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From: black_pd@darwin.ntu.edu.au
Newsgroups: comp.edu,sci.edu,misc.education
Subject: Re: Against educational fads (was: math credit)
Message-ID: <1990Dec11.152706.467@darwin.ntu.edu.au>
Date: 11 Dec 90 05:57:06 GMT
References: <15404@cs.utexas.edu> <cRFNT2w161w@nstar.UUCP> <15425@cs.utexas.edu> <1805@blackbird.afit.af.mil>
Lines: 37

In article <1805@blackbird.afit.af.mil>, dlindsle@blackbird.afit.af.mil (David T. Lindsley) writes:
> My unsolicited $.02:
> 
> One of the reasons that students are becoming less and less capable
> of putting together coherent sentences is the loose structure of the
> English language -- it makes teaching grammar nigh impossible. (Anyone
> I've ever known who teaches a course on the structure of English has
> at some point referred to that course as an oxymoron.) Teach them a
> foreigh language (preferably Latin), with emphasis on grammatical
> structure, and start early. 

Well, you're certainly entitled to put in your $.02 worth, but as someone
who teaches both English structure and writing skills I'd be interested
in doing what I can to change your opinion, which is probably quite a
widely held one. My position is that:

-  English is just as well structured as any other language (although
     in specific ways it may be simpler or more complex than other
     languages); and

-  Students can learn to write coherent English when they have appropriate
     tuition, in which instruction is grammar tends to be useful only
     to the extent it is clearly related to the task of writing (or
     perhaps reading). In any case it is not the nature of English
     itself that makes it difficult to learn composition.

I'm not sure what I can add to convince people of these things. There
is certainly much professional literature relevant to the matter (perhaps
a place to start is Dwight Bolinger's very readable _Language: The
Loaded Weapon_ (Longman, 1980)). But if you (net.people in general)
think about my position and still don't believe me, I'd be interested
in knowing why. 

I suggest that followups be sent to misc.education alone.

Paul Black                             Applied Linguistics in Education
black_pd@darwin.ntu.edu.au     Northern Territory University, Australia