I'm a new member (so new that my check hasn't even come back).  I learned about ATEG when I read The War Against Grammar by David Mulroy.
 
As an adjunct teaching mostly developmental English and first-year writing courses at college in the Denver metro area, I've seen how little students know about grammar--and writing.  The developmental coordinator at one college said that the students had been taught grammar in public schools but "it didn't take."  From what I've read and observed, that doesn't seem to be the case; students generally aren't being taught grammar--at least not methodically.
 
I have a hypothesis, and I'm wondering if anyone has read or heard anything related to it.  (You may have discussed this before.)
 
Here's my idea:  From what I've observed, most K-12 language arts teachers and English faculty seem to be right brained but the traditional method of teaching grammar is left brained.  I happen to be left brained (I was a math major until I was a senior), and I enjoy teaching grammar and diagramming sentences.  I think the "traditional" step-by-step approach should work well with left-brained students, but right-brained teachers find it boring and don't want to learn or teach grammar that way.  Maybe we need two methods of teaching grammar--or more--to suit different learning styles.
 
Elizabeth Clark
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