| Why Johnny Can't Use Good Grammarby Mark | | | | research to show that some students cannot |
| Pennington, MA Reading Specialist and author | | | | learn grammar. |
| of Teaching Grammar and Mechanics ©2004 | | | | |
| Pennington Publishing | | | | 4. English grammar cannot be learned by |
| | | | second language learners. Some teachers think |
| Some years back, the principal walked into my | | | | that students who speak other languages get |
| room while my student teacher was delivering | | | | confused between the primary language and |
| a lesson. After a few minutes, the principal | | | | English grammars. The research proves |
| signaled me to step outside. | | | | otherwise. Intuitively, many of us have |
| | | | significantly increased our own knowledge of |
| "I would never hire Johnny to work at my | | | | English grammar by taking a foreign language. |
| school," he said. | | | | |
| | | | 5. Reading and writing a lot will improve |
| Shocked, I asked him why. | | | | grammar. Reading grammatically rich |
| | | | literature is wonderful, but learning is not |
| "On the board, he has a misplaced comma, and | | | | passive and does not come by osmosis. Writing |
| he ended a sentence with a preposition." | | | | poorly may, indeed, reinforce poor |
| | | | grammatical usage. |
| Sounds quite harsh, doesn't it? That | | | | |
| principal certainly had high expectations of | | | | How we should teach grammar to Johnny... |
| histeachers. Not every educated adult places | | | | |
| the same level of importance regarding the | | | | Don't waste time teaching Johnny what he |
| proper use of grammar and mechanics as does | | | | already knows. Find out what he does not know |
| that principal. However, many do. | | | | and target these areas of grammatical |
| | | | deficits. Use the free diagnostic Grammar |
| Proper grammar is a critically important tool | | | | Assessment and Mechanics Assessment found on |
| for success in school, work, and life. We are | | | | to pinpoint specific skill deficits. Have |
| judged, sometimes quite severely, by the | | | | Johnny practice those weaknesses with |
| words we use and the way we use them in both | | | | specific skill worksheets. You can find these |
| our speaking and writing. Misused grammar | | | | resources at your local bookstore, on the |
| betrays us. The way we talk and write | | | | web, or in Teaching Grammar and Mechanics |
| reflects our background, education, and | | | | ©2004 Pennington Publishing. Who says |
| ability to communicate. | | | | teaching grammar in isolation is ineffective? |
| | | | Indeed, it is effective and efficient. |
| The Five Myths of Grammar Instruction | | | | |
| | | | Teach the language of grammar and recognition |
| 1. Grammar is acquired naturally; it does not | | | | of the common grammatical structures. Johnny |
| need to be taught. Oral language is not | | | | has to know what a prepositional phrase is |
| always an efficient teacher. In fact, it can | | | | and how to know one when he sees one. In |
| be quite a mixed bag. For every proper | | | | fact, over 30% of academic writing is |
| modeling of the pronoun in the sentence: It | | | | composed of this grammatical form. Maybe |
| is I, students hear at least five models of | | | | learning "Conjunction Junction, What's Your |
| the incorrect: It is me. Grammar as it is | | | | Function" on Sesame StreetÂ(R) was not such |
| caught must be complemented by a grammar that | | | | a bad idea after all. The "Parts of Speech |
| is taught. | | | | Rap" in Teaching Grammar and Mechanics serves |
| | | | this need nicely. |
| 2. Grammar is a meaningless collection of | | | | |
| rules-most of which don't work half the time. | | | | Teach grammar in the context of writing. |
| This myth may have developed from mindless | | | | Using the common grammatical structures, have |
| "drill and kill" grammatical exercises with | | | | Johnny begin half of his written sentences |
| no application to real writing. Actually, our | | | | with different sentence openers. This |
| English grammar is remarkably flexible and | | | | practice serves two purposes: It teaches |
| consistent. | | | | recognition and manipulation of grammatical |
| | | | structures and it improves sentence variety. |
| 3. Grammar cannot be learned by students with | | | | Teaching Grammar and Mechanics has a terrific |
| some learning styles or disabilities. | | | | set of sentence openers, using all of the |
| | | | common grammatical forms found in superior |
| While it may be true that students learn | | | | writing. |
| language differently, at different rates, and | | | | |
| vary in proficiency, there has been no | | | | Need more ideas? |