Last week I read an article in The Oregonian newspaper that shared that test scores had dramatically increased this year for English Language Learners.   That’s good news, right?

Then why was I so discouraged by what I read?  Because the article quoted a bunch of people attributing the success to schools focusing on explicit grammar instruction.  Ugh…

Thankfully, Stephen Krashen did a little further digging.  He discovered that the state used a different test this year.  It’s certainly not good science, he points out,  to claim there is a connection between different teaching methods and a change in test scores when you use a different form of measurement!

I’d certainly recommend reading his analysis, which includes a summary of the research critiquing the effectiveness of focusing on explicit grammar instruction with English Language Learners.