A BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO SELECED ASPECTS OF THE LINGUISTICS ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH IS PRESENTED IN THIS MONOGRAPH. FOLLOWING A DEFINITION OF LANGUAGE AND AN EXPLANATION OF THE COMMUNICATION PROCESS, THE PEDAGOGICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE INADEQUACIES OF TRADITIONAL GRAMMAR ARE EXAMINED. THE CONSIDERATION OF STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS IN ENGLISH CENTERS ON PHONOLOGY…

BECAUSE OF LIMITATIONS DURING THE ACTUAL STUDY, THIS PROJECT WAS DELIMITED TO THE STUDY OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF USING MATERIALS ADAPTED FROM STRUCTURAL AND GENERATIVE GRAMMARS UPON THE ABILITY OF SEVENTH-GRADE STUDENTS TO WRITE MORE MATURE COMPOSITIONS. FORTY-THREE STUDENTS WERE GIVEN EXPERIMENTAL LINGUISTICALLY-ORIENTED MATERIALS DESIGNED TO…

The value of a transformational model of syntax can be illustrated by comparing the taxonomic grammatical description of a complex sentence to a transformation-oriented description of the same sentence. The taxonomic approach, an immediate constituent analysis, requires 10 steps to break the sample sentence into its grammatical components; the…

Version of a paper read at the Annual Meeting of the National Council of Teachers of English, NOvember 1969, in Washington, D.C. (DS)

Paragraphs, as well as sentences, can be spoken of as having a deep and a surface structure. The amount of deep structure of the paragraph that is mapped onto the surface paragraph is related to the mode of discourse in which the paragraph is found: the deep structure in scientific paragraphs is relatively uncomplicated with few assumptions made;…

THE PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY WAS TO COMPARE THE COMPLEXITY OF WRITTEN COMPOSITIONS OF FIFTH-GRADE STUDENTS IN A LINGUISTICALLY-ORIENTED LANGUAGE ARTS PROGRAM WITH THE COMPLEXITY OF THE WRITTEN COMPOSITIONS OF STUDENTS WHO WERE TAUGHT TRADITIONAL GRAMMAR. AN EXPERIMENTAL GROUP AND A CONTROL GROUP WERE EACH COMPOSED OF 32 STUDENTS AND WERE EQUALIZED…

The advantages and weaknesses of conventional grammar and structural linguistics are the subjects of this pamphlet. Reasons given for the widespread attack on conventional grammar are that it has resulted in repetitive and time-consuming instruction, has not improved the students' language skills, has been confused with language usage, and does…

The recent history and present state of linguistics in the English classroom present a dismal prospect. The structural-grammar textbooks of the forties and fifties were inadequate, and the grammars of the sixties, although improved by the influence of Chomsky and his colleagues, are still not as good as they should be. Also of questionable value…

The meanings of the words grammar and linguistics have undergone a multitude of changes in the last years, but teachers should continue to teach linguistics and formal grammar in the schools. (JH)

This study summarizes the kinds of English grammar currently taught in American secondary schools and describes the effects of curriculum proposals by scholars upon the teaching of language and composition. A survey of grammar from classical Greek and Roman times to the present precedes a description of specific types of grammar (e.g.,…

This unit is intended to give ninth-grade students a brief survey of the changes in the study of language from the time of the Greeks to the present. Organized to proceed from the teacher's introduction of a subject to class examination and discussion of an excerpt from a grammarian's work, the unit focuses on the belief that a grammarian's…

FROM EITHER A FEAR OF STUDENTS OR A FEAR OF LANGUAGE AS IT ACTUALLY EXISTS, MANY ENGLISH TEACHERS HAVE PERMITTED GRAMMATICAL ANALYSIS TO DOMINATE THE NEW ENGLISH CURRICULA AND CONSEQUENTLY HAVE MADE LINGUISTICS IRRELEVANT. THESE TEACHERS PREFER THE MANIPULATION OF GRAMMATICAL SYSTEMS AS AN END IN ITSELF RATHER THAN THE USE OF LINGUISTICS TO…

Four historical studies, carried out under the direction of Professor Raven I. McDavid and reported in this monograph, trace the various attitudes toward language study expressed in the journals (1911-63) of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE). For the years between 1911 and 1929, Betty Gawthrop reports a cautious questioning of the…

This study attempted to discover what difference was made in teaching practice by the introduction of a course in linguistics into the undergraduate English-education curriculum. Questionnaires were sent to 10 students who had graduated from Roosevelt University (Chicago) prior to January, 1966, with no linguistic training and to 14 graduating…