Hi Jack, Several people have contacted me individually about this exercise. I'm happy to share my rubric with you (and anyone else), if you'd like. I'm an editor by day, but at night I teach an intermediate level ESL grammar and academic writing class at a community college. Every semester I've gotten a few Gen 1.5ers and they're usually quite frustrated because they don't see themselves as ESL students - and they're not the typical student in my class. Because of learning English by 'ear', their level of proficiency is hard to pinpoint - they use passive constructions but leave out verb inflections and auxiliaries and have lots of SPEWD.The exercise has been a way for me to address the issue of spoken vs. written English right from the start in a way that makes my Gen 1.5ers feel a sense of accomplishment that they've "mastered" a register in English. It also helps them understand what they need to focus on in writing. The rest of the class understands why they can't understand what English speakers are saying around them even though they have some knowledge of the grammatical rules. The challenge is figuring out ways of teaching that help them learn this register in speaking and writing. I've been very influenced by Kate Kinsella's work in using academic vocabulary and sentence frames in spoken tasks to help students become familiar with this language. If the students have learned the language by 'ear' then it seems likely that if they are given opportunities to use academic language to express ideas, then this language will seep into their writing more naturally. That's my thinking and that's what I'm exploring more and more in my teaching. I'm also reading "They Say, I Say", which, I think, takes a similar approach in terms of sentence frames. I'm happy to hear from others on this topic. Terre Teresa Lintner Senior Development Editor Cambridge University Press 32 Avenue of the Americas New York, New York 10013-2473 Telephone: 212 337-5070 Fax: 212 645-5960 Email: [log in to unmask] From: "Dixon, Jack" <[log in to unmask]> To: [log in to unmask] Date: 12/21/2011 09:26 PM Subject: Re: Spoken vs. formal written English Sent by: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar <[log in to unmask]> This strategy sounds excellent. ________________________________________ From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Teresa Lintner [[log in to unmask]] Sent: Wednesday, December 21, 2011 10:09 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Spoken vs. formal written English Hi Steve, The Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English would be a good resource. One thing I do with my ESL students at the beginning of the semester is to present them with two short essays on the same topic, one written in SPEWD (I love that acronym!) and the other in academic English. Then I ask them to analyze the two essays using a rubric that helps them recognize the differences between the two registers. A revelation for my Gen 1.5ers is realizing that "gonna" is actually "going to." Terre Teresa Lintner Senior Development Editor Cambridge University Press 32 Avenue of the Americas New York, New York 10013-2473 Telephone: 212 337-5070 Fax: 212 645-5960 Email: [log in to unmask] From: Stephen King <[log in to unmask]> To: [log in to unmask] Date: 12/20/2011 06:57 PM Subject: Spoken vs. formal written English Sent by: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar <[log in to unmask]> Can anyone direct me to a text that focuses, at length, on the differences between spoken and written versions of language? It seems to me that a great many of my community college students, especially those who have been out of school for some time, use a version of English that could be characterized as "Spoken English Written Down." (A colleague suggested the acronym "SPEWD.") I have my own list of those differences, but am looking for other resources. Many thanks in advance! Steve King To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list" Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list" Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list" Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list" Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/