Hello. I am brand new to the list. I cannot tell you how excited I am to have discovered this group and to have a place to go for questions. I have browsed through your archives and find the conversations engaging. I read with much interest your January discussion on diagramming sentences. I teach the traditional grammar class for English majors at my institution. I inherited the tradition of using diagramming as a major teaching strategy for this class, but--once I mastered it (is that possible?) myself--I have always found it very useful as a way of teaching students syntax--and I have always used it in the context of helping them to become better writers. In about two weeks, four English majors and I are presenting at the International Sigma Tau Delta meeting in Kansas City on the topic of whether diagramming sentences is an effective teaching strategy. The title of our presentation is "Minding a Pedagogical Gap: Confessions of One Teacher and Four Students Sold on the Value of Sentence Diagramming." Despite reports to the contrary, we see tremendous value in having students use diagramming to improve their understanding of syntax and find that--at least for students who care enough about their writing to want to improve--it does make a difference in the clarity, flow, and logic of their writing. Of course, for those students who plan to teach (and even for those who, as undergrads, tutor in our writing center), understanding syntax makes it infinitely easier to help weak writers understand why their sentences are awkward or unclear. In preparation for the panel, two students have been researching the history of the debate over whether there is value in teaching grammar (diagramming in particular) in isolation from writing. I am not a specialist in this field and would value the advice of this group about seminal essays/studies the we should be sure to include in our brief overview. We have read David Mulroy's "The War against Grammar," for example, and recognize the important role the 1985 NCTE report and statement played in advancing the notion that grammar taught in isolation is unproductive. Are there other major statements along those lines that we should know about? Also, has there been a landmark article published in recent years that might suggest that the tide is turning back--that we now realize we have thrown out the proverbial baby with the bathwater (pardon the cliche), either in terms of grammar instruction in general or of diagramming in particular? If my question is not of interest to the list, please feel free to respond to me directly. Thanks, Nancy Nancy L. Tuten, PhD Professor of English Director of the Writing-across-the-Curriculum Program Columbia College Columbia, South Carolina [log in to unmask] 803-786-3706 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/