Colleagues,

I am puzzled by the following:

Certain kinds of sentences make certain kinds of meaning possible, and
students can’t read or write to the extent that they don’t understand and
can’t produce those form/meaning relationships.

I have no idea what this means.  What are the kinds of sentences being
referenced and what are the kinds of meanings those particular types of
sentences make possible?  This seems to me to be a very, very strong claim:
If a language user can't produce a particular kind of sentence, then that
language user is unable to formulate certain kinds of meanings.  I would
love to have some examples. What kind of sentence-meaning relationships
prevent students from reading and writing?  Examples, again, are useful to
understand the claim.

Bob Yates, University of Central Missouri

On Thu, Oct 11, 2012 at 11:07 AM, Hancock, Craig G <[log in to unmask]>wrote:

>  Geoff,****
>
>     The Atlantic article is the key to all this, and it’s getting much
> deserved attention.****
>
>    The key, I think, is a new tendency (see Stanley Fish) to think of
> sentences as “templates.” Form constrains, but it also enables. Certain
> kinds of sentences make certain kinds of meaning possible, and students
> can’t read or write to the extent that they don’t understand and can’t
> produce those form/meaning relationships. Added to that is the notion that
> literacy is “taught, not caught.” Letting  students enjoy what they read
> and write to express themselves as the CORE of the English curriculum has
> not produced the results that are often predicted, especially for
> nonmainstream students. It could very well be that students learn to love
> reading when they become better at it, not the other way around. But this
> is not simply a return to drill and grill grammar or the old fetishistic
> over-concern with “error.”  Students learn “moves” that are available in
> and through the grammar. It expands the repertoire, or at least aims to.
> And it seems to get results.****
>
>    I have been using similar approaches at the college level and like the
> results. ****
>
> ** **
>
> Craig****
>
> ** **
>
> *From:* Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:
> [log in to unmask]] *On Behalf Of *Geoffrey Layton
> *Sent:* Thursday, October 11, 2012 11:14 AM
> *To:* [log in to unmask]
> *Subject:* The Atlantic Writing Articles****
>
> ** **
>
> I think these articles from *The Atlantic *and *The Chronical of Higher
> Education *are important for ATEGers to read and comment on. ****
>
>
> http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/10/the-writing-revolution/309090/?single_page=true
> ****
>
> http://www.theatlantic.com/debates/education****
>
> ** **
>
>
> http://chronicle.com/blogs/linguafranca/2012/10/11/inspiration-in-the-writing-revolution/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
> ****
>
>  ****
>
> Geoff Layton****
>
> To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface
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> leave the list" ****
>
> Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ ** **
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>
> Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/
>

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