The greatest problems with the project on attitudes about grammar are structuring the questionnaire and selecting the population, with the former being the more difficult to accomplish without interjecting bias into the format. I would seek other studies on attitude to get a idea of the problems. Just this year someone on a major newspaper (I do not remember which) was pondering the same issue. He divided his sample into two equal parts and asked the first group one way and the second group the other way--and got quite opposite results. Scott -----Original Message----- From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of ATEG automatic digest system Sent: Wednesday, November 14, 2007 12:11 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: ATEG Digest - 10 Nov 2007 to 13 Nov 2007 (#2007-160) There are 3 messages totalling 161 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. attitudes about grammar (3) 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/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2007 16:04:35 -0600 From: "Katz, Seth" <[log in to unmask]> Subject: attitudes about grammar Dear Friends: =20 A student in my introduction to language course wants to do her final = project on people's attitudes about grammar. Has anyone studied and = published work on why people love--or fear--or loathe grammar? Can = anyone point us to research on the topic? =20 =20 Thanks-- Seth =20 Dr. Seth Katz=20 Assistant Professor Department of English Bradley University =20 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/ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2007 18:10:06 EST From: Edgar Schuster <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: attitudes about grammar --part1_d3f.18e3b77a.346b88ce_boundary Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I once asked a group of "low-track" high schoolers to tell me---in writing---about their experiences with English language arts through their eleven years of schooling. One student wrote, "There isn't enough variety for how there is to learn it. We keep doing the same thing too much." When I later asked him what "it" meant, he answered in one word: "Grammar." This little experiment would have taken place in the early 80s in a district that never left Warriner's textbooks. Lest we forget, the 1977 edition of that series broke all its previous sales records. Ed Schuster ************************************** See what's new at http://www.aol.com 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/ --part1_d3f.18e3b77a.346b88ce_boundary Content-Type: text/html; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable <HTML><FONT FACE=3Darial,helvetica><HTML><FONT COLOR=3D"#000000" FACE=3D"Gen= eva" FAMILY=3D"SANSSERIF" SIZE=3D"2">I once asked a group of "low-track" hig= h schoolers to tell me---in writing---about their experiences with English l= anguage arts through their eleven years of schooling. One student wro= te, "There isn't enough variety for how there is to learn it. We keep= doing the same thing too much." When I later asked him what "it" mea= nt, he answered in one word: "Grammar."<BR> This little experiment would have taken place in the early 80s in a district= that never left Warriner's textbooks. Lest we forget, the 1977 editi= on of that series broke all its previous sales records.<BR> <BR> Ed Schuster</FONT><FONT COLOR=3D"#000000" FACE=3D"Geneva" FAMILY=3D"SANSSERI= F" SIZE=3D"2"></FONT><BR><BR><BR>**************************************<BR>=20= See what's new at http://www.aol.com</HTML> 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" <p> Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ --part1_d3f.18e3b77a.346b88ce_boundary-- ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2007 19:09:22 -0500 From: Nancy Tuten <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: attitudes about grammar An honors student at the college where I teach is doing a senior project in which she is surveying English language arts teachers across our state to see (1) how much grammar they teach (and how--in response to errors in papers? through isolated instruction?), (2) how they felt about learning grammar when they were students, (3) how they feel about grammar now, and (4) how prepared they feel they are to teach grammar. It isn't a highly scientific study, but I'm sure she would be happy to share what she finds out. That's only part of her project; the main part is a summary of the history of grammar instruction in this country--a brief review of the grammar wars along with an annotated bibliography that she can share with other education majors (and we have many). I'm sure many of you will be cited in her paper! Best, 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 -----Original Message----- From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Katz, Seth Sent: Tuesday, November 13, 2007 5:05 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: attitudes about grammar Dear Friends: A student in my introduction to language course wants to do her final project on people's attitudes about grammar. Has anyone studied and published work on why people love--or fear--or loathe grammar? Can anyone point us to research on the topic? Thanks-- Seth Dr. Seth Katz Assistant Professor Department of English Bradley University 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/ ------------------------------ End of ATEG Digest - 10 Nov 2007 to 13 Nov 2007 (#2007-160) *********************************************************** 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/