Dear ATEG,
I regret very much Ed's resignation as webmaster of the ATEG website, as
Ed is and has long long been a core member of this organization. Indeed,
he is the founder of Syntax in the Schools, a publication which he
initiated, maintained and ran for a decade and a half (that is 15
YEARS!!!!!). The dedication, perseverance and vision that Ed has
consistently offered ATEG and SIS is astonishing. And Ed has been there
with that energy and vision all along.
I write in response to Ed's comments about changes in the direction of
ATEG, and specifically, about changes in the nature of Syntax in the
Schools, our ATEG publication. For many years, Ed has run SIS as a
newsletter. The editorial policy was that all articles were accepted and
printed as is, without editing. This provided an important vehicle for
communicating insights and approaches to grammar in the schools. At the
same time, active ATEG membership and SIS subscriptions have remained
relatively constant, hovering around the 125 person level or so, I
believe.
The times are a changing. With the advent of nationwide grammar/language
arts standards, issues pertinent to Syntax in the Schools are coming
increasingly to the fore. It has seemed to a number of us that ATEG
could provide a much broader national and international resource
regarding the teaching of grammar. To that end, as new Editor, of SIS, I
have advertised our publication on all the NCTE listserves, in the
English Journal, and on LINGUIST net. I am seeking to promote both a
broader readership and writership for SIS.
There is a lot of work out there happening in the arena of Grammar in
the Schools. For example, the Linguistics Association of Great Britain
(LAGB) has just announced an upcoming conference on GRAMMAR TEACHING AND
THE DEVELOPMENT OF WRITING SKILLS University of Durham, UK. I've
contacted them, inquiring whether they would consider submitting their
work to SIS. Similarly, in the recent issues of SIS, we've seen work
from a Charter School in Arizona looking at how grammar fits into the
implementation of language arts standards, work from a 7th grade grammar
curriculum, further notes from the British front, etc.
Far from being any sort of Profscam (tho I have not read the treatise Ed
mentions), Syntax in the Schools seeks to publish thoughtful work
regarding grammar in the schools. We have moved into a refereed status
so to assure the caliber of commentary and contribution.
The membership at ATEG voted unanimously to change the classification
of SIS from newsletter to journal in recognition of the nature of the
articles submitted. Numerous people pointed out that the material that
we publish is more of the sort found in journals than the sort found in
newsletters, the latter being a place for announcements of events and
such, and the former being a place for more thoughtful discussion of
issues and practices in the field.
Ed is certainly right that we are currently small -- 16 pages at this
point. But we are in a growth cycle. Our intention is to develop a
broader forum for publication of materials relevant to grammar pedagogy
K - 16. Our emphasis, continuing Ed's guiding light, will be that of
practical articles of direct import to the school classroom. We are not
a theory journal. We are a publication seeking practical, thoughtful
examination of practices and purposes in the teaching of grammar in the
schools.
To that end, let us grow that we may bring this significant discussion
to a wider audience, with wider effect on language in the school
classroom.
Sincerely,
Rebecca Wheeler
>
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Rebecca S. Wheeler, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of English
Christopher Newport University
1 University Place
Newport News, VA 23606-2998
Editor, Syntax in the Schools
The Journal of the Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar (ATEG),
an
assembly of the NCTE
http://www2.pct.edu/courses/evavra/ATEG/SiS.htm
phone: (757) 594-8891; fax: (757) 594-8870
email: [log in to unmask]
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