Karen, another interesting paper on law and rhetoric is:
Stratman, J. (1990). The emergence of legal composition as a field of
inquiry: Evaluating the prospects. Review of Educational Research, 60(2),
153-235.
best,Peter
At 03:15 PM 7/10/2003 -0700, you wrote:
>Mike,
>Thank you for your reply. I will check out Jerome Bruner's work. It
>sounds right up my alley, as it were. I am a doctoral student in LRC at
>the U of A. Often I read the communications on xmca but do not jump in.
>It's like jump rope, some people feel comfortable doing double dutch the
>first time out, and others wait and see. I appreciate your invitation to
>relax and enjoy.
>
>Re: the use of the term ideology with respect to decoding kids'
>interactions. I think there are so many facets of an interaction or
>activity that we can look at. Ideology is one of them. My strong belief is
>that children develop (are socialized to accept or reject) ideologies of
>language and language practices. discourse, discourse styles, etc. I've
>been working on a paper about children's ideologies oflanguage and
>language practices that result from a conflict between a child's language
>ideology and a teacher's or school's ideology.
>language socialization, I think, includes ideological socialization as a
>natural part of the process. socialization into the discourse of
>schooling and schooling practices is probably a good example - I'm
>thinking of the study by Laosa re: mothers' level of education and
>child/mother interaction in completing a task. children who understood
>the 'game' of schooling, seemed to fare better than those who not only had
>to learn the content but the 'game rules' as well.
>
>STudying ideologies of language in conflict popped up when my daughter was
>blindsighted by prop 203 (in CA, prop 227). she began to have problems
>reading English in the first grade. She identified the problem - the
>teacher wouldn't let her think in Spanish when decoding English text. She
>resented the teacher's practices which had changed from her kinder year in
>which she could use any language for thinking or producing at any time.
>The conflict induced a greater meta awareness of her languages and
>language practices and, in the end, helped her to get back on track with
>reading. Notably, in her Spanish language classroom, she did not have
>trouble reading in Spanish or English. The ideology of language in that
>classroom was that anyone could use whatever language they wanted to help
>them figure out a word or a problem or task, whatever.
>
>I like studying this area for the potential for reseasrch in language
>policy and planning...and other areas. I think that having an ideology of
>language or about anything really that is flexible creates an environment
>in which children feel free to explore and push themselves beyond where
>they are in the moment. conflicts can do the same if they are recognized
>and discussion or analysis is nourished. I think that's why after-school
>programs not held at school sites do more to open up children's
>perspectives and make possible growth than holding a program at a school
>site. Too many rules at school. it inhibits interaction. too focused on
>keeping quiet and disciplinary rules. no fun. children, I think, feel
>hampered just being inside the school. This smacks of an ideology of
>school and schooling practices in conflict.
>
>As to law, it's always my first love. I often thought of 12 Angry Men when
>I submitted any case to the jury. You never know what happens back there.
>A good lawyer is always nervous when entering the courtroom for a trial.
>When a lawyer gets to talk directly with a jury through questioning you
>can lay out your ideology of the criminal justice system for them,
>hopefully to socialize them into thinking like you do - in the presumption
>of innocence, the right to a fair trial, and so on. You'd be amazed - but
>maybe not - at how many jurors believe someone is guilty because they've
>been charged; newspaper accounts hold more clout than courtroom evidence
>(O.J.) and so on. It is a fabulously rich mine for data. Ideologies of
>language and discourse come into play too...speaking too informally or too
>formally can put distance between the lawyer and the jury, speaking with a
>dialect not 'native' to the region (I'm from NY so that to! ok awhile to
>change my 'accent' so the jury could both understand me and want to listen
>to me), and being careful about speaking 'legalese' too much in the jury's
>presence. It is a complex 'game'...but everyone comes to court with an
>ideology of all these things I believe the process and the language and
>language practices - expectations. the clash can produce a positive
>result - sometimes.
>
>I'll get in touch with Jerome Bruner's work. I think it'd be fun. I just
>need to figure out my dissertation proposal in the next year...there's all
>too many things I find interesting.
>thanx again...Karen
><mailto:kspearellinwood@yahoo.com>kspearellinwood@yahoo.com
>Department of Language, Reading, and Culture, U of A, Doctoral student
>
>Mike Cole <mcole@weber.ucsd.edu> wrote:
>Hi Karen-- Sorry to be slow in responding, but my unix program cuts off
>the return address in the long xmca string and you did not sign your note
>so I had to wait until it appeared on the webpage and then find a moment to
>respond.
>
>I should think that idioculture formation in juries would be a fascinating
>subject for study, if it were legal. Twelve Angry Men comes to mind.
>
>Its interesting that in context of that content the word ideology seems
>completely appropriate, but I had not thought to use it with respect to the
>issue of behavioral coding of kids interacting. Something like "world view"
>might has seemed more appropriate, but it amounts to about the same thing.
>
>About being a beginner. Its part of my world view/ideology with respect to
>the
>culture of this list that academic rank, experience with the specific texts,
>etc., ! is irrelevant to participation. Its the content and appropriatability
>(if there is such a thing!) of the content that counts. I am referred to
>as Mike by the undergraduates I work with so there should be no need for
>you or anyone else to Dr. Cole me. Hmmmm. another kind of distance go
>accompany Kevin's emphasis on space. Call it social distance?
>
>Jerome Bruner has been writing about the law. Have you had a chance to check
>it out? Since he is an old timer in the area of culture, literacy, and
>development, but a newcomer with respect to the law, you might find his
>take interesting.
>mike
>
>
>Do you Yahoo!?
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