Linguistics at NCTE

I'm a little slow in getting this posted, but did want to share - In November of 2014, I traveled to the National Council of Teachers of English meeting in DC. (Actually, it was at the Gaylord Resort in National Harbor, Maryland – a strange netherworld; I wish it had actually been in Washington, DC.) I, along with Ian Connally, Suzi Loosen, and Beth Keyser presented at a panel called “The Story of Language: Integrating Linguistics into High School English Classrooms,” organized by Anne Lobeck. The theme of the whole NCTE conference this year was Story as the Landscape of Knowing (?), so our three presenters shared how they have developed innovative courses and curricula that enable students to make connections between linguistic concepts and the overall ‘stories’ of their lives by encouraging inquiry, thereby improving not only students’ knowledge of the structure and use of their own and other languages, but also their expertise in investigative discovery and habits of mind.

These approaches and the activities students engage in in these teachers' classrooms take the study of language beyond writing and literacy, creating a unique bridge between English Language Arts and other disciplines. In particular, teachers who incorporate linguistics into their classrooms rely upon and celebrate the language of all students, including those in underrepresented groups, ultimately creating a context in which multilingualism is explored and affirmed. By better understanding and learning to discuss the many ways that language ‘works’ to create meaning, students learn to better understand themselves, their peers, and their world.

Ian Connally teaches Honors Linguistics in a Title 1 urban district in Forth Worth, Texas. His year-long course focuses on college readiness and critical thinking. Supporting STEM goals across the curriculum, the class offers a way to get ‘hands-on’ with language, looking at language as scientists, asking “why”, and developing skills to answer those questions. Here is Ian’s powerpoint on Linguistics in the AP Literature classroom.

Beth Keyser, who has featured prominently in this blog, incorporates weekly lessons on language and grammar into her English classes at her rural high school in Superior, Montana. Beth has found the investigative approach is more engaging, that students do well, regardless of their reading and writing abilities, and that students become scientists of language, discovering patterns for themselves based on evidence. Here is a prezi from Beth’s presentation.
It includes within it a YouTube video "No Nonsense in Nonsense Words: A new perspective on grammar," which is also posted separately here.

And Suzi Loosen teaches a linguistics course at an urban, public high school in Milwaukee in which she introduces her ethnically and linguistically diverse students to linguistics, including units on phonetics, morphology, language acquisition, endangered languages, sociolinguistics, and the history of English. Here is Suzi’s powerpoint and handout, "Linguistics: A high school English elective." (Suzi’s article, “High School Linguistics” also came out recently in Language; unfortunately, it's paywalled.) (And here's an article from 2013 from the Wilwaukee Journal Sentinel about Suzi and her use of linguistics in her classroom.)

The presenters were inspiring and the participants engaged. Some audience members shared ways in which they have incorporated linguistics into discussions of poetry, others about how linguistics has informed classroom discussions about the connections between language and thought. And there was discussions about interesting ways to take advantage of the expertise of speakers of other languages in the English classroom to enrich discussions about literature and writing. I hope we can continue the conversation. Feel free to contact Ian (Ian.Connally@fwisd.org), Beth (bkeyser@superior.k12.mt.us), Suzi (loosensa@yahoo.com) or me, Kristin, (kristin.denham@wwu.edu) to share your own ideas or to talk more about ways of incorporating linguistics into your existing classes or introducing a stand-alone linguistics class.