I was intrigued by Sharon's posting, and I too am extremely interested in
any leads. I am also interested in research projects -- getting them
going, hearing about ones done or underway, etc.etc.
 
I'm assuming that by 'grammar skills' Sharon means primarily
_metalinguistic_ skills, that is, the ability, not to _use_ language, but
to talk _about_ it, e.g., naming parts of speech; parsing sentences, etc.
It would be very very interesting to find/do some research on when
children are ready for such skills and what the best way is teach them,
if the schools decide that they need to be taught.
 
These skills are to be distinguished from purely linguistic skills
('grammar skills' as a linguist might view them), that is, the ability
children have to form and use sentences appropriately. Children master
most of this knowledge (whether in standard or nonstandard English)
before they enter first grade, and spend their school years mainly refining
things like passive voice, complex subordination (although subordination
is present from early on, as early as 3-4 years old), and text patterns
that characterize formal writing.
 
The November English Journal (NCTE publication) had articles that
mentioned _some_ experiments that purported to be useful in teaching
students metalinguistic skills, and just yesterday I heard of a local
teacher (retired) who developed a program that supposedly worked for high
school students. I plan to track him down.
 
Lots of linguistic research shows that children are very adept at
producing language from a very early age; they are aware of things like
the need for style variation, etc., as well as the inventory of
structures used by adults in their speech communities. Most of the
'language problems' that are so loudly lamented these days (see, e.g.,
today's LA Times article on Black English in Oakland schools) are due,
not to deficiencies in _linguistic_ skills (which all normal children
have) but in _literacy_ skills, dialect or style differences, and/or some
combination of these with lack of motivation to work in school. The
difference between the demands that schools and 'mainstream' society
make on children and the demands that their environment out of school
makes on them is probably also a very strong factor. To give a rather
stereotypical example, lots of young black children become adept at
rapping and other forms of verbal performance in their communities; but
these kinds of linguistic skills are generally not recognized or valued
or even counted as skills in the schools.
 
Sharon, I hope you'll post any sources of research on this. I'll do the
same whenever I get around to doing my own search.
 
Johanna
 
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Johanna Rubba   Assistant Professor, Linguistics              ~
English Department, California Polytechnic State University   ~
San Luis Obispo, CA 93407                                     ~
Tel. (805)-756-2184  E-mail: [log in to unmask]      ~
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