10.6 Envoi

Williams and Hasan (1996) have argued that "no literacy program is worthy of that name if it ignores the richest and most effective resource which resides in the lexicogrammar" (xvi). Knowledge about language and its meaning-making potential needs be part of the professional knowledge base for every English teacher. This knowledge is not peripheral to the teaching of literacy (or any subject indeed) but rather a constitutive part of the body of content knowledge that all teachers need in order to be effective teachers of their subject, English or otherwise. After all, students cannot engage with disciplinary content knowledge without simultaneously engaging with the means through which this knowledge is learned, codified, produced, communicated, critiqued, and renovated. Teachers who understand the systems of English grammar and the meanings they enable in different contexts of use will be better able to support their students to develop advanced literacy and disciplinary literacy.

English teacher education and professional development programs must, to borrow from Moats (2009), "take to heart the necessity of establishing literacy as a content-laden teaching discipline" (p. 390), recognizing that language and linguistics are legitimate and critical areas of study for English language/literacy teachers. They need to embrace a far greater emphasis on developing teacher candidates' explicit knowledge about functional grammar, i.e., knowledge about how language choices construe knowledge, embed value, develop argument, and structure text in ways that realize the author's intentions, cultural norms, and disciplinary conventions. This linguistic content has been sorely lacking from teacher education but is essential for classroom teachers to learn. Too often, discussion about grammar is perceived to be (a) a discourse of "deficit", as if such discussion is about "proper" English and remediation of grammatical errors; or (b) too technical to be of much relevance to classroom teachers. These views must be vigorously challenged if functional grammar is to gain a strong foothold in English literacy teaching and learning. The most effective way to challenge these views is through field-based preservice coursework or job-embedded inservice professional development work, where teachers are provided with opportunities and support to not only learn about but practice functional grammar in meaningful contexts. Teachers who have a keen understanding of grammar as a creative meaning-making resource and the context of their teaching will be better able to scaffold their students' learning and support their development as critical readers, powerful writers, and proficient language users.(https://www.daowen.com)