Grammar: Understanding and Teaching Effectively
What is Grammar?
- Language users’ subconscious internal system
- Linguists’ attempt to codify or describe that system
- Sounds of language – Phonology
- Structure and form of words – Morphology
- Arrangement of words into larger units – Syntax
- Meanings of language – Semantics
- Functions of language and its use in context – Pragmatics
“Grammar is the business of taking a language to pieces, to see how it works.” – David Crystal
Grammar is the system of a language. People sometimes describe grammar as the “rules” of
Read MoreIntonation in English: Statements, Questions, and Tonality
C2 Statements: Default Tone and Finality
C2 statements typically have a default tone that conveys confidence and finality, indicating a complete thought.
Statements: Non-Fall Intonation
Statements with a non-fall intonation (\/) have not reached the end of the message. These incomplete statements may imply something without explicitly stating it. They can also imply contrast, express reservation, indicate a statement is true under certain conditions, be tactful or polite, sound tentative when correcting
Read MoreLanguage, Speech, and Linguistic Variations
Language
Language is the power that human beings have to communicate through symbols that are shared and that can express thought.
The language is a structured system of verbal and combination rules common to a community of speakers.
Speech
Speech is the actual realization on the part of speakers of a language at a time and a particular communicative situation.
Standard Language
The standard language is the set of rules and practices accepted by speakers of a language as exemplary forms of speech.
Varieties
Read MorePublic Speaking Essentials: Key Concepts and Techniques
Public Speaking Key Concepts
- Source or Sender: Creates a message.
- Shared Meaning: The mutual understanding of a message between the speaker and the audience.
- Message Sent: The content of the communication process: thoughts and ideas put into meaningful expression.
- Body of a Speech: The point at which you go into full detail about each of your main points.
- Speaking Outline: Covers the main points and aids the speaker’s memory on certain topics.
- Verbal Communication: The use of sounds and language to relay
Mastering Effective Listening for Better Communication
Listening Skills
Effective listening is only accomplished through constant effort. Most people aren’t willing to put out the effort required to become a truly effective listener. We might spend more energy on this skill if we realize its importance.
According to research, we understand only about one-half of what we hear. After a period of two months, we recall only about one-quarter of what we heard. This is particularly discouraging when we realize that we spend 70 percent of every day in verbal
Read MoreSecond Language Acquisition in Children: Key Factors
**Language Development in Children**
Immediately after birth, children distinguish their language from others. Babies need to learn to communicate in their social context: they start to learn languages they hear in interactions with other humans. They unlearn in order to learn the language they need.
- Underextension is when a child learns a word for something, without extending it to other things in the same category.
- Overextension is when a child would learn that the family pet is a dog, but mistakenly