LL-L "Language learning" 2005.11.26 (02) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

======================================================================
L O W L A N D S - L * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
http://www.lowlands-l.net * lowlands-l at lowlands-l.net
Rules & Guidelines: http://www.lowlands-l.net/index.php?page=rules
Posting: lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org or lowlands-l at lowlands-l.net
Commands ("signoff lowlands-l" etc.): listserv at listserv.net
Server Manual: http://www.lsoft.com/manuals/1.8c/userindex.html
Archives: http://listserv.linguistlist.org/archives/lowlands-l.html
Encoding: Unicode (UTF-8) [Please switch your view mode to it.]
=======================================================================
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 at listserv.linguistlist.org or
sign off at http://linguistlist.org/subscribing/sub-lowlands-l.html.
=======================================================================
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)
=======================================================================

L O W L A N D S - L * 26 November 2005 * Volume 2
======================================================================

From: "heather rendall" <HeatherRendall at compuserve.com>
Subject: LL-L "Language learning" 2005.11.25 (03) [E]

Message text written by INTERNET:lowlands-l at LOWLANDS-L.NET
>
My question: why don't they learn (in English, at the moment) phonetic
spelling and writing, as we did in our times some fourty years ago?<

Do you want the hellfires of Reception Class & Primary Inspectors to fall
on my head!

Whatever tack I take in answer to your question, you can be sure one school
of thought will feel offended / left out/ dismissed/ belittled / ignored or
just plain angry!

Here goes and I will try and just be factual and as objective as possible
(?!)

The New Literacy Strategy now supports mixed teaching of reading but with
an emphasis [for the first time in many years for some poeple] of linking
sounds and blends etc to spelling.
There is still an amount of ' Look and recognise the shape of a word' as it
is argued English spelling doesn't lend itself to learning sounds and
applying them wholesale. BUt much of what is being recommended is based on
phonics ( not phonetics) and getting pupils to stoer correct / useful /
common graphemes from the outset of learning.

One thing is certain  ( I can feel those hellfires getting nearer ) that
there is a greater than before emphasis on the fact that pupils SHOULD be
able to spell and write grammatically. However this has to be taught by
teachers who themselves were educated in a system such as was prevalent in
the 60s of " Don't use a red pen to mark - it's too aggressive and might
hurt their feelings; after all they have tried their best" " Don't correct
their spellings: it will discourage them and put them off writing. Rather
praise them for having tried to spell after their own fashion" " No-one
speaks any language badly; they all speak their own dialect perfectly"

This has allowed pupils to pass through the edication system and still be
unable to write clear precise English; they can come out with ahndfuls of
exams in which examiners ahve - until now - ignored inaccuracies of
spelling and grammar.

This has been descried by employers continually

Foreign language teachers have reported noting a better understanding of
words such as preposition and adverb and that pupils are no longer so fazed
by being asked about verbs and tenses etc etc
But it is by no means uniform even after 5-6 years............. but it does
a[ppear as though in some areas at least more children are learning to
read, who would previously not made the grade at all.

Hope this answers your question

Heather

----------

From: "Paul Finlow-Bates" <wolf_thunder51 at yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: LL-L "Language learning" 2005.11.25 (03) [E]

From: "jonny"
Subject: LL-L "Language use"


My question: why don't they learn (in English, at the moment) phonetic
spelling and writing, as we did in our times some fourty years ago? Is it
any new paedagogical principle, perhaps of the kind 'learning by
doing/hearing'? Is it only used over here, or do you in UK or US follow the
same routes?

Greutens/Regards

Johannes "Jonny" Meibohm

  Funny you should ask that today!  I have just been reading in the "Daily
Mail"
that schools in England will be going back to doing exactly that.  They have
decided (after ruining the learning prospects of who knows how many kids for
decades) that the alternatives aren't working.

  Paul

==============================END===================================
* Please submit postings to lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org.
* Postings will be displayed unedited in digest form.
* Please display only the relevant parts of quotes in your replies.
* Commands for automated functions (including "signoff lowlands-l") are
  to be sent to listserv at listserv.linguistlist.org or at
  http://linguistlist.org/subscribing/sub-lowlands-l.html.
======================================================================