mar as a tool to help students better understand themselves and others. But we
don’t live in such a world, so this untraditional approach is hard—although not
impossible—to adopt. Change and innovation often are viewed very negatively
in public education, and the resistance to any change in how we teach grammar
is intense. As Lester (1990) noted:
Traditional grammar has been used in English classrooms for genera-
tions.... It is what you do in an English class. Even the fact that students
do so poorly with traditional grammar is not seen as a reason for ques-
tioning [its] ... importance because that failure is already built into the
system as an expected norm. (p. 340)Let’s nevertheless consider other alternatives. When we examine grammar
instruction in our schools, we observe three primary pedagogical orientations.
The most pervasive is the traditional approach, based on the study of Latin cen-
turies ago, which focuses on terminology and involves teaching grammar as
though students are learning a foreign language. This entire chapter has ex-
plained why this approach does not work. Another—associated with the “ideal
world” mentioned earlier and advocated most notably by Andrews (1995,
1998), Kolln (1996), and Wolfram (1998)—proposes that grammar be embed-
ded in the broad context oflanguage study.I call this thelinguistic approach.
The third orientation, often associated with Weaver (1996), argues for locating
grammar instruction in the context ofliteracy.I call this theliteracy approach.
Both approaches provide the framework for best practices.
The Linguistic Approach
The linguistic approach, as the label suggests, is based on insights gained from
linguistic research. A teacher using this approach focuses on introducing stu-
dents to the various components of language, such as sound (phonology),
meaning (semantics), and use (pragmatics). Grammar is taught as a tool for de-
scribing, rather than prescribing, language, a tool that can help students under-
stand the nature of dialects and how they differ from one another while
maintaining a core integrity.
In describing the essence of the linguistic approach, Wolfram (1998) ar-
gued that:
the most effective way to develop an appreciation for the intricacies of
language ... involves working through some actual linguistic patterns
governing socially disfavored forms. Such an awareness affects not only
the perspective of language arts instructors, but also how students feel
about other students and themselves. (p. 91)Likewise, Andrews (1998) noted that:42 CHAPTER 2