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Craig,

I took seriously what you wrote.  Now you tell me that students have
difficulty with although.  That has been my experience, too. Let's return
to the sentence that prompted my original comment:

Certain kinds of sentences make certain kinds of meaning possible, and
students can’t read or write to the extent that they don’t understand and
can’t produce those form/meaning relationships.

What kinds of meanings are only possible with "although"?   Is it not the
case that such a meaning can be made with the use of but or however?

Bob Yates, University of Central Missouri


On Mon, Oct 15, 2012 at 11:06 AM, Hancock, Craig G <[log in to unmask]>wrote:

>  Bob,****
>
>     I think the position would be much clearer if you read the article.
> They claim that many 14 or 15 year old students were unable to write
> sentences using, for example, words like “although.”  They came up with
> courses in “analytical writing” that include attempts to remedy that. For a
> similar approach at the college level, see “They Say/ I Say: The moves that
> Matter in Academic Writing” (Graf and Birkenstein), which offers a number
> of sentence level “templates” as part of its program. Stanley Fish also
> advocates analyzing and imitating sentences. “Practice in the analyzing and
> imitating of sentences is also practice in the reading of sentences” (
> Fish, *How to Write a Sentence: And How to Read One*, p.9). The Atlantic
> article focuses on a failing school that was able to improve remarkably
> largely—as they see it—because of the implementation of a writing
> curriculum that pays explicit attention to sentences as ways to generate
> certain kinds of meaning.  Graduation rates have gone from 63 percent to
> 80, passing rates on Regents exams (this is a New York requirement) have
> improved dramatically in both English and history (where essays are
> involved), more students are taking advanced classes that carry college
> credit, and so on. ****
>
>     They may be wrong for doing what they are doing, but it seems to be
> working. Without this turnaround, the school would have been shut down.***
> *
>
> ** **
>
> Craig****
>
> ** **
>
> *From:* Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:
> [log in to unmask]] *On Behalf Of *Robert Yates
> *Sent:* Saturday, October 13, 2012 4:28 PM
> *To:* [log in to unmask]
> *Subject:* Re: The Atlantic Writing Articles****
>
> ** **
>
> Colleagues,****
>
> ** **
>
> I am puzzled by the following:****
>
> ** **
>
> Certain kinds of sentences make certain kinds of meaning possible, and
> students can’t read or write to the extent that they don’t understand and
> can’t produce those form/meaning relationships. ****
>
> ** **
>
> I have no idea what this means.  What are the kinds of sentences being
> referenced and what are the kinds of meanings those particular types of
> sentences make possible?  This seems to me to be a very, very strong claim:
> If a language user can't produce a particular kind of sentence, then that
> language user is unable to formulate certain kinds of meanings.  I would
> love to have some examples. What kind of sentence-meaning relationships
> prevent students from reading and writing?  Examples, again, are useful to
> understand the claim. ****
>
> ** **
>
> Bob Yates, University of Central Missouri****
>
> On Thu, Oct 11, 2012 at 11:07 AM, Hancock, Craig G <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:****
>
> Geoff,****
>
>     The Atlantic article is the key to all this, and it’s getting much
> deserved attention.****
>
>    The key, I think, is a new tendency (see Stanley Fish) to think of
> sentences as “templates.” Form constrains, but it also enables. Certain
> kinds of sentences make certain kinds of meaning possible, and students
> can’t read or write to the extent that they don’t understand and can’t
> produce those form/meaning relationships. Added to that is the notion that
> literacy is “taught, not caught.” Letting  students enjoy what they read
> and write to express themselves as the CORE of the English curriculum has
> not produced the results that are often predicted, especially for
> nonmainstream students. It could very well be that students learn to love
> reading when they become better at it, not the other way around. But this
> is not simply a return to drill and grill grammar or the old fetishistic
> over-concern with “error.”  Students learn “moves” that are available in
> and through the grammar. It expands the repertoire, or at least aims to.
> And it seems to get results.****
>
>    I have been using similar approaches at the college level and like the
> results. ****
>
>  ****
>
> Craig****
>
>  ****
>
> *From:* Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:
> [log in to unmask]] *On Behalf Of *Geoffrey Layton
> *Sent:* Thursday, October 11, 2012 11:14 AM
> *To:* [log in to unmask]
> *Subject:* The Atlantic Writing Articles****
>
>  ****
>
> I think these articles from *The Atlantic *and *The Chronical of Higher
> Education *are important for ATEGers to read and comment on. ****
>
>
> http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/10/the-writing-revolution/309090/?single_page=true
> ****
>
> http://www.theatlantic.com/debates/education****
>
>  ****
>
>
> http://chronicle.com/blogs/linguafranca/2012/10/11/inspiration-in-the-writing-revolution/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
> ****
>
>  ****
>
> Geoff Layton****
>
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