Language Alive in the Classroom

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Description

A common lament of teachers in the English-speaking world is that students at all levels often show very little knowledge of grammar. As traditionally taught (if taught at all), grammar is a dry, prescriptive subject and one that students often dislike and therefore do not learn well. In this edited collection, distinguished teachers share the ways in which they make grammar and writing interesting and exciting to their students, and hence bring language alive in the classroom. Concrete, animated articles explain how students (elementary through college) can discover language structure in contemporary classrooms. Examples of imaginative learning techniques include doing fieldwork to explore the language of home, neighbourhood and workplace. Freed from scowling linguistic admonitions, students develop a careful eye in exploring the patterns of our living language in its myriad manifestations, from speaking, writing, reading literature, and finally, in our language reference works.

Reviews

"If you feel caught between those shallow all-about-language readers and those dry count-the-morphemes introductory linguistics texts, take a look at Wheeler's book. The essays are authoritative, but also creative and fun. This is the sort of book many of us in English education have been calling for."-William Murdick Professor of English California University of Pennsylvania
"Shying away from the popular notion that grammar be taught in isolation as a means of inculcating a prestige dialect, the language scholars in this volume broaden the focus and demonstrate, instead, just what the title promises: how to make language come alive in the classroom. I'm especially delighted with the inductive activities for guiding students to discover language patterns for themselves. Typically these activities...are appropriate not only for college students, but for secondary and even elementary students. I am eager to try some of them!"-Connie Weaver Professor of English, Western Michigan University.
"Whether you are an aspiring, brand new, or well-seasoned teacher of English Language Arts, Language Alive in the Classroom should be on your reading list....Clearly and accessibly written, these essays introduce readers to particular projects that bring language to life in the classroom by putting students directly to work at identifying and analyzing language structures and "rules" across a wide range of varieties of English and in both spoken and written discourse, including the discourse of literature. This is a book that English teachers have needed for a long time, one whose many lessons can immediately be put to good use in classrooms across the grade levels."-Andrea Abernethy Lunsford Professor of English Ohio State University
This well designed and edited collection includes a variety of essays that add to the discussion of why language should be part of any English major's program and how specific areas within linguistics can add to this much needed focus.-Southwest Journal of Linguistics
"This well designed and edited collection includes a variety of essays that add to the discussion of why language should be part of any English major's program and how specific areas within linguistics can add to this much needed focus."-Southwest Journal of Linguistics

Author Bio

REBECCA S. WHEELER teaches writing, grammar, and linguistics in the English Department at Christopher Newport University in Virginia.