Traditional grammar instruction is a challenging element of the English curriculum; both students and teachers struggle with the rules and dull nature of grammar. However, understanding grammar is important because students need to understand the language they speak in order to be effective communicators, and teachers provide grammar instruction…

Argues that reintroducing the classical principle of imitation based upon single, model sentences can be highly beneficial by allowing the student to practice handling the sentence, directing attention to grammatical constructions, enlarging vocabulary, improving spelling, and filling the mind with mature standards of prose. (RS)

Argues that problems in teaching grammar stem from failure to help students develop, as opposed to memorize, grammatical concepts. Recommends discussion of style and vocabulary, student stylistic analysis of their own writing, and deciphering syntactic use, not just definition, of parts of speech. Suggests that such training should begin in…

Reflects on the interrelationship between expression and mechanics in writing instruction. (MM)

A large body of research has been interpreted as showing that formal grammar instruction does not lead to better student writing. This literature review questions the conclusiveness of the evidence that is usually cited. The term "formal grammar instruction" has been one source of problems; most studies have failed to distinguish between a body of…

Describes, through letters and narrative, how a teacher struggled with a stubborn adult student to teach him how to write. (SRT)

Contains comments on articles by Patrick Hartwell, Robert Scholes, and Gordon Broswell. (EL)

Proposing that the utility of formal grammar instruction has never been put to the test, this booklet first explains the heretofore negative research results and explains why all the good intentions behind them have not kept those results from being essentially useless. The remainder of the booklet describes an experiment in which there were no…

Offers a review of various veins of thought related to writing instruction such as traditional grammar and rhetoric, discourse processes and cognitive science, and discourse form and sociolinguistics. (SRT)

Discusses alternatives to formal grammatical analysis to teach syntax and usage, including sentence combining, expansion, and modelling/imitation; transformation exercises; and inductive grammar. Considers ways of teaching editing/proofreading skills, including peer editing, teacher/student conferences, and selective marking of errors. Discusses…

"Grammar Graphics" is a technique for teaching English grammar to children in grades three through five using symbols to represent each part of speech. In this way children can graphically perceive and understand the function of words in a sentence. Basically the students learn symbols for all parts of speech except the preposition and conjunction…

Provides a historical sketch of grammar study since the Romans to identify assumptions about grammar inherited or developed by nineteenth-century educators, who passed them on in ways modern educators might not recognize. Argues that the effect of this philosophical line is that the teaching of traditional grammar still has public and…

Describes a teaching method that uses the student's growing need to use the language as motivation. (CRH)

Throughout the early years of the twentieth century, literacy education was based on the solid understanding of grammar. Yet as early as 1923, empirical data indicated that the link between knowledge of grammar and correct use of English was tenuous at best. Despite formidable evidence, some educators still advocate the use of grammar as a…

This study examines eight evaluative abstracts on grammar instruction, to determine the effects of such instruction on student writing and to trace the development of sentence-combining instruction, which helps students write with increased syntactic maturity. On the basis of the evaluative abstracts, the study concludes that traditional grammar…