| Summary |
The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of teaching grammar using the traditional, formalized approach of learning parts of speech, memorization of rules, diagramming sentences, and parts analysis with an experimental approach. In the experimental group grammatical relationships were taught by applying rules in the writing of themes and stories. The textbook was used only on rare occasions and the standard fill-in-the-blank grammatical exercises were disregarded entirely. During the year the members of the experimental class wrote 135 papers of various lengths while the members of the traditional group wrote only sixty brief papers. The study was limited to members in the junior high school and no attempt was made to compare or equate the members of either group with senior high school or college students. Also, the study was limited to one school year. In order to produce a more final conclusion a careful follow-up of both groups would be necessary for longer periods of time. Standard Achievement Tests were administered to both groups in the beginning and at the end of the school year. The parallel (traditional) group improved the battery median by .7 during the year} the experimental group improved its average 1.2. The difference is not very noticeable but the advantage in improvement went to the experimental class. The total number of identified errors in writing for the parallel group was much greater than the experimental group. The most noteworthy difference of an intangible nature was the attitude toward the study of English. Throughout the study, it was noted by the researcher that the students doing the most writing displayed more positive attitudes concerning English in general than those members of the parallel group. The following recommendations were made: (l) that students be allowed to write more as a means of studying grammar and grammatical relationships (2) that students be subjected to fewer nomenclature drills and be instructed to use more writing skills (3) that students be instructed to analyze mistakes by re-writing sentences (4) that students study grammar only in the light of papers written rather than memorization of rules and diagramming sentences unless diagrams are utilized to show relationships. |
| Local note | Joyner-"Presented to the faculty of the School of Education ... in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in Education." |
| Local note | Joyner-"Presented to the faculty of the School of Education ... in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in Education." |
| Local note | Joyner-"Presented to the faculty of the School of Education ... in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in Education." |
| General note | "Presented to the faculty of the School of Education... in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts in Education." |
| General note | Advisor: James W. Batten |
| Dissertation note | M.A. East Carolina College |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (leaves 59-62). |
| Genre/form | Academic theses. |
| Genre/form | Academic theses. |
| Genre/form | Thèses et écrits académiques. |
