I agree with thoe who say that there is no "bad" language. The English language along with every other world language is in a constant state of change and I just can't be one of those people who think that the language should always stay the same. The language that most of us use today is worlds apart from the language of 500 years ago. I think that it's good that some people find grammar fascinating and choose to devote their lives to it, but I am not one of those people. I do believe that standards exist in the language that we use everyday but I think it can be taken too far. For example, when Christenbury mentions that she was once corrected on her pronunciation of muave. If you are pretentious enough to correct someone on a minor regional pronunciation difference, then you deserve to hear bad grammar.
When I teach grammar, I will emphasize the "practice makes better" model and simply give students oppurtunities to write formally and guide their grammar through revisions. One thing that you will never hear me say is "may I go to the bathroom" when I know exactly what the student meant when he/she said "can".
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I am writing a paper in my 520 class about grammar. I am really interested in it, but the majority of my information revolves around teaching grammar as practical information, like you said. I agree that knowing a verb doesnt make it important unless you can use it correctly in a sentence!
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