The Language of English Language Learning
As with any content specific area, be it Foods, Word Working, Science, Metals, Computer Technology, Art, Literature, or Math, the art and science of teaching the English Language to people who are infants and toddlers has it's own set of terminology. While it overlaps to a limited degree with English Language Arts, there are other considerations and issues, and acronyms abound. On this page, you'll find some of the key terms which will also begin to give you some idea of the scope of what English Language Learners are coping with in our schools and classrooms.
Let's Begin...
Below is a TED Ed lesson from Judy Thompson, a Canadian educator with extensive experience teaching English as a second language both in Canada and in Korea. In this talk, she analyzes three 'secrets' of the English language that most of us are unaware of of, despite the fact that they influence our day-to-day communication, especially for English Language Learners trying to interact with native speakers of English.
Watch the video and attempt the lesson to get your feet wet on some initial learning about English Language Learning and the ways it is different than the experience of someone who speaks a language from their earliest language development.
Watch the video and attempt the lesson to get your feet wet on some initial learning about English Language Learning and the ways it is different than the experience of someone who speaks a language from their earliest language development.
A
Academic Language
Sometimes referred to as "Tier 2" language, these are words rarely used in day-to-day communication, particularly oral communication, but necessary to success in the academic sphere. Rarely will we say in conversation with friends and families around the dinner table:
"Analyze the characteristics of the key elements of the theory we covered yesterday and outline how it impacts the process of _____ in practical terms."
Plug in subject area specific terms, and this could apply to almost any class, and this sort of fairly vague academic language shows up in textbooks many different subjects. Unfortunately, this is not the kinds of language that we often explicitly teach students, and it is certainly not the kind of language that newcomers to a culture are likely to pick up in every day cultural interactions.
Renowned English teacher Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List on Vocabulary.com has 358 words from several different content areas, which are the basics most North American students will need to function in school.
"Analyze the characteristics of the key elements of the theory we covered yesterday and outline how it impacts the process of _____ in practical terms."
Plug in subject area specific terms, and this could apply to almost any class, and this sort of fairly vague academic language shows up in textbooks many different subjects. Unfortunately, this is not the kinds of language that we often explicitly teach students, and it is certainly not the kind of language that newcomers to a culture are likely to pick up in every day cultural interactions.
Renowned English teacher Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List on Vocabulary.com has 358 words from several different content areas, which are the basics most North American students will need to function in school.
(New) Academic Service List
Similar to the (New) General Service List (see below) the (New) Academic Word List is a list developed by researchers. It is a list of words that occur very often in academic situations - text books, on tests, in instructions for projects or essays, in writing for academic purposes, in the process of doing research etc.
Understanding these academic words can be very important to a student's success. If a student doesn't understand the term "analyze", they can have difficulty using it accurately in subject-specific contexts (Browne, C., Culligan, B. & Phillips, J., 2013).
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Understanding these academic words can be very important to a student's success. If a student doesn't understand the term "analyze", they can have difficulty using it accurately in subject-specific contexts (Browne, C., Culligan, B. & Phillips, J., 2013).
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Acculturation
The process of adaptation that newcomers experience when they arrive in a new country and try to get used to a new culture. This happens on many levels. A person from a different country is not just learning a new language. They are learning about a value system which may be similar but will be different at least in some ways. They are learning to navigate a new geography - perhaps even including driving or moving on streets in ways that are opposite to what they are used to. They are figuring out where to buy foods that are unfamiliar (even just think of the packaging, and how when you go to purchase something that you're familiar with and you can't find it you suddenly have to change your expectation - now imagine nothing but stores full of things you don't expect). They are surrounded by only the unfamiliar, in almost every area of life while surrounded by people who are at ease with everything that is unfamiliar to them, people who don't speak the language or languages they know to speak.
There are four common stages of acculturation:
There are four common stages of acculturation:
- Initial Enthusiasm - during this stage, newcomers maybe excited by new opportunities and find the differences between their old / traditional, or previous homes to be interesting, although there may still be some excitement. This may be similar to the feelings people have when going on extended vacations, and this feeling is may depend on the circumstances under which the person left their home country / previous country of residence (i.e.: was the reason traumatic or for a job?).
- Culture Shock / Marginalization- during this stage, newcomers experience misunderstandings, and confusion. This often leads to a sense of isolation, even depression, and may result in individuals withdrawing from / avoiding mainstream culture. This is a particularly vulnerable time, and can set a tone for further cultural interactions. This stage can also be made worse if the individual is part of a group which experiences entrenched racism, or is viewed as being in some way inferior to the dominant or mainstream culture, whether or not the racism is embedded or overt.
- Recovery - at this point, immigrants to Canada begin to show less anxiety, renewed optimism and more confidence in their ability to find and make a place in their new home. This is often a time of being willing to try new things, of being willing to take constructive risks, and a willingness to learn new things.
- Acculturation - the immigrant has found a sense of equilibrium, a balance between their honouring their primary culture and their adoptive culture. They may see themselves as having two homes, or dual nationalities (whether or not this is legally the case). They take pride in both their native home and in being Canadian, and are able to see both the flaws and the strengths in both cultures, countries and ways of life. They have social networks in place here in Canada.
Adapted Text
A text that has been altered / rewritten in a significant manner so that the reading level (lexile score) is lower, making it more accessible to students whose reading abilities in English are limited (compared to their age group) for some reason.
Adaptations may include but are not limited to:
Adaptations may include but are not limited to:
- simplifying content (word choice, sentence construction, quantity of writing etc.)
- providing examples
- use of images, charts, diagrams and captions
- defining vocabulary
- headings
- consistent formatting (i.e.:
Affix
An additional element (usually a phoneme) added to a word, which modifies the meaning of the word.
Affixes come in a few different types.
Adfixes are added to either the beginning of a word - making them a prefix - or to the end of a word - making them a suffix.
Infixes are added in the word itself, and may or may not be combined with adfixes to create meaning.
An excellent example of a word full of "fixes" is the word incomprehensibility.
The root is ~hen
The prefix is "in" (implying a negative)
Then there are the infixes ~com~, ~pre~, ~s~, ~ib~, ~il~, ~it~
Finally, the word ends with the suffix ~y (which in this case, denotes an adjective).
That is 8 adfixes in one word.
(Byrson, 1990, p.81)
There is something to be said for students learning to be word detectives and learning patterns that are often repeated in adfixes - that suffixes like ~ly often suggest that the word is an adverb, or that prefixes like im~, non~, un~ imply negatives, but students must also learn that those patterns, like so much in English, are not absolute, and there are many, many exceptions.
As an educator, it is worth keeping in mind that errors in pattern recognition of adfixes (prefixes, suffixes and infixes) may sometimes account for confusion with our ELL students.
Affixes come in a few different types.
Adfixes are added to either the beginning of a word - making them a prefix - or to the end of a word - making them a suffix.
Infixes are added in the word itself, and may or may not be combined with adfixes to create meaning.
An excellent example of a word full of "fixes" is the word incomprehensibility.
The root is ~hen
The prefix is "in" (implying a negative)
Then there are the infixes ~com~, ~pre~, ~s~, ~ib~, ~il~, ~it~
Finally, the word ends with the suffix ~y (which in this case, denotes an adjective).
That is 8 adfixes in one word.
(Byrson, 1990, p.81)
There is something to be said for students learning to be word detectives and learning patterns that are often repeated in adfixes - that suffixes like ~ly often suggest that the word is an adverb, or that prefixes like im~, non~, un~ imply negatives, but students must also learn that those patterns, like so much in English, are not absolute, and there are many, many exceptions.
As an educator, it is worth keeping in mind that errors in pattern recognition of adfixes (prefixes, suffixes and infixes) may sometimes account for confusion with our ELL students.
Alphabetic Principle
The basic premise that written language (any language) is a form of code in which letters are symbolic representations of particular sounds or sound combinations.
The reason that this is important is that the meaning of a code is a socially agreed upon interpretation of encoded material. This agreement may differ based on dialect and certainly differs from language to language. For instance, even among languages which use the Roman alphabet, agreed upon pronunciation, inflection and use of a given symbol may vary from language to language, and dialect to dialect.
There are a variety of alphabets in the world, as you can see at this page by the website, Omniglot. In the case of the Latin or Roman alphabet, the encoded symbols that imply meaning and sound include:
Not all written symbolic codes of a language are considered alphabets. Examples include:
Not all written / physically encoded language systems have yet been decoded, in part because they are often only available in tiny samples which may lack context.
Much of the information in this entry is taken from a variety of pages at www.omniglot.com
The reason that this is important is that the meaning of a code is a socially agreed upon interpretation of encoded material. This agreement may differ based on dialect and certainly differs from language to language. For instance, even among languages which use the Roman alphabet, agreed upon pronunciation, inflection and use of a given symbol may vary from language to language, and dialect to dialect.
There are a variety of alphabets in the world, as you can see at this page by the website, Omniglot. In the case of the Latin or Roman alphabet, the encoded symbols that imply meaning and sound include:
- Upper case letters
- Low case letters
- accents
- special characters like the "schwa"
- ligatures (letters that are printed so that they are connected, indicating a unique pronunciation)
- are directional (written and read in a particular direction)
Not all written symbolic codes of a language are considered alphabets. Examples include:
- Abjads which are consonant based written codes. Abjads are often written right to left (the opposite of English).
- Arabic is an example of an abjad, but keep in mind that there are subsets of Arabic writing based on culture and geography (so, in a way, a written dialect).
- Syllabics in which each symbol stands for a consonant and an inherent vowel. If the vowel needs to changed, there are modifications to the base symbol, including diacritics and character orientation, that indicate the alternative vowel sound
- There are many Syllabics in use around the world today, including but not limited to Burmese/Myanmar, Bengali, Gujarāti, Lao, Thai, Tamil, Telugu and Tagalog.
- Also included among syllabics are Norther American First Nations symbolic written systems for Cree, Annishnabe (Ojibwe), Inukitut, and Siksika (Blackfoot).
- Syllabaries are systems where each character represents an entire, unique syllable sound. These encoded symbols do not change because, say, a vowel sound changes, as is the case with syllabics.
- Examples of a syllabary include Japanese Hiragana (Japanese syllables) and Japanese Katagana (non-Japanese syllables represented. Both types of represent more than 50 distinct syllable sounds.
- Semanto-phonetic systems use single encoded systems to communicate and entire word or concept.
- Examples of semanto-phonetic symbolic systems include the Japanese (Nihongo - which is what a speaker of the language will call their language) kanji script and Canontese (Zhōgwén) script.
- These systems also include pictograms/logograms, where the symbols in someway visually represent the word they stand for (like ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics) ,ideograms, which are parts of a word but which may be more than a single syllable, and ideograms, which symbolically represent an entire concept.
- In addition to their modern use in Cantonese (Zhōgwén) and Kanji (Nihongo / Japanese) examples of semanto-phonetic written systems include multiple systems used in Ancient Egypt (hieroglyphics, hieratic and demotic scripts), both ancient Akkadian and ancient Sumerian cuneiform, and the ancient Mayan cuneiform. This is of particular interest because this form of language includes the earliest known and longest lasting "type" of written systems used to represent oral communication of information in a manner that allows it to be captured and stored for use across time.
- Alternate language communication / representation systems can include things like the textured patterns that make up braille, the timed sequential sound tones that make up Morse code, the movement system of Semaphore which can be used with lights and/or flags, shorthand, and the International Phonetic Alphabet.
Not all written / physically encoded language systems have yet been decoded, in part because they are often only available in tiny samples which may lack context.
Much of the information in this entry is taken from a variety of pages at www.omniglot.com
Chinese writing is immensely complicated. It possesses some 50,000 characters [radicals], of which about 4,000 are in common use... If a standard Western typewriter keyboard were expanded to take in every Chinese ideograph it would have to be about fifteen feet long and five feet wide - about the size of two Ping-Pong tables pushed together.
Dictionaries, too are something of a nightmare. Without an alphabet, how do you arrange the words? ... To this day in China, and other countries such as Japan where the writing system is also ideographic, there is no logical system for organizing documents. Filing systems often exist only in people's heads (Bryson, 1990, p. 117-118)."
Analogy Based Phonics
Using patterns found in familiar words to decode pronunciation and meaning in new words.
Given that written language and spoken language are both systems of symbolic representation of meaning, this sort of pattern transference has some merit. For instance, understanding that the prefix "pre" usually means "before" or "ahead of" can help a student anticipate the meaning of words like prepare, preempt, predispose, premier, etc.
On the other hand, in that wacky way that English has of forcing speakers and listeners and readers to expect the unexpected, other sounds and meaning clusters are inconsistent.
Consider the many ways you can represent the "sh" sound in English:
This inconsistency, also seen in the YouTube video below, of Desi Arnaz being instructed in English by Lucille ball, pose tremendous difficulties not only for English Language Learners, but sometimes also for people who have spoken English all of their lives.
Given that written language and spoken language are both systems of symbolic representation of meaning, this sort of pattern transference has some merit. For instance, understanding that the prefix "pre" usually means "before" or "ahead of" can help a student anticipate the meaning of words like prepare, preempt, predispose, premier, etc.
On the other hand, in that wacky way that English has of forcing speakers and listeners and readers to expect the unexpected, other sounds and meaning clusters are inconsistent.
Consider the many ways you can represent the "sh" sound in English:
- --sh-- as in shore, shell, sheep, dish, fashion
- ---ssion as in permission, commission, admission, expression
- ---sure as in pressure, ensure, insure
- ---tient as in patient,
- ---cient as in ancient, sufficient
- ---sue as in issue, tissue
- ---tial as in partial, martial
- ---tion as in portion, condition, production
- ---tiate as in appreciate
- ---tious as in cautious, ambitious
- ---cean as in ocean
- ---su--- as in sugar
- ---sia as in Russia, Asia
- ---cious as in suspicious, gracious
- ---ch--- as in champagne, brochure, moustache or chef (although these are a nod to French influence in English)
This inconsistency, also seen in the YouTube video below, of Desi Arnaz being instructed in English by Lucille ball, pose tremendous difficulties not only for English Language Learners, but sometimes also for people who have spoken English all of their lives.
Auditory Discrimination
This is the ability to distinguish between sounds that a person hears. This can refer to 'gross' sound differences - for instance, the difference between an lion's roar and an owl's hoot, or 'fine' ability, which allows people to distinguish between very similar sounds, like 'p' and 'b'.
Individuals have differing levels of auditory discrimination, and those levels may be influenced by the sounds to which our ears have become attuned to within the context of their L1. If two similar sounds in English don't appear in a student's L1, they may have difficulty even hearing the difference, a challenge that is then compounded when they try to manipulate the musculature of their vocal tract (lips, tongue, throat, vocal chords and air pressure from the lungs) to reproduce those unfamiliar sounds.
Individuals have differing levels of auditory discrimination, and those levels may be influenced by the sounds to which our ears have become attuned to within the context of their L1. If two similar sounds in English don't appear in a student's L1, they may have difficulty even hearing the difference, a challenge that is then compounded when they try to manipulate the musculature of their vocal tract (lips, tongue, throat, vocal chords and air pressure from the lungs) to reproduce those unfamiliar sounds.
Authentic Text
A text that has not been simplified or adapted in any way from the original.
Authentic English
English as it is used and spoken on a day-to-day basis by native speakers, without being revised, manipulated or adapted to make it easier to understand for someone who does not have English as their L1 (first language). In the regular flow of language, speakers commonly use idioms, collocations, hesitations (i.e.: "Um", "Ah", "Well, ...", "You know...", "Eh?", "Huh?"), ejaculations (i.e.: "Yeah!", "Right!", "No way!", "Exactly!", "Really?"), fragments, cultural references, and inferences.
Authentic Language Task
A learning task that requires students to use authentic language (see Authentic English above) to communicate verbally or in writing) to collaborate in order to transmit a message, to clarify an issue, to accomplish a task and/or to solve a realistic / real-world problem.
B
BICS (Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills)
These are the face-to-face (sometimes acronymed as f2f) communication techniques and strategies individuals use to interact with each other in order to ensure that their basic needs met. BICS in English often include words from the General Service List (GSL) which was established in 1953 by Michael West, although the versions found at this link have been updated as recently as 2014 and include over 2800 of the key "head words" in the English language - words used most often in daily conversation by English speakers.
BICS also include culturally accurate use and interpretation of facial expression, gesture and body language, which according to some linguists make up as much as 75% of human communication (Fouts, 1997, pg.96)
BICS also include culturally accurate use and interpretation of facial expression, gesture and body language, which according to some linguists make up as much as 75% of human communication (Fouts, 1997, pg.96)
Biculturalism
When an individual is able to follow and apply the societal expectations, norms and habits of mind from two cultures with equal capability / skill.
Bilingual
The ability to function with at full skill and capacity in oral and written communication, both receptively and expressively, in two different languages.
C
CALP (Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency)
The level of proficiency of a student in engaging with the complex vocabulary and application of conceptual of academic skills like synthesis, analysis, and evaluation. It is a generally accepted timeline that it will take most newcomers to a culture at least 5 years to attain basic academic proficiency in their new language, barring complicating factors.
Circumlocution
A communication strategy in which a person who is having difficulty find a word will 'talk around' what they are trying to say, describing it, giving examples, defining it or listing characteristics. This is something native speakers will do when they have the feeling that a word is "on the tip of the tongue" and they are searching for the correct term.
Cognate
Literally means having the same origin. When words are cognates, they have the same root - "colour" and "colourful" are cognates. ELLs will sometimes confuse cognates, using them interchangeably, depending on how cognates are used in their L1.
Collocations
These are pairings or small groups of words that are often found together. Like an idiom (see below), translated word-for-word collocations may not means precisely what they mean when found together. Collocations often depend on context and we learn them as a matter of habit. To native speakers of a language, they are word combinations that "sound right" and may have more than one meaning depending on context. Other terms or ways of saying the same thing may sound awkward or inaccurate.
One common location that can be confusing for students new to English is being asked to "hand in" their work. The student might know the words "hand" and "in" individually, but as an instruction, it may sound like an invitation to put their hand in between the pages of an assignment, which is not at all what is implied when the phrased is used (as it is often used) in an English-speaking classroom.
Some collocations mean different things in different contexts:
Collocations make up a significant portion of the English language, and their misapplication is often the basis for errors that get ELL students laughed at by their peers.
For information on collocations, please see Judy Thompson's TED Ed video at the top of this page.
One common location that can be confusing for students new to English is being asked to "hand in" their work. The student might know the words "hand" and "in" individually, but as an instruction, it may sound like an invitation to put their hand in between the pages of an assignment, which is not at all what is implied when the phrased is used (as it is often used) in an English-speaking classroom.
Some collocations mean different things in different contexts:
- bring up = raise or rear a human being from infancy to adulthood
- bring up = bring an item from a lower level to an upper level
- bring up = bring an item from the back of an area (i.e.: a classroom) to the front of that same area
- bring up = to vomit
Collocations make up a significant portion of the English language, and their misapplication is often the basis for errors that get ELL students laughed at by their peers.
For information on collocations, please see Judy Thompson's TED Ed video at the top of this page.
Communication Strategies
Any strategies or means that a student uses to convey and interpret messages in a second (or third or fourth etc.) language when they don't have sufficient knowledge of vocabulary or rules of grammar to navigate an interaction with another individual or in a group. An example of a communication strategy would be circumlocution.
Communicative Competence
The ability of a student to both understand and to express themselves consistently in fluent and appropriate language in a variety of communication settings and for a range of communication purposes, from everyday interactions to academic pursuits.
Communicative Language Theory (CLT)
An "approach to language teaching methodology that emphasizes authenticity, interaction and student-centered learning, task-based activities, and communication for real-world, meaningful purposes (Brown and Lee, 2015)." The key to CLT is that rote memorization, grammar exercises and other more traditional, repetivie tasks are used only insofar as they support learning goals that focus on real-world fluency and the ability to interact in unscripted, unprepared situations. The key is student centered learning which is context-dependent, flexible and constantly adapting to the needs of a particular set of learners, their needs and their circumstances. Language teaching techniques become a tool box of strategies from which to pull depending on the circumstances in which an educator finds themselves.
Comprehensible Input
Language that is made accessible to the learner through a variety of adaptations and scaffolding methodologies.
In the classroom, making input (language) comprehensible may include using techniques such as (but not limited to):
In the classroom, making input (language) comprehensible may include using techniques such as (but not limited to):
- using visual aids
- working with familiar content
- rephrasing in simpler terms
- repetition
Comprehension
"The ability to understand and draw meaning from spoken, written and visual communication in all media" (Ontario, Canada, 2007)
Comprehension Strategies
Cognitive and "systematic techniques students use before, during and after listening , reading and viewing to construct meaning from texts." (Ontario, Canada, 2007) These strategies may include but are not limited to:
- making connections to prior knowledge
- connecting new texts to known texts and contextual knowledge.
- asking clarifying questions
- asking seeking, deepening questions
- identifying the main idea, purpose and/or audience of a text
- summarizing a text
- inferring information from a text
- analyzing information
- synthesizing information
Concepts of Print
Features related to how meaning is conveyed through the written form of a language; understanding of and some familiarity with these features is necessary in order for an ELL to be ready for reading. Print concepts in English may include but are not limited to:
- English is read and written from left to right (directionality)
- The difference between letters and sounds, how letters combine to create phonemes and morphemes --- sound sets --- and how phonemes and morphemes combine to create words with unique meanings and that words can be combined in different ways to mean different things in varying contexts.
- there are spaces between words that tell you that a collection of letters is a word, there are symbols between sets of words that tell you that set of words is a sentence
- certain elements of written language - the beginning of sentences and proper nouns - require capitalization that cue the reader to information about those words and their placement
- common elements / features of books or texts (title, author, front/back, chapters, headings, etc.)
Connective Device
A signal - a graphic, a word or a phrase, a gesture, a sound - that shows a relationship between ideas.
Consonant Cluster
Although this sounds like it should either be a tasty treat or something out a J.K. Rowling novel, it's nothing so amusing. English has a large number of consonant clusters - when two or more consonants placed together in a word.
In some cases, the pronunciation of these clusters is straight forward enough... consider "thr" in "throat", or the "str" at the beginning of "straight". On the other hand, think about how the "ght" at the end of "straight".
"The average English speaker confronted with agglomerations of letters like tchst, sthm and tchphr would naturally conclude that they were pretty much unpronounceable. Yet we use them every day in the words matchstick, asthma, and catchphrase." (Byrson, 1991)
Depending on the phonetic patterns of an ELL's Language 1, some consonant sounds can be very difficult to manage, and some consonant clusters even more challenging to master because they require considerable dexterity of the tongue muscle. Keep in mind it can be at least as difficult to for native English speakers to manage some of the tonals and nuances of other languages. Just ask any Yukon First Nations language speakers who has had to listen to a native English speaker try to muddle their way through Southern Tutchone or Gwich'in, Kaska or Tlingit. Or ask a Cantonese or Japanese student to try to teach you a sentence or two!
If you're interested, and have never checked it out, I strongly recommend the Online Audio Language Lessons from the Yukon Native Language Centre, where PCSS's own Mary J. Allison now works as a language teacher and linguistic specialist. See if you can notice how the use of consonants is very different than in English.
In some cases, the pronunciation of these clusters is straight forward enough... consider "thr" in "throat", or the "str" at the beginning of "straight". On the other hand, think about how the "ght" at the end of "straight".
"The average English speaker confronted with agglomerations of letters like tchst, sthm and tchphr would naturally conclude that they were pretty much unpronounceable. Yet we use them every day in the words matchstick, asthma, and catchphrase." (Byrson, 1991)
Depending on the phonetic patterns of an ELL's Language 1, some consonant sounds can be very difficult to manage, and some consonant clusters even more challenging to master because they require considerable dexterity of the tongue muscle. Keep in mind it can be at least as difficult to for native English speakers to manage some of the tonals and nuances of other languages. Just ask any Yukon First Nations language speakers who has had to listen to a native English speaker try to muddle their way through Southern Tutchone or Gwich'in, Kaska or Tlingit. Or ask a Cantonese or Japanese student to try to teach you a sentence or two!
If you're interested, and have never checked it out, I strongly recommend the Online Audio Language Lessons from the Yukon Native Language Centre, where PCSS's own Mary J. Allison now works as a language teacher and linguistic specialist. See if you can notice how the use of consonants is very different than in English.
Content-based language instruction
An extension of the philosophy of whole language learning, the premise of content-based language instruction is that students will learn important vocabulary, academic language and verbal, reading and writing skill through instruction in the theme based units in subject area courses, while they are also acquiring the necessary curriculum-based knowledge / skills. The key to making this approach work is to have adaptable materials using content-area vocabulary, addressing content-area skills appropriate to grade level but in easily accessible language.
This philosophy of language learning evolved in part to address and in part to prevent the practice in which ELL students were sequestered in separate classes all day long. The other side effect of this sort of persistent isolation of ELLs was that they only had limited opportunities to participate in the social and cultural life of the school.
Many of the materials for basic language acquisition are aimed at very young learners, meaning that the materials encountered by ELLs were well below their developmental levels in areas other than new language learning. The key to successfully implementing content-based language instruction is to find or create adapted materials that are content and concept-rich but language-simple so that ELL students are in their zone of proximal development for both their content subject areas and their language learning.
This philosophy of language learning evolved in part to address and in part to prevent the practice in which ELL students were sequestered in separate classes all day long. The other side effect of this sort of persistent isolation of ELLs was that they only had limited opportunities to participate in the social and cultural life of the school.
Many of the materials for basic language acquisition are aimed at very young learners, meaning that the materials encountered by ELLs were well below their developmental levels in areas other than new language learning. The key to successfully implementing content-based language instruction is to find or create adapted materials that are content and concept-rich but language-simple so that ELL students are in their zone of proximal development for both their content subject areas and their language learning.
Critical Literacy
This is a very specific type of what we normally think of as 'critical thinking'. When encountering a text, critical literacy requires that readers go past the literal and obvious meaning of the text, and even past the process of inference, deductive and inductive reasoning, etc. Critical literacy takes analysis into the realm of placing the text in the larger social context, both those of the present and those relevant to the timeframe of the piece, and synthesizing their analysis with an understanding of current world issues (i.e.: economics, social justice, politics, psycho-social impacts and influences, etc.)
Cueing Systems
These are the textual cues and clues that effective readers (and listeners or viewers) use, alone or in combination with familiar language, to access and construct meaning from unfamiliar language structures (words, phrases, sentences etc.). We have all used these strategies, and often continued to do so throughout our lives, depending on circumstance and need. This is not only an ELL strategy, it is a strategy that we all use when we encounter unfamiliar language or unfamiliar applications of language.
Cueing Systems can be broken down by type.
Cueing Systems can be broken down by type.
- Semantic (meaning) cues help viewers predict meaning on the basis of context and prior knowledge.
- Syntactic (structural) cues help readers and listeners find meaning in the patterns of language - the way words are combined into phrases, clauses and sentences. This is also evident in viewing texts that are media based but have conventional structures that are predictable (i.e. "Oh, those words are bigger than all the others, they may be a title or somehow important!")
- Graphophonic (phonological and graphic) cues help viewers / readers/ listeners figure out meaning by using patterns of words recognized by sight or by sound combinations (or partial sounds - morphemes, allomorphs, etc). In general, we read and hear a combination of individual letters and word shapes. The difficulty with this strategy would be when there are words like "slat" and "salt" where flipping two letters entirely changes the meaning of the word.
Culture
"The way in which people live, think and define themselves as a community (Ontario, 2007)."
It is important to realize that many elements make up this sense of cultural identity, including but not limited to:
Keep in mind that for someone who has only recently moved to a new country (and for the acculturation process, see above) ALL of these cultural elements (see also Fig. 1 below) will suddenly change, largely at once.
Even if a person moves within a country, the culture in another geographical area can be something of a culture shock, and even countries that have many things in common have vastly different cultures when it comes down to day-to-day life.
Each of these influences interacts with the others to create a shock to the system of which a new language is only a small part. We must keep that in mind with ELL students - for most of them, they are in a huge state of upheaval and this is not a vacation for them. Their entire world has just been hit by a cultural tsunami and things they learned when they were preverbal must now be learned again, all at once.
It is important to realize that many elements make up this sense of cultural identity, including but not limited to:
- Language
- Syntax and Grammar
- Use of gesture
- Tone of voice
- What words are available (for instance, according to the findings of behavioural economist, Keith Chen, in cultures where the syntactic structures are "futureless", members of the culture typically make more of a connection between their present actions and the long term consequences (Thompson, 2013)). The article in The Atlantic. Or if you're interested you could watch Keith Chen's TED Talk.
- Faith
- Celebrations
- Morals and ethics
- Food
- Social customs
- Greetings and Salutations
- Body language
- Intergenerational and intragenerational norms
- Age-related expectations
- Arts (Crafting, Performance)
- Education
- Parenting & family structures
- Socio-economic structures and expectations
- Social roles and expectations
Keep in mind that for someone who has only recently moved to a new country (and for the acculturation process, see above) ALL of these cultural elements (see also Fig. 1 below) will suddenly change, largely at once.
Even if a person moves within a country, the culture in another geographical area can be something of a culture shock, and even countries that have many things in common have vastly different cultures when it comes down to day-to-day life.
Each of these influences interacts with the others to create a shock to the system of which a new language is only a small part. We must keep that in mind with ELL students - for most of them, they are in a huge state of upheaval and this is not a vacation for them. Their entire world has just been hit by a cultural tsunami and things they learned when they were preverbal must now be learned again, all at once.
D
Dialect
The form of a language unique to a specific region and/or related to specific characteristics of social class / level of education.
JUST like all language, dialects feature variations in vocabulary and pronunciation, and have an internal grammar and syntax.
Although there can be substantial confusion and snobbery about pidgins, creoles, dialects and language, none is inherently 'better' than any other. They each serve a communicative purpose, in particular places and times, and are both functions of and vectors for culture.
It is, in fact, vital to recall that so called 'Standard English' is a dialect that is - when looking at the history of English as a whole - relatively new on the literacy scene. Rather than being of inherent value (i.e.: the believe that Standard English is always better at communicating thoughts more clearly and effectively than other dialects of English), it is worth noting that Standard English is, was and always has been a function of social class, and a basis for judgement of individual value (Pennock-Speck, 2013).
A language can be defined in many ways, but it goes beyond speech, either oral or written. After all, American Sign Language (like other sign languages) have all of the components of a language, but it does not involve oral speech and has no written form.
Perhaps most basically, "a language is a set of rules used for generating speech (O'Neil, 2006), one that is shared and recognized among a culture, and used both as part of that culture and as a means transmitting that culture among its members.
A dialect, as noted above, is a regional (geographic) or social (based on socio-economic group membership and education) variation on a language. Like any language, has consistent internal rules, syntax, understood meaning, and provides a vehicle for communication of thought.
A pidgin is what is referred to as a survival mechanism, sometimes rooted as a part of initial contact between two cultures (Pennock-Speck, 2013). A mash-up of two distinct languages, it deals primarily with the most necessary of vocabulary and borrows heavily from both source languages. The internal structure of a pidgin is very fluid, and a pidgin normally only lasts as long as two cultures briefly interact, and/or until one culture dominates the other and further transforms language use to more closely resemble that of the dominant culture.
A creole evolves as a pidgin, under the growing influence of both cultures with one usually dominating, is learned as the maternal / first language of a generation (Pennock-Speck, 2013). It is in this process of a language being transmitted intergenerationally, from adults to children, but used intragenerationally that languages begin to show distinct and reproduced internal syntax (rules and grammar that dictate meaning).
For an interesting perspective on why someone can be articulate in multiple dialects, please see the TED Talk below. Jamila Lyiscott makes a case that is both compelling and intriguing, and she does so with humour. It would be interesting to know how many of our students would relate.
JUST like all language, dialects feature variations in vocabulary and pronunciation, and have an internal grammar and syntax.
Although there can be substantial confusion and snobbery about pidgins, creoles, dialects and language, none is inherently 'better' than any other. They each serve a communicative purpose, in particular places and times, and are both functions of and vectors for culture.
It is, in fact, vital to recall that so called 'Standard English' is a dialect that is - when looking at the history of English as a whole - relatively new on the literacy scene. Rather than being of inherent value (i.e.: the believe that Standard English is always better at communicating thoughts more clearly and effectively than other dialects of English), it is worth noting that Standard English is, was and always has been a function of social class, and a basis for judgement of individual value (Pennock-Speck, 2013).
A language can be defined in many ways, but it goes beyond speech, either oral or written. After all, American Sign Language (like other sign languages) have all of the components of a language, but it does not involve oral speech and has no written form.
Perhaps most basically, "a language is a set of rules used for generating speech (O'Neil, 2006), one that is shared and recognized among a culture, and used both as part of that culture and as a means transmitting that culture among its members.
A dialect, as noted above, is a regional (geographic) or social (based on socio-economic group membership and education) variation on a language. Like any language, has consistent internal rules, syntax, understood meaning, and provides a vehicle for communication of thought.
A pidgin is what is referred to as a survival mechanism, sometimes rooted as a part of initial contact between two cultures (Pennock-Speck, 2013). A mash-up of two distinct languages, it deals primarily with the most necessary of vocabulary and borrows heavily from both source languages. The internal structure of a pidgin is very fluid, and a pidgin normally only lasts as long as two cultures briefly interact, and/or until one culture dominates the other and further transforms language use to more closely resemble that of the dominant culture.
A creole evolves as a pidgin, under the growing influence of both cultures with one usually dominating, is learned as the maternal / first language of a generation (Pennock-Speck, 2013). It is in this process of a language being transmitted intergenerationally, from adults to children, but used intragenerationally that languages begin to show distinct and reproduced internal syntax (rules and grammar that dictate meaning).
For an interesting perspective on why someone can be articulate in multiple dialects, please see the TED Talk below. Jamila Lyiscott makes a case that is both compelling and intriguing, and she does so with humour. It would be interesting to know how many of our students would relate.
Diversity
The range of socio-economic and cultural groups that make up a society, groups that share cohesion based on shared and commonly recognized and acknowledged characteristics. The criteria for these characteristics may be physical, cultural or social and include but are not limited to: gender, sexual orientation, culture, ethnicity, physical capacity and ability, age, views on religion, education level, or socio-economic status.
Diversity offers both challenges and opportunities. Potentials for misunderstandings can be magnified, particularly when many people from a variety of backgrounds and potentially from different cultures are using the 'same language' to communicate but may be interpreting it in vastly different ways depending on their own culturally diverse experiences.
Bill Bryson, in his book Mother Tongue: English and how it got that way, recounts how in the increasingly diverse world of international business, language has become an area where a common ground has had to be found:
Diversity offers both challenges and opportunities. Potentials for misunderstandings can be magnified, particularly when many people from a variety of backgrounds and potentially from different cultures are using the 'same language' to communicate but may be interpreting it in vastly different ways depending on their own culturally diverse experiences.
Bill Bryson, in his book Mother Tongue: English and how it got that way, recounts how in the increasingly diverse world of international business, language has become an area where a common ground has had to be found:
E
Editing
Part of the writing process, editing focuses on the mechanics of writing. If you are familiar with the 6+1 Traits, these are the Traits that come near the end of the process. Editing is when a writer ensures that they have honoured the conventions of grammar, puntuation, spelling and formatting OR if they have not, it is for stylistic purposes and has been done effectively. Typically, editing happens last in the writing process, after revision.
Environment Print
Written or multimedia text encountered in day-to-day life. This sort of text is ubiquitous and native speakers in any culture often take it for granted, ignoring what they do not need to pay attention to at any given moment. Environmental print can include but is not limited to billboards, signs, labels, posters, product labels and logos, packaging, street signs, etc. Imagine, if you are new to a country, a community and culture, how much of this is around us all of the time, and how lost you might feel not understanding all of that text.
Etymology
Etymology is the history or background of word - how it evolved. Words can come into use in a language through several processes: they can be created, on purpose to fulfill a need, or by error, sometimes they are adopted from another language or culture, words change by how they are used in a society / culture, or through the process of additions or subtractions that change meaning (see Nominalization below) (Bryson, 1990, p.67-83).
F
G
(New) General Service List {aka NGSL}
Literary Text
Ager, S. (2017). Omniglot - the online encyclopedia of writing systems and languages. Retrieved May 19, 2017, from http://www.omniglot.com/
Armstrong, P. (2016). Bloom's Taxonomy. Retrieved December 13, 2016, from https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/blooms-taxonomy/
Brown, H. D., & Lee, H. (2015). Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language pedagogy (4th ed.). White Plains, NY: Pearson Education.
Browne, Charles, Brent Culligan, and Joseph Phillips. "New General Service List." New General Service List. N.p., 2013. Web. 04 Jan. 2017. <http://www.newgeneralservicelist.org/>.
Bryson, B. (1990). The mother tongue : English and how it got that way. New York: W. Morrow.
Constanzo, M., & Archer, D. (1991). A Method for Teaching about Verbal and Non-verbal Communication. Teaching of Psychology, 18(4), 223-226. Retrieved December 15, 2016, from http://www.cas.unt.edu%2F~droy%2FA245180.pdf
"Chronemics: Monochronic and Polychronic Cultures." Blog post. Blog on Linguistics. Blog On Linguistics, 23 Oct. 2013. Web. 3 Jan. 2017.
"Chronemics." Wikipedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 18 Sept. 2016. Web. 3 Jan. 2017. <https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chronemics&oldid=739953610>.
Cummins, Jim, and Margaret Early. Big Ideas for Expanding Minds: Teaching English Language Learners across the Curriculum. Oakville, Ontario: Rubicon, 2015. Print.
Davis, Matt. "Blog Analyzing First and Last Letter Reading Claims." Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit. Cambridge University, 2012. Web. 04 Nov. 2016.
Eduplace by Houghton Mifflin Co. (1997). Word Recognition Skills and Strategies. Retrieved May 9, 2017, from https://www.eduplace.com/rdg/res/teach/rec.html
Greene, Robert Lane. "Lexical Facts: Vocabulary Size." Blog post. The Economist. The Economist Newspaper, 29 May 2013. Web. 09 Jan. 2017. <http://www.economist.com/blogs/johnson/2013/05/vocabulary-size>.
Hahn, Harley. "Time Sense: Polychronicity and Monochronicity." Blog post. Harley Hahn. The Harley Hahn Experience, n.d. Web. 3 Jan. 2017.
Hamm, Lyle. "The Culturally Responsive Classroom." Education Canada Magazine. Canadian Education Association, Sept. 2014. Web. 9 Jan. 2017. <http://www.cea-ace.ca/education-canada/article/culturally-responsive-classroom>.
Harker, W. J. (1981). Language Experience Approach - A Rationale. McGill Journal of Education, 16(001), 56-66. Retrieved December 13, 2016, from http://mje.mcgill.ca/article/view/7380
Hickson, M. L., & Stacks, D. W. (1985). Nonverbal communication: Studies and applications. Dubuque, IA: Brown.
Johnson, H. (2013, February 25). The Natural Order Hypothesis: Definition and Criticism. Retrieved May 18, 2017, from http://www.linguisticsgirl.com/the-natural-order-hypothesis-definition-and-criticism/
Lamb, B. (2010, October 06). God save the Queen's English: Our language is under threat from ignorance, inverted snobbery and deliberate 'dumbing down' [Editorial].Www.independent.co.uk. Retrieved May 8, 2017, from http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/schools/god-save-the-queens-english-our-language-is-under-threat-from-ignorance-inverted-snobbery-and-2099825.html
Lewis, Richard D. "Monochromatic and Polychromatic Cultures." Blog post. Cross Culture. N.p., 21 Jan. 2013. Web. 3 Jan. 2017.
McCarthy, M., O'Dell, F., Shaw, E., (2006) Vocabulary In Use: Upper -Intermediate. Cambridge University Press.
McLuhan, E. (2017). Commonly Asked Questions about McLuhan – The Estate of Marshall McLuhan. Retrieved May 5, 2017, from https://www.marshallmcluhan.com/common-questions/
Ministry of Education Manitoba Government. (2017). Kindergarten to Grade 4 Language Arts: A foundation for implementation. Retrieved May 9, 2017, from http://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/cur/ela/docs/litlearn3.html
Nordquist Grammar & Composition Expert, R. (2016, June 02). Cheers and Jeers: Examples of Minimal Pairs in English. Retrieved December 15, 2016, from http://grammar.about.com/od/mo/g/minpairterm.htm
O'Neil, Dennis. "Language and Culture: What Is Language?" Language and Culture: What Is Language? Palomar College, 31 Aug. 2006. Web. 04 Nov. 2016.
Ontario, Canada. Ministry of Education. The Ontario Curriculum Grades 9 to 12. Revised ed. Toronto: Queen's Printer, 2007. English As a
Second Language and English Literacy Development. Government of Ontario, 2007. Web. 26 Oct. 2016.
Pennock-Speck, Barry. "Languages, Dialects, Pidgins and Creoles." Internasjonal Engelsk. National Digital Learning Arena, 25 Nov. 2013. Web. 04 Nov. 2016.
Rudling, J. (2017). Words with the "sh" sound. Retrieved May 30, 2017, from https://howtospell.co.uk/shsounds
Shoebottom, P. (2009). An Introduction to the work of Stephen Krashen. Retrieved May 18, 2017, from http://esl.fis.edu/teachers/support/krashen.htm
Stewart, Janice L. Children Affected by War: A Bioecological Investigation into Their Psychosocial and Educational Needs. Thesis. University of Manitoba, 2007. Winnipeg: U of Manitoba Faculty of Graduate Studies, 2007. FGS - Electronic Theses & Dissertations (Public). University of Manitoba Faculty of Graduate Studies, 24 May 2013. Web. 11 Jan. 2017. <http://hdl.handle.net/1993/21225>.
Thompson, Derek. "Can Your Language Influence Your Spending, Eating, and Smoking Habits?" The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 10 Sept. 2013. Web. 04 Nov. 2016.
WETA Public Broadcasting and Colorìn Colorado. (2017). ELL Glossary. Retrieved May 30, 2017, from http://www.colorincolorado.org/ell-basics/ell-glossary#13249
The English language could be said to be made up of 600 000 word families (give or take). A word family would include a head word, say a verb (i.e.: walk) and all of its related words (i.e.: walked, walking, walker, walks); when you start getting into compound words, uses of suffixes, prefixes, etc. we've got quite the vast number of words to choose from when we communicate.
Most of the time, however, we choose from a fairly consistent pool of key words. For a native-born speaker, that vocabulary may number in the range of 30 000 words including the words we use only for specific purposes - jargon related to specific jobs, seasonal words that only get a lot of wear and tear at particular times of year, that sort of thing.
When it comes to our daily lives, and our most essential communications, researchers in the 20th century began tracking, listing and then refining the list of the most frequently used words in the English language. Over time this list has changed, just as language itself changes .
The (New) General Service List is a list of just over 2 800 English words people use most frequently in day-to-day life. The list is most often ordered by how frequently a word appears in day-to-day use. The lower the number on the list, the more often it is used, and the more important it is that English language learners become familiar with the word as a sight word (Browne, C., Culligan, B. & Phillips, J., 2013).
Most of the time, however, we choose from a fairly consistent pool of key words. For a native-born speaker, that vocabulary may number in the range of 30 000 words including the words we use only for specific purposes - jargon related to specific jobs, seasonal words that only get a lot of wear and tear at particular times of year, that sort of thing.
When it comes to our daily lives, and our most essential communications, researchers in the 20th century began tracking, listing and then refining the list of the most frequently used words in the English language. Over time this list has changed, just as language itself changes .
The (New) General Service List is a list of just over 2 800 English words people use most frequently in day-to-day life. The list is most often ordered by how frequently a word appears in day-to-day use. The lower the number on the list, the more often it is used, and the more important it is that English language learners become familiar with the word as a sight word (Browne, C., Culligan, B. & Phillips, J., 2013).
Graded Reader
Books that are graded by the complexity of their grammatical structure, lexical or vocabulary complexity, and the complexity of the sentence structures used within.
There is a standard "Lexile Score", which corresponds, give or take, to grade levels.
For the "norm referenced" reader and text measures of Lexile scores to grade level, you can visit this page at Lexile.com
Graded readers will often come with a Lexile score. Graded readers aimed at ELL students may have a higher grade level of interest or content than their lexile level so that they are engaging to older students who are at a lower Lexile level in their L2 (or L3 or L4 as the case may be).
There is a standard "Lexile Score", which corresponds, give or take, to grade levels.
For the "norm referenced" reader and text measures of Lexile scores to grade level, you can visit this page at Lexile.com
Graded readers will often come with a Lexile score. Graded readers aimed at ELL students may have a higher grade level of interest or content than their lexile level so that they are engaging to older students who are at a lower Lexile level in their L2 (or L3 or L4 as the case may be).
Grapheme
The simplest description of a grapheme is that is a symbolic representation of a phoneme (see below). A grapheme may be a letter, or may be a letter, or a letter and an accent.
Using the IAP (see below) the English word "shop" would break down as follows:
Using the IAP (see below) the English word "shop" would break down as follows:
Orthography |
Phonetics / Grapheme |
Shop |
ʃap |
sh |
ʃ |
o |
a |
p |
p |
Therefore, ʃ is the grapheme for the sound (the phoneme) we usually make in English when we see the letters (orthography) "sh" together in a word, especially at the beginning of a word.
Graphophonics
"The study of the relationships between the symbols and sounds of a language and the visual information on the page." (Ontario, 2007)
When students / children are learning a language, this is the set of cues related to whether or not a word 'looks right' when it is being spelled or being read aloud. This is part of the process being used when people 'sound out' a word, or when they learn that "ph" together in English is read as a "ff" sound rather than "puh-hu" (i.e. you would read "phone" as "fown" vs. "puh-hown').
When students / children are learning a language, this is the set of cues related to whether or not a word 'looks right' when it is being spelled or being read aloud. This is part of the process being used when people 'sound out' a word, or when they learn that "ph" together in English is read as a "ff" sound rather than "puh-hu" (i.e. you would read "phone" as "fown" vs. "puh-hown').
Guided Reading
The process by which an instructor acts as a by-the-side coach as students navigate a piece of text. Teachers can do this using a variety of strategies and tools, including before, during and after-reading structured activities and modelling.
H
Higher-Order Thinking
Thinking back to your education training, and good ol' Bloom's Taxonomy, (click on the words to the left to go to Vanderbilt University's Education page for a comparsion of the original Bloom's from 1956 and the revision of 2001.... great page!).
The higher level thought processes beging taking place in and around the "Apply" level, depending on how novel the circumstance is in which the application is taking place. Executing very familiar skills in familiar contexts is not higher level thinking, but applying relatively new skills and knowledge in novel situations, when it requires that you interpret information, IS higher level thinking.
It is important to recall that in the case of the taxonomy of thinking, "higher" and "lower" are not necessarily judgements of quality or importance; they are descriptions of the complexity of the tasks required by the brain in order to accomplish mental tasks.
You want your surgeon or your pilot to be able to recall the minutae of their work with minimal or no prompting, particularly the steps they need to take in an emergency situation. The key to using the taxonomy effectively is to use it to enable students to practice ALL kinds of mental exercises, and to scaffold the more detailed thinking skills, the higher level thinking skills, on a strong foundation of the lower level thinking skills, in order to maximize student success at all levels of the taxonomy.
Higher order thinking skills could be said to include (but are not limited to):
The higher level thought processes beging taking place in and around the "Apply" level, depending on how novel the circumstance is in which the application is taking place. Executing very familiar skills in familiar contexts is not higher level thinking, but applying relatively new skills and knowledge in novel situations, when it requires that you interpret information, IS higher level thinking.
It is important to recall that in the case of the taxonomy of thinking, "higher" and "lower" are not necessarily judgements of quality or importance; they are descriptions of the complexity of the tasks required by the brain in order to accomplish mental tasks.
You want your surgeon or your pilot to be able to recall the minutae of their work with minimal or no prompting, particularly the steps they need to take in an emergency situation. The key to using the taxonomy effectively is to use it to enable students to practice ALL kinds of mental exercises, and to scaffold the more detailed thinking skills, the higher level thinking skills, on a strong foundation of the lower level thinking skills, in order to maximize student success at all levels of the taxonomy.
Higher order thinking skills could be said to include (but are not limited to):
- seeking out and gathering information
- sythesizing (combining facts and ideas) and integration of new information in to known systems of thought, habits of mind and contexts
- organizing and categorizing
- interpreation
- evaluation of information
- hypothesizing, inference, deducation and prediction
Homonym vs. Homograph vs. Homophone
Two or more words with the....
Type of Word |
Same Sound |
Same Spelling |
Same Meaning |
Example |
Homograph |
🚫 |
✅ |
🚫 |
sow (s-oh) - "to sow seeds" sow (s-ow) - "a female pig" |
Homonym |
⁉️ |
⁉️ |
🚫 |
a homonyms are said AND / OR spelled the same way BUT have different meanings. Technically, both homographs and homophones are homonyms, but a homonym doesn't have to be both a homograph AND a homophone. by - near vs. buy - purchase (homophones) minute - a measure of time vs. minute - tiny (homographs) |
Homophone |
✅ |
🚫 |
🚫 |
to - a direction two - a whole number too - in addition |
These three elements of speech can be confusing to native-born English speakers, and completely confusing to English Language Learners, especially some of the homographs which demonstrate their different meanings based on where and how stress is applied (See Tone below and the TED Ed lesson at the top of this page).
I
Idiom
A phrase or saying, which, through common usage in a culture / language, has taken on meaning and significance different from it's literal meaning, word by word. This makes idioms difficult to understand for non-native speakers as idioms defy word-by-word translation. Typically, an idiom has some sort of significance, which may be rooted in a historical context, but which is taken as a given by native speakers, even if they are no longer aware of it.
Examples of common English idioms used in North America:
Examples of common English idioms used in North America:
- We're all in the same boat.
- It's raining cats and dogs.
- That lady has a chip on her shoulder.
- That exam was a piece of cake.
Inclusive Language
Language choices that are equitable in the use, most particularly, of pronouns, but in reference to all people, most deliberately to avoid stereotypes and assumptions that may be discriminatory and/or exclusive in some way. For example, the term "firefighter" includes both males and females, "fireman" or "firemen" only refers to male firefighters.
Informational Text
These types of text have, as their core purpose, the intent of informing their audience. They are generally fact-based, and their contents may be referenced against other sources for fact-checking, although should be analyzed for bias (as should any source).
Types of informational text may include but are not limited to:
Types of informational text may include but are not limited to:
- textbooks
- reports
- essays
- reviews
- editorials
- newspaper or magazine articles
- business letters
- invitations
- manuals / instruction sheets
- recipes
- news or documentary telescripts
- biographies / autobiograophies
- résumés
- brochures / pamphlets
- reference books / sites
- encyclopedias
- non-fiction books
International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)
aHave you ever noticed the strange little upside down, backwards and strange looking letters by the words in dictionary definitions? Can you read them? Do you read them? You probably know that they are another symbolic representation of the word you are looking up, but could you use that symbology to sound out a word that you don't know?
The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is a set of graphemes (see above) used to represent phonemes (see below). In short, it is an alphabet that goes beyond language to represent sounds in languages around the world. A single sound may be represented differently in the Roman alphabet, the Cyrillic alphabet, in Kanji, and in Arabic script, but people who speak any one of those languages can use the phonetic alphabet to represent a single phoneme.
Interestingly, the IPA, as it was designed by Western scholars, tends to use Greek and Latin symbols but has been accepted around the world. It is not, however, the only phonetic alphabet in use.
Here is an example of translated text:
I have a unique philosophy of education and learning. (English orthography)
aj hæv e junik fəlasəfi əv lərnɪŋ ænd ɛdʒəkeʃən (IPA phonetic alphabet translated on www.upodn.com )
The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is a set of graphemes (see above) used to represent phonemes (see below). In short, it is an alphabet that goes beyond language to represent sounds in languages around the world. A single sound may be represented differently in the Roman alphabet, the Cyrillic alphabet, in Kanji, and in Arabic script, but people who speak any one of those languages can use the phonetic alphabet to represent a single phoneme.
Interestingly, the IPA, as it was designed by Western scholars, tends to use Greek and Latin symbols but has been accepted around the world. It is not, however, the only phonetic alphabet in use.
Here is an example of translated text:
I have a unique philosophy of education and learning. (English orthography)
aj hæv e junik fəlasəfi əv lərnɪŋ ænd ɛdʒəkeʃən (IPA phonetic alphabet translated on www.upodn.com )
Intonation
The words we speak are only a small portion of oral communication. There is a significant amount of interaction that is non-verbal communication. One element of non-verbal communication is vocalics (click the link there to see a detailed Prezi on vocalics) sometimes referred to as paralanguage because it occurs along side or parallel to linguistics. Vocalics deals with specifically how we manipulate our voices in the process of speaking. One element of vocal manipluation of sound, is the tone of our voices, which can change the meaning of a word, phrase or sentence. English is not a very tonal language. Some languages, like for instance, Cantonese, are so tonal, that what may seem like tiny changes in pronunciation in phonemes can greatly change the meaning of entire words completely. While does happen in English, it is not the norm, as it is with very tonal languages.
In the audio sample below, the same sentence is repeated several time in with different tones. Notice how the difference in tone that signifies a change in meaning is most notable at the end of a sentence. This is a cultural difference. In some languages, those meaning signifiers happen at the beginning of a sentence. In some languages, the tone change that signifies a question is a falling of tone rather than a rising of tone, as it is in English. These are important things to be aware of because we may misintepret because we expect people from another culture to be using the same vocalics and non-verbal communication tools we use in our culture.
Sentence: The cat jumped over the moon.
Tones:
In the audio sample below, the same sentence is repeated several time in with different tones. Notice how the difference in tone that signifies a change in meaning is most notable at the end of a sentence. This is a cultural difference. In some languages, those meaning signifiers happen at the beginning of a sentence. In some languages, the tone change that signifies a question is a falling of tone rather than a rising of tone, as it is in English. These are important things to be aware of because we may misintepret because we expect people from another culture to be using the same vocalics and non-verbal communication tools we use in our culture.
Sentence: The cat jumped over the moon.
Tones:
- Straight statement.
- Question.
- Sarcasm.
- Horrified.
- Delighted.
- Sad.
Intonation is so much a part of language that babies show a preference for it based on what they heard in the womb and their cries as infants reflect the inonation of their maternal language. Given that, it's hardly surprising that it is difficult for ELLs to pick up entirely new patterns of emphasis and tone in a new language.
J
K
L
Language Experience Approach
This is an integrative approach in which students use their personal experience to collaboratively create the structure for a story and then read the resulting product.
Roach Van Allen (1964), a leading proponent of the language experience approach, describes the following principles upon which it was founded:
What I can think about, I can say.
What I can say, I can write.
I can read what I have written.
I can read what others have written for me to read. (Harker, 1981)
Roach Van Allen (1964), a leading proponent of the language experience approach, describes the following principles upon which it was founded:
What I can think about, I can say.
What I can say, I can write.
I can read what I have written.
I can read what others have written for me to read. (Harker, 1981)
Language-learning strategies
Any strategies (techniques and/or tools) employed by ELLs, non-native speakers of any language, and/or used by instructors to assist in the acquistion of a second language.
Examples of language-learning strategies may include but are not limited to:
Examples of language-learning strategies may include but are not limited to:
- seeking opportunities to practice
- organizing and classifying of vocabulary and grammatical information
- straight memorisation
- pronunciation drills
- visualisation
- listening to or watching media in the L2 (or L3 / L4 as the case may be)
- monitoring speech / self-correcting
- imitation
Learner Dictionary
A dictionary specifically designed to meet the needs of second language learners, a learner's dictionary offers definitions that are unlkely to, in turn, require even more research. They also offer simplified etymology (click on the word "etymolgy" to link to Merriam-Webster's Online Learner's Dictionary to see an example entry in action), the word's place in the grammar of the language, and sometimes audio files for pronunciation practice or other features.
Teacher Note: I prefer Merriam-Webster's Online Learner's Dictionary for ALL students. It's learner-friendly and has fun features like Ask the Editor, Word of the Day, etymology, and offers phrases, as well as allowing students to pick from which version of a word they need or words with similar spellings and offering audio files for words.
Teacher Note: I prefer Merriam-Webster's Online Learner's Dictionary for ALL students. It's learner-friendly and has fun features like Ask the Editor, Word of the Day, etymology, and offers phrases, as well as allowing students to pick from which version of a word they need or words with similar spellings and offering audio files for words.
Literary Device
Most of who have been through secondary school, or even upper middle school, are familiar with the basic literary devices. "Literary devices are a particular pattern of words, figures of speech or linguistic techniques used to create a specific effect (Ontario, 2007)."
What we may not realize is how often they are used in day-to-day communication. In many ways, they are similar to idiomatic communicative devices (see Idioms above) because they do not translate easily, and so non-native speakers may find them puzzling.
It is worthwhile for all instructors, regardless of what subject area they teach to consider when and how they are using literary devices in their teaching and instructional materials and think about how this may make information more difficult for ELL students to access in their L2 (or L3/L4 etc).
Literary devices we use in common communication - and often used in teaching! - may include but are not limited to:
What we may not realize is how often they are used in day-to-day communication. In many ways, they are similar to idiomatic communicative devices (see Idioms above) because they do not translate easily, and so non-native speakers may find them puzzling.
It is worthwhile for all instructors, regardless of what subject area they teach to consider when and how they are using literary devices in their teaching and instructional materials and think about how this may make information more difficult for ELL students to access in their L2 (or L3/L4 etc).
Literary devices we use in common communication - and often used in teaching! - may include but are not limited to:
- rhyme (often used as a mnemonic
- comparison and contrast
- analogy
- allusion
- metaphors and similes
- personification
- hyperbole
- symbolism
- foreshadowing
- irony
Literary Text
Unlike informational texts (see above) literary texts are often fictional, although their purposes may vary (to entertain, to instruct, to inform, to pursuade...). Liteary texts can be particularly challenging to ELLs because they often employ a high rate of complex sentence structures, idiomatic language and liteary devices.
Liteary text formats may include but are not limited to:
Liteary text formats may include but are not limited to:
- novels
- short stories
- myths, legends and folk tales
- poems (including ballads)
- songs
- plays and telescripts
- graphic novels and picture books
M
Media Literacy
The ability to be a savvy "prosumer" is key to being media literate in the current age. (A "prosumer" is someone who is both a media consumer and a media producer.)
Media literacy then is the ability to maximize both the consumption of what Marshall McLuhan called the medium (the format) and the message (the intended purpose) and the production processes such that a student demonstrates "an informed and critical understanding of the nature of the media and the techniques used....the impact of these techniques...the ability to understand and to use the mass mass media in an active critical way (Ontario, 2007)."
There are loads of great media literacy resources out there for educators.
Media literacy then is the ability to maximize both the consumption of what Marshall McLuhan called the medium (the format) and the message (the intended purpose) and the production processes such that a student demonstrates "an informed and critical understanding of the nature of the media and the techniques used....the impact of these techniques...the ability to understand and to use the mass mass media in an active critical way (Ontario, 2007)."
There are loads of great media literacy resources out there for educators.
Metacognition
Meta = a Greek prefix meaning, in this case, "beyond" / "along with", and cognition = the process of thinking.
It is therefore the process of thinking ABOUT the thinking process. It is this ability that allows us to reflect on what we've learned, how we've learned it, how effectively we've learned it and to use that information to select strategies to adapt future learning activities to suit our learning needs and preferences.
Important Note:
It is easy to forget that this is a higher level thinking skill that needs to be modelled for students, and may need to be broken down into scaffolded steps, modeled and then rebuilt for them into a cohesive process.
While it is a skill that all humans can cultivate, it is just that, a skill. Different people have varying levels of personal comfort and ability at engaging in this process, particularly independently, and we can all always learn to be more effective in adpating metacognitive strategies to foster a growth mindset rather than a fixed mindset. It is particularly difficult for many people to put metacognition into words.
A studet may come to you and say, "I don't understand!" This is not particuclarly helpful to either of you.
It is not, however, particularly helpful of a teacher to respond by saying, "What don't you understand?"
If a student is uing such a vague phrase as, "I don't understand!" they are struggling to breakdown, identify and label their metacognitive processes.
Asking them what they don't understand may not get you the information you need to help them. If they understood it enough to articulate it, they might understand it enough to do the work.
Instead ask questions like:
"Do you understand all the words in the question?"
"What do you think this question is asking you to do?"
"Can you break the task of the question down into steps?"
Getting students to put what they understand into words that they are comfortable with will help them to develop their metacognitive skills and help you to diagnose where their misunderstanding has taken root. Very often, in putting "teacher speak" into words more familiar to them, students will 'accidentally' work out the answers for themselves, and you will observe their cognitive process in action.
It is therefore the process of thinking ABOUT the thinking process. It is this ability that allows us to reflect on what we've learned, how we've learned it, how effectively we've learned it and to use that information to select strategies to adapt future learning activities to suit our learning needs and preferences.
Important Note:
It is easy to forget that this is a higher level thinking skill that needs to be modelled for students, and may need to be broken down into scaffolded steps, modeled and then rebuilt for them into a cohesive process.
While it is a skill that all humans can cultivate, it is just that, a skill. Different people have varying levels of personal comfort and ability at engaging in this process, particularly independently, and we can all always learn to be more effective in adpating metacognitive strategies to foster a growth mindset rather than a fixed mindset. It is particularly difficult for many people to put metacognition into words.
A studet may come to you and say, "I don't understand!" This is not particuclarly helpful to either of you.
It is not, however, particularly helpful of a teacher to respond by saying, "What don't you understand?"
If a student is uing such a vague phrase as, "I don't understand!" they are struggling to breakdown, identify and label their metacognitive processes.
Asking them what they don't understand may not get you the information you need to help them. If they understood it enough to articulate it, they might understand it enough to do the work.
Instead ask questions like:
"Do you understand all the words in the question?"
"What do you think this question is asking you to do?"
"Can you break the task of the question down into steps?"
Getting students to put what they understand into words that they are comfortable with will help them to develop their metacognitive skills and help you to diagnose where their misunderstanding has taken root. Very often, in putting "teacher speak" into words more familiar to them, students will 'accidentally' work out the answers for themselves, and you will observe their cognitive process in action.
Minimal Pair
"In phonology and phonetics, the term minimal pair refers to two words that differ in only one sound, such as hit and hid. Minimal pairs serve as tools to establish that two (or more) sounds are contrastive. A difference in sound means a difference in meaning (Nordquist, 2016)."
Minimal pairs are of use in teaching English because they help demonstrate the differences betwen phonenetic sounds. The difference in a minimal pair can be anywhere in the word. Examples of minimal pairs include:
jale / Yale first sound
sit / sin last sound
hot / hat mid sound
Minimal pairs are of use in teaching English because they help demonstrate the differences betwen phonenetic sounds. The difference in a minimal pair can be anywhere in the word. Examples of minimal pairs include:
jale / Yale first sound
sit / sin last sound
hot / hat mid sound
Mnemonic Device
Deriving from the Greek root "mnemonon" (mindful) a mnemonic is any tool or strategy someone uses to help bolster memory and information retention. Mnemonics are often tied to sound (rhymes, acronyms) or rhymthm, as these tie information to multiple processing areas of the brain.
Common mnemonics might include:
ABC - Airway, Breathing, Chest for checking a person's breathing during First Aid.
Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge - the note scale in music.
Mnemonics can also be keywords in phrases to help you remember entire words etc. Click here to check out a site that explains using the Mnemonic Keyword method as part of language learning.
The key to using a mnemonic is that what you code with the memory (the acronym or the keyword) must have some sort of meaning as a stand alone item, or be in a pattern that is easy to recall.
Common mnemonics might include:
ABC - Airway, Breathing, Chest for checking a person's breathing during First Aid.
Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge - the note scale in music.
Mnemonics can also be keywords in phrases to help you remember entire words etc. Click here to check out a site that explains using the Mnemonic Keyword method as part of language learning.
The key to using a mnemonic is that what you code with the memory (the acronym or the keyword) must have some sort of meaning as a stand alone item, or be in a pattern that is easy to recall.
Modals
Modals are elements of language, usually auxiliary (helping) verbs, that suggest varying degrees of possibility or potential.
The use of a modal indicates the degree to which the writer or speaker is confident about a particular outcome based on available evidence (Cummins & Early, 2015, p.111).
Examples of modals include but are not limited to:
The use of a modal indicates the degree to which the writer or speaker is confident about a particular outcome based on available evidence (Cummins & Early, 2015, p.111).
Examples of modals include but are not limited to:
- modal verbs like can/could, may/might
- modal adjectives like possible, probable
- modal adverbs like maybe, certainly
Monitor Model (The)
A synthesis of theories on second language learning as postulated and explained by linguist and educational researcher, Stephen Krashen. Krashen's Monitor Model has five basic components. Keep in mind that this Model goes back to 1982, and some of Krashen's hypotheses have been called into question - which is part of the purpose for calling them hypotheses rather than, say, natural laws of language. These ways of thinking about language learning have framed much of the research and development of language programs in the decades since they were proposed by Kreshan. The explanations of the hypotheses below are taken from An Introduction to the work of Stephen Kreshan (Shoebottom, 2009).
- The Acquisition-Learning Hypothesis - SHORT VERSION: We 'get' language either by being immersed in it, or by being directly instructed.
- Krashen postulates that there are two basic processes of becoming proficient / fluent in a language. The first of these is acquisition, the process through which most of us become speakers of our first languages. We are surrounded by proficient (usually adult) speakers of a language, and absorb everything from phonetics to syntax by having it modelled for us continuously, and by being immersed in the culture. The other process is learning - the deliberate, systematic process that typically involves being directly taught, most often with an emphasis on generally accepted conventions of a standardized form of a language.
- The Natural Order Hypothesis - SHORT VERSION: We learn the elements of language in predictable ways and patterns.
- This element of the Model stipulates that each step in the language acquisition / learning process is predetermined and regardless of deliberate instruction and/or relative complexity structures, cannot be changed to push a person past so that they skip steps. This is an example of one of Kreshan's hypotheses which has been challenged (see this article for more info) by more recent research. While there are certainly consistent, observable patterns to language acquisition even across language families, it is a leap to assume the same of second language learners. For instance, such an assumption automatically discounts the fact that when learning a second language, the learner has already learned the grammatical structures and language habits of mind of their L1 (Johnson, 2015).
- The Monitor Hypothesis -SHORT VERSION: we are able to use and adapt what we've learned (as the term is used by Kreshan in the Acquisition-Learning Hypothesis) to the circumstance by self-monitoring and self-correcting. (See Metacognition)
- This ongoing metacognitive process becomes part of the learning process itself, solidifying knowledge.
- The Input Hypothesis - SHORT VERSION: language acquisition is a passive process that requires only clear, comprehensible input.
- That the process of acquisition requires no active effort on the part of the person acquiring language; instead it requires clear and consistent input from a proficient vector of language. This hypothesis has also been challenged, but the key idea, that language acquisition requires comprehensible input, in sound and has formed the basis of much modern language teaching pedagogy.
- The Affective Filter hypothesis - is perhaps one of the most pivotal to all teaching circumstances. SHORT VERSION: those who are stressed in some way cannot and will not learn effectively.
- "Comprehensible input will not result in language acquisition if that input is filtered out before it can reach the brain's language processing faculties. The filtering may occur because of anxiety, poor self-esteem or low motivation (Shoebottom, 2009)."
Morphological Construction
"...describes how words are composed of meaningful parts (Cummins & Early, 2015, p. 75)."
There are three key types of morphological construction:
There are three key types of morphological construction:
- Inflection - when the suffix (word ending) changed the grammatical role a word plays in a sentence / paragraph etc. This can include but is not limited to ~ed to indicate the past tense, ~s, ~es, or ~ies to indicate plurals, etc.
- Derivations - creating new words from a root word, in some cases such that the new word is in a different grammatical category, for example "mad" (adjective) vs. "madly" (adverb)
- Compounds - when complete words are combined to create a a new word with its own unique meaning. These are quite common and sometimes students struggle to know when words are two stand alone words or a compound. There are three kinds of compounds - open, closed and hyphenated. It is easy for students to get confused.
- Open compounds involve two words that are not visually connected but are connected as a concept. For example: coffee table or running shoe, a lot. The first word typically defines or qualifies the second word in some way, but the words are found often enough as a unit that they are a compound.
- Closed compounds are two words which can and do stand alone in some contexts but when connected, mean something specific. For example, anyone, something, everybody, outstanding.
- Hyphenated compounds are connected by a hyphen (not a dash), for example: mother-in-law, 10-year-old, up-to-the-minute, short-term.
N
Nominalization
"...the process whereby abstract nouns are formed from verbs, adjectives and other parts of speech (Cummins & Early, 2015, p.76)" through the application of suffixes and prefixes etc.
For example, in math, the verb multiply becomes the nouns multiplication (suffix ~ation), multiple (suffix ~le) and multiplicity (suffix ~ity) or the adjective multiple (suffix ~le), OR the verb measure becomes the adjective measured (suffix ~ed) or the noun measurement (suffix ~ment).
For example, in math, the verb multiply becomes the nouns multiplication (suffix ~ation), multiple (suffix ~le) and multiplicity (suffix ~ity) or the adjective multiple (suffix ~le), OR the verb measure becomes the adjective measured (suffix ~ed) or the noun measurement (suffix ~ment).
Non-verbal communication (NVC)
The non-verbal, non-linguistic processes "whereby people, through the intentional or unintentional manipulation of normative actions and expectations, express experiences, feelings, and attitudes in order to relate to and control themselves, others, and their environments (Hickson & Stacks, 1985)."
Non-verbal communication is culturally specific, provides critical information about social interactions in as little as 1/24th of a second and is constantly being produced by and interpreted by human beings in interaction with each other.
"Correct interpretation is a remarkable feat because in any interaction, hundreds or thousands of verbal and nonverbal cues stream by us, vanishing in milliseconds. How do we discard most of these cues, seizing the few (e.g., a momentary facial expression, a vocal inflection) that tell us what another person means or is feeling? The process of interpretation is one of the most impressive and least understood of human abilities (Constanzo & Archer, 1991)."
There are several key forms of NVC.
Kinesics - body language
Ocalics - the use of the eyes in and as communication (VERY, VERY culturally specific)
Proxemics - the use of personal space during and as communication
Non-verbal communication is culturally specific, provides critical information about social interactions in as little as 1/24th of a second and is constantly being produced by and interpreted by human beings in interaction with each other.
"Correct interpretation is a remarkable feat because in any interaction, hundreds or thousands of verbal and nonverbal cues stream by us, vanishing in milliseconds. How do we discard most of these cues, seizing the few (e.g., a momentary facial expression, a vocal inflection) that tell us what another person means or is feeling? The process of interpretation is one of the most impressive and least understood of human abilities (Constanzo & Archer, 1991)."
There are several key forms of NVC.
Kinesics - body language
- gestics (use of gestures) Speech related gestures can be emblems (representing something (i.e. the peace sign), illustrators (i.e."It was THIS big!"), regulators (i.e.: a finger to lips to suggest being quiet), affect displays (throwing up your hands in frustration), or adaptors (i.e. pointing to indicate direction).
- fascics (facial expressions including micro expressions - Click here to learn more about microexpressions from Paul Ekman)
- body synchrony (sometimes called mirroring
Ocalics - the use of the eyes in and as communication (VERY, VERY culturally specific)
Proxemics - the use of personal space during and as communication
- In North America, typical proxemic zones are approximately, although this varies from person to person and depends on their personality (i.e.: more introverted or more extroverted) and on their personal experiences as well as on the context:
- –Intimate zone (0’-18”)
- –Personal zone (18”–4’)
- –Social zone (4’-12’)
- –Public zone (12’-∞)
Haptics - the use of physical touch (or the refraining from use of physical touch) during and as communication; when, how and who you can or cannot / do or do not touch, where you can touch (both on the body / what body parts, and in what social contexts).
Vocalics (aka paraloanguage) - how you say what you say
Objectics - use of physical artifacts in and as communication
Cues being given and perceived by various artifacts. Artifacts can communicate information including but not limited to:
Chronemics - the use of time in and as communication
This is a complex part of communication and highly culturally inculcated. It can include everything from pauses and wait time, turn-taking, think time, talk time, work time, preparation time during and of actual communication, but it is more focused on what are called monochonicity and polychronicity. These are two different - often seemingly antagonistic but sometimes co-existing - manners of thinking about the nature of time, and time orientation (how people think about the past, present, future and timelines), which are often expressed in and lived through the very nature of language and social communication. For more on the impacts of time orientation, see the TED Talk by Keith Chen or see his article in The Atlantic, Can your langauge influence your spending, eating and smoking habits?
Chronemics can be the basis for significant intercultural misunderstandings, as they are often deeply rooted in cultural ways of thought, values and even how people are oriented in and about time. (Keep in mind that a time culture can be the culture of an organization, that of a sub-cultural, a regional culture, etc.) Individuals can also be considered to be monchrons or polychrons within the context of the culture in which they live and were raised.
Vocalics (aka paraloanguage) - how you say what you say
- Tone / Pitch (how sharp, flat, shrill or low you voice sounds as well as the emotion you convey with your voice)
- Volume (how loud or quiet your voice is)
- Pace (how quickly or slowly you speak)
- Pauses (these can be intentional or unintentional)
- Rhythm (which syllables are stressed and how long particular syllables last; this varies considerably between languages)
Objectics - use of physical artifacts in and as communication
Cues being given and perceived by various artifacts. Artifacts can communicate information including but not limited to:
- Marital status
- Cultural affiliation
- Religion / faith
- Social / economic status
- Personality
- Team / sports affiliation
- Political affiliation / beliefs
- School / alumni membership affiliation
Chronemics - the use of time in and as communication
This is a complex part of communication and highly culturally inculcated. It can include everything from pauses and wait time, turn-taking, think time, talk time, work time, preparation time during and of actual communication, but it is more focused on what are called monochonicity and polychronicity. These are two different - often seemingly antagonistic but sometimes co-existing - manners of thinking about the nature of time, and time orientation (how people think about the past, present, future and timelines), which are often expressed in and lived through the very nature of language and social communication. For more on the impacts of time orientation, see the TED Talk by Keith Chen or see his article in The Atlantic, Can your langauge influence your spending, eating and smoking habits?
Chronemics can be the basis for significant intercultural misunderstandings, as they are often deeply rooted in cultural ways of thought, values and even how people are oriented in and about time. (Keep in mind that a time culture can be the culture of an organization, that of a sub-cultural, a regional culture, etc.) Individuals can also be considered to be monchrons or polychrons within the context of the culture in which they live and were raised.
Monochrometic Cultures |
Polychrometic Cultures |
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American Canadian German Dannish Finnish Russian Swedish Norwegian Swiss Dutch Australian Belgian New Zealander (Euopean) |
First Nations Mexican Chinese Indian Pakistani Filipino Indonesian Nigerian Senegalese Portugese Peruvian Argentinian Egyptian Jordanian Spanish Italian |
Olfactics - the use of smell in and as communication
As human beings are animals, smell is a component of our process of communication, although unlike some animals, it is not under our control, and unlike many animals, we have a relatively poor sense of smell. Smell is a powerful emotional trigger, however, and can be used as part of communication. People may, for instance, use perfume to indicate they would like to be attractive.
In a modern educational environment, however, this is one of the least used elements of deliberate communication. We need to be aware of allergies and breathing issues of students and staff, and there are only rare situations - say, in a classroom preparing food - where the use of the sense of smell may be part of the curriculum.
Gustorics - the use of taste in and as communication
Like olfactics, gustatorics is a very natural form of communication for many animals. The bitter taste of a berry may communicate that it is poisonous to eat. This is a element of non-verbal communication that will rarely be used a deliberate element of interaction in most classrooms.
*** It is worth noting that the last two NVC elements, olfactics and gustorics, may come into play for learners who are new to a culture when there are cultural events happening in the leanring community. For instance, smells and tastes of holiday treats that may be appealing to members of local culture and community may be confusing or unappealing to those still going through the process of acculturation (see above).
As human beings are animals, smell is a component of our process of communication, although unlike some animals, it is not under our control, and unlike many animals, we have a relatively poor sense of smell. Smell is a powerful emotional trigger, however, and can be used as part of communication. People may, for instance, use perfume to indicate they would like to be attractive.
In a modern educational environment, however, this is one of the least used elements of deliberate communication. We need to be aware of allergies and breathing issues of students and staff, and there are only rare situations - say, in a classroom preparing food - where the use of the sense of smell may be part of the curriculum.
Gustorics - the use of taste in and as communication
Like olfactics, gustatorics is a very natural form of communication for many animals. The bitter taste of a berry may communicate that it is poisonous to eat. This is a element of non-verbal communication that will rarely be used a deliberate element of interaction in most classrooms.
*** It is worth noting that the last two NVC elements, olfactics and gustorics, may come into play for learners who are new to a culture when there are cultural events happening in the leanring community. For instance, smells and tastes of holiday treats that may be appealing to members of local culture and community may be confusing or unappealing to those still going through the process of acculturation (see above).
O
Orthography
The study of how letters are combined to spell words and make sounds.
P
Phoneme
"The smallest unit of sound in a spoken language that make the meaning of one word different from another (Ontario, 2007)."
The key to remember with phoenemes is that they are something you hear or a sound you make that has meaning. They may include more than one letter.
So, since "check" is different than "deck" is different than "wreck" is different than "peck" , the sound made by the "ch", the "d", the "wr" and the "p" in those words are all phonemes.
The key to remember with phoenemes is that they are something you hear or a sound you make that has meaning. They may include more than one letter.
So, since "check" is different than "deck" is different than "wreck" is different than "peck" , the sound made by the "ch", the "d", the "wr" and the "p" in those words are all phonemes.
Phonetic Awareness
This is a matter of perception of the phonemes in spoken language, and doesn't apply to written or read language.
This is the ability to:
This is the ability to:
- hear,
- identify,
- and to manipulate
Phonics
"Instruction on how the letters (graphemes) of written language are related to the individual sounds (phonemes) of a spoken language (Ontario, 2007)."
This is different than graphonics because where graphonics focuses specifically how written language represents sound, phonics is the process of instruction that supports learners connecting the smallest units of symbolic language to the smallest units of audibly perceptable sound in a language.
There can, however, be some challenges when using phonics as a method of instruction with the English language. Take a look at this clip from the classic comedy, I Love Lucy. Lucile Ball and Ricky Ricardo are preparing themselves for the arrival of their first child, and Lucy has decided to improve her use of English, so that their child will have every advantage. Ricky, as is often the case (with reason) thinks she might be going a bit overboard. She points out to him that neither of them know everything there is to know about English...
This is different than graphonics because where graphonics focuses specifically how written language represents sound, phonics is the process of instruction that supports learners connecting the smallest units of symbolic language to the smallest units of audibly perceptable sound in a language.
There can, however, be some challenges when using phonics as a method of instruction with the English language. Take a look at this clip from the classic comedy, I Love Lucy. Lucile Ball and Ricky Ricardo are preparing themselves for the arrival of their first child, and Lucy has decided to improve her use of English, so that their child will have every advantage. Ricky, as is often the case (with reason) thinks she might be going a bit overboard. She points out to him that neither of them know everything there is to know about English...
Pronunciation
Pronunciation is determined by the movement of the lips, air flow through the mouth, throat, larynx, lips and teeth, the movement of the tongue, cheeks and lips, air pressure and speed of air flow from the lungs, and vibration throughout the vocal cavities.
English is made up of a series of specific sounds, either individuals sounds or combinations, some of which are shared with other languages and others which are unique to or at least used more often in English than in other languages.
Due to the fact that sounds are created through muscle control, if we spend much of our early lives not making certain sounds, the tiny, subtle movements of tongue, lip, and throat required to generate certain sounds and sound combinations can become difficult to master as we get older. This is a challenge faced by many people who learn new languages for the first time in their late teens or as adults.
The patterns of pronunciation we learn as part of learning languages and dialects when we are young become part of a pattern of sound production which can be termed an "accent" by those who do not share that pattern of speech.
It is important to understand that an accent can be an important part - for good or for ill - of a person's cultural identity and/or their process of participating in a new culture. Individuals are often very attuned to those who 'sound like' them, and very sensitive of feeling as though they sound different, or feeling like outsiders because of the way that they sound.
Much to the frustration of many newcomers to the English language, the graphology and phonology of English often seem to have only a passing acquaintance to each other (see the TED Ed lesson at the top of this page, particularly Judith Thompson's video).
English is made up of a series of specific sounds, either individuals sounds or combinations, some of which are shared with other languages and others which are unique to or at least used more often in English than in other languages.
Due to the fact that sounds are created through muscle control, if we spend much of our early lives not making certain sounds, the tiny, subtle movements of tongue, lip, and throat required to generate certain sounds and sound combinations can become difficult to master as we get older. This is a challenge faced by many people who learn new languages for the first time in their late teens or as adults.
The patterns of pronunciation we learn as part of learning languages and dialects when we are young become part of a pattern of sound production which can be termed an "accent" by those who do not share that pattern of speech.
It is important to understand that an accent can be an important part - for good or for ill - of a person's cultural identity and/or their process of participating in a new culture. Individuals are often very attuned to those who 'sound like' them, and very sensitive of feeling as though they sound different, or feeling like outsiders because of the way that they sound.
Much to the frustration of many newcomers to the English language, the graphology and phonology of English often seem to have only a passing acquaintance to each other (see the TED Ed lesson at the top of this page, particularly Judith Thompson's video).
If there is one thing that is certain about English pronunciation, it is that there is almost nothing certain about it. No other language in the world has more words spelled the same way and yet pronounced differently.
~ Bill Bryson, Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way (1990)
Proofreading
Part of the writing process, this is a very careful re-reading of the last draft of a piece of final work to check for errors in the mechanics and conventions of written language. These may include but are not limited to:
- formatting
- typographical errors
- inconsistencies of font use
- margins
- grammar
- spelling
- punctuation
- usage (i.e. parallelism)
R
Realia
Essentially props or physical, everyday, real-life artefacts that are used to support teaching language. They may be used as sensory aids (visual, auditory, gustatory, olfactory, and/or tactile).
Register
The style of language appropriate to an intended audience. Register is determined by several social factors.
- The formality of the setting (is it the school cafeteria, or the House of Commons?)
- The relationship between the people who are communicating with each other (siblings? grandchild and grandparent? teacher and student? boss and employee? Governor General conferring an award? General issuing orders to military troops?)
- The purpose of the communication (making a request, telling a story, teaching, issuing orders, sharing emotional connection)
Revising
Part of the writing process, revision is the portion where a writer re-examines their work to make changes to content rather than conventions / structure. The focus during revision is ideas and information and may involving ensuring that work is clear, well organized, accurate, that flows effectively and that the entire piece is coherent. Revision is typically completed prior to proofreading (see above).
Rhythm
The sound pattern established in a piece of oral text based on where stressed in placed in words, sentences, and paragraphs (or stanzas or other segments).
S
Scribing
Writing down, word-by-word, exactly what a student dictates.
Both the key and the challenge to scribing is to neither prompt the student nor to interpret their intentions as you scribe for them. Many adults find it very difficult not to provide non-verbal cues when a student makes errors during dictation, to refrain from asking leading questions (although strictly clarifying questions are permissible) or to otherwise influence a student's work. These are all very normal social elements of teaching, but very much not acceptable in the process of scribing which is part of creating a product, not a process of instruction.
Both the key and the challenge to scribing is to neither prompt the student nor to interpret their intentions as you scribe for them. Many adults find it very difficult not to provide non-verbal cues when a student makes errors during dictation, to refrain from asking leading questions (although strictly clarifying questions are permissible) or to otherwise influence a student's work. These are all very normal social elements of teaching, but very much not acceptable in the process of scribing which is part of creating a product, not a process of instruction.
Sentence Patterns
The most common structures and patterns / ordering of grammatical elements (i.e. subjects, transitive / intransitive verbs, prepositions, objects etc.) This ordering is often related to the communicative intent of the phrase or sentence.
For some of the most common English language sentence patterns, see the tutorial video below.
For some of the most common English language sentence patterns, see the tutorial video below.
Sight Words
Words that a language learner or speaker can recognize (and comprehend) as an entire unit, without the need to sound out syllable-by-syllable or by individual letters of which the word is composed. According to data compiled at www.testyourvocab.com most adult, native English-speakers have a sight vocabulary in the range of 20 000 to 35 000 words, which is consistent with the numbers offered by the creators of the (New) General Services List (see above). The key to the variability in vocabulary size, according the data collection from that site, seems to be not only how much reading an individual engages in, but how much of that reading is fiction. The more fiction a person reads, the broader their vocabulary tends to be (Lane, 2013).
People who are learning English as a foreign language, tend to have a smaller daily-use sight vocabulary, between 4 500 and 10 000 (if they live where English is spoken) but they learn twice as many new words per day, 2 words to the native English speakers 1 per day, and often later in life than most English speakers (Lane, 2013).
People who are learning English as a foreign language, tend to have a smaller daily-use sight vocabulary, between 4 500 and 10 000 (if they live where English is spoken) but they learn twice as many new words per day, 2 words to the native English speakers 1 per day, and often later in life than most English speakers (Lane, 2013).
Socio-cultural Competence
The ability to follow and function within the accepted social / cultural contexts and expectations for behaviour, speech, expression, held by members of the social / cultural group with which / within which a person is interacting.
Socio-cultural competence is not solely a matter of linguistic competence - spoken, heard or read - it is very much a matter of non-verbal communication (see above), communicative competence (see above), and metacognitive (see above) awareness of differences between one culture and another.
THAT BEING SAID....
Socio-cultural competence has another meaning, as well, particularly for educators, health care providers and other professionals who potentially work with immigrants who are undergoing the acculturation process (see above). Particularly at a time when Canada's population growth, even it's maintenance, is dependent on immigration rather than births, we are moving into a era when it is vital that educators be aware of the particular needs of and challenges faced by immigrant learners, most especially those for whom the already difficult process of acculturation may also come along with the trauma of being a refugee from violence, extreme poverty and conflict (Stewart, 2007).
From the perspective of the teacher, then, socio-cultural competence is a matter of ensuring that classrooms are culturally responsive, inclusive, and safe spaces for all learners, using tools and techniques that maximize learning opportunities for ELL students, and adaptable and flexible to the changing demographics of the learners they work (Hamm, 2014).
In other words, socio-cultural competence is a two-way street of understanding, open-mindedness and learning that requires effort on the part of all stakeholders, not merely a process by which newcomers acclimatize to a new environment.
Socio-cultural competence is not solely a matter of linguistic competence - spoken, heard or read - it is very much a matter of non-verbal communication (see above), communicative competence (see above), and metacognitive (see above) awareness of differences between one culture and another.
THAT BEING SAID....
Socio-cultural competence has another meaning, as well, particularly for educators, health care providers and other professionals who potentially work with immigrants who are undergoing the acculturation process (see above). Particularly at a time when Canada's population growth, even it's maintenance, is dependent on immigration rather than births, we are moving into a era when it is vital that educators be aware of the particular needs of and challenges faced by immigrant learners, most especially those for whom the already difficult process of acculturation may also come along with the trauma of being a refugee from violence, extreme poverty and conflict (Stewart, 2007).
From the perspective of the teacher, then, socio-cultural competence is a matter of ensuring that classrooms are culturally responsive, inclusive, and safe spaces for all learners, using tools and techniques that maximize learning opportunities for ELL students, and adaptable and flexible to the changing demographics of the learners they work (Hamm, 2014).
In other words, socio-cultural competence is a two-way street of understanding, open-mindedness and learning that requires effort on the part of all stakeholders, not merely a process by which newcomers acclimatize to a new environment.
Standard Canadian English
The widely accepted rules and practices of grammar, pronunciation, usage, spelling used most commonly across Canada for oral and written texts for public and/or non-personal consumption (i.e. in government, education, business, science, medical and media communications).
This does not mean that Canadian English is some sort of "definitive" English, or "proper". Standard Canadian English is neither better nor worse than Standard British English, Standard American English, or any other commonly accepted regional standard. These standards often reflect patterns of historical immigration and emmigration, socio-cultural developments, and social values.
One difficulty that often emerges in Canadian schools is that students using electronic devices to produce work will find that their written work will have many words grabbed by spellcheckers as being inaccurate. Canada was connected to Britain socially and culturally for a much longer period of time than the United States of America, and by and large, Standard Canadian English more closely resembles Standard British English than Standard American English resembles Standar British English. As a result, spell checkers, particularly when they are set to a default that auto-corrects, will end up "correcting" Standard Canadian spelling to Standard American spellings because the vast majority of software is developed in the USA. Some software will offer more than one choice of English for spell checking, either English (US) and English (UK) but then teachers need to decide and inform students if they want them to change the setting on the software application. Students may also add Canadian standard spellings to the dictionaries of their own devices' dictionaries, but this becomes more challenging on common devices like school computers.
In Canada, while we tend to have more "British" spellings, we do mix the rules of standard British and American usage, with the influence of French language thrown in, just to keep things interesting (McCarthy, O'Dell, Shaw, 2006)!
This becomes important for ELL learners because they may be confused if they are relying on digital tools to help them learn the langague and depending of the colonial background of their home country, what if any English they may have already learned will influence which "standard" patterns they tend to use.
This does not mean that Canadian English is some sort of "definitive" English, or "proper". Standard Canadian English is neither better nor worse than Standard British English, Standard American English, or any other commonly accepted regional standard. These standards often reflect patterns of historical immigration and emmigration, socio-cultural developments, and social values.
One difficulty that often emerges in Canadian schools is that students using electronic devices to produce work will find that their written work will have many words grabbed by spellcheckers as being inaccurate. Canada was connected to Britain socially and culturally for a much longer period of time than the United States of America, and by and large, Standard Canadian English more closely resembles Standard British English than Standard American English resembles Standar British English. As a result, spell checkers, particularly when they are set to a default that auto-corrects, will end up "correcting" Standard Canadian spelling to Standard American spellings because the vast majority of software is developed in the USA. Some software will offer more than one choice of English for spell checking, either English (US) and English (UK) but then teachers need to decide and inform students if they want them to change the setting on the software application. Students may also add Canadian standard spellings to the dictionaries of their own devices' dictionaries, but this becomes more challenging on common devices like school computers.
In Canada, while we tend to have more "British" spellings, we do mix the rules of standard British and American usage, with the influence of French language thrown in, just to keep things interesting (McCarthy, O'Dell, Shaw, 2006)!
This becomes important for ELL learners because they may be confused if they are relying on digital tools to help them learn the langague and depending of the colonial background of their home country, what if any English they may have already learned will influence which "standard" patterns they tend to use.
Stress
In linguistics, stress is a question of which words or syllables are emphasized in spoken language. Stress becomes particularly important because it can communicate intent or purpose in language, particularly in the ways it contributes to rhythm and intonation (see above).
English is a stress based language (please see TED Ed lesson at the top of this page). Very often, where and when in a word stress / emphasis is placed has more influence on the clear communication of meaning that does the specific pronunciation of all of the phonemes of the word.
An example (taken from Judy Thompson's TED talk) of this would be the difficulty children often have with pronouncing complex words like "spaghetti". If the word is mispronounced the following ways, adults can generally still understand a child's request for sauce covered pasta.
spa GET ee
pas GET ee
bas GET ee
The direct link between meaning and emphasis extends to how emphasis is used on words in the larger context of sentences.
Take the seemingly simple sentence "I love chocolate." Only three words, but where the speaker places emphasis changes the meaning of the sentence.
I love chocolate.
(I, as opposed to someone else, love chocolate.)
I love chocolate.
(When the stress is on "love" the implication is that the adoration of chocolate is extreme.)
I love chocolate.
(When the stress is on the word "chocolate", the connotation is that the speaker loves chocolate vs. any and all other substances.)
Think of stress as the bold , underlining and italics of the spoken word.
English is a stress based language (please see TED Ed lesson at the top of this page). Very often, where and when in a word stress / emphasis is placed has more influence on the clear communication of meaning that does the specific pronunciation of all of the phonemes of the word.
An example (taken from Judy Thompson's TED talk) of this would be the difficulty children often have with pronouncing complex words like "spaghetti". If the word is mispronounced the following ways, adults can generally still understand a child's request for sauce covered pasta.
spa GET ee
pas GET ee
bas GET ee
The direct link between meaning and emphasis extends to how emphasis is used on words in the larger context of sentences.
Take the seemingly simple sentence "I love chocolate." Only three words, but where the speaker places emphasis changes the meaning of the sentence.
I love chocolate.
(I, as opposed to someone else, love chocolate.)
I love chocolate.
(When the stress is on "love" the implication is that the adoration of chocolate is extreme.)
I love chocolate.
(When the stress is on the word "chocolate", the connotation is that the speaker loves chocolate vs. any and all other substances.)
Think of stress as the bold , underlining and italics of the spoken word.
Subject-Specific Vocabulary
These are vocabulary words (or particular definitions of words) that could almost be considered jargon, because they are specific to a specific area of study.
An ELL student will need to know some Academic Words (see above) to be successful in almost any academic context, but certain words are going to be particularly vital in one area of study. Please see below for some examples from subject areas that are mandatory for all students. Consider how often these words maybe multisyllabic, have Latin or Greek roots, or may be otherwise challenging because they are not commonly used in day-to-day life [see the (New) General Services List]. Keep in mind that some of these words also use prefixes, suffixes and word components that native English speakers may be able to parse out but which may be a mystery to non-native English speakers. (i.e. that "geo" has something to do with "world".) Expecting that sort of pre-existing knowledge that is common among native speakers from ELL students is like expecting a squirrel to sprout gills and swim. ELLs are learning ALL of the day-to-day words of a language as well as ALL of the academic words, from scratch, at the same time.
An ELL student will need to know some Academic Words (see above) to be successful in almost any academic context, but certain words are going to be particularly vital in one area of study. Please see below for some examples from subject areas that are mandatory for all students. Consider how often these words maybe multisyllabic, have Latin or Greek roots, or may be otherwise challenging because they are not commonly used in day-to-day life [see the (New) General Services List]. Keep in mind that some of these words also use prefixes, suffixes and word components that native English speakers may be able to parse out but which may be a mystery to non-native English speakers. (i.e. that "geo" has something to do with "world".) Expecting that sort of pre-existing knowledge that is common among native speakers from ELL students is like expecting a squirrel to sprout gills and swim. ELLs are learning ALL of the day-to-day words of a language as well as ALL of the academic words, from scratch, at the same time.
Math Vocabulary |
Science Vocabulary |
Socials Vocabulary |
English Vocabulary |
Physical Education Vocabulary |
division subtraction equation correlate trigonometry geometry proportional polynomial financial |
covalent biosphere experiment biology chemistry mitosis hypothesis hydrosphere sustainability |
indigenous territorial colonial imperial international geographical anthrolopological ethnic |
literature device onomatopoeia interpretation thesis poetic stanza perspective revision |
cardiovascular muscular nutritional skeletal aquatic aerobic exertion adolescence |
** Note: the words above were taken out of texts for the subject areas and from the new B.C. Curriculum.
T
Task-Based Language Learning
This is one of the various techniques that falls under the umbrella of Communicative Language Theory (CLT) (see above). Task-based learning requires that educators develop well-considered problems of the sort that learners will encounter beyond the walls of the classroom. An example might be preparing for a job interview, ordering a meal in a restaurant, planning a journey or something similar.
The teacher then determines which target tasks (generally speaking communicative tasks, like "providing information") and which pedagogical tasks (skills or knowledge practice) the student needs to be familiar with or practice in order to solve the problem successfully.
Of particular use in task-based learning is the approach outlined by Wiggins and McTighe as 'backwards' design as part of their Understanding by Design Framework.
The teacher then determines which target tasks (generally speaking communicative tasks, like "providing information") and which pedagogical tasks (skills or knowledge practice) the student needs to be familiar with or practice in order to solve the problem successfully.
Of particular use in task-based learning is the approach outlined by Wiggins and McTighe as 'backwards' design as part of their Understanding by Design Framework.
Text
A piece of communicative material that uses any of the following to present information and ideas to an audience:
- words
- graphics
- sound
- images
- video
- printed - i.e.: a magazine, newspaper, or book
- visual presentation - i.e. a play, a video, a piece of visual artwork, a poster
- oral / auditory - i.e. a speech, a song
- electronic - i.e. website, podcast, slide show
Text Features
Physical design characteristics of a piece of text intended to help clarify and/or provide additional information to the content of the text itself.
These are not only items we find in pre-prepared materials we might access and use, but features we can use in materials we create to help clarify meaning for our students.
Examples of text features include but are not limited to:
These are not only items we find in pre-prepared materials we might access and use, but features we can use in materials we create to help clarify meaning for our students.
Examples of text features include but are not limited to:
- headings and sub-headings
- varied fonts
- italics and bolding
- diagrams
- timelines
- pictures with or without captions
- highlighted or coloured text
- diagrams
- bulleted lists
- maps
- graphs
- glossaries
- tables and/or charts
- infographics
- tables of contents and/or indexes
This image found on Mrs. Warner's 4th Grade Class site.
http://mrswarnerarlington.weebly.com/text-feature-resources.html
Text Form
The category of text that describes a piece. "The concept of text forms provides a way for readers and writers to think about the purpose of a text and its intended audience." (Ontario MOE, 2007)
Text forms might include by are not limited to:
As was famously stated by Marshall McLuhan, "The medium is the message." (McLuhan, 2017)
Text forms might include by are not limited to:
- newspapers
- novels
- websites
- essays
- journal entries
- podcasts
- videos
- poems
- photographs
- speeches
- songs
As was famously stated by Marshall McLuhan, "The medium is the message." (McLuhan, 2017)
Tone
The "how" of spoken, written or any created work which gives a sense of the attitude of the person who created it about both the subject matter and their intended audience.
Tone can change throughout a piece of work, although there may be an overarching tone that provides a sense of cohesion.
Tone is particularly important when considering the purpose of a piece and the intended audience.
Tone also becomes important when you are working with students whose L1 (language one) is a tonal language, like Cantonese or Mandarin, as opposed to a stress-based language like English (please see the TED lesson at the top of this page). In tonal languages, a change in tone can entirely change the meaning of a word. In English, a change in tone may communicate a change in the emotional or mental state of the speaker (or writer) but generally the meaning of the word remains the same. In English, the emphasis is on when and where syllabic stress is placed in a word, and for speakers of tonal languages, where stress placement is often irrelevant to meaning or context, this can be very difficult to learn, as it embodies an entirely different way of thinking in addition to learning orthography and pronunciation.
Tone can change throughout a piece of work, although there may be an overarching tone that provides a sense of cohesion.
Tone is particularly important when considering the purpose of a piece and the intended audience.
Tone also becomes important when you are working with students whose L1 (language one) is a tonal language, like Cantonese or Mandarin, as opposed to a stress-based language like English (please see the TED lesson at the top of this page). In tonal languages, a change in tone can entirely change the meaning of a word. In English, a change in tone may communicate a change in the emotional or mental state of the speaker (or writer) but generally the meaning of the word remains the same. In English, the emphasis is on when and where syllabic stress is placed in a word, and for speakers of tonal languages, where stress placement is often irrelevant to meaning or context, this can be very difficult to learn, as it embodies an entirely different way of thinking in addition to learning orthography and pronunciation.
Transition Words & Phrases
Transitional phrases and words signal to readers and listeners a link and/or relationship:
- between clauses in a sentence
- sentence to sentence
- paragraph to paragraph
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|
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U
V
Varieties of English
See entry on Dialect above.
Despite some peoples' dedication to a construct of standardized language (see Dr. Bernard Lamb's editorial in The Independent, God save the Queen's English: Our language is under threat from ignorance, inverted snobbery, and deliberate 'dumbing down') the target of a what constitutes a language is constantly on the move. There are many elements that contribute to language, including attempts at standardization in orthography (spelling) and pronunciation, common usage, mutual intelligibility, and grammatical patterns.
While there is a temptation and a habit to represent languages in families and trees, this tends to oversimplify the complex interconnectivity of linguistics, which has more of a web of relationships through time and around the world.
What can be observed is that a language (for example, English) may be used in a variety of ways based the geographical location of the speakers / writers / media producers, their socio-economic groupings, their time and place in history, and the elements that offer different social groups internal cohesion. These variations can last hundreds of years, or a mere handful, but as long as the communicative clarity remains effective, a variety of a language is viable. Whether or not it is suitable for particular purpose or audience is an entirely different consideration.
Historical aside: Although Lamb, who is neither a linguist nor a historian (he is in fact a geneticist with a passion for grammar), cites 1592 as a definitive date to which we can trace the "Queen's English" (Lamb, 2010), more than half a century later, Latin remained the language of academics. Sir Isaac Newton's Principia, Sir. Francis Bacon's Novum Organum, and Sir Thomas Moore's Utopia were all written and published in Latin, not English, which was considered to be the language of peasants. In 1616, the year Shakespeare died, William Harvey wrote one of the first scientific treatments of the circulation system in humans, in Latin. In fact, when Shakespeare was alive, not only did he personally take great liberty with the conventions of English for artistic purposes, but English was not even the common language throughout what we now think of as the British Isles - the nobles spoke Normal French and Latin, and in Wales, Ireland, the Scottish highlands and the Scotch Isles, English was almost unheard (Bryson, 1990, p.46-66).
It is in our best interests to keep in mind that so called "Queen's English" or "standardized English" is as much a social construction as any other manner of communicating culture.
Despite some peoples' dedication to a construct of standardized language (see Dr. Bernard Lamb's editorial in The Independent, God save the Queen's English: Our language is under threat from ignorance, inverted snobbery, and deliberate 'dumbing down') the target of a what constitutes a language is constantly on the move. There are many elements that contribute to language, including attempts at standardization in orthography (spelling) and pronunciation, common usage, mutual intelligibility, and grammatical patterns.
While there is a temptation and a habit to represent languages in families and trees, this tends to oversimplify the complex interconnectivity of linguistics, which has more of a web of relationships through time and around the world.
What can be observed is that a language (for example, English) may be used in a variety of ways based the geographical location of the speakers / writers / media producers, their socio-economic groupings, their time and place in history, and the elements that offer different social groups internal cohesion. These variations can last hundreds of years, or a mere handful, but as long as the communicative clarity remains effective, a variety of a language is viable. Whether or not it is suitable for particular purpose or audience is an entirely different consideration.
Historical aside: Although Lamb, who is neither a linguist nor a historian (he is in fact a geneticist with a passion for grammar), cites 1592 as a definitive date to which we can trace the "Queen's English" (Lamb, 2010), more than half a century later, Latin remained the language of academics. Sir Isaac Newton's Principia, Sir. Francis Bacon's Novum Organum, and Sir Thomas Moore's Utopia were all written and published in Latin, not English, which was considered to be the language of peasants. In 1616, the year Shakespeare died, William Harvey wrote one of the first scientific treatments of the circulation system in humans, in Latin. In fact, when Shakespeare was alive, not only did he personally take great liberty with the conventions of English for artistic purposes, but English was not even the common language throughout what we now think of as the British Isles - the nobles spoke Normal French and Latin, and in Wales, Ireland, the Scottish highlands and the Scotch Isles, English was almost unheard (Bryson, 1990, p.46-66).
It is in our best interests to keep in mind that so called "Queen's English" or "standardized English" is as much a social construction as any other manner of communicating culture.
Voice
The sense of individual style or character unique to the creator of a piece as communicated through their choice of the elements of a particular communicative format.
In written English, the sense of voice may be communicated through:
Voice is most easily described as the qualities which, taken together, make one person's writing on a subject, topic or issue unique from anyone else's on the same topic, subject or issue.
In written English, the sense of voice may be communicated through:
- word choice / vocabulary
- phrasing / turn of phrase
- sentence structure
- rhythm
- tone
Voice is most easily described as the qualities which, taken together, make one person's writing on a subject, topic or issue unique from anyone else's on the same topic, subject or issue.
Voiced Consonant
A consonant sound that uses vibration of the vocal chords.
Includes but is not limited to:
For some non-English speakers some of the voiced vs. voiceless consonants are difficult to differentiate (to hear) and even more difficult to speak.
This becomes a difficulty in English because there are words where the subtle difference between the voiced or voiceless creates an entirely different meaning. i.e.:
Below is one of the most challenging voiced consonants for many non-Native English speakers.
Includes but is not limited to:
- /b/
- /d/
- /z/
- /v/
For some non-English speakers some of the voiced vs. voiceless consonants are difficult to differentiate (to hear) and even more difficult to speak.
This becomes a difficulty in English because there are words where the subtle difference between the voiced or voiceless creates an entirely different meaning. i.e.:
- ban vs. pan
- van vs. fan
- life vs. live
Below is one of the most challenging voiced consonants for many non-Native English speakers.
Voiceless Consonant
A consonant sound that does not use vibration of the vocal chords.
Includes but is not limited to:
For some non-English speakers some of the voiced vs. voiceless consonants are difficult to differentiate (to hear) and even more difficult to speak.
This becomes a difficulty in English because there are words where the subtle difference between the voiced or voiceless creates an entirely different meaning. i.e.:
Includes but is not limited to:
- /p/
- /t/
- /s/
- /f/
For some non-English speakers some of the voiced vs. voiceless consonants are difficult to differentiate (to hear) and even more difficult to speak.
This becomes a difficulty in English because there are words where the subtle difference between the voiced or voiceless creates an entirely different meaning. i.e.:
- life vs. live
- ban vs. pan
- van vs. fan
W
Word Pattern
"A particular arrangement of components in a group of words that have elements in common with respect to meaning, syntax, spelling and/or sound (Ontario, 2007)."
Examples might include but are not limited to:
Other common word patterns which are common elements of English literacy can be found at the Within-Word Pattern Stage page at Literacy Partners.
Examples might include but are not limited to:
- adding the suffix ~ed to the end of a verb to demonstrate past tense
- using the prefix "pre" to demonstrate prior, previous, ahead of or before
- understanding that "ph" is pronounced "f"
- understanding that the "k" in "kn" is silent
Other common word patterns which are common elements of English literacy can be found at the Within-Word Pattern Stage page at Literacy Partners.
Word Recognition Strategies
"Any of a variety of semantic, syntactic or graphophonic strategies that help students read and understand a word (Ontario, 2007)."
Almost all word-recognition strategies, as the term 'recognition' implies, rely on some previous experience with encountered language patterns to help learners make meaning when they re-encounter those same patterns. In a sense, in using word-recognition strategies learners are behaving like detectives looking for clues (cues) to help them solve the mystery of meaning of words with which they are unfamiliar.
Examples of word-recognition strategies include but are not limited to:
Almost all word-recognition strategies, as the term 'recognition' implies, rely on some previous experience with encountered language patterns to help learners make meaning when they re-encounter those same patterns. In a sense, in using word-recognition strategies learners are behaving like detectives looking for clues (cues) to help them solve the mystery of meaning of words with which they are unfamiliar.
Examples of word-recognition strategies include but are not limited to:
- Structure clues (see Word Patterns, above) may tell a language learner something about the meaning of a word based on suffixes, prefixes, root words, or other internal letter patterns.
- Context: Meaning (Semantic) clues (cues) suggest the meaning of words or allow leaners to predict likely words given the overall meaning, content, theme or topic of a piece.
- Context: Word Order (Syntactic) clues (cues) help a learner predict or infer the meaning of word based on their familiarity with sentence structure and types of words.
- Picture (visual) clues (cues) are illustrations that suggest content meaning and help learners predict or infer the meaning of words they are reading or hearing.
- Analogy (symmetry, similarity, rhyming) clues (cues) allow students to infer how to say words based on the fact that they are very, very similar to other known words.
Writing Process
The process, from initial planning through to publication of polished piece of work, involved in producing a completed piece of writing.
Each stage in the writing process focused on a specific task with it's own unique sub-tasks related to the elements of writing.
Each stage in the writing process focused on a specific task with it's own unique sub-tasks related to the elements of writing.
- Planning - establishing intended audience and purpose, seeking out resources / research, choosing format
- Drafting - getting down key ideas, selecting best supporting ideas, initial organization and word choice, establishing tone
- Revising - clarifying and tightening up key ideas, organization, word choice, voice (tone), and flow
- Editing - checking grammar, transition words / phrases, cohesion and continuity, as well as accuracy of information
- Proofreading - checking spelling, punctuation and formatting conventions
- Publication - producing a final, polished copy for distribution in the selected format to the intended audience
X
Y
Z
References
Ager, S. (2017). Omniglot - the online encyclopedia of writing systems and languages. Retrieved May 19, 2017, from http://www.omniglot.com/
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