sentence combining exercises may not be revised, made up, or handed in late or early. Study Guides, Morenberg Exercises, and other out-of-class assignments are due in the first five minutes of class of the due date; they may not be turned in before class. Exercises and Reflections, Study Guides, and sentence combining exercises are worth 10 points each. Grading scales are provided below. Students must meet with the instructor if they establish a pattern of receiving 7 or below on course assignments; they will then be encouraged to work on drafts with the instructor or a Writing Lab Tutor. It is the responsibility of the student to follow through on such recommendations. All students are encouraged to see the instructor if they have any questions about their grades or course material.

GRADING AND STANDARDS: Your final grade will be based on successful completion of assignments. Each assignment is worth 10 points. The sentence combining exercises must be error free: I will usually deduct a point for EACH error. The Hacker Study Guides are also worth 10 points each. The Exercises and Reflections are worth 10 points each as well. The Exercises and Reflections and Study Guides should be written in formal academic prose: Use complete sentences; write solid, well-focused, well-developed and coherent paragraphs; employ precise language; edit carefully—even though I will not have time to mark all the errors in the Study Guides and Reflections. I do not expect you to write perfectly but I will look closely to see that you are writing clear sentences and have edited carefully.

Exercise and Reflection, Hacker Study Guide, and Morenberg Exercise Grading Scale

10 = A

9 = A-

8 = B-

7 = C-

6 = D-

5 = F

0 = Work Not Turned In (also counts as an "F," but much harder to make up with subsequent grades avoid at all costs!)

(Fine print: Work can be made up if you or your children are very sick, if you obtain my permission to hand your work in late. It’s best to get that permission before your work is due. Athletes or those participating in college-sponsored extracurricular activities who will be absent for a class because of competition or other obligations must make prior arrangements with me to get their work in on time. Almost no other excuses are accepted. Be careful: 0’s are almost impossible to make up. With just a couple of 0’s on a number of assignments and your grade begins to fall precipitously. We won’t have a final in the usual sense this quarter, so it’s all the more important that you keep up with your work. This course rewards consistency of effort. In the past students with D and F averages for coursework--due mostly from not turning it in--tried raising their grades by acing the rest of their assignments. That didn’t work very well. This course rewards consistency of effort. Late papers are treated as failures to turn them in. You are encouraged to seek tutorial assistance in the Writing Lab if you are encountering difficulties.)

All your scores will be averaged at the end of the course to determine your Final Grade. So if your average is 8.5, then your final grade will be an 85 or a B. Grades will NOT be rounded off past the first decimal point. For example, if your average is 8.59, then your grade is still 8.5 or 85 or a B, NOT 86, a B+.

Grading Scale (Final Grades)

100 - 95 = A

94 - 90 = A-

89 - 86 = B+

85 = B

84 - 80 = B-

79 - 76 = C+

75 = C

74 - 70 = C-

69 - 66 = D+

65 = D

64 - 60 = D-

59 - 0 = F

This is a Writing Intensive Course, so by the end of the quarter students should be able to do the following:

Writing Intensive Outcomes Specific to ENGL 316

Students should be able to

write consistently well-focused paragraphs.
write well-organized analytical paragraphs.
write well-developed, appropriately amplified, coherent paragraphs.
discuss complex issues by deepening the discussion, raising questions, exploring contradictions, anticipating readers' questions and objections, and allowing for lack of closure.
qualify assertions and avoid oversimplifications when writing.
avoid simple causal explanations and platitudes when writing.
analyze readings and exercises fully, carefully, and critically in writing.
integrate into their own writing secondary sources through effective use of summary, paraphrase, quotation, and signal phrases, as needed.
argue effectively by generating convincing interpretations and effective arguments, analyzing information, marshaling resources, synthesizing material, and employing convincing presentations, as needed.
effectively and cogently relate textbook readings to concepts learned in other courses and to personal and pre-professional experience.
evaluate claims of various arguments found in sources and determine their relative merit.
document sources consistently and correctly when writing.
adjust rhetorically by taking into account the subject, occasion, audience, and purpose in writing and oral presentation.
employ various formats, genres and media, adjusted for the subject, occasion, audience, and purpose.
write fluently and edit carefully.

Study Guides and Reflections must be typed and will be graded on formal qualities (organization and focus, clarity, grammatical correctness), in addition to their accuracy, intellectual content, and the quality of analysis or critical thinking. The Hacker Study Guides, which often consist of more than one question, do not have to be more than one page single-spaced. Often a fully developed, coherent paragraph of 10-12 sentences will suffice for each question, although students who do “A” work often write more than that. You may type Study Guides single-spaced right onto the downloaded questions from the url I will provide (although you may want to write out a rough draft first) or you may retype the prompt or question and respond. Responses to the Study Guides and Reflections should be in paragraph or short essay form. When paraphrasing, summarizing, or quoting, you must employ signal phrases and either MLA or APA in-text citation formats. You should review those formats in Hacker before you begin doing Study Guides and Reflections. When doing Study Guides and Reflections you MUST include page references for material directly quoted or paraphrased from Weaver and Hacker. (Since we share the same texts, you do not have to provide a bibliographic reference [Works Cited or References list] at the end of the Study Guides, unless you use material from another source.)

I should point out that the paragraphs you need to write in response to the questions I ask on the Study Guides or when doing Reflections usually have to be at least 10-12 sentences long. Those who do best often write even a little more than that, taking 250-500 words to respond to a prompt or question. There is nothing magical about length, of course, but it is difficult to explore the complex matters we will address in short paragraphs of only three sentences or so. The objective is to demonstrate how well you understand the concepts we cover and relate them to your experience, whether personal, academic, or pre-professional. In short paragraphs, students often simply point out an idea from the books or lectures, without exploring it in any depth. In an upper division, intensive writing course, you have to do more than that.

This course also provides a means of evaluating your Oral Communication and Group Collaboration skills:

Oral Communication Outcomes

Students should be able to

answer questions in an informed and thoughtful way.
Reflect thoughtfully on the exercise and what was learned.
summarize for the class what was learned and the advantages and disadvantages of the approach.
work collaboratively with others, which means taking professional responsibility for one’s own part in the exercise, as well as responsibility for the group’s success.
display a professional level of focus, enthusiasm or interest.
speak clearly.
demonstrate professional understanding of the issues.
manage time effectively.
demonstrate a style appropriate to the audience.
use visual and auditory aids effectively.
use appropriate language and speak fluently.

Grading Disclaimer. I require a lot of work in this class and try to respond to it in a timely fashion; however, you should not expect graded work to be returned before one week. You will be writing three to five pages a week; I will be grading 120-200 pages a week, 1200-2000 pages for the quarter, for this one class. In order to do this, everything has to run smoothly. I will make every effort to return your Exercises and Reflections, Study Guides, and Morenberg exercises before the next one is due. That means your papers should come back within a week. Occasionally, I may get behind. I hope you will be reasonable in your expectations. Responding to your writing with alacrity reinforces the expectation of a quick turnaround. But constant questions about when the papers will be handed back makes me grouchy and that's not good for when I do get around to looking at your work. If there is a delay, there is usually a good reason, so try to be patient.

Schedule:

Date	Focus	Assignments
4/4T	Course Introduction	Course Description. Requirements Reviewed. Hacker Study Guides Reviewed. Fill out cards
4/6R	Syllabus Review & Grammar Reflections	Bring downloaded course syllabus to class for instructor to initial. Review syllabus. Sign contract. Answer questions. For Tuesday read W 18-38; H v-xxxiv, 1-75; do Hacker Study Guide 1 for Tuesday.

4/11T	Intro to Grammar	Hacker Study Guide 1 due. For Thursday review W 1-17; 279-92. Weaver Reflection 1. Read carefully M xv-xxii; 19-28.
4/13R	Sentence Combining	Weaver Reflection 1 due. Review M xv-xxii; 19-28. For Tuesday read W 1-17; 279-92; review H 1-75. Do Hacker Study Guide 2. Do Morenberg Exercise 1.

4/18T	Teaching Grammar & Overview The Writing Process	Review W. Hacker Study Guide 2 due. Morenberg Exercise 1 due. Weaver Reflection 2 started. For Thursday read M 31-37.
4/20R	Relative Clauses	Weaver Reflection 2 due. For Tuesday read W 39-66; 67-94; H 792-809.

4/25T	Case Studies & Parts of Speech	Hacker Study Guide 3 due. Morenberg Exercise 2 due. Weaver Reflection 3 started. For Thursday read M 46-52
4/27R	Participles	Weaver Reflection 3 due. Do Morenberg Exercise 3. For Tuesday read carefully W 209-27; 228-43; H 445-56

5/2T	Dialect & Spelling	Hacker Study Guide 4 due. Morenberg Exercise 3 due. Weaver Reflection 4 started. For Thursday read M 62-
5/4R	Appositives	Weaver Reflection 4 due. Do Morenberg Exercise 4. For Tuesday read carefully W 244-59; 260-78; H 335-70; 527-790.

5/9T	ESL & Research	Hacker Study Guide 5 due. Morenberg Exercise 4 due. Weaver Reflection 5 started. For Thursday read M 77-83
5/11R	Absolutes	Weaver Reflection 5 due. Do Morenberg Exercise 5. For Tuesday read carefully W 155-68; H 371-432.

5/16T	Image Grammar & Punctuation	Hacker Study Guide 6 due. Morenberg Exercise 5 due. Weaver Reflection 6 started. For Thursday read M 92-7.
5/18R	Prepositional and Infinitive Phrases	Weaver Reflection 6 due. Do Morenberg Exercise 6 for Tuesday. For Tuesday read carefully W 169-83; H 76-99.

5/23T	Christensen & Levels of Paragraph Structure	Morenberg Exercise 6 due. Weaver Reflection 7 started. For Thursday read M 108-17.
5/25R	Coordination and Subordination	Weaver Reflection 7 due. Do Morenberg Exercise 7 for Tuesday. For Tuesday review W 169-83; Hacker Study Guide 7 due.

5/30T	Imitation	Hacker Study Guide 7 due. Morenberg Exercise 7 due. Do Weaver Reflection 8 for Thursday. For Thursday read M 127-33; H 205-36; 798-800.
6/1R	Noun Substitutes	Hacker Study Guide 8 due. Weaver Reflection 8 due. Do Morenberg Exercise 8 for Tuesday. For Tuesday read W 184-208; H 433-66, 841-57.

6/6	Grammar B & Editing for Grammar, Mechanics, and Usage	Hacker Study Guide 9 due. Morenberg Exercise 8 due. Do Weaver Reflection 9 for Thursday. For Thursday read M 207-14.
6/8	Using Details	Weaver Reflection 9 due. Do Morenberg Exercise 9.

	Final	No final for this class because of professional travel for instructor. Everyone gets 30 extra points.

Be sure to finds the Hacker Study Guides at

http://www.eou.edu/~dwolff/ENGL316.HackerGuides.html

Addenda

Disclaimer:

Class schedule, syllabus, and assignments may be altered during the course of the term as needed.

Statement on Academic Misconduct:

Eastern Oregon University places a high value upon the integrity of its student scholars. Any student found guilty of an act of academic misconduct (including, but not limited to, cheating, plagiarism, or theft of an examination or supplies) may be subject to having his or her grade reduced in the course in question, being placed on probation or suspended from the university, or being expelled from the university—or a combination of these. (Please see the Students’ Academic Honesty Code at http://www2.eou.edu/saffairs/handbook/honest.html).

Accommodations for Disabilities:

If you have a documented disability or suspect that you have a learning problem and need reasonable accommodations, please contact the Disability Services Program in Loso Hall 234. Telephone: 962-3081.