Grammar Doesn't Help Strange as it seems, a grammar course is not what these students need. A substantial body of empirical research has accumulated that shows that teaching grammar does not improve writing ability. Every other focus of instruction examined in this review is stronger. Taught in certain ways, grammar and mechanics instruction has a deleterious effect on student writing. One factor is the amount of reading a student does.
Good readers are usually good writers.
However, writing practice is also necessary, and such practice is relatively useless without feedback. It is helpful to think of a writing assignment as initiating a dialogue between student and instructor. The assignment itself is the first conversational turn, the first draft is a response. The instructor's comments are another turn in the conversation, and the revised draft is another response. Some instructors feel that they must mark every error in order to demonstrate that they have read every word of the paper.