English 321W-01: Linguistics for Teachers

Fall 2001

Nancy Myers Office: 110 McIver

Phone: 334-5484 Office Hours: T 12:30-2 p.m. or by appointment

Mailbox: 133 McIver W 12-3 p.m., Th 9-10:30 a.m.

E-mail: nancymyers@uncg.edu  

"There are deeply rooted connections between personality, learning, and language, and what touches one touches all." Mike Torbe and Peter Medway

"I have the words already. What I am seeking is the perfect order of words in the sentence. You can see for yourself how many different ways they might be arranged." James Joyce

"What I know about grammar is its infinite power. To shift the structure of a sentence alters the meaning of that sentence, as definitely and inflexibly as the position of a camera alters the meaning of the object photographed. Many people know about camera angles now, but not so many know about sentences." Joan Didion

Focus

This course is about language, language use, and theories and applications of language study in the classroom. Across the semester we cover the history of the English language and of language teaching and participate in a personal exploration into and reflection on language acquisition. We examine definitions of language, communication, discourse, and literacy and the political ideologies implicated in those definitions. We investigate language structures and systems, including an understanding and application of phonology, morphology, and syntax. Finally, we explore the interrelationships of language and contexts, examining such issues related to language and language learning as dialects, multilingualism, gender, language standards and conventions (correctness/error), language variations/varieties, technology and language, oral/literate traditions, direct/indirect speech acts, etc.

Texts

Required: Dennis Baron. Guide to Home Language Repair. NCTE 1994.

Lee Thomas & Stephen Tchudi. The English Language: An Owner's Manual. Allyn & Bacon, 1999.

Recommended: David Crystal. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language. 2nd ed.

Cambridge UP 1995.

On Reserve at Jackson Library

Students Right to Their Own Language. CCCC Language Statement. NCTE 1974

C. H. Knoblauchs "Literacy and the Politics of Education" in The Right to Literacy

Nigel Halls "The Discovery of Emergent Literacy" in The Emergence of Literacy

Constance Weaver's "Learning Theory and the Teaching of Grammar" in

Teaching Grammar in Context

David Crystals The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language, 2nd ed

Organizational Strategies

You will need one floppy disk that can be formatted for a PC, reserved solely for your work in this class. I also suggest that you obtain a large 2-3" three-ring binder to collect and arrange your work, course materials, and presentation handouts. Handouts from the beginning of the semester will be used throughout. By compiling the materials for this course and your work in a three-ring binder, you will have your work easily available for each class period and will have a ready reference on linguistics and language instruction to review for the PRAXIS II and to take with you to your classroom.

Advice and Aid

Attendance and Preparedness

This course is interactive which means you will be participating in each class session through oral and written discussions and activities. I assume you will attend class regularly, but you have five absences for illness, car trouble, emergencies and the like. This means that there is no distinction between an "excused" and an "unexcused" absence; every absence counts. More than five absences lowers your course grade by an entire letter, so if your course grade averages out to a "B," but you have more than five absences, you will receive a "C." Be prepared to enter into the discussion in one form or another. If written assignments/paper drafts are due for group work and you are not prepared, I will consider you absent. If you miss a conference with me and do not call or contact me ahead of time, I will consider you absent. Any student who presents as his or her own work the efforts of another without precise acknowledgment is guilty of plagiarism.

Graded Work for This Course

Reading and Learning Responses 20%

Literacy and Language Learning Project 20%

Position/Philosophy Statement on Language and Literacy 20%

Group Presentation on Linguistics and Annotated Bibliographies 20%

Group Lesson Plan and Demonstration on Computers and Language 20%

Overview of Assignments

The purposes of the reading and learning responses are

  1. to interact in writing with the reading assignments,
  2. to reflect on language, its use/misuse/reuse,
  3. to explore the relationship of language use across various contexts and within educational, political, cultural, social, and personal realms,
  4. to interact with other students opinions and ideas through Blackboard.

You will draft and revise two short texts across the semester:

  1. a project that records some aspect of your language learning;
  2. a philosophy statement reflecting your position on language and literacy either for teaching or in society.

We will talk about these assignments, generate topics, and use various invention strategies to plan your texts and incorporate your research. The final drafts of these texts will be formatted appropriately and typed or word-processed.

In small groups, you will do two oral presentations: one in which you research and report on a linguistics topic and one using Blackboard to generate and teach a language lesson that your group designs. In the first, you will have some choice over your topic and the direction of your research that will culminate in an annotated bibliography. In the second, you will be grouped by future teaching interests and will design a language lesson on the computer that all of us will experience.

Learning Goals

Through the readings, assignments, and class activities in this course, you will

A. investigate language structure and systems, including an understanding and application of phonology, morphology, and syntax

B. examine definitions of language, communication, discourse, and literacy and the political ideologies implicated in those definitions,

C. learn about the history of the English language and its dialects,

D. participate in electronic discussions on language and education issues discussed in class

E. analyze language difference in specific cultural contexts and make decisions about the appropriate uses of standard and nonstandard usage with specific educational contexts,

F. research linguistics topics, share that knowledge through an oral presentation, and apply it to teaching language

G. communicate your knowledge, thinking, and language-teaching plans in writing, in speaking, in gesture (and sign), and in other visual forms,

H. apply the NC Standard Course of Study for language arts and technology by developing a lesson plan, meeting several of the NC Advanced Technology Skills Competencies/ISTE National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers, and

I. work to integrate the language arts curriculum (composition/communication, literature, and language/grammar) as a means to teach language/grammar.

English 321W-01: Linguistics for Teachers

Schedule for Fall 2001

G = Guide to Home Language Repair EL = The English Language

CEL = The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language (on reserve or purchase)

Date Topic/Focus Readings/Papers RLR

A 21 T When Did You Learn Grammar?

23 Th Rules versus Conventions G 1-21 # 1

28 T Language Contexts and Language Play CEL 48-65, EL 67-104 # 2

and Language Project Info

30 Th Language, Education, and Authority (Meet Stone Lab 127) G 22-80 # 3

S 4 T Literacy and Education Reserve: Knoblauch and Hall # 4

6 Th No class: Individual Conferences over Language Projects

11 T Language Projects due for Class Share

13 Th Learning Language through Computers (Meet McIver Lab 231) EL 1-30 # 5

18 T Learning Language through Computers (Meet McIver Lab 231)

20 Th Learning Language through Computers (Meet McIver Lab 231)

25 T Computer Teaching Demonstrations (Meet McIver Lab 231) # 6

27 Th Computer Teaching Demonstrations (Meet McIver Lab 231) # 7

O 2 T Computer Teaching Demonstrations (Meet McIver Lab 231) # 8

4 Th Critique of Blackboard Instructional Software and Discussion of State Technology Portfolio

(Meet McIver Lab 231) and RLR #3-8 due by 5 p.m.

9 T Fall Break

11 Th Teaching Language in School G 141-158, Reserve: CCCC "Students Rights" # 9

and Philosophy/Position Statement and Group Linguistics Presentation Info

16 T Speaking versus Writing CEL 180-183, G 112-120, EL 309-342 #10

and Set Groups and Topics for Presentations

18 Th Accounting for Language Differences EL 277-308 #11

23 T Propriety and Poetry in Language Variations CEL 71-75, G 95-111 #12

25 Th History of the English Language (Meet McIver Lab 231) EL 139-166 #13

30 T History of the English Language (Meet McIver Lab 231) G 121-140 #14

N 1 Th Meet in Electronic Citi for Library Workshop (Sit with your group members)

6 TDescribing Language (Sound and Word) CEL 90-91, 162-163, EL 31-66 #15

and Presentation Groups meet 15 minutes

8 Th What is Grammar? CEL 88-89, 93, EL 167-204 #16

13 T Why does Grammar Matter? CEL 94-99, EL 205-238 #17

and Presentation Groups meet 15 minutes and set dates

15 Th Rethinking the Teaching of Grammar Reserve: Weaver #18

20 T Rethinking the Teaching of Grammar G 81-94, Handout: Weaver #19

and Presentation Groups meet 30 minutes

22 Th Thanksgiving Break

27 T Pres. 1: #20

Pres. 2: #21

29 Th Pres. 3: Individual conferences over #22

Pres. 4: draft of position statement #23

D 4 T Pres. 5: #24

Pres. 6: #25

6 Th So, how are you going to teach/see language? Course Evaluations/Position Statement Due

RLR #9-24 due by 5 p.m.

English 321W-01: Linguistics for Teachers

Reading and Learning Responses

Directions for the Semester: Use these questions and directions as prompts for your ideas: You need not address every issue as theyre intended to get you started writing and responding. Realize that you have an audience for these writings beside yourself. There are three types of reading and learning responses. 1) The first two responses need to be approximately 350 words (two hand-written pages or one and one-half word-processed, double-spaced with one inch margins). You can always write more to finish the thought youre exploring. These are expected at the class time of the reading assignment. 2) For Blackboard discussion postings, your response should be around 175-200 words, and you need to write short interactive responses to at least 2 other postings. You have one week to post and respond to the two other students after the reading assignment is due for class. If you post after that time, your entry will be marked "late" and will affect your response grade. 3) For the linguistics presentations and computer demonstrations letters, see specific prompts for directions, which need to be followed. You do not need to write about your own presentation and demonstration.

Reading and Learning Responses to Fall Break 2001

  1. After reading Dennis Barons chapters, write 5 rules or familiar language questions that you have learned from your schooling. This might include issues of writingspelling, usage, punctuation, documentation, sentence structure, organization of text, use of examples/support, formatting, titles, etc.or of speakingpronunciation, word choice, word order, etc. For instance, I learned to never start a sentence with a coordinating conjunction. But, I do it all of the time, dont you? Then discuss what you see as the differences between language conventions and communication.
  2. Using the information from CEL and from EL, explain how you see the relationship of context to language use (spoken or written). How does the situation change the ways you and others speak or write? How are your school voices and texts different from other voices and texts you generate? As a prospective teacher and/or deaf interpreter, what do you feel your obligation is to help your students understand appropriateness in speech and writing? Cite examples from your life and from CEL and EL that show how language is appropriate or inappropriate.
  3. [Post in the Blackboard Discussion titled "Parts is Parts"] Baron offers many examples of usage distinctions emphasizing underlying social assumptions about "proper" English whether spoken or written. He further exemplifies this emphasis on parts and pieces through his discussion of standardized testing. Using his examples and your own, discuss what you believe about a students language use, testing, and a teachers and/or interpreter's responsibility.
  4. [Post in the Blackboard Discussion titled "Literacy"] What assumptions do you think you hold about literacy? Do you think literacy is "emergent," as Hall argues? Knoblauch discusses four kinds of literacy that act as underlying assumptions when our society argues about curriculum in education. Which types of literacy do you value and why? In what contexts is each type valuable to society? As a language user and teacher, which kinds of literacy do you want to promote? Why?
  5. [Post in the Blackboard Discussion titled "Word Wise"] Working from Britton's terms of expressive, transactional, and poetic, categorize the types of oral and print language that you experience/interact with in a typical school day. What does this categorization tell you about yourself and your interactions with people, ideas, and information? What does this show you about the types of language uses you may include in your teaching and/or interpreting?

6-8. For each demonstration, write through Blackboard Email a letter to all group members that states what you liked or found interesting about the lesson, what questions or connections have occurred to you because of it, and what was effective and not effective in the organization and content of the lesson and demonstration, in the manner of the presenters, in the use of electronic materials, and in the interactive nature of the event. In other words, you are offering praise, analysis, and suggestions for change. (Note: Each letter should be around 100 words, and I expect these letters to be quite detailed and instructive for the presenters. Remember to send your letters to me too or you will not get credit for them. Remember to send each letter to yourself so that you can save them in a message folderto print out for your advanced technology portfolio and to resend to someone in case the letter doesnt make it to each presenter).

Reading and Learning Responses After Fall Break 2001

  1. [Post in the Blackboard Discussion titled "CCCC Resolution."] The CCCC resolution on language and teaching was adopted by its members and first published in 1974. Did the English teachers you had in high school and at college follow it? Use examples from your educational experiences to show when teachers supported aspects of this resolution and when they did not. Note: They may not have even addressed these issues directly, and they may not know this document exists; however, their teaching supports, goes against, or ignores aspects of this resolution. I suggest not using the names of the teachers you write about.
  2. [Post in the Blackboard Discussion titled "Speaking and Writing."] After reflecting on one difference you know between speaking and writing as outlined in the CEL reading, explain which is more powerful for you, speaking or writing. Why? Then talk about when communication is blocked in both mediums. Recount a time when you couldnt understand someone else or he/she couldnt understand you. This may have been face-to-face, through email, on TV, on the phone, in class, at work, etc. What were the causes of this communication blockcontext, perspective, vocabulary, spelling, accent, etc?
  3. [Post in the Blackboard Discussion titled "Dialects"] How were you taught about language variety and dialect in high school? Were dialects and writing practices other than Edited American English valued? What do the terms "error" and "correctness" mean to you when dealing with language? Is there such a thing as unintentional error? If so, when might that happen; if not, why not? Try to include examples from both spoken and written language and try to think about error in terms of reading and listening. Do teachers unintentionally mishear or misread? Is this error?
  4. [Post in the Blackboard Discussion titled "Proper English?"] What assumptions and stereotypes do you see in society and school that tie to intelligence and spoken or written language? Some believe that slow speech or a drawl equals stupidity. Some believe that clipped and brief responses represent coldness and distance. Have any of these been applied to you? If so, tell your story. As teachers, what should we be doing in the classroom with language variety to offset some of these stereotypes?
  5. [Post in the Blackboard Discussion titled "Why History?"] After reading "A Brief History of the English Language," discuss why its important to know about the history of the language and its dialects. What do you want to know more about? What do you want your students to know and value about the English language?
  6. [Post in the Blackboard Discussion titled "Englishes."] After our readings and two class days of media and technology examples of Englishes, write on your impressions about that history and about the multiple Englishes that occur around the world. What kinds of language changes have you observed? Provide examples. With our world becoming smaller everyday thanks to the Internet, the media, various forms of technology, growth in international businesses, etc., how do you think English will evolve and change in the future?
  7. [Post in the Blackboard Discussion titled "Word Play."] Word formation and morphology deal as much with slang (you fill in the expression) and new words and expressions ("sound byte," "pregnant chad") as they do with Edited American English, technical jargon, and etymology. Offer one example of slang and/or a newly coined word and provide a morphological analysis and/or word formation explanation. Include the word's classification(s). Try making up a new word and do the same analysis.
  8. [Post in the Blackboard Discussion titled "Grammar, Yuck"] What is your reaction to the word "grammar"? What images and emotions does the term conjure for you and why? You have just read a history and review of English grammar. Did this reading reinforce your reactions to the term, or did it change your thinking or perspective? Explain by using specific examples from the chapter.
  9. [Post in the Blackboard Discussion titled "Which Grammar?"] Were you taught diagrams in school? If so, which types? If not, how did you learn word order and word classifications? After writing about your own experiences of diagramming (or the lack of it), discuss what your goal is for teaching grammar/syntax to mainstream students and to those whose languages or dialects differ from Edited American English (ASL users, ESL speakers, strong dialect users, etc.). How does modern grammar theory and practices account for variations of language use that the traditional diagramming does not?
  10. [Post in the Blackboard Discussion titled "Language Lessons"] How were you taught vocabulary, spelling, punctuation, and grammar? What kinds of assignments did you receive to learn them? Was language taught separate from writing and literature? Or were they all done together? Given Weavers definitions of transmission and transactional instruction, how would you classify your educational experiencesone or the other, a mixture? Cite examples to show this. What type of instruction--transmission or transactional--do you want to practice when teaching language? How might you do this?
  11. [Post in the Blackboard Discussion titled "Teaching Language."] Of the twelve guidelines that Weaver offers, which ones do you want to incorporate in your teaching and why? Provide examples and ideas of how you might achieve these goals in your future classrooms. In addition, Baron talks about the "double standard" of plagiarism. How do you plan to deal with these issues (where the literature we teach practices one approach, while we preach another) in your classroom? What experiences have you had as a student or teacher with these issues? How might Weavers guidelines help with this double standard?

20-25. For each presentation, write through Blackboard email a letter to the group members that states what you liked or found interesting about the presentation, what questions or connections have occurred to you because of it, and what was effective and not effective in the organization and content of the presentation, in the manner of the presenters, in the use of audio-visual materials, and in the interactive nature of the presentation. In other words, you are offering praise, analysis, and suggestions for change. (Note: I expect these letters to be quite detailed and instructive for the presenters, approximately 200 words each. Remember to send your letters to me too or you will not get credit for them. Remember to send each letter to yourself so that you can save them in a message folderto print out for your technology portfolio and to resend to someone in case the letter doesnt make it to each presenter.)