In a personal letter, Chomsky suggests that while the study of grammar has little detectable effect on writing ability, it can, as a branch of science, help students learn how (and why) to think about hard and intriguing questions and to develop natural curiosity. (HOD)

Examines the reasons for and the value of, teaching grammar through drill. Suggests other methods for teaching effective oral and written communication. (RB)

Outlines the principle teaching methodologies to come out of Great Britain in the last 15 years and their recommendations for teaching literature. Although six different approaches are described, all place emphasis on the importance of linguistics as a tool in appreciating and gaining an in-depth understanding of literature. (LET)

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…

A guide to linguistic analysis and to the three co-existing grammars--conventional, structural, and transformational--this glossary, which is directed to the beginning student, provides descriptions of terms and topics as they are used in their most frequent and familiar senses. Encyclopedic descriptions and information about the referent are…

One of the central and defining features of man is language; there can be no deep understanding of man without some understanding of language. Linguistics is the "orderly examination of language in terms appropriate to itself." The central task of linguistics is grammar, the study of the patterning that brings together sounds or symbols with…

Examines the reason why new grammar has failed to make the impact that was predicted fifteen or so years ago.(RB)

Presents an overview of the treatment of linguistic principles in recent French grammar books. (AM)

For secondary English teachers concerned with the theoretical and practical problems of the traditional approaches to teaching grammar, this paper proposes that a realistic solution can be found in current linguistic investigation. This solution lies not in the product of linguistic inquiry, but in the process of inquiry itself. The paper first…

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…

The class of English words traditionally called adverbs is examined and redefined in this paper. The following three subclasses of adverbs are identified: limiters, which are words that modify noun phrases; intensifiers, which are words that modify adjectives; and "true" adverbs, which modify verb phrases and sentences. Examples of these…

An interview with Jean-Claude Chevalier in which the advantages and dangers of eclecticism are discussed. Some topics covered are: the role of traditional grammar; recent linguistic research in French; the development of teaching methods; Chomsky's theory of universal grammar. (Text is in French.) (AMH)

Suggests that the discovery procedure of data gathering and hypothesizing could be more effective as a means of teaching language arts skills than traditional grammar and new English'' methods. (DS)

Author cites philological grammar" as one of three ways of treating language. The other two approaches to language are traditional grammar and linguistic grammar or transformational generative grammar. Philological grammar stresses the art of reading. (DS)