A Professor of Microbiology on Language in Science

Dr. X of microbiology was kind enough to sit down with me for a few minutes to entertain my questions.

I asked her if she believes that her students now have a good grasp on grammar. "It varies," she said. "About half, yes." She went on to explain that some students are very good when it comes to grammar, however, there is about 5% who she worries about. For papers she will underline things if they are wrong, but won't necessarily spend a great deal of time correcting the grammar of the paper. For theses, however, she will spend more time going over writing, not just content.

She did her undergrad work at a smaller college so the concentration on writing was more needed. All of her exams were in essay format; if there were misspellings or incorrect grammar she would loose points. "We didn't have any scantron based exams," she said.

Now, the most common errors that she runs across are verb-tense and verb-number agreement, along with "...clauses that are just hanging around." The one thing that she expects of her students is that they proof read their papers. “Often if there aren’t any red underlined words, they think it is fine,” she said.

Switching gears and talking more about the role of language in the professional aspect of science, she told me that for journal articles they are usually so cut an dry that an author’s style never really gets in the way of understanding what they have written. There has, however, been a push in the last ten years towards active voice. It has been a slow process and the remnants of passive voice are still very obvious, mainly because a great deal of the scientists publishing now were taught that strict passive voice was how a scientific paper should be written. Even if a journal requires active voice, if the researcher is well known, then the journal will publish his/her article without asking for a change in voice. Even for Dr. X, it is difficult to write in active voice. “It was engrained into us that this is how a scientific paper is written. It is just habit,” She said.

Kevin Hockett

Different Aspects in Grammar

Different Aspects in Grammar

I interviewed a professor in the Spanish linguistics department at Oregon State University, and this was what he had to say about grammar:

The main focus in the interview was that he viewed grammar in a different aspect. Only a portion of language is grammar, and his views were that grammar accuracy improves over time. There is a big difference in his department, with the first and second language speakers. He explained that in Chompsky’s model of Universal Grammar, that all humans have correct grammar engraved in them. There are just many switches, and knobs that can be turned, to make language seem different. For example, the differences in language from Oregon to southern Californian slang, or the language presented in the South are just some of these switches that have been altered. He believes that students do have a good grasp on grammar in their native language. For example: Americans have a good grasp of the English language, and native Spanish speakers have that grasp in Spanish. But when it is mixed up from Americans knowing Spanish, and native Spanish speakers knowing in English those circumstances change.
Another main focus in the interview, was his thought on how natives don’t make errors in speaking correctly. Any mishaps that happen are based on certain circumstances for example: being tired, drunk or distracted, cause those mishaps. But pattern errors are signals that language is changing. One example being the change in using will vs. shall, and was vs. were. The “Academic Standard” is based from the elitist, white, protestant males who created it. Forcing everyone to follow with this is wrong, but it the only model we currently have. The only difference is it is necessary for writing formal papers, which makes is almost a necessary evil we have. His views to the lack of effective communication and whether it matters, was that adhering to these overly rigid standards is impeding. And that the approach he uses is by being a linguist, it is academic discipline.
Overall, his main view was that we, as humans already know grammar. It is engraved in us, only with those minor differences based on the knobs and switches moving. Within his department, it is hard to grade on grammar, due to the differences in language skills in knowing a second language. People, who are learning a second language, don’t have the experiences of hearing in everyday; therefore, they don’t have the necessary tools in having that perfect grammar that is inherent within us.
-Lindsay Horsley

The written word craves attention: An interview with a writing professor

As an English major, language greatly affects your level of success. I interviewed Professor A, a writing professor, about how language affects her.

She drew a distinction between verbal and written language. Verbal mistakes, she says, are easier to overlook because they are more casual. English professors can occasionally be laid back in conversation, she insists. Professor A said that it bothers her when people “monitor their language” outside of a classroom setting just because she’s an English professor. The written word, however, “demands more attention” because it is visual.

Even so, she says, “I can forgive typos.” What do concern her are consistent errors. Even then, a person may have been taught improperly. “The longer I’ve been in teaching,” she says, “the more [mistakes] float off me.”

Mistakes in a student’s work, whether written or verbal, are forgivable because as a student, we’re here to learn to fix these things. She mentioned that she finds mistakes more shocking when they happen in a business setting. However, she did give an example of a student who emailed her to argue their low grade on a paper. The email had a misspelling or punctuation error in every line. That upset her, and didn’t earn the student a better grade.

The most common error she sees as a writer? Punctuation on the wrong side of quotation marks in dialogue. “I spend so much time switching those around,” she says.
-Samantha Hudson