I got these excellent observations from Naomi:
Dear Ben,
On the ACTFL listserv someone listed this today as an interesting article on the “little words” – pronouns, articles, etc. – which, it ends up, are first of all ignored by the brain in establishing meaning, and very revealing of the personality of the speaker …
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20848-the-secret-life-of-pronouns.html?full=trueI feel like this article is a key to understanding how some kids seem to pick up on the little words better than others – it is a social function. I feel like this article helps understand why the little words, even after thousands of CI examples over several years of instruction are not well utilized by students (trained to focus on meaning, the brain is skipping over those words) … I sometimes get frustrated and try to teach them explicitly (du means de + le), but that kind of grammar instruction, as we know, is not what kids will absorb. I just think that the connections between language use and psychology are fascinating, and I also think they have to do with the three modes that you are playing with in terms of a basis for standards based grading, maybe something like:
– Interpretive mode: students are not tuned in to the little words, just looking for meaning
– Interpersonal mode: students begin to use little words
– Presentational mode: students must control usage of little words in order to present effectively
Anyway, thought you might like to read the article.
Naomi