LL-L "Language education" 2008.01.09 (03) [E]

[Lowlands-L List]

=======================================================================

 L O W L A N D S - L * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226

 http://www.lowlands-l.net * lowlands.list at gmail.com

 Rules & Guidelines: http://www.lowlands-l.net/rules.php

 Posting: lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org - lowlands.list at gmail.com

 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.]

 Administration: lowlands.list at gmail.com or sassisch at yahoo.com


 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  -  09 January 2008 - Volume 03
 ========================================================================

From: heatherrendall at tiscali.co.uk <heatherrendall at tiscali.co.uk>
Subject: LL-L "Language education" 2008.01.08 (08) [E]

Gael wrote

 In the US, *institutions of higher education* 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.

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.

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.

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.

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'.

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.

Heather

•

==============================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.

*********************************************************************
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/lowlands-l/attachments/20080109/1a91da6c/attachment.htm>