Reflection of Class on 4/23

This week's class started with us discussing the video that we watched about non-verbal communication. It was interesting to hear my classmates share about what is acceptable and offensive in their cultures as far as gestures and body language is concerned. I think non-verbal communication is somewhat of an untapped research area in the realm of E.S.L.

We then got into groups and did an activity and talked about our final projects it was helpful to ask questions of my classmates and hear the struggles they were having. That makes me feel like I am not alone.

We also talked about our peer groups and it seems that I am in a group with Aaron (Charlie) and Jason. I am excited to have people to bounce ideas off of.

Readings on Chapter 13

This weeks readings were all about how language has changed over time. Language is a very clear and accurate indicator of what happened in world history. Language is the evidence that, for instance, there were massive migrations from Central Asia to Europe in 4000 B.C. The ancestral language is linked to that particular culture and society.



The information on Polynesians and their protolanguage was very interesting. It was beneficial to learn that Polynesia formed a language family and there were 5 'daughter' languages that are subordinate to the 'parent language' of Proto-Polynesian. The way in which all of the languages evolved as shown in tables 13-1 and 13-2 was surprising in some aspects. It seems some parts of the language evolved and changed quite a bit and in other areas the language stayed virtually the same.



Another surprising fact that I learned when reading the chapter is that Chinese is spoken by 1.2 billion people and English comes in at 325 million people. It was also interesting to read about the people of Papua New Guinea, and that it is a nation of 5.4 million people with more than 800 languages that are spoken. It makes me wonder what exactly constitutes a language in that respect. If only two people in the world spoke a certain language, is it still a language? I would still think that it is a language and that the number of interlocutors does not change the fact that it is a language. It is interesting to think about for sure.

There are some implications for teaching within this chapter and that is languages are always changing. (I got this idea from Kurt on one of the discussion boards. Thanks Kurt!) Finally, knowing that languages belong to a specific family may enable students to tap into their background knowledge.

Reflection of Class on 4/16

Class on Thursday started with an activity in small groups. We began discussing our final project and any problems that we have had. We then analyzed a Biblical script from 4 varying types of English. It was interesting to see the different ways in which Modern English would write raven or dove in comparison with the older versions of English.

Someone in my group brought up the different word orders of each version and I thought that was interesting too. Personally, when I looked at the script, I noticed there were different names for 'Noah' and the word arc, ark, or Arke. I wonder how such a subtle difference came about.

Then class then got back together and discussed our findings from analyzing the different versions of English. It seems everyone came up with most of the same ideas.

Thankfully, Esther showed us an example of the final project and I feel much more clear about what I am suppose to do and less anxious. The final project actually seems achievable!

Readings for Week 14

This week's readings covered the history of English and how it has evolved over time. I learned about the different periods in history for English:

• 700-1100-Old English (Anglo Saxon)
  1100-1450 or 1500- Middle English
• English spoken since 1450 or 1500 is Modern English

I am glad that I got clarification on which English was spoken at a certain time period. The evolution of English is quite remarkable and it seems that some of the oldest English looks more like a foreign language compared to anything I have read in Modern English. This may be somewhat of a weird question but when thinking of some of the Old English that no one today would be able to read without education in the area, why isn't it consider a different language. I say 'different language' because it is not foreign but it is most certainly different. Perhaps because all English, no matter from what period, has the same roots.

It is helpful to know the history of language when actually teaching it because one can look at the patterns from history with respect to pronunciation and intonation, stress, and rhythm. If a student knows a language such as German or French he or she may be able to use that knowledge to recognize roots in English words and therefore pronounce it correctly. Also, student may gain an understanding of how their old native language and the Old English are similar and different.

Reflection of Week 13 class period

This week's class went well, for the most part. We started the class in groups and went through an activity which I found to be helpful. We were able to use our knowledge of the text that we read and apply it to a real concept. It also helps doing the activity within a group because we can bounce ideas off of each other. The last activity in the small group was to talk about our trial analysis of a written sample. We talked about the errors of the writing and why they may have occurred. I hope we do not have to do that on the final project because my written and spoken samples are coming from native Somali speakers. I am not familiar with the language but I think I could make guesses. I hope that is something that is allowed in the final project.

The class then went to a whole group discussion. I kind of felt like a butt because I confused contractions with conjunctions. Oh well, mistakes happen. It was good to talk about the different terms in the book with the game that we play with Esther. I really appreciate going over what was in the readings.

Finegan Chapter 9 readings

This week’s readings were extremely interesting and I found myself analyzing all of the speech acts I perform in any given day and what they mean. I also began thinking of my relationships with other interlocutors and what that meant.

A few key themes came up when I was reading that I would like to take extra note of. First, when the Finegan book talked about turn-taking and pausing I got to think of one of my close friends and how she signals it is my turn to talk. She habitually says “You know”. After thinking more about this I realized she also used that term for a pause when thinking about the subject. It is so nice to be able to put a real life example to the terms explained in the book.

Next, I thought the Chinese greetings sounded interesting and quite different from English. The whole concept of, “Have you eaten rice yet?” is a different one but I liked reading about the different greetings around the world.

Another interesting point brought up in the Finegan book had teaching implications written all over it! The concept of the pause between interlocutors is quite different among cultures. The book gave the example of Athabaskan Indians and the waiting time of about one and half seconds. That seemed fairly long to me and I think I would be considered rude in their culture. In fact, at times I am sure I am considered rude in this culture. The concept of the waiting time being linked to culture is important for teachers to note, especially E.L.L. teachers. Patience with wait time could go a long way and present students with a greater opportunity to engage in classroom discussions.

Finally, when the book talked about turn taking and pausing, I thought of a HORRIBLE first date I had about 4 years ago. I went to a baseball game with him, (Let’s call him Bob). Well, I would ask Bob a question and I would wait for a response, but there was none! I would then say something like, “This hot dog is really good!” and still nothing! I tried every cue (subconsciously, of course) to get him to contribute to the conversation and nothing worked. I think it is so interesting how people across the world have the implicit knowledge about the complex structure of conversations! Needless to say I did not go on a second date with the guy I say was like talking to a brick wall. J

Class time reflection from April 2nd

As you can tell this blog is posted a little later than usual. It is that time again, the end of semester crunch time! I can definitely feel the pressures from school which is contending with work. I am not complaining, I am simply explaining the time delay, because after all, I would not give up school for the world and I am very blessed to have a job in this economy.

On with the show....

Last week we talked about pragmatics. I think it is such an interesting topic that could be discussed on and on. I was so happy that we broke into groups to do the exercises in Finegan. I appreciate doing the exercises so much and it was PROFOUNDLY HELPFUL to do so with my very intelligent classmates. So many of us looked at the same text in so many different ways.

It is nice to read about a concept and then put it into practice and we did just that with our exercises on pragmatics.

We then discussed what each group came up with and other topics within pragmatics. It was interesting to hear some of the non-native students talk about their native languages and the different ways in which pragmatics are utilized in their culture.

I am still thinking about one of the sections that was presented in the video, "Colorless Green Ideas..." One section asked why we say, "Big red balloon" instead of "Red big balloon". I now find certain idioms and sayings that seems to only flow and sound right one particular way in English.

Pragmatics seems like a "sticky" thing to teach. Do we correct a student when he or she says, "Red big balloon", after all it is still correct. The balloon is red and big so what does it matter the order with which it is stated? I think pragmatics is important to stress only when considering certain social situations in which the pragmatics are very important in the communication, for example a job setting.

Overall, the class went really well and I look forward to analyzing more sayings in English.

Readings for Week 12

As it seems, I was a little confused on the material presented in Chapter 8 of Finegan. This is becoming a recurring blog habit of mine but I would just like to establish the things I was confused about:

Fronting, a little clarification on what the purpose is.

The whole concept of definite vs. given.

I found some interesting aspects about the English language that I did not know had a specific purpose and that is the new-information stress. As a native speaker I have always used that type of stress, but now I realize the importance of teaching it especially in and adult E.L.L. classroom. I think students could both learn the stress and pick it up implicitly.

I liked reading about other languages and how they mark different pragmatics and other aspects of language. One example that I found to be completely fascinating was with Russian and all the ways with which 'The cat is chasing the dog' I think there were 6 examples presented. That is so interesting! The word order of the language marks it's givenness.

The whole concept of the It Clefts and the WH Clefts is again, structures that I have used many times in English, but I was never aware of the purpose they serve.

It seems that all the information is important to identify the pragmatics of a discourse and I think there are some really great advantages for readers to identify the discourse right away. One example, is students could use more context clues to their advantage when guessing the meaning of different vocabulary terms. Overall, the ability to identify the pragmatics of a text is one more tool in the "literacy tool box " of students.