Pierce 1
Janelle Pierce
Dr. Hansen
ENG 599
15 June 2016
Approaches to Teaching Grammar: Annotated Bibliography
Berger, Joan. “A Systematic Approach to Grammar Instruction.” Voices from the Middle 8.3 (2001): 4349. Print.
Berger, having taught grammar using mini lessons and conferences to no avail, decided that it
would be best to take a two year systematic approach to teaching grammar. The plan was to integrate
grammar into reading and writing by introducing new concepts each month. She builds on the skills and,
using key terms, asks students to integrate the terms into their writing. Berger argues that “following a
systematic approach to teaching sentence patterns, students incorporated those patterns and
accompanying punctuation into their writing” (46). Students review between the school years and
because of this approach students are able to “internalize these sentence variations. They have grown
dissatisfied with last year’s short, choppy sentences; now they are enjoying the life and rhythm that they
can create with their own varied sentences” (48). Berger also mentions Weaver’s book Lesson’s to
Share.
Burke, Jim. “Developing Students’ Textual Intelligence through Grammar.” Voices from the Middle 8.3
(2001): 56-61. Print.
Burke notes that he learned a great deal about teaching from working in an ER and reading a
carpentry book, because in these sources, he learn to stay calm, multi-task and analyze the many
Pierce 2
building blocks of a sentence. The metaphor of carpentry lead Burke to understand the idea of knowing
the building blocks and materials and how the quality of those items, in addition to craftsmanship, build
long lasting and reliable products. Burke refers to this knowledge in the English classroom as Textual
Intelligence. This is the knowledge of form, voice, function, structure, rhetoric, point of view, tense, and
other literary elements. Burke explains that in his classroom, “we use grammar to help us understand
how to read and write better and how to think with greater clarity” (58). Some practical application
ideas include grammar brainstorms (generate lists then use them in their writing), grammatical
synthesis, and annotate directions (underline the verb to clearly define what is being asked of the
student). He also recommends that students look back through their writing to change weak or
inappropriate verbs, combine sentences or change the tense of verbs. Essentially, Burke argues that, “it
is the sentence governed by various rules, made of words and images, colors and bytes, shapes and
sounds, that combine in our new world of evolving language to create within the reader that pleasure
we call understanding” (61).
Carroll, Pamela Sissi. “Serious Playfulness: Setting the Tone for Teaching Language and Grammar.”
English Journal (January 2003): 105-112. Print.
Carroll notes that the essence of any English course is language. The linguistic idea of the
structure and foundation as well as the idea of the power of that foundation and its powerful hold on
production and reception. It is the idea that there is no correct or smart language. This is the foundation.
Carroll suggests that teachers encourage students to play with language and manipulate morphemes,
malapropisms, etc. in order to make grammar seem more interesting, to teach students to pay close
attention to written and oral language. This encourages enthusiasm. Carroll lists several activities like
hidden meanings, oxymorons, palindromes, and other activities to challenge student’s reception and
perception of language. Some ideas include looking at British English, jargon, creating definitions for
Pierce 3
unknown words, finding miscues, tongue twisters, spoonerisms, etc. Carroll notes that while these
activities are not intended to “replace more structured language and grammar study, lesson that can
fine-tune students’ awareness of how they might manipulate language to express ideas in a polite,
powerful, persuasive, pontificating, pretentious, pouting, or pompous way. Our claim is merely that
[these] activities can set the tone for meaningful and engaging lessons about language” (112).
Hagemann, Julie Ann. “Balancing Content and Form in the Writing Workshop.” English Journal (January
2003): 73-79. Print.
Hagemann believes that writing should focus on a balanced approach of content and form;
process and product; student and teacher. Students need to be aware and practice in the differences
between school talk and home talk. Hagemann argues that grammar and form should not be taught in
isolation by sighting the research of Beason and Krashen. Classrooms should focus on the function of
grammar and what role it plays in writing as opposed to grammar on its own. Students should learn to
write the way they learn to talk, they should be encouraged to express themselves and take risks, and
use authentic language models. Educators are now arguing to retain the focus on form which
encourages students to looks for features, develop hypotheses and monitor and adjust their own
language. Essentially, a combination. Use comparative analysis and emulation when writing is essential
or internalizing both the form and function of grammar. Using exemplars helps to lessen writing anxiety
as well as demonstrate effective uses of varying grammatical forms. Hagemann mentions her proof
reading methods as well which are to first comment on content, then simply underline grammatical
errors so students can identify their errors. Hagemann’s argument is that “the best writing curriculum
for language minority--- indeed, all --- students is one that balances content and form, that calls for an
attention to writing process and to written product, that draws on knowledge from both teacher and
student” (79).
Pierce 4
Thomas, Lee and Tchudi, Stephen. “Taking the G-r-r-r Our of Grammar.” English Journal (November
1996): 46-54. Print.
Thomas and Tchudi note that many education programs teacher English teachers to approach
grammar with the standard, direct approach from the 60’s. This leaves new teachers and their students
ill prepared. Their goals was to consider the purposes for grammar, present the basic concepts, and
explore the practical applications. They also note that students and teachers need to acknowledge the
legitimacy of various dialects and registers. What they discovered, essentially, is that the world is full of
objects and actions (nouns and verbs). With this foundation, students can define words and manipulate
their functions. Thomas and Tchudi talk about transformational- generative grammar and how structure
and purpose dictate grammatical form like transforming questions or passive sentences. Grammar helps
to determine form, source, patterns, inversion, parallelism, ambiguity, part to whole relationships, and
comprehension. Grammar also generates stereotypes, sexism and social assumptions. Some teacher
resources mentioned are editing conferences, peer-group proofreading, charts and posters, student
generated files and writing centers. They encourage teachers to focus on the usage, because that is
what students will be tested on. They also suggest informing parents and administrators about the
reasoning’s behind your approach including: selective feedback, varieties of “good grammar,” helping
non-native speakers, respecting home dialects, and parent support. It is important to gather as much
information and as many materials as possible. Thomas and Tchudi explain that there is an “amazing
range of possibilities in the study of that old devil grammar” and that “packing all the components of
grammar into a single course was important for a matter of perspective” (54).