From Johanna:
-----Original Message-----
From: Johanna Rubba [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Friday, January 06, 2006 3:10 PM
To: Rogers, Kathryn (HRW-ATX)
Subject: Re: using "before"
Kathryn,
Could you post this to the list for me?
I rather dread seeing the discussion of prescriptivism/descriptivism
raise its head again. This discussion has happened so often on this
list, and it seems to go around and around the same points every time.
What a "descriptivist" who nevertheless maintains high standards for
good writing might object to in Kathryn's phraseology is the word
"improving". This is a wide-scope word; it is not focused on any
particular aspect of writing, be it organization, cohesiveness,
punctuation, or sentence grammar. There is also an assumption that
there is already something wrong with the student's writing abilities.
This is usually true, but unfortunately, the widespread social mindset
that speech is unstructured language, and that "proper grammar" is part
of both "good spoken language" and "good writing" encourages the
outlook that students are linguistically incompetent _in general_. It
is important to be very clear to students exactly what needs to be
improved: thinking before and during the writing process, and revising
first with clarity, information flow, and soundness of reasoning in
mind. This can be done in any variety of English.
The most healthy approach to "correct grammar" and all that it entails
is comparative: explicitly compare speech and writing; explicitly
compare the grammars of spoken English, informal English, and
nonstandard varieties with the grammar of standard written English.
Emphasize that the approach is _additive_, not _corrective_: whatever
language the students have used in their lives so far has served them
quite adequately; the mission of school is to _expand_ their linguistic
repertoire, not replace the English they already know and use with
another. Above all, separate the ability to produce standard English
from inherent intelligence and ability to think and express oneself
well. All varieties of English can be used effectively. If a child has
not learned standard English, it is not the child's fault. Child learn
what they are exposed to and what they want to learn.
Dr. Johanna Rubba, Associate Professor, Linguistics
Linguistics Minor Advisor
English Department
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Tel.: 805.756.2184
Dept. Ofc. Tel.: 805.756.2596
Dept. Fax: 805.756.6374
URL: http://www.cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba
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/
|