Linda,
   I actually have the opposite experience, that focusing on how the forms
WORK carries over much more readily.  If we can find places where the
meaning is obscured or misleading or unclear, students seem to get the
principle much more readily. (That means working with the student as
writer, which is my usual role.)
   As I see it, we have clear times when the activity is willfull, clear
times when it's not, and a lot of in between. If I want to paint a
portrait of someone who gets things done, I'll lean to the left. If I
want to paint a picture of someone buffeted by the winds of fate, I can
lean right. It's not an empty distinction.
   I remember working with a Chinese-American student in conference,
talking about the sentence "When I am twelve, I hate my mother."  I was
trying to say that the message wasn't clear, that we aren't sure if she
still hates her mom, for example. (I could have guessed, but from other
clues in the text.)  She turned very red because she was so concerned
about that missed message, that the fault was entirely her immaturity
and not in her mom. Within two minutes, we had made great progress on
verb forms and how they help us fine-tune our meanings. >
   The issue has come up with cleft sentences as well.  They may be
difficult to analyze, but they are enormously useful in the repertoire.
If we show how they are useful, the understanding will follow. As a
writing teacher, that can mean offering it as a revision in a situation
where it works well.
   When I teach grammar, I teach it as a meaning-making system, but that's
coming at it from the other side.  There, too, it works well.

Craig
Craig


That's an interesting way of characterizing it, Craig (acting/behaving).
> No
> matter how we characterize the verbs, though, we can see that there seems
> to
> be some consistency between what the verbs mean and how they behave
> grammatically.  And that is really difficult to teach second language
> students!
>
> Linda
>
> 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/