Ed,
   We have a rather astounding lack of research in the area, perhaps
because for a few decades or so the prevailing view has been that
language is primarily "acquired". There's been very little interest in
examining how knowledge of language might be part of maturation, or in
examining how the language of writing may differ from speech (beyond
conventions of correctness) in various registers.
   You should certainly check out Mary Schleppegrell's "The Language of
Schooling" (Lawrence Erlbaum, 2004). Here's an early quote:

"School-based texts are difficult for many students precisely because they
emerge from discourse contexts that require different ways of using
language than students experience outside of school. Reading, writing, and
speaking the kinds of texts that are valued in school calls for drawing on
a different constellation of linguistic resources from what is typical or
expected in everyday conversation” (9).

   Certain kinds of structures tend to be valued in certain registers,
sometimes without the kind of reflectiveness that would call some of
that into question. So we need to think about both sides of this. What
can we offer various technical disciplines that would help improve
their own discourse and how can we help students make the language
adjustments they need to make to do well in those worlds.

For many students, “learning academic registers is like learning a second
language in a context where little reinforcement is available outside of
the classroom. The learning of new registers, like learning a second
language, requires appropriate input, opportunities for interaction and
negotiation of meaning, and relevant focus on the form that language takes
in different settings and as it is used for different tasks. But classroom
contexts, as currently constituted, are seldom sites where such language
development can flourish” (Schleppegrell 153).

   The current debate is focused on rather trivial disagreements about how
and when to enforce conformity to standard English. People tend to
think about grammar as "correctness", and so much gets lost in the
process.

Craig
Quite some time ago someone on this listserve recommended Katharine
> Perera's
> "Language Acquistion and Writing" as an excellent article on that topic.
> It
> is, indeed, and I heartily recommend it to anyone interested in written
> language acquisition.   However, it is now about 20 years old.   Does
> anyone know a
> more up-to-date article (or book) on this topic?   Thanks,
>
> Ed Schuster
>
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