Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Branches of Linguistics

What do you see as some of the contributions of the following branches of linguistics contributing to the improvement of the teaching of English in your local environment?

1) Phonetics

Definition
the study of the physical aspect of sounds of language

Importance
The importance of accuracy in pronunciation of individual sounds and also significant consonant cluster like differ/defer, grasp, salmon.
Eg:
in class, the child will get to learn to speak standard english which helps them socially in the future.

Remedy
teacher models, child repeats, child learns how to sound words like /bit/ and /bi:t/

2) Syntax

Definition
the study of how words combine to form grammatical sentences

Importance
Grammar ensures that the message is not distorted
Eg:
- i don't know who is he; Do this also can
- double negatives - i do not want no carrot.

by correcting child on error of double negatives, student will then be able to form intelligible utterances and not cause confusion to listeners.
Also, by learning syntax, student learns verb meaning.

Remedy
through reading and speaking in standard english, teacher models the correct grammar usage.

3) Semantics

Definition
the study of the meaning of words and fixed word combinations and how these combine to form meaning of sentences

Importance
Knowledge of the correct meanings of word helps the message to be conveyed correctly (revert, chronic, spoil)

Remedy
Teacher imparts large vocabulary library to children so that it would then be easier for students to learn synonyms and antonyms which allows language to be more creative and descriptive.

4) Phonology

Definition
the study of patterns of language sounds

Importance
1)teaching of phonology helps students to facilitate comparison with other language.
2)helps children understand certain rules like /h/ is never articulated (high, through)
3) promoting phonological awareness will teach the child to recognise similar words easily and quickly and sound out unfamiliar words

Remedy
-share texts with adults, teacher reads aloud stories, students follow.

5) Morphology

Definition
-the study of internal structure of words, how they are formed and combined to form other words.

Importance
-Children will associate the meaning of a compounded word with the component words and understand how time changes the formation/reduction of certain words and use the correct forms of words when situation calls for.
Eg: (black board = black piece of thing that teacher writes on)
- good and clear advantage of larger vocab size
-able to understand that certain clipped terms used in everyday life.
(like net - clipping of word internet)

6) Pragmatics

Definition
study of how utterances are used in communicative acts

Importance
-knowledge of the intended speaker meaning promotes sensitivity and minimizes miscommunication.
-students are also made aware of conversation structure which teaches them how to note pitch and tone cues
Eg: i've not done /it'
-> rising tone signals a question instead of a statement.




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