Interview with McMahon, Chair of ECU English Dept.

Morning Dr. McMahon,
Thank you again for taking the time to answer my questions, I have taken the liberty to paraphrase your answers. If there are any irregularities, let me know. After your approval, I will be submitting this on a blog at tommyhammons@blogspot.com

What can grammar do for success, image and confidence?
How do you define grammar, connotatively?
Are you worried, psychologically, how your peers see you concerning grammar? Explain
Besides taking a grammar course, what’s the best way to exercise your grammar “chops?”
What are your concerns about Prescriptivists and Descriptivists?
What is your position on “literal meaning falling into disfavor in academia?”
Do you think this phenomenon is something to be worried about?
Do you think there is a connection between this trend and the declining interest in grammar instruction?

1a I believe that these three are interrelated, and that they have an important relation to a sound image.

2a. In the broadest sense, grammar is the structure of ideas and how they relate to one another.

3a. Yes! Though I am in a leadership position in the department, I feel that I have more to learn from my colleagues than they do from me with respect to many things, particularly grammar. I think this stems from the fact that I did not receive strong grammar training in high school.

4a. I think reading more books is the best way. Quite simply, if you read examples of good writing, you unconsciously begin to emulate them. Unfortunately, I think the proliferation of visual media is reducing the amount of time people spend reading and therefore reducing their opportunity to acquire strong grammar skills in this manner.

5a. Perhaps because I am a philosopher, I am more concerned with content. In short, I am concerned first with what people say, and secondarily with how they say it. However, I feel there is a false dichotomy between content and form because there is an inherent connection between the two. You cannot have one without the other; communication requires both content and structure. Simply put, if the structure of your expression is not sufficiently sound from a mechanical perspective, then it cannot convey content effectively.

6a. Disfavor, no. When we ask students to engage in analysis we are trying to get them to use their literal understanding of texts to anchor an interpretation. I do think that the movement away from formalist analyses and toward more reader response interpretation can result in a reduced emphasis on literal meaning. Mostly though, I think it is factors external to academia, factors in our culture, that have encouraged a decline in interest in literal meaning.

7a. Yes.

8a. Yes. In general, I think college instructors are more concerned with content, rather than structure, presumably because we assume that secondary educators have focused much of their attention on technical proficiency in their students’ writing. Of course, I assume that I need to help my students develop their grammar skills if they arrive here without a strong foundation in that area. Ultimately, I emphasize BOTH content and form because I feel that both are important and because I also have a duty to prepare students for the fact that in the real world, employers expect one not only to have good ideas, but also to be able to articulate those ideas in clear, correct prose.