Plagiarism Survey and Homework

Dear all,

Please read the attachment that I sent everyone per email. It deals with the academic integrity at SIU, and informs us that on February 7th, Professor McCabe will visit our campus to present the results of a plagiarism survey that all faculty and students are asked to take.

So today at the beginning of class, we are all taking this wonderful survey about "student cheating."

Then, we are going to hear our mini lesson about clauses and phrases.

After that, we'll discuss text-messaging language, and then we'll proceed to our homework for coming Monday, which will be:

Read pp. 58-72 in your Weaver textbook, the beginning of chapter 4, "Toward a Perspective on Error." It deals with language (and grammar) acquisition of children, and error-making. Answer the following questions as homework assignment (you can either email them to me for next Monday, or bring them to class on paper):

1. Discuss the author’s stance that “children do not learn the basic structures of their native language through direct instruction, but through their own discovery and by formulating increasingly sophisticated hypotheses” (58). Use the text, as well as your personal knowledge and opinion.

2. Why can the drawings on p. 61 stand as a symbol of a child’s language/grammar acquisition? Explain in your own words.

3. Why are errors important for learning? What is the author’s opinion / your own opinion?

4. What do you personally think about “invented spelling” or “constructed spellings”? Can you give an example from your own childhood, or your children, or your students, and/or your own observances?

5. What is the difference between the behavioral approach, and the constructivist approach regarding errors? (Refer to page 63.) Which approach would you favor? Could any of those (behaviorism / constructivism) become your personal teaching philosophy? Why, or why not?