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Essential grammar identification
Errors lists pinpoint must-teach rules

Grammar Abusers Anonymous shows how to apply essential grammar to one's own writing

If you want your students to master the rules of good written grammar, the simplest place to start is with bad grammar.

There are three classic research studies into grammar and other writing mechanics errors that writing teachers should read: one by Maxine Hairston in 1981, another by Connors and Lunsford in 1988, and its update by Lunsford and Lunsford in 2008.

The studies are applicable to speech as well as writing and have some value in preparing students for grammar tests, too.

Note: You may use the JSTOR link on this site's search page to find journal articles.

Hairston (1981)

Hairston set out to discover what kinds of errors in writing and speaking professional people regarded as most serious. Hairston sent out 101 surveys consisting of 65 sentences containing a grammatical error. She grouped errors into five categories according to how serious the 84 respondents considered them to be.

Hairston's respondents were most upset by a class of errors she called status marking errors. Such errors may not prevent writers and speakers from being understood, but they mark people who use them as poorly educated, low income, and low social status.

Professionals had a very negative reaction to types of errors which teachers may not target for remediation—errors that don't appear as items on standardized tests and may not appear in students' writing. The errors do, however, appear often in speech.

Examples of status-marking errors that caused Hairston's respondents to wince are:

  • He brung his cell phone to class.
  • If I had went to class, I woudn't have failed.
  • We was in the cafeteria.
  • He don't like it when I wear my pants down low.
  • I didn't do nothing.
  • Him and me were just sitting there.

Hairston's research also found that professionals regarded as serious errors such things as failure to capitalize proper nouns, faulty parallelism, and using would of instead of would have.

Why Hairston's research matters

Although Hairston's study is almost 40 years old, it is still important enough to be quoted at length on the North Carolina website discussion of the state's language arts curriculum.

Hairston's research is significant because it indicates that managerial-level people have a different idea of what is essential grammar than do many teachers. Their opinions matter because failure to train students to meet the essential grammar expectations of managers may seriously impact students' employment opportunities and influence businesses' attitudes toward funding of public education.

Connors and Lunsford (1988)

In 1988, Connors and Lunsford examined 3,000 papers by college students submitted by over 300 college instructors to see what errors appeared most often in final drafts submitted for grading.

Spelling errors were the most common type of writing mechanics error. Because of the diversity of the words mispelled, the researchers did not tally each spelling error. The researchers identified the top 20 separate, specific errors in college students' writing other than spelling.

Lunsford and Lunsford (2008)

When researchers conducted the same experiment 30 years later, they found roughly the same number of errors (just over 2 errors per 100 words), but a somewhat different top 20 list of errors.

Errors identified in the later study were often related to changes in the kind of paper—contemporary writing stresses researched, persuasive/argument papers whereas 30 years earlier narrative predominated—and to the increased use of computer writing aids. Computer aids like spell check result increase errors, which is why editing is a essential grammar skill for our texting students.

Why the Lunsford studies matter

Both the Connors and Lunford (1988) study and the Lunsford and Lunsford study (2008) provide lists of errors in student writing. From those lists (which are very specific), you can create lists of essential grammar to teach to mastery level.

Citations

Connors, R. J. & Lunsford, A. A. (1988). Frequency of formal errors in current college writing, or Ma and Pa Kettle do research. College Composition and Communication, 39, 395-409.

Hairston, M. (1981). Not all errors are created equal: Nonacademic readers in the professions respond to lapses in usage. College English. 43, 794-806.

Lunsford, A. A. and Lunsford, K. J. (2008). “Mistakes Are a Fact of Life”: A National Comparative Study. College Composition and Communication, 59, 781-806.

You can access a copy of the 2008 Lunsford and Lunsford study at the Bedford St.Martins website.

Linda Aragoni

Written versus
test grammar

The grammar needed for writing consists of a very few concepts and rules that allow one someone to communicate in ways that others understand even if the writer violates the rules of writing mechanics.

The grammar (and other writing mechanics) needed for scoring well on tests has minimal impact on writers' ability to make themselves understood.

Those rules, however, may have significant impact on other people's perceptions of the education and socio-economic status of the the writers.

Linda

Linda Aragoni

 

Teaching grammar forum is place to discuss what is grammar

 

I practice and publish what I preach

Published 21-Apr-2010; updated 15-Jun-2010
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