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

 

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