=======================================================================
<p>
L O W L A N D S - L * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
<p>
http://www.lowlands-l.net * lowlands.list@gmail.com
<p>
Rules & Guidelines: http://www.lowlands-l.net/rules.php
<p>
Posting: lowlands-l@listserv.linguistlist.org - lowlands.list@gmail.com
<p>
Commands ("signoff lowlands-l" etc.): listserv@listserv.net
<p>
Server Manual: http://www.lsoft.com/manuals/1.8c/userindex.html
<p>
Archives: http://listserv.linguistlist.org/archives/lowlands-l.html
<p>
Encoding: Unicode (UTF-8) [Please switch your view mode to it.]
<p>
Administration: lowlands.list@gmail.com or sassisch@yahoo.com
<p>
<p>
You have received this because you have been subscribed upon request.
To unsubscribe, please send the command "signoff lowlands-l" as message
text from the same account to listserv@listserv.linguistlist.org or
sign off at http://linguistlist.org/subscribing/sub-lowlands-l.html.
<p>
<p>
A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) N=Northumbrian
S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic V=(West) Flemish Z=Zeelandic (Zeeuws)
<p>
=======================================================================
<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">L O W L A N D S - L - 09 January 2008 - Volume 03
</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">=========================================================================</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">From: </span><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="HcCDpe"><span class="EP8xU" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 28);">
<a href="mailto:heatherrendall@tiscali.co.uk">heatherrendall@tiscali.co.uk</a></span> <span class="lDACoc"><<a href="mailto:heatherrendall@tiscali.co.uk">heatherrendall@tiscali.co.uk</a>></span></span><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Subject: </span><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="HcCDpe">LL-L "Language education"
2008.01.08 (08) [E]<br><br></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Gael wrote</span>
<p style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> In the US, <i><u>institutions of higher education</u></i>
are the primary enforcers of standard English, which they use to "weed
out" people in the first year of college if they can't "write" English.</span></p>
<p style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Isn't the main point behind these
'writing classes' to make sure students can adequately express their
thoughts? If not 'trained' in succinct expression, students can
continue waffling all their (student) life long and ever after. I think
there is a difference in trying to assert a specific standard of
English and helping / guiding students to ever better, preciser
expression.</span></p>
<p style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">I know I resent hugely NEVER having
been 'trained' to write an essay: I arrived at Uni to find myself
competing against students whose schooling had included strict guidance
of expressing thoughts and arguments. All I had had ever done was write
down my thoughts in the disjointed way they came into my head, read it
through and submitt it. I rec'd a mark BUT never any suggestions for
improvement or constructive criticism. It was only when I tried to
write clearly for pupils of various levels, that I learnt to revise and
adjust my expression to fit the reader and when I did my Masters
research degree, I was soon advised to avoid the 'friendly personal
opinion approach' for the distant, objective stand point.</span></p>
<p style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">I have said it before on this forum
and will repeat it at the risk of sounding boring - teaching standard
language in whatever country allows those who do have mutually
unintelligible dialects of the same language to communicate.And that
surely is a good thing? It allows access to all walks of life to
everyone. If there was no attempt at a standard language, young people
would be restricted to working in the (small) area where they were
intelligible which would be a retrograde step.</span></p>
<p style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">What often goes wrong with the
teaching of standard langauge is that some teachers and many parents
decide that it is the means of advancement and make concerted efforts
to drop/ ignore the original dialect as they see it as 'inferior'.</span></p>
<p style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">If only people could be encouraged to
be multilingual in their own tongue, this attitude might disappear. I
was always thrilled to find 11 year olds embarking on learning a L2,
who were able to use more than 4-5 Englishes : 1. because it meant they
had good ears for language 2. because they had the confidence to try
and commmunicate in a different way from 'home' I always pointed out
that these natural skills of polylingualism would serve them in good
stead in any foreign language learning situation.</span></p>
<p style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Heather</span></p><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
•
<p>
==============================END===================================
<p>
* Please submit postings to lowlands-l@listserv.linguistlist.org.
<p>
* Postings will be displayed unedited in digest form.
<p>
* Please display only the relevant parts of quotes in your replies.
<p>
* Commands for automated functions (including "signoff lowlands-l")
<p>
are to be sent to listserv@listserv.linguistlist.org or at
<p>
http://linguistlist.org/subscribing/sub-lowlands-l.html.
<p>
*********************************************************************