[B-Greek] "WRITE, WRITE WRITE' (was "Suggestions Please!")
Randall Buth
randallbuth at gmail.com
Sat May 28 01:46:58 EDT 2011
everything about Carl's "Write, Write, Write" was on target and
helpful. It covers an aspect of Greek training that is sometimes
overlooked in a rush to ready folk for reading, yet that kind of
writing will make people better readers.
I would like the whole process to be put in a larger pedagogical
perspective, too. Writing typical builds an awareness about a
language that has been called a 'monitor' in some pedagogical
approaches. A 'monitor' means that a person can consciously
manipulate and think about the encoding process. It is what we
develop in a first language like English when various pieces of
advice are given in school and later about how to write clearly
and effectively. Writing also works interactively with reading.
As one writes, one starts to notice what other writers have done,
which makes one a better writer, which allows one to be even
more observant of other writing, etc. Most (all?) good authors
are noted for being avid readers.
However, it needs to be remembered that writing is slow. It
allows one to review the encoding process. It is also secondary
to speech encoding in natural language acquisition. Most writers
first start speaking their language before good writing. If we want
people to be good and attentive readers, we will also train
them in writing to sharpen those skills. And if we want people to
be good readers and writers, we will train them to speak so that
the whole process is better and more deeply internalized. And
speech interacts with listening in the same way that writing and
reading interact, except that speech and listening take place above
certain threshhold speeds. Something takes place and builds
'very deep' when a language is processed at the speed of speech
or faster.
Thank you, Carl, for pointing out the need for encoding, even in
a field where the decoding is the goal.
ERRWSQE
Randall Buth
--
Randall Buth, PhD
www.biblicallanguagecenter.com
Biblical Language Center
Learn Easily - Progress Further - Remember for Life
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