Nancy Myers
Office: 110 McIver
Phone: 336-334-5484
Office Hours: T & Th 12:30-2 p.m. or by appointment
Mailbox: 133 McIver
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 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, oral/literate traditions, direct/indirect speech acts, digital and visual literacies, 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.

On Reserve at Jackson Library
Students’ Right to Their Own Language. CCCC Language Statement. NCTE 1974
C. H. Knoblauch’s “Literacy and the Politics of Education” in The Right to Literacy
Nigel Hall’s “The Discovery of Emergent Literacy” in The Emergence of Literacy
Brock Haussamen’s “An Overview of Linguistic Grammar” in Grammar Alive!
Constance Weaver's "Learning Theory and the Teaching of Grammar" in Teaching Grammar in Context
David Crystal’s The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language, 2nd ed (2 copies)

Organizational Strategies
This course has been approved as both speaking-intensive and writing-intensive; moreover, we will meet in a computer lab because so much of our work will be supported by BlackBoard. I believe that as preservice teachers and interpreters, we need lots of experience communicating in multiple forms—oral, written, imagistic, sign, and electronic. To support your various responsibilities and communication formats in this course, I suggest the following tools: You will need one floppy disk, RW CD, or electronic key that is formatted for a PC, reserved solely for your work in this course. You may want to 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 take with you to your classrooms and interpreting positions.

Advice and Aid
• You are welcome to discuss your writing and speaking assignments with me during office hours or by appointment.
• The Writing Center offers one-to-one conferences with trained consultants. Located in 101 McIver, the Writing Center is open days and evenings, Monday through Friday and some Sunday hours. You can drop in or make an appointment by phoning 334-3125.
• The Speaking Center offers one-to-one tutoring, videotaping, planning and presentation support. Located in 22 McIver, the Speaking Center is open days (M-F) and some evenings. You can make an appointment by phoning 256-1346.
• Realize the UNCG library is not the only one available to you; check with the Jackson librarians about borrowing materials from other colleges and universities in this area.
• Computer labs are available across campus: they contain both Macintosh and IBM compatible computers; they all offer Microsoft Word word-processing software, and they provide access to your e-mail account, BlackBoard, and the Internet.

Attendance and Preparedness
This course is interactive which means you will be participating in each class session through oral, written, and electronic 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 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. Because this course is required for North Carolina licensure in English, there may be exceptions to the attendance policy only for lateral entry teachers traveling over 120 miles roundtrip. 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 25%
Teaching Language Project with Annotated Bibliographies 25%
Group Lesson Plan and Demonstration on Computers and Language 25%
Language and Literacy Learning Project OR
Position/Philosophy Statement on Language and Literacy 25%

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 one individual project at the end of the semester:
• Either a project that records some aspect of your language learning;
• Or 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 pairs and small groups, you will do two oral presentations: one in which you research and teach the day’s language topic and one using BlackBoard to generate and teach a language lesson appropriate for K-12 students. In the first, you will have some choice over your topic and the direction of your research that will culminate in an annotated bibliography, a lesson plan for the day, and appropriate handouts as well as in you conducting between 30-45 minutes of the class session. 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 presentations, 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.

Click here for course schedule in a Word Document.