I've been following this discussion with a lot of interest.  I teach at a
small college located on an Indian reservation.  The majority of our students
are at-risk in every way.  A number of the freshman I'm seeing now are
current, ex- or pseudo- gang members.  I teach a developmental reading course
as well as grammar for prospective teachers & other linguistics and methods
classes.  Our beginning students have the problems expressed by the previous
writers, but there is one major difference: our students have chosen to go to
college.

It seems to me, (and I say this  even though I believe grammar instruction is
important) that before any criticism of student writing takes place, students
have to write. So the question is "How do you encourage reluctant readers and
writers to read and write?".  This led me to ask myself, "Why do I read and
write?".

I read and write because these activities have and have had immediate and
long-term benefits for me.  As a lonely and isolated child, reading gave me a
way to live outside myself; as an adult, these activities have provided me
with a living and an interesting occupation.  So what's in it for our
students?  What is the utility of being able to read and write for the inner
city student or the poor, rural single mother?  Rather than rail at the
inadequacies of our students, I think we would be better off figuring out what
we have to offer students.  I personally believe that my students' lives will
be improved and they will be better equipped to achieve their goals if they
are readers and writers, but if we cannot show our students that there is a
clear and achievable payoff, we probably will not be able to convince them to
read and write.

On a more practical note, I have found that my students, although they
initially deny it, encounter reading and writing regularly.  They buy stereo
systems and cars on contracts they haven't read; they have encounters with
attorneys and the court system that require careful reading and response which
students can't achieve.  Social service agencies expect a lot of paper work.
Applying for college entrance and for financial aid require very complex
skills.  As I talk to students, I see that reading and writing are required in
their everyday lives, and I think this is the place to start.

It's been my experience that my students are in fact very aware of differences
of register and variety.  They watch TV. (As a side issue, I believe every six
year old in this country knows what standard English is from listening to TV.
TV has to use standard English, and it can be valuable tool for teachers.)
They know, for example, that newscasters and sportscasters use they language
in a particular way, and many of them can imitate this.  Might this not be a
way to approach the need to expand one's repertoire of language varieties?

Well, this is a lot longer than I intended.

Janet Castilleja
Heritage college
Toppenish WA