Craig and all,
     Thanks for the feedback -- well-said! I have indeed followed the curriculum changes and resulting effects in England (which is made easier to follow thanks to some of Richard Hudson's work). Top-down changes sometimes seem too threatening while bottom-up changes seem futile at times; however, I think we can use the best of both to affect change in grammar teaching.
    I couldn't agree with Craig more on the ideal courses for teacher preparation programs -- I have the honor and challenge of trying to teach an overview of linguistic/language concepts AND  specific teaching applications AND overviewing perspectives on grammar all in the same one-semester course here in Tuscaloosa. It's an interesting quandary. I am at least very pleased that our teacher education program recently made the course a required component of the program -- it's just not nearly effective as it could be in conjunction with other classes. I'm sure many others face this issue.
    I, too, delight in the idea of language arts specializations -- perhaps literature, composition, and/or language/linguistics/grammar. I find it interesting that many programs are allowing teachers to obtain specialized degrees that include theater and journalism focuses but not other content areas. In my own teacher education program, I had no choice -- theater and journalism were required studies (a practice I always questioned -- why would I ever, in all good conscience, teach something that I wasn't passionate about?). How delightful if we could find a way to integrate specializations in different language arts content areas (that could be pursued according to interest) into teacher education programs all across the nation!
     I'll be glad to be a part of the project working in this area -- please let me know if there is anything specific I can help with. Thanks!
   
  -JED



          *****************************************************************
  John E. Dews 
  Instructor, Undergraduate Linguistics
  MA-TESOL/Applied Linguistics Program
  Educator, Secondary English Language Arts
  English Department, 208 Rowand-Johnson Hall (Office)
  University of Alabama
   






			
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