1.

Ways to address grammar in the writing classroom

The most effective way of handling grammar instruction is to hold a five-minute grammar
lesson. Take a few minutes at the beginning of class to address a particular grammatical issue.
For instance, if students are misusing semicolons, show them the correct usage, then use
examples from their papers to illustrate the error and to discuss how to correct it. Another way of
teaching grammar in class is to include this discussion as part of a writing workshop. In other
words, every time you workshop a paper, paragraph, or sentence, ask your students, "Is this
grammatical?" If it's not, ask students to locate grammar errors and to explain them to the writer.
Yet another way of teaching grammar is to use peer groups. You can ask students to find and
correct errors in a particularly troubled paper, using a handbook and working out the grammar
rules together.
Grammar instruction is most naturally integrated during the revising, editing, and
proofreading phases of the writing process. After students have written their first drafts and feel
comfortable with the ideas and organization of their writing, teachers may wish to employ
various strategies to help students see grammatical concepts as language choices that can
enhance their writing purpose. Students will soon grow more receptive to revising, editing, and
proofreading their writing. In writing conferences, for example, teachers can help students revise
for effective word choices. As the teacher and student discuss the real audience(s) for the
writing, the teacher can ask the student to consider how formal or informal the writing should be,
and remind the student that all people adjust the level of formality in oral conversation,
depending on their listeners and the speaking context.
The teacher can then help the student identify words in his or her writing that change the
level of formality of the writing.To help students revise boring, monotonous sentences, teachers
might ask students to read their writing aloud to partners. This strategy helps both the partner and
the writer to recognize when, for example, too many sentences begin with "It is" or "There are."
Both the partner and the writer can discuss ways to vary the sentence beginnings. After the writer
revises the sentences, the partner can read the sentences aloud. Then both can discuss the
effectiveness of the revision.
Teachers can help students edit from passive voice to active voice by presenting a mini-
lesson. In editing groups, students can exchange papers and look for verbs that often signal the
passive voice, such as was and been. When students find these verbs, they read the sentence
aloud to their partners and discuss whether the voice is passive and, if so, whether an active
voice verb might strengthen the sentence. The student writer can then decide which voice is most
effective and appropriate for the writing purpose and audience.
Teachers can help students become better proofreaders through peer editing groups. Based
on the writing abilities of their students, teachers can assign different proofreading tasks to
specific individuals in each group. For example, one person in the group might proofread for
spelling errors, another person for agreement errors, another person for fragments and run-ons,
and another person for punctuation errors. As students develop increasing skill in proofreading,
they become responsible for more proofreading areas. Collaborating with classmates in peer
editing groups helps students improve their own grammar skills as well as understand the

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importance of grammar as a tool for effective communication.
As teachers integrate grammar instruction with writing instruction, they should use the
grammar terms that make sense to the students. By incorporating grammar terms naturally into
the processes of revising, editing, and proofreading, teachers help students understand and apply
grammar purposefully to their own writing. Strategies such as writing conferences, partnership
writing, grammar mini-lessons, and peer response groups are all valuable methods for integrating
grammar into writing instruction.

2. Ways to assess grammar skills

Here are the some ways to assess grammar skills in your students that will be useful in
the classroom.

Oral Interview
You can do a one on one interview with each of your students to get a good idea of their
listening and speaking abilities. You can schedule these types of interviews during class (perhaps
take each student into the hall to have a private discussion while the rest of the class does seat
work) or schedule with students individually. Asking questions that use grammatical structures
and vocabulary that your class has studied will help you know exactly what each student has
grasped. Do not penalize a student for not knowing content if he or she can compose
grammatically and situationally correct statements or questions in response to your questions.
Class Presentation
A presentation in class assesses a different aspect of spoken language. When you ask a
student to speak in front of the class, he is able to prepare and practice what he wants to say. He
can also research information on his topic. In this case, the grade you give your student should be
based on both content and presentation.
Role Play
Another way to assess your students’ speaking abilities is by having them perform role-
plays in front of the class. By giving them a situation and roles to play, you can see how
creatively your students are able to use language with one another. Be listening for content and
grammar as with any oral assessment, but you can also be attuned to how your students are
making creative use of their language to communicate with one another. Even if they show
grammatical imperfection, are your students able to understand each other? Are they able to use
the language skills they possess to get their point across to their partner? These are important
skills and ones you should foster in your students.

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Cloze Exam
A cloze exam is an atypical way to test the understanding your students have of grammar.
To write a cloze exam, write an original paragraph or take one that your students have used in
their studies. Then replace every fifth or sixth word with a blank. Ask your students to fill in the
blanks with words they think would be most logical and grammatical. You will see a variety of
answers among your students, but as long as the answers are grammatically and logically correct,
the student should receive full credit.
Fill in the Blank
A fill in the blank test may seem similar to a cloze exam, but this type of test is used to
test a specific grammatical structure or set of vocabulary. You can write individual sentences or
an entire paragraph for your students, but it is probably best to provide a word bank in either
case. You may choose to supply more words than will be necessary to fill in the blanks to make
the test more challenging. This will force your students to choose the best answers rather than
matching ten words with ten blanks.
Writing Sample
Having your students give you a writing sample is another good way to assess their
proficiency with grammar. If you have them write something for homework , you run the risk
that someone other than your student will do the writing. Often friends or native speakers will
correct a nonnative speaker’s writing with the intention of helping, but this will not give you an
accurate picture of your student’s writing. To avoid this, have your students do a periodic in class
writing. Give them an adequate amount of time to write about a subject that you assign. You will
then get an accurate look at their grammatical and writing proficiency. Follow up your
assessment with some mini-lessons on common grammatical pitfalls that the class exhibited.

Portfolio
To expand the material you base your students’ grades on, why not assign each person to
assemble a portfolio. A portfolio is a collection of work samples that cover several aspects of the
assignments your students have completed. This is an especially effective way to assess your
students if you have the same class for reading, writing, listening, speaking and grammar. Ask
each student to compile a collection of ten works for you to grade. You can include specific
assignments on the list, but you can also give a category and ask your students to present their
best work. Ask for a grammar homework assignment, a writing sample and a vocabulary
exercise, for example. Your students can then choose the work that they are most proud of. They
may feel more encouraged to be graded on their strengths rather than their weaknesses.

Online Quiz
You do not have to spend as much of your class time assessing your students as was often

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necessary in the past. With the extensive collection of online resources for ESL students, you can
require your students to spend time at home or in a language lab period working on exercises and
quizzes available online. Have your students print out their final scores or e-mail them to you. In
so doing, your students will still get feedback on their work and knowledge, but you will not
have to give up valuable class time for it to happen.

Multiple Choice Exam

Sometimes the classics are often the way to go when assessing your students. If you
choose to give a multiple-choice exam, keep these pointers in mind when writing the questions.
Make sure all the answers are grammatically correct. Your students should not be able to
eliminate an answer based on grammar alone ( unless, of course, that is what you are trying to
test). Also, try to keep all the answer choices around the same length. If you choose to include
the options “ all of the above” or “ none of the above”, make sure they are options for additional
questions. If you keep these tips in mind when you write your multiple-choice quiz, you will get
better results from your students.

True/False Quiz
The true/false quiz is also a classic that is used by most teachers. When you use this type
of test, do not give trick questions that focus on minor details. Even more important, have your
students correct the questions that they say are false. If they are making the corrections rather
than just identifying the mistakes, you will make sure they are answering from what they know
rather than making lucky guesses. You can assign one point to each answer and another point to
each correction on the test.

3. Methods of making grammatical errors

Marking Grammar Errors in Student Writing: Here are five error-marking tips that you can use
right away on that stack of papers waiting in your office!
1. Assess your priorities as an instructor and those of your discipline. What is the most
important writing issue that you think this student needs to work on?
2. Only mark errors that you feel are ‘serious’, meaning that they obscure meaning or that
they would negatively affect the student’s character in the eyes of someone reading the
paper.
3. Try to send the message that ‘higher order’ concerns, such as critical engagement,
development of ideas, and organization should be attended to first and are valued more
highly.
4. Whatever marking strategy you use, encourage students to develop self-editing and
proofreading skills.

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 5. Think of minor errors as making up a ‘written accent’, realizing that all multilingual
students are in the process of acquiring a second language. The ability to write nearly error-
free prose is a long-term goal that students should aim for, but it is unrealistic to expect this
to happen quickly, and for certain idiosyncratic rules in English, such as article usage and
idioms, students may always need to solicit feedback from others before submitting a final
piece of writing

• A Continuum of instructor involvement in marking student errors

Fix all errors for the student, becoming, essentially, a line-editor. This strategy doesn’t help the
student, and it creates an unrealistic amount of work for the instructor.
Mark, but don’t correct, all errors, asking students to revise. This approach is attractive
because the responsibility for fixing the error falls to the student, who is challenged to
understand, then correct the errors they’ve made. It is time consuming for the instructor,
however, and doesn’t provide an opportunity for students to develop their own proofreading
skills since they aren’t required to find their own errors.
Line edit some errors, then ask students to fix the rest. This might take the form of the
instructor editing one paragraph but leaving one paragraph unmarked. Giving students an
edited paragraph can be useful in helping students see what their errors are and possible
corrections. However, marking and fixing errors requires a significant amount of time,
attention, and experience. Also, some argue that fixing any errors for students discourages
them from working to fix errors on their own, and encourages a passive approach to
proofreading. It can also send the message that the most important part of revision is
correcting grammar errors, rather than rewriting for development of ideas or the argument,
organization, or other content-related elements.
Identify, but don’t correct, some errors, asking students to revise and/ or find errors similar
errors in the unmarked section of their paper. An advantage to this method is that it gives
students feedback on the errors they are making while also encouraging active proofreading on
their part. By alerting students to the type of error they are making, instructors are giving
feedback that contributes to development of effective proofreading. To encourage students to
proofread their paper, assuming the instructor is marking a final draft, the student might be
required to edit the final draft further before receiving a final grade.
Use minimal marking to let students know there are errors, but don’t locate or identify errors
for them. This method encourages students to find and fix their own errors. The goal is to help
students develop the habit of proofreading their own writing. It also avoids sending the
message that the goal of revision is solely to fix grammar errors. With minimal marking,
students should be encouraged to find and fix the errors. One strategy is for the instructor to
raise the grade when the edited paper is returned or for the instructor to hold off on grading
until the draft has been edited.
Don’t mark any errors but give the student feedback that the paper is marred with errors and

5
 will lose points. Advantages: A big time-saver for the instructor. No responsibility on the
instructor to help the student develop editing skills. Disadvantages: students may feel criticized
and unsupported, leading to feelings of depression and isolation. Students are not encouraged
to develop helpful academic skills.

• Marking and editing strategies

Here are three approaches to marking errors. Remember that all of these approaches are
more effective when paired with a strategy for holding the students accountable for making the
corrections so that they develop their own editing skills.
#1 Color Coding and Highlighting Similar to error codes, color coding and highlighting uses a
previously explained system for marking errors. This saves time when marking papers. Students
often find it much easier to understand a document with different colored highlights than a
document with scribbled, difficult to read shorthand markings.
Ever since 1970s, the most rapid period of technological transformation is taking place.
The digital era has reshaped people’s life and their relationship with the world. Older
people involved are called “Digital Immigrants”, while their younger counterparts who
grow up in the culture are known as “Digital Natives”.

Key and Examples below

….. = article error
It is a most interesting book I have read. Steve Jobs is the leader of the Apple.

. ….. = verb error/ wrong tense, problem forming the verb, or subject-verb error
We didn’t completed the job yesterday. Disposing of electronics properly becomes a major
issue

..….. = word form error

Her father is the most success software engineer in the firm

..….. = word choice error- inaccurate word choice or collocations error

The team is putting emphasis to their defense. Hybrid vehicles need more workers for
production

..….. = noun ending/ singular or plural error

We have enough homeworks to last a week. The wastes have to be dealt with properly

..….. = sentence structure- punctuation, confusing grammar, or word order problem

I like apples they are delicious. The manager bought yesterday a new computer

..….. = word missing

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 They are interested going with us to the concert

..….. = pronoun reference unclear

We enjoyed the book and the movie, but it was more violent.

#2 Correction Symbols
This represents a relatively short list of correction symbols. Adopting a similar key and
sharing it with your students at the beginning of the term can help streamline marking and
discussing writing throughout the semester. This can be useful because it helps develop a
common language for describing and identifying errors. Longer and more detailed charts can be
developed, depending on your goals, time limitations, and level of comfort working with
students on these errors. Often, though, especially in a class not dedicated to editing practice,
restricting your marking to a limited number of errors will be more effective.

Ever since 1970s<<<art., the most rapid period of technological transformation is

taking<<<VT place. The digital era has reshaped people’s life<<<S/P and their relationship
with the world. Older people involved are called “Digital Immigrants”, while their younger
counterparts who grow up in the culture<<<wc are known as “Digital Natives”

Symbols Meaning Incorrect Correct

P
Punctuation I live work and go to I live, work, and go to
school in Manila. school in Manila.

=
Capitalization needed The dodgers play in The Dodgers play in
intramuros, manila. Intramuros, Manila.

V
Problem with verb The manager work The manager works
(tense, agreement, hard. I never see him hard. I never see him
formation) until I came to the US. until I came to the US

7
 S/P
Singular/Plural Apple are the most Apples are the most
nutritious fruit. nutritious fruit.

WC
Word choice The mango is The mango is
delighted. delicious.

PN
Confusing pronoun The book and the film The book and the film
reference were both scary. It were both scary. The
was much better book was much better
though. though.

SS
Sentence structure Sarah is hardworking Sarah is hardworking,
(run on, comma she is employee of the so she is employee of
splice, fragment, or month. the month.
confusing structure)
OR
Sarah is a hard Sarah is a hard
worker, she is worker, therefore she
employee of the is employee of the
month. month.
Because Sarah is a Because Sarah is a
hard worker. She is hard worker, she is
employee of the employee of the
month. month.
WM
Word missing It has not been It has not been
determined how these determined how these
policies likely to policies are likely to
affect small affect small
businesses businesses
ART.
Article error In computer science, In computer science, a

8
 crash refers to a crash refers to a
sudden error in… sudden error in…

#3 Minimal Marking
There are various forms of minimal marking, ranging from highlighting or underlining
errors without making comments to writing question marks or check marks in the margins to
alert students to errors. An important aspect of this approach is to withhold a grade until the
revisions are made or offer to raise the grade once the revisions are made.
Ever since 1970s, the most rapid period of technological transformation is
taking place. The digital era has reshaped people’s life and their relationship with the world.
Older people involved are called “Digital Immigrants”, while their younger
counterparts who grow up in the culture are known as “Digital Natives”.

4. Grammar resources

English is already the most common second language (by number of speakers) in the
world, and more people begin studying it every day. Fortunately, the availability of learning
resources is growing right along with the number of English learners. The publishing industry,
web entrepreneurs, respected institutions, and enthusiasts who just want to help are producing a
staggering amount of materials aimed at getting people to understand, speak, and write in
English. Some of the materials are good, some of them not so much, and to help you figure out
which is which, we’ve compiled a list of the ten best resources you could be using to learn
English grammar.

Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White

The Elements of Style , commonly known as “Strunk and White,” is a classic style guide
every American student is familiar with. It helped shape how the English language is
used in the United States, for better or for worse, and as such is a required read for
English language learners.

Oxford Modern English Grammar by Bas Aarts

Oxford Modern English Grammar is a precious tool for any English language learner
who needs a deeper understanding of how the English language works. It covers both
British English and American English, and it uses examples from written and

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spoken English to explain the most basic grammar points as well the most
complex.

Purdue Online Writing Lab

From grammar to individual resources for English language learners, professionals, and
English teachers, Purdue OWL is as comprehensive as English learning resources
can get.
Grammar Exercises from the
University of Bristol’s Faculty of Arts Learning and testing go hand in hand. The
University of Bristol’s Faculty of Arts hosts extensive grammar learning materials on
their website, which include exercises to help you practice using punctuation,
discern between commonly confused words, use the subjunctive, and plenty other
things.

Grammar Monster
Grammar Monster is a website that offers both quick information and detailed
explanations about everything that has to do with grammar. Plus, it also has a short test
for each of its sections, so you can gauge how well you understood the section’s contents.

UsingEnglish.com
UsingEnglish.com is not the place to go looking for lessons on English grammar, but as
far as grammar glossaries go, it hosts a very comprehensive one. The site also offers a
vast number of tests and quizzes that can keep you occupied for a long time.

Edufind.com
Edufind.com is a website with a very simple layout that allows you to navigate through it
quickly. Even though the website’s materials aren’t organized in the form of lessons, they
are written in simple, easy-to-understand language, so you can use them as a learning
resource.

Oxford Dictionaries
OxfordDictionaries.com is a fun website where you can read the Oxford Dictionaries’
blog, watch their videos, and find a dictionary that can help you learn new words. There’s
also a grammar section where you can learn everything you need to know about English
grammar.

British Council
The British Council has a long tradition of helping people around the world learn
English, and their website contains everything from lessons, grammar explanations, and a

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glossary to games and apps. It’s an excellent resource for English language learners of all
proficiency levels and from all walks of life.

Cambridge Apps
Cambridge University Press’s Grammar in Use series of apps contains three apps: one for
beginners, one for intermediate learners, and one for advanced English language learners,
each corresponding to a book published by CUP. While the apps do not contain all the
materials from the books, they are chock-full of activities that can help you practice
English grammar anytime.

5. Three-Dimensional grammar framework

The Three-Dimensional Framework is a departure from traditional analysis of English
grammar as it encompasses the three dimensions of syntax, semantics and pragmatics unlike
other approaches to grammar teaching. This has been evolved keeping in view the
communicative aspect of grammar. Larsen-Freeman wanted to ‘encourage a balance between
grammar and communication’ (2001, p.251) and therefore came up with the framework of
‘Three-Dimensional Framework of Grammar’ which has been evolved in consonance with the
communicative approach to language which encourages language use over imparting rules of
language. In this connection, Freeman draws our attention to the research evidence which proves
the positive effect of focussing the learners’ attention on linguistic forms in the context of
communicative interactions. In contrast, research has shown that researchers who focus students’
attention on linguistic form during communicative interactions are more effective than those who
never focus on form or who only do so in decontextualized grammar lessons. Spada and
Lightbown 1993; Lightbown 1998 (As cited in Larsen-Freeman, Teaching Grammar, 2001, p.
251) Here, ‘grammatical form in communication interaction’ is a key phrase which brings up the
issue of ‘context’ in teaching grammar. This is looking at ‘form in/with context’ in contrast to
‘form without context’. In this connection, the importance of context in teaching grammar can
also be seen in Nunan’s words, “If learners are not given opportunities to explore grammar in
context, it will be difficult for them to see how and why alternative forms exist to express
different communicative meanings”(1998, p.103). The Three-Dimensional framework of
grammar facilitates the usage of grammar structures with accuracy, meaning and appropriateness
(Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman, 2001). Many English grammar text books overlook either of
the above aspects which would deprive the learners of successful communication. This
framework also considers grammar as a dynamic system rather a static one. The authors of this
framework put forward it in the form of a pie chart and the boundaries between these dimensions
are permeable, and are indicated by bidirectional arrows. As it was evolved, there is no hierarchy
existing among these three dimensions, rather, all the three are interconnected. The following pie
chart explains the framework.

Pie diagram depicting the Three-Dimensional Framework of grammar

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 MEANING
FORM
What does it
How it is
mean?
formed?
Meaningfulness
Accuracy
USE
When & why is it
used?

Appropriateness

Courtesy: Ozmen, (undated)

The three dimensions of the framework become three wedges in the diagram and are
interconnected by arrows which are not visible in the above diagram. Changes in one wedge
would affect changes in other wedges. The first dimension is ‘Form/Structure’ which indicates
Morphosyntactic and lexical patterns, and phonemic and graphemic patterns; the second wedge,
‘Meaning/Semantics’ indicates lexical and grammatical meaning; and the third wedge,
‘Use/Pragmatics’, indicates social context, linguistic discourse context, and presuppositions
about context. The above framework can be understood with the help of the authors’ analysis of
the form of possessive case and phrasal verbs in English grammar. Celce-Murcia and Larsen
Freeman went on to explain that the form of the possessive case in English is to be explained in
the first section of ‘form’ where it is explained that inflection is required to form possessives. In
the ‘meaning’ part of the framework, it is required to explain that the possessive or genitive
form, apart from its indication of possession, can also indicate descriptions, amounts,
relationship, part/whole and origin/agent. The final part of the framework ‘use’ has to explain the
usage of possessive. Here, ‘when do we use possessive?’ and ‘why do we use possessive?’ in
English are to be explained. The usage of ’s, possessive determiner (his, her, their), ‘of the’ are to
be discussed. Similarly, the same framework was employed by the authors to explain phrasal
verbs in English

6. Innovations in grammar assessment

There are a number of innovations underway, or at least proposed, in the way grammar is being

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assessed.
Redefining the construct
The first involves a definition of the grammar construct itself. Expanding beyond form to
include grammatical meaning is one such move. For instance, Purpura (2004, p. 89) defines
grammatical ability for assessment purposes as involving “the capacity to realize grammatical
knowledge accurately and meaningfully in test-taking or other language-use contexts.”
Grammatical ability may (also) interact with pragmatic ability, which Purpura considers a
different ability area.
Expanding the grammatical construct even further are researchers at the University of
Michigan who are responsible for developing standard examinations of English proficiency (the
ECCE and ECPE). They are going beyond the assessment of grammatical form and meaning and
including grammatical use as well. Doing so necessitates assessing how grammar functions at the
discourse level, where its use in cohesion, thematic continuity, anaphora, cataphora, grammatical
focus, backgrounding and foregrounding, etc., are measured, as well as assessing students’
knowledge of how sociolinguistic functions, such as constructing identity, conveying politeness,
displaying power, etc. are realized grammatically. Speakers have a choice of which of their
grammatical resources to deploy. Grammar is not a linguistic straitjacket (Larsen-Freeman,
2002; see also Batstone, 1994; Cullen, 2008).
Partial scoring
Discrete-point tests usually rely on dichotomous scoring of grammatical accuracy.
Recently, it has been proposed that scoring grammatical items polytomously would yield
information about learners who have an intermediary knowledge of grammar, rather than their
being treated as if they have no knowledge at all (Purpura, 2006). To examine the extent to
which answers on multiple-choice grammar items can be ordered along a path of progressive
attainment, Purpura (2006) examined the grammar section of the University of Michigan ECPE,
and found that many of the items did show what seemed to be a progressive attainment pattern in
the respo nse patterns of 1,000 candidates. If these items are indeed measuring developmental
levels, dichotomous scoring raises several concerns. First, a considerable amount of
developmental information is lost with students who have partial knowledge. More seriously,
scoring dichotomously underestimates some students’ true ability, and it makes it impossible for
some students to receive feedback appropriate to their developmental level. While partial scoring
is not a complete solution, it is one step in the long-hoped-for development of an interlanguage-
sensitive approach to assessment (LarsenFreeman & Long, 1991).

The social dimension

Language tests have ignored the social use dimension of language and have followed
traditional psychometric methods in measuring isolated pieces of grammar and vocabulary

13
knowledge; as a consequence, measuring test takers’ ability to use language in social contexts
has been overlooked (McNamara & Roever, 2006). Importantly, this awareness goes beyond
extending the construct being measured. A social view of performance is incompatible with the
traditional view of performance as a simple projection or display of individual competence.
Increasingly, therefore, language testers are questioning whether it is possible to isolate the
contributions of test takers from those of the test takers’ interlocutors, say in oral proficiency
interviews. Along somewhat similar lines, Lantolf and Poehner (2004) call for “dynamic
assessment,” arguing against the assumption that the best sort of assessment is that of
independent problem solving. Since higher order thinking emerges from our interactions with
others, dynamic assessment involves testing the examinee before and after an intervention
designed to teach the student how to perform better on the test. The student’s final score
represents the difference between pretest (before learning) and post-test (after learning) scores.
The standard
Issue that could be discussed under grammar teaching or testing is the issue of what the
target standard is. For instance, some researchers have claimed that as English increasingly
becomes the language of communication between non-native speakers), it is likely that
“ungrammatical, but unproblematic” constructions, such as “he look very sad,” “a picture who
gives the impression” (Seidlhofer, 2001, p. 147), once they exist sufficiently frequently in non-
native speaker discourse, would arguably become standardized and exist as a variety (English as
a lingua franca) alongside English as a native language. Kachru and Nelson (1996, in Siegel,
2003) point out that considering the non-standard features of indigenized varieties to be the result
of L1 interference and fossilization would be wrong because learners may not wish to emulate a
standard, and standard models may not be available in the environment. Even for those who do
wish to emulate a standard, there is always the question concerning ultimate attainment in a
classroom setting. For instance, in discussing the teaching of Russian as a foreign language,
Rifkin (2005) advocates that students study abroad in a Russian-speaking environment because
there is a ceiling effect as to what can be accomplished in a class where Russian is the target
language.
The instruction and assessment of grammar will likely continue to foment a great deal of
discussion as the field struggles with how to do both in harmony with students’ natural learning
processes. The effort is worth it for there is much at stake.

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