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From: dlindsle@blackbird.afit.af.mil (David T. Lindsley)
Newsgroups: comp.edu,sci.edu,misc.education
Subject: Re: Against educational fads (was: math credit)
Message-ID: <1811@blackbird.afit.af.mil>
Date: 11 Dec 90 15:26:05 GMT
References: <15425@cs.utexas.edu> <1805@blackbird.afit.af.mil> <1990Dec11.152706.467@darwin.ntu.edu.au>
Organization: Air Force Institute of Technology; WPAFB, OH
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In article <1990Dec11.152706.467@darwin.ntu.edu.au> black_pd@darwin.ntu.edu.au writes:
>In article <1805@blackbird.afit.af.mil>, dlindsle@blackbird.afit.af.mil (David T. Lindsley) writes:
>>
>> [English is unstructured so we need foreign-language courses]
>> 
>
>-  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 following up here because I feel I may have been insufficiently
clear in my original posting.

The widespread irregularity of English verbs makes learning any underlying
structure difficult -- more difficult, I'd contend, than in other Western
languages. In addition, it is difficult to tell gerunds from participles,
and because of the lack of any real declension mechanism, it is also
more difficult to distinguish between direct and indirect objects (etc.)
Cumulatively, these things make it harder to learn to write in English.

In any case, study of a foreign language is IMHO a good thing because
one can compare and contrast. Thus, one can gain insights into grammatical
structure(s) which one might not gain otherwise (or only with considerably
more effort).

I apologize if my sloth in expressing myself clearly caused me to be 
misunderstood.

Dave L
#24601