With respect to Bill, I do think students can learn enough grammar to be able to
apply it because my high school students apply it every day.  Years ago they
didn't because I didn't have an effective method for teaching grammar.  Now that
my students truly understand it, they get excited about it.  They love to analyze
sentence structure, and they speak intelligently about grammar as it relates to
their own writing.  Students CAN learn enough grammar (and remember and apply it)
if we teach it effectively!
Dawn
Atlanta, GA

Johanna Rubba wrote:

> 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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