As coordinator of the 3S committee, I feel the need to 'circle the
wagons' a bit in defense of the committee in light of Ed's remarking on
the fact that not much has happened in the two years the committee has
existed. This has been in part due to disagreement among the members,
but also due to my own lack of time to devote to the project during this
past academic year -- the tenure decision looms next year and I had to
do a lot of teaching development to assure that I'd keep my job.

Several committee members have indicated their willingness to get
started on their 'assignments', and a few are working away slowly and
quietly. I am hoping to give things a kick-start at this summer's ATEG
conference, and perhaps get some real progress in the next year. Part of
the problem has been lack of funding to release some of us from teaching
so that we can devote time to this large project.

We need to realize, however, that this project is not going to move
fast. It is a huge undertaking, and is being taken on by people with
full-time jobs. I am more optimistic about the committee being able to
agree on things and put out a coherent document. I think many of our
disagreements are based on assumptions made ahead of seeing any actual
content, and sometimes on differing interaction styles.

I would strongly encourage anyone interested in grammar teaching to
visit Ed's pages and study his curriculum. There is serious research
behind it, it is tested in years of application, and has a great deal to offer.

As to 3S -- stay tuned.

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Johanna Rubba   Assistant Professor, Linguistics
English Department, California Polytechnic State University
One Grand Avenue  • San Luis Obispo, CA 93407
Tel. (805)-756-2184  •  Fax: (805)-756-6374 • Dept. Phone.  756-259
• E-mail: [log in to unmask] •  Home page: http://www.calpoly.edu/~jrubba
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"Understanding is a lot like sex; it's got a practical purpose,
but that's not why people do it normally"  -            Frank  Oppenheimer
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