Date:  Mon, 6 May 1996 16:38:16 -0400

From:  Jeutonne Brewer <jpbrewer[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]HAMLET.UNCG.EDU>

Subject: Re: Th Linguistic Autobiography



Interesting coincidence. This semester I used a linguistic autobiography

assignment. (I had used a different variant of the assignment in earlier

semesters. This semester's effort worked better than in the past.)

During the first few weeks of the semester, I had students read Richard

Gunter's "Linguistic Autobiography of and American," in Centennial Usage

Studies [Greta D. Little and Michael Montgomery, eds. Publication

of the American Dialect Society, No. 78. Tuscaloosa, AL: University

of Alabama Press]. Then I had students write about their linguistic

experiences in one of their early computer conferences. This was the

first step in their thinking about and collecting information for a

linguistic autobiography that they would complete and turn in in April.

Gunter's article is one model (but not the only model) they could use.



Like Bethany, my experience with the assignment was very positive.

Today, the teacher for the Composition for Teachers class told me that

some of my students had chosen their linguistic autobiographies to

include in their writing portfolios.



My class is a junior level class required for prospective teachers of

secondary English. I didn't have the 26 students give an oral report,

but now I wish I had. Thanks for that idea, Bethany.



No questions about privacy came up. The students could choose one of

a number of models--family language, memories of the "Shirley" type, etc.

They could choose to write about their linguistic experiences as a

college student, or they could focus on linguistic experiences during

the current semester. Most students chose to write about family

language or memories; one wrote about college experience. No student

wrote only about the current semester.



**************************************************

* jpbrewer[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]hamlet.uncg.edu           *

* Jeutonne_Brewer[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]uncg.edu           *

*   Jeutonne P. Brewer             *

*   Department of English           *

*   University of North Carolina at Greensboro *

*   Greensboro, NC 27412            *

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