Formal grammar is 'ineffective'
"Formal grammar is not an effective way of teaching children to write, say researchers at the University of York. The government-funded study claims this resolves the longstanding debate as to whether drilling pupils in grammar improves their writing skills. 'There are better ways of teaching writing,' says Richard Andrews of the university's English Review Group. The findings are based on what is claimed as the largest review there has been of research on the subject." More here.
Philip Pullman, author of The Golden Compass, adds his thoughts in an essay in The Guardian here .
Read the complete study ("The Effect of Grammar Teaching in English on 5 to 16 Year Olds' Acccuracy and Quality in Written Composition") here (pdf).
