Teaching Grammar in Context: Constance Weaver

This book reaffirmed much of what I already knew about teaching grammar, but was beginning to question. There are still teachers who believe that students must complete isolated grammar exercises before they can adequately write. Weaver offers extensive research to support the idea that grammar should be integrated with student writing; otherwise, isolated memorization of grammatical elements will not improve writing.

I found chapters four and five to be particularly interesting. Chapter four focused on looking at errors differently in student writing. As students get older, and take more risks with their writing, they don't necessarily make fewer errors; however, they make more sophisticated errors. So, rather than overreacting to grammatical errors in writing, teachers should be pleased that students are taking risks and pursue other alternatives to working with errors. One way to counter errors is to teach final revision and editing to students, usually through mini-lessons. Also, a teacher should model how to proofread a paper, possibly by working with a paper on the overhead. The goal is that students not be overly concerned with grammatical errors while writing; they just need to know how to correct errors in order to create a final draft. When the final draft is completed and errors still exist, the teacher can put a check mark in the margin of a line where an error exists ö the students then have to figure out the error for themselves.

"Guidelines" are given for the effective teaching of grammar. Students should be given plenty of time to read good literature and write using a writing process. A study of grammar can be saved for an elective course, and regular courses need to only introduce a minimum of terminology. In a regular course, grammar should be introduced when it is useful for the students, usually in the form of a mini-lesson. The mini-lessons take approximately 5-10 minutes and usually briefly introduce an idea. A minimum of grammar can be taught through mini-lessons, concepts such as subject, verb, sentence, clause, phrase, sentence combining, and sentence style. Often, mini-lessons may involve samples from student writing.

Overall, the book affirms the idea that students will only use correct grammar in writing if they are allowed to write. Otherwise, isolated grammar study will not guarantee an improvement in student writing.