Masters Theses

Gina Claywell

Date of Award

5-1991

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Major

English

Major Professor

Ray Wallace

Committee Members

Kerri Morris, Allison Ensor

Abstract

This study seeks to examine what has been written about, and what has been occurring in, composition classrooms in regard to grammar instruction in the last two centuries. By researching textbooks, articles from various eras, and bibliographic reviews, several trends in grammar instruction are revealed. The traditional grammar methods used throughout the 1800s have greatly influenced teaching pedagogies of the 1900s despite studies indicating traditional grammar's ineffectiveness in helping students write Edited American English better. Linguistic developments around the 1960s encouraged the inclusion of new grammars into the composition classroom; some scholars, however, suggested the dismissal of grammar altogether. By the 1980s, researchers began to suggest that some grammar knowledge is essential for freshman writers. In order to communicate clearly via writing, students must have some basic grasp of the patterns of their language, hence grammar studies will and probably should continue to be incorporated into writing classes, though not with traditional, often unproductive, methods.

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