In my former role as supervisor of student teachers, I saw DOL or 
something like it being used several times. A few teachers got their 
exercises from a book, but others took them from students' own 
writing.

Most teachers who were mentoring my student teachers did not use DOL. 
I don't know whether that was because they tended to be more 
enlightened than some others I could mention.

The DOL type of exercise always came first in the classes I observed. 
For unruly classes, it was a good way of getting the class settled 
down. That's something, at least.

Bill

>Amanda,
>
>The sources you searched seem to be the ones I have used to find any 
>indication that DOL is supported by research.  I am a curriculum 
>facilitator in Cedar Rapids, IA, so the concerns you express in your 
>last paragraph are also my concerns.  Many teachers seem to rely on 
>DOL as a class starter activity, but I am not sure that anyone has 
>any real sense of what it is supposed to do, or whether it does 
>that.  Never mind that used as DOL nearly always is as a 
>class-starting activity, any lessons students draw from it occur in 
>as much isolation as grammar instruction sometimes occurred in days 
>of yore.
>
>I am wondering if McDougall Littell, the publishers of the original 
>DOL (I think), have any research that preceded their introduction of 
>the program, or if someone just sold them a "cool" program.
>
>Thank you for your thoughtful response.  I will find the Whittingham 
>study and read it.  Whenever you have your results in "shareable" 
>form, I would very much like to read them, as well.
>
>Ann
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
>[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Amanda Godley
>Sent: Thursday, October 06, 2005 1:30 PM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: How widespread is Daily Oral Language?
>
>
>Ann,
>I have searched for research on DOL (ERIC, PsychInfo, other databases and
>literacy journals), but only found one study that address DOL specifically
>(in addition to the one I am publishing): a dissertation written by Jeffery
>Whittinghom at Southern Illinois University in 2003. He compared students
>who were taught traditional grammar AND DOL with those who were just taught
>traditional grammar. He found no significant difference between what the
>groups learned (measured by writing samples and editing exercises).
>
>Another study that looked at a semester-long college composition class in
>which students did a similar kind of cooperative editing activity did find
>that the students who did the editing activity made significantly fewer
>errors in their writing than students who were taught using formal textbook
>grammar (see Minchew & McGrath [2001]. Lasting benefits of cooperative
>editing for remedial freshman composition students. Community College
>Journal of Research and Practice, 25, 591-606.)
>
>My own study of the DOL activity (taught every day for an entire school
>year) in 3 high school English classes demonstrated that the students did
>not improve in any significant way on multiple choice editing tasks or on
>reducing errors in their writing (as measured at the beginning and end of
>the school year). 
>
>Based on my study and Whittingham's, I am concerned that DOL seems to be
>becoming so popular, mostly (it seems) in response to similar editing tasks
>on state and national standardized tests.
>
>If anyone knows of other research on DOL, I would love to know about it.
>Amanda
>
>On 10/4/05 11:06 AM, "Elmborg Ann" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>>  Just out of curiosity--what is the research base for Daily Oral 
>>Language? Its
>>  use is widespread, yes, but how do we know it is actually more effective (in
>>  whatever it is that it is supposed to do) than other approaches?
>>
>>  -----Original Message-----
>>  From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
>>  [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Nancy Lange
>>  Sent: Tuesday, October 04, 2005 9:04 AM
>  > To: [log in to unmask]
>>  Subject: Re: How widespread is Daily Oral Language?
>>
>>
>>  Daily Oral Language has been adopted for all grade levels in all 
>>Language Arts
>>  classrooms in my school district. However, very few teachers actually use it
>>  at the high school.
>>
>>  I teach 11th and 12th grades and use it regularly. I think it's a 
>>good review,
>>  while also preparing students for the ACT/SAT tests.
>>
>>  Perhaps some teachers are threatened by DOL because their own grammar and
>>  usage training was limited. I minored in linguistics so grammar is "fun" for
>>  me, but some members of my department wouldn't know how to explain 
>>the reasons
>>  behind some of the errors represented. I doubt they even know the vocabulary
>>  to discuss much of it.
>>
>>  -----Original Message-----
>>  From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
>>  [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Amanda Godley
>>  Sent: Monday, October 03, 2005 3:15 PM
>>  To: [log in to unmask]
>>  Subject: How widespread is Daily Oral Language?
>>
>>  I'm currently revising an article about a study I conducted on the use of
>>  Daily Oral Language in a high school English class. The editors of the
>>  journal to which I submitted my article have asked me to indicate how
>>  widespread the use of this activity is. I was wondering if members of the
>>  listserv could help me.
>>
>>  I know that Daily Oral Language (or "Daily Language Practice," as it is
>>  sometimes called) can be found in the supplemental teacher materials
>>  included in some of the most widely adopted high school English textbooks
>>  (e.g., Timeless Voices, Timeless Themes, Prentice Hall; Writer's Choice,
>>  McGraw Hill/Glencoe; The Language of Literature, McDougal Littell and Co.;
>>  Elements of Language and Elements of Literature, Holt, Rinehart, and
>>  Winston). Additionally, there are numerous Daily Language Practice/Daily
>>  Oral Language websites and booklets available for teachers to use or buy.
>>
>>  The pre-service teachers in our program report that Daily Oral Language is
>>  being used in many middle and high school English classes in our area. The
>>  same seemed to be true when I lived in California four years ago. I'd like
>>  to get a sense if this is true across the country.
>>
>>  I'd be happy to share the results of my study with anyone who's interested,
>>  but I hesitate to do so until the article is in publishable form.
>>  Thanks!
>>  Amanda
>> 
>>  *****
>>  Amanda J. Godley, Ph.D.
>>  Assistant Professor
>>  English Education
>>  University of Pittsburgh
>>  412-648-7313
>>    
>>
>>  To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web 
>>interface at:
>>       http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
>>  and select "Join or leave the list"
>>
>>  Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/
>>
>>  To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web 
>>interface at:
>>       http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
>>  and select "Join or leave the list"
>>
>>  Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/
>>
>>  To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web 
>>interface at:
>>       http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
>>  and select "Join or leave the list"
>>
>>  Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/
>
>
>*****
>Amanda J. Godley, Ph.D.
>Assistant Professor
>English Education
>University of Pittsburgh
>412-648-7313
>    
>
>To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at:
>      http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
>and select "Join or leave the list"
>
>Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/
>
>To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at:
>      http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
>and select "Join or leave the list"
>
>Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/

To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at:
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
and select "Join or leave the list"

Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/