There were many studies of usage in America between the 1900 and 20th century. During the 20th century, the U.S. saw an increased division between adherents to the traditional prescriptive approach and proponents of more descriptive, relativistic studies. There were studies of grammar usage in the following areas: Modern English, Current English Usage, American English Grammar, and The English Language Arts. Each Study has its own proponents.
Modern English
One of the earliest studies of usage in America was done by George Phillip Krapp in 1909. The study was entitled Modern English. Its growth and Present Use. These studies had many flaws according to another author Edward Finnegan and his book "Attitudes towards English". Finnegan identifies four different areas where Krapp broke ground.
Current English Usage
This is another important usage study during the 20th century that had begun by Sterling Leonard. This study was significant because its based on its findings on a usage survey. This survey was sent to seven respondents, linguistic experts, leading businessmen, authors, editors of influential publications,NCTE members, members of the Modern Language Association and speech teachers. The respondents were asked to classify items according to their observations about actual usage by placing them into 3 categories: Literary English, Standard English and Naive English.
American English Grammar
Another important piece of work fro grammar usage was done by Charles C.Fries, which was American English Grammar. Fries method of collecting data was quite different from Sterling Leonard in many ways.
Frie based his study on actual letters written by Americans who were corresponding with the government;he examined 3000 letters or excerpts in all. Fries' began by using independent grounds to classfify the writers into 3 social groupings: Speakers of Standard English, Speakers of Common English and Speakers of Vulgar English.
His method was important because he inferred the linguistic traits of each group only after examining the groups educational and professional traits. Fries' work had also become contradicted by Finnegan, as well as all of the other studies.
The English Language Arts
This work was published by NCTE in 1952. It represents an official endorsement of the principle established by Krapp, Leonard, Fries and other descriptive linguists. It explained constant language changes, change is normal, spoken language is the language, correctness rest upon usage and all usage is relative.
However, even though this work was also examined by Finnegan, others promoting the doctrine of usage has continued into the second half of the 20th century.
Friday, November 28, 2008
Friday, November 21, 2008
STRUCTURALISM (1900-1950)
Structuralism (Chapter 4: The Descriptive Period)
Structuralism began its evolution in the 19th century due to historical-comparative studies. This view has two powerful ideas on language development. The first idea is that language can be studied irrespective of its history and genetic relationships to other languages. Idea #1 derives from Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913), a Swiss professor of linguistics at the University of Geneva. Even though he published little while he was alive, three years after his death he came to be known as the "father" of structural linguistics because of his impact on the development of linguistics as a field of study. Saussure had the idea to differentiate diachronic and synchronic linguistics. Diachronic being the study of relations that bind together successive terms not perceived by the collective mind but submitted for each other without forming a system. And synchronic concerns with the logical and psychological relations that together coexisting terms and form a system in the collective mind of speakers. To conclude idea #1, Saussure viewed two items in one language as a structure and two items in two different languages as outside the psychological system of the speakers.
The second idea that linguistics is properly viewed as a physical science was formed by an American Linguistic, Leonard Bloomfield. Bloomfield showed two influences of his linguistic view. One was that his work involved the analysis of American Indian languages, and secondly that the influence was based on behaviorist psychology, brought on by the American psychologist J.B. Watson. Bloomfield and his followers reduced the study of language as a whole down to only focus on the study of physical speech. They viewed language as a habit of an uncomplicated organism that learned sentences and words only to fill them with vague memory and association. Edward Sapir (1884-1939) was not a behaviorist; his group came out of anthropology and never adhered to behaviorism. Sapir used the study of language as a mental reality in his work, "La Realite' Psychologique des Phonemes." Sapir and his best known student, Benjamin Whorf (1897-1941), came up with the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis and published it in a series of articles written from 1936-1938. The Hypothesis stated that the structure of a person's language (especially syntax and morphology, or word structure) influences non-linguistic activity and the person's view of reality. Although, Bloomfield and Sapir had dramatically different views on idea #2, they had very similar careers.
Structuralism began its evolution in the 19th century due to historical-comparative studies. This view has two powerful ideas on language development. The first idea is that language can be studied irrespective of its history and genetic relationships to other languages. Idea #1 derives from Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913), a Swiss professor of linguistics at the University of Geneva. Even though he published little while he was alive, three years after his death he came to be known as the "father" of structural linguistics because of his impact on the development of linguistics as a field of study. Saussure had the idea to differentiate diachronic and synchronic linguistics. Diachronic being the study of relations that bind together successive terms not perceived by the collective mind but submitted for each other without forming a system. And synchronic concerns with the logical and psychological relations that together coexisting terms and form a system in the collective mind of speakers. To conclude idea #1, Saussure viewed two items in one language as a structure and two items in two different languages as outside the psychological system of the speakers.
The second idea that linguistics is properly viewed as a physical science was formed by an American Linguistic, Leonard Bloomfield. Bloomfield showed two influences of his linguistic view. One was that his work involved the analysis of American Indian languages, and secondly that the influence was based on behaviorist psychology, brought on by the American psychologist J.B. Watson. Bloomfield and his followers reduced the study of language as a whole down to only focus on the study of physical speech. They viewed language as a habit of an uncomplicated organism that learned sentences and words only to fill them with vague memory and association. Edward Sapir (1884-1939) was not a behaviorist; his group came out of anthropology and never adhered to behaviorism. Sapir used the study of language as a mental reality in his work, "La Realite' Psychologique des Phonemes." Sapir and his best known student, Benjamin Whorf (1897-1941), came up with the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis and published it in a series of articles written from 1936-1938. The Hypothesis stated that the structure of a person's language (especially syntax and morphology, or word structure) influences non-linguistic activity and the person's view of reality. Although, Bloomfield and Sapir had dramatically different views on idea #2, they had very similar careers.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
In-Class, Nov. 19: Haiku
HAIKU....
Today, after you have submitted your Research Essay Folder, we are doing the prompt that we neglected so far due to time constraints: "grammar haiku"!!! Go to the following link to find the old post on our class blog.
Preview:
This Friday, Nov. 21st, you are receiving your study guide for the FINAL EXAM, which will take place on Friday, Dec. 5th (last day of class!) from 9:00-9:50 a.m. in our ordinary classroom.
You will NOT be allowed to bring your study guide to the final exam; it is just meant for preparing at home. The exam will be like the mid-term exam, consisting of three parts:
1) a part with questions about what we have done in class, the answers for which are to be found on the blog, the Down Syndrome movie guide, and your homework assignments;
2) a grammar part about all the topics we covered in our mini lessons (for which the sentences will NOT be on the study guide);
3) a critical response part (essay question) to an article which I will give you after the Thanksgiving vacations, so you can prepare it entirely at home and email it to yourself, to attach it to your final exam in class.
If you miss class on Nov. 21st, you will not receive the study guide.
We will go over it in class that day, and I will answer any questions or concerns you might have.
What we will do on Nov. 21st:
1) an important course evaluation (survey) about your opinions of this course, and how to improve it;
2) study guide for final exam WORKSHOP (you are allowed to exchange questions with your partners)
3) those who went to the Writing Center and for whom the tutors have written a Conference Summary will submit their Final Research Essay Folder on Nov. 21st, in the first 10 min. of class.
On the remaining three days of class after the Thanksgiving vacations, we will do the following:
- Dec. 1st: presentations of our Readability topics (max. 5 min. each) + course evaluations
-Dec. 3rd: presentations of our Readability topics (max. 5 min. each)
- Dec. 5th: hand in the Readability Essay; finish Readability Presentations (5 min. each); conclusion of course
MEMO: There are no more make-ups for missed days or homework!!! The last EXTRA CREDIT opportunity was for missed days prior to Nov. 17th, for which you made up through extra peer editing.
Today, after you have submitted your Research Essay Folder, we are doing the prompt that we neglected so far due to time constraints: "grammar haiku"!!! Go to the following link to find the old post on our class blog.
Preview:
This Friday, Nov. 21st, you are receiving your study guide for the FINAL EXAM, which will take place on Friday, Dec. 5th (last day of class!) from 9:00-9:50 a.m. in our ordinary classroom.
You will NOT be allowed to bring your study guide to the final exam; it is just meant for preparing at home. The exam will be like the mid-term exam, consisting of three parts:
1) a part with questions about what we have done in class, the answers for which are to be found on the blog, the Down Syndrome movie guide, and your homework assignments;
2) a grammar part about all the topics we covered in our mini lessons (for which the sentences will NOT be on the study guide);
3) a critical response part (essay question) to an article which I will give you after the Thanksgiving vacations, so you can prepare it entirely at home and email it to yourself, to attach it to your final exam in class.
If you miss class on Nov. 21st, you will not receive the study guide.
We will go over it in class that day, and I will answer any questions or concerns you might have.
What we will do on Nov. 21st:
1) an important course evaluation (survey) about your opinions of this course, and how to improve it;
2) study guide for final exam WORKSHOP (you are allowed to exchange questions with your partners)
3) those who went to the Writing Center and for whom the tutors have written a Conference Summary will submit their Final Research Essay Folder on Nov. 21st, in the first 10 min. of class.
On the remaining three days of class after the Thanksgiving vacations, we will do the following:
- Dec. 1st: presentations of our Readability topics (max. 5 min. each) + course evaluations
-Dec. 3rd: presentations of our Readability topics (max. 5 min. each)
- Dec. 5th: hand in the Readability Essay; finish Readability Presentations (5 min. each); conclusion of course
MEMO: There are no more make-ups for missed days or homework!!! The last EXTRA CREDIT opportunity was for missed days prior to Nov. 17th, for which you made up through extra peer editing.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Chapter 3- Prescriptive Rules/ Part 2: pages 48-60
Chapter three in the book: Grammar for Grammarians outlines different Prescriptive Rules. These rules were developed during the 18th century and many of them are still used to this day. This blog will contain a summary of the second half of the chapter: pages 48-60 and will contain these Prescriptive Rules: “Parallelism, Latin Grammar is an Appropriate Model for English, Different Forms Imply Different Meanings, Language Change Represents Decay, and Language is “Logical.”
Parallelism in a rule in Grammar that is thought to date back to “Murray” and it “requires that items in a series be of the same grammatical form.” A few examples the book gives to help understand this rule are: “If he prefer a virtuous life, and is sincere in his professions, he will succeed;” “if he prefers.” “The parliament addresses the king, and has been prorogued the same day;” “and was prorogues.”
Latin Grammar is an Appropriate Model for English- At this point in the chapter the authors bring up the point that a lot of English’s rules are based on the rules of other languages such as Latin. (E.g. the rule of not being able to end a sentence with a preposition) The problems that come from this are:
- Latin is an Italic language and English is a Germanic one.
-Latin is a “synthetic “language with many inflections and English is “analytic” with few inflections.
-Latin is a language where the direct object normally precedes the verb and in English the direct object normally follows the verb.
These differences make both languages not able to be considered a “direct transfer language.”
The next subject the book covers is “Different Forms Imply Different Meanings.” In this section the reader learns that English is a language that has many interchangeable words such as “shall” and “will.” In most languages words can’t be interchangeable and rules are made when and what word to use. Some would use “shall” only for “first-person and “will” would be used for “second and third-persons.” Some people argue that there is always one word or way of saying something that is “superior” to the other.
When languages are changed the authors say the reason is because it has become “decayed.” This rule comes from people thinking that past versions are better, but as time goes on everyone makes small gradual changes to languages and this apparently “normal” as the author states. The best example is to think how English has been changed over the years. 1000 years ago people spoke Old English and we see this in texts such as, Beowulf. Then we evolved to Middle English which is the language that Chaucer developed in his writings. We slowly made our way to Early Modern English which is what a lot of Shakespeare’s writings are in. At this point, English is thought to be known as Modern English, but this doesn’t mean that our language won’t gradually change again and again until the end of time.
During the last section of this chapter readers learn that Language is “logical” because “it is a self-contained, rule-governed system.” The author wants us to keep in mind though that English and all languages can never be thought of as “common sense.” There are many rules that have to be learned by all and take a big part of memorization of rules that go into that language. Interpretation is another thing that makes languages not able to be “common sense” because many see things in different ways and there are many words in English alone that can be interpretive differently.
Prescriptive grammar is a set of rules that make things “correct” or “not-correct” and “actual language use various grades of acceptability.”
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Mon., Nov. 17: Peer Editing Session
On Monday, Nov. 17th, is our PEER EDITING SESSION. If you're not here, you won't get the participation points. (You still have to contact a peer by email to obtain his/her evaluation, or I won't collect and grade your final research essay. Your peer editor's comments on your draft need to be submitted with your final essay in the folder, so I can see which of the suggestions you incorporated!). You all have each other's emails in your email account (I sent you our attendance list).
That means, your ESSAYS NEED TO BE COMPLETELY FINISHED on Monday, Nov. 17th, at class time. You don't need to print them out; have them ready in electronic format (as a Word document; no other attachments accepted!). EMAIL THEM TO ME BY MONDAY AT CLASS TIME. I will distribute essays to students whose partners didn't show up for the editing session, or who were sick (or otherwise excused) and could not attend.
___________________________________________
Instructions for Peer Editing Session:
1) Use the following Peer Edit Sheet (Rubistar rubric), copy and paste it into a Word document, and save it to your desktop, and highlight the fields with the points you want to give on it in color. Assign an overall grade to the student, judging by what you think is most important in a Research Essay from all the components of the rubric. NOTE: You can also type into my rubric, once you've pasted it into Word. That means, you can include your own personal comments (in a different color, please!).
2) Email this sheet to the author of the essay AND to me as cc., so you can get your points. You need to finish peer-editing ONE paper in class on Nov. 17th (because many people cannot open docx files from home).
3) We are doing "online editing," which means that you are going to employ the "comment function" on the top of your menu list to insert your comments. You need to click on REVIEW, and then on NEW COMMENT (a yellow box).
Highlight the word that's wrong / the place where a word or punctuation sign is missing, click on "comment," and type in your suggestions. Save your document!!! If you don't save it, you will lose all your entries. When you're done, email it back to the author and me, TOGETHER with the Peer Edit Sheet (rubric). Correct all spelling, grammar, punctuation, format, and content mistakes you can find! Assign an OVERALL GRADE you would give to your partner, based on the rubric.
If you need to make up for missed days, tell me for whom you want to do EXTRA CREDIT PEER EDITING, and I will put your name on the list below so your peer knows what to expect from whom! When you email the proofread essay and the Peer Edit Sheet back to that student, and in copy to me, indicate for which missed day you are making up, so I can put an "excused" on my attendance sheet accordingly!
IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT HOW MANY DAYS YOU'VE MISSED, COME TO THE FRONT AND LOOK AT MY GRADE BOOK! Some people might have forgotten to sign the attendance list, so make sure you have an explanation or an extra credit make-up for any missed days. This is the last chance for extra credit.
For people with computer problems at home: we're all trying to save our peer editing papers as Word doc, not Word docx, but if for some reason you cannot open your peer's comments, that doesn't count as excuse. Then, you need to work in the computer lab. If you didn't get anything from your partner, let me know, and I will email you a different paper.
You will exchange your finished research essays with the following partner:
group 1: Creighton Jackson + Jeffrey Ryden
group 2: Michaela Bazar + Katrina Kosma (Stephanie Jacques will do one X for Katrina Kosma)
group 3: Abby Hoover + Brittany Lingle (+ Creighton will do an extra credit editing for Brittany)
group 4: Pamela LaBelle + Ronesha Johnson (+ Creighton will do an extra credit editing for Ronesha)
group 5: Charlotte Jackanicz + Jamie Wolf (Renita Tanner does one X for Jamie)
group 6: David Tabler + Brian Pullyblank (Colin Ott does one X for David Tabler)
group 7: Colin Ott + Tiara Spencer (+ Creighton will do an extra credit editing for Tiara)
group 8: Renita Tanner + Randi McFadden (Colin Ott does one X for Renita Tanner), Abby Hoover is doing one X for Renita Tanner
group 9: Julie Pioter + Stephanie Jacques (Renita Tanner does one X for Julie)
group 10: Amber Pankau reads the essay from Randi McFadden
_____________________________________
HOMEWORK for Wednesday, Nov. 19th, when the PEER-EDITED FINAL PAPERS are DUE:
Submit a FOLDER with the following components:
1. Your completed and corrected RESEARCH ESSAY
2. Staple or attach to it with a paper clip the Report Sheet from www.surveymonkey.com as a pdf file
3. The printed Peer Edit Sheet, and the printed peer-edited essay with your peer's electronic comments. If you have received more than one, submit them all. I'm going to check whether you made the suggestions changes suggested by your peers. Your peers will get credit (or extra credit, where it applies) depending how detailed/well done their proofreading was.
4. Your printed-out three sources (stapled). Make sure they are RESEARCH essays from JSTOR, ERIC, or Google Scholar, not simple webpages. Make sure they printed off correctly; I need to be able to see the page numbers, to proofread your quotations.
5. A written paragraph on a separate sheet of paper in which you tell me whether the peer-editing session has helped you, whether you think I should drop the peer-editing workshop for next year's classes, or whether you would prefer a Writing Center session to an in-class peer editing session, and WHY.
6. The Cover Sheet where you check-mark that everything was submitted, and on which I will write your grade. Print it out from here, or from your email, and check-mark everything you submitted.
EXTENSION ONLY for people who have their paper corrected in the Writing Center:
You can submit your complete folder on Friday, Nov. 21st (the last day of class before the Thanksgiving vacations). You need to have had a session with a Writing Center tutor about your whole essay, and this tutor needs to have written a conference summary to me by Friday, Nov. 21st. You need to tell this to your tutor; he/she won't do it by himself/herself. I will put your conference summary in your folder. You can make up for your missed homework points in all components this way. I won't grade your folder if you don't have a conference summary, because that would be a late assignment.
NO LATE PAPERS accepted.
Apart from the FOLDER: Also email your research paper to me (without attachments). Those which are A+ or A might be used for next year as good examples. I will ask your written consent before employing any of your material. Your support will be greatly appreciated by my future ENGL300 classes!!! Remember, you also got samples for everything we did from my previous classes...
That means, your ESSAYS NEED TO BE COMPLETELY FINISHED on Monday, Nov. 17th, at class time. You don't need to print them out; have them ready in electronic format (as a Word document; no other attachments accepted!). EMAIL THEM TO ME BY MONDAY AT CLASS TIME. I will distribute essays to students whose partners didn't show up for the editing session, or who were sick (or otherwise excused) and could not attend.
___________________________________________
Instructions for Peer Editing Session:
1) Use the following Peer Edit Sheet (Rubistar rubric), copy and paste it into a Word document, and save it to your desktop, and highlight the fields with the points you want to give on it in color. Assign an overall grade to the student, judging by what you think is most important in a Research Essay from all the components of the rubric. NOTE: You can also type into my rubric, once you've pasted it into Word. That means, you can include your own personal comments (in a different color, please!).
2) Email this sheet to the author of the essay AND to me as cc., so you can get your points. You need to finish peer-editing ONE paper in class on Nov. 17th (because many people cannot open docx files from home).
3) We are doing "online editing," which means that you are going to employ the "comment function" on the top of your menu list to insert your comments. You need to click on REVIEW, and then on NEW COMMENT (a yellow box).
Highlight the word that's wrong / the place where a word or punctuation sign is missing, click on "comment," and type in your suggestions. Save your document!!! If you don't save it, you will lose all your entries. When you're done, email it back to the author and me, TOGETHER with the Peer Edit Sheet (rubric). Correct all spelling, grammar, punctuation, format, and content mistakes you can find! Assign an OVERALL GRADE you would give to your partner, based on the rubric.
If you need to make up for missed days, tell me for whom you want to do EXTRA CREDIT PEER EDITING, and I will put your name on the list below so your peer knows what to expect from whom! When you email the proofread essay and the Peer Edit Sheet back to that student, and in copy to me, indicate for which missed day you are making up, so I can put an "excused" on my attendance sheet accordingly!
IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT HOW MANY DAYS YOU'VE MISSED, COME TO THE FRONT AND LOOK AT MY GRADE BOOK! Some people might have forgotten to sign the attendance list, so make sure you have an explanation or an extra credit make-up for any missed days. This is the last chance for extra credit.
For people with computer problems at home: we're all trying to save our peer editing papers as Word doc, not Word docx, but if for some reason you cannot open your peer's comments, that doesn't count as excuse. Then, you need to work in the computer lab. If you didn't get anything from your partner, let me know, and I will email you a different paper.
You will exchange your finished research essays with the following partner:
group 1: Creighton Jackson + Jeffrey Ryden
group 2: Michaela Bazar + Katrina Kosma (Stephanie Jacques will do one X for Katrina Kosma)
group 3: Abby Hoover + Brittany Lingle (+ Creighton will do an extra credit editing for Brittany)
group 4: Pamela LaBelle + Ronesha Johnson (+ Creighton will do an extra credit editing for Ronesha)
group 5: Charlotte Jackanicz + Jamie Wolf (Renita Tanner does one X for Jamie)
group 6: David Tabler + Brian Pullyblank (Colin Ott does one X for David Tabler)
group 7: Colin Ott + Tiara Spencer (+ Creighton will do an extra credit editing for Tiara)
group 8: Renita Tanner + Randi McFadden (Colin Ott does one X for Renita Tanner), Abby Hoover is doing one X for Renita Tanner
group 9: Julie Pioter + Stephanie Jacques (Renita Tanner does one X for Julie)
group 10: Amber Pankau reads the essay from Randi McFadden
_____________________________________
HOMEWORK for Wednesday, Nov. 19th, when the PEER-EDITED FINAL PAPERS are DUE:
Submit a FOLDER with the following components:
1. Your completed and corrected RESEARCH ESSAY
2. Staple or attach to it with a paper clip the Report Sheet from www.surveymonkey.com as a pdf file
3. The printed Peer Edit Sheet, and the printed peer-edited essay with your peer's electronic comments. If you have received more than one, submit them all. I'm going to check whether you made the suggestions changes suggested by your peers. Your peers will get credit (or extra credit, where it applies) depending how detailed/well done their proofreading was.
4. Your printed-out three sources (stapled). Make sure they are RESEARCH essays from JSTOR, ERIC, or Google Scholar, not simple webpages. Make sure they printed off correctly; I need to be able to see the page numbers, to proofread your quotations.
5. A written paragraph on a separate sheet of paper in which you tell me whether the peer-editing session has helped you, whether you think I should drop the peer-editing workshop for next year's classes, or whether you would prefer a Writing Center session to an in-class peer editing session, and WHY.
6. The Cover Sheet where you check-mark that everything was submitted, and on which I will write your grade. Print it out from here, or from your email, and check-mark everything you submitted.
EXTENSION ONLY for people who have their paper corrected in the Writing Center:
You can submit your complete folder on Friday, Nov. 21st (the last day of class before the Thanksgiving vacations). You need to have had a session with a Writing Center tutor about your whole essay, and this tutor needs to have written a conference summary to me by Friday, Nov. 21st. You need to tell this to your tutor; he/she won't do it by himself/herself. I will put your conference summary in your folder. You can make up for your missed homework points in all components this way. I won't grade your folder if you don't have a conference summary, because that would be a late assignment.
NO LATE PAPERS accepted.
Apart from the FOLDER: Also email your research paper to me (without attachments). Those which are A+ or A might be used for next year as good examples. I will ask your written consent before employing any of your material. Your support will be greatly appreciated by my future ENGL300 classes!!! Remember, you also got samples for everything we did from my previous classes...
Saturday, November 15, 2008
The Prescriptive Period in the United States
Chapter two of Parker and Riley’s Grammar for Grammarians deals with the prescriptive period of grammar from England to the United States. For the US portion of the chapter, the authors focus on Noah Webster and Lindley Murray.
Webster is better known for his work as a lexicographer -- his dictionaries are widely used. Webster’s work on alternate spellings (changing traveling to travelling, colour to color, etc.) was crucial to establishing America’s linguistic identity separate from England and “British English.” Webster believed that “honor requires [the United States] to have a system of our own, in language as well as government” (30). He pushed for an American standard in his books.
Murray was also very influential. He is well known as a grammarian and wrote English Grammar, Adapted to the Different Classes of Learners. This book was meant for classroom use, but gained immense popularity through the years. Murray’s presentation of grammar emphasized grammatical correctness and also linked proper language to virtue and religion. It is interesting to note that Murray’s book were very similar (almost verbatim) to the works of British grammarian Lowth.
Parker and Riley briefly discuss George Perkins Marsh and William Dwight Whitney. Marsh continues Murray’s idea that grammar and morality are deeply connected. Using words and phrases in ways that were “unacceptable” suggested that a person was morally oblique. To him, speech was to be pure and clean. Whitney, on the other hand, refuted this concept. He focused more on the connection between language and sociology. For him, it was more important to observe who uses a particular word than to judge the word without regard for the user.
Webster is better known for his work as a lexicographer -- his dictionaries are widely used. Webster’s work on alternate spellings (changing traveling to travelling, colour to color, etc.) was crucial to establishing America’s linguistic identity separate from England and “British English.” Webster believed that “honor requires [the United States] to have a system of our own, in language as well as government” (30). He pushed for an American standard in his books.
Murray was also very influential. He is well known as a grammarian and wrote English Grammar, Adapted to the Different Classes of Learners. This book was meant for classroom use, but gained immense popularity through the years. Murray’s presentation of grammar emphasized grammatical correctness and also linked proper language to virtue and religion. It is interesting to note that Murray’s book were very similar (almost verbatim) to the works of British grammarian Lowth.
Parker and Riley briefly discuss George Perkins Marsh and William Dwight Whitney. Marsh continues Murray’s idea that grammar and morality are deeply connected. Using words and phrases in ways that were “unacceptable” suggested that a person was morally oblique. To him, speech was to be pure and clean. Whitney, on the other hand, refuted this concept. He focused more on the connection between language and sociology. For him, it was more important to observe who uses a particular word than to judge the word without regard for the user.
Friday, November 14, 2008
Prescriptive Grammar: The Classical Period
The Classical Period lasted from 500BC to 500AD, during which much language study was done by the Greek and the Romans. It is from this ancient grammar that much of prescriptive grammar is descended. The Greeks made a lot of grammatical progress in this time, and that knowledge was transmitted to other lands by the Romans.
The Greeks became interested in language for a couple of different reasons. One is that they knew about other languages through trade and travel. This allowed them to observe similarities and differences across languages. Another reason that interested the Greeks is the multiple dialects that can be found in Greece due to geographic divides. The Greeks also developed an interest in comparing older, written language with the standard language they spoke at the time. They could see that the language had changed. Observing that language can come in different forms and change over time, the Greeks began to study language and grammar.
The most important innovation pioneered by the Greeks was the alphabet. They were the first people to assign a symbol to every consonant and vowel sound, and our alphabet of today is descended from theirs. These forethinkers of the Classical Period turned their interest into a common practice of consciously speculating about the use of language. The people most associated with this movement were Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and a group called the Stoics. One of the biggest contentions between these figures was whether words/language was nature or convention. This means they fought over whether words sounded like what they were(like cock-a-doodle-doo), or were just arbitrary and unconnected sounds that randomly represent things(like rooster). They also debated about analogy versus anomoly in language, which is basically whether or not language is orderly and regular. Analogists thought is was structured, while anamolists did not.
Another major contribution by the Greeks were the first parts of speech. Plato and Aristotle pioneered the concepts of nouns, verbs, and conjunctions. Later in the Classical Period, an Alexandrian Dionysius wrote The Art of Grammar and added five categories: participle, article, pronoun, preposition, and adverb. Even later, Priscian released his 1,000 page grammar and introduces interjections. This massive work was later used as the basis for the first grammar book written for English. It wasn't until 1700 years later that Joseph Priestley, where the English parts of speech were finalized into the eight parts we now know.
The Classical Period's study of parts of speech gave rise to sentence parsing. Parsing is basically breaking a sentence down into its parts and identifying each word's part and function. This is what most grammar classes still do today. The idea of conjugating verbs and nouns also arose in this period. Yet, there were gaps in this knowledge. They didn't understand that languages were interrelated, and that Greek was the sister language of Latin. They Greeks also had a mistaken idea that any change in language was decay, rather than evolution. They also had a concept that spoken language was corrupted, and only written language could be pure. They got this mistaken idea out of the change in what they spoke, and what was written in old writings. Despite these deficits in knowledge, the Greeks (and Romans) are considered pioneers in the field of grammar.
The Greeks became interested in language for a couple of different reasons. One is that they knew about other languages through trade and travel. This allowed them to observe similarities and differences across languages. Another reason that interested the Greeks is the multiple dialects that can be found in Greece due to geographic divides. The Greeks also developed an interest in comparing older, written language with the standard language they spoke at the time. They could see that the language had changed. Observing that language can come in different forms and change over time, the Greeks began to study language and grammar.
The most important innovation pioneered by the Greeks was the alphabet. They were the first people to assign a symbol to every consonant and vowel sound, and our alphabet of today is descended from theirs. These forethinkers of the Classical Period turned their interest into a common practice of consciously speculating about the use of language. The people most associated with this movement were Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and a group called the Stoics. One of the biggest contentions between these figures was whether words/language was nature or convention. This means they fought over whether words sounded like what they were(like cock-a-doodle-doo), or were just arbitrary and unconnected sounds that randomly represent things(like rooster). They also debated about analogy versus anomoly in language, which is basically whether or not language is orderly and regular. Analogists thought is was structured, while anamolists did not.
Another major contribution by the Greeks were the first parts of speech. Plato and Aristotle pioneered the concepts of nouns, verbs, and conjunctions. Later in the Classical Period, an Alexandrian Dionysius wrote The Art of Grammar and added five categories: participle, article, pronoun, preposition, and adverb. Even later, Priscian released his 1,000 page grammar and introduces interjections. This massive work was later used as the basis for the first grammar book written for English. It wasn't until 1700 years later that Joseph Priestley, where the English parts of speech were finalized into the eight parts we now know.
The Classical Period's study of parts of speech gave rise to sentence parsing. Parsing is basically breaking a sentence down into its parts and identifying each word's part and function. This is what most grammar classes still do today. The idea of conjugating verbs and nouns also arose in this period. Yet, there were gaps in this knowledge. They didn't understand that languages were interrelated, and that Greek was the sister language of Latin. They Greeks also had a mistaken idea that any change in language was decay, rather than evolution. They also had a concept that spoken language was corrupted, and only written language could be pure. They got this mistaken idea out of the change in what they spoke, and what was written in old writings. Despite these deficits in knowledge, the Greeks (and Romans) are considered pioneers in the field of grammar.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Prescriptive Grammar: The Middle Ages and the Renaissance
The period of the Middle Ages refers to 500-1500 AD. During this time, people mostly maintained and commented on pre-existing ideas about grammar. However, the Middle Ages raised Latin to an elevated, important position, as it was the primary subject of language study during this time. Aelfric's Latin Grammar and Colloquium ("Conversations" c. 1000) were children's instructional materials aimed specifically at English speakers, some of the earliest of their kind. This foreshadows the later tendency to base English grammar on Latin models.
The main contribution of the late Middle Ages (1100-1500) is "speculative grammar". This is based on the Latin word speculum ("mirror") and the idea that language "mirrors" reality. Medieval scholars, the modistae, produced speculative grammar between 1250 and 1350. The modistae tried to relate language to the natural world in their treateise De modis significandi tractatus (Treatise Concerning the Modes of Signifying). The modistae were also the first to perceive grammar as a separate field of study, as opposed to viewing it as part of literary criticism or foreign language study.
The period produced principles for constructing acceptable sentences (they must have the necessary components, be inflected correctly, and be collacable, meaning each word must be compatible with adjacent words). The study of grammar also incorporated the parts of speech, parsing, conjugation, and declension. The liberal arts were also divided into two tiers: the trivium and the quadrivium. The trivium, or lower tier, included grammar, logic, and rhetoric, while the quadrivium, or higher tier, was composed of arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music. Due to this curriculum, grammar served as the basis for teaching students to read and write Latin, bringing about our modern term grammar school.
During the Renaissance (1500-1650), European scholars began to give attention to languages other than Greek and Latin, especially Hebrew, Arabic, and Chinese. The study of vernacular languages of Europe (ordinary, everyday language, as opposed to learned language) and the vernacular languages of Africa, Asia, and the Americas began. Scholarly and scientific publications began to use vernacular, and there was an attempt to raise the stature of vernacular languages. The Renaissance also ushered in the expansion of European printing. As literacy spread and the demand for education grew, texts, grammars, and dictionaries were in high demand.
Finally, the Renaissance brought about the rationalist grammar developed by the Port Royal School. A group of hermits living in France, the Solitaires, came to be known as the Port-Royal grammarians. They tried to write a universal grammar containing all properties common to languages known at the time. They investigated concepts such as "subject", "predicate", and "preposition". They tried to explain features commonly shared by all languages. They argues that if language is used to communicate thoughts, then speech should reflect the structure of the thoughts being expressed. At this time, speech was considered to be an imperfect representation of writing.
The main contribution of the late Middle Ages (1100-1500) is "speculative grammar". This is based on the Latin word speculum ("mirror") and the idea that language "mirrors" reality. Medieval scholars, the modistae, produced speculative grammar between 1250 and 1350. The modistae tried to relate language to the natural world in their treateise De modis significandi tractatus (Treatise Concerning the Modes of Signifying). The modistae were also the first to perceive grammar as a separate field of study, as opposed to viewing it as part of literary criticism or foreign language study.
The period produced principles for constructing acceptable sentences (they must have the necessary components, be inflected correctly, and be collacable, meaning each word must be compatible with adjacent words). The study of grammar also incorporated the parts of speech, parsing, conjugation, and declension. The liberal arts were also divided into two tiers: the trivium and the quadrivium. The trivium, or lower tier, included grammar, logic, and rhetoric, while the quadrivium, or higher tier, was composed of arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music. Due to this curriculum, grammar served as the basis for teaching students to read and write Latin, bringing about our modern term grammar school.
During the Renaissance (1500-1650), European scholars began to give attention to languages other than Greek and Latin, especially Hebrew, Arabic, and Chinese. The study of vernacular languages of Europe (ordinary, everyday language, as opposed to learned language) and the vernacular languages of Africa, Asia, and the Americas began. Scholarly and scientific publications began to use vernacular, and there was an attempt to raise the stature of vernacular languages. The Renaissance also ushered in the expansion of European printing. As literacy spread and the demand for education grew, texts, grammars, and dictionaries were in high demand.
Finally, the Renaissance brought about the rationalist grammar developed by the Port Royal School. A group of hermits living in France, the Solitaires, came to be known as the Port-Royal grammarians. They tried to write a universal grammar containing all properties common to languages known at the time. They investigated concepts such as "subject", "predicate", and "preposition". They tried to explain features commonly shared by all languages. They argues that if language is used to communicate thoughts, then speech should reflect the structure of the thoughts being expressed. At this time, speech was considered to be an imperfect representation of writing.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
In-class, Wed., Nov. 12: Workshop Readability
Today, we'll hear the last mini lesson: Charah Gates.
After that, we will work on our topics from the Readability handout, and create our handouts and/or posters. The final version is only due the day after the Thanksgiving vacations. Those who share a topic with a partner can discuss how to split up the different pages.
Those who were not here on Monday have been assigned a topic; so please look it up on the old blog, and ask if you have any questions.
Those who missed class this Monday and are excused (if you had an "observation" or appointment with your chair, this counts as excused!), please pick up a Fry graph handout from me, so you can complete the in-class assignment you missed. Ask me or your neighbors if you have any questions. The prompt is on Monday's blog.
The others: please hand in your Fry Graphs. I'll give you 10 points for them and your table, and then you can take them back into your files - KEEP them, because you will need them for the final Readability Essay, in which you will compare this Fry Graph for your blog writing with your readability for your research writing!!!
The purpose of our Readability Unit:
There are 4 possible scenarios:
1) Ideal case: This is probably true for most people - you will find that you have a readability level of 8-13 for blogs, and 16+ for research writing. Guess why?
2) You have a readability of 16+ for both blog posts AND research writing. This means your writing style is generally very elevated. Kudos! But what does that mean when you address younger students in a class blog, etc.??? Do you know at what grade level newspapers are written??? Why could that be the case?
3) You have a readability of 9th grade or below for both blog posts AND research writing. This is a very unlikely scenario. What would it tell you?
4) The measurement to assess your readability did not work. You feel you have a higher or lower readability than the formula granted you. It is faulty in certain aspects, and did not give a true picture of your personal writing style. Explain why.
You will ponder about all these scenarios in your final Readability Essay, for which you have received the prompt in an email. You can already start writing the parts you have completed in-class. The Readability Essay is due on the final day of class, Dec. 5th, at class time, as an email ONLY. There is no length or format requirement; just follow the prompt and answer all questions.
Today is the last day your audiences can respond to your surveys. You need a minimum of TEN responses by Friday. If you have 0-3 answers by now, say so in class today, and we will take your survey (no extra credit; this is "a little help from your friends"). It is unlikely that your real audience will respond by Friday, so we will "save you." If you have 7-9, just wait the two more days. If you don't have 10 on Friday, some of us will take your survey on Friday.
______________________________________________
To sum up, in today's workshop you can
On Friday, we will finish up our Research Essays by exchanging the invented numbers for the real results, by adding the Introduction, Conclusion, missing parts of the Abstract, the Participants, and the Methods. The essays must be COMPLETE for Monday, Nov. 17th, for our peer-editing unit!!! (in online format)
After that, we will work on our topics from the Readability handout, and create our handouts and/or posters. The final version is only due the day after the Thanksgiving vacations. Those who share a topic with a partner can discuss how to split up the different pages.
Those who were not here on Monday have been assigned a topic; so please look it up on the old blog, and ask if you have any questions.
Those who missed class this Monday and are excused (if you had an "observation" or appointment with your chair, this counts as excused!), please pick up a Fry graph handout from me, so you can complete the in-class assignment you missed. Ask me or your neighbors if you have any questions. The prompt is on Monday's blog.
The others: please hand in your Fry Graphs. I'll give you 10 points for them and your table, and then you can take them back into your files - KEEP them, because you will need them for the final Readability Essay, in which you will compare this Fry Graph for your blog writing with your readability for your research writing!!!
The purpose of our Readability Unit:
There are 4 possible scenarios:
1) Ideal case: This is probably true for most people - you will find that you have a readability level of 8-13 for blogs, and 16+ for research writing. Guess why?
2) You have a readability of 16+ for both blog posts AND research writing. This means your writing style is generally very elevated. Kudos! But what does that mean when you address younger students in a class blog, etc.??? Do you know at what grade level newspapers are written??? Why could that be the case?
3) You have a readability of 9th grade or below for both blog posts AND research writing. This is a very unlikely scenario. What would it tell you?
4) The measurement to assess your readability did not work. You feel you have a higher or lower readability than the formula granted you. It is faulty in certain aspects, and did not give a true picture of your personal writing style. Explain why.
You will ponder about all these scenarios in your final Readability Essay, for which you have received the prompt in an email. You can already start writing the parts you have completed in-class. The Readability Essay is due on the final day of class, Dec. 5th, at class time, as an email ONLY. There is no length or format requirement; just follow the prompt and answer all questions.
Today is the last day your audiences can respond to your surveys. You need a minimum of TEN responses by Friday. If you have 0-3 answers by now, say so in class today, and we will take your survey (no extra credit; this is "a little help from your friends"). It is unlikely that your real audience will respond by Friday, so we will "save you." If you have 7-9, just wait the two more days. If you don't have 10 on Friday, some of us will take your survey on Friday.
______________________________________________
To sum up, in today's workshop you can
- ask people to take your survey, to bring your answers up to 10
- work on your 5 min. readability presentation for Dec. 1st and Dec. 3rd (after Thanksgiving)
- start writing the parts of your Readability Essay that you have completed with the Fry Graph
- do your Fry Graph, if you have missed Monday's class and were excused
On Friday, we will finish up our Research Essays by exchanging the invented numbers for the real results, by adding the Introduction, Conclusion, missing parts of the Abstract, the Participants, and the Methods. The essays must be COMPLETE for Monday, Nov. 17th, for our peer-editing unit!!! (in online format)
Monday, November 10, 2008
Participial Phrases
Participial Phrases are flexible adjectivals. They are verb phrases that are headed by the –ing or –en form of the verb, otherwise known as the participle. The subject of the participle is the noun that is modified.
Here is one of her examples: (you will notice I use a lot of these; I think they illustrate the idea better than the explanations do)
The helicopter hovering over the roof frightened the dogs.
You can see that “hovering” is the participle. Further, the noun and modifying participle have a subject-predicate relationship.
Participles add information about the noun headword. A participial phrase allows you to include verbal ideas in a more concise way.
Following are the three types of participles that she discusses: Prenoun, Movable, and Dangling.
Prenoun Participle – this is when the participle is a single word. It is usually in the adjective slot in the preheadword position.
Here is another one of her examples:
The barking dog next door drives us crazy.
Sometimes an adverb with a hyphen modifies the participle.
a fast-moving object
This still counts as a prenoun participle. If there is an –ly adverb for the prenoun modifier, there will be no hyphen, such as in
a carefully conceived plan (but you already knew that!)
Movable Participle – Kolln says “we can think of the slot following the headword in the noun phrase as the home base of the participial phrase.” It can move to the beginning of the sentence, but only if it modifies the subject and is set off by commas.
Here is one of her examples:
Looking out the window, my mother waved to me.
The participle phrase can also close the sentence.
Here is an example:
The audience stood and applauded, laughing uproariously.
The single-word participle can also open the sentence. The choice of position is based on the rhythm and focus of the sentence.
Again, an example:
Outraged, the entire committee resigned.
These are sometime called free modifiers. You would put the participle phrase at the end of the sentence when you want to emphasize the effect it has.
Dangling Participle – This is the bad kind of participle and it is a grammatical error. The participle can open or close when it modifies the subject of the sentence – this is the only time when it can open or close the sentence.
The following is a dangling participle:
Carrying all of our supplies for miles, the campground was a welcome sight.
The campground didn’t carry anything! You can fix this sentence by saying:
Having carried all of our supplies for miles, we were exhausted by the time we reached the campground.
This can also happen with a delayed subject, such as in the sentence:
Knowing how much work I had to do, it was good of you to come and help.
The “you” is not in the usual subject position. The sentence can be revised by expanding the participial phrase into a complete clause:
It was good of you to come and help when you learned how much work I had to do.
She closes by reminding us that although sentences with these mistakes may be easy to understand, they don’t convey the intended message. Sometimes these mistakes are part of common phrases.
Speaking of old movies, have you seen …..
These kinds of phrases have been accepted into the language, but they can be considered casual or informal.
Here is one of her examples: (you will notice I use a lot of these; I think they illustrate the idea better than the explanations do)
The helicopter hovering over the roof frightened the dogs.
You can see that “hovering” is the participle. Further, the noun and modifying participle have a subject-predicate relationship.
Participles add information about the noun headword. A participial phrase allows you to include verbal ideas in a more concise way.
Following are the three types of participles that she discusses: Prenoun, Movable, and Dangling.
Prenoun Participle – this is when the participle is a single word. It is usually in the adjective slot in the preheadword position.
Here is another one of her examples:
The barking dog next door drives us crazy.
Sometimes an adverb with a hyphen modifies the participle.
a fast-moving object
This still counts as a prenoun participle. If there is an –ly adverb for the prenoun modifier, there will be no hyphen, such as in
a carefully conceived plan (but you already knew that!)
Movable Participle – Kolln says “we can think of the slot following the headword in the noun phrase as the home base of the participial phrase.” It can move to the beginning of the sentence, but only if it modifies the subject and is set off by commas.
Here is one of her examples:
Looking out the window, my mother waved to me.
The participle phrase can also close the sentence.
Here is an example:
The audience stood and applauded, laughing uproariously.
The single-word participle can also open the sentence. The choice of position is based on the rhythm and focus of the sentence.
Again, an example:
Outraged, the entire committee resigned.
These are sometime called free modifiers. You would put the participle phrase at the end of the sentence when you want to emphasize the effect it has.
Dangling Participle – This is the bad kind of participle and it is a grammatical error. The participle can open or close when it modifies the subject of the sentence – this is the only time when it can open or close the sentence.
The following is a dangling participle:
Carrying all of our supplies for miles, the campground was a welcome sight.
The campground didn’t carry anything! You can fix this sentence by saying:
Having carried all of our supplies for miles, we were exhausted by the time we reached the campground.
This can also happen with a delayed subject, such as in the sentence:
Knowing how much work I had to do, it was good of you to come and help.
The “you” is not in the usual subject position. The sentence can be revised by expanding the participial phrase into a complete clause:
It was good of you to come and help when you learned how much work I had to do.
She closes by reminding us that although sentences with these mistakes may be easy to understand, they don’t convey the intended message. Sometimes these mistakes are part of common phrases.
Speaking of old movies, have you seen …..
These kinds of phrases have been accepted into the language, but they can be considered casual or informal.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Readability
Today, we'll hear two mini lessons:
1) Colin
2) Charlotte
Charah will go on Wednesday.
After that, we are preparing for our final unit: Readability. At the beginning of today's lesson, you will sign up for a presentation topic (list below). If you missed this class, you will be assigned a topic. A missed presentation on the due date means a failing grade for the assignment, which is a major component of the Readability Unit. There will not be any make-up opportunities, since we follow a tight time frame. (Unless you make a contract for an incomplete (INC), anyway.)
All presentations will be due the day after the Thanksgiving vacations (Monday, Dec. 1st). We'll hold one after the other, each one lasting max. 5 min., in the final week of class (Dec. 1, 3). Homework for Dec. 5th (the last day of class) will be to assess the readability of your Research Essay which you have received back by then according to one readability formula of your choice from our handbook (and presentations).
______________________________________________________
For homework, you have all commented on the Fry Graph. Today, we are going to apply it.
Your homework (blog post) had to contain at least 100 words. Copy and paste it into a Word document. Proceed according to the instructions:
1) Count the number of sentences in your 100 words sample. (If you had less than 100 words, add more. If you had more, just stop after having counted up to 100, and delete the rest.) Estimate the length of your last sentence, even if incomplete, to the nearest 1/10.
2) Count the number of syllables in your 100 words sample. (Tip: It's easier when you put stress marks over them, like we did on the board when dealing with limericks!!!)
3) Make a table as seen in the instructions. Draw this table on the handout I give you, because you will receive points for it, and I will collect it at the end of today's lesson!
For your second 100-words sample, and your third one, just take any blog response or summary you've written so far. Copy and paste the text in a Word document, count your words and delete all that are over 100. Then, proceed as above. Fill in the table.
4) Total your numbers, and average them. (A little bit of math ;-)). You can use the Microsoft calculator ;-)
5) Make a dot on the graph I distributed in class where your personal readability lies. Write your name on the handout with your graph and your table, and submit it to your teacher for grading (I'm not grading the height of your readability, only the fact that you participated and understood the procedure!) There are no make-ups for this assignment.
6) Every student will sign up for a topic from our readability handout (which you have in your email from Nov. 2nd. It is also on this website: click on the first link, "Principles of Readability"), and present a poster to the class (ca. 5 min. presentation) starting after the Thanksgiving vacations. You will either present an introduction, an overview, or a formula to the class. Those who present the formulas have to go into detail and give examples, so that students can choose and apply this formula later. You can also browse the Internet for additional info/pics about your topic. The first two topics and topic 11 will be done by a pair of students, since they contain more pages. Share them fairly! Preview: When I have graded and returned your final research essays after Thanksgiving, you are going to calculate our own readability. You can choose any readability formula that is explained in detail in our readability handout that you have in your email (and on the website). You don't need to use the Fry Graph, but you can.
Instructions for Presentation:
1. You need to make a handout with a short overview for the whole class, which you can email to all peers (and me) to save paper. I'll email out an attendance list to everybody, so you'll have all emails. You can also make hard copies.
2. You can either write on the board, use the Smartboard, or present a big poster (ask me for paper and Sharpies). You don't need to do a ppt.
3. Your presentation should introduce your topic (if you have a formula, people should understand how it works).
4. Don't go over 5 minutes.
Topics:
1. Intro, pp. 1-10
Name: Brittany Lingle
Name: Michaela Bazar
2. Classic Readability Formulas, pp. 13-19
Name: Stephanie Jacques
Name: David Tabler
3. Flesch, pp. 20-22
Name: Colin Ott
4. Dale & Chall, pp. 22-23
Name: Katrina Kosma
5. Gunning, pp. 24-25
Name: Pamela LaBelle
6. New Readability Studies & Community of Scholars, pp. 25-26
Name: Jamie Wolf
7. Cloze Test, pp. 27-28
Name: Randi McFadden
8. Readability, Prior Knowledge, Interest, Motivation, pp. 28-30
Name: Brian Pullyblank
9. Performance, Efficiency, Content, pp. 30-34
Name: Charlotte Jackanicz
10. Leveling, pp. 35-37
Name: Jeffrey Ryden
11. Producing & Transforming Text, pp. 37-42
Name: Tiara Spencer
Name: Ronesha Johnson
12. New Readability Formulas, pp. 43-45
Name: Renita Tanner (assigned)
13. SMOG, FORECAST, pp. 47-49
Name: Amber Pankau
1) Colin
2) Charlotte
Charah will go on Wednesday.
After that, we are preparing for our final unit: Readability. At the beginning of today's lesson, you will sign up for a presentation topic (list below). If you missed this class, you will be assigned a topic. A missed presentation on the due date means a failing grade for the assignment, which is a major component of the Readability Unit. There will not be any make-up opportunities, since we follow a tight time frame. (Unless you make a contract for an incomplete (INC), anyway.)
All presentations will be due the day after the Thanksgiving vacations (Monday, Dec. 1st). We'll hold one after the other, each one lasting max. 5 min., in the final week of class (Dec. 1, 3). Homework for Dec. 5th (the last day of class) will be to assess the readability of your Research Essay which you have received back by then according to one readability formula of your choice from our handbook (and presentations).
______________________________________________________
For homework, you have all commented on the Fry Graph. Today, we are going to apply it.
Your homework (blog post) had to contain at least 100 words. Copy and paste it into a Word document. Proceed according to the instructions:
1) Count the number of sentences in your 100 words sample. (If you had less than 100 words, add more. If you had more, just stop after having counted up to 100, and delete the rest.) Estimate the length of your last sentence, even if incomplete, to the nearest 1/10.
2) Count the number of syllables in your 100 words sample. (Tip: It's easier when you put stress marks over them, like we did on the board when dealing with limericks!!!)
3) Make a table as seen in the instructions. Draw this table on the handout I give you, because you will receive points for it, and I will collect it at the end of today's lesson!
For your second 100-words sample, and your third one, just take any blog response or summary you've written so far. Copy and paste the text in a Word document, count your words and delete all that are over 100. Then, proceed as above. Fill in the table.
4) Total your numbers, and average them. (A little bit of math ;-)). You can use the Microsoft calculator ;-)
5) Make a dot on the graph I distributed in class where your personal readability lies. Write your name on the handout with your graph and your table, and submit it to your teacher for grading (I'm not grading the height of your readability, only the fact that you participated and understood the procedure!) There are no make-ups for this assignment.
6) Every student will sign up for a topic from our readability handout (which you have in your email from Nov. 2nd. It is also on this website: click on the first link, "Principles of Readability"), and present a poster to the class (ca. 5 min. presentation) starting after the Thanksgiving vacations. You will either present an introduction, an overview, or a formula to the class. Those who present the formulas have to go into detail and give examples, so that students can choose and apply this formula later. You can also browse the Internet for additional info/pics about your topic. The first two topics and topic 11 will be done by a pair of students, since they contain more pages. Share them fairly! Preview: When I have graded and returned your final research essays after Thanksgiving, you are going to calculate our own readability. You can choose any readability formula that is explained in detail in our readability handout that you have in your email (and on the website). You don't need to use the Fry Graph, but you can.
Instructions for Presentation:
1. You need to make a handout with a short overview for the whole class, which you can email to all peers (and me) to save paper. I'll email out an attendance list to everybody, so you'll have all emails. You can also make hard copies.
2. You can either write on the board, use the Smartboard, or present a big poster (ask me for paper and Sharpies). You don't need to do a ppt.
3. Your presentation should introduce your topic (if you have a formula, people should understand how it works).
4. Don't go over 5 minutes.
Topics:
1. Intro, pp. 1-10
Name: Brittany Lingle
Name: Michaela Bazar
2. Classic Readability Formulas, pp. 13-19
Name: Stephanie Jacques
Name: David Tabler
3. Flesch, pp. 20-22
Name: Colin Ott
4. Dale & Chall, pp. 22-23
Name: Katrina Kosma
5. Gunning, pp. 24-25
Name: Pamela LaBelle
6. New Readability Studies & Community of Scholars, pp. 25-26
Name: Jamie Wolf
7. Cloze Test, pp. 27-28
Name: Randi McFadden
8. Readability, Prior Knowledge, Interest, Motivation, pp. 28-30
Name: Brian Pullyblank
9. Performance, Efficiency, Content, pp. 30-34
Name: Charlotte Jackanicz
10. Leveling, pp. 35-37
Name: Jeffrey Ryden
11. Producing & Transforming Text, pp. 37-42
Name: Tiara Spencer
Name: Ronesha Johnson
12. New Readability Formulas, pp. 43-45
Name: Renita Tanner (assigned)
13. SMOG, FORECAST, pp. 47-49
Name: Amber Pankau
14. ARI, NRI, Hull formula for technical writing, pp. 49-51
Name: Julie Pioter (assigned)
15. DRP, p. 51
Name: Abby Hoover (assigned)
16. Formula Application, and Legislation, pp. 55-56
Name: Creighton Jackson (assigned)
17. Use, pp. 56-57
Name: Charah Gates (assigned)
Choosing Stylistic Variation
Style is a key part of all writing, and everyone has different styles of writing. We can categorize writings into different styles. There are 4 mains styles of writing, such as, the Plain style, the Pompous style, the Grand style, and the Official Style. Style is also used to connected variations with sentence structures. These include; using punctuation to the writers advantage. The Greeks had a word for the variation of normal word order and usage called anastrophe. Greek orators commonly practiced the inversion of usual word order.
Absolute Phrases is a sentence modifier that functions as a loner standing beyond the sentence. These types of phrases are also noun phrases that use the formula determiner + noun headword + participial phrase. Though absolute phrases sometimes use a pattern with a participial phrase as the postword modifier.
Many variations that writers use for special effects occur in connection with coordination structures, which are, pairs and series of sentences and their parts. One change in deviation is the use of conjunctions. This variation of writing is called by the Greeks polysyndeton where the use of an extra “and”. There is also a Greek style called asyndeton, which is opposite of the extra “and” that uses a series of no conjunctions. The omission of the conjunctions contributes to the strictness and frugal style that echoes the words themselves.
We also use repetition, which could be taken positively or negatively because it can also be considered redundancy. Our discussions in everyday speech are confined to repetition in coordination structures that make readers sit up and notice what we are speaking about. The Gettysburg address is a prime example of coordination structure because most cannot remember anything other than “Four score and Seven years ago.” Though through the structure of repetition we can also remember “government of the people, by the people, and for the people.” Lincoln’s uses of similar grammatical form are also known as an Isocolon. A contrasting view would be to look at the way President Kennedy stirs his words by reusing “any” in an asyndeton way. The word variation goes on to almost end his sentence during his sentence. Repetition of a clause opening is called an anaphora. This type of repetition is different then all other forms because the others are used in the middle of a sentence, where as, an anaphora is used to open a sentence with repetition.
Absolute Phrases is a sentence modifier that functions as a loner standing beyond the sentence. These types of phrases are also noun phrases that use the formula determiner + noun headword + participial phrase. Though absolute phrases sometimes use a pattern with a participial phrase as the postword modifier.
Many variations that writers use for special effects occur in connection with coordination structures, which are, pairs and series of sentences and their parts. One change in deviation is the use of conjunctions. This variation of writing is called by the Greeks polysyndeton where the use of an extra “and”. There is also a Greek style called asyndeton, which is opposite of the extra “and” that uses a series of no conjunctions. The omission of the conjunctions contributes to the strictness and frugal style that echoes the words themselves.
We also use repetition, which could be taken positively or negatively because it can also be considered redundancy. Our discussions in everyday speech are confined to repetition in coordination structures that make readers sit up and notice what we are speaking about. The Gettysburg address is a prime example of coordination structure because most cannot remember anything other than “Four score and Seven years ago.” Though through the structure of repetition we can also remember “government of the people, by the people, and for the people.” Lincoln’s uses of similar grammatical form are also known as an Isocolon. A contrasting view would be to look at the way President Kennedy stirs his words by reusing “any” in an asyndeton way. The word variation goes on to almost end his sentence during his sentence. Repetition of a clause opening is called an anaphora. This type of repetition is different then all other forms because the others are used in the middle of a sentence, where as, an anaphora is used to open a sentence with repetition.
Friday, November 7, 2008
Next Blog Summaries
Today, Friday, Nov. 7th, we heard four mini lessons.
Below are all the remaining blog summary assignments for the rest of the year. If you HAVE NOT posted a summary yet, and ARE NOT on this list, contact me on Nov. 10th, because then you didn't sign up and got left out!
____________________________________________________
THERE ARE NO MAKE-UPS for missed blog summaries!!!! If they are not posted by class time on the due date, I will post the one of my other class, so the peers can write their responses.
1) Colin Ott: Chapter 10 out of Martha Kolln's Book Rhetorical Grammar: "Choosing Stylistic Variations" (pp. 210-232). DUE DATE: Monday, Nov. 10, at class time. Responses due Wed., Nov. 12, at class time.
2) Jeffrey Ryden: pp. 180-185 from Martha Kolln's Book Rhetorical Grammar: "Participial Phrases." DUE DATE: Monday, Nov. 10, at class time. Responses due Wed., Nov. 12, at class time.
3) Randi McFadden: pp. 242-245 from Martha Kolln's Book Rhetorical Grammar: "Collective Nouns." DUE DATE: Wednesday, Nov. 12, at class time. Responses due Fri., Nov. 14, at class time.
4) Katrina Kosma: "Part I: Prescriptive Grammar," from the textbook Grammar for Grammarians by Riley & Parker (pp. 8-14; about the Classical Period). DUE DATE: Friday, November 14th, at class time. Responses due Monday, Nov. 17th, at class time.
5) Julie Pioter: "Part I: Prescriptive Grammar," from the textbook Grammar for Grammarians by Riley & Parker (pp. 14-20; about the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance). DUE DATE: Friday, Nov. 14th, at class time. Responses due Monday, November 17th, at class time.
6) Renita Tanner: "Chapter 2: The Prescriptive Period. In England," from the textbook Grammar for Grammarians by Riley & Parker (pp. 21-29). DUE DATE: Monday, Nov. 17th, at class time. Responses due Wednesday, Nov. 19th, at class time.
7) Jamie Wolf: "Chapter 2: The Prescriptive Period. In the United States," from the textbook Grammar for Grammarians by Riley & Parker (pp. 29-35). DUE DATE: Monday, Nov. 17th, at class time. Responses due Wednesday, Nov. 19th, at class time.
8) Alexandra Rude and Stephanie Jacques: "Chapter 3: Prescriptive Rules," from the textbook Grammar for Grammarians by Riley & Parker (pp. 36-60, BUT: Leave out all the subjects we have covered already in mini lessons, such as lie/lay, either/or, neither/nor, etc.; choose new topics from the text for your summary!) Share the topics among one another - e.g., one does the first half of the chapter, the other the second half! DUE DATE: Wednesday, Nov. 19th, at class time. Responses due Friday, Nov. 21st, at class time.
9) Amber Pankau, Tiara Spencer, Ronesha Johnson: "Part II: Descriptive Grammar. Chapter 4: Historical-Comparative Period, Structuralism, Descriptivism vs. Prescriptivism"(pp. 61-74). There are three topics. Amber: Historical-Comparative; Tiara: Structuralism; Ronesha: Descriptivism vs. Prescriptivism. DUE DATE: Wednesday, Nov. 19th, at class time. Responses due Friday, Nov. 21st, at class time.
10) Charah Gates: "Part III: Generative Grammar. Generative Theory," pp. 174-179. DUE DATE: Wednesday, Nov. 19th, at class time. Responses due Friday, Nov. 21st, at class time.
THANKSGIVING VACATIONS are from Nov. 22nd - Nov. 30th. I will only grade blog responses that were submitted on time by class time on Nov. 21st. Later entries will not be considered! EVEN if you are hospitalized. I am flying to Germany on Dec. 18th, and I am not grading anything except for final exams during FINALS WEEK from Dec. 8th-12th. If you are hospitalized and CAN NOT complete all assignments including the research essay on time, come to my office and sign a contract for an INCOMPLETE no later than Friday, Nov. 21st (the last day before the Thanksgiving vacations). Otherwise, you will fail this course.
THERE ARE NO MAKE-UPS for missed blog summaries!!! If they are not posted at class time, I will post the summary of the other class, so that the peers can do their responses.
Below are all the remaining blog summary assignments for the rest of the year. If you HAVE NOT posted a summary yet, and ARE NOT on this list, contact me on Nov. 10th, because then you didn't sign up and got left out!
____________________________________________________
THERE ARE NO MAKE-UPS for missed blog summaries!!!! If they are not posted by class time on the due date, I will post the one of my other class, so the peers can write their responses.
1) Colin Ott: Chapter 10 out of Martha Kolln's Book Rhetorical Grammar: "Choosing Stylistic Variations" (pp. 210-232). DUE DATE: Monday, Nov. 10, at class time. Responses due Wed., Nov. 12, at class time.
2) Jeffrey Ryden: pp. 180-185 from Martha Kolln's Book Rhetorical Grammar: "Participial Phrases." DUE DATE: Monday, Nov. 10, at class time. Responses due Wed., Nov. 12, at class time.
3) Randi McFadden: pp. 242-245 from Martha Kolln's Book Rhetorical Grammar: "Collective Nouns." DUE DATE: Wednesday, Nov. 12, at class time. Responses due Fri., Nov. 14, at class time.
4) Katrina Kosma: "Part I: Prescriptive Grammar," from the textbook Grammar for Grammarians by Riley & Parker (pp. 8-14; about the Classical Period). DUE DATE: Friday, November 14th, at class time. Responses due Monday, Nov. 17th, at class time.
5) Julie Pioter: "Part I: Prescriptive Grammar," from the textbook Grammar for Grammarians by Riley & Parker (pp. 14-20; about the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance). DUE DATE: Friday, Nov. 14th, at class time. Responses due Monday, November 17th, at class time.
6) Renita Tanner: "Chapter 2: The Prescriptive Period. In England," from the textbook Grammar for Grammarians by Riley & Parker (pp. 21-29). DUE DATE: Monday, Nov. 17th, at class time. Responses due Wednesday, Nov. 19th, at class time.
7) Jamie Wolf: "Chapter 2: The Prescriptive Period. In the United States," from the textbook Grammar for Grammarians by Riley & Parker (pp. 29-35). DUE DATE: Monday, Nov. 17th, at class time. Responses due Wednesday, Nov. 19th, at class time.
8) Alexandra Rude and Stephanie Jacques: "Chapter 3: Prescriptive Rules," from the textbook Grammar for Grammarians by Riley & Parker (pp. 36-60, BUT: Leave out all the subjects we have covered already in mini lessons, such as lie/lay, either/or, neither/nor, etc.; choose new topics from the text for your summary!) Share the topics among one another - e.g., one does the first half of the chapter, the other the second half! DUE DATE: Wednesday, Nov. 19th, at class time. Responses due Friday, Nov. 21st, at class time.
9) Amber Pankau, Tiara Spencer, Ronesha Johnson: "Part II: Descriptive Grammar. Chapter 4: Historical-Comparative Period, Structuralism, Descriptivism vs. Prescriptivism"(pp. 61-74). There are three topics. Amber: Historical-Comparative; Tiara: Structuralism; Ronesha: Descriptivism vs. Prescriptivism. DUE DATE: Wednesday, Nov. 19th, at class time. Responses due Friday, Nov. 21st, at class time.
10) Charah Gates: "Part III: Generative Grammar. Generative Theory," pp. 174-179. DUE DATE: Wednesday, Nov. 19th, at class time. Responses due Friday, Nov. 21st, at class time.
THANKSGIVING VACATIONS are from Nov. 22nd - Nov. 30th. I will only grade blog responses that were submitted on time by class time on Nov. 21st. Later entries will not be considered! EVEN if you are hospitalized. I am flying to Germany on Dec. 18th, and I am not grading anything except for final exams during FINALS WEEK from Dec. 8th-12th. If you are hospitalized and CAN NOT complete all assignments including the research essay on time, come to my office and sign a contract for an INCOMPLETE no later than Friday, Nov. 21st (the last day before the Thanksgiving vacations). Otherwise, you will fail this course.
THERE ARE NO MAKE-UPS for missed blog summaries!!! If they are not posted at class time, I will post the summary of the other class, so that the peers can do their responses.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Readability Versus Leveling --Edward Fry
The article "Readability Versus Leveling" by Edward Fry discusses the difference between readability and leveling when it comes to the relation to grade levels. Fry tells of how readability is defined as "the ease of comprehension because of style of writing." Leveling is defined as "selecting books to match the competencies of a reader or writer." Fry explains how readability is found by using formulas. In the classroom, readability is thought of as an objective numerical scored gained by applying the formula. Leveling is not objective, it takes subject factors of judgment into account.
Readability dates back to the 1920s and the "McGuffy Readers." "McGruffy Readers" gave books a numerical grading, the more complex the books are, the higher numbers they will have. As it progressed, the numbers evolved into grade levels. One system used is the Reading Recovery System. It requires teachers to find books with closely spread difficulty to that one grade level with have books with more one degree of difficulty for that one grade. Some other systems give whole-grade designations to books. Thses systems and formulas are for grades 1-4 mostly.
The formulas used to measure readability and leveling use different parts of reading, speaking and writing. Readability uses syntactic difficulty, measured by sentence length, and sematic difficulty, meased by word length. Word length is measured by syllables or numbers of letters in the words. Leveling is measured by more than just two parts. What measures leveling is content, illustrations, length, curriculum, langugage structure, judgment and format. Readability is objective and can be assessed by a computer. Unlike leveling, witch is not objective. The scores of these formulas can be translated into grade levels. However, Fry does explain that there are limitations to these formulas. He gives the examples of how motivation and appropriateness cannot be assessed.
Readabliltiy and leveling have two different ranges. Readability formulas range like grade levels, 1-12. Leveling formulas range from kindergarden to 6th grade. Readability, unlike leveling, is used outside the classroom. It is used for many different works. Some examples are military training manuals, plain language laws, and newspaper articles.
Fry dicussed how to find the right readability level. He said there is a need to find reading materials with the right reading level for instuction that makes the most sense. If the reading level is too hard, it may discourage someone from reading and understanding it. On the other hand, if it is too simple, the reader could get bored with its simplicity. Fry said one of the most important things for a teacher is to select the correct level for her student to learn reading effectively.
Readability dates back to the 1920s and the "McGuffy Readers." "McGruffy Readers" gave books a numerical grading, the more complex the books are, the higher numbers they will have. As it progressed, the numbers evolved into grade levels. One system used is the Reading Recovery System. It requires teachers to find books with closely spread difficulty to that one grade level with have books with more one degree of difficulty for that one grade. Some other systems give whole-grade designations to books. Thses systems and formulas are for grades 1-4 mostly.
The formulas used to measure readability and leveling use different parts of reading, speaking and writing. Readability uses syntactic difficulty, measured by sentence length, and sematic difficulty, meased by word length. Word length is measured by syllables or numbers of letters in the words. Leveling is measured by more than just two parts. What measures leveling is content, illustrations, length, curriculum, langugage structure, judgment and format. Readability is objective and can be assessed by a computer. Unlike leveling, witch is not objective. The scores of these formulas can be translated into grade levels. However, Fry does explain that there are limitations to these formulas. He gives the examples of how motivation and appropriateness cannot be assessed.
Readabliltiy and leveling have two different ranges. Readability formulas range like grade levels, 1-12. Leveling formulas range from kindergarden to 6th grade. Readability, unlike leveling, is used outside the classroom. It is used for many different works. Some examples are military training manuals, plain language laws, and newspaper articles.
Fry dicussed how to find the right readability level. He said there is a need to find reading materials with the right reading level for instuction that makes the most sense. If the reading level is too hard, it may discourage someone from reading and understanding it. On the other hand, if it is too simple, the reader could get bored with its simplicity. Fry said one of the most important things for a teacher is to select the correct level for her student to learn reading effectively.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
In-Class, Wed., Nov. 5th: Limericks
If you miss this class, do the blog post at home, invent a "grammar limerick" on your own, and post it to this blog as a comment no later than Friday, Nov. 7th, at class time.
___________________________________________________
Today, we'll do a group-work CREATIVE WRITING task that deals with rhythm and rhyme of language.
I have emailed you all the works of art of my ENGL 300 courses from Fall 2007 and Spring 2008. Open this email attachment.
At first, we are going to evaluate these limericks.
TASK 1:
Go to the following website, and get informed about the correct rhythm and rhyme scheme of a limerick.
Then, highlight the limericks that were done right in green, and those that don't quite work in red. Substitute words/sentences that WOULD work for the limericks that did not get the rhythm right (in class discussion).
TASK 2:
Let's see if we can exceed them!
Get together in groups of three or four people (maximum), and create your own limerick. Observe the following rules:
1) The rhythm MUST be correct. Read it out loud to get the hang of it.
2) The long lines must rhyme.
3) The short lines must rhyme.
4) There must be a pun in it.
5) It MUST deal with either grammar/language acquisition/syntax/punctuation/teaching!!!!!!!!!!!
It can contain "language," too. After all, limericks allegedly originate from pubs in Ireland...
When you're done, publish your limerick as a comment to this blog entry, and indicate all the names of your group members!
___________________________________________________
Today, we'll do a group-work CREATIVE WRITING task that deals with rhythm and rhyme of language.
I have emailed you all the works of art of my ENGL 300 courses from Fall 2007 and Spring 2008. Open this email attachment.
At first, we are going to evaluate these limericks.
TASK 1:
Go to the following website, and get informed about the correct rhythm and rhyme scheme of a limerick.
Then, highlight the limericks that were done right in green, and those that don't quite work in red. Substitute words/sentences that WOULD work for the limericks that did not get the rhythm right (in class discussion).
TASK 2:
Let's see if we can exceed them!
Get together in groups of three or four people (maximum), and create your own limerick. Observe the following rules:
1) The rhythm MUST be correct. Read it out loud to get the hang of it.
2) The long lines must rhyme.
3) The short lines must rhyme.
4) There must be a pun in it.
5) It MUST deal with either grammar/language acquisition/syntax/punctuation/teaching!!!!!!!!!!!
It can contain "language," too. After all, limericks allegedly originate from pubs in Ireland...
When you're done, publish your limerick as a comment to this blog entry, and indicate all the names of your group members!
Monday, November 3, 2008
Computational Limericks (blog summary)
Since Colin didn't post his blog summary, here's the one from ENGL 300-1, done by Heather Mormino.
Responses are due on Wednesday, Nov. 5th, by class time.
_____________________________________________________
Lessard and Levison begin the article by stating that this topic may be frivolous, but it could a good case can be made for the importance and indeed the centrality of the problems that they discuss further in the article on both theoretical and practical problems. They state that people are interested in the underlying principles of what it taken as the essential component of our humanity: humor.
We may have all heard of limericks, but what exactly is a limerick? Well, in the article the authors say that a limerick is the midway between a pun and a joke. What constitutes a limerick to most people is a five-line poem with an aabba rhyme, scheme, an anapestic metre, and nine syllables on lines one, two and five, and six syllables on lines three and four. However, this is subject to change as the rhyme scheme is not limited to aabba.
Lessard and Levison then start to discuss rhyme. Two phonological sequences (words, sequences of words, lines) are said to rhyme if their final stressed syllables share the same nucleus and coda. Everyboday knows that for most poems rhyme is an essetial piece. So we take from these two section of the article that a limerick is a rhyming joke.
Now we get into metre: Once a rhyme scheme has been determined, the construction of each line requires that a sequence of lexical items be aligned, culminating in the rhyming word, which contains the correct number of syllables and whose metrical structure follows the pattern determined for the limerick under construction. So now we decide that a limerick is a rhyming joke that has a certain rhythm based from its metre. The metre is the flow of the rhyme. Think of how you read a poem and the specific pattern we use in our heads.
For discussion: Do you know any (class appropriate) limericks? Do you think you could make one up on your own? Would you teach limericks to your class, and if so would you mix it in with poetry since we know that a limerick is somewhat of a rhyming poem?
Responses are due on Wednesday, Nov. 5th, by class time.
_____________________________________________________
Lessard and Levison begin the article by stating that this topic may be frivolous, but it could a good case can be made for the importance and indeed the centrality of the problems that they discuss further in the article on both theoretical and practical problems. They state that people are interested in the underlying principles of what it taken as the essential component of our humanity: humor.
We may have all heard of limericks, but what exactly is a limerick? Well, in the article the authors say that a limerick is the midway between a pun and a joke. What constitutes a limerick to most people is a five-line poem with an aabba rhyme, scheme, an anapestic metre, and nine syllables on lines one, two and five, and six syllables on lines three and four. However, this is subject to change as the rhyme scheme is not limited to aabba.
Lessard and Levison then start to discuss rhyme. Two phonological sequences (words, sequences of words, lines) are said to rhyme if their final stressed syllables share the same nucleus and coda. Everyboday knows that for most poems rhyme is an essetial piece. So we take from these two section of the article that a limerick is a rhyming joke.
Now we get into metre: Once a rhyme scheme has been determined, the construction of each line requires that a sequence of lexical items be aligned, culminating in the rhyming word, which contains the correct number of syllables and whose metrical structure follows the pattern determined for the limerick under construction. So now we decide that a limerick is a rhyming joke that has a certain rhythm based from its metre. The metre is the flow of the rhyme. Think of how you read a poem and the specific pattern we use in our heads.
For discussion: Do you know any (class appropriate) limericks? Do you think you could make one up on your own? Would you teach limericks to your class, and if so would you mix it in with poetry since we know that a limerick is somewhat of a rhyming poem?
Sunday, November 2, 2008
In-Class, Nov. 7rd: Grammar, Computers, Haiku
After Friday's mini lessons (Stephanie, Michaela, Randi; Abby will go on Monday), we are going to continue our two-day unit about grammar and poetry.
Since those of you who become teachers will most likely teach in a technology classroom (remember that from 2012 on, your students will be assessed for their "technological literacy," which means we as teachers have to teach them), we will also deal with computer-generated grammars for poems. That means, you create a program telling the computer which choices it has for noun, verb, preposition, etc., and the computer spits out a (more or less) creative poem.
At first, review what a haiku is (most of you will know already).
Below are the basic rules for the classic version:
Then, look at the following blog entry, which offers a simple "grammar" that can be fed into a computer so it creates a haiku. Be aware that here, the haiku have less than 17 syllables (many writers think that 17 syllables in Japanese can be more effectively rendered in less syllables in English).
We have just learned that the classic version of a haiku is a bit more complicated / longer than in this blog above (which just offers one season-related word in the first line, like "summer").
TASK: Get together in groups of 3-4 and invent your own haiku according to the classic rule described above, and write a "computer grammar" for it similar to the blog entry linked above.
Post your limerick and your corresponding "grammar" as a blog response to this thread, and present it to the class.
(If you missed this class, do it alone and post it for the rest to read.) Due date: Today at the end of class, or Wednesday before class (deadline).
Since those of you who become teachers will most likely teach in a technology classroom (remember that from 2012 on, your students will be assessed for their "technological literacy," which means we as teachers have to teach them), we will also deal with computer-generated grammars for poems. That means, you create a program telling the computer which choices it has for noun, verb, preposition, etc., and the computer spits out a (more or less) creative poem.
At first, review what a haiku is (most of you will know already).
Below are the basic rules for the classic version:
- 3-short lines
- 1-season word
- 1-cutting word
- no rhyme or metaphor
- (17 syllables, 5-7-5)
Then, look at the following blog entry, which offers a simple "grammar" that can be fed into a computer so it creates a haiku. Be aware that here, the haiku have less than 17 syllables (many writers think that 17 syllables in Japanese can be more effectively rendered in less syllables in English).
We have just learned that the classic version of a haiku is a bit more complicated / longer than in this blog above (which just offers one season-related word in the first line, like "summer").
TASK: Get together in groups of 3-4 and invent your own haiku according to the classic rule described above, and write a "computer grammar" for it similar to the blog entry linked above.
Post your limerick and your corresponding "grammar" as a blog response to this thread, and present it to the class.
(If you missed this class, do it alone and post it for the rest to read.) Due date: Today at the end of class, or Wednesday before class (deadline).
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