The Psychology of Language and the Teaching of English.

Abstract

The diffiCulty ofTebtaining usable information about the mental. processes-invOlved in the use of language has keen allude; the design of effective writing programi. The attip-syetological,-behatioriAtic b' as of American linguistics, ,whichr :prevented any study of the-deeper Mental procestes cf language production, was renediated in part by the evollution of transformational grammar, although the praocCUpAicn was etill.with syntactic formativu rather than with:theughts and theirtexpression. Recent investigatiftS in psycholOgical4tesearchlave teen more premising with regard to their applitatilitt to tetchingllanguage skills...(1),Syntax Flay a limited role in the processing of .language, being applied late in text production and soon forgotten in text comprehension. (7) Grammatical decis4ns in .the fcxsation-cf a ...single sentence cannot be made withOuf knCvledge of theowerall flow J of the text. (3)' The concept of ',frame" is now being used to clasSify the shared knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes prerequisite to communication; into this field the individual introduces nonexptcted Material in the fork of news or opinion. 14) Effective writing :proceeds' when the writer achieves the optinun balance between what the reader-already knows and what be or she is now being told.,(5) Finally, good writing is 'not inventive, but retcsbinatiotal. (DS) . . MF-S0.83 HC -$1.67 Plus Postage. *Communication (Thought Arensfer); *Composition (Literary); *English Itstructiot; Inforsation Theory; *Psycholinguistics; Syntax; AThcmght Processes; Transformation GenOrative Grammar;*Briting ********************************1*************************************** Reproductions supplied. by EDRS are the best that can be made * -* from the original document. *****************************************$ ***it** *********************** PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS IATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY A.