Integration Of The Teaching Of Grammar And Rhetoric Into The Teaching Of Writing

Integration of the Teaching of Grammar and Rhetoric into the Teaching of Writing (Abstract) Grammar and rhetoric are closely connected with writing. The current English teaching, however, does not take the close relationship into consideration. The teaching of the three subjects is Usually undertaken separately. A questionnaire is carefully designed to probe into whether students of English are satisfied with the present teaching of the three courses. In November 2000, the investigation was made among English majors in the second-grade in Sichuan Normal University and 143 copies were returned. Moreover, the author attended grammar class and writing class with English majors in the second-grade and interviewed some teachers in charge of teaching grammar, rhetoric or writing for the purpose of obtaining the first-hand experience of how the three subjects are instructed in the classroom. The results of the investigation are comprehensively discussed. The analysis is shown as the following: (1) The prevailing teaching method fails to meet the demands of grammar teaching. Not being interested in the current grammar course, the majority of English majors hold that their demands on grammar study cannot be satisfied in the grammar course. The approach to grammar teaching is attributable to the unpleasant condition of grammar learning. The current grammar teaching is in line with the backward grammar-translation method. In this way, the teaching tasks stipulated by Teaching Syllabus cannot be fulfilled successfully in the given time. New Teaching Syllabus lays down much more grammatical knowledge, which unquestionably multiplies the difficulties of realizing the desired teaching goals. (2) English majors are weak at learning rhetorical knowledge. Owing to unsystematic instruction of rhetoric and inadequate practice, students seldom employ rhetorical devices in writing. Rhetoric is often used as a beneficial technique for appreciating text in comprehensive English. (3) Students have much trouble improving their writing. They don't think that they can benefit much from the writing course. On the other hand, writing is regarded as one of the hardest courses by many a teacher because of its inefficiency. The laborious efforts of writing teachers frequently produce little effects. The writing of tnglish majors cannot be effectively improved: The mistakes students are apt to make in writing are usually classified into two categories: grammar and rhetoric. Judging from the analysis of the investigation, the author comes to the conclusion that the current pattern teaching of English---the three subjects are implemented separately--- cannot solve effectively the difficulties that students encounter in the process of creatively using the target language. As a productive language skill, writing can reasonably measure how much knowledge has been mastered. in the meantime, students are motivated to actively acquire grammatical and rhetorical knowledge for the sake of improving their writing. Hence, it is proposed that the teaching of grammar and rhetoric be conflated with writing teaching. The feasibility of the combination of the three subjects is proved by the author's practical analysis.