Suggests that the current "return" to grammar will fail unless educators can come to terms with definitions of fundamental grammatical concepts. Considers how educators cannot go back to teaching the traditional, because the traditional no longer exists. Argues that pedagogical grammar currently has too many cooks, all trying to prepare the same…

Written for the educated reader cognizant of ordinary grammatical terminology or able to look it up in a dictionary, this booklet discusses why grammar seems so intractable. The booklet begins by offering two reasons why more diligent instruction in English grammar will not improve students' knowledge: (1) what is presented as English grammar…

An examination of the history of the practical grammar, of which the college handbook is the modern reflex, reveals why the grammar handbook is so stubbornly resistant to changes in linguistic theory, usage, or ideology. First, codifying English grammar and producing texts for teaching English grammar to school children during the eighteenth…

Describes calls to a grammar hot line about usage, grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Concludes that many people besides educators and professional writers care about exact and accurate language usage. (EL)

Discusses an analysis of grammar that systematizes knowledge about language according to new parameters but continues to view traditional grammar as the backbone of language structure. (NCR)

Argues that the use of specific grammar texts, along with the books themselves, has remained essentially unchanged for over 200 years. Examines how grammar texts were established and used historically. Claims that pedagogical uses of grammar textbooks mirrors instructors' perceptions of their students. (HB)

As an emotional topic, concern with acceptable usage of language has never been far from the public consciousness, but the public's willingness to abide by educators' views on the necessity of teaching usage rules has varied over the years. The situation we face is not a new one--the eighteenth century saw the initial widespread concern with…

Finds serious flaws in the research asserting the uselessness of teaching grammar to composition classes. Proposes that writing teachers acknowledge the presence and importance of grammar in the writing class. (RL)

Notes the problems associated with integrating grammar study in writing instruction. Provides strategies for such integration, including a syllabus for teaching the verb phrase. (RL)

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…

Uses personal experiences from "grammar" school to argue that the exercises used to develop practical skills, such as a knowledge of grammar, should be practical as well. Suggests that teachers need to convince students that what is being taught will be useful and important in later life. (RL)

A classification of students according to their written explanations as to why they enrolled in an English class on writing research reports. (RL)

Examines the positive and negative features of traditional, transformational, and notional grammar as they relate to the teaching of French as a foreign language. (AM)

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

In the last 20 years, research on language has gone from an area that specialists in composition and rhetoric took quite seriously to one that specialists now pay little attention to. This shift can be accounted for because (1) some teachers appear to have given up on using any insights from linguistic analysis in their teaching of composition;…