NOTE: ALL FORMS OF CHEATING WILL RESULT IN LOWERING OF THE COURSE GRADE (INCLUDING A POSSIBLEGRADE OF F FOR THE COURSE) AND A REPORT TO THE OFFICE OF STUDENT RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES. VISIT THEIR WEBSITE AND STUDY ALL OF ITS PAGES CAREFULLY. SERIOUS CHEATING CAN RESULT IN EXPULSION FROM CAL POLY. READ ALSO MY PLAGIARISM WARNING.

• IDENTIFY the publisher, GRADE LEVEL, and title of the package ON THE COVER PAGE OR AT THE TOP OF THE FIRST PAGE in the title of the paper. You must work with a package between grades 3 and 8. PERMITTED PUBLISHERS ARE Houghton-Mifflin; Macmillan/McGraw-Hill; Harcourt; SRA McGraw-Hill; Pearson/Prentice Hall; or Holt (grades 6-8).
• Examine the TAE and a Practice Book for the purposes of this paper. Som ehigher grades have a separate language handbook or a language handbook at the back of the student's text. If so, include these in your analysis.
• Evaluate the package with regard to how well it conforms to recommendations for grammar instruction that were made in class, with regard to the 3 questions below. You must report how the package deals with (or doesn't deal with) the given points. Divide your paper into sections with titles as given below. For each of these 3 topics, you must
  
• Say whether a linguist would approve of the way grammar instruction is handled by the package. That is, compare the instructional approach of the package with what is recommended in class as a sound linguistic approach to grammar instruction. Be very direct about this: use language along the lines of "this part of the package conforms well - poorly - does not conform to linguists' recommendations" or similar language (use your own words; vary the expression).
• Explain why the package's approach would be judged positively or negatively by a linguist, using reasoning given in class and in the readings. Again, be direct: "A linguist would approve of this approach because ... " In this section, give details about the benefit of linguists' recommended teaching practices to children's language arts skills, and specific harms that result from not following these recommendations.
• You must cite our readings (articles and textbooks assigned for the class) whenever they support a point you are making in your evaluation, and therefore have a bibiliography at the end of the paper. Use a recognized format: MLA or APA. If you don't know what this means, FIND OUT: Consult a college writing manual or the Writing Lab (10-130).
• If your paper does not evaluate the package in this way, it will not receive a grade above D.

Questions to answer:

1. Does your package take a correctionist approach to grammar instruction?
2. Does your package take a 'one right way' approach to grammar rules? That is, does it imply or directly say that there is only one correct way to speak/write, or does it state that other dialects or informal styles have their own, different rules for structuring sentences?
3. Examine your package's treatment of two of the grammar points from the list below to find the answer to questions 1 & 2.
   Quote from your package to show how these are characterized (as mistakes or in some other way). Give location and page number for quotes.
   • Grammar points:
   • Double negation (e.g., "I don't have none") (often under 'adverbs') (This feature is typical of most nonstandard dialects of English.)
   • Reflexive pronoun 'hisself' (under 'pronouns' or 'reflexive pronouns') ('Hisself' is found in several nonstandard dialects in America.) (Look under 'pronouns' in indexes, scope-and-sequence).
   • Subject/verb agreement, in verbs 'have' and 'be' and/or in verbs in general (This varies greatly across different dialects of English. An example is "She don't visit us often.")
   • 'Confusing verbs' or irregular verbs -- past tense forms that vary from standard English such as 'seen' for 'saw', 'come' for 'came', 'done' for 'did', 'brang' or 'brung' for 'brought'.
   • 'Problem verbs' such as 'lie/lay', 'sit/set', 'may/can'
   • 'Problem adverbs' such as 'bad/badly', 'good/well', 'slow/slowly', 'real' as in 'real good'.
   • Pronoun case: 'Who/whom', 'I/me', 'he/him', etc.
   • Singular 'they' for indefinite pronouns like 'everyone', 'someone' or for a person whose gender is not known (e.g., "Someone left their backpack in the classroom"; "I don't know who stole my bike, but they didn't get much of a deal.")
4. Include a photocopy of a one-page exercise/worksheet for each of your grammar points (that is, two in all). Refer to these samples in your text; use them as illustrations of the package's treatment of grammar instruction. Attach these in the text of the paper after the relevant section; number them by hand. THESE DO NOT CONTRIBUTE TO YOUR PAGE COUNT; subtract them when figuring your page count.
5. Given what was said in class lectures and your readings, would a linguist believe that your package's approach to grammar would be both effective and beneficial to children from all dialect backgrounds (standard-English-speaking as well as nonstandard-English speaking children)? Will some children have an unfair advantage over others? Explain your answer to this question in detail, referring to class readings and class lectures.
   
   Remember that you are dealing only with children who are native speakers of either standard or nonstandard English. This part of the paper is not about children who are native speakers of another language, learning English (such as Spanish- or Korean-speaking children).