The teaching of grammar has been strongly debated for decades, often with reference to an alleged decline in the 1960s. This article takes a historical perspective on grammar, or knowledge about language, within English Education. In the eighteenth century, Adam Smith's "Lectures in Rhetoric and Belles-lettres" offered a discernibly…

Although "VCE English Language (EL)" has been offered for twenty years in Victoria, Australia, the subject, and especially students' experience of it, has had little evaluation. Using data from four surveys conducted across seven years with over 1500 Unit 3-4 "EL" students, augmented by VCAA enrolment data, a profile of…

The reemergence of grammar instruction in the Common Core State Standards has likely left teachers confused. On the one hand, they have been told repeatedly that grammar instruction does not improve student outcomes, and can, in fact, be "harmful" to students. However, on the other hand, many Anglophone countries, including the United…

Article discussed the grammatical influence of Bishop Lowth, who changed the face of grammar by his method of prescription and proscription applied in the seventeenth century. (RK)

Traces the reasons for a de-emphasis on grammar instruction in the English curriculum to the social upheavals of the 1960s. Suggests that grammar instruction should be an integral, necessary part of writing instruction. (RL)

Discusses the work of D. Smith, who wrote "Fifty Years of Children's Books,""Instruction in English," and Selected Essays," that largely document the history of English instruction in the U.S. for the last 50 years. (SRT)

By identifying the cultural roots of traditional grammar, a better understanding may occur as to why grammar will continue to be taught the way it is. The idea of "grammar as cultural heritage" begins with language and literature studies, which were the foundation of middle and upper class Roman schooling and included reading, writing, listening,…

In tracing the development of language curriculum in public schools, one discovers that prior to the twentieth century grammar was the center of linguistic attention. Around the beginning of the century, psychologists and others were doing research on the supposed efficacious results of such study and were finding that such supposed results were…

Offers quotes from articles about English teaching in the United States published in professional journals from 1847 to 1955. Suggests there never was a "golden age" of English teaching. Shows discussion and controversy about teaching writing, about what literature should be allowed in the schools, whether teaching grammar is worthwhile, and…

During the first half of the 19th century, written composition was seldom taught in American high schools. Speech writing was the only writing required of high school students until the mid 1800's when associationist psychology, with its emphasis on developing thinking habits through systematic, realistic exercise instead of memorization and…

In "The English Patient: English Grammar and teaching in the Twentieth Century", Hudson and Walmsley (2005) contend that the decline of grammar in schools was linked to a similar decline in English universities, where no serious research or teaching on English grammar took place. This article argues that such a decline was due not only…

This book traces the historical development of current attitudes toward language usage and, by examples and quotations, shows the steps in attitude change, including the creation and abandonment of rules. The book is based on the premise that standard English usage is open to different interpretations, and supports this premise with references to…

This textbook offers coursework in English composition and grammar. The first part concerns the sentence as a whole. The second deals with predicates and subjects, makes clear the nature of connectives and modifiers, explains the difference between phrases and clauses, and treats of several other of the more common matters of English syntax.…

The first section of this paper notes that, out of the frustration they feel in lacking a coherent, definitive system for sequencing language instruction, English teachers sometimes turn to the system of grammar teaching used in the past. It then suggests that the English teaching profession is moving through a Romantic age toward a new Classical…

Changes in concepts of usage as illustrated in 111 high school English language textbooks published from 1923 to 1963 formed the subject of this study. The textbooks were placed in one of four groups according to publication date: 1923-1940, 1941-1952, 1953-1958, and 1959-1963. The purpose of the grouping was to determine whether certain usage…