Abstract
Since commercial word-processing software integrated grammar checkers in the early 1990s, the composition community has scaled back its printed work on this technology to pursue more urgent issues of new technologies (new media, online composition, etc.) and their theoretical implications. Yet the functionality of grammar checkers has changed dramatically, and we should continue to explore the pedagogical possibilities of a tool now available whenever students compose on a computer. Grammar checkers remain troublesome and inaccurate—we should consider teaching students how to manage them and realize their potential despite their limitations. Grammar checkers allow us to discuss grammar at what William Wresch (1989) called the most “teachable moment” (p. 46): the moment of direct application to student writing. We might also use them to discuss the problematic nature of standard, normative written language conventions and the authority behind such conventions. In the hope of re-engaging some scholarly and practical interest, this article a) reviews the literature of grammar checker technology in composition; b) analyzes the current grammar checking capability of the most popular word-processing programs in the United States, Microsoft Word 2000 and Corel WordPerfect 9.0 (2000); and c) concludes by suggesting uses of grammar checkers for composition teachers.
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