Grammar expert guides writers

King's has hired a grammarian to help students improve the writing skills they need for university

Noah White, a first year student, may benefit from King's new grammarian to help his writing skills. (Photo: Jennifer Casey)

Noah White already has two university essays under his belt — but they didn’t come easily.

Not knowing what to expect, the first-year University of King’s College student sought advice on how to write them.

“It’s more specific, it’s a different form of writing … I’m still getting used to it,” says White.  “I kind of know what I’m doing. But it’s really different.”

It’s a common problem at Canadian universities, especially in first year, when many students show up with fewer writing skills than they need.

Even though King’s prides itself on its classics-oriented Foundation Year Programme as a crash course in formal writing, it has decided students need a little extra. The university appointed a grammarian-in-residence this year.

“Not everyone comes into foundation year equally well prepared by their high school,” says Peggy Heller, the program’s director. “They have to understand these structures of the language itself because this is what’s no longer really being taught.”

The grammarian, Dr. Milo Stening-Riding, runs a one-hour workshop every Monday afternoon to help students improve the grammar and structure of their writing. In second term she will help students with their specific essays.

The writing centre at neighbouring Dalhousie University is well established. It helps students with everything from cover letters to essays. Heller says the popularity of the centre is part of the reason King’s decided to hire its own writing mentor.

“We had been drawing upon the Dalhousie writing workshop but sometimes they have long waiting lists.”

So far attendance at the King’s workshop has been sparse. Heller is not worried, noting it’s still early in the school year.

“I think that students don’t really have a conception of what they need to know at this point,” said Heller. “They haven’t gotten to the point where they say, ‘I’ve tried my best but I still can’t be clear. I need some grammar.’”

Schools across the Atlantic are teaching grammar to students at a younger age. Eight elementary schools in London have writers in residence to help students develop writing skills. The project is so popular there are plans to expand to 20 schools in the near future.

Not everyone at King’s is lost in words. Davis Carr, a first-year student from Ottawa, says she has found herself well-prepared for university writing.

“Every year we had sections on writing and that included these grammar midterms,” says Carr. “We had these booklets called language power workbooks. It was a very formal approach to grammar.”

But most students don’t appear to be getting the guidance they need. Nova Scotia’s education department recently released the Grade 12 provincial English exam results and they’re less than inspiring. The average score — 60 per cent.

Heller says there’s been a shift in the way students are taught how to write, and that shift has been away from teaching structure — so it won’t change overnight.

That means students like Noah White will continue to learn grammar the hard way, after they’re already at university.

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