3 Traditional Grammar
Prescriptive Grammar in Our Schools
In nearly every instance, school grammar is traditional grammar. It is con-
cerned primarily with correctness and with the categorical names for the words
that make up sentences. Thus, students study grammatical terms and certain
“rules” that are supposed to be associated with correctness. Grammar instruc-
tion is justified on the assumption that students who speak or write expressions
such asHe don’t do nothin’ will modify their language to produceHe doesn’t
do anythingif only they learn a bit more about grammar. Because society
deems that affecting such change in language is a worthwhile goal, our gram-
mar schools, like their ancient Greek counterparts, give much attention to
grammar as a prescriptive body of knowledge.
We say that traditional grammar is prescriptive because it focuses on the dis-
tinction between what some people do with language and what theyoughtto do
with it, according to a pre-established standard. For example, students who ut-
ter or writeHe don’t do nothin’are told that they ought to useHe doesn’t do
anything.The chief goal of traditional grammar, therefore, is perpetuating a
historical model of what supposedly constitutes proper language. Those who
teach traditional grammar have implicitly embraced this goal without recog-
nizing that many of the assumptions that underlie school grammar are false. As
the previous chapter explained, both experience and research show that learn-
ing grammatical terms and completing grammar exercises have little effect on
the way students use language.
In addition to its foundation on flawed assumptions, there are two other
problems in adopting a prescriptive grammar. First, prescription demands a
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