Also see Martha Kolln's artice in CCC:
College Composition and Communication, Vol. 34, No. 4, Coherence and Cohesion: What Are They and How Are They Achieved? (Dec., 1983), pp. 496-500 (article consists of 5 pages)
Published by: National Council of Teachers of English
-----Original Message-----
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar on behalf of John Dews-Alexander
Sent: Sat 2/7/2009 6:26 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Does teaching grammar improve writing?
Hi David!
If I remember correctly, Tim Hadley, who is a member of this list and the
editor of the *ATEG Journal*, has tackled this issue in the past and wrote a
literal dissertation on it (Tim, I hope I'm not off the mark here). You may
try searching the listserv archives (found via link on the ATEG site) for
previous posts from him as well as others. I can't remember if there has
been a journal issue devoted to this or not, but it would certainly make
sense if there were.
Here are two of the oft-quoted, "classic" works that are anti-grammar:
Braddock, R., R. Lloyd-Jones, and L. Schoer. Research in Written
Composition. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English, 1963.
Hillocks, G. Research on written composition. Urbana, IL: ERIC Clearing
House on Reading and Communication Skills, 1986.
However, I've heard both of these studies soundly debunked.
I would suggest Richard Hudson's article that appeared in an issue of *Syntax
in the Schools* (formerly the ATEG journal) and that is now reprinted on the
web. It has some good references for pro-grammar research as well as some
discussion of the older anti-grammar stuff:
http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/dick/writing.htm
Hope this helps!
Regards,
John Alexander
On Sat, Feb 7, 2009 at 4:26 PM, David Kehe <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Recently, I've heard a number of college English composition instructors
> say, "Research shows that teaching students grammar does not improve their
> writing."
>
> Do any of you know if this is commonly accepted "research" in English
> departments?
>
> Do any of you know if there is research that shows the opposite, i.e.,
> that explicit grammar instruction can help students improve their writing
> skills?
>
> I would greatly appreciate any insights that you might have.
>
> Dave Kehe
>
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