Greetings all,

On the issue of us educators developing an inquiry-based language awareness
program for K - 12 students and teachers, I must shamelessly mention one of my
edited collections relevant to this point.

Language Alive in the Classroom,  Rebecca S. Wheeler, Ed. 1999. Westport,
Connecticut: Praeger,
takes precisely this approach. After a section examining the drawbacks of
traditional grammar traditionally taught ("Beyond Grammar of the Traditional
Kind")  authors "offer an alternative model for engaging with language in the
school setting. Instead of drills, diagrams, and droning lists, the authors bring
us our everyday language inviting students to become sleuths as they uncover
linguistic patterns at work. From discovering that language 'errors' may well
signal the seismic faults of language change to exploring the complex and subtle
patterns of talk in the mountains of Southern Appalachia and on the shores of
Ocracoke, students engage in the living language." (Wheeler, 1999, 8).

Articles following this dynamic discovery approach include:

Wolfram, Walt, "Dialect Awareness Programs in the School and Community"
Donna, Jeannine, "Linguistics is for Kids"
MacGregor-Mendoza, Patricia, "Looking at Life through Language"
Nemoianu, Anca, "In Front of our Eyes: Undergraduates Reflecting on Language
Change."
Hudson, Richard, "Grammar Teaching is Dead -- NOT!"

The last article is indeed by a British scholar/teacher who talks some about the
British perspective on grammar in the schools.


cheers,

Rebecca Wheeler

>
> >Bill, This is a topic that has preoccupied me too. I appreciate your helpful
> >explanation, and it leads me to related questions: 1) Why can't we,
> >educators and linguists, work together to develop an inquiry-based language
> >awareness program for K-12 students & teachers?
> > 2) Since this was done not long ago in England (but suppressed by the
> >Thatcher government), what do teachers there have to say about an
> >inquiry-based language awareness curriculum, and if what they say is
> >favorable, can we/ should we work more closely with our English colleagues....
> >3) Since we do know about a text-based, meaning-based, functional
> >description of language that is pervasive in other English-speaking regions
> >of the world, can we make use of its conceptual base, integrate its terms
> >with terms that are more familiar to educators here?
> >