re: What good is linguistics?

[Sara Kimball <skimball@uts.cc.utexas.edu>]

Susanna I want to thank you and everyone else who's responded to my
question for your thoughtful and *encouraging* replies.  I've been
trying to figure out whether I want to write a paper about linguistics and
composition, and your replies give me reason to believe it's anything but
a futile connection--not the message I get from many of my colleagues in
the English department.  Your replies also give me reason to believe that
the things I do in my grad and undergrad courses do succeed with some
people anyway, since the courses you've described as teaching or taking
sound a lot like what I do in my own courses.

Hmm, maybe I should invite y'all to the next meeting of the English
department at which the place of linguistics in our grad or undergrad
program comes up--but that's not an experience I'd inflict on anyone I
*like* ;-)
Sara

On Mon, 3 Nov 1997, Susanna Horn wrote:

> Allow me to add a vote for sociolinguistics.  I went kicking and screaming 
> into this course, but now I see it as one of the most practical courses that 
> I have taken.  It REALLY helped me understand my students' writing.  
> 
> Therefore, I would strongly recommend that future teachers take a 
> sociolinguistics course.  Understanding the social contexts and reasons for 
> linguistic forms and changes can help us talk more intelligently and be lots 
> more tolerant.                  
> 
> Sue Horn
> Developmental Programs
> The University of Akron
> Akron, Ohio
> 
> shorn@uakron.edu
>