Best Practices in Literacy Instruction (#2)
““Research shows grammar instruction to have little positive effect on writing. Studies over time indicate that teaching formal grammar to students has ‘a negligible or even harmful effect on improving students’ writing.’ In fact, ‘a heavy emphasis on mechanics and usage results in significant losses in overall quality.’… However, an approach called ‘sentence combining’ is a useful alternative to teaching formal grammar. ‘Sentence combining provides mindful practice in manipulating and rewriting basic phrases or clauses into more varied and syntactically mature forms’””
In reading this, I had so many thoughts and feelings coursing through my body. When I began teaching, I was given a binder of Daily Language Reviews (DLR), which were slips of paper with 5 problems on it. Each problem needed to be solved with grammatical answers or revisions. Though this was an “okay” way to give the learners examples of what grammar entailed, it became a monotonous chore for them. And ironically, they were unable to identify the grammatical lessons from the DLR in their own writing.
This prompted me to stop using the DLR, and I began allowing my learners to simply write. This year, I am excited to begin my writer’s notebooks and reader-response entries. This will allow a more non-threatening practice of writing for my learners, and hopefully a bit of enjoyment. Through our formal writing assignments, I give examples and give grammatical tips throughout my examples. Like in Gambrell and Morrow (2015), sentence combining is a great way to exemplify and practice our writing techniques. One of the chronic issues I see in my learners this year is choppy sentences and run-on sentences. This sentence combining practice and me exemplifying techniques and strategies will help a great deal.
As we continue to write throughout the year, my learners continue to build off of those formal writing lessons. I hope the writer’s notebooks will be an engaging platform for them to get better at practicing the craft of writing.
Gambrell, L. B. & Morrow, L.M. (2015). Best practices in literacy instruction. (5th ed. ). New York, NY: The Guilford Press.