Grammar, Grammars, and the Teaching of Grammar

Abstract

Indeed, I would agree with Janet Emig that the grammar issue is a prime example of magical thinking: the assumption that students will learn only what we teach and only because we teach.2 But the grammar issue, as we will see, is a complicated one. And, perhaps surprisingly, it remains controversial, with the regular appearance of papers defending the teaching of formal grammar or attacking it.3 Thus Janice Neuleib,