Edutopia – Mathew M. Johnson
“Grammar can produce anxiety for teachers because it’s maddeningly hard to teach effectively and has a lot of intimidating terminology like dangling modifiers and adverbial clauses, and every rule has exceptions. Further complicating matters is the fact that there’s great doubt about whether many traditional methods of teaching grammar—like the direct teaching of grammatical terms or use of grammar worksheets—work at all. In 1963, researchers argued that “the teaching of formal grammar has a negligible or, because it usually displaces some instruction and practice in actual composition, even a harmful effect on the improvement of writing,” and over 250 studies since that time, as well as a meta-analysis from the Carnegie Corporation in 2011, have widely supported that statement.” (more)