Carol,

 

I hope you succeed in finding a course that treats grammar in ways that
are relevant to the composition classroom.  You put your finger on one
of the curricular gaps in linguistics, English, and composition
programs, the absence of just such courses.  I've taught both of the
courses you mention WCU is offering, and I'm not sure either is what
you're looking for, given the descriptions you provide.  An Intro
Linguistics course will not address pedagogy, composition, or much of
English grammar.  It has too many other topics it has to cover to
prepare students for more advanced courses in linguistics.  A "Structure
of Modern English" course will present an anatomy of English syntactic
structures, possibly some material on English word formation, and maybe
even some English phonology, although that tends to be neglected.  It
will likely be a very technical grammar course drawing heavily on
linguistic concepts.  It will almost certainly not deal with pedagogy or
composition.

 

The sort of course you seek is one a number of us have taught, and
Martha Koln has written a superb text for it, her Rhetorical Grammar,
which a lot of us have studied and have used as a text in our own
classes.  State College is a bit of a commute from Philadelphia, but I
wonder if Martha or one of her colleagues will be offering such a course
this summer.

 

All the best!

 

Herb

 

From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Carol Morrison
Sent: 2008-01-26 09:31
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Summer Courses/Programs in Grammar

 

Dear Fellow ATEG Members,

I am interested in taking a course in grammar at a local college or
university this summer.

Does anyone happen to know of a college or university in the
Philadelphia area that might be offering a grammar class or workshop for
teachers? West Chester University is offering Intro. to Linguistics:
"basic concepts of language description, classification, change,
reconstruction, dialectology, and sociolinguistics" and Structure of
Modern English: "a detailed analysis of the modern descriptive approach
to the study of English grammar and how it compares with the traditional
approach." Would anyone be able to recommend either of those courses or
something else? I would like to increase my knowledge in the type of
grammar that could possibly be applied to the composition classroom, a
"writer's grammar." Maybe taking both of the courses would be
beneficial, though I'm not sure that I have the time. Thank you for your
time and possible feedback.

Carol Morrison 

Scott <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

	Although I use Joo's Five clocks quite literally, I do not speak
to my
	cousins (also farm born but who stayed on the farm) in the same
idiolect
	that I would use in a speech to a general audience, or in
talking with
	fellow teachers at a teacher's conference, or in talking to
colleagues
	at a professional congress/conference, or in giving a lecture at
such an
	event.
	It should be noted that Formal English is within the scope of
most
	non-English-speaking participants in international conferences;
casual
	English is not. When--and only when--I am speaking to or writing
an article
	for 
	highly literate colleagues do I proudly bear the banner of
pedantry. My
	formal idiolect in such cases is quite strict. 
	In case you wonder, my email to ATEG is more casual than it
would be for
	speaking to a general audience--much as if I were speaking with
friends
	in general conversation--a good group makes you feel that way.
	Scott Catledge
	
	I wonder whether...I've fallen into the old grammar pedant's
trap of trying
	to foist my idiolect on the universe.
	> 
	>> Thanks, er, muchly,
	>> Bill Spruiell
	
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