ESOL 94S- Ford Section 3.1 & 3.2: Input Analysis

Similar documents
Culture and Language. What We Say Influences What We Think, What We Feel and What We Believe

Comparative Analysis on the Armenian and Korean Languages

GESE Initial steps. Guide for teachers, Grades 1 3. GESE Grade 1 Introduction

ESL 005 Advanced Grammar and Paragraph Writing

Listening Student Learning Outcomes

READING THE NEWSPAPER

Parts of Speech. Skills Team, University of Hull

Interpreting areading Scaled Scores for Instruction

A Guide to Cambridge English: Preliminary

How Can Teachers Teach Listening?

National Quali cations SPECIMEN ONLY

CAMBRIDGE FIRST CERTIFICATE Listening and Speaking NEW EDITION. Sue O Connell with Louise Hashemi

TEACHER NOTES. For information about how to buy the guide, visit

A Beginner s Guide To English Grammar

Useful classroom language for Elementary students. (Fluorescent) light

Teaching Vocabulary to Young Learners (Linse, 2005, pp )

Get Ready for IELTS Writing. About Get Ready for IELTS Writing. Part 1: Language development. Part 2: Skills development. Part 3: Exam practice

Elements of Writing Instruction I

Peeling Back the Layers Sister Grade Seven

Five Pronunciation Games for Brazil

GUESSING BY LOOKING AT CLUES >> see it

Grammar Test 3: Independent Clauses, Dependent Clauses, Complex Sentences, Compound-Complex Sentences, Subject-Verb Agreement

Language Arts Literacy Areas of Focus: Grade 6

KINDGERGARTEN. Listen to a story for a particular reason

Pupil SPAG Card 1. Terminology for pupils. I Can Date Word

Year 1 reading expectations (New Curriculum) Year 1 writing expectations (New Curriculum)

Indiana Department of Education

THERE ARE SEVERAL KINDS OF PRONOUNS:

Working towards TKT Module 1

CHARTES D'ANGLAIS SOMMAIRE. CHARTE NIVEAU A1 Pages 2-4. CHARTE NIVEAU A2 Pages 5-7. CHARTE NIVEAU B1 Pages CHARTE NIVEAU B2 Pages 11-14

English Appendix 2: Vocabulary, grammar and punctuation

Unit 2 Title: Word Work Grade Level: Kindergarten Timeframe: 6 Weeks

Information for teachers about online TOEIC Listening and Reading practice tests from

How To Proofread

TeachingEnglish Lesson plans. Conversation Lesson News. Topic: News

How to become a successful language learner

Technical Report. Overview. Revisions in this Edition. Four-Level Assessment Process

PTE Academic Preparation Course Outline

What Is Linguistics? December 1992 Center for Applied Linguistics

Subordinating Ideas Using Phrases It All Started with Sputnik

Strand: Reading Literature Topics Standard I can statements Vocabulary Key Ideas and Details

FUNCTIONAL SKILLS ENGLISH - WRITING LEVEL 2

Strand: Reading Literature Topics Standard I can statements Vocabulary Key Ideas and Details

Online Tutoring System For Essay Writing

Grade 4 Writing Curriculum Map

stress, intonation and pauses and pronounce English sounds correctly. (b) To speak accurately to the listener(s) about one s thoughts and feelings,

Grammar Boot Camp. Building Muscle: Phrases and Clauses. (click mouse to proceed)

Alignment of the Hawaii Preschool Content Standards With HighScope s Preschool Child Observation Record (COR), 2nd edition

Reading Listening and speaking Writing. Reading Listening and speaking Writing. Grammar in context: present Identifying the relevance of

PUSD High Frequency Word List

Discourse Markers in English Writing

BBC Learning English - Talk about English July 11, 2005

Speaking for IELTS. About Speaking for IELTS. Vocabulary. Grammar. Pronunciation. Exam technique. English for Exams.

Writing an essay. This seems obvious - but it is surprising how many people don't really do this.

Ohio Early Learning and Development Standards Domain: Language and Literacy Development

Cambridge English: Advanced Speaking Sample test with examiner s comments

THESIS SENTENCE TEMPLATES

Albert Pye and Ravensmere Schools Grammar Curriculum

Assessing Speaking Performance Level B2

What Do We Mean By Grammar?

Adult Ed ESL Standards

2013 Spanish. Higher Listening/Writing. Finalised Marking Instructions

Student Performance Q&A:

An Overview of Applied Linguistics

PTE Academic. Score Guide. November Version 4

CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, HAYWARD DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH Assessment of Master s Programs in English

INTERMEDIATE STUDENT S BOOK B1+ Adrian Doff, Craig Thaine Herbert Puchta, Jeff Stranks, Peter Lewis-Jones with Rachel Godfrey and Gareth Davies

Lesson Plan for Note Taking

Kindergarten Common Core State Standards: English Language Arts

Writing an Introductory Paragraph for an Expository Essay

Professor Gabriel Aquino

Intonation difficulties in non-native languages.

Materials: Children s literature written in Spanish, videos, games, and pictures comprise the list of materials.

Grade 1. Ontario Provincial Curriculum-based Expectations Guideline Walking with Miskwaadesi and Walking with A`nó:wara By Subject/Strand

Advanced Composition for Non-Native Speakers of English

Academic Standards for Reading, Writing, Speaking, and Listening June 1, 2009 FINAL Elementary Standards Grades 3-8

Rethinking the relationship between transitive and intransitive verbs

How To Pass A Cesf

Task-Teach-Task Sample Lesson

Preparing for the IELTS test with Holmesglen Institute of TAFE

Academic Standards for Reading, Writing, Speaking, and Listening

Exam Information: Graded Examinations in Spoken English (GESE)

A Student Response Journal for. The Invisible Man. by H. G. Wells

ATLANTA SPEECH SCHOOL 3160 Northside Parkway, NW Atlanta, GA LEARNING LAB Middle School/High School Questionnaire

Ling 201 Syntax 1. Jirka Hana April 10, 2006

1. Find a partner or a small team of three or four classmates to work on this lesson.

COURSE SYLLABUS ESU 561 ASPECTS OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. Fall 2014

How to Plan and Guide In Class Peer Review Sessions

Can you answer Milly s question and tell her why? Jot down your answers on a note pad, then check the answer key below.

Cambridge English: First (FCE) Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

English Grammar Passive Voice and Other Items

Common Core State Standards English Language Arts. IEP Goals and Objectives Guidance: Basic Format

BBC Learning English Talk about English Academic Listening Part 1 - English for Academic Purposes: Introduction

Teaching Dictation for the USCIS Citizenship Test

KS2 SATS Goosewell Primary School Parents and teachers working together for the benefit of the children.

CELTA. Syllabus and Assessment Guidelines. Fourth Edition. Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages

LEVEL New Headway Intermediate

Understanding Clauses and How to Connect Them to Avoid Fragments, Comma Splices, and Fused Sentences A Grammar Help Handout by Abbie Potter Henry

The Michigan State University - Certificate of English Language Proficiency (MSU-CELP)

Sentence Blocks. Sentence Focus Activity. Contents

Transcription:

ESOL 94S- Ford Section 3.1 & 3.2: Input Analysis 3.1: Variation in Language The English language, a phrase heard very frequently, gives the impression that English is one uniform system of communication used by all its native speakers. Nothing could be further from the truth. The English spoken in the British Isles is recognizably different from that spoken in North America; within the British Isles, the English of Scotland is not the same as the English spoken in England; within the United States, the English spoken in New York can be very different from the version of English spoken in Atlanta, Georgia, or Austin, Texas. The English language, like all human languages, varies in grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation according to a number of social and cultural factors, including the region where a person grows. Socio-linguistics, the scientific study of that variation, seeks to observe, record, describe, explain, and ultimately predict its occurrence. It is possible to distinguish two main types of variation. The first of these, which can be called between-group variation, includes the sort of geographical or regional varieties mentioned in the preceding paragraph. A between-group variety refers to that version of a language that marks a person as belonging to a specific social group, e.g., as a native of New York City. Between group varieties also include varieties associated with social class, with gender or sex, and with ethnic group. Other varieties, which have been less extensively studied, are those associated with age and occupation. Most people take it for granted that regional varieties, or dialects, exist in all languages. What might be surprising to some readers is that there are also distinctions between the English used by men and women. Research, however, has confirmed that such differences do exist. Researchers have found, for example, that in both British English and American English, men tend to use the nonstandard and informal pronunciation [-in] of the -ing ending more often than women do. Men also tend to use nonstandard grammatical forms (e.g., I didn't see nothing instead of I didn't see anything) more often than women. The second main type of linguistic variation can be labeled variation within the individual. This variation occurs within the English of one individual and is associated with factors that may change as the social situation changes. These factors include the different roles an individual might play (e.g., as a teacher, as a parent or child) and 1

the relationships with the person or persons to whom the individual is speaking, (e.g., a close friend, a colleague, a subordinate, or a stranger). The individual's English will also vary with the topic of the interaction (e.g., a topic related to a job or a topic related to the individual's personal life) and with the physical setting where the interaction occurs (e.g., at a professional meeting, in a classroom, in a restaurant). Variation within the individual is also referred to as style -switching; in it, the speaker moves between levels of English that are perceived to be more formal or more informal. This second type of linguistic variation becomes very clear in forms of address, the names or titles used by an individual when he or she speaks to another. Theoretically, for example, you could address a professor called Mary Williams, who is also a close family friend and not significantly older than you, in one of two ways: Dr. Williams or Mary. Your choice of address form, however, is clearly determined by the factor or factors mentioned in the previous paragraph that are relevant for the situation you find yourself in. If you speak to Mary Williams in a class you are taking from her, your role is that of a student. 3.2: The Scientific Study of Language The goal of linguistics, the scientific study of language, is to describe linguistic competence, the unconscious knowledge a native speaker of a language must have in order to speak it comprehensibly and understand others when they speak it. To assist them in their investigation of language, linguists have traditionally divided this complex phenomenon into at least three major areas of study. The first of these, phonology, is concerned with the sounds of language. Phonologists analyze the sounds and the sound patterns of a given language and then attempt to describe the components of a native speaker's phonological competence. This knowledge would include, for example, a list of all the consonants and vowels of English and how to produce them. It would also include information about how to combine certain sounds into sequences and about how to modify certain sounds in certain circumstances. The following piece of conversation will help illustrate what is involved in phonological competence: 2

ESOL 94S- Ford Section 3.1 & 3.2: Input Analysis Steve: You look worried, Mary. Mary: We've got our first economics test tomorrow. Steve: Well, I could help you study for it. I'm free all afternoon. In addition to being able to pronounce all the single consonants and vowels of her answer, Mary is able to produce sequences of three consonants-for instance, [rst] at the end of the word first. In the words test tomorrow, she knows she can omit either the final [t] in test or the initial [t] in tomorrow so that the two words sound like [testomorrow]. She also knows that she should weaken the first and last vowels of tomorrow (but not the vowel in the second syllable) so that the word sounds like [timawril. As a native speaker of English, Steve will still understand her without difficulty; however, students who are just beginning to learn English as a second language will have problems. Phonological competence allows you to understand and produce sounds in sequence. As a description of linguistic competence, however, it is clearly not sufficient. Consider this version of Mary's response to Steve's opening remark: got first tomorrow our ve test we economics In spite of the random word order, your competence in English will probably enable you to work out what this sentence means-provided you have both sufficient time and a written version of it. Imagine, however, listening to a person who was producing utterances like this at a normal rate of speech. You would find the conversation totally incomprehensible. What is shown by our inability to process utterances like the one above? Clearly we also know how to put words together into meaningful sequences. This knowledge, often referred to as grammatical competence, includes a knowledge of syntax-what grammatical category each word belongs to (e.g., noun, verb, adjective, etc.) and the rules for combining words into phrases and phrases into sentences. It also includes a knowledge of morphology-the rules for adding elements to words to change their meaning in some significant way. The third traditional area of investigation for linguistic research is semantic competence, our knowledge of word, phrase, and sentence meanings. Our example conversation would be impossible to understand if we did not know what type of actions 3

or states, people, and concepts the words in it refer to. Steve knows, for example, that the meaning of we and our includes I (i.e., Mary) and mine (Mary's) and that tomorrow means "the next day," not "some day in the past." His semantic knowledge allows him to continue the conversation meaningfully. Without such knowledge, Steve might respond to Mary's news about the coming test in ways that we would find very peculiar, for example: Well, have you got the results yet? or So what has this test got to do with you? 1) Exactly 13 clauses are underlined in the two textbook sections. Examine these clauses carefully, and determine which ones contain complete sentences and which ones contain fragment sentences (they are missing either a subject or an object). Label the complete sentence clauses CC (for complement clause ) and the fragment clauses RC (for relative clause ) using the following table: (*Hint: you should find 8 CC-type and 5 RC-type.) 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8) 9) 10) 11) 12) 13) a. Why do you think the CC-type clause occurs most frequently in the essays? b. What do all of these clauses have in common? 2) Examine the clauses that you classified as CC-type, and notice what parts of speech come before each clause (you may have to examine several words and phrases). Try to categorize each clause using the following chart, and write in the correct clause numbers in the spaces provided. *HINT!- omit occurrences of for example. CC-type verb + that clause be verb + that clause verb + object + that clause verb + object + prepositional phrase + that clause Clause number,,,, a. What part of speech occurs most frequently immediately before these clauses in the essays? 4

ESOL 94S- Ford Section 3.1 & 3.2: Input Analysis b. What other parts of speech occur before these clauses in the essays? c. What is the function of these clauses in the text? d. Is the function the same or different depending on the part of speech that occurs before these clauses? If different, in what ways? 3) Examine the clauses that you classified RC-type. What part of speech occurs immediately before each of these clauses in the essays? a. What is the function of these clauses in the text? NOTE: At this point, study the grammar rules for complement clauses and relative clauses. 4) Sometimes, that can be left out of a that clause, and the sentence will still sound good and keep its original meaning. Examine the same 13 clauses from the two textbook sections and decide which 6 CC-type and 1 RC-type clauses don t sound good if that is left out. Put the clauses in the following chart: CC- type RC-type a. What do you notice about the CC-type that clauses that cannot have that removed? (*Hint: look at what comes after that.) b. What do you notice about the RC-type that clause that cannot have that removed? (*Hint: look at what comes after that.) 5

c. There are only two that clauses in the textbook sections where that has been left out by the authors. The first one is an RC-type in the fourth paragraph of the first essay on page 1: the different roles an individual might play The second one is a CC-type in the fourth paragraph of the second essay on page 2: she knows she can omit Considering what you found out in 4a. above, why do you think that can be left out in these two cases? Do the sentences sound better with that included or left out? Why do you think these are the only two clauses like this in the essays? NOTE: At this point, study the grammar rules for omitting that from these clauses. 5) Looking at the draft of the paper you wrote, notice if and how you used CC-type and RC-type that clauses: o Find and number each occurrence of CC-type and RC-type that clauses. o How many CC-types and RC-types are in your paper? What kind of CC or RC are they? Are they used correctly? Fill in the following chart: CC-type # Kind Correct? RC-type # Kind Correct? o Try to edit CC-type and RC-type that clauses in your paper. o Try to use CC-type and RC-type that clauses in future papers. 6