For those who have made it until finals week:
If you want to improve your grade a little and can still use 10 points extra credit (only if you haven't reached your limit of 25 points per semester yet!), you're welcome to post a 500-700 words SUMMARY AND RESPONSE about the following article on "he/she" by Professor George Jochnowitz, who wrote our favorite article, "Everyone Likes Pizza, Doesn't He or She?"
Be very clear and concise in your summary; show that you have understood the article. Then, use critical thinking and write down your own thoughts about the topic!
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Blog Post 28: American Indian Language and School Success
The reading summary is done by: John Seratt (ENGL300-1)
Due by class time on: Mon., April 4th, 2011
The responses by the whole class are due by class time on: Wed., April 6th, 2011
The text you need to read is here.
By: Lauren Foley
Due by class time on: Mon., April 4th, 2011
The responses by the whole class are due by class time on: Wed., April 6th, 2011
The text you need to read is here.
By: Lauren Foley
To begin, this article was titled “American Indian Language Policy and School Success” by Jon Reyhner. It started out discussing the “Native American Languages Act”, which stated the United States has a responsibility to act together with Native Americans to make sure the unique cultures and languages survive. The act also stated “the right of Native Americans to express themselves through the use of Native American languages shall not be restricted in any public proceeding, including publicly supported education programs.” (105). Reyhner goes on to explain that this act has three important implications: continuation of the policy of Indian self-determination that has been effect over the last twenty years, reversal of the historical policy of the United States Government to suppress Indian languages in Bureau of Indian Affairs and other schools, and reaction to the attempt to make English the official language of the United States. The article goes on to state the fact that American languages in Indian education have a long history in America. Missionaries were aware of the importance of using Indian languages in their educational work. Reyhner uses the example of a Northeast mission school and how they only used books written in the Chippewan languages, and when missionaries changed to teaching in English the quality of education declined. The article goes on to talk about the Government suppression of the Indian languages. Many examples of this are talked about, but to name a few, after the Civil War President Grant tried to bring an end to the Indian war. He said language differences led to misunderstandings. Another example is under the Secretary of the Interior Schurz, the Indian bureau issued regulations that all instruction had to be in English in both mission and government schools, and was threatened with funding. Reyhner also states another question came up with the anti-Catholicism and Indian education. Protestants who labeled both as un-American in contrast to the non-denominational public schools grouped catholic Indian schools with urban Catholic parochial schools. James M. King stated Roman Catholic teachings do not prepare the Indians for intelligent and loyal citizenship, and after that T. J. Morgan accused the Catholics of treason. The article then goes on to state the fact that there is a lack of teachers who are specialized and qualified to teach Indian students. Reyhner closes out the article with some criticisms of Indian education. It was reported 95% of Navajo children went home after their education instead of white communities, leaving themselves unable to take part in Navajo life because they didn’t know the customs of their own people. In 1923, John Collier stated, “the administration of Indian affairs is a national disgrace- a policy designed to rob Indians of their property, destroy their culture, and eventually exterminate them.” The final solution Congress came up with for Indian problems was to let Indians be free by terminating their reservations. Therefore, the federal trust status of the reservation would be ended and the tribe’s land and assets would be divided and distributed to tribe members.
Blog Post 27: The "Klingon Language"
The reading summary is done by: Kendra Romani (ENGL300-1) and Donetta Gates (ENGL300-2) Due by class time on: Fri., April 1st, 2011 The responses by the whole class are due by class time on: Mon., April 4th, 2011 The text you need to read is here
By:Donetta Gates
In the article Klingon and Esperanto: The Odd Couple? by, Glen Proechel the made up language of Klingon is discussed. The Klingon language is a made-for- TV-and movies language that is spoken by the science- warrior race from the Klingon Empire of Star Trek fame. The language was introduced to people in 1984 on the television show Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. A dictionary called the Klingon Dictionary was written by Dr. Mark Okrand. In 1992 the Klingon Language Institute was formed and now have around 600 members worldwide. A fan club was also created called the Klingon Assault Group and it had 2500 members. One summer Proechel learned the language and decided to run a Klingon Language Camp in Red Lake Falls, MN for two weeks. From around the world journalists from TV, radio, newspapers, and magazines wanted the covering rights of his camp. The Interstellar Language School, Inc., decided to translate the bible into Klingon, organize Klingon courses throughout Minnesota, and conducts church services and weddings in Klingon. They hosted the Second Annual Klingon Language Camp in Red Lake Falls, MN.
By: Kendra Romani
The article “Klingon and Esperanto: The Odd Couple,” is by Glen Proechel and was published in 1994. Klingon is an artificial language created for the movie Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, which debuted in 1984. Klingon was spoken by the science fiction warrior race from the Klingon Empire of the Star Trek fame. The Klingon language is so popular with diehard fans that there are Klingon Dictionaries, Institutes, and fan clubs. People all over the world are intrigued by the strange language and culture of the Klingon Empire, and a global following of fans and media admire this fictional, yet entertaining language. Proechel started studying the language and decided to start a Klingon Language Camp in Red Lake Falls, MN, it was an instant hit. Star Trek fans from all over the state came to the two week camp, and showed support for their love of Star Trek and the Klingon. Fans love it so much, that they are actually translating textbooks, the bible, giving church services and weddings in Klingon. Proechel couldn’t help but wonder if Paramount would’ve chosen Esperanto, a universal language, would it too be as overwhelmingly popular as Klingon. This brought up a good point; one could only assume that made-up languages would share some similarities, but how many?
Proechel says that Esperanto was created to facilitate communications by incorporating elements from most widely used languages, and combining them into a universal language. Esperanto was created to bridge the gap between cultures and communications. However, can one say the same for Klingon? Klingon was created to not facilitate communication, but to entertain. Dr. Okrand, the writer of the Klingon Dictionary, said that the premise of the Klingon language was to be of an alien race that was unlike any human spoken language. He purposely chose difficult and uncommon sounds, in attempt to stray away from commonly spoken languages. Klingon syntax is the exact opposite of English. An example, "Lieutenant Worf killed the Romulan with his phaser gun," in Klingon the word order would be phaser gun-his-using-while-Romulan-kill-Lieutenant Worf. Esperanto uses cognates and recognition, whereas Klingon uses very little cognates and can seem unrecognizable. The few words that are considered to be derived from terrestrial languages are “human and tera.” Tera is from the Latin terra, meaning “planet earth.” Klingon is filled with intentional humor, cheeky definitions, and the all too often pun. In Klingon the word for “beautiful” is ‘IH (pronounced like “ick”), “its heavy” is ‘UGH, and attached to the end of words is the suffix “ha,” as though one was making a joke. Esperanto uses vowel endings which clearly indicate the parts of speech and word order. However, Klingon uses none of this, only short one syllable words. There is a rule in the Klingon language that no word can begin with a vowel. Also, in Klingon many words start with a glottal stop, associated with an apostrophe for most words. Differently, then that of the Esperanto, Klingon utilizes a lot of homonym constructs. The word order for the Klingon is object-verb-subject.
Despite, their differences Klingon and Esperanto do share many things in common. Both languages have 2,000 plus words which can be expanded by the use of prefixes and suffixes. Although, there are fewer places to practice Klingon than Esperanto, both are very rare and uncommon. Most Klingonist have only one thing to say about Klingon… “it’s fun!”
By:Donetta Gates
In the article Klingon and Esperanto: The Odd Couple? by, Glen Proechel the made up language of Klingon is discussed. The Klingon language is a made-for- TV-and movies language that is spoken by the science- warrior race from the Klingon Empire of Star Trek fame. The language was introduced to people in 1984 on the television show Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. A dictionary called the Klingon Dictionary was written by Dr. Mark Okrand. In 1992 the Klingon Language Institute was formed and now have around 600 members worldwide. A fan club was also created called the Klingon Assault Group and it had 2500 members. One summer Proechel learned the language and decided to run a Klingon Language Camp in Red Lake Falls, MN for two weeks. From around the world journalists from TV, radio, newspapers, and magazines wanted the covering rights of his camp. The Interstellar Language School, Inc., decided to translate the bible into Klingon, organize Klingon courses throughout Minnesota, and conducts church services and weddings in Klingon. They hosted the Second Annual Klingon Language Camp in Red Lake Falls, MN.
Proechel raises the question that if the producers at Paramount studios have chosen to use Esperanto or even Volapuk instead of Klingon, would it have as much popularity or be dis-approved. It was never intended for competition to happen between the two languages, but it seemed to be appearing. Esperanto was created to facilitate human communication by discovering the most universal elements in the most widely spoken European languages and regularizing them into an easily acquired interlanguage. Klingon was instead created essentially for the exact opposite reason. It was not meant to facilitate communications, but to entertain.
Dr. Okrand base up the language for the alien race Klingons. To make sure that no English was included he deliberately selected difficult and abstruse sounds, not common ones. He created a grammar that resembles none of the commonly known international languages. An example of Klingon translated into English is "phaser gun-his-using-while-Romulan-kill-Lieutenant Worf. In English the sentence would be "Lieutenant Work killed the Romulan with his phaser gun.
The Esperanto language has a complex array of vowel endings which indicates the part of speech while Klingon has none. Most Klingon words are no-nonsense one syllable constructs. There is a rule in the Klingon language that no word can begin with a vowel. However, many words begin and end with something called a glottal stop-- that catch in the throat that Cockney speakers make instead of a "t" in words like "butter". Dr. Zamenhof who is the creator of Esperanto tried hard to avoid homonyms in his language but failed. Klingon on the other hand has none.
By: Kendra Romani
The article “Klingon and Esperanto: The Odd Couple,” is by Glen Proechel and was published in 1994. Klingon is an artificial language created for the movie Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, which debuted in 1984. Klingon was spoken by the science fiction warrior race from the Klingon Empire of the Star Trek fame. The Klingon language is so popular with diehard fans that there are Klingon Dictionaries, Institutes, and fan clubs. People all over the world are intrigued by the strange language and culture of the Klingon Empire, and a global following of fans and media admire this fictional, yet entertaining language. Proechel started studying the language and decided to start a Klingon Language Camp in Red Lake Falls, MN, it was an instant hit. Star Trek fans from all over the state came to the two week camp, and showed support for their love of Star Trek and the Klingon. Fans love it so much, that they are actually translating textbooks, the bible, giving church services and weddings in Klingon. Proechel couldn’t help but wonder if Paramount would’ve chosen Esperanto, a universal language, would it too be as overwhelmingly popular as Klingon. This brought up a good point; one could only assume that made-up languages would share some similarities, but how many?
Proechel says that Esperanto was created to facilitate communications by incorporating elements from most widely used languages, and combining them into a universal language. Esperanto was created to bridge the gap between cultures and communications. However, can one say the same for Klingon? Klingon was created to not facilitate communication, but to entertain. Dr. Okrand, the writer of the Klingon Dictionary, said that the premise of the Klingon language was to be of an alien race that was unlike any human spoken language. He purposely chose difficult and uncommon sounds, in attempt to stray away from commonly spoken languages. Klingon syntax is the exact opposite of English. An example, "Lieutenant Worf killed the Romulan with his phaser gun," in Klingon the word order would be phaser gun-his-using-while-Romulan-kill-Lieutenant Worf. Esperanto uses cognates and recognition, whereas Klingon uses very little cognates and can seem unrecognizable. The few words that are considered to be derived from terrestrial languages are “human and tera.” Tera is from the Latin terra, meaning “planet earth.” Klingon is filled with intentional humor, cheeky definitions, and the all too often pun. In Klingon the word for “beautiful” is ‘IH (pronounced like “ick”), “its heavy” is ‘UGH, and attached to the end of words is the suffix “ha,” as though one was making a joke. Esperanto uses vowel endings which clearly indicate the parts of speech and word order. However, Klingon uses none of this, only short one syllable words. There is a rule in the Klingon language that no word can begin with a vowel. Also, in Klingon many words start with a glottal stop, associated with an apostrophe for most words. Differently, then that of the Esperanto, Klingon utilizes a lot of homonym constructs. The word order for the Klingon is object-verb-subject.
Despite, their differences Klingon and Esperanto do share many things in common. Both languages have 2,000 plus words which can be expanded by the use of prefixes and suffixes. Although, there are fewer places to practice Klingon than Esperanto, both are very rare and uncommon. Most Klingonist have only one thing to say about Klingon… “it’s fun!”
Blog Post 26: The Amish Language
The reading summary is done by: Lamonica Bettes (ENGL300-1) Due by class time on: Wed., March 30th, 2011 The responses by the whole class are due by class time on: Fri., April 1st, 2011 The text you need to read is here. _____________________________________ By: Samantha Sturm
By: Lamonica Bettes Amish ‘Triple-Talk’ by J. William Frey discusses the three languages that Pennsylvania Dutch speaks. The dialects include Pennsylvania Dutch (German), which resembles Palatine German folk speech, High German (American High German), American English. Although these are the basic forms of the languages used by Amish speaking people, the dialects differ within certain Amish cultures in different states. The topic of ‘triple-talk’ comes into play when author Frey focuses on the dialect of the Old Older Amish of Lancaster County. The author says that the Amish people that speak the Old Older Amish are trilingual. Within this socio-religious and linguistic group the Amish speak an intermixed tongue that includes Amish Pennsylvania Dutch, Amish High German, and Pennsylvania Dutch English. Amish Pennsylvania Dutch is like the dialect spoken in other sections of eastern Pennsylvania by non-Amish groups, and is understood by anyone from those regions who converse with the local Amish people. Amish High German is used mainly for preaching, praying, and singing hymns. Then there’s Pennsylvania Dutch English, which is a form of English used only when speaking to non-amish people as in schools, towns, etc. Within each section of the article Frey shows the pronunciation of letters as well as words used within the ‘triple-talk’ dialect. Within each description of the three dialects the author shows how words are formed. The relation between English and Amish language was also shown by the fact that “loan words” are sometimes used in the Amish language. Loan words are words or letters from the English language. Then the author concludes the article by saying, “In conclusion we may say that the linguistic problems presented by the 'triple-talk' of the Old Order Amish are many. Each of the three tongues influences the other two to some degree.”
Aside from riding in horse driven carriages, the Amish culture is also widely known for their interesting dialect. In an article by J. William Frey, he goes into depth about the differences and uniqueness of the Amish language.
More prominently in Pennsylvania, the Amish people use at least three different languages in their day-today lives; American High German, Pennsylvanian Dutch and of course English. The Pennsylvanian Dutch more resembles Palatine German folk speech even though there have been several exterior influences that have come into contact with it since the year 1683. American High German has only been spoken by the Amish beginning in past century, and the only reason it has flourished there in Pennsylvania is because of the Lutheran and Reformed pulpits. Most outsiders to the Amish culture dismiss the use of the Pennsylvania Dutch they use and describe it more as, “garbled English in the mouths of ignorant farmers who speak with a heavy Dutch accent!” (Frey 85).
However as much as most people would consider them to be trilingual, technically the Amish culture can only be considered bilingual as the use of American High German is not frequently used by them. In this day and age, the Amish people can no longer converse in High German and instead only hear it when their parents read aloud from the German Bible, hymn and prayer books or scriptural passages. In contradiction to the information above the Frey explains that there is an exception to speaking three different languages in the Amish culture. The Old Order Amish of Lancaster County actually do speak three different languages and do so often.
Frey delves into the explanation that in Lancaster County, the Amish that preside there speak a mix of Amish High German and Pennsylvania Dutch English. A hangover from the German-preaching days, Amish High German has some peculiarities in pronunciation (typically Amish), that have been spoken in the last century. The Amish that live in Lancaster County also speak English; however, Frey surmises that it is one of the three languages that are “forced” among them. They only use it when speaking with non-Amish people in different towns or cities, or in public schools. Frey describes it as “American English built on a framework of Pennsylvania Dutch phonemic patterns and interjected continually with whole or part loan-translations from the dialect” (Frey 86). Frey then goes into depth explaining the phonetic rules and stipulations of the Amish language and gather that there are English loan-words used by the Amish.
Finally, Frey explains the schedule of events held at church in the Amish culture. He talks about the foods that are served before and after the service as well as where women and men sit, when they stand, when they kneel and the time capacity of one of these religious services. Frey concludes his article by saying that there is a lot more research that could be done to delve further into exploring the languages used by the Amish, and that not only would it take a lot of time but also a lot of effort on one’s part.
__________________________________________________________
By: Lamonica Bettes Amish ‘Triple-Talk’ by J. William Frey discusses the three languages that Pennsylvania Dutch speaks. The dialects include Pennsylvania Dutch (German), which resembles Palatine German folk speech, High German (American High German), American English. Although these are the basic forms of the languages used by Amish speaking people, the dialects differ within certain Amish cultures in different states. The topic of ‘triple-talk’ comes into play when author Frey focuses on the dialect of the Old Older Amish of Lancaster County. The author says that the Amish people that speak the Old Older Amish are trilingual. Within this socio-religious and linguistic group the Amish speak an intermixed tongue that includes Amish Pennsylvania Dutch, Amish High German, and Pennsylvania Dutch English. Amish Pennsylvania Dutch is like the dialect spoken in other sections of eastern Pennsylvania by non-Amish groups, and is understood by anyone from those regions who converse with the local Amish people. Amish High German is used mainly for preaching, praying, and singing hymns. Then there’s Pennsylvania Dutch English, which is a form of English used only when speaking to non-amish people as in schools, towns, etc. Within each section of the article Frey shows the pronunciation of letters as well as words used within the ‘triple-talk’ dialect. Within each description of the three dialects the author shows how words are formed. The relation between English and Amish language was also shown by the fact that “loan words” are sometimes used in the Amish language. Loan words are words or letters from the English language. Then the author concludes the article by saying, “In conclusion we may say that the linguistic problems presented by the 'triple-talk' of the Old Order Amish are many. Each of the three tongues influences the other two to some degree.”
Blog Post 25: The Language of the Piraha
The reading summary is done by: Andrew Wilson (ENGL300-1) and Kevin Talley (ENGL300-2)
Due by class time on: Mon., March 28th, 2011
The responses by the whole class are due by class time on: Wed., March 30th, 2011
The text you need to read is here.
By: Lauren Foley
Blog Post 25: The Language of the Piraha
Due by class time on: Mon., March 28th, 2011
The responses by the whole class are due by class time on: Wed., March 30th, 2011
The text you need to read is here.
By: Lauren Foley
The article “Brazil’s Piraha Tribe: Living Without Numbers or Time” was written by Rafaela von Bredow. The article is based on the Piraha, or Amazon people and their interesting language. These people have no history, descriptive words, or subordinate clauses. David Everett, a British ethnologist, has dedicated his whole career to studying this language. He lived with the Pirahas for seven years, but did not expose his information right away because he was not confident in it yet. The research that was uncovered created a huge debate between linguistics, anthropologists, and cognitive researchers. These people were concerned about the impact the ways the Pirahas communicated with one another on the study of human language. Bredow stated linguistic researchers mostly focus on the idioms across the world and which ones are common. What bothers them so much about the Piraha language is it goes against all essential features of all languages. The characteristics of the Piraha language are as follows: use only three pronouns, hardly use words associated with time, past tense verb conjunctions don’t exist, colors are not used to describe things, no real use for numbers, and no subordinate clauses. The last one is what really bothers researchers. Bredow uses the example of eating; we would say, “When I have finished eating, I would like to speak to you”, and Pirahas would say, “I finish eating, I speak with you.” Peter Gordon, a psycholinguist, studied the Pirahas mathematical abilities. Like I said before, they did not seem to use numbers much, and Gordon’s research showed Pirahas simply do not understand numbers. Everett could relate to this because during his seven years, he took eight months and tried to teach the Pirahas how to count. There was not one who could get to ten. One explanation of the Pirahas language is that it is created by the culture, and not doing certain things in their language is a result of culture. The goal is to try and show that the Pirahas actually can think in a recursive fashion.
Blog Post 25: The Language of the Piraha
By: Kevin Talley
"Brazil's Pirahã Tribe: Living without Numbers or Time", written by Rafaela von Bredow, is an article about 'forest dwellers' and the way in which they communicate with each other. The Pirahã Tribe speaks a language that numerous linguists look at as a language that does not fit into the accepted criteria of what a language should hold. The reasoning behind this claim being; there are only three pro-nouns present within their language, the Pirahã seem to rarely use word that have any association with time or numbers, within the language there are not past tense verb conjugations used, and there is also the fact that the Pirahã tribe does not have words for colors. Reading on further into the article, the reader will be able to see that; although all of these factors do play a significant role in why the Pirahã’s language does not function as any other. This is due to the fact that within the language there are no subordinate clauses. To better understand what this means, clauses are groups of words with a subject and a verb, while subordinate means that they cannot stand alone meaning that they are sentence fragments. This means that the Pirahã speak in a way that leaves a listener wanted to add more ‘substance’ to the sentence. An example of this being:
Normal Clause: "When I have finished eating, I would like to speak with you,"
Pirahãs : "I finish eating, I speak with you."
Blog Post 24: Humor in Grammar Teaching
The reading summary is done by: William Bateman (ENGL300-1) and Michon Lindstrom (ENGL300-2)
Due by class time on: Friday, March 25th, 2011
The responses by the whole class are due by class time on: Monday, March 28th, 2011
The text you need to read is here.
The article "The Straw Man Meets His Match: Six Arguments for Studying Humor in English Classes" by Alleen Pace Nilsen and Don L. F. Nilsen is an interesting article that talks about how classrooms should integrate humor into teaching English. The authors argue that because there is humor in everyday life, that it should be taught in classrooms as well. The authors try to argue that for students to fully understand some humor that is in everyday life they must be given the tools and taught in the classroom.
The next argument they often hear is But Teaching Humor Will Take
Away from the Time I Need to Teach Grammar, Composition, Literature, and
Public Speaking. To this they say they first got interested in this because they were trying to find a more interesting way to teach grammar. They debate that if off-beat or different sentences are used to display grammar mistakes because "students will have fun while, developing a sense of differences between formal, edited English, and the casual kinds of mistakes that all of us make."(pg.35) They go on next to list ten things that make up what people find funny: 1. Surprise or Shock. 2. Superiority 3. Hostility 4. A trick or a Twist 5. Incongruity and Irony 6. Sudden Insight 7. Exaggeration 8. Succinct Word Play 9. Ambiguity 10. Situation
Another critque on this was But I'm Supposed to Be Preparing Kids to Earn a Living. In response to this the authors noted that since 1994 the number on jobs in the comedy field has grown drastically. Although, the chance of becoming a professional is still about as likely as becoming a professional athlete. But like with athletes, the ability to use and understand humor in everyday life can be beneficial for a person. They also say that humor allows people to solve problems using a more creative approach, since the need for surprise must be used in comedy it forces people to think from a different or hidden angle.
Other critics believe If I Bring Humor into My Class,I'll Have Censorship Problems. To this the authors agree that there can be a problem with this but that it is important for students to learn the connection between censorship and humor. And they argue that humor is a good way to teach censorship, and they can use what goes on in news as a way to learn it.
The next argument people use is Humor Hurts people's feelings. While the authors agree that this is true, they also argue that it can also put people in a better mood. To have the smiles outweigh the frowns students must learn how to balance them. Many teachers are afraid that jokes told in class will offend minority students. The authors argue that humor is actually a great tool when talking about cultural differences because: "when people are smiling they are
more likely to be open to new ideas and to new ways of looking at problems."(pg.39)
Finally, the last argument that they touch is But I Can't Teach about Humor
When I Can't Even Tell a Joke or Write a Funny Letter Home. The authors say that this is not a problem, and to use these classroom activities to help teach students English while having fun: First, writing parodies and pattern jokes. Next, students can bring in news clippings, that are humorous. Another thing that teachers can do is bring in or have students bring in humorous icons. And finally, teachers can give research paper topics that incorporate humor such as topics on humor in politics or humor in the internet.
The authors conclude the article by saying that teachers should ease slowly into teaching humor studies in the classroom. And that if the students are happy the parents will be happy, and the criticisms of this type of teaching won't happen.
by:Michon Lindstrom
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In this article, A. Nilsen and D. Nilsen give their arguments against six "straw man" claims that are made against teaching humor (a straw man is loosely defined as an argument made against an exaggerated or falsified version of someone else's argument).
The first straw man argument is that students receive enough comedy outside the school. However, the authors assert that students need to be taught more refined versions of comedy than what they find on TV and that it is the job of teachers to help students develop better taste and appreciation for more subtle forms of comedy. They give the experience of Jacque Hughes, a professor at Central Oklahoma University, as an example. Hughes' students had trouble understanding the humor in Flannery O'Connor's A Good Man Is Hard to Find until she was able to relate the book to the movie, "National Lampoon's Vacation." Most of the students had seen the movie and were able to find the similarities between it and the book. The authors claim that "it takes skill and practice, along with a broad, cultural background of knowledge, to understand a full range of humor." They say that without proper education, most students will never find more sophisticated humor.
The second straw man is the claim that teaching humor will take time away from more important lessons like composition, grammar, literature, and public speaking. The authors disagree. They feel that students are more likely to show interest in learning subjects if humor is incorporated into them. They give the example of using humorous sentences to teach dangling modifiers. They also feel that students who analyze humor will be more likely to move on to other forms of literary analysis. They list ten elements that often cause people to laugh: surprise or shock, superiority, hostility, a trick or twist, incongruity and irony, sudden insight, exaggeration, succinct word play, ambiguity, and situation.
The third straw man is the argument that school should be preparing students for their careers. The authors counter that humor is actually an important part of having a career for most people. For one, a small percentage of students may go on to be entertainers or comedy writers. Students who end up in high stress jobs will also find humor to be a necessary skill for cutting through their everyday stress. Even political figures need to have an aptitude for humor because it aids in effective communication. The authors also suggest that humor helps students develop creative problem solving skills because surprise is an important part of humor.
The fourth straw man argument claims that introducing humor will cause censorship problems. The authors agree that this is a possibility because a large part of humor is discussing controversial topics such as sex, religion, and ethnic differences. However, they argue that by bringing this into the classroom, teachers will be able to help students explore the relation of censorship to things like taste, appropriateness, tolerance, kindness, respect, sensitivity, and political correctness. It is also suggested that students are more willing to learn about censorship because it can easily be applied to elements of their popular culture, such as high school students who are suspended for wearing certain t-shirts.
Similarly, the fifth straw man argument is that humor could hurt people's feelings. The authors agree, but they make an analogy between humor and hammers. When used incorrectly, both have the ability to hurt. However, used properly, both can be used to build and create. While hammers build things such as houses, humor can build bridges between people with social differences. They argue that humor allows students with different backgrounds and lifestyles to cut through stereotypes and build better communication between each other. They give the example of a gay comedian who joked that homophobia is defined as "the irrational fear that someone is going to break into your house and redecorate it without your permission." The important thing is for teachers to help their students understand why it is considered okay for them to make jokes about their own cultural groups but not people from other groups.
The sixth and final straw man argument is simply the fear that many teachers don't understand humor well enough to teach it. The authors counter that humor is one subject where it's okay for students to be better than their teachers. Allowing students to bounce ideas off of each other and discuss amongst themselves can be an effective way to stimulate creativity.
The authors end by listing several activities that teachers can use for the purpose of teaching humor: writing parodies and pattern jokes, collecting humorous news clippings, collecting humor icons, and researching and writing about humor.
by: William Bateman
Due by class time on: Friday, March 25th, 2011
The responses by the whole class are due by class time on: Monday, March 28th, 2011
The text you need to read is here.
The article "The Straw Man Meets His Match: Six Arguments for Studying Humor in English Classes" by Alleen Pace Nilsen and Don L. F. Nilsen is an interesting article that talks about how classrooms should integrate humor into teaching English. The authors argue that because there is humor in everyday life, that it should be taught in classrooms as well. The authors try to argue that for students to fully understand some humor that is in everyday life they must be given the tools and taught in the classroom.
The next argument they often hear is But Teaching Humor Will Take
Away from the Time I Need to Teach Grammar, Composition, Literature, and
Public Speaking. To this they say they first got interested in this because they were trying to find a more interesting way to teach grammar. They debate that if off-beat or different sentences are used to display grammar mistakes because "students will have fun while, developing a sense of differences between formal, edited English, and the casual kinds of mistakes that all of us make."(pg.35) They go on next to list ten things that make up what people find funny: 1. Surprise or Shock. 2. Superiority 3. Hostility 4. A trick or a Twist 5. Incongruity and Irony 6. Sudden Insight 7. Exaggeration 8. Succinct Word Play 9. Ambiguity 10. Situation
Another critque on this was But I'm Supposed to Be Preparing Kids to Earn a Living. In response to this the authors noted that since 1994 the number on jobs in the comedy field has grown drastically. Although, the chance of becoming a professional is still about as likely as becoming a professional athlete. But like with athletes, the ability to use and understand humor in everyday life can be beneficial for a person. They also say that humor allows people to solve problems using a more creative approach, since the need for surprise must be used in comedy it forces people to think from a different or hidden angle.
Other critics believe If I Bring Humor into My Class,I'll Have Censorship Problems. To this the authors agree that there can be a problem with this but that it is important for students to learn the connection between censorship and humor. And they argue that humor is a good way to teach censorship, and they can use what goes on in news as a way to learn it.
The next argument people use is Humor Hurts people's feelings. While the authors agree that this is true, they also argue that it can also put people in a better mood. To have the smiles outweigh the frowns students must learn how to balance them. Many teachers are afraid that jokes told in class will offend minority students. The authors argue that humor is actually a great tool when talking about cultural differences because: "when people are smiling they are
more likely to be open to new ideas and to new ways of looking at problems."(pg.39)
Finally, the last argument that they touch is But I Can't Teach about Humor
When I Can't Even Tell a Joke or Write a Funny Letter Home. The authors say that this is not a problem, and to use these classroom activities to help teach students English while having fun: First, writing parodies and pattern jokes. Next, students can bring in news clippings, that are humorous. Another thing that teachers can do is bring in or have students bring in humorous icons. And finally, teachers can give research paper topics that incorporate humor such as topics on humor in politics or humor in the internet.
The authors conclude the article by saying that teachers should ease slowly into teaching humor studies in the classroom. And that if the students are happy the parents will be happy, and the criticisms of this type of teaching won't happen.
by:Michon Lindstrom
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In this article, A. Nilsen and D. Nilsen give their arguments against six "straw man" claims that are made against teaching humor (a straw man is loosely defined as an argument made against an exaggerated or falsified version of someone else's argument).
The first straw man argument is that students receive enough comedy outside the school. However, the authors assert that students need to be taught more refined versions of comedy than what they find on TV and that it is the job of teachers to help students develop better taste and appreciation for more subtle forms of comedy. They give the experience of Jacque Hughes, a professor at Central Oklahoma University, as an example. Hughes' students had trouble understanding the humor in Flannery O'Connor's A Good Man Is Hard to Find until she was able to relate the book to the movie, "National Lampoon's Vacation." Most of the students had seen the movie and were able to find the similarities between it and the book. The authors claim that "it takes skill and practice, along with a broad, cultural background of knowledge, to understand a full range of humor." They say that without proper education, most students will never find more sophisticated humor.
The second straw man is the claim that teaching humor will take time away from more important lessons like composition, grammar, literature, and public speaking. The authors disagree. They feel that students are more likely to show interest in learning subjects if humor is incorporated into them. They give the example of using humorous sentences to teach dangling modifiers. They also feel that students who analyze humor will be more likely to move on to other forms of literary analysis. They list ten elements that often cause people to laugh: surprise or shock, superiority, hostility, a trick or twist, incongruity and irony, sudden insight, exaggeration, succinct word play, ambiguity, and situation.
The third straw man is the argument that school should be preparing students for their careers. The authors counter that humor is actually an important part of having a career for most people. For one, a small percentage of students may go on to be entertainers or comedy writers. Students who end up in high stress jobs will also find humor to be a necessary skill for cutting through their everyday stress. Even political figures need to have an aptitude for humor because it aids in effective communication. The authors also suggest that humor helps students develop creative problem solving skills because surprise is an important part of humor.
The fourth straw man argument claims that introducing humor will cause censorship problems. The authors agree that this is a possibility because a large part of humor is discussing controversial topics such as sex, religion, and ethnic differences. However, they argue that by bringing this into the classroom, teachers will be able to help students explore the relation of censorship to things like taste, appropriateness, tolerance, kindness, respect, sensitivity, and political correctness. It is also suggested that students are more willing to learn about censorship because it can easily be applied to elements of their popular culture, such as high school students who are suspended for wearing certain t-shirts.
Similarly, the fifth straw man argument is that humor could hurt people's feelings. The authors agree, but they make an analogy between humor and hammers. When used incorrectly, both have the ability to hurt. However, used properly, both can be used to build and create. While hammers build things such as houses, humor can build bridges between people with social differences. They argue that humor allows students with different backgrounds and lifestyles to cut through stereotypes and build better communication between each other. They give the example of a gay comedian who joked that homophobia is defined as "the irrational fear that someone is going to break into your house and redecorate it without your permission." The important thing is for teachers to help their students understand why it is considered okay for them to make jokes about their own cultural groups but not people from other groups.
The sixth and final straw man argument is simply the fear that many teachers don't understand humor well enough to teach it. The authors counter that humor is one subject where it's okay for students to be better than their teachers. Allowing students to bounce ideas off of each other and discuss amongst themselves can be an effective way to stimulate creativity.
The authors end by listing several activities that teachers can use for the purpose of teaching humor: writing parodies and pattern jokes, collecting humorous news clippings, collecting humor icons, and researching and writing about humor.
by: William Bateman
Blog Post 23: Esperanto
The reading summary is done by: Sonya Rodgers (ENGL300-1) and Amy Meier (ENGL300-2)
Due by class time on: Wed., March 23rd, 2011
The responses by the whole class are due by class time on: Fri., March 25th, 2011
The text you need to read is here.
There needs to be a language that is understood universally. A physician in 19nth century Poland, Ludovic Zamenhoph invented "Esperanto."
"Esperanto" is supposed to be an easy-to-learn language that everyone could translate. Jamia says "Esperanto" is a Romantic language with syntax of slavic languages. It is supposed to have simple grammar, have no irregular verbs, as well as spelling that can be sounded out.
Zamenhoph's goal to erase communication barriers failed or did it? Where did Esperanto go? The Czar in 1895 banned "Esperanto." However that is when works such as the Old Testament, Shakespeare and Hamlet were translated into "Esperanto." Jamia tells that after World War 1 Hitler denounced "Esperanto" and outlawed all organizations that dealt with it.
Today however the computer is the largest known communication barrier breaker. " You can design all the standards you want but in the end you have to do it Microsoft's way (pg.466 "Esperanto," Jamia.)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The article “The Decline and Fall of Esperanto: Lessons for Standards Committees,” by Robert Patterson, MD, MSC, Stanley M. Huff, MD explains a simple, easy to learn, planned language called Esperanto. Esperanto was introduced in 1887 by Ludovic Zamenhoff, a polish physician. His goal was to erase communication barriers between different ethnic groups by giving them a politically neutral, culturally free standard language.
Zamenhof grew up in 19th century Poland. Throughout his life he faced a number of different languages. His family spoke Polish and Yiddish, the official government spoke Russian, while his neighbors spoke Lithuanians and German. It is because of the numerous language conflicts that he encountered that led him to the conclusion that language diversity was the main cause of division in family. Dr. Zamenhof was trained in ophthalmology but he was interested in finding a way to unite the world through a common language. He quickly learned that Latin or classic Greek languages were too difficult so he developed Esperanto, which literally means “one who hopes.” This language was designed to be easy to learn and pronouns. The grammar within the language was simple, there is never irregular verbs, and the spelling is phonetic.
Esperanto was both praised and opposed. Toistoy loved the idea of a common language and even claimed to learn it within a few hours. On the other hand, Czar suspected the language was a seditionist plot so he banned it. Furthermore, Hitler denounced the language in Mein Kampf as a tool of Jewish world domination and outlawed all Esperanto organizations. After World War II, the languages’ popularity grew in China and Eastern Europe. Both governments saw a need for a common language. However, the language didn’t obtain much interest in the United States and the rest of Europe.
In recent years Esperanto has dwindled down but is still growing at an extremely slow rate. Currently English is the closest thing to an international language. Although many people had shown a lot of interest in Esperanto, it was not a practical language because it was no one’s mother language. While English on the other hand, is considered far more practical. It is agreed that for both human communication and for the sharing of medical information, there should be a common language. Today, standards committees have produced some successes in the medical field. These standards have already reduced time and cost that is needed to create interfaces between medical computer systems. Members of the HL7 organization made their best guesses about what would work without the benefit of a strong formal model and then they built interfaces based on a simple design.
In the end, no matter how logical and well intended a proposal standard is, it will not flourish if it overlooks the practical issues in “real life” systems. The author writes that the key for standards committees is to find the narrow line by developing and exploiting imperfect but functional strategies that build on existing systems.
by: Sonya R. Rodgers
Due by class time on: Wed., March 23rd, 2011
The responses by the whole class are due by class time on: Fri., March 25th, 2011
The text you need to read is here.
There needs to be a language that is understood universally. A physician in 19nth century Poland, Ludovic Zamenhoph invented "Esperanto."
"Esperanto" is supposed to be an easy-to-learn language that everyone could translate. Jamia says "Esperanto" is a Romantic language with syntax of slavic languages. It is supposed to have simple grammar, have no irregular verbs, as well as spelling that can be sounded out.
Zamenhoph's goal to erase communication barriers failed or did it? Where did Esperanto go? The Czar in 1895 banned "Esperanto." However that is when works such as the Old Testament, Shakespeare and Hamlet were translated into "Esperanto." Jamia tells that after World War 1 Hitler denounced "Esperanto" and outlawed all organizations that dealt with it.
Today however the computer is the largest known communication barrier breaker. " You can design all the standards you want but in the end you have to do it Microsoft's way (pg.466 "Esperanto," Jamia.)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The article “The Decline and Fall of Esperanto: Lessons for Standards Committees,” by Robert Patterson, MD, MSC, Stanley M. Huff, MD explains a simple, easy to learn, planned language called Esperanto. Esperanto was introduced in 1887 by Ludovic Zamenhoff, a polish physician. His goal was to erase communication barriers between different ethnic groups by giving them a politically neutral, culturally free standard language.
Zamenhof grew up in 19th century Poland. Throughout his life he faced a number of different languages. His family spoke Polish and Yiddish, the official government spoke Russian, while his neighbors spoke Lithuanians and German. It is because of the numerous language conflicts that he encountered that led him to the conclusion that language diversity was the main cause of division in family. Dr. Zamenhof was trained in ophthalmology but he was interested in finding a way to unite the world through a common language. He quickly learned that Latin or classic Greek languages were too difficult so he developed Esperanto, which literally means “one who hopes.” This language was designed to be easy to learn and pronouns. The grammar within the language was simple, there is never irregular verbs, and the spelling is phonetic.
Esperanto was both praised and opposed. Toistoy loved the idea of a common language and even claimed to learn it within a few hours. On the other hand, Czar suspected the language was a seditionist plot so he banned it. Furthermore, Hitler denounced the language in Mein Kampf as a tool of Jewish world domination and outlawed all Esperanto organizations. After World War II, the languages’ popularity grew in China and Eastern Europe. Both governments saw a need for a common language. However, the language didn’t obtain much interest in the United States and the rest of Europe.
In recent years Esperanto has dwindled down but is still growing at an extremely slow rate. Currently English is the closest thing to an international language. Although many people had shown a lot of interest in Esperanto, it was not a practical language because it was no one’s mother language. While English on the other hand, is considered far more practical. It is agreed that for both human communication and for the sharing of medical information, there should be a common language. Today, standards committees have produced some successes in the medical field. These standards have already reduced time and cost that is needed to create interfaces between medical computer systems. Members of the HL7 organization made their best guesses about what would work without the benefit of a strong formal model and then they built interfaces based on a simple design.
In the end, no matter how logical and well intended a proposal standard is, it will not flourish if it overlooks the practical issues in “real life” systems. The author writes that the key for standards committees is to find the narrow line by developing and exploiting imperfect but functional strategies that build on existing systems.
by: Sonya R. Rodgers
Blog Post 22: To Grammar or not to Grammar
The reading summary is done by: Nicole Hester (ENGL300-1) and Samantha Sturm (ENGL300-2)
Due by class time on: Mon., March 21st, 2011 (right after spring break!!!)
The responses by the whole class are due by class time on: Wed., March 23rd, 2011
The text you need to read is here.
By: Nicole Hester.
In Constance Weaver, Carol McNally and Sharon Moerman’s article “ To Grammar or Not to Grammar: That Is Not the Queston!” the issue of why grammar should be taught in the first place is addressed (clearly). The authors address a disconnect to what students have been taught (and seem to comprehend in class), and what is used in everyday conversation or in writing. Also in the article is a constant theme of how grammar helps generate content and then how content helps to generate correct grammar. Another theme is the way in which grammar is taught and where teachers evaluate concept over structure… or if there has to be one writing aspect that is held at a higher value. The authors then go into more detail describing how students are being taught to identify the structure of a sentence (knowing what a “ noun” or “ verb” look like) in contrast stated in the article, “ for most students teaching grammar as sentence analysis is another reason why the grammar doesn’t transfer to student writing.” The authors seem to focus more on what educators are doing as far as theories and the impact an educator’s disposition towards grammar has on the way students learn grammar.
Following this point the authors make the connection that by teaching grammar, one is also “ helping them to generate content.” While often time’s grammar is thought of as disconnected with content, the authors here are saying understanding correct grammar works with content and does not distract.
The author’s then make the point that the past way grammar has been taught is not helpful, in their words, “ teaching traditional grammar in isolation is not a very practical act.” That what has shown to be affective is, “ drawing upon literature for models or effective sentences and paragraphs, while incorporation only the most useful grammatical concepts…” This idea is somewhat similar to the very first blog read on “ engfish” the notion that the more direct a statement the easier it is for others to absorb and recognize in the future.
Weaver, McNally and Moerman finish the section with the idea that “teaching a limited number of grammatical concepts in the context of their use if far better than isolated grammar study in getting students to appreciate and use grammatical options and conventions more effectively. “ Then replacing the title question of to “Grammar or not to Grammar?” with asking about the different grammar aspects that could be manipulated to help connect students to the material. The authors subtle challenge teachers to risk with their lesson plans and theories a bit and try something new to reach out to students.
The next section of the article “ Connie: Prewriting and “ Grammar Emerging”. One of the authors opens up by describing the impact a book had on his or her view of how grammar can generate content. Using the example of how teaching a participial phrase and an absolute phrase helped students sort out details. The author states, “… my students found themselves able to infuse images and sensory details into their narratives and the use of detail even seemed to carry over into their expository and persuasive writing.”
“Grammar Emerging through Prewrinting activities” is addressed next in the article. Athors described what was learned from seventh-grade teacher “ Sarah”. The teacher relized she had been educating her students in the traditional way of teaching grammar and how her students seemed to dread learning the material. Then once she began using mini lessons format, she received a positive response back from students and their grammar skills improved. While the ongoing theme of the article was apparent in this example, “ Grammar helps to generate ideas”, this particular section points out that it is a two way street. Those ideas can generate grammar and the two-cycle each other. Then in the article the next section addressed is on how grammar can be taught through poetry and even visual art. Those different forms of literature can express a general grammatical idea.
Carol McNally takes on the next part of the article in her section, “ Carol: Learning Grammar with The Giver.” McNally gives a description on Connie Weaver’s unique teaching method to help students, “ expand their syntactic repertoire in order to write more syntactically sophisticated and rhetorically effective sentences” In McNally’s section she describes how Weaver took a segment of The Giver and transformed it to have the common errors middle students make in their writings. The students were then asked to correct the sentence to create more of a flow. Several examples such as that were done, addressing comma placement and the use of appositives. By this the teacher found a way to educate students on grammar in a subtle way. Which proved to be a positive experience, according to Weaver, “ students were engaged in improving their writing, not just learning grammar for the sake of knowing the proper terminology or in order to pass a grammar test.”
Preceding this was “ Connie Revision of Sentences and paragraphs”. The author focuses more on “ teaching the teacher” in this section. Stating that “ we tend to teach as we were taught, limiting ourselves mostly to the “ correcting of sentences.” The author states that there is a need to do better. The author then uses a personal experience during six years of her Jr. high and high school experience as a student who (like many) are graded without explanation or being provided an alternative. The author states that for her students she will often put herself in their shoes asking, “ What, I asked myself, would I do to help the writer make the sentence structures themselves more interesting…?” She brings up the idea that even the revision strategies should be reinvented. Not to just “ red pen” students work but to instead advocate and nurtures.
Page 28, “ Sharon: Putting Conventions into Perspective and Helping Students Edit” The story about Chastity’s very touching and moving piece conceptually, however due to grammar and structure it had the potential to be a failing paper. Instead the author (seeing Chastity’s emotional intellect and ability to verbalize what she feels) then takes the opportunity to give a little extra help to her student to edit the paper. Therefore Chastity’s redeeming writing qualities would not go unnoticed. “ If I had focused on convention instead of content, I am not even sure she would have tried to write the piece.” Moerman showed her student that she recognized the depth of what she was saying, and then just helped to frame it in a grammatical context.
Due by class time on: Mon., March 21st, 2011 (right after spring break!!!)
The responses by the whole class are due by class time on: Wed., March 23rd, 2011
The text you need to read is here.
________________________________________________________
By Samantha Sturm
The article “To Grammar or Not to Grammar: That Is Not the Question!” by Constance Weaver, Carol McNally and Sharon Moerman, portrays the issue of why grammar should be taught. The author’s focus mostly on what teachers are doing based on theories and how their attitude’s towards grammar effect how their student’s learn grammar. The idea of how grammar helps to generate content and vise versa is a common reoccurrence throughout the whole article. It is the idea that focusing more on content helps to identify grammar mistakes and topics in writing and focusing on grammar as well helps in identifying content mistakes and topics.
The article as well focuses on different activities a teacher can do to help their students “appreciate and use longer, more interesting sentences, and to draw upon a wider repertoire of syntactic options” (19), and the importance of keeping in perspective the conventions of writing while also helping students to learn to edit their own writing.
In the article, the authors explain several different methods used to help grammar to emerge. Prewriting activities help students organize their thoughts and provide aid to those students who have trouble with the writing process in general. The authors identify that grammar is also emerging through art and literature. They give an example of one student that wrote a remarkable poem that went along with her piece of artwork.
Next in the article, the authors talk about how teachers tend to teach how they were taught which limits them to mostly correcting sentences. They emphasize how it is adverse that teachers ignore the potential for revision and instead mark up a student’s paper with red ink all over it; in essence making the writing assignment a mere opportunity for testing and more than likely demoralizing the student as a writer. The authors state instead of the previous reason for revisions, “much better to help students…become more proficient in writing by making the writing situation an opportunity for genuine teaching” (27). They explain that helping students to learn different revision strategies at the sentence and paragraph level will be more beneficial.
The authors give an example of content in relation to grammar skills in that one student did exceptionally well with her content in an essay, she was able to convey feelings and put the reader right there with her, however her grammar errors were prudent and took away from the essay. The teacher decided to sit down and have a one on one conference with the student and had her read the essay aloud. The student read it how she intended it to be read and was able to go from there on correcting the grammar mistakes. The teacher concluded that, “I simply must allow my eighth graders time to grow as writers, teach them to say what they mean first, encourage them to effectively communicate their thoughts and ideas. Writing is a process” (31).
The authors conclude that teaching grammar through skills and drills is not so effective as one might think. Instead they suggest that teacher’s aide in the writing process and especially the revision process so that they may help their students grow gradually as writers. The authors agree that teaching grammar is important, meaningful, and useful. However they believe that grammar should be taught only as it aids writing or in an elective course. “It’s a question of why, when, what and how to teach selected aspects of grammar, in order to strengthen students’ writing” (33).
_____________________________________________________
By: Nicole Hester.
In Constance Weaver, Carol McNally and Sharon Moerman’s article “ To Grammar or Not to Grammar: That Is Not the Queston!” the issue of why grammar should be taught in the first place is addressed (clearly). The authors address a disconnect to what students have been taught (and seem to comprehend in class), and what is used in everyday conversation or in writing. Also in the article is a constant theme of how grammar helps generate content and then how content helps to generate correct grammar. Another theme is the way in which grammar is taught and where teachers evaluate concept over structure… or if there has to be one writing aspect that is held at a higher value. The authors then go into more detail describing how students are being taught to identify the structure of a sentence (knowing what a “ noun” or “ verb” look like) in contrast stated in the article, “ for most students teaching grammar as sentence analysis is another reason why the grammar doesn’t transfer to student writing.” The authors seem to focus more on what educators are doing as far as theories and the impact an educator’s disposition towards grammar has on the way students learn grammar.
Following this point the authors make the connection that by teaching grammar, one is also “ helping them to generate content.” While often time’s grammar is thought of as disconnected with content, the authors here are saying understanding correct grammar works with content and does not distract.
The author’s then make the point that the past way grammar has been taught is not helpful, in their words, “ teaching traditional grammar in isolation is not a very practical act.” That what has shown to be affective is, “ drawing upon literature for models or effective sentences and paragraphs, while incorporation only the most useful grammatical concepts…” This idea is somewhat similar to the very first blog read on “ engfish” the notion that the more direct a statement the easier it is for others to absorb and recognize in the future.
Weaver, McNally and Moerman finish the section with the idea that “teaching a limited number of grammatical concepts in the context of their use if far better than isolated grammar study in getting students to appreciate and use grammatical options and conventions more effectively. “ Then replacing the title question of to “Grammar or not to Grammar?” with asking about the different grammar aspects that could be manipulated to help connect students to the material. The authors subtle challenge teachers to risk with their lesson plans and theories a bit and try something new to reach out to students.
The next section of the article “ Connie: Prewriting and “ Grammar Emerging”. One of the authors opens up by describing the impact a book had on his or her view of how grammar can generate content. Using the example of how teaching a participial phrase and an absolute phrase helped students sort out details. The author states, “… my students found themselves able to infuse images and sensory details into their narratives and the use of detail even seemed to carry over into their expository and persuasive writing.”
“Grammar Emerging through Prewrinting activities” is addressed next in the article. Athors described what was learned from seventh-grade teacher “ Sarah”. The teacher relized she had been educating her students in the traditional way of teaching grammar and how her students seemed to dread learning the material. Then once she began using mini lessons format, she received a positive response back from students and their grammar skills improved. While the ongoing theme of the article was apparent in this example, “ Grammar helps to generate ideas”, this particular section points out that it is a two way street. Those ideas can generate grammar and the two-cycle each other. Then in the article the next section addressed is on how grammar can be taught through poetry and even visual art. Those different forms of literature can express a general grammatical idea.
Carol McNally takes on the next part of the article in her section, “ Carol: Learning Grammar with The Giver.” McNally gives a description on Connie Weaver’s unique teaching method to help students, “ expand their syntactic repertoire in order to write more syntactically sophisticated and rhetorically effective sentences” In McNally’s section she describes how Weaver took a segment of The Giver and transformed it to have the common errors middle students make in their writings. The students were then asked to correct the sentence to create more of a flow. Several examples such as that were done, addressing comma placement and the use of appositives. By this the teacher found a way to educate students on grammar in a subtle way. Which proved to be a positive experience, according to Weaver, “ students were engaged in improving their writing, not just learning grammar for the sake of knowing the proper terminology or in order to pass a grammar test.”
Preceding this was “ Connie Revision of Sentences and paragraphs”. The author focuses more on “ teaching the teacher” in this section. Stating that “ we tend to teach as we were taught, limiting ourselves mostly to the “ correcting of sentences.” The author states that there is a need to do better. The author then uses a personal experience during six years of her Jr. high and high school experience as a student who (like many) are graded without explanation or being provided an alternative. The author states that for her students she will often put herself in their shoes asking, “ What, I asked myself, would I do to help the writer make the sentence structures themselves more interesting…?” She brings up the idea that even the revision strategies should be reinvented. Not to just “ red pen” students work but to instead advocate and nurtures.
Page 28, “ Sharon: Putting Conventions into Perspective and Helping Students Edit” The story about Chastity’s very touching and moving piece conceptually, however due to grammar and structure it had the potential to be a failing paper. Instead the author (seeing Chastity’s emotional intellect and ability to verbalize what she feels) then takes the opportunity to give a little extra help to her student to edit the paper. Therefore Chastity’s redeeming writing qualities would not go unnoticed. “ If I had focused on convention instead of content, I am not even sure she would have tried to write the piece.” Moerman showed her student that she recognized the depth of what she was saying, and then just helped to frame it in a grammatical context.
Blog Post 21: Grammar Without Grammar
The reading summary is done by: Terrance Peacock (ENGL300-1) and Nathan Pearce (ENGL300-2)
Due by class time on: Friday, March 11th, 2011
The responses by the whole class are due by class time on: Mon., March 21st, 2011 (right after spring break!!!)
The text you need to read is here.
____________________________________________________
By: Alisha Robinson
Many teachers do not define their student's success by the test scores. Instead they value the knowledge a student has learned overall. In the article entitled, "Grammar without Grammar: Just Playing around, Writing", author Deborah Dean secretly teaches her students grammar.
When Dean first started teaching she recalls going by the book and teaching the districts objectives. She taught her students how to identify adjectives, adverbs, diagram subjects and direct objects. Because she was a new teacher she never ventured outside of those guidelines, devoting a total of four hours just to grammar. She realized that this was not enough, the kids needed more help with their writing. Her students could not list the parts of speech or do sentence sequencing. Dean tried different teaching methods after reading a book by Edward P.J. Corbett and Robert Connors, entitled, "Classic Rhetoric for the Modern Student". Her idea was to try an older method of instruction called sentence imitation. After making the sentences more relatable to the kids they began to get the hang of it.
After practicing using sentence imitation the students began to explore different ways of expressing an idea effectivly. They would pick a part sentences, for example, "the alley endeed at an empty, padlocked garage." The different parts would be: 'the alley ended', 'it ended at a garage', 'the garage was empty', and 'the garage was padlocked'.Some of the kids were able to find more ideas than others, but Dean's purpose was to show the kids that you may "innately embed several smaller ideas and not even realize it". They would have to then rearrange each sentence to create something similar to the first model.
The entire exercise was meant to improve their writing. Dean incorporated this into drafting essays, allowing her students to practice and for her to visually examine progress of their sentence structures. They can see what they say and how. And view the changes of sentencing from simple to complex.
At the end of the instruction Dean asks her students to name the parts of speech or their functions, however her kids were unable to do so. This is when Dean reaches a monumental place in her teaching career, she realizes that even though her students cannot identify the parts of grammar they have still learned something. She ends her article by saying, "they [students] know grammar -they just don't know that they do."
Due by class time on: Friday, March 11th, 2011
The responses by the whole class are due by class time on: Mon., March 21st, 2011 (right after spring break!!!)
The text you need to read is here.
____________________________________________________
By: Alisha Robinson
Many teachers do not define their student's success by the test scores. Instead they value the knowledge a student has learned overall. In the article entitled, "Grammar without Grammar: Just Playing around, Writing", author Deborah Dean secretly teaches her students grammar.
When Dean first started teaching she recalls going by the book and teaching the districts objectives. She taught her students how to identify adjectives, adverbs, diagram subjects and direct objects. Because she was a new teacher she never ventured outside of those guidelines, devoting a total of four hours just to grammar. She realized that this was not enough, the kids needed more help with their writing. Her students could not list the parts of speech or do sentence sequencing. Dean tried different teaching methods after reading a book by Edward P.J. Corbett and Robert Connors, entitled, "Classic Rhetoric for the Modern Student". Her idea was to try an older method of instruction called sentence imitation. After making the sentences more relatable to the kids they began to get the hang of it.
After practicing using sentence imitation the students began to explore different ways of expressing an idea effectivly. They would pick a part sentences, for example, "the alley endeed at an empty, padlocked garage." The different parts would be: 'the alley ended', 'it ended at a garage', 'the garage was empty', and 'the garage was padlocked'.Some of the kids were able to find more ideas than others, but Dean's purpose was to show the kids that you may "innately embed several smaller ideas and not even realize it". They would have to then rearrange each sentence to create something similar to the first model.
The entire exercise was meant to improve their writing. Dean incorporated this into drafting essays, allowing her students to practice and for her to visually examine progress of their sentence structures. They can see what they say and how. And view the changes of sentencing from simple to complex.
At the end of the instruction Dean asks her students to name the parts of speech or their functions, however her kids were unable to do so. This is when Dean reaches a monumental place in her teaching career, she realizes that even though her students cannot identify the parts of grammar they have still learned something. She ends her article by saying, "they [students] know grammar -they just don't know that they do."
Blog Post 20: Grammar Instruction: What Teachers Say
The reading summary is done by: Allison Trutter (ENGL300-1) and Karina Enriquez (ENGL300-2)
Due by class time on: Wed., March 9th, 2011
The responses by the whole class are due by class time on: Friday, March 11th, 2011
The text you need to read is here.
By: Karina Enriquez
In the article, Grammar Instruction: What Teachers Say by Brenda Arnett Petruzzella, the author explains the differences between what prospective teachers are learning versus what practicing teachers are actually doing. Practicing teachers believe grammar should be implemented in students' classes. On the other hand, while Petruzzella was still in college, it was considered a "waste of time."
While she was in college, she encountered many instances when she peer edited another students work and did not know "how to" explain to them what mistakes she found because the students were illiterate to grammar. Now, the question is, should grammar be taught in the classroom? Why, yes of course! In the article, the author mentions how students felt about grammar. They were frustrated because all along grammar was not enforced by their teachers and by the time college came around, grammar was something knew they had to become familiar with. Teaching grammar instruction in the classroom is a necessity because it enhances a students work and mind.
Nowadays, grammar is being taught in some form that students are able to grasp the main idea of each grammar point. One teacher uses a different way of implementing grammar into an English course by holding one-on-one conferences with the student to better explain what problems he or she is struggling with. Another teacher also uses the same concept by discussing a students paper and pinpointing the mistakes instead of writing the comments on the paper because she thinks it won't be as effective and most students do not pay attention to the comments teachers leave. Another teacher thinks the whole concept of teaching grammar in the classroom is plain silly. She does agree that grammar should be somewhat implemented in students studies but the question is how much grammar should be taught and how to teach it. As a result, all three teachers used the concept of holding individual conferences to discuss what the student is having difficulty grasping grammatical errors.
In conclusion, teachers think it is vital to teach grammar in English courses. They want to find different ways to implement such instruction so that the class is interested in learning more rather than boring them. One concept that is still working these days is holding individual conferences to help the student grasp certain grammar concepts so that they don't make the same mistake again. This way has shown to be effective and more understanding for students than by teaching a grammar lesson as a whole.
_______________________________________________
In her article, "Grammar Instruction: What Teachers Say," Petruzzella talks about teachers' attitudes towards teaching grammar. First, Petruzzella notes that as time has gone on, grammar instruction has been labeled as something to abandoned. She claims that when she was in school she learned grammar instruction, and in college her teacher's did not encourage her to teach grammar to students. In the future, this made it hard for her as a teacher to talk to students about their writing, because she could not use grammatical terminology that her students did not recognize. Furthermore, when Petruzella was a student teacher supervisor she found that many of the student teachers did not receive much grammar instruction, and then were required to teach it.
Additionally, Petruzella comes to find that despite research and the discouragement from college classes, many classroom teachers still teach some form of grammar. After talking to many teachers, Petruzella found out that researchers and classroom teachers have different meanings for "grammar" or "grammar instruction." Research/studies use grammar instruction to, "refer to isolated memorization of rules and terminology and pages of skill and drill practice." However, Petruzella said that classroom teachers, "tend to use the term grammar for what might be more properly labeled as mechanics- usage skills such as subject-verb agreement, punctuation, and even spelling- which obviously do affect the readability of writing."
Petruzella interviewed 25 teachers about their opinions of the previously stated topic. She shows six teachers' opinions, but concludes all of them, "believe that grammar skills are best taught in the context of the students' own writing, though drills or worksheets may be used to reinforce specific concepts." Also, Petruzella found that the teachers teach more grammar to higher-level students than lower-level ones, because "college-bound students needs it more, and the lower-level students are more resistant to learning it."
In conclusion, Petruzella says she wants to finally end the grammar debate, and for professionals to all agree that grammar drills are only needed for "accuracy in usage" that is wanted, and for writing. Also, the author says that many teachers believe they should focus on more important issues, "like how to get composition classes down to reasonable sizes where individual conferencing is practicable, how to get word processors in the hands of all of our students, and how to get our students to read more."
By: Alli Trutter
Due by class time on: Wed., March 9th, 2011
The responses by the whole class are due by class time on: Friday, March 11th, 2011
The text you need to read is here.
By: Karina Enriquez
In the article, Grammar Instruction: What Teachers Say by Brenda Arnett Petruzzella, the author explains the differences between what prospective teachers are learning versus what practicing teachers are actually doing. Practicing teachers believe grammar should be implemented in students' classes. On the other hand, while Petruzzella was still in college, it was considered a "waste of time."
While she was in college, she encountered many instances when she peer edited another students work and did not know "how to" explain to them what mistakes she found because the students were illiterate to grammar. Now, the question is, should grammar be taught in the classroom? Why, yes of course! In the article, the author mentions how students felt about grammar. They were frustrated because all along grammar was not enforced by their teachers and by the time college came around, grammar was something knew they had to become familiar with. Teaching grammar instruction in the classroom is a necessity because it enhances a students work and mind.
Nowadays, grammar is being taught in some form that students are able to grasp the main idea of each grammar point. One teacher uses a different way of implementing grammar into an English course by holding one-on-one conferences with the student to better explain what problems he or she is struggling with. Another teacher also uses the same concept by discussing a students paper and pinpointing the mistakes instead of writing the comments on the paper because she thinks it won't be as effective and most students do not pay attention to the comments teachers leave. Another teacher thinks the whole concept of teaching grammar in the classroom is plain silly. She does agree that grammar should be somewhat implemented in students studies but the question is how much grammar should be taught and how to teach it. As a result, all three teachers used the concept of holding individual conferences to discuss what the student is having difficulty grasping grammatical errors.
In conclusion, teachers think it is vital to teach grammar in English courses. They want to find different ways to implement such instruction so that the class is interested in learning more rather than boring them. One concept that is still working these days is holding individual conferences to help the student grasp certain grammar concepts so that they don't make the same mistake again. This way has shown to be effective and more understanding for students than by teaching a grammar lesson as a whole.
_______________________________________________
In her article, "Grammar Instruction: What Teachers Say," Petruzzella talks about teachers' attitudes towards teaching grammar. First, Petruzzella notes that as time has gone on, grammar instruction has been labeled as something to abandoned. She claims that when she was in school she learned grammar instruction, and in college her teacher's did not encourage her to teach grammar to students. In the future, this made it hard for her as a teacher to talk to students about their writing, because she could not use grammatical terminology that her students did not recognize. Furthermore, when Petruzella was a student teacher supervisor she found that many of the student teachers did not receive much grammar instruction, and then were required to teach it.
Additionally, Petruzella comes to find that despite research and the discouragement from college classes, many classroom teachers still teach some form of grammar. After talking to many teachers, Petruzella found out that researchers and classroom teachers have different meanings for "grammar" or "grammar instruction." Research/studies use grammar instruction to, "refer to isolated memorization of rules and terminology and pages of skill and drill practice." However, Petruzella said that classroom teachers, "tend to use the term grammar for what might be more properly labeled as mechanics- usage skills such as subject-verb agreement, punctuation, and even spelling- which obviously do affect the readability of writing."
Petruzella interviewed 25 teachers about their opinions of the previously stated topic. She shows six teachers' opinions, but concludes all of them, "believe that grammar skills are best taught in the context of the students' own writing, though drills or worksheets may be used to reinforce specific concepts." Also, Petruzella found that the teachers teach more grammar to higher-level students than lower-level ones, because "college-bound students needs it more, and the lower-level students are more resistant to learning it."
In conclusion, Petruzella says she wants to finally end the grammar debate, and for professionals to all agree that grammar drills are only needed for "accuracy in usage" that is wanted, and for writing. Also, the author says that many teachers believe they should focus on more important issues, "like how to get composition classes down to reasonable sizes where individual conferencing is practicable, how to get word processors in the hands of all of our students, and how to get our students to read more."
By: Alli Trutter
Blog Post 19: Collaboration: Writing Center Tutorials vs. Peer-Response Groups
The reading summary is done by: Dakota Bowman (ENGL300-1) and Juvonna McGarry (ENGL300-2)
Due by class time on: Monday, March 7th, 2011
The responses by the whole class are due by class time on: Wed., March 9th, 2011
The text you need to read is here.
Due by class time on: Monday, March 7th, 2011
The responses by the whole class are due by class time on: Wed., March 9th, 2011
The text you need to read is here.
Blog Post 18: Fry Graph: How to Calculate Your Readability
The reading summary is done by: Lidia Brown (ENGL300-1) and Megan Berns (ENGL300-2)
Due by class time on: Fri., March 4th, 2011 (although today is off!!!)
The responses by the whole class are due by class time on: Mon., March 7th, 2011
The text you need to read is here.
Due by class time on: Fri., March 4th, 2011 (although today is off!!!)
The responses by the whole class are due by class time on: Mon., March 7th, 2011
The text you need to read is here.
Blog Post 17: How to Write an Abstract
The reading summary is done by: Brianna White (ENGL300-1) and Joe Fleischauer (ENGL300-2)
Due by class time on: Wednesday, March 2nd, 2011
The responses by the whole class are due by class time on: Fri., March 4th, 2011 (although this day is off!!!)
The text you need to read is here.
Due by class time on: Wednesday, March 2nd, 2011
The responses by the whole class are due by class time on: Fri., March 4th, 2011 (although this day is off!!!)
The text you need to read is here.
Blog Post 16: Dialect Boundaries
The reading summary is done by: Christopher Houston (ENGL300-1) and Rashonda Boone (ENGL300-2)
Due by class time on: Mon., Feb. 28th, 2011
The responses by the whole class are due by class time on: Wed., March 2nd, 2011
The text you need to read is here.
BY Rashonda Boone
First, I would like to start off saying that this was a very interesting article. Author Erica J. Benson covers a lot of about various dialect and how it affects the world today. She talks about about the traditional dialect and how it fails to cover all types of new dialect that is starting to develop withing different parts of the world today. She pushes the fact of evolution within dialects and within the way it is used in society. She also discusses perceptual dialectology and how it influences perceptions of a certain dialect which therefore encourages production boundaries that will allow language to expand.
I like this article because Benson really breaks down the process with language development and the growth of a new dialect. She stresses the point quite frequently in this article that, by attempting to build a better dialect it arouses the interest of more people and more people more diversity. Benson also says the article, "studies in perceptual dialectologycan inform our understanding of the criteria that are important to the folk in defining dialect regions and should be considered in the constructionof dialect maps." Benson talks about Linguistics and defining and developing characteristics that makes this a certain dialect its own.
Finally, the author also deals with dialect and its connect wit regions. Benson ties to get readers to understand that this dialect boundaries are not just to get a better view of peoples attitudes and way of lifes but it is to also witness the variation in the speech community as a whole. In the article Benson gives a lot of examples in maps of how dialect is being used in different areas of the world. for example, in the article there a map of Urban dialect being used. It also gives perfect examples of how people are responding to these dialects. I think it is important for the author to include this so that readers could relate because sometimes as readers if we cant connect to what is being said then the information because irrelevant to us.
Due by class time on: Mon., Feb. 28th, 2011
The responses by the whole class are due by class time on: Wed., March 2nd, 2011
The text you need to read is here.
BY Rashonda Boone
First, I would like to start off saying that this was a very interesting article. Author Erica J. Benson covers a lot of about various dialect and how it affects the world today. She talks about about the traditional dialect and how it fails to cover all types of new dialect that is starting to develop withing different parts of the world today. She pushes the fact of evolution within dialects and within the way it is used in society. She also discusses perceptual dialectology and how it influences perceptions of a certain dialect which therefore encourages production boundaries that will allow language to expand.
I like this article because Benson really breaks down the process with language development and the growth of a new dialect. She stresses the point quite frequently in this article that, by attempting to build a better dialect it arouses the interest of more people and more people more diversity. Benson also says the article, "studies in perceptual dialectologycan inform our understanding of the criteria that are important to the folk in defining dialect regions and should be considered in the constructionof dialect maps." Benson talks about Linguistics and defining and developing characteristics that makes this a certain dialect its own.
Finally, the author also deals with dialect and its connect wit regions. Benson ties to get readers to understand that this dialect boundaries are not just to get a better view of peoples attitudes and way of lifes but it is to also witness the variation in the speech community as a whole. In the article Benson gives a lot of examples in maps of how dialect is being used in different areas of the world. for example, in the article there a map of Urban dialect being used. It also gives perfect examples of how people are responding to these dialects. I think it is important for the author to include this so that readers could relate because sometimes as readers if we cant connect to what is being said then the information because irrelevant to us.
Blog Post 15: A 1925 Lesson in Slang
The reading summary is done by: Alisha Robinson (ENGL300-1) and Derek Campbell (ENGL300-2)
Due by class time on: Friday, Feb. 25th, 2011
The responses by the whole class are due by class time on: Mon., Feb. 28th, 2011
The text you need to read is here.
__________________________________________________________
Alisha Robinson (300-01)
In the article entitled, "Slang: A Lesson in Ninth Grade Composition", author A. Bess Cook distinguishes the differences between language and slang. A teacher gives her group questions to reveal why slang exists but does not last. She begins her lesson by simply asking, "What does language exist for?" The children respond that language exists so we can make clear thoughts, have and express our thoughts. To further explore language she asks if slang exists for the same purpose. The children struggle to answer this and the teacher proceeds with her lesson. She gives an example of Lincoln's Gettysburg address, it is simple enough for anyone and everyone to understand. After this she reads Sir Walter Scott's "The Heart of Midlothan" from the talk of thieves, none of the students can understand this. To make her point she says that slang was the language of the thieves in Shakespeare's day. Slang was used to conceal a thought from most people. The word "kid" was once slang formerly used as "kidnab" which is "kidnap" today. Slang was a language for thieves and only amongst thieves. They decide that slang "isn't good taste according to our standard of usage." The teacher concludes her lesson by stating that 99 percent of slang passes away. In order for words and slang to maintain existence it must clearly express a thought, not be offensive, and be recognized by many people.
By: Derek Campbell
The article "Slang a Lesson in Composition" by A. Bess Clark is about learning what slang means to the English language. The article begins with a teacher asking the students What language exists for. One student answers that "To make your thoughts clear, and to have thoughts, and to express thoughts" (Clark 2). The teacher then asks if language expresses thoughts then does slang express thoughts as well? The student responds that most people speak correctly when they stop to think about what they say; however when people don't stop to think they use slang even if they don't mean to. The teacher then responds that the student didn't quite get the question. How many people use slang exist to express thought? The teacher then gives two examples from The Heart of Midlothian. The use of slang is italicized "She has got a jark from Jim Ratcliffe, and Frank here won't hear of putting her through the mill."(3) The students have no idea what this means so the teacher explains that a jark is a piece of paper that criminals give to others that protect the carrier from other criminals.
The teacher then explains that being put through a mill means robbing someone or at least making an attempt to rob them. The teacher then gives a second example this example is from American Magazine from a detective: "St-t-t. Put your duke under your tog so the harness dick won't know you're on the racket" (4). One of the students knows what these bits of slang actually mean. Dukes is slang for fists, a tog is a coat, a harness dick is a detective, and on the racket means on the job. The teacher then goes on to explain that "Slang was the language of thieves in Shakespeare's day. Thieves' slang existed and still exists for the purpose of concealing thought from most people" (4). The teacher then says the a great many of the thieves words work their way into our language constantly; such as the words "dame", "skirt", or "chicken" which is slang to describe a woman. The teacher then says that slang used to be a thieves only language all across Europe at one time. Another example the teacher gives is that the word "kid" to describe children came from the word "kidnab" which is now known as "kidnap". The teacher then tells a story of two American officers during the war. They were sitting in a barber shop and one man had to relay an important message to the other, however there was a spy also present and they knew it. So these two men used baseball slang that the spy could not figure out in order to relay the message. The teacher then asks the class what was wrong with their definition of language. If people use slang and people understand what it means, why isn't it real language? One student answers that it is not respectable and when asked what respectable meant the student answered that it meant well bred. The student went on to say that "It is not used by people who are supposed to know what good language is" (5). Which means language does not exist if it is offensive the teacher asks.
The teacher later asks what two things must a word do to stay with people. A student responds that it must be clear and inoffensive so that it can replace a different word. The teacher then says that the word slang comes from the Scandinavian word "slenja" which means to sling the jaw or to talk abusively. The teacher ends with students coming up with some of the slang they know, one of which is "window shopping" which is a phrase we still use today.
Due by class time on: Friday, Feb. 25th, 2011
The responses by the whole class are due by class time on: Mon., Feb. 28th, 2011
The text you need to read is here.
__________________________________________________________
Alisha Robinson (300-01)
In the article entitled, "Slang: A Lesson in Ninth Grade Composition", author A. Bess Cook distinguishes the differences between language and slang. A teacher gives her group questions to reveal why slang exists but does not last. She begins her lesson by simply asking, "What does language exist for?" The children respond that language exists so we can make clear thoughts, have and express our thoughts. To further explore language she asks if slang exists for the same purpose. The children struggle to answer this and the teacher proceeds with her lesson. She gives an example of Lincoln's Gettysburg address, it is simple enough for anyone and everyone to understand. After this she reads Sir Walter Scott's "The Heart of Midlothan" from the talk of thieves, none of the students can understand this. To make her point she says that slang was the language of the thieves in Shakespeare's day. Slang was used to conceal a thought from most people. The word "kid" was once slang formerly used as "kidnab" which is "kidnap" today. Slang was a language for thieves and only amongst thieves. They decide that slang "isn't good taste according to our standard of usage." The teacher concludes her lesson by stating that 99 percent of slang passes away. In order for words and slang to maintain existence it must clearly express a thought, not be offensive, and be recognized by many people.
By: Derek Campbell
The article "Slang a Lesson in Composition" by A. Bess Clark is about learning what slang means to the English language. The article begins with a teacher asking the students What language exists for. One student answers that "To make your thoughts clear, and to have thoughts, and to express thoughts" (Clark 2). The teacher then asks if language expresses thoughts then does slang express thoughts as well? The student responds that most people speak correctly when they stop to think about what they say; however when people don't stop to think they use slang even if they don't mean to. The teacher then responds that the student didn't quite get the question. How many people use slang exist to express thought? The teacher then gives two examples from The Heart of Midlothian. The use of slang is italicized "She has got a jark from Jim Ratcliffe, and Frank here won't hear of putting her through the mill."(3) The students have no idea what this means so the teacher explains that a jark is a piece of paper that criminals give to others that protect the carrier from other criminals.
The teacher then explains that being put through a mill means robbing someone or at least making an attempt to rob them. The teacher then gives a second example this example is from American Magazine from a detective: "St-t-t. Put your duke under your tog so the harness dick won't know you're on the racket" (4). One of the students knows what these bits of slang actually mean. Dukes is slang for fists, a tog is a coat, a harness dick is a detective, and on the racket means on the job. The teacher then goes on to explain that "Slang was the language of thieves in Shakespeare's day. Thieves' slang existed and still exists for the purpose of concealing thought from most people" (4). The teacher then says the a great many of the thieves words work their way into our language constantly; such as the words "dame", "skirt", or "chicken" which is slang to describe a woman. The teacher then says that slang used to be a thieves only language all across Europe at one time. Another example the teacher gives is that the word "kid" to describe children came from the word "kidnab" which is now known as "kidnap". The teacher then tells a story of two American officers during the war. They were sitting in a barber shop and one man had to relay an important message to the other, however there was a spy also present and they knew it. So these two men used baseball slang that the spy could not figure out in order to relay the message. The teacher then asks the class what was wrong with their definition of language. If people use slang and people understand what it means, why isn't it real language? One student answers that it is not respectable and when asked what respectable meant the student answered that it meant well bred. The student went on to say that "It is not used by people who are supposed to know what good language is" (5). Which means language does not exist if it is offensive the teacher asks.
The teacher later asks what two things must a word do to stay with people. A student responds that it must be clear and inoffensive so that it can replace a different word. The teacher then says that the word slang comes from the Scandinavian word "slenja" which means to sling the jaw or to talk abusively. The teacher ends with students coming up with some of the slang they know, one of which is "window shopping" which is a phrase we still use today.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Blog Post 14: Flipping the Switch
The reading summary is done by: Millard Curtis (ENGL300-1) and Kevin Flannery (ENGL300-2)
Due by class time on: Wed., Feb. 23rd, 2011
The responses by the whole class are due by class time on: Fri., Feb. 25th, 2011
The text you need to read is here.
Due by class time on: Wed., Feb. 23rd, 2011
The responses by the whole class are due by class time on: Fri., Feb. 25th, 2011
The text you need to read is here.
Blog Post 13: What Makes Texting Distinctive?
The reading summary is done by: Edgar Vargas (ENGL300-1) and Ross Henry (ENGL300-2)
Due by class time on: Monday, Feb. 21st, 2011
The responses by the whole class are due by class time on: Wed., Feb. 23rd, 2011
The text you need to read is here.
Due by class time on: Monday, Feb. 21st, 2011
The responses by the whole class are due by class time on: Wed., Feb. 23rd, 2011
The text you need to read is here.
Edgar Vargas
“Txting: The Gr8 Db8” is a book written by David Crystal. Crystal argues that the way people text today, is nothing different from how people use to write things down, even the ancients. He continues to state that there is no reason to novel over how people text today because it is nothing new.
Pictograms and Logograms
Logograms/Logographs “[is] the use of single letters, numerals, and typographic symbols to represent words, parts of words” (Crystal 37); examples include the following:
b = Be
2 = to
@ = at
Or in combiniation with other letters or numerals:
b 4: Before, etc.
What is important about Logograms is the pronunciation of the word, not the actual image. They are completely different from emoticons. Emoticons, however, are a form of pictograms. Pictograms use visual shapes to represent objects. There is a major difference between both.
@om = Atom
:@ = a screaming person
While pictograms symbolize a meaning, logograms sound like the image.
Crystal compares texting to hieroglyphics when a commentator confused them. He says that neither is close to same because hieroglyphics use both logograms and pictograms, whilst texting uses one or the other. However, Crystal continues, sometimes people do use the system of hieroglyphics; for example, “ Hetty’s poem (p. 16) where she uses ‘smiles’ as :-)s.”
Initialism
An initial is using the first letter of a word to shorten a name or a business; for example, NATO or BBC. However, there is a difference between the two; BBC is alphabetisms while NATO is a word a person can pronounce and say. The list goes on and on, giving example, such as “Q for queue or W/E for whatever or weekend.” Crystal argues that this is not surprising, seeing as others have done the same thing in the past, ie., pm which means post midiem (after midday), or RIP, AWOL, and the most famous, TTFN. Initials have been around since Latin was spoken, and is continued to surface over time to shorten phrases or words. Crystal believes that it is common for people to manipulate languages so they can provide a quick response easier.
Omitted Letters
Omitted letters is also common among texters, but this form of texting is a bit more spontaneous because each person is different, and may omit different letters. There are two distinct forms of omitting: Contractions is when a person omits from the middle of the word, or clippings when they omit a letter from the end of the word. Some examples include the following:
Msg = message
Txtin = texting
Rite = right/write
However, this form of texting is not new to the world either. People have used this form of short hand for the longest time; for example, Mr. and Mrs, or Sgt. and Lt. Even governments have integrated this use of short hand into their daily writings.
Nonstandard Spellings
Texters misspell words, unconsciously and deliberately. However, it is important to take note that majority of misspellings are done on purpose and is a form of short hand; for example, cos and cuz mean because, or shud means should. Texters know the language in which they speak and text/type in, so majority of their misspellings are on purpose. But again, Crystal shows us that this isn’t a novelty. The short hand for because (cos) has been used since 1828, and what (wot) was created the following year. It is common theme to believe that the language texters use now is new, but it reality it is common to change and manipulate languages.
Shortenings:
Shortening is when a person takes out the prefix or suffix of the word, or completely drops half the letters from a word; for example, absolutely becomes absol, or doctor becomes doc. However, this is not new either. Crystal says that people have been using this form of short hand the longest. Students shorten the classes they are taking from biology to bio, Literature to lit, and so on and so forth.
Genuine Novelties
Crystal says that there are new forms of short-hand; however most are used to one up the other. He uses the example of “IMO” which stands for “in my opinion;” texters created new texts by adding certain letters, for example “IMHO,” stands for “in my honest opinion,” which is new, but at the same time a big deal.
Crystal continues to argue that this will continue to happen. Languages evolves.
Blog Post 12: American Sign Language and Grammar
The reading summary is done by: Lauren Foley (ENGL300-1) and Greg Nehrkorn (ENGL300-2)
Due by class time on: Fri., Feb. 18th, 2011
The responses by the whole class are due by class time on: Mon., Feb. 21st, 2011
The text you need to read is here.
By: Lauren Foley
To begin, the article was about American Sign Language and Grammar. It is defined as “visual gestural language, which incorporates facial grammatical markers, physical affect markers, spatial linguistic information and finger spelling, as well as sign made with the hands” (Humphrey and Alcorn). The article started out explaining how it can be difficult for people to notice the grammatical details in their native-language. They compare it to an infant; infants acquire their language through constant exposure, but no nothing more than how it works. If we put more effort into learning how language works, grammar would actually be paid attention to. The grammar of language can be looked at basically as “the foundation for its form, organization, and functionality”. The article goes on to explain how language has special functions that all work together just like the human body.
The article “ASL Grammar “is about American sign language and grammar. ASL is described by Humphrey and Alcorn as “a visual-gestural language which incorporates facial grammatical markers, physical affect markers, spatial linguistic information and fingerspelling, as well as signs made with the hands.” The author defines grammar as a language’s system of use, essentially how a language functions.
All people use grammar on a daily basis but most are unable to refer to grammatical details within their native language. The article uses the example of how children learn and use language. Basically, a young child is constantly exposed to a language by the people that surround them. Although they have no knowledge of how the language actually functions, they can learn how to use it properly by trial and error. In a native language, there is very little reason to actually learn about its inner workings unless we want to build on our skills or learn a new language.
Grammar is the foundation of a language. Without grammar, one cannot communicate. Vocabulary is not a language without grammar. Different parts of language have specialized functions that work together to support communication.
An important part of grammar is a sign’s “part of speech” –its purpose. Parts of speech for ASL include: Noun, verb, adjective, adverb, pronoun, preposition, conjunction, and interjection. There are two key differences between English as a spoken language and ASL: Passive voice and articles. Neither is used in ASL.
Syntax refers to word order, order of expression and organization of words. The syntax of languages can vary widely. Word-order, accent and topicalization are things that need to be understood in order to understand a language. Within ASL most topicalized sentences look like this: Object > Subject > Verb. There is often a pause after announcing the object. This establishes the topic; the rest of the sentence is referred to as the comment. If time has not been established it must be the first thing in a sentence; time > object > subject > verb.
The subject is the one that carries out an activity. The object is the one that receiving what the subject does. All verbs in ASL are always in the infinitive form.
Due by class time on: Fri., Feb. 18th, 2011
The responses by the whole class are due by class time on: Mon., Feb. 21st, 2011
The text you need to read is here.
By: Lauren Foley
To begin, the article was about American Sign Language and Grammar. It is defined as “visual gestural language, which incorporates facial grammatical markers, physical affect markers, spatial linguistic information and finger spelling, as well as sign made with the hands” (Humphrey and Alcorn). The article started out explaining how it can be difficult for people to notice the grammatical details in their native-language. They compare it to an infant; infants acquire their language through constant exposure, but no nothing more than how it works. If we put more effort into learning how language works, grammar would actually be paid attention to. The grammar of language can be looked at basically as “the foundation for its form, organization, and functionality”. The article goes on to explain how language has special functions that all work together just like the human body.
A huge part of grammar is its assigned function, or purpose. The different parents of ASL include:
1) Noun
2) Verb
3) Adjective
4) Pronoun
5) Preposition
6) Conjunction
7) Interjection
Two differences between ASL and English are passive voice and articles. These are not part of ASL, but are part of the English language. The article then moves on to syntax. Syntax includes word order, accent, topicalization, and time. Tense is something that English-language users can just change the verb to clarify the tense. ASL can express tense through sign choice and sign location. The article finishes up with giving definitions and/or examples of subject, predicate, object, and infinitive. All of these are important factors in language, grammar, and ASL.
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by: Gregory Nehrkorn
ual-geThe article “ASL Grammar “is about American sign language and grammar. ASL is described by Humphrey and Alcorn as “a visual-gestural language which incorporates facial grammatical markers, physical affect markers, spatial linguistic information and fingerspelling, as well as signs made with the hands.” The author defines grammar as a language’s system of use, essentially how a language functions.
All people use grammar on a daily basis but most are unable to refer to grammatical details within their native language. The article uses the example of how children learn and use language. Basically, a young child is constantly exposed to a language by the people that surround them. Although they have no knowledge of how the language actually functions, they can learn how to use it properly by trial and error. In a native language, there is very little reason to actually learn about its inner workings unless we want to build on our skills or learn a new language.
Grammar is the foundation of a language. Without grammar, one cannot communicate. Vocabulary is not a language without grammar. Different parts of language have specialized functions that work together to support communication.
An important part of grammar is a sign’s “part of speech” –its purpose. Parts of speech for ASL include: Noun, verb, adjective, adverb, pronoun, preposition, conjunction, and interjection. There are two key differences between English as a spoken language and ASL: Passive voice and articles. Neither is used in ASL.
Syntax refers to word order, order of expression and organization of words. The syntax of languages can vary widely. Word-order, accent and topicalization are things that need to be understood in order to understand a language. Within ASL most topicalized sentences look like this: Object > Subject > Verb. There is often a pause after announcing the object. This establishes the topic; the rest of the sentence is referred to as the comment. If time has not been established it must be the first thing in a sentence; time > object > subject > verb.
The subject is the one that carries out an activity. The object is the one that receiving what the subject does. All verbs in ASL are always in the infinitive form.
Blog Post 11: Twins and Language Development
The reading summary is done by: Andrew Anderson (ENGL300-1) and Nick Compton (ENGL300-2)
Due by class time on: Wed., Feb. 16th, 2011
The responses by the whole class are due by class time on: Fri., Feb. 18th, 2011
The text you need to read is here.
by: Andrew Anderson
Ganger starts out the article talking about how twins may be delayed in language development, and how they may be more prone to language disabilities. Ganger researched several other articles to obtain the relationship between twins and language development. She goes on to say that there is a consensus between the articles reviewed that being a twin does in fact make a child more prone to language delays. However, singletons can be affected by the same factors, but are less likely. One of the studies Ganger reviewed was the Day (1932) article. In this study Day observed utterances from children while they were playing and measured them on language complexity. He found that twins could be behind by as much as two years by the age of five. The next study Ganger reviewed was the Davis (1937) article. This author used the same method as the previous study, but used children a little older. He found that twins were more likely to have articulation problems, but would catch up to singletons on average.
Next, Ganger goes on to discuss the flaws with the studies. She found that there was no effort to exclude twins who had language, speech, or hearing pathology. Also, information such as birth weight, and gestation period weren't recorded which could be factors in language delay. Another fault with these studies was that twins were averaged as a group, but the twin's data aren't independent of his/her twin.
After discussing the flaws, Ganger goes on to discuss other studies that have been done following the Day and Davis articles. One article by Lytton and Conway found that generally use less speech overall, and that environmental variables affect speech more than biological factors. One other study by Akermann and Thomassen found that low birth weight plays a role in standardized language capabilities.
Next, Ganger discusses non-biological variables affecting language development. In an article by Reznick, it was found that the twin situation may not be that different that the normal sibling situation. The lower a child is in the birth order the more disadvantages he/she has on IQ tests. Also, generally the more older siblings you have, the lower your IQ. Ganger finishes the article by making sure the point taken from this article was not that twin's language is doomed and hopeless. All of the results outlined are found on average, not in every situation. It is not the fact of being a twin that can slow language development, rather the factors that are associated with being a twin.
____________________________________________________________
By Nick Compton
The website Are Twins Delayed in Language Development was prepared by Jennifer Ganger. This website was created to explore whether or not twins are delayed in language development. Ganger starts with an introduction that reviews some conclusions that she found on the topic. The conclusions suggest that being a twin does indeed delay language development because of social and biological factors. However, these factors also have an effect on some singletons and not all twins. This is why Ganger believes twins should not be considered as their own special population.
Next Ganger went on to her first body paragraph on the subject, The Early Years. In this section, research from the 1930s is shown. The two research documents are Day and Davis. Day’s research consisted of studying 80 pairs of twins and 140 singletons from ages 1.5-5.5. The research showed that twins were roughly 2 years behind singletons in measures of language complexity. However, Ganger found a few problems with the results. Twins with language, speech, or hearing pathology were not excluded, which is more common in twins. There was no recorded birth weight or twin gestation, or birth order. Also, some twins were observed together, which created situations for them to compete against each other for attention causing utterances. The final problem Ganger found was that the groups’ statistics were all averaged and then compared, which was flawed because some twins were observed together.
Ganger then decided to look into research done in the 70s and 80s. In the research of Lytton (1980) and Conway, Lytton, & Pysh (1980), Ganger saw results that were similar to those of the 30s. These researchers claimed that biological and environmental differences lead to language delays in twins. Also, they called the environmental differences more significant than biological.
Information from studies in the 70s by Mittler followed. His studies suggest that twins at the age of 4 years old were roughly 6 months behind singletons of the same age. Yet again, Ganger found problems with the research. Mittler’s research suggested that children whose first word came after 18 months performed worse than those born earlier. Other research from the 70s, this time by McKeown and Edwards showed that twins averaged 5 points lower on tests in the 11th grade. After this information Ganger decided to throw in a random bit of research. In this research by Hay, Prior, Collett, and Williams it is shown that twin boys at the ages 30 months were 2 to 6 months behind the norm while twin girls were about the same as singletons.
Next Ganger explored Biological factors. According to research, low birth weight singletons had similar measures of intellect as twins. The twin’s numbers were significantly better than the singletons in some cases. Non-Biological factors showed that birth order effects IQ in all children, the youngest child has the lowest IQ on average. Ganger finishes by wrapping up her thoughts, she concludes that being a twin doesn’t make one ‘doomed’ and that environmental and social variables effect every child.
Due by class time on: Wed., Feb. 16th, 2011
The responses by the whole class are due by class time on: Fri., Feb. 18th, 2011
The text you need to read is here.
by: Andrew Anderson
Ganger starts out the article talking about how twins may be delayed in language development, and how they may be more prone to language disabilities. Ganger researched several other articles to obtain the relationship between twins and language development. She goes on to say that there is a consensus between the articles reviewed that being a twin does in fact make a child more prone to language delays. However, singletons can be affected by the same factors, but are less likely. One of the studies Ganger reviewed was the Day (1932) article. In this study Day observed utterances from children while they were playing and measured them on language complexity. He found that twins could be behind by as much as two years by the age of five. The next study Ganger reviewed was the Davis (1937) article. This author used the same method as the previous study, but used children a little older. He found that twins were more likely to have articulation problems, but would catch up to singletons on average.
Next, Ganger goes on to discuss the flaws with the studies. She found that there was no effort to exclude twins who had language, speech, or hearing pathology. Also, information such as birth weight, and gestation period weren't recorded which could be factors in language delay. Another fault with these studies was that twins were averaged as a group, but the twin's data aren't independent of his/her twin.
After discussing the flaws, Ganger goes on to discuss other studies that have been done following the Day and Davis articles. One article by Lytton and Conway found that generally use less speech overall, and that environmental variables affect speech more than biological factors. One other study by Akermann and Thomassen found that low birth weight plays a role in standardized language capabilities.
Next, Ganger discusses non-biological variables affecting language development. In an article by Reznick, it was found that the twin situation may not be that different that the normal sibling situation. The lower a child is in the birth order the more disadvantages he/she has on IQ tests. Also, generally the more older siblings you have, the lower your IQ. Ganger finishes the article by making sure the point taken from this article was not that twin's language is doomed and hopeless. All of the results outlined are found on average, not in every situation. It is not the fact of being a twin that can slow language development, rather the factors that are associated with being a twin.
____________________________________________________________
By Nick Compton
The website Are Twins Delayed in Language Development was prepared by Jennifer Ganger. This website was created to explore whether or not twins are delayed in language development. Ganger starts with an introduction that reviews some conclusions that she found on the topic. The conclusions suggest that being a twin does indeed delay language development because of social and biological factors. However, these factors also have an effect on some singletons and not all twins. This is why Ganger believes twins should not be considered as their own special population.
Next Ganger went on to her first body paragraph on the subject, The Early Years. In this section, research from the 1930s is shown. The two research documents are Day and Davis. Day’s research consisted of studying 80 pairs of twins and 140 singletons from ages 1.5-5.5. The research showed that twins were roughly 2 years behind singletons in measures of language complexity. However, Ganger found a few problems with the results. Twins with language, speech, or hearing pathology were not excluded, which is more common in twins. There was no recorded birth weight or twin gestation, or birth order. Also, some twins were observed together, which created situations for them to compete against each other for attention causing utterances. The final problem Ganger found was that the groups’ statistics were all averaged and then compared, which was flawed because some twins were observed together.
Ganger then decided to look into research done in the 70s and 80s. In the research of Lytton (1980) and Conway, Lytton, & Pysh (1980), Ganger saw results that were similar to those of the 30s. These researchers claimed that biological and environmental differences lead to language delays in twins. Also, they called the environmental differences more significant than biological.
Information from studies in the 70s by Mittler followed. His studies suggest that twins at the age of 4 years old were roughly 6 months behind singletons of the same age. Yet again, Ganger found problems with the research. Mittler’s research suggested that children whose first word came after 18 months performed worse than those born earlier. Other research from the 70s, this time by McKeown and Edwards showed that twins averaged 5 points lower on tests in the 11th grade. After this information Ganger decided to throw in a random bit of research. In this research by Hay, Prior, Collett, and Williams it is shown that twin boys at the ages 30 months were 2 to 6 months behind the norm while twin girls were about the same as singletons.
Next Ganger explored Biological factors. According to research, low birth weight singletons had similar measures of intellect as twins. The twin’s numbers were significantly better than the singletons in some cases. Non-Biological factors showed that birth order effects IQ in all children, the youngest child has the lowest IQ on average. Ganger finishes by wrapping up her thoughts, she concludes that being a twin doesn’t make one ‘doomed’ and that environmental and social variables effect every child.
Blog Post 10: Systematic Approach to Grammar Instruction
The reading summary is done by: Simone Williams (ENGL300-1) and Zach Xanders (ENGL300-2)
Due by class time on: Monday, Feb. 14th, 2011
The responses by the whole class are due by class time on: Wed., Feb. 16th, 2011
The text you need to read is here.
By: Simone Williams
Have you ever been in class learning, but once you stepped outside the classroom, it seemed as if that knowledge never existed? This is one of the problems that is explained in John Berger's reading "A Systematic Approach to Grammar Instructions." Berger starts the article off by stating his goal of wanting to develope his middle school students into better writers. It seemed as though the minilessons and conferences were not enough. Mainly because he still found grammatical errors in the writings of the children. His solution was to create "a systematic approach to teaching conventions of punctuation and techniques of sentence combining." The purpose of this program was to measure increase of knowledge. Test what was learned prior to and after and record his/her progress.
Paying close attention to the students writing, Berger noticed that a major issue with the sudents writing was punctuation itself. Most students did not know where to correctly place semicolons or commons in a sentence, or which to use. So, he demonstrated different ways in which to break down this method into simple terms so the students understand it better.
Ex. When the narrator of "The Tell-Tale Heart" begins his story he is very calm and quiet.
There should be a comma placed after story. It is placed in that specific spot for the simple fact that it contains an adverb clause which is "when" and it appears first in the sentence.
Ex. The door makes a little noise so the old man opens his eyes.
In this case the sentence is a compound sentence, so there should be a comma placed after the word noise.
I do think the focal point of the article was to get us to get more familiar with using punctuation correctly. Even though the article focused more so on seventh and eighth graders, I myself still sometimes have problems using the correct punctuation at the correct times. Reason being because it has been quite a while since I have taken an English course that focuses on punctuation and grammar. I guess you can say that I fall into that category of people where that knowledge never seemed to exist once I left the classroom. I tend to forget little things as such. Once a person is exposed to those mistakes, it tends to stick with them more. Getting people more familiar with punctuation and grammar and correctly using them just make you have more appreciation for grammar.
_______________________
by: Zach Xanders
In Berger’s article, “A Systematic Approach to Grammar Instruction,” her main intention is to get her students to write better and using the standards conventions of English and grammar. The standard conventions of English usage are seen through other literary contexts and other example sentences, which Berger makes up for challenging the students’ comprehension of the material. Berger claims that (some) students attempt complex sentences because they are reading literature, which uses English in a complex way. Half of the battle is getting the kids to recognize the mistakes in attempting to write complexly; the other half seems to lie with the kid and his/her battle to apply the lesson(s) in a meaningful, more simplistic way. The grammar comes in after the student has been introduced to the ideas and terminologies behind the standard conventions. Berger claims that her students learn things better in this self-interested, simplified fashion.
While Berger’s goal “get students to write better” seems very simple, she realizes that life outside of her class can complicate her inclination. With this in mind, Berger created a more organized schedule for her 7th and 8th graders to follow (which her colleagues backed her up on). In this schedule, a new concept or grammar instruction is taught to the students. Berger also makes sure to use several other teaching methods to keep her students interactive. She will give her students lists of signal words to recognize what to look for in popular grammar mistakes. For example, she suggests for students look for the words “and”, “but”, and “or” when dealing with compound sentences. After adding conventions of teaching punctuation and techniques of sentence combing, Berger’s results were positive in her students’ work. For example, Devi Chari (student of Berger) not only could recognize what was wrong within grammar context but also could apply the conventions using correct terminology. Berger mentions that not all of her students are this successful but believes the amount learned is sometimes up to the student.
But even then, the overall results concluded that the current students were much better off with Berger’s new system than the previous students were with her old conventions (mini lessons and individual conferences. Berger writes this article very carefully and just the way she would want her students to write – simplistic and with recognition to correctness concerning every concept she instructs. She really goes after her one goal: “write better”. I really wish I could have participated in a program, which exemplified in more grammar concentration. I’m sure the “honors” English program at my high school was something more similar to Berger’s techniques but I feel like the regular programs should offer the same practices.
Due by class time on: Monday, Feb. 14th, 2011
The responses by the whole class are due by class time on: Wed., Feb. 16th, 2011
The text you need to read is here.
By: Simone Williams
Have you ever been in class learning, but once you stepped outside the classroom, it seemed as if that knowledge never existed? This is one of the problems that is explained in John Berger's reading "A Systematic Approach to Grammar Instructions." Berger starts the article off by stating his goal of wanting to develope his middle school students into better writers. It seemed as though the minilessons and conferences were not enough. Mainly because he still found grammatical errors in the writings of the children. His solution was to create "a systematic approach to teaching conventions of punctuation and techniques of sentence combining." The purpose of this program was to measure increase of knowledge. Test what was learned prior to and after and record his/her progress.
Paying close attention to the students writing, Berger noticed that a major issue with the sudents writing was punctuation itself. Most students did not know where to correctly place semicolons or commons in a sentence, or which to use. So, he demonstrated different ways in which to break down this method into simple terms so the students understand it better.
Ex. When the narrator of "The Tell-Tale Heart" begins his story he is very calm and quiet.
There should be a comma placed after story. It is placed in that specific spot for the simple fact that it contains an adverb clause which is "when" and it appears first in the sentence.
Ex. The door makes a little noise so the old man opens his eyes.
In this case the sentence is a compound sentence, so there should be a comma placed after the word noise.
I do think the focal point of the article was to get us to get more familiar with using punctuation correctly. Even though the article focused more so on seventh and eighth graders, I myself still sometimes have problems using the correct punctuation at the correct times. Reason being because it has been quite a while since I have taken an English course that focuses on punctuation and grammar. I guess you can say that I fall into that category of people where that knowledge never seemed to exist once I left the classroom. I tend to forget little things as such. Once a person is exposed to those mistakes, it tends to stick with them more. Getting people more familiar with punctuation and grammar and correctly using them just make you have more appreciation for grammar.
_______________________
by: Zach Xanders
In Berger’s article, “A Systematic Approach to Grammar Instruction,” her main intention is to get her students to write better and using the standards conventions of English and grammar. The standard conventions of English usage are seen through other literary contexts and other example sentences, which Berger makes up for challenging the students’ comprehension of the material. Berger claims that (some) students attempt complex sentences because they are reading literature, which uses English in a complex way. Half of the battle is getting the kids to recognize the mistakes in attempting to write complexly; the other half seems to lie with the kid and his/her battle to apply the lesson(s) in a meaningful, more simplistic way. The grammar comes in after the student has been introduced to the ideas and terminologies behind the standard conventions. Berger claims that her students learn things better in this self-interested, simplified fashion.
While Berger’s goal “get students to write better” seems very simple, she realizes that life outside of her class can complicate her inclination. With this in mind, Berger created a more organized schedule for her 7th and 8th graders to follow (which her colleagues backed her up on). In this schedule, a new concept or grammar instruction is taught to the students. Berger also makes sure to use several other teaching methods to keep her students interactive. She will give her students lists of signal words to recognize what to look for in popular grammar mistakes. For example, she suggests for students look for the words “and”, “but”, and “or” when dealing with compound sentences. After adding conventions of teaching punctuation and techniques of sentence combing, Berger’s results were positive in her students’ work. For example, Devi Chari (student of Berger) not only could recognize what was wrong within grammar context but also could apply the conventions using correct terminology. Berger mentions that not all of her students are this successful but believes the amount learned is sometimes up to the student.
But even then, the overall results concluded that the current students were much better off with Berger’s new system than the previous students were with her old conventions (mini lessons and individual conferences. Berger writes this article very carefully and just the way she would want her students to write – simplistic and with recognition to correctness concerning every concept she instructs. She really goes after her one goal: “write better”. I really wish I could have participated in a program, which exemplified in more grammar concentration. I’m sure the “honors” English program at my high school was something more similar to Berger’s techniques but I feel like the regular programs should offer the same practices.
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