Why Michael, Jose, LaShonda,
Christopher, And Jennifer Don’t
Know How To Edit: What Has
Happened To America’s Future
Grammarians?
By: Frances Crawford Fennessy
Department of English
Sam Houston State University
Huntsville, Texas (2005)
The definition of grammar:
 Patrick Hartwell’s five-pronged definition of
grammar:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
The grammar in our heads
Linguistic science
Linguistic etiquette rules
School grammar
Stylistic grammar
A brief background:
 Latin grammar rules applied to the English
language (Latin as a second language)
 Prevailing teaching concept-Latin grammar
rules in the classroom from 1500s to 1963
Grammar in question:
 1963, Richard Braddock, Richard Lloyd-
Jones, and Lowell Schoer conclude:

The teaching of formal grammar has a
negligible or, because it usually
displaces some instruction and practice
in composition, even a harmful effect on
improvement in writing. (qtd in Hartwell,
348)
The Grammar War
 Prescriptive
Grammarians

Grammar rules are
fixed and essential in
writing.
 Descriptive
Grammarians

Grammar rules are
used to describe how
people use language
(ever-changing).
The next 40 years:
Descriptive grammarians are heard over all others.
Formal grammar instruction is removed from the classrooms.
ACT National Curriculum Survey:
 April, 2003

Groups of writing skills that college instructors
believe are most important for entering college
students to have –grammar and usage skills–
are considered to be least important by high
school teachers.
Grammar instruction
survives…
It has become necessary to evaluate the
teaching methods of grammar in the classroom
in order to determine which methods support the
best acquisition and application for a larger group
of the population.
Research hypotheses:
 There is a positive relationship between the
knowledge and use of writing rules, such as
grammar and punctuation, and the amount of
reading a student does before he is a college
freshman.
 There is a negative relationship between the
knowledge and use of writing rules and the
teaching method of assigning worksheets for
student completion.
The 2004 research:
 Students of freshmen composition courses
and developmental-basic writing classes



Sam Houston State University
Kingwood College
Montgomery College
Survey questions:
 50 questions in the survey



10 questions regarding demographics and
reading habits
11 questions regarding English classroom
experiences in junior high and high school
29 questions regarding grammar and
punctuation
The pilot study:
 The beginning of the fall semester, 2004
 29 tutors from the SHSU Writing Center

Combination of:


Writing tutors
Foreign language tutors
 * most of the foreign language tutors do not
have English as their first language
Sample group results:
18-20 years
21-23
24-26
27-30
30+
5
5
4
4
4
3
3
3
2
2
2
1
1
0
Correct:
90-100%
1
11
80-89%
70-79%
1
69% or less
1
Biggest variances:
Correct:
80-100%
100%
79% or less
93%
86%
90%
80%
76%
71%
70%
60%
47%
50%
37%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Parts of Speech
Punctuation
Pronoun Usage
Least variances:
Correct:
80-100%
79% or less
120%
100%
97%
95%
82%
84%
80%
60%
42%
40%
32%
20%
0%
Homonyms
Sub/Verb Agrmt
Parallelism
Reading habits:
90%
80%
82%
70%
60%
83%
50%
80-100%
79% or less
40%
30%
20%
10%
8% 11%
9% 7%
Weekly
Monthly
0%
Daily
Grammar teaching methods exposed to:
90-100%
5
Rhymes, Songs, etc
Notes on Graded Papers
1
Peer Tutoring
1
80-89%
2
70-79%
4
6
6
3
69% or less
4
2
1 1
Student/Teacher Conferences
Worksheets and Drills
1
Lecture
1
Journal Free Writing
1
Writing Workshop
1
0
10
9
9
9
6
2
2
6
3
3
4
6
2
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
22
24
Grammar teaching method
believed to be most effective:
90-100%
80-89%
70-79%
Rhymes, Songs, etc
1
1
Notes on Graded Papers
1
1
Peer Tutoring
1
69% or less
1
3
1
3
Sentence Diagramming
3
6
Worksheets and Drills
1
Lecture
5
4
1
Journal Free Writing
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
The only person to score over 90% correct believed the method of leaving notes
on graded papers was the most effective means of learning.
How our grammarians see themselves:
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
7 7
5
3
1
2
1 1
Expert
1 1
Pretty Good
90-100%
80-89%
Just Got
Started
70-79%
Lost and
Confused
69% or less
Research implications:
 Worksheets and drills
Variety of methods
 Notes on graded papers

 This research does not support the theory that
reading strengthens grammar skills.
 Reading and writing have a symbiotic
relationship.
Further research:
 Texas colleges and universities

mid-summer 2005
 Further states need to be included in this
study.
 Information needs to be compared with other
states in an effort to determine what is
happening in America, not just in Texas.