Linguistics and the Teaching of English in Schools

Extract

It is unfortunate that in the field of English studies the science of linguistics has been largely neglected in many Canadian universities. The reasons for this neglect are varied. But the results are always the same: students lamentably ignorant of the most elementary facts about the English language. I have heard an English honors graduate from one of our universities describe Chaucer as “the best of Old English authors.” I have met teachers of English in our schools who complained that, in spite of all their courses, they did not feel equipped to teach English grammar and composition and “hated’ the school “language periods.”