John,
    I think Skinner and Chomsky may be an OK place to start, but it
wouldn't be a good way to frame the debate. I don't think any of the
people developing positions contrary to Chomsky would think of
themselves as behaviorist. No one defends Skinner. It's not a
conditioning process or thought of in that way. But I agree with your
last point. Language has a biological component, and there are
competing ways to model that.

Craig

It strikes me also that studying language behaviors is a great opportunity
> to examine how language is seen both as a learned behavior as well as an
> innate ability (and a myriad of views in-between). The debate between
> Skinner and Chomsky is a good place to start. For a biology teacher, this
> may be great material to examine the fine line between biology and
> cognition.
>
> John
>
> On Thu, Feb 24, 2011 at 9:56 AM, Craig Hancock <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>>    I have used Tannen in composition classes and students find her
>> "relevant" and accessible. If you google her, you can find short
>> articles on male/female uses of language and criticisms of our
>> "argument culture." I would also suggest Lakoff and Johnson, certainly
>> "Metaphors We Live By" as ways to talk about the relationship between
>> the way we use language and how we conceive the world and how that
>> affects our social interaction. In terms of how we see argument, this
>> overlaps with Tannen.
>>   I don't think you can go wrong with Grice's maxims, probably available
>> from a number of sources.
>>   They may find it interesting that many linguists see language as "a
>> complex adaptive system", using metaphors out of biology. Much of that
>> is happening at the scholarly level. Geoff Thompson has an
>> "Introduction to Functional Grammar" that is intended to be accessible,
>> as is David Lee's book on cognitive Linguistics. It seems to me that
>> prototype theory links cognition to language. I'm not sure what to
>> suggest for reading. Is it covered in contemporary psychology texts?
>>    I'm not sure if any of that is what they are looking for.
>>
>> Craig>
>>
>>
>> My first impression is that they are doing discourse analysis of a sort.
>> > Perhaps they would benefit from a referral to the literature on speech
>> > acts?
>> > Or perhaps a general reference to the work of discourse analysts like
>> > Deborah Tannen would be helpful?
>> >
>> > I'll consider this more. I think providing direct help to school
>> teachers
>> > is
>> > something this group should take as an important component of its
>> mission!
>> >
>> > John Alexander
>> >
>> > On Thu, Feb 24, 2011 at 8:44 AM, Dick Veit <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> >
>> >> I received the following request from a high school teacher. Can
>> anyone
>> >> supply information she and her class would find useful?
>> >>
>> >> Hello, Professor Veit.
>> >>
>> >> I am teaching a unit on behavior in an IB Biology course. My students
>> >> want
>> >> to analyze and categorize topics of human conversation. Such as:
>> >> discussion
>> >> of subjective or objective ideas, discussion of others, relating
>> stories
>> >> to
>> >> one's own experiences, etc.
>> >>
>> >> We are having difficulty finding literature sources. I am wondering
>> if
>> >> you
>> >> know of any literature sources on this topic.
>> >>
>> >> Thanks for your time and consideration. Any help you could give would
>> be
>> >> greatly appreciated.
>> >>
>> >> Stacey Skinner, Biology Teacher
>> >> St. Paul Central High School
>> >> [log in to unmask]
>> >>
>> >> Dick
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>> >> Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/
>> >>
>> >
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