New Methods of Grammar Instruction
In searching for a more effective method of teaching grammar, I found several innovative methods. My favorites were Harris’s Writing with Clarity and Style, Schuster’s Breaking the Rules, and Constance Weaver and Jonathan Bush’s Grammar to Enrich & Enhance Writing. Though the specific details and the order of instruction are different, they all follow similar patterns, inspired by The Christensen Method.
The primary distinction between these methods and the more traditional methods (and my criteria for including the method in this list) is that these methods teach grammar in conjunction with writing, whereas traditional grammar instruction discusses grammar in a vacuum.
Many of these innovative methods can be used to teach student writing, though even these methods could fail if not taught in conjunction with student writing.
See the Bad Grammar video for more on these methods.
The primary distinction between these methods and the more traditional methods (and my criteria for including the method in this list) is that these methods teach grammar in conjunction with writing, whereas traditional grammar instruction discusses grammar in a vacuum.
Many of these innovative methods can be used to teach student writing, though even these methods could fail if not taught in conjunction with student writing.
See the Bad Grammar video for more on these methods.
Christensen, BonnieJean. The Christensen Method: Text and Workbook. New York, NY: Harper & Row, 1979.
Harris, Robert. Writing with Clarity and Style: A Guide to Rhetorical Devices for Contemporary Writers. Glendale, CA: Pyrczak, 2002.
Lindblom, Kenneth, and Patricia A. Dunn. "Analyzing Grammar Rants: An Alternative to Traditional Grammar Instruction." The English Journal 95.5 (2006): 71-77.
Noden, Harry R. Image Grammar: Teaching Grammar as Part of the Writing Process. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2011.
Schuster, Edgar H. Breaking the Rules: Liberating Writers through Innovative Grammar Instruction. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2003.
Weaver, Constance, and Jonathan Bush. Grammar to Enrich & Enhance Writing. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2008.
- The Christensen Method is one of the first, and certainly one of the most widely known, of these style styles of teaching grammar. Though this method is a bit dated, it inspired many of the changes that followed. Francis and Bonnijean Christensen were also significant participants in the grammar debate. The Christensen Method is based around the idea that good sentences are made using “free modifiers,” Christensen’s term for sentence modifiers, rather than by using subordinate clauses, which was the more traditional method of teaching sentence construction.
Harris, Robert. Writing with Clarity and Style: A Guide to Rhetorical Devices for Contemporary Writers. Glendale, CA: Pyrczak, 2002.
- Robert Harris’s Writing with Clarity and Style is one of my favorite of these new methods of teaching grammar. Harris’s method is very strongly similar to the Christensen Method, in that he emphasizes adapting sentence structure in order to improve writing, though Harris emphasizes multiple varying sentence structures, in order to achieve a specific rhetorical effect.
Lindblom, Kenneth, and Patricia A. Dunn. "Analyzing Grammar Rants: An Alternative to Traditional Grammar Instruction." The English Journal 95.5 (2006): 71-77.
- Lindblom and Dunn’s innovative method of teaching grammar involves an analysis and a critique of traditional grammar rants. “Beginning with grammar rants piques students’ interest, and careful guidance from teachers can help students develop insightful understandings of language use” (76). This method illustrates the flaws with traditionalist grammar, but also acknowledges that an understanding of the rules of Standard English grammar is often valued by people in power.
Noden, Harry R. Image Grammar: Teaching Grammar as Part of the Writing Process. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2011.
- Noden’s method of teaching grammar is based entirely around teaching grammar in conjunction with the writing process. The metaphor of using certain sentence elements to paint the sentence is used throughout the text. Noden’s text is very similar in structure to Harris’s text, but Noden focuses more on description than on rhetoric in creating an effective sentence. While Harris is likely most useful for students in a first year college composition course, Noden’s text would be most useful to teach grammar in conjunction with writing in a secondary course.
Schuster, Edgar H. Breaking the Rules: Liberating Writers through Innovative Grammar Instruction. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2003.
- Schuster’s method of teaching grammar uses traditionalist grammar rules to explain the rhetorical benefits of a particular style. His book, very helpfully, begins with an analysis of traditionalist grammar instruction, and an explanation of the flaws inherent in prescriptive grammar. He explains why certain traditionalist rules can be broken in order to specific a certain rhetorical effect and, in doing so, allows the student to understand the effective use of certain sentence structures, such as the passive voice. The language used in the text is genuinely engaging, and leads to a sense of rebellion and accomplishment in effectively breaking traditionalist rules.
Weaver, Constance, and Jonathan Bush. Grammar to Enrich & Enhance Writing. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2008.
- Constance Weaver’s Grammar to Enrich and Enhance Writing is, by far, the most comprehensive of these texts. If a teacher is only going to read one of these texts, it would be most useful to read this one. Other texts are useful for articulating the function of certain sentence structures to students; Weaver’s text outlines how teachers should convey this information to students. Her entire book is based on the premise that grammar must be taught in conjunction with writing and, as a result, her book outlines how teachers can do this effectively.
- One of the major hurdles in innovative grammar instruction is developing a language for discussing sentence structure. Memorizing parts of speech is often a major aspect of traditional grammar instruction, but then these parts of speech are not applied to writing. Weaver includes a brief, three-page summary of “Grammar Basics” defining parts of speech, parts of a sentence, and phrases and clauses. Where most grammar texts would devote half of their length to drilling these definitions into students, Weaver quickly gives these definitions, then moves on to explaining how to apply them. (I've created a handout that explains these terms, in brief, that can be given to students in a writing center or as a refresher during a class.)
- Weaver’s first three chapters are dedicated to explaining the need for a new method of teaching grammar. Chapter Four, “Teaching Grammar Throughout the Writing Process,” summarizes her pedagogy, and the remainder of the book explains it in greater detail.
Responding to Student Writing
The only effective way of teaching grammar is to use the student's own writing to do so. An essential component of teaching writing is responding to student writing effectively. The following texts focus specifically on the teacher's response to student writing.
Richard Haswell's "Minimal Marking" deals specifically with an effective method of responding to grammatical errors in writing.
It is important too, to remember that grammar is not a major concern in writing; structure and content are much more important to the overall effectiveness of a composition. It is useless to correct a student's grammar on a paragraph that will be cut before the final draft. The teacher should focus first on helping the student revise content.
Responding to grammar in a student writing should be one of the last steps in the overall writing process.
Richard Haswell's "Minimal Marking" deals specifically with an effective method of responding to grammatical errors in writing.
It is important too, to remember that grammar is not a major concern in writing; structure and content are much more important to the overall effectiveness of a composition. It is useless to correct a student's grammar on a paragraph that will be cut before the final draft. The teacher should focus first on helping the student revise content.
Responding to grammar in a student writing should be one of the last steps in the overall writing process.
Cooper, Charles Raymond, and Lee Odell. Evaluating Writing: The Role of Teachers' Knowledge about Text, Learning, and Culture. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English, 1999.
Lanham, Richard A. Revising Prose. 3rd ed. New York, NY: Macmillan, 1992.
Haswell, Richard. “The Complexities of Responding to Student Writing.” Disciplines. 3 (2006).
Haswell, Richard H. “Minimal Marking.” College English. 45.2 (1983): 600-604.
Lanham, Richard A. Revising Prose. 3rd ed. New York, NY: Macmillan, 1992.
Haswell, Richard. “The Complexities of Responding to Student Writing.” Disciplines. 3 (2006).
Haswell, Richard H. “Minimal Marking.” College English. 45.2 (1983): 600-604.
Style Guides
It's important to make the distinction between style guides and traditional grammar manuals. Style guides offer suggestions for improving the effectiveness of writing through manipulating the text on a sentence level, rather than by focusing on the formal grammar of the sentence. According to Hartwell’s “Grammar, Grammars, and the Teaching of Grammar,” style guides are categorized as Grammar 5.
The Elements of Style has always been one of my favorite style guides, despite its flaws, because it does focus on a practical style, rather than on rote learning of formal grammatical terms. However, Stephen Pinker’s new style guide The Sense of Style has supplanted the position once held by Strunk and White’s guide, because Pinker addresses style from the perspective of a linguist. “The authors of the classic manuals wrote as if the language they grew up with were immortal, and failed to cultivate an ear for ongoing change” (Pinker, Prologue). Pinker acknowledges the grammar debate, and dismisses the grammar pedants without bothering to engage in the debate any further.
The Elements of Style has always been one of my favorite style guides, despite its flaws, because it does focus on a practical style, rather than on rote learning of formal grammatical terms. However, Stephen Pinker’s new style guide The Sense of Style has supplanted the position once held by Strunk and White’s guide, because Pinker addresses style from the perspective of a linguist. “The authors of the classic manuals wrote as if the language they grew up with were immortal, and failed to cultivate an ear for ongoing change” (Pinker, Prologue). Pinker acknowledges the grammar debate, and dismisses the grammar pedants without bothering to engage in the debate any further.
Bullock, Richard H. The Norton Field Guide to Writing. 3rd ed. New York, NY: W.W. Norton, 2013.
Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 6th ed. New York, NY: Modern Language Association of America, 2003.
Pinker, Steven. The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person's Guide to Writing in the 21st Century. New York, NY: Viking, 2014.
Strunk, William, and E. B. White. The Elements of Style. 4th ed. New York, NY: Macmillan, 2000.
Truss, Lynne. Eats, Shoots & Leaves: Illustrated Edition: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation. Trans. Pat Byrnes. New York, NY: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2003.
- The Norton Field Guide is useful for helping students understand various genres of writing, with an emphasis on content and rhetoric, rather than on formal grammar rules. Most importantly, the Field Guide covers multiple steps of the writing process. There is a small section on MLA format and on grammar, which may be beneficial; that the grammar portion of the text is so small reflects the significance of grammar to the writing process.
Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 6th ed. New York, NY: Modern Language Association of America, 2003.
- The MLA Handbook offers useful information regarding research and citation methods, but little help towards the actual content of writing. A summary of the MLA format in the Norton Field Guide or on the Purdue OWL website would likely be more useful than the text itself.
Pinker, Steven. The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person's Guide to Writing in the 21st Century. New York, NY: Viking, 2014.
- This new style guide announces it’s debt to The Elements of Style, but immediately explains that it intends to address the issue of style with the benefit of the knowledge developed through 20th century linguistic research.
Strunk, William, and E. B. White. The Elements of Style. 4th ed. New York, NY: Macmillan, 2000.
- This is a classic style guide, and offers many helpful suggestions towards effective writing, but is now largely outdated. See Stephen Pinker's The Sense of Style for a more modern approach.
Truss, Lynne. Eats, Shoots & Leaves: Illustrated Edition: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation. Trans. Pat Byrnes. New York, NY: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2003.
- Eats, Shoots & Leaves uses humorous examples to explain the rules of punctuation. This style guide is, at times, overly pedantic. It would likely not be of tremendous use to students. It is, however, very funny sometimes, especially as far as style guides go. It would likely be very useful to any beginning teachers attempting to refresh their knowledge of punctuation rules.
Traditional Grammar Instruction
The following texts propose a new method of teaching grammar, precisely because teachers are aware of the flaws in traditional grammar instruction. However, most of these resources simply offer a new way of teaching the traditional methods. Some of them don't even attempt that.
I give a summary of each of these methods below, along with my reasons for labelling them as ineffective. It is important to understand the difference between actual innovative grammar instruction and these re-workings of the traditional model.
I've also included two textbooks here, which, of course, offer only the traditional model.
I give a summary of each of these methods below, along with my reasons for labelling them as ineffective. It is important to understand the difference between actual innovative grammar instruction and these re-workings of the traditional model.
I've also included two textbooks here, which, of course, offer only the traditional model.
Burnette, Dawn. Daily Grammar Practice: Student Workbook. 2nd ed. n.p.: DGP Publishing, n.d.
Burnette, Dawn. Daily Grammar Practice: Teaching Guide and Answer Key. 2nd ed. n.p.: DGP Publishing, n.d.
Evans, June B. "An Analogous Ounce: The Analgesic for Relief." The English Journal 70.2 (1981): 38-39.
Killgallon, Don, and Jenny Killgallon. Grammar for College Writing: A Sentence-composing Approach: A Student Worktext. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook, 2010.
Kolln, Martha, and Robert Funk. Understanding English Grammar. New York, NY: Pearson Education, 2006.
Odell, Lee, Richard Vacca, Renée Hobbs, and John E. Werriner. Elements of Language: Fourth Course. Austin, TX: Holt, Reinhart, and Winston, 2005.
Odell, Lee, Richard Vacca, Renée Hobbs, and John E. Werriner. Elements of Language: Sixth Course. Austin, TX: Holt, Reinhart, and Winston, 2005.
Umstatter, Jack. Got Grammar?: Ready-to-use Lessons & Activities That Make Grammar Fun. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2007.
Umstatter, Jack. The Grammar Teacher's Activity-a-day: 180 Ready-to-use Lessons to Teach Grammar and Usage: Grades 5-12. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2010.
Burnette, Dawn. Daily Grammar Practice: Teaching Guide and Answer Key. 2nd ed. n.p.: DGP Publishing, n.d.
Evans, June B. "An Analogous Ounce: The Analgesic for Relief." The English Journal 70.2 (1981): 38-39.
Killgallon, Don, and Jenny Killgallon. Grammar for College Writing: A Sentence-composing Approach: A Student Worktext. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook, 2010.
Kolln, Martha, and Robert Funk. Understanding English Grammar. New York, NY: Pearson Education, 2006.
Odell, Lee, Richard Vacca, Renée Hobbs, and John E. Werriner. Elements of Language: Fourth Course. Austin, TX: Holt, Reinhart, and Winston, 2005.
Odell, Lee, Richard Vacca, Renée Hobbs, and John E. Werriner. Elements of Language: Sixth Course. Austin, TX: Holt, Reinhart, and Winston, 2005.
Umstatter, Jack. Got Grammar?: Ready-to-use Lessons & Activities That Make Grammar Fun. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2007.
Umstatter, Jack. The Grammar Teacher's Activity-a-day: 180 Ready-to-use Lessons to Teach Grammar and Usage: Grades 5-12. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2010.