Businesses would
like their employees to write without language usage errors,
so they arrange to have workshops on grammar to train their
staff. However, a workshop simply will not teach business
people how to overcome problems in their language usage.
This is a position statement by the National Council of
Teachers of English: "This resolution was prompted by
the continuing use of repetitive grammar drills and exercises
in the teaching of English in many schools. Proposers pointed
out that ample evidence from 50 years of research has shown
the teaching of grammar in isolation does not lead to improvement
in students' speaking and writing, and that in fact, it hinders
development of students' oral and written language."
(On Grammar Exercises to Teach Speaking and Writing. NCTE
Position Statement. http://www.ncte.org/about/over/positions/category/gram/107492.htm.)
For employees to learn how to avoid language usage problems,
they must learn how to correct errors over time by having
a trainer show them the errors in their own writing samples
and help them understand how to write correctly in the context
of their own writing.
Our Basic Writing Skills Tutorial course teaches the skills
over time focusing on the trainee's own writing. We no longer
give workshops in grammar because we have found that one-on-one
training in the individualized course is very successful in
teaching the skills.
Read about the course here: http://writingtrainers.com/center/bwc110.htm.
For more about what does and doesn't work in teaching correct
language usage, look at this statement by the National Council
of Teachers of English: http://www.ncte.org/library/files/About_NCTE/Issues/teachgrammar.pdf.
|
(US) 1-800-501-9440 
