See attached file for a sample grammar game.

Jen and Brian,

I love the idea of bringing play into the classroom. I resonate with the idea that typically "dry" subjects like grammar can come to life for students through games. I appreciate that you address the idea that the pendulum is beginning to swing back towards the explicit teaching of grammar. I attended a few presentations at the NCTE Annual Convention last fall that discussed this issue. Furthermore, the manuscript artfully addresses both the theoretical constructs and relevant literature related to the topic, as well as provides practical application for classroom teachers.

I have a few minor recommendations for revision. I suggest a more robust discussion of the "deficit" model and the ways in which grammar has been used by some teachers, administrators, and curriculum developers to impel students, particularly multilingual students, to learn Standard / Dominant American English, in some cases encouraging them to abandon home or primary language in favor of SAE / DAE. This is an integral part of the history of English education that continues today in preschool through undergraduate classrooms across the country.

Footnotes are typically not used in APA Style. To that end, some of the content in the footnotes contains content that would be helpful to include in text. Also, the manuscript headings are not aligned with APA levels.

Thank you all for sharing such a clear, articulate argument for bringing grammar games into the college classroom. Well done!

Best,

Meredith

Hi Jennifer and Brian,

Your article did an excellent job of addressing the use of games in helping students learn, and / or relearn, grammar. As an online instructor I review many essays that are poorly written and display little awareness of the rules of grammar. Inserting a game, such as the one attached to your article, into the classroom early in the course will assist students in testing their own knowledge of the rules of grammar in a fun and non-threatening manner. The game could also act as a springboard for discussion and act as a clarifier for students as they prepare their essay assignments. Helping students learn how to express themselves coherently is important, and the use of games can go a long way in accomplishing this task.

Meredith did a good job of pointing out some of the APA issues that should be addressed in the revision of your writing. I would add that a title page and abstract should also be included.

Thank you for sharing your research and the clear articulation of your ideas. Yours is a very helpful article!

Blessings,

Ron Steadman

I enjoyed this article because its focus is on students' perception of themselves as writers and specifically as masters of grammar. In my twenty years of experience teaching high school and college writing courses, I have found that many people label themselves as either "good" or "bad" at grammar and writing in general, and they approach assignments differently because of this unfortunate identification.

I understand that writing is the expression of our inner thoughts, and for that reason it is much more personal than other academic subjects. Students feel personally offended or hurt when they receive a graded essay marked in red all over. Instead of reacting as they would to a poor math test score and thinking, "I'll have to study harder and do better next time," they tend to assume that the content of the essay, the very thoughts and perspectives of their very personal points of view, has been rejected. The tendency to give up is much stronger in writing than it is in other subjects. At least, that has been my observation.

One way I have determined to address this problem is to return essays in two versions. The first would have marginal comments (by using Track Changes) about the content of the essay. The second would have marginal comments about mechanics, including grammar, punctuation and capitalization. Perhaps then students would see that their personal thoughts and ideas are not the problem; their poor understanding of English grammar is the problem. Then they will be more likely to participate in games and drills as explained in this article. They may understand that grammar is a skill or a function that can be improved with practice just like learning your multiplication tables.

One reason students come to us with a poor understanding of grammar is because games that encourage repetition or any kind of drill or memorization is discouraged in the high school classroom. Teaching this way suggests one is not creative enough to think of a more exciting project, performance or expressive outlet for the students to do. This is detrimental because somewhere someone has to focus on the mundane stuff like capitalizing the names of historical landmarks, placing commas between independent clauses, knowing the difference between a colon and a semicolon. As long as the high school classroom fails to require mastery of these skills, the college classroom will continue to add this to their responsibilities and to dampen the impact of a truly engaging writing course by spending time teaching grammar.