Johann: I think your explanation of the tendency with articles and gerunds
sounds as reasonable as anything I can think of. More to the point, though,
may be your comment about ESL students that I have reproduced below:

>I think we need to temper their desire for 'the absolute rule' somewhat --
>so much of language IS conventional usage, and so many rules are subtle
>like this one.
>

It seems to me that this need for explicit rules is at the basis of many
problems in teaching. It assumes that first we will figure out what the
rule is, then we will have students understand and memorize it, then
students will practice it until it has been learned thoroughly, and then
the rule can probably disappear from conscious memory. The last step would
be necessary if the ESL student is to approximate a native speaker of
English, who also does not have any rule about articles with gerunds in
conscious memory.

This procedure is the same one assumed in other areas, especially in
teaching math. It sounds so logical, yet it simply can't be how things are
learned in other settings. There are zillions of rules, far outstripping
the ability of most people to memorize them. Furthermore, things often
don't work the way that the rules say they do, especially in grammar, so
the step in which the learner is asked to practice the rule breaks down
because the rule doesn't work.

I always wonder how ESL teachers deal with this dilemma. Doesn't immersion
in language work better than explicit teaching of language? Or do you need
some of both?

The issue also arises when we try to teach English grammar to native
speakers of English. I remember an ATEG conference where one of the
speakers described his results as a bimodal curve--either students learned
the grammar or they didn't, with no middle ground. Unless we are to assume
that those who didn't learn it were stupid, we need to look elsewhere for
the explanation, and I would suggest that rule-based teaching is the
culprit.

Just one of those curiosities to muse about on a summer morning.

Bill

William J. McCleary
3247 Bronson Hill Road
Livonia, NY 14487
716-346-6859
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