English Language Studies: Usage and History

• The document lays out key concepts in English language studies
• The content covers language usage, listening, speaking, reading, and writing.

English Language

• English began in the 5th century.
• It was influenced by the invasion of three Northern European tribes: Saxons, Angles, and Jutes.

English Language History

• Old English was from 450-1150.
• Middle English was from 1150-1500.
• Modern English has been from 1500 to the present.

Language Usage

• Dialect is a regional variety of language, influenced by regions or social groups, with unique pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar. Examples include Ilocano, Tagalog, and Bisaya.
• Sociolect is a short-term dialect of a particular social class, used by specific groups distinguished by background, such as Beki Language.
• Jargon consists of specialized terminologies for specific fields, typically used by professionals or experts.
• Slang is informal language that can be shortened, abbreviated, or modified.
• Pidgin is a simplified, merged language without common origins, developed by two or more groups, and has limited vocabulary and grammar.
• English varieties include American, British, Canadian, Chinese, Australian, New Zealand, South African, and Indian English.

American vs British English

• American spelling typically ends with "or" and "ize,"
• British spelling often ends with "our" and "ise."
• British pronunciation softly pronounces letter "r"

Nature of Listening

• Listening is a passive skill involving receiving and understanding.

3 A's of Listening

• Attitude involves a positive and open-minded approach.
• Attention refers to focusing fully on the speaker's message.
• Adjustment is adopting your listening style to fit the speaker and situation.

Reasons for Listening

• Listening selectively means listeners focus only on specific parts of the input.
• Listening is used to obtain details, main ideas, and inferences.

Listening as a Process

• Listening is a mental process that involves attending to signals, identifying words, processing information efficiently, and drawing on stored knowledge.

3 Phases of Language Comprehension

• Perception is the encoding of sound signals.
• Parsing, or syntax analysis, is segmenting utterances based on syntactic structures.
• Utilization includes processing, interpreting, storing, and recalling information.

Listening Strategies

• Cognitive focuses on thinking about thinking and self-monitoring
• Metacognitive involves managing mental processes.
• Social-affective includes asking for assistance and gaining diverse perspectives.

Phases of Listening

• Pre-listening involves considering students' diverse backgrounds and providing scaffolding.

Listening Experience Preparation and Strategies

• Activating existing knowledge encourages connecting new information with what one already knows.
• Building prior knowledge enhances existing knowledge.
• Reviewing listening standards assesses students' skills.
• Summarizing condenses main ideas and organizes information logically.

Function of Language

• One-way listening is transactional and passive, focusing on comprehension and retention.
• Two-way listening is interactional and active, focusing on understanding and responding.

Nature & Goal of Speaking

• Speaking is focused on producing language with proficiency and self-awareness.
• The speaker encodes the message, while the listener decodes it.

Factors That Influence Learner's Speaking

• Native language is the most significant factor influencing pronunciation.
• Innate phonetic ability is the natural capacity to distinguish sounds.
• Identity and language ego shape a learner's approach.
• Motivation and concern for good pronunciation drive learners to improve.
• Age is when children in puberty tend to have the best chance of sounding like native speakers
• Exposure to a language can affect learning

Problems Learners Face During Speaking

• Learners also must be well-acquainted with colloquial language.
• Clustering shapes how learners approach speaking with confidence.
• Redundancy can help meaning
• Speaking also depends on a delivery rate, stress, rhythm, and intonation
• Interaction also help in speaking

Types of Speaking

• Imitative speaking involves repetition, an intensive speaking practices both phonology & grammar and is one step beyond imitative speaking
• Responsive Speaking is giving short replies to the teacher

Speaking Lesson Stages

• In the practice stage, students speak more than the teacher.
• Teachers introduce new lessons and act as informants during the presentation stage.
• The production stage, students use language freely by with using application of background knowledge

Teaching of Reading

• Reading involves constructing meaning by understanding the reading situation's context.
• Background knowledge and vocabulary both can affect comprehension

Methods For Teaching Reading

• The phonics method focuses on the relationship between letters and sounds
• The language experience connects writing and reading with personal experiences
• The whole-word approach is visual memorization

Nature of Writing

• Writing is a complex human activity with multiple thinking processes

Difference Between Written and Spoken Language

• Written language is permanent, planned, and bridges distance.
• Spoken language is temporary, impromptu, and context-dependent.
• Formal writing includes more formal text
• Formal speaking can also be casual

Viewing Skills

• Before viewing one must prepare to view
• During viewing one must anticipate and predict the presentation’s message and meaning
• After viewing one must recall the summaries the point.

Types of Viewing

• Visual literacy is the ability to interpret meaning of visuals.
• Critical viewing emphasizes attention to facts and critical analysis.

Activities To Strengthen Viewing Skills

• Seeing-Thinking Activities (STA) uses visuals to improve literacy skills.
• Other activities are drama, puppet plays, books and gallery walks.