Geofrrey: The claim that teaching students "parts of speech (or any other grammar term for that >matter) when learning them makes absolutely no difference in their ability >to speak, write, or even take standardized tests (where there are no grammar >questions, only usage and syntax)" cannot be supported empirically. I have in my research collection more than 30 articles which show that teaching grammar to students makes a clear difference. As a foreigner, I can also attest to it with my personal experience. I have learned to write well English because I studied grammar, that is, parts of speech, parts of sentences, and all. I have a question for you: how can you students identify the simple subject, the simple predicate, and the objects in a sentence if they do not know the parts of speech? Eduard On Tue, 22 Aug 2006, Geoffrey Layton wrote... >It sounds as if this thread is running out of steam, but I wanted to jump in >here with some of the difficulties I have had with my students (inner-city >high school) and their frustration (and mine) with the great "parts of >speech hunts." You all know the drill: "Find the (FILL IN PART OF SPEECH >HERE) in the following sentence (paragraph, etc)." > >Here are examples I put on the board, asking students to determine the part >of speech of >"run/running" in each sentence. "I like to run." "Running is fun." "She >is running." "I bought a pair of running shoes." "He tripped on his >shoelaces while running after the dog." > >Suffice it to say that the success rate is low. However, regardless of >their knowledge of "formaL grammar, every student can successfully create >sentences using exactly the form shown, even though they may have no idea >what part of speech they're using to do it. > >Therefore, my question to myself, to them, and to this group is simply this >- why try to teach them parts of speech (or any other grammar term for that >matter) when learning them makes absolutely no difference in their ability >to speak, write, or even take standardized tests (where there are no grammar >questions, only usage and syntax). > >Geoff Layton > >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/