7.1646, Sum: Intro. Ling. in an undergraduate English Dept.
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LINGUIST List: Vol-7-1646. Fri Nov 22 1996. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 206
Subject: 7.1646, Sum: Intro. Ling. in an undergraduate English Dept.
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Date: Tue, 19 Nov 1996 09:52:16 MST
From: RSWHEELER at cc.weber.edu ("REBECCA S. WHEELER")
Subject: SUM: Intro. Ling. in an undergraduate English Dept.
---------------------------------Messages------------------------------------
1)
Date: Tue, 19 Nov 1996 09:52:16 MST
From: RSWHEELER at cc.weber.edu ("REBECCA S. WHEELER")
Subject: SUM: Intro. Ling. in an undergraduate English Dept.
Early in October, I posted a query to LINGUIST asking
"for ideas on how to convince an English faculty who is unfamiliar and
uncomfortable with Linguistics that an Intro to Linguistics class is
an important part of an English major and a major in English Teaching
in the secondary schools."
I received generous and thoughtful replies from many people:
Alford, Dan Moonhawk dalford at haywire.csuhayward.edu
Ball, Catherine N. cball at guvax.georgetown.edu
Brew, Chris: chrisbr at cogsci.ed.ac.uk
Clark, Billy. BILLY1 at mdx.ac.uk
Coleman, Linda Linda_K_COLEMAN at umail.umd.edu
Daniels, Peter: pdaniels at press-gopher.uchicago.edu
Delin, Judy. jld1 at stir.ac.uk
Godden, Kurt: godden at lgm.cs.gmr.com
Haden Elgin, Suzette ocls at sibylline.com
Hirshbuhler, Paul. hirsch at aix1.uottawa.ca
Hudson, Dick. dick at ling.ucl.ac.uk
Lawler, John M. jlawler at umich.edu
Lee, Felicia: FELICIA at HUMnet.UCLA.
Lefkowitz, Daniel. lefko at lark.cc.ukans.edu
Maxwell, Mike: Mike_Maxwell at sil.org
Mueller, Nicole SENNM at hum2s.Cardiff.ac.uk
Nemoianu Anca. nemoianu at cua.edu
Ruuskanen , Deborah D K: druuskan at cc.helsinki.fi
Silva, Marilyn msilva5 at haywire.csuhayward.edu
Tanner, R. Clay rctanner at falstaff.ucs.indiana.edu
The bulk of my summary is on the web at
www.weber.edu/wheeler, although I include a few items here:
a) a table of contents to my website
b) an outline categorizing the responses I received
c) a few words on how Intro to Lang is going in my department
(very well)
______________
At <www.weber.edu/wheeler>, you'll find 5 documents:
1. What's here -- an overview (basically this email...)
2. "Things linguistics lets you explore"
(2 pages - intended as front/back handout to
non-linguist colleagues)
3. Linguistics in English.sum (9 pages)
4. Linguistics in English.full-text (25 pages)
5. Respondents and references
I describe #2 briefly below, and include the outline from #3,
categorizing the responses people sent in.
______________
2. "Things linguistics lets you explore", a categorized
extract from the many responses I've received, is a romp through,
well, things linguistics lets you explore. This one page handout
(front and back) that I've been distributing to my English
colleagues has been very well received. Literature and writing
folks have found it both interesting and eye-opening, as it gives
a pretty diverse range of arenas in which linguistics accessibly
offers insights.
3. Ling in English.Sum. An 8 page summary of the full
comments, broken down by topic. Here's the outline:
QUESTION:
I. WHY AND HOW LINGUISTICS IN AN ENGLISH DEPT.
ANSWERS:
II. INSIDE THE ACADEMY
A. Ling and literature
1. Ling as a tool of literary analysis
2. Stylistics -- literary styles
3. Ling, and cultural studies and lit. crit.
4. Problems of interpretation -- ambiguity
5. Language varieties/dialects in the interpretation of
literature
6. The history of English
B. Linguistics and the writing class room
III. INSIDE THE SCHOOLS: TEACHING ENGLISH IN
PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS
A. Language acquisition -- teachers should be aware of when
a child is on target, and when not, in their language
development.
B. Readibility, reading levels
C. The multi-lingual classroom
D. English teachers knowing grammar:
E. Writing Grammar Textbooks for primary and secondary
schools
IV. IN THE WORLD OF WORK
A. Understanding legal and political, commercial texts
B. Linguistics helps in solving problems in technical writing
V. IN OUR SOCIETY AND CULTURE
A. Dispelling myths about language:
B. The influences of language on culture
1. language and gender
2. language and taboo
3. language and communication
4. humor in language
C. Linguistics and language policy -- being conscious of
language variety
VI. WHY ELSE, LINGUISTICS IN AN ENGLISH DEPT?
A. A broader perspective
B. Linguistics as a tool for clarity and rigor of expression in
language
VII. WHAT'S IN A NAME?
A. What the Department/Degree is called?
B. Goals -- teaching language studies vs. teaching ling
_______________
Finally, things are going well at Weber State, I think, as regards
Intro Ling in the English Curriculum. I've proposed, following U.
MD's lead, that we shift the content from the linear presentation
of particular linguistic theories to a more topics and applications
based approach, emphasizing "the texture of data" (Linda
Coleman, personal communication).
Thus, the 15 week syllabus would be split into "core" and
"applications". (to vary by instructor).
'core' areas -- 10 weeks: History of Engl; Present and
future of Engl; Meaning & use; Grammar of the English
sentence.
'applications' -- 5 weeks: (for example) Children and
language; Language, mind and brain; language in social
contexts; language and gender; language planning in America
and the world). also possibilities -- language in advertising /in
politics /in court, language in Sci Fi (see SuzetteHaden Elgin's
newsletters on Linguistics in Sci Fi!).
The course's basic shape comes from the great syllabus
Linda Coleman sent me on U. MD's Intro to Language (English
Department).
Finally, following her and several other people's suggestions
(Delin, Moonhawk, Silva ...), we're changing the title from Intro
to Ling to Intro to Lang, a change welcomed by the lit and
teacher-ed faculty.
I also hope to incorporate Moonhawk's approach of having
students collect 5 minutes of conversation data, and allowing
interest in discourse to motivate work in morphology, syntax,
and phonetics/phonology. He talks about his course as being one
of "linguistic mindfulness for everyone" -- a rich and useful
image, seems to me.
This intro may well be required for all English majors, with a 4
hr version be required for teaching majors. We'll also offer the
electives, English Grammar, History of Engl, and Topics in
Language Studies.
Thank you! Visit my website at <www.weber.edu/wheeler> for
quotes from folks, and for a handout you might find useful.
rebecca wheeler
_________________________________________________
Rebecca S. Wheeler, Ph.D.
Department of English
Weber State University
Ogden, UTah 84408-1201
rswheeler at cc.weber.edu
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