It is probably reasonable that English teachers be required to show evidence of competence in many areas before being allowed to teach English. (The same could be said for all subjects.) In fact, many states have tests of just this sort of test in all of the common high school subject areas. But grammar as a subject is just not taught very often, certainly not often enough to merit a certification test. Nearly always, grammar is taught, if at all, as a fairly small part of the general English curriculum. Almost nobody is hired to teach grammar on the high school level, and nobody is hired to teach grammar at the elementary level, so any certification test could have the effect of limiting the ability of inadequately prepared teachers, already teaching in the classroom, to teach what grammar they can, until they have a thorough knowledge of the subject. Increasing the obstacles to teaching grammar hardly seems to be the prescription for increasing the number of people
teaching grammar.
It may be that some inadequately prepared people are called or impressed to teach grammar at the post-secondary level, but is this really a problem?
Is any state legislature going to pass a law requiring that all grammar instruction, at the elementary, secondary, and post-secondary levels, be conducted by persons having demonstrated a thorough and comprehensive knowledge of grammar forms and terminology? If such a law were passed, would it increase or decrease the number of people teaching grammar?
Scott W. Woods
Phil Bralich <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
I have always felt that much of the problem that exists around grammar teaching is that many of the teachers who are called or impressed with the duty to teach grammar simply don't know it themselves. I have also felt we could do everyone a big favor by requiring potential grammar teachers to take a grammar test; thereby, assuring at the very least that the person being hired wasn't coming in ready to fight the War Against Grammar as his only means of saving face in the classroom.
However, I am unsure what form this would take. I personally like the grammar section of the old version of the TOELF. This would be very telling in many ways. Do other readers out there have favorite, standardized grammar tests that could be given to potential grammar teachers? Perhaps ETS should be tasked with the job of putting one together specifically for the testing of future grammar teachers. Those without the scores could focus their attention on other areas such as essay and research writing without fear of being pressed into service for a grammar class while those with the scores will be picked for the classes they obviously are trained for.
Ideally, such a test would teach not only awareness of grammar forms but also grammar terminology.
Phil Bralich
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