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Help with my dissertation - please

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TWINKYGIRL76 | 23:58 Tue 31st Mar 2009 | Arts & Literature
9 Answers
Hi all Answerbankers,
I'm just trying to finish my dissertation (the title: With statistics showing that high numbers of children are leaving education without first having gained a basic understanding of English, could teaching grammar as a separate subject in schools be the answer?) and wondered if anybody would be willing to answer a questionnaire? I'll place my questions at the end of this post. For anyone willing to complete the questionnaire, my sincere thanks in advance,
Amanda.Questionnaire
All answers will be treated anonymously.

1) What is your age group?
18 to 25
26 to 35
36 to 50
51+



2) What type of secondary school did you attend, private or public?


3) At any stage in your schooling, were you taught grammar?


4) Was grammar taught as part of your English class, or was it taught separately?


5) If you were taught grammar:

a.) how was this done?

b.) did you enjoy grammar lessons, and if not, why not?


6) Do you think learning grammar has aided you in adult life?


7) Do you think that grammar, in the traditional sense, should be taught in schools today?
8) In brief, please give reasons for your answer


9) Do you think standards in English have dropped in schools?


10) Do you think that the lack of grammar being taught in schools could be the reason?


11) Would you agree that children need to understand grammar for them to be able to use the English language effectively?


12) Do you think all children receive an equally good education?


13) Would you like to add anything further?

14) Do children learn enought grammar from reading?

15) What is you occupation?

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I filled in your questionnaire......it's in ur anonymous post ;)
I hope this helps (please ignore any bad grammar I may have produced haha).

1) What is your age group?
18 to 25

2) What type of secondary school did you attend, private or public?
Private (although if your being picky in England isn't a private school and public school the same thing, technically it should be private or comprehensive right? just a suggestion).

3) At any stage in your schooling, were you taught grammar?
If I was it definitely wasn't called a 'grammar lesson' although I'm pretty sure grammar will have been involved in part of my English lessons.

4) Was grammar taught as part of your English class, or was it taught separately?
see above

5) If you were taught grammar:

a.) how was this done?

b.) did you enjoy grammar lessons, and if not, why not?
I remember not particularly enjoying English as a whole if that counts.

6) Do you think learning grammar has aided you in adult life?
Yes although thinking now a lot of my grammar was probably learnt from my mum (who is a primary teacher).

7) Do you think that grammar, in the traditional sense, should be taught in schools today?
Not on its own but integrated into other lessons.

8) In brief, please give reasons for your answer
I think this way children will learnt it without realiseing they are learning or will tire less quickly of the subject.

9) Do you think standards in English have dropped in schools?
Yes if you compare to 50 years ago!

10) Do you think that the lack of grammar being taught in schools could be the reason?
Only part of a vast number of reasons.

11) Would you agree that children need to understand grammar for them to be able to use the English language effectively?
Yes people speak atrociously these days, I tend to be quite anal about bad grammar (again I think this comes from my mother).

12) Do you think all children receive an equally good education?
No but I think it would be impossible to give every child exactly the same 'quality' of education due to the diversity of the children/schools/social area.

13) Would you like to add anything further?

14) Do children learn enought grammar from reading?
No, children don't do enough reading in my opinion either (I'm quite biased as I love reading).

15) What is you occupation?
Medical student
1. 36 - 50
2. Public
3. Yes
4. Part of lesson
5. a. Reciting verbs and tenses. Making lists of words that sound the same but are spelled differently.
b. Yes
6. Yes, definitely. I'm articulate and can easily produce a written piece of work without having to rely on spellchecker. I'm often asked to check other people's work.
7. Yes. Poor standards of English teaching and failure to correct childrens work has led to a huge drop in standards.
8. My daughter is a university graduate. I consider her to be as intelligent and educated as myself, yet she asked me to check her dissertation for grammatical errors. She doesn't fconfidently understand the rules because she was never taught them at primary school level. In my opinion, that is the stage it should be taught so that children do not get in the habit of using English incorrectly.
9. Without doubt.
10. Yes, I'm sure it is. I also believe it is due to lack of correction of homework. My own work used to be littered with red corrections!
11. Yes, as they can better express themselves and be more articulate.
12. No. Some children receive a very poor education.
13. Until teaching is, once again, a respected profession, discipline is restored in the classroom and exhaustive and unnecessary testing of primary school children is abolished, too much valuable teaching time is wasted; time far better spent on actually educating our youngters.
14. Some grammar is absorbed from reading so it is to be encouraged but it is no replacement for class teaching and learning the rules of grammar.
15. Self-employed.

Best wishes with your dissertation and for the future!
Question Author
Thank you for your replies; I'm sure they will be of great help.
do you still need more people to answer??

If So i'm happy to.
Hi twinkygirl, Best of luck with your dissertation.

1) 51+
2) Public (i.e. state)
3)Yes
4)English lessons were :Grammar and spelling every day; Literature once or twice a week
5)a. our teachers would test us on spelling and instruct us on correct grammar - correcting us if we used incorrect grammar during conversation
5)b. analysis of sentences was boring and difficult for some. But generally I enjoyed English lessons
6) Yes. You may be tolerant of others whose use of grammar is poor but if a person is not articulate it may hinder his/her career. I can tolerate someone who says 'should of' instead of 'should have', but I cannot respect anyone who writes it.
7)Yes
8)When learning a language foreign students need a structure to follow. So do native speakers. English is a very fluid language - common use readily overrides accepted 'rules' and we often borrow words from other languages. But there must be a structure in the first place so that it may be altered in a structured fashion.
I was always taught never to end a sentence with a preposition - but quite frankly I find that impractical and leads to unwieldy sentences.
9)Yes
10)Yes. But teachers today have a poor standard of grammar - victims of a system that has failed them
11)Not necessarily. Even poor English may be understood. But it identifies the poorly educated
Continued....

12)No. Money helps, of course. But there are excellent comprehensive schools and some poor 'private' schools. I use the word 'private' in the sense you have used it. In the UK fee charging schools are called 'public' schools as opposed to state schools. This stems back to the days when the rich employed private tutors for their children. Public schools were founded to educate all children - if their parents could pay, of course.
13)Teaching grammar requires discipline. When I was a child I heard someone say 'deprive a child of discipline and you show you do not care'. At the time I thought it nonsense, but on reflection I think it is right. Don't bother to educate properly, don't bother to correct, ignore mistakes - it's easier - shows a lack of care quite frankly.
14) It depends on the books they read. Many modern books have poor grammar - reflecting today's standards. Which is quite correct if the are writing about today.
15)Retired banker
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