Further Research

My search for additional resources was confined to the NCTE “English Journal”, V.85-7, “The Great Debate (Again): Teaching Grammar and Usage”, because it has a wealth of well-researched articles containing both opinion and documentation on precisely the issue I am writing about. http://www.ncte.org/journals/ej/issues/v85-7

In the course of reading one of those articles, I stumbled upon this book, which will be arriving shortly for my library:

The Deluxe Transitive Vampire: The Ultimate Handbook of Grammar for the Innocent, the Eager, and the Doomed by Karen Elizabeth Gordon

It offers a novel (ouch, pardon the pun) approach to grammar teaching, to say the least, and will hopefully provide some useful perspectives. 

I also found the following articles:

“Taking the G-r-r-r Out of Grammar”

Stephen Tchudi and Lee Thomas

http://www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Resources/Journals/EJ/0857-nov96/EJ0857Taking.pdf

“On Not Teaching Grammar”

Ed Vavra

http://www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Resources/Journals/EJ/0857-nov96/EJ0857Not.pdf

“Why Debates about Teaching Grammar and Usage ‘Tweak’ Me Out”

John A. Skretta

http://www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Resources/Journals/EJ/0857-nov96/EJ0857Debates.pdf

“Watch Your Language: Teaching Standard Usage to Resistant and Reluctant Learners”

Mark Larson

http://www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Resources/Journals/EJ/0857-nov96/EJ0857Watch.pdf

“Bundrens, Faulkner, and Grammar”

Stephen B. Heller

http://www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Resources/Journals/EJ/0857-nov96/EJ0857Bundrens.pd

Plus many more. I think that these articles will offer substantiation for my compare/contrast approach, since several do that same thing, with documentation for both sides.