What teachers need to know about language

Slide 1

• What Teachers Need to Know about Language

Language

• 7 Subsystems of Language traditionally studied by linguists:
• Phonology
• Morphology
• Syntax
• Semantics
• Pragmatics
• Vocabulary Focused:
• Lexicon
• Spelling

PHONOLOGY

• Study of the sound systems of language
• Focuses on the discrete sounds within a language
• PHONEMES-Smallest units of sound in a language
• A change in phonoemes can change the meaning of a word
• Example: peak and speak
• A teachers understanding of pronunciation comes with knowledge of phonemes
• ELL students that have difficulty with pronunciation may come from the fact that phoneme is not in their home language
• A teacher with knowledge of phonemes can help ELL students

MORPHOLOGY

• Is the study of the structure of words
• Morphomes are the smallest unit of meaning that carry meaning or have grammatical function
• Example:
• Books- has two morphemes
• Book- this is a bound text that can be read
• S- conveys the grammatical meaning of more than one
• Morphology looks at the creation of new vocabulary techniques like compounding, borrowing from other languages, shortening, and blending, and the creation of new words by using acronyms
• Issues that ELL students face is that morphology in one language does not necessarily crossover to another language

SYNTAX

• Is the studying of the rules governing the way words are combined to form sentences and the rules governing the arrangement of sentences in sequences
• Teachers think of syntax as grammar
• Syntax is the relationship between words
• Once people have an understanding of syntax you can produce unlimited sentences
• ELL's can have difficulty with syntax because many times the rules for one language may not cross over to another language

SEMANTICS

• Is the study of the meaning of words, phrases, and sentences
• Words have semantic features and various properties
• Example:
• Woman-Features=animate, human, female, adult
• Girl-Features=animate, human, female
• Semantics includes the following:
• Synonym
• Antonym
• Homophones
• Homonyms
• Hyponyms
• Convereseness
• Polysemy
• Part/Whole Relationships

PRAGMATICS

• Is the study of language from the point of view of the users
• Studying of pragmatics involves the study of " invisible" meaning or how we recognize what is meant without it being said
• This involves the underlying meanings, the beneath-the-surface meanings
• Pragmatics is not just what is being said, but, how it is said and how it is interpreted
• ELL students can have difficulty understanding the pragmatics of a lesson

LEXICON

• Is the vocabulary of a language
• To use a word from the lexicon a speaker needs four kinds of information:
• its sounds and their sequencing
• its meaning
• its category
• how related words such as the plural, and past tense, are formed
• There is difficulty for ELL students with vocabulary
• Teachers can help students with vocabulary by incorporating new words in context, talking to students about things they enjoy and are familiar

SPELLING

• Throughout the years the English language has changed
• Spelling is no longer simply just sound out the word and write the way it sounds
• Words that are borrowed from other languages will take on the spelling of that language
• Example: know and acknowledge

Summary

• Language is broken down into 7 subsets
• ELL students have difficulty with language in part because the rules in one language do NOT always carry over to another language