Grammar Interview, New Media Communication

This week I spoke with Dr. W., of New Media Communications about grammar in his field. We spoke about the writing style in the field of Communications, but also style in different media as well. For example, Media Communications publications take on a style much like the social sciences, where the voice is secondary to the information being presented. He pointed out that there are many different styles, most going to a particular field or group of fields. In the media, obviously the grammar in a newspaper is going to differ from a critique of a book or film. The newest development of grammar has been in the internet. Rules are still being established in chat rooms, blogs and bulletin boards. This is where grammar is particularly informal, though important, because social relations are carried out through written word, requiring specific rules for grammar to express meaning and emotion since body language and other non-verbal communication is impossible.

Dr. W is a grammar fanatic. He has been published previously, and has spent time on the Editorial board of a communications journal. He has also been teaching for 15 years, giving him a lot of experience with students and working with their grammar, or lack there of. By Dr. W’s guess, roughly 20% of his students have only a small grasp on grammar. However, of those who receive papers from him drowned in red ink, few of them come to see him about possibly improving for future papers. When he speaks to people in the workforce who are looking to hire his students, the request he hears most often is to teach them how to write. A person who can’t communicate their ideas on paper is not going to be very useful.


Jennie B.