linguistics

[KILBORNJ@TIGGER.STCLOUDSTATE.EDU]

Putting a bit of a different slant on this discussion . . . . 

One of my graduate students wrote his masters' thesis on the introduction of a
linguistics elective class into a high school. Beginning with the idea that
high schoolers are linguistic animals, he designed and tested a
sociolinguistics course that introduced linguistic principles and asked
students to apply them, often in contexts that required observation and
reflection about language use in their own lives. 

The course has been wildly successful. It is, in fact, the most popular
language arts elective. I think they're offering five sections of the class
this year in a school of about 1800. I'll know more about it next trimester
when my 16-year-old son takes the class.

If high schoolers see the relevance of linguistics in their lives, and a
teacher who is probably the best and most well-liked teacher in the language
arts program sees high schoolers as linguistic animals, who am I to argue about
the relevance of linguistics to secondary teachers?

Judy Kilborn
in St. Cloud where there's two inches of snow :(