Bob,
I think the position would be much clearer if you read the article. They claim that many 14 or 15 year old students were unable to write sentences using, for example, words like "although." They came up with courses in "analytical writing" that include attempts to remedy that. For a similar approach at the college level, see "They Say/ I Say: The moves that Matter in Academic Writing" (Graf and Birkenstein), which offers a number of sentence level "templates" as part of its program. Stanley Fish also advocates analyzing and imitating sentences. "Practice in the analyzing and imitating of sentences is also practice in the reading of sentences" ( Fish, How to Write a Sentence: And How to Read One, p.9). The Atlantic article focuses on a failing school that was able to improve remarkably largely-as they see it-because of the implementation of a writing curriculum that pays explicit attention to sentences as ways to generate certain kinds of meaning. Graduation rates have gone from 63 percent to 80, passing rates on Regents exams (this is a New York requirement) have improved dramatically in both English and history (where essays are involved), more students are taking advanced classes that carry college credit, and so on.
They may be wrong for doing what they are doing, but it seems to be working. Without this turnaround, the school would have been shut down.
Craig
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Robert Yates
Sent: Saturday, October 13, 2012 4:28 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: The Atlantic Writing Articles
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]<mailto:[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]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>] On Behalf Of Geoffrey Layton
Sent: Thursday, October 11, 2012 11:14 AM
To: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[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
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