Bill McCleary writes "students can't seem
to learn enough grammar to be able to apply it".

I'm wondering why people believe this ... is it a complaint about things 
as they are now, or a statement of general truth? I suspect the former 
... several of us on the list have stated a few times that one of our 
reasons for supporting a grammar curriculum that is good, thorough and 
lasts through all or most years of schooling is that such a curriculum 
is the most likely kind to make grammar so familiar to students that 
they _can_ apply it.

It's unrealistic to expect students to become fluent with grammar 
through training only in a year or two of high school and/or a semester 
or two in college--especially if they are learning grammar through the 
traditional method, which has a lot of flaws.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Johanna Rubba   Associate Professor, Linguistics
English Department, California Polytechnic State University
One Grand Avenue  • San Luis Obispo, CA 93407
Tel. (805)-756-2184  •  Fax: (805)-756-6374 • Dept. Phone.  756-2596
• E-mail: [log in to unmask] •      Home page: 
http://www.cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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