By Deepti Dhir
In conversations with consultants this semester, one question has resurfaced on a couple of occasions: how do we navigate sessions with multilingual students who request help with grammar and organization or both grammar and content in their drafts? While we are practiced in prioritizing higher over lower-order concerns, now more than ever, we are keenly aware that grammar can be as much of a priority as other writing areas. Often times, students’ legitimate worry about grammar weighs on us quite heavily. With the knowledge that, done properly, addressing grammatical issues in a paper takes considerable work on the part of both the student and the consultant in a session, how do we satisfy a student’s needs adequately in other areas of writing without relegating grammar to second place?
Part of the issue lies in the fact that, at our writing center, and perhaps at many others, grammar has acquired a separate status all on its own. Somewhere along the way, grammar grew wings and took flight, soaring away from the English language, until it reached new land. This seems to be the reason why we tell students: “We will do X and then focus on the grammar,” or “Let’s look at the grammar here and the ideas in this [other] section.” Grammar has strangely severed its ties with English words and ideas, settling on an island far away. We buy a plane ticket and fly to visit the land of grammatical rules at some point in our session, and given the possibility of delays during our trip, we worry about not reaching our grammatical destination before the end of 50 minutes.
But it is becoming increasingly clear that grammar has a great desire to be reunited with English writing, where it finds a home in ideas, words, and sentences. I ask us to be generous and kind-hearted and give grammar another chance to reclaim its place among English ideas. When students ask to work on grammar and content, let’s tell them that grammar is no longer miles and miles away. Let’s tell them that in working on the thesis, the topic sentences, the conclusion, grammar will be ever-present and waiting to be received, called upon and corrected if needed. Let’s not acknowledge grammar as a sovereign state. Rather, let’s support grammar in overcoming its isolation and crossing the border back into the land of ideas.
Published November 17, 2015
