Oh, the woes of grammar instruction. For decades, grammar has been taught through worksheets, diagramming, and the repetition of stultifying directions like these:
Underline the helping verb once and the main verb twice. Circle the subject. Draw a squiggly line under the predicate.Or …First begin with your base. Put the subject on the left of the vertical bar, which extends through the base. The predicate goes on the right.
Some teachers use these questionable tactics (which don't improve students' writing but sure do make them hate grammar) because it's a safe way to teach; many textbooks contain prewritten assignments and answers can be checked against a key in the back of the book. In fact, that's why Michelle used such exercises during her first few years as a teacher. It's also how she was "taught" grammar many years before. The research shows us, however, this one-size-fits-all, rule-repetition approach to grammar is largely a waste of time (Kolln, 1996).
In the 1980s and 90s, another strategy for grammar instruction emerged: teaching grammar in context. Studies suggest that this strategy can have positive effects on students' writing (Jones, Myhill, & Bailey, 2013; Myhill, Jones, Watson, & Lines, 2013). Nonetheless, despite a few noteworthy texts (such as Weaver's Teaching Grammar in Context), many teachers aren't sure exactly how to teach grammar this way. Most often, teachers interpret "grammar in context" as using whatever story, poem, or novel is currently under study to teach grammatical concepts as they appear in the text. While this approach has its benefits, using it bypasses a crucial point about language learning: Our students are already making sophisticated language choices on a daily basis as they negotiate the demands and dramas of their worlds.
According to linguist Noam Chomsky, human beings have an innate understanding of grammar and how it works (Curzan and Adams, 2012). Most children don't need to be formally taught how to speak; their brains are hardwired for language, and grammar is the intuitive architecture for how we make ourselves understood. Beyond classroom walls, young people use language in complex and nuanced ways to get what they want and need. They may not be able to label or explain all of the grammar decisions that they make, but make them they certainly do.
If students have an intuitive grasp of grammar, how can teachers bring this subconscious knowledge into conscious application? How might we design instruction that reveals students as language pros while teaching them the grammar-savvy skills they'll need to achieve success in the mainstream world?
Personalized grammar instruction—instruction that directly relates to the experiences of adolescents—isn't as difficult as it sounds. Take, for example, the following scenarios from our book, Grammar to Get Things Done: A Practical Guide for Teachers Anchored in Real-World Usage (Routledge, 2017):
- Your coach has been very clear: Anyone late to practice again will be kicked off the team. You've been on time for a month, even getting there early for extra drills. That is, until today, when your girlfriend's car broke down after school. By the time you helped her and came back, practice had already started.Your Challenge: Prepare a statement to your coach that asks for lenience. Use a dependent clause to help explain the situation. Be respectful.
- Everyone looks forward to the Spring Talent Show, with its combination of musical acts, comedy skits, and weird creativity from students. This year, you have the privilege of serving on the judging committee, which will be deciding on formal recognition for the evening's best acts. In the "Best Vocal Performance" category, two very different acts receive high ratings. Tiana's rendition of a Rihanna hit brought down the house, but Jeremiah's haunting, piano-accompanied, original song literally had people in tears. Both acts seem equal in quality, creativity, and audience approval. Now your committee has to figure out who wins.Your Challenge: Draft a statement to read to the audience announcing your decision in the "Best Vocal Performance" category. As part of noting the excellence of these two performances and the difficulty in making a choice, use a compound-complex sentence.
- Stereotypes are everywhere, and it's usually not much fun when you (or someone you care about) gets identified by some inaccurate or simplistic label. If there's one thing you've learned in life, it's that people are pretty unique once you get to know them. Your friends are no exception. From a distance, people judge them and try to put them in a box—"nerd," "thug," "flirt," "dude bro"—but the reality is more complex.Your Challenge: Combat the stereotypes by reintroducing your friends to the world. Try to include all their diverse talents and interesting qualities in your description. To do this, use hyphens to create interesting compound adjectives, like the examples below.܀ Meet Ravi, my mad-rhyme-spitting, trumpet-playing, philosophy-quoting, dry-humored best friend. He can turn a boring scene into a party, fast.܀ Over here we have Alexis. Most people think "jock" when they see her, but she's more like a calculus-acing, Minecraft-modding, horror-film-trivia-dominating social butterfly.
When we move beyond the decontextualized grammar instruction of yore toward exploring how students use language every day to navigate their worlds, our grammar instruction becomes personalized in ways that matter to students. And when students are invested, real learning happens.
