Books on and for Teaching Grammar

Prepared by Connie Weaver, Department of English, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo

Below, I have asterisked my recommended starters for beginning teachers, or those just beginning to think about teaching grammar to strengthen students' writing. Other resources can be accessed by searching for "grammar" at either NCTE's Web site (http://www.ncte.org/books/) or at Boynton Cook/Heinemann's (http://www.heinemann.com/). Hot links to descriptions of most of these books are on the Web page for my course in teaching grammar in the context of writing: http://vms.cc.wmich.edu/~weaverc/ENG-574.html . All of these books can be ordered from http://www.amazon.com/, and most will ship in 2-3 days maximum.

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Editing concepts and skills

*Cazort, Douglas. (1997). Under the Grammar Hammer: The 25 Most Important Grammar Mistakes and How to Avoid Them. Updated edition. Los Angeles: Lowell House. 124 pp. The humor, cartoons, and folksy style of this book make it easy to read and study. Highly useful for helping teachers to learn the grammar they most need in order to help students learn to edit for these twenty "most important" grammar mistakes, the book is great for student use, too. It includes a reassuring chapter titled "You Know More Grammar than You Know You Know, and You Need to Learn Less than you Think." The last chapter recommends "America Lighten Up."

*Hacker, Diane. (1999). A Writer's Reference (4th ed.). New York: Bedford/St. Martins.. Easy- to-use and popular grammar handbook; deals mostly with editing issues but somewhat with style as well. For a description of the third edition, see http://www.bedfordbooks.com/english/ref3/index.html/. For a description of complementary resources, see http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/hacker/writersref/.

Rozakis, Laurie E. (1997). The Complete Idiot's Guide to Grammar and Style. New York: Alpha Books. 325 pp. Includes chapters on the parts of speech as well as on the conventions of written English. Much more detailed than the shorter book by Cazort, this one, too, is characterized by humor. Despite the title, this book does not deal much at all with grammatical aspects of style.

*Buffa, Liz, and Adam Robinson. (1999). Cracking the SAT II: English, offered by The Princeton Review. New York: Random House. Deals with both writing and literature, including the essay portion of the writing test. Includes discussions of sentence "errors" and other items for editing (slightly over twenty items in all). Includes practice exercises. Can be ordered from amazon.com.

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Other popular handbooks for particular levels of instruction

Daily Oral Language, Grades 1-12. McDougal, Littell; now listed with the Write Source books. Each level is a teacher's manual, with sentences to be put on the chalkboard and "corrected." Many teachers prefer to draw upon the idea of DOL, but instead use sentences from their own students' writing. Information available from the Great Source catalog, http://www.greatsource.com/catalog.html.

Lunsford, Andrea, and Robert Connors. (1999). The Everyday writer: A Brief Reference. Bedford/St. Martins. Similar in format to Hacker's A Writer's Reference (above), but somewhat more detailed--more for the college level or for teachers. Especially helpful on how to reference electronic sources. See http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/book.asp?1124001465.

Lunsford, Andrea, Robert Connors, with F. Horowitz. (1998). Easy Writer: A Pocket Guide. New York: Bedford/St. Martins. Smaller and less expensive than The Everyday Writer, it includes MLA, APA, Chicago, and CBE styles, plus frequently asked questions about documentation online. See http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/book.asp?1058000148.

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Books from the Write Source, http://www.thewritesource.com/index2.htm. Write Source books can be ordered through http://www.greatsource.com/catalog.html. Great Source is part of the Houghton Mifflin line of products. The Write Source books include the following, among others:

Kemper, Dave, Ruth Nathan, and Patrick Sebraneck. (1996). Write Away. Burlington, WI: Write Source. For young writers, approximately grades 2-3. Emphasizes writing, with attention to basic mechanics. Access information on the book via the Write Source Web address above.

Kemper, D., Ruth Nathan, and Patrick Sebraneck. (1995). Writers Express: A Handbook for Very YoungWriters, Thinkers, and Learners. Burlington, WI: Write Source. Suggested for grades 4 and 5, this book, like the Writers INC below, has a useful reference section (maps, historical time line, etc.). However, writing and the writing process are the major focus. A chapter titled "The proofreader's guide" deals with punctuation, spelling, and mechanics. Access information on the book via the Write Source Web address above.

Sebranek, P., V. Meyer, & D. Kemper. ("New" edition). Write Source 2000: A Guide to Writing, Thinking, and Learning. Burlington, WI: Write Source. Suggested for grades 6-8 but also for "students of all ages," this book is similar to the one just listed, but it has more: more of everything, including a rather complete "Yellow pages guide to marking punctuation. Access information on the book via the Write Source Web address above.

Sebranek, P., V. Meyer, and D. Kemper. (1990). Writers INC (2nd ed.). Burlington, WI: Write Source. This compendium of information has an encyclopedic quality; it includes information on various topics, grammar being only one of them. Suitable for students from junior high through college, if they can make use of a text that defines grammatical terms and concepts more than explains them. Access information on the book via the Write Source Web address above.

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Grammatical effectiveness, style, and content

*Noden, Harry. (Sept. 1999). Image Grammar: Using Grammatical Structures to Teach Writing. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook - Heinemann. This outstanding book is a "must" for teachers of writing from middle school through at least the first year of college--and for writers who want to develop a more effective style, especially for narration/description, but also for explanation/argument. Draws upon the work of Francis Christensen, various artists and writers, and his own teaching experiences. Noden introduces various grammatical structures and words and demonstrates how they are used effectively by published authors and by his eighth graders. He helps students understand how various grammatical options generate effective details, too. An accompanying CD includes examples that can be printed for class use, sample pictures to stimulate writing, hot links to useful web pages with art works, and more. From the online description of the CD alone, it is clear that this book is suitable to guide an entire course in writing, or parts of several courses at different grades. http://www.heinemann.com/code/template.ghc?direct=search_titles&dw=view&book_id=1682

Killgallon, Donald. (1998). Sentence Composing for High School and Sentence Composing for Middle School. Each has the subtitle A Worktext on Sentence Variety and Maturity. Boynton/Cook - Heinemann. Drawing heavily upon Francis Christensen's investigations into style, these books deal with sentence unscrambling, imitating, combining, and expanding. They are intended as texts for their respective grade levels, and they are also for teachers' own learning. Less innovative and comprehensive than Noden's Image Grammar, these sentence composing books can be a useful starting point for teachers who are beginning to explore how to help writers understand and use grammatical options more effectively. For Killgallon's high school book, see http://www.heinemann.com/code/template.ghc?direct=search_titles&dw=view&book_id=327 For the middle school book, see http://www.heinemann.com/codetemplate.ghc?direct=search_titles&dw=view&book_id=318 Killgallon also has a parallel Sentence Composing for College, which might also be a good resource for adults, as writers and/or teachers. See http:www.heinemann.com/code/template.ghc?direct=search_titles&dw=view&book_id=1545

Daiker, D., A. Kerek, & M. Morenberg. (1990). The Writer's Options: Combining to Composing. 4th ed. Harper & Row. Excellent text for college students, advanced high school students, and teachers at any level.

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Books for practical teaching ideas and/or professional background

Belanoff, Pat, Betsy Rorschach, and Mia Oberlink. (1992). The Right Handbook (2nd ed.). Demonstrates the complexity of grammar and usage issues and shows how to solve problems by using real writing. See http://www.heinemann.com/code/template.ghc?direct=search_titles&dw=view&book_id=221

Noguchi, Rei. (1991). Grammar and the Teaching of Writing: Limits and Possibilities. Dealing in more depth than Weaver's Teaching Grammar in Context with such issues as why we teach grammar, this book was nevertheless the inspiration for mine. It covers fewer topics, in more depth. See http://www.ncte.org/books/98/Noguchi18747.html/.

*Weaver, C. (Ed.). (1998). Lessons to Share on Teaching Grammar in Context. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook - Heinemann. Distributed by the NCTE. The first two articles address the learning and teaching of grammar. The next eight articles deal with teaching grammar through writing, across the grades. The authors demonstrate ways of teaching punctuation, parts of speech, effective word choice and syntax, plus conferencing with students to teach revision and editing. An article on sentence composing is followed by two articles on style, one focusing on "image grammar" (see Noden's book, above) and one on "breaking the rules" for stylistic effect (Tom Romano). Other articles focus on Ebonics, teaching ESL and EFL students, grammar study as language exploration, and the hazards of grammar-checking software. See http://www.heinemann.com/code/template.ghc?direct=search_titles&dw=view&book_id=296/ Or, see httph://www.ncte.org/books/98/Weaver51000.html/.

Weaver, C. (1997). Teaching Grammar in Context. Portsmouth, N: Boynton/Cook - Heinemann. Distributed by the NCTE. Discuses what "the research" says about teaching grammar in isolation and why teachers continue to do it; explores how language is acquired and describes how various kinds of errors reflect progress; offers a rationale and a "scope-not-sequence" for teaching grammar in the context of writing; and concludes by putting the teaching of grammar into a broader perspective of learning theory. Drawing from Weaver's own experience at the college level, the Appendix offers many adaptable lessons on teaching various aspects of grammar in the context of writing. Includes glossary of grammatical terms. See http://www.heinemann.com/code/template.ghc?direct=search_titles&dw=view&book_id=278/ Or, see http://www.ncte.org/books/98/Weaver27983.html/.

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Contact information: connie.weaver@wmich.edu

Last revised: 11-18-99