Language Devices and Techniques

Start with key techniques

Language Analysis Techniques is a flashcard deck with terms, explanations and examples. It introduces alliteration as the repetition of a consonant, an anecdote as a short account or story, and an appeal to authority as the use of an expert’s opinion. It is a useful starting point for connecting a name to an example.

Comprehension terms offers another way into the topic. Its cards ask about rhetorical questions, repetition, emotive language, figurative language and other techniques. After studying the first deck, use these questions to practice explaining terms in your own words.

Explore the mind maps

The Language Analysis mind map brings together sentence forms, language features and word classes. It also includes sound-related features such as alliteration, sibilance and onomatopoeia. Use it to see terms alongside related features, then return to the flashcards to check which names and explanations you remember.

English Terminology looks at conversation as well as terminology. It includes adjacency pairs, where a speaker’s utterance is followed by a reply, and agenda setting, or the choice of topic for a conversation. Lingual devices to position responders considers how language can position readers to view a text from a particular perspective.

Use the formats together

The page also includes a quiz and notes on techniques and conventions. The notes use short quotations to identify features such as hyperbole, inclusive language and understatement. You can compare that approach with the terms in the flashcards and the groupings in the mind maps. The quiz provides another format to explore alongside them.

Connect the page to the unit

Language Devices and Techniques is a section of Reading Comprehension and Text Analysis in the Spanish language subject area. Several listed resources use English terminology and examples, so check the material in each resource as you study. Choose a flashcard deck or mind map and start with a term you want to understand.