UWC offers training in response to faculty requests for advice, help

The UWC’s third annual summer faculty workshop will focus on teaching grammar and punctuation. Titled “What We Have in Comma: Trials and Tribulations of Teaching and Grading Grammar,” the workshop will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on July 28 at the Bright Complex overlooking Kyle Field.

 UWC Executive Director Valerie Balester selected grammar and punctuation as a topic in response to faculty interest.

Balester said instructors are often frustrated by the number of grammar and punctuation errors they encounter in student papers but are unsure how to respond to them.

“Correcting every student error is time-consuming and typically futile,” Balester explains, “so we’ll explore some more effective and less labor-intensive ways of addressing errors. It’s important that our students learn the conventions of usage in academic and professional writing. Following those conventions helps establish common ground with readers, and that’s crucial to effective writing.”

Sometimes, though, instructors themselves don’t fully understand the rules of grammar, or they’re confused because conventions change over time.

“Some of us learned not to split infinitives or end sentences with a preposition,” notes Balester, “but as those ‘rules’ fall out of favor, we’re no longer sure what constitutes an error. This workshop will address some of those questions.”

To register for the workshop, click to http://writingcenter.tamu.edu/julyworkshop.