Date:  Sat, 25 Feb 1995 14:38:36 -0500

From:  Alan Ainsworth <AINSWORTH_A[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]HCCS.CC.TX.US>

Subject: copyeditors/teachers



I agree with much of what Terry Lynn Irons says in response to the problems

of changing language and I would like to broaden the question to ask what

it is that happens in writing and speech classrooms. Linguists say

that adults don't teach children language any more than adults teach them

how to walk.

What then do English and speech teachers do? Do they affect change?

And the copyediting that teachers/ editors do in conjuction with handbooks

written by copyeditors/teachers? What does that do?

All of that is even more complicated when language patterns have already

been developed that are not the patterns in the handbooks, in

the teacher's idea of "proper English," etc. That few of us speak "proper

English" but shun the improper Engish of dialects in written documents

and in formal speech situations (i.e. job interviews) is important and

should be discussed, I think.



Alan Ainsworth

Instructor, English

Central College, Houston Community College System



AINSWORTH_A[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]hccs.cc.tx.us