We just had a debate in our department last year about non-native
speaker grad assistants teaching in the Writing Program.  The Comp/Rhet
faculty quite effectively made the argument that teaching writing is
much more than teaching English.  It's about argument, clarity of
thought, rhetoric, all of which activities a non-native speaker is at no
disadvantage in.  The decision was that as long as the GA's spoken
English was up to standard there was no reason why he or she should not
teach composition, with, of course, the same training any native speaker
would be required to go through.  The practice appears to be working
well.  Of course, there is a corollary.  Students in writing classes
must realize that they are here to get an international education and
that becoming familiar with other Englishes is a valuable part of that
education.  They have some responsibility for being open to other
Englishes and making the effort to understand the speaker.  In effective
communication there is responsibility on both sides.

 

Herb

 

From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Cynthia Baird
Sent: 2008-02-15 00:18
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: pronunciation of "been"

 

Hey, Bob!  I often feel shy about adding to his listserve. And you're a
professor and I'm just a high school English teacher!

 

My "lovable linguistics professor" was quite an oddity.  He was Chinese
by birth and ethnicity, raised and educated in New Zealand, but he
taught me more about the English language than any of my native-USA or
British-born professors ever taught me.  Go figure.

 

I don't know where this thread is going, but I what I'd like to say is
that no one has the last word on the English language and that many
second language learners know more about the English language than
first-language users do!

"Miller, Robert" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

	 

	 

	 

	 

	Hello,

	 

	I am new to the discussion, and this is my first time adding to
the listserv (I feel as if I am on talk radio.).

	 

	I was taught how to write by a Chinese colleague in my MA
program. Most of what he taught me, I still use in my composition
classes.

	 

	Bob Miller

	Assistant Professor of English

	CCBC

	 

	From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Brad Johnston
	Sent: Monday, February 11, 2008 3:49 PM
	To: [log in to unmask]
	Subject: pronunciation of "been"

	 

	You let a native Frenchman teach you linguistics?  (in English,
I presume)

	 

	Wow!

	 

	Isn't that like taking tennis lessons from a golf pro?

	
	
	"Spruiell, William C" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

	 

	one of my undergraduate linguistics professors, who happened to
be a native speaker of French ...

	  

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