Craig:
 
We have a course here at Central that *overlaps* with what your proposed
course focuses on, but is not right on target. It deals with applied
linguistic methods for describing/analyzing texts. There are a couple of
things I would draw from it that might be useful for inclusion in the
course you're talking about:
 
(1)                 Dealing explicitly with the relationships between
grammar and genre, with the latter term applying more specifically than
simply "fiction" or "poetry." Recipes, for example, are a genre, as are
assembly instructions - but the two are different, and the difference is
partly manifested through grammatical choices. Being able to "write like
a professional" entails mastering the conventions of the particular
professional genres, and that includes using the right constructions. We
use John Swales's work as a basis for some of that. Biber and Finnegan
are also useful (there are, of course, quite a number of Systemic works
in that area, but I wasn't sure if you'd want to make the course
"theory-specific"). An added benefit of using genre as an avenue into
discussions of grammar is that it lets you tie in a good bit of
sociolinguistic information rather naturally, especially if you start
discussing who produces and consumes the texts.
 
(2)                 Looking at the grammatical and lexical correlates of
"cohesion"; for example, pronoun/antecedent relations, noun/noun
relations that function rather like pronoun/antecedent relations ("NCLB
legislation.....this law.....the requirements..."), use of linkers,
choice of what to make theme, etc. Approaching those as cohesive devices
allows you (ironically, I suppose) to tie together a number of important
but otherwise disparate elements.
 
We expect any piece of good writing to "hold together" as a text, and to
be recognizable as fulfilling the functions that readers expect that
type of text to fulfill in a way they can process (and, one hopes,
like). A lot of that has to do with grammatical choices - and (partly
contra Yates, here) they're the type of grammatical choices that go well
beyond what we normally think of as instinctual knowledge of language.
Native English-speakers know to put "the" before a noun, not after, and
know implicitly how to make passives, but they frequently don't know
whether using one or not is the best idea in a particular paragraph.
 
Bill Spruiell
 
Dept. of English
Central Michigan University 
 
 

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