tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-131091512024-03-08T11:34:12.454+00:00EngLangBlogA blog for A Level English Language students and teachersDanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10197410786688948277noreply@blogger.comBlogger1066125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13109151.post-7546993824317206572024-02-08T10:28:00.002+00:002024-02-08T10:28:42.696+00:00Black British English vs MLE<p>The latest episode of Lexis is out and it features an interview with Ife Thompson about lots of issues connected to Black British English, including linguistic justice, anti-Black discourses in stories about language in the media, plus how Back British English is treated in schools and the courts. </p><p>She takes a very different view to many linguists on the language variety/style/multiethnolect that's been called MLE and argues that actually it should be termed Black British English. There's a lot to think about, not least because linguistics is still a very white field and the language being discussed is commonly used by Black speakers (among others). </p><p>Have a listen <a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/6caQJxLcGzPCqBds7ZOMyC?si=VkPC7FbXRVexIazum-_5HA" target="_blank">here</a> and see what you think. It would be interesting to compare what Ife says with what Paul Kerswill talked about in <a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/0uIB33F6QFnKIkwosyY4A8?si=_YQLCYSQQPW2uplCoAlFww" target="_blank">this episode</a> and to cross reference some of her points about the coverage of MLE/BBE with <a href="https://englishlangsfx.blogspot.com/2023/12/mle-media-links.html" target="_blank">these media stories</a>. </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10197410786688948277noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13109151.post-4251090070677125902024-02-05T15:32:00.002+00:002024-02-05T15:32:40.165+00:00Language and videogaming<p>If you haven't already come across it, the latest episode of our Lexis podcast features an interview with Frazer Heritage from Manchester Met on the representation of gender in videogames (among many other things). </p><p>You can find it <a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/1XZ8Mf9AXaNfGDvQfrD4eu?si=yIrGDaitRd-khavEcCXh2Q" target="_blank">here</a>. </p><p>We also talked to Heidi Colthup at the University of Kent, back in early 2023, about her work on video gaming and narrative. That episode is <a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/1lFt5B3K50QXZw0RnUb4bJ?si=iCkXbQ8vQ-qFohIimnjMxw" target="_blank">here</a>. </p>Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10197410786688948277noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13109151.post-69637230751976120412023-12-22T11:08:00.002+00:002023-12-22T11:08:17.328+00:00New Directions<p> It's here! A new *free* resource from the English and Media Centre and University of Essex. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5RvPKe-pO45Bg7GZJzzdtj5okyR6g1AmZ1jiTwGz6mbOG1mT6DO7iPgIalXba0eZYGURmS81Ft3VVSTDwuAwuLhuSXiTT_VwLZqGzU1dmlvrC9l6Uyjw1jXdUe3X3K9Vo6TyCh_R8L7EIhB7SiJD6c3aAjDKTn6yHU1JSty-AthWy_cUoSjRK/s932/ND%20cover.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="932" data-original-width="669" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5RvPKe-pO45Bg7GZJzzdtj5okyR6g1AmZ1jiTwGz6mbOG1mT6DO7iPgIalXba0eZYGURmS81Ft3VVSTDwuAwuLhuSXiTT_VwLZqGzU1dmlvrC9l6Uyjw1jXdUe3X3K9Vo6TyCh_R8L7EIhB7SiJD6c3aAjDKTn6yHU1JSty-AthWy_cUoSjRK/w288-h400/ND%20cover.JPG" width="288" /></a></div><br /><p>You can find it <a href="https://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/publications-magazines/20710/new-directions-language-diversity-research-and-resource-pack-download-emc-free/" target="_blank">here</a>. </p>Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10197410786688948277noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13109151.post-31125552237706218032023-12-14T10:16:00.005+00:002023-12-14T10:46:11.937+00:00BDE: Big Dictionary Energy<p>It's Word of the Year season again and 'tis the season to be rizzy, apparently. Here are all the stories that I could find about #WOTY2023 so far. One of the big beasts, the American Dialect Society, is yet to decide on theirs but all the others are accounted for. </p><p><br /></p><p><b>News stories about WOTY2023</b></p><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/nov/01/ai-named-most-notable-word-of-2023-by-collins-dictionary?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1155cc; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">‘AI’ named most notable word of 2023 by Collins dictionary | Artificial intelligence (AI) | The Guardian</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-67271252" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1155cc; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">AI named word of the year by Collins Dictionary - BBC News</span></a><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p><a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-67602699" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-size: 11.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Rizz named word of the year 2023 by Oxford University Press - BBC News</span></a><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/dec/04/got-rizz-tom-holland-memes-propel-popularity-of-2023-word-of-the-year" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-size: 11.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Got rizz? Tom Holland memes propel popularity of 2023 word of the year | Social trends | The Guardian</span></a><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a href="https://content.dictionary.com/word-of-the-year-2023/" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; text-decoration-line: none; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1155cc; font-size: 11.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Dictionary.com’s 2023 Word Of The Year Is…</span></a></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/editorial/woty" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-size: 11.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Cambridge Dictionary Word of the Year 2023</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><a href="https://www.collinsdictionary.com/woty" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-size: 11.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Collins Word of the Year 2023 is…</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><a href="https://languages.oup.com/word-of-the-year/2023/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-size: 11.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Oxford Word of the Year 2023</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/word-of-the-year" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-size: 11.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Word of the Year 2023 | Authentic | Merriam-Webster</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><a href="https://www.macquariedictionary.com.au/blog/article/913/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Macquarie Dictionary Blog</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/nov/28/cozzie-livs-light-hearted-term-for-cost-of-living-crisis-named-macquarie-dictionary-word-of-the-year" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Cozzie livs: light-hearted term for cost-of-living crisis named Macquarie dictionary word of the year | Language | The Guardian</span></a><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://americandialect.org/nominate-the-2023-words-of-the-year" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-size: 11.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">» Nominate the 2023 Words of the Year American Dialect Society</span></a><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/13/japan-kanji-word-of-the-year-tax-cost-of-living" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-size: 11.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Japan chooses ‘tax’ as kanji of the year amid concern over cost of living</span></a><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial,sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></span></p><p><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b>Opinion pieces about new words</b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><p><a href="https://inews.co.uk/culture/books/collins-word-year-shortlist-more-self-obsessed-ever-2726684" target="_blank">The Collins word of the year shortlist shows we’re more self-obsessed than ever</a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://bylinetimes.com/2023/12/01/hallucinating-ais-and-what-the-words-of-the-year-lists-reveal-about-our-modern-world/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span face="Arial,sans-serif" style="-webkit-text-decoration-skip: none; background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-size: 11.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Hallucinating AIs and What The Words Of The Year Lists Reveal About our Modern World</span></a><span face="Arial,sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 11.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial,sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://theconversation.com/rizz-i-study-the-history-of-charisma-heres-why-the-word-of-the-year-is-misunderstood-219673" style="text-decoration: none;"><span face="Arial,sans-serif" style="-webkit-text-decoration-skip: none; background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-size: 11.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Rizz: I study the history of charisma – here's why the word of the year is misunderstood</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial,sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial,sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 11.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><a href="https://x.com/EngLangBlog/status/1734827925059326085?s=20" target="_blank">Thread on Twitter responding to the ‘manosphere’ links</a>: </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://womensagenda.com.au/latest/soapbox/whos-got-the-rizz-apparently-just-men/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-size: 11.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Who's got 'the rizz'? Apparently, just men</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial,sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/i-get-the-need-for-rizz-but-influencer-should-be-banned-for-ever-f3ck5jgcj" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-size: 11.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I get the need for ‘rizz’, but ‘influencer’ should be banned for ever</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p>Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10197410786688948277noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13109151.post-21914511073862235062023-12-06T19:48:00.094+00:002023-12-22T11:03:42.675+00:00MLE media links<p>In our <a href="https://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/publications-magazines/20710/new-directions-language-diversity-research-and-resource-pack-download-emc-free/" target="_blank">New Directions: Language Diversity research and resource pack</a>, we have set up an activity that asks students to research different media articles about MLE. Below you will find the media stories about MLE that have been covered in 2016, 2022 and 2023. </p><p><b>2016</b></p><p><a href="https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/715623/Queen-English-wiped-London-high-levels-immigration-2066-university-york-Dominic-Watt" style="background-color: white; color: #33aaff; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" target="_blank">Queen's English to be WIPED OUT from London 'due to high levels of immigration'</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"> (Daily Express)</span></p><p><a href="https://www.express.co.uk/comment/expresscomment/716080/Multiculturalism-english-language-james-delingpole" style="background-color: white; color: #33aaff; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" target="_blank">Laziness is killing the magnificent English language, says James Delingpole</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"> (Daily Express)</span></p><p><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.85px;"><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2016/09/28/th-sound-to-vanish-from-english-language-by-2066-because-of-mult/" target="_blank">'Th' sound to vanish from English language by 2066 because of multiculturalism, say linguists </a> (</span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">Daily Telegraph) </span></p><p><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.85px;"><a href="https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/1876518/th-sound-vanishing-from-english-language-with-cockney-and-other-dialects-set-to-die-out-by-2066-because-of-immigration/" target="_blank">MUVVER TONGUE ‘Th’ sound vanishing from English language with Cockney and other dialects set to ‘die out by 2066 because of immigration’ </a> (The Sun)</span></span></p><p><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.85px;"><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/sep/29/its-the-end-of-the-frog-and-toad-for-regional-slang-says-report) " target="_blank">It's the end of the frog and toad for regional slang, says report. </a></span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/sep/29/its-the-end-of-the-frog-and-toad-for-regional-slang-says-report) " target="_blank">Sounds of 2066 report says ‘talking to machines and listening to Americans’ will kill off British accents and slang in the future.</a> (The Guardian)</span></p><p><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.85px;"><a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3812071/Will-regional-accents-die-Experts-predict-technology-cause-voices-change-50-years.html" target="_blank">The Daily Mail initially led with the headline "Is immigration killing off the Queen's English?" before changing it to the more neutral “What do you fink of dis? The 'th' sound will disappear from speech within 50 years as urban dialects spread.”</a> (Daily Mail)</span></span></p><p><b>2022</b></p><p><a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/06/13/wagwan-street-slang-britains-main-dialect/" target="_blank">Wagwan? Street Slang to be Britain's main dialect</a> (The Telegraph)</p><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/jun/14/wagwan-why-are-more-and-more-britons-speaking-multicultural-london-english?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other" target="_blank">Wagwan? Why are more and more Britons speaking Multicultural London English</a> (The Guardian)</p><p><a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-10921527/Wagwan-language-urban-dialect-takes-IRAM-RAMZAN-says-not-change-good.html" target="_blank">Wagwan with our beautiful language?</a> (Daily Mail)</p><p><a href="https://www.standard.co.uk/comment/britain-london-slang-accents-regional-diversity-lenny-henry-b1006546.html" target="_blank">Britain would be dull if my London accent wipes out all of the others</a> (The London Evening Standard)</p><p><a href="https://inews.co.uk/opinion/multicultural-london-english-dialect-40-years-old-middle-class-britain-terrified-1690448" target="_blank">The Multicultural London English dialect is 40 years old but middle class Britain is still terrified</a> (i news)</p><p><br /></p><p><b>2023</b></p><p><a href="https://theconversation.com/cockney-and-queens-english-have-all-but-disappeared-among-young-people-heres-whats-replaced-them-215478" target="_blank">Cockney and Queen's English have all but disappeared among young people – here's what's replaced them</a> (The Conversation)</p><p><a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/10/30/kings-english-cockney-replaced-new-accents/" target="_blank">King’s English and Cockney replaced by three new accents, study finds</a> (The Telegraph)</p><p><a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-67289519" target="_blank">Cockney and King's English becoming less common, researchers find</a> (BBC News)</p><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/oct/31/language-barrier-why-even-harry-has-stopped-speaking-the-kings-english" target="_blank">Language barrier: why even Harry has stopped speaking the king’s English</a> (The Guardian)</p><p><a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12691143/Kings-speech-cockney-silenced-rise-new-accents-popularised-Ellie-Goulding-Adele-Stormzy.html" target="_blank">The south's three new twangs: Study finds dialects SSBE, Estuary English and multicultural London English are becoming increasingly popular among young people</a> (Mail Online)</p>Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10197410786688948277noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13109151.post-54293068242229673882023-10-19T17:40:00.003+01:002023-10-19T17:40:36.734+01:00Useful links for Eng Lang students (and teachers)<p>I've not updated the links on here for a while but I'll get round to that soon as there are some really excellent resources available for the A level now and more on the way. </p><p>One great resource that I would recommend is Heddwen Newton's English in Progress Substack, which you can find <a href="https://englishinprogress.substack.com/" target="_blank">here</a>. Heddwen curates a regular newsletter full of links to interesting stories about language, many of which are perfect for the A level course. We spoke to Heddwen in the second half of <a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/36wYWzz9tLBSH8iRbNf5Ar" target="_blank">this episode of Lexis</a> too so have a listen!</p>Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10197410786688948277noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13109151.post-23675455016077595962023-10-19T17:34:00.004+01:002023-10-19T17:34:36.844+01:00Social media links: new Bluesky account up and running<p>With Twitter (X... lol) going down the pan, I've set up a Bluesky account for @EngLangBlog so you can access that <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/englangblog.bsky.social" target="_blank">here</a> if you're on that app. It seems to be growing nicely with more and more linguists on there, so I have some hope that it will be a useful resource. In the meantime, the Twitter account will stay posting but I'll be cross posting everything there to Bluesky. </p>Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10197410786688948277noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13109151.post-50343914745906650732023-05-19T08:55:00.001+01:002023-05-19T08:55:38.024+01:00Connections between texts on Paper 1: dealing with AO4<p>Question 3 on Paper 1 has often been a bit of a low-scorer for students and you can maybe see why. It comes an hour in to the exam, and you’ve still got all your knowledge about child language to unleash, so perhaps you treat this one as a bit of a stopgap question. On top of that, you’ve already rinsed Text A in Question 1 and Text B in Question 2 for all the inspiration you could find and now you’ve got to go back and compare them. Why not just do that in the first place? Well, that’s a good question but have a look at Question 3 on Paper 2 and you can see that’s actually quite a tough thing to do. What you’re doing here is a slightly more staged process of exploring the two texts and actually a bit more straightforward. </p><p>So, what can you talk about in Question 3? The question is marked using AO4 which is the connections AO (you’ll see it in Question 3 on Paper 2 and in the NEA commentary too) so it’s important to think about the kinds of connections you can make between the two texts and how you can do that. </p><p>If Questions 1 and 2 are largely about avoiding too much unnecessary contextualising and cutting to the chase to analyse what the texts are about and what they are saying (and I think that’s the usual message about them), then Question 3 is a chance to talk more about some of those other contextual things. In other words, if the topic is broadly similar (and both texts are always on the same theme) then how and why do the two texts handle that theme in similar and different ways? What is it about the types of texts they are, the modes they are in, the purposes and audiences that they have, the time that they were produced in, that makes them do that differently. And how does their use of language show that? </p><p>While there’s bound to be some discussion of context in your answers to Questions 1 and 2 (because the AO3 requires you to talk about meanings in context), there’s more chance to develop that focus here. And as long as you use specific features of language to do that, you should be able to hit Level 3 or above. </p><p>A quick look at the mark scheme should reveal that Levels 1 and 2 are largely about spotting and identifying quite implicit and basic (Level 1) or quite literal (Level 2) connections without focusing on the language itself. This will probably be quite descriptive, so perhaps saying that a text is written and formal without identifying an example of this, or noting that the texts have different audiences but not illustrating how you can tell or how the address to those audiences is different in the language choices being made. </p><p>Levels 3 and above require you to discuss language, <i>“compare use of xxx”</i> being the key descriptor here, where the <i>xxx </i>will be the specific language features that you think are relevant. And here it’s about linking these to a specific aspect of context such as how an adjective helps describe flat-sharing/the rules of boxing/goths/how a runner missed her lane, or how a sentence function is used to engage or address the audiences. Comparison is important too because that’s what AO4 is all about, so make sure your language points are ones that can be used to discuss similarities and differences across the two texts. </p><p>For example, if you think pronouns are being used in a way that strikes you as interesting – lots of direct address in one text but often quite impersonal address in the other – that’s a good AO4 point to base a paragraph around. Equally, there’s <i>this</i> semantic field used in one text and <i>that one</i> used in the other – to describe the same topic – so that could be another good comparison. <i>This </i>text has been scripted to be spoken so there are frequent discourse markers to structure it, while <i>that one</i> has been laid out as a webpage so the structuring comes from its subheadings as part of its graphology. </p><p>At Levels 4 and 5 you’re taking this further. Level 4’s buzzword is <b>connect </b>and Level 5’s is <b>evaluate </b>so you’re engaging much more here with the ways that language is linked to mode, genre, purposes and audiences, and the historical and social contexts to each text. I’ve often reminded my students that it’s not just the older text that has historical context; the contemporary one does too and that’s also worth focusing on, even if that history feels very ‘now’. This doesn’t mean just offloading a lot of historical knowledge or trying to summarise all the social movements of the last 100 years, but instead it means discussing ways in which the texts themselves have been produced and consumed within a historical and social context and how that might have affected or even shaped them. </p><p>What is there in the text about student flat shares that makes you realise that going to university has only become an opportunity for a large minority in the last 30-40 years? What tells you that while vegetarianism has been around for well over a hundred years, it’s still treated as something of a food fad? What tells you that in 1743, boxing was relatively new to the public and therefore had to have its rules explained? These things could all be relevant to the contexts of the texts and to the language used within them and what that language is used to do. </p><p>But the other thing to notice is that as you work your way to the top of the mark scheme you’re expected to think less literally and more holistically. What’s the significance of these connections that you’re starting to see? Why are these texts treating the same material in different ways? By the time you hit Level 5 you should be evaluating all of that and also placing these texts within their wider discourse, taking the AO4 beyond just the connections between the texts themselves and into the texts’ connections to the wider world. </p><p>If you’re looking for a few ways to do this as practice for Paper 1, then <a href="https://englishlangsfx.blogspot.com/2021/04/quickfire-comparisons-paper-1-question-3.html" target="_blank">this post from 2021</a> should offer you a few ways in. </p><div><br /></div>Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10197410786688948277noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13109151.post-69941687963530587902023-04-21T09:56:00.004+01:002023-04-21T09:56:54.266+01:00What's it all about? <p>When I'm teaching students how to approach text analysis questions (like Paper 1 Questions 1 and 2 and Paper 2 Question 3), I often advise them to take a look at the bigger picture first, before diving into the analysis. So looking back at <a href="http://englishlangsfx.blogspot.com/2023/04/tackling-in-defence-of-good-grammar.html" target="_blank">yesterday's blog about tackling the In Defence of Good Grammar article</a>, I probably should have taken my own advice as I have definitely dived into that before discussing what it's actually about. </p><p>One way of doing this is to have an initial read and just ask yourself a few basic questions:</p><p></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>What's it about? This might be as simple as identifying the specific language issue that's being focused upon and working out how that relates to the language study you've been doing on the course. </li><li>What's it <b>actually</b> about? There's often a subtext to these pieces: something that starts with language but hints at a concern about something else - standards or fashions changing, young people doing something different to previous generations, a group in society having more prominence than they did a while ago, a technological change causing concern. Sometimes it's not so subtle - less a dog whistle than a miserable man in a suit, standing behind you shouting "I hate working class people and the way they use language". </li><li>What is the point? This is where you need to get to grips with what views are actually being expressed. What's being said about the language issue/s? What opinions are actually being offered? Pinpoint some key parts of the text/s so you can come back to these and really pull them apart. </li><li>Who is this guy? Who is writing this piece and why do they feel they have something worthwhile to say? At some point, you're going to need to look at how the text producer represents themselves to the reader and how they try to pitch their position to you. This is slightly more tricky if you're presented with a news or feature article, as opposed to an opinion piece as you might have to unstitch the different positions presented to you and work out what the overall picture is. </li><li>Where is this leading? So, this might be the last big question to ask. Given that the article is about <b>x</b> and this writer is telling us <b>y</b>, where does that take us? What's the agenda? How might we be expected to react to this view? What are we expected to do about this knowledge we've gained? About this persuasion we might have undergone? This could open up a few points for Question 4 too because it might get you thinking about the evaluation you can offer here, the assessment of the ideas that have been presented. </li></ul><p></p><p>If you start with a few questions like these, then the analysis can actually be pinpointed a bit more closely on the really important parts of the text/s. I've tended to adopt a <a href="https://englishlangsfx.blogspot.com/2016/05/paper-1-salience-hotspots.html" target="_blank">hotspots approach</a> with these questions (and those on Paper 1) and having that bigger picture and sense of what's going in is vital when you're trying to build an analysis of the whole text rather than just isolated moments. </p><p>Another way to do this is to produce a summary of the text. Imagine that you've just read the article and someone says "What are you reading?". You've got two or three sentences at most to explain what it is and what's being said. If you can't do that, then you probably need to go back and read again to unpick the information you need. </p><p>So, why not go back to <a href="http://englishlangsfx.blogspot.com/2023/04/analysing-texts-about-language.html" target="_blank">this post from a couple of days ago</a> and try these approaches on the three texts I've suggested there? </p>Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10197410786688948277noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13109151.post-17688788488511399502023-04-20T16:53:00.002+01:002023-04-21T09:28:17.848+01:00Tackling 'in defence of good grammar'<p>One of the text extracts that I linked to in <a href="https://englishlangsfx.blogspot.com/2023/04/analysing-texts-about-language.html" target="_blank">this post</a>, was a piece called <a href="https://thecritic.co.uk/in-defence-of-good-grammar/" target="_blank">In Defence of Good Grammar</a>, written by James Innes-Smith for The Critic website, which bills itself as a "monthly magazine for politics, ideas, art, literature and much more". </p><p>The language pieces on there are not very frequent but, when they do appear, seem to me to be a mixed bag. Some of them recycle quite common prescriptive positions. So there's <a href="https://thecritic.co.uk/issues/april-2023/multiple-moans-from-the-get-go/" target="_blank">this one</a> from April 2023 which starts off by complaining about supposed Americanisms in the English language before firmly aiming its fire at just Americans more generally. It even manages to include a language discourses greatest hits in this paragraph: </p><p></p><blockquote>Turn on the wireless at any hour, and you may think this country has been infected by a linguistic virus. Words and phrases that were once regarded as intrusive Americanisms have become commonplace. Curveball (what’s wrong with bouncer?) and stepping up to the plate (taking a fresh guard?) are daily horrors which merit six firm strokes of the cane. </blockquote><p></p><p>Then there's <a href="https://thecritic.co.uk/grammar-aint-a-class-issue/" target="_blank">this one</a> which focuses on language and class through the lens of Angela Rayner's non-standard grammar. But then you also see a few others - like <a href="https://thecritic.co.uk/from-rp-to-cock-er-ney/" target="_blank">this one</a> on accommodation, class and downwards convergence - which are a bit more linguistically descriptive in their outlook. </p><p>But it's <a href="https://thecritic.co.uk/in-defence-of-good-grammar/" target="_blank">the other article on Angela Rayner</a> and language 'standards' that I want to focus on here, so what follows is an attempt to offer a few things: a bit of analysis, some discussion of some of the techniques and language choices being used and a couple of suggestions about where this article and some of its ideas might sit within wider discourses about language. </p><p>You can probably tell that I've taken quite a critical stance towards it but you may well want to look at it from other perspectives and see if some of its arguments can be supported linguistically or if they might be seen as being more coherent and well-supported than I thought. Towards the end, there are also a few suggestions for other extracts in the article that you could analyse and evaluate. Anyway, here goes...</p><p><b>Sub-editorial features</b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheYIoFOWAy_7eXm6vCUDbzZ6pZJ-bq3FuJQuZJl9SHbbZlYobtmgdcxr-s0PSE6V0XfS64Quya9iThrHF6jj2Wp6Bhdo2OY-tMu0_zCeoDh2Kc71mYJ2jzFsEQ0HtomPQ4tVK_yFEmAcJ9-BrMRt-kvAX1Zzhukf4IWZk5BbAGDO2IINvP7w/s643/rayner%20title%201.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="322" data-original-width="643" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheYIoFOWAy_7eXm6vCUDbzZ6pZJ-bq3FuJQuZJl9SHbbZlYobtmgdcxr-s0PSE6V0XfS64Quya9iThrHF6jj2Wp6Bhdo2OY-tMu0_zCeoDh2Kc71mYJ2jzFsEQ0HtomPQ4tVK_yFEmAcJ9-BrMRt-kvAX1Zzhukf4IWZk5BbAGDO2IINvP7w/s320/rayner%20title%201.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Title immediately suggests a discourse of conflict: a
defence is being made against some kind of attack.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The standfirst presupposes that Angela Rayner <b>is</b> torturing our language
and the only question up for debate is why she needs to be stopped. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Interesting choice of verb in ‘torturing’: language is being </span>represented<span style="font-family: inherit;"> as the victim of a painful process. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p>
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Who is the ‘we’ in ‘our language’ and why has
this possessive determiner been chosen? What </span>might<span style="font-family: inherit;"> be the implications around the portrayal of those who are not part of the 'we', 1st person plural, group?</span></span></p><p><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="line-height: 107%;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: inherit; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEivA0xzLhtNnO4wnh8udxPlQM_ufbBpvucnyHXDBj-2Lh1rQfNncMPkq5VBMqQw9A_qlJMfzShj7LJLhPGCH_L_kT7o7yuK3UROIqnY8a1vdfrlPDxb7gGs1xoG7irJnJvEzd6bLKbvhUeBD5u4BJUcTC2g16hZDSlHkTXYo3-KjKoV7gx17Q" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="584" data-original-width="773" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEivA0xzLhtNnO4wnh8udxPlQM_ufbBpvucnyHXDBj-2Lh1rQfNncMPkq5VBMqQw9A_qlJMfzShj7LJLhPGCH_L_kT7o7yuK3UROIqnY8a1vdfrlPDxb7gGs1xoG7irJnJvEzd6bLKbvhUeBD5u4BJUcTC2g16hZDSlHkTXYo3-KjKoV7gx17Q" width="318" /></a></div><p style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p>The image (from 1954) is in black and white and presents an elocution lesson. <p></p><p><span style="line-height: 107%;">Is this the era the writer wants us to return to? A post-war utopia where people were happy to be taught how to speak ‘properly’? A simpler time when rules were rules and everyone followed them? </span></p><p><b>Opening paragraph</b></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhaLRevmVVhySB1TdyyEbjctXVqhSiWEicE5MJ98HxV8XrggQLIAHZCgjEGC76dsD4vi6St8CwDschT7A8T_--4lnVgf5oOvXa2chaAlSqvRUo2LqnogGXiNskRnPBqBwoUaK5fcDot3P566tx_tgg1h-rgAkEBQkCgtkuNht3Oex6w7zSd7A" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="201" data-original-width="905" height="135" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhaLRevmVVhySB1TdyyEbjctXVqhSiWEicE5MJ98HxV8XrggQLIAHZCgjEGC76dsD4vi6St8CwDschT7A8T_--4lnVgf5oOvXa2chaAlSqvRUo2LqnogGXiNskRnPBqBwoUaK5fcDot3P566tx_tgg1h-rgAkEBQkCgtkuNht3Oex6w7zSd7A=w608-h135" width="608" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>What is the language issue and how is it being represented here? </li><li>Interesting modifiers in this noun phrase: <i>clear, educated English</i>. Why choose these? </li><li>And what do we make of these choices of abstract noun? <i>class division, snobbishness and elitism</i></li></ul><p></p><div>The second sentence uses a coordinating conjunction as a discourse marker to establish a counter-argument to the position in the first sentence. The idea here seems to be that clear, educated English isn’t ‘exclusive’: it’s welcoming and inclusive. I wonder what the writer of this piece would think about the varieties and styles of English used by many of those close to a billion people…</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Selected extracts: 1</b></div><div><br /></div><div><div></div><blockquote><div>…and yes, I do believe “speaking well” has value however unfashionable that may sound.</div><div></div></blockquote><div><br /></div><div>Have a look at the positioning being used here. </div><div><br /></div><div>How is the author representing himself to his readers? Bravely out of touch with modern society? Proud to be out of step with modern, ‘woke’ sensibilities? Traditional, conservative and proud to be upholding standards? </div><div><br /></div><div>But what is this fashion that he’s out of step with? We see, on a few occasions in this article, that he makes reference to what it’s supposed to be like these days, but we don’t see a lot of empirical evidence for that. </div></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Selected extracts: 2</b></div><div><br /></div><div><div><blockquote>In the UK there remains an underlying sense that speaking well is the sole preserve of a posh elite, which may explain the lack of educational rigour when it comes to teaching the language.</blockquote></div><div><br /></div><div>So, where’s the evidence for this claim? It sounds very certain: look at the modality of that first sentence – ‘there remains…’ – as if this is an undeniable fact. </div><div><br /></div><div>And in the next clause (<i>speaking well is the sole preserve of a posh elite</i>), it's the the same use of the declarative mood. The adjective choice too (‘sole’) seems to accentuate the exclusivity he claims to be opposing. </div><div><br /></div><div>And what about the final clauses. Does that ring true? Ten- and eleven-year-olds in the UK do grammar tests… you’re doing an A level that involves some quite hardcore grammar. But no, this is a lack of ‘educational rigour’. </div><div><br /></div><div>And what of the emerging discourses? We started with one around conflict and now we’re into ones around rigour and permissiveness, good versus bad, right versus wrong. It’s a fairly familiar prescriptive discourse.</div></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Selected extracts: 3</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><div>By this paragraph, we are well into some fairly common anecdotes about young people these days…</div><div><br /></div><div><blockquote>You may have noticed the extent of adolescent inarticulacy when listening to school leavers struggling to construct a coherent sentence without having to fall back on verbal ticks such as “like”, “innit” and “you know what I mean?” Yet this pummelling at the foundations of communication is by no means limited to the less well educated.</blockquote></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>The use of ‘pummelling at the foundations of communication’ seems quite hyperbolic as well: as if the very basis of communication is being attacked by young people’s ill-educated language choices. </div><div><br /></div><div>And a few lines later, you could analyse the representation of ‘street’ language – whatever that might mean in this context – through the adjectives used in the examples of ‘mangles phrasing and sloppy grammar’. </div></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Selected extracts: 4</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>By the time we get to the rather predictable George Bernard Shaw quotation and the author’s assertion that ‘this embarrassment about the way we speak has become endemic’, we are firmly into the kind of language discourse you’ll have seen many times before: language styles and variations as a disease. </div><div><br /></div><div>‘Endemic’ has less wide-ranging connotations than ‘pandemic’ but still implies that something has become widespread in a certain community and that’s quite an interesting theme in this article, because the author reflects quite a lot on this problem that he’s identified as being an English thing: a modern English disease, perhaps? </div><div><br /></div><div>Does this suggest that his theme - that 'we' are squeamish about 'good grammar' is a modern development and one we should jettison?</div><div><br /></div><div><div><b>Other sections to look at</b></div><div><br /></div><div>There’s plenty more to analyse in this article but I’ll leave you with these final extracts to think about.</div><div><br /></div><div>Look how opposing ideas have been represented here, the metaphors being used and their implications if you take them to their logical conclusions. </div><div><br /></div><div>How fair or accurate do you think this might be, when you think about some of the linguistic arguments you’ve explored on your course? </div><div><br /></div><div><blockquote>Instead of lowering standards to meet ideological whims and cultural and class sensitivities we should be lifting young people out of the prison of low expectation and equipping them with the tools they need to live a rich and communicative life.</blockquote></div></div><div><br /></div><div>And what about the discourses conveyed through the metaphor choices in these two extracts? What kind of arguments about language and society are being advanced?</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><blockquote>What language deconstructionists fail to acknowledge is that without these vital literacy skills, children will always struggle to find purpose and meaning. By allowing language to become part of the culture war we deny children access to the great works of literature as well as limiting their chances of gainful employment.</blockquote></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><blockquote>Angela Rayner may have lucked out but millions of working class people remain trapped in systemic disadvantage brought about by a lack of will on the part of teachers and parents to instil a love of language.</blockquote></div><div><br /></div><div><blockquote>...without fluency of language, they will remain trapped in a cycle of ignorance and poverty...</blockquote></div><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10197410786688948277noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13109151.post-31870411045777772682023-04-20T11:44:00.005+01:002024-03-07T11:38:59.993+00:00Analysing texts about language<p>While I'm doing posts about Section B of Paper 2, I'd better mention the kinds of texts that appear here and that you have to analyse and respond to. They're often (but not always) articles from newspapers and online sources, but can also be book extracts or something like, as was the case of the 2019 paper, an article from an accent tutoring website. I've summarised a few of the others below: </p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">An extract from an online piece equating political correctness with ‘thought
control’ and a blog post complaining about ‘Orwellian’ language reform.</span></span></li><li><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A feature article from the Mail Online focusing on young women’s speech and a feature article from The Guardian complaining
that young women won’t be taken seriously unless they change the way they
speak.</span></span></li><li><span style="font-family: inherit;">An extract from The Telegraph
reporting on the use of emojis in writing making people appear ‘incompetent’
and an extract from an online student newspaper complaining about emojis
‘destroying’ the language. </span></li><li><span style="font-family: inherit;">An </span>extract<span style="font-family: inherit;"> from a 2002 Independent article about English as a world language and an introduction to a </span>book<span style="font-family: inherit;"> from 2017 </span>complaining<span style="font-family: inherit;"> about American English. </span></li></ul><p></p><p><span style="line-height: 107%;"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal">What you'll probably see from these texts is that many of them come from a position of criticising or complaining about an aspect of language change or diversity, often with a prescriptive slant to them, and that they are often open to linguistically-informed criticism and challenge. Not all of them are totally unreasonable rants; in fact some of them are carefully assembled to foreground opposing and contrasting views. The 2022 paper even had a text that included a 'head to head' style article as one of its texts, where two opposing language commentators argued their cases. </p><p class="MsoNormal">Bear in mind too, that you're being assessed using 3 AOs in Question 3, so you'll need to be approaching these texts from a few different angles, such as:</p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>what aspects of language the texts are focusing on</li><li>what arguments and views about language are being presented to the readers and what we might be supposed to make of that</li><li>how these views about language might fit into the bigger picture of language discourses we see in debates about language out there in the world all the time</li><li>how the text producers are using language to represent the issues </li><li>how the text producers represent themselves and try to convince the reader of their views</li><li>how the texts might be connected: how are they handling the theme, approaching it similarly/differently etc?</li></ul><div>Here are a couple of recent texts that might make for some good material for analysis. I've chosen ones that I think link nicely to wider discourses about language (perhaps you can spot a few of those discourses straight away and dig deeper for others) and ones that have a pretty clear view. I'll post a few more in days to come where it's a bit more subtle, as I think you need to be prepared for that too. </div><div><br /></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://thecritic.co.uk/in-defence-of-good-grammar/" target="_blank">James Innes-Smith of The Critic website</a> complains about Angela Rayner's language, with a focus on standard English and class.</li><li><a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10631175/University-specialists-say-no-thing-correct-language-terminology.html" target="_blank">The Mail Online</a>'s Julie Henry lays into university academics who now claim "there is no such thing as correct language". This one is less an opinion piece and more like a news story with a clear line of attack. You might also find the comments worth exploring as mini-examples of language discourses in action. This is one we talked about on <a href="https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lexispodcast/episodes/Episode-23---Gareth-Carrol-e1h1inn" target="_blank">Lexis episode 23 in the Lang in the News segment</a>.</li><li><a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/columnists/2022/09/28/amol-rajans-attack-posh-presenters-pure-inverted-snobbery/" target="_blank">Michael Deacon in The Daily Telegraph</a>: an article about accent prejudice and social class. We discussed this <a href="https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lexispodcast/episodes/Episode-35---an-opinion-articles-special-with-Harriet-Williamson-e1sl3fm" target="_blank">here on Lexis in the Lang in the News segment</a> if you want some pointers. If the Telegraph one is paywalled for you, here is the <a href="https://pressreader.com/article/281573769572585" target="_blank">press reader version</a>. </li></ul></div><div><br /></div><div>If anyone is interested in discussing these texts and what you make of them, I'll start a thread on the <a href="https://twitter.com/EngLangBlog" target="_blank">@EngLangBlog Twitter feed</a> so you can reply with observations, points and questions. </div><p></p><p></p>Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10197410786688948277noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13109151.post-8934841921556506432023-04-19T09:41:00.000+01:002023-04-19T09:41:18.482+01:00Specialist knowledge for non-specialist readers<p>Yesterday, I <a href="http://englishlangsfx.blogspot.com/2023/04/opinion-pieces-for-exam-revision.html" target="_blank">posted a few links</a> to articles that I thought were pretty good examples of opinion pieces about language. There's always a bit of a caveat with this kind of advice though, because the activity you're engaged in during the exam is basically an exercise to secure marks from the available assessment objectives, rather than actually write something for publication and payment. </p><p>That's why you need to be a little bit careful about using anything as an exact style model; while there are really informative and linguistically-informed pieces out there (and I think there's lots of good stuff in the ones I posted), they can also be a little bit thin on language detail and you need to provide that to get your 20 marks from AO2. </p><p>What you might want to do - as well as looking at how those opinion pieces work - is have a mosey on over to <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk" target="_blank">The Conversation</a> website, where linguists (and psychologists and many other experts) write about their research for non-specialist readers. What you'll be able to see from many of the excellent articles there is how complicated and technical ideas can be explained clearly to people who don't necessarily work in the field. </p><p>Some of my favourites also happen to be from some of my favourite linguists...</p><p><a href="https://theconversation.com/leave-off-will-you-britain-should-celebrate-regional-accents-67952" target="_blank">Rob Drummond on regional accent attitudes</a></p><p><a href="https://theconversation.com/what-grammar-pedants-and-fashion-victims-have-in-common-55248" target="_blank">Grammar pedants and fashion victims</a></p><p><a href="https://theconversation.com/working-class-and-ethnic-minority-accents-in-south-east-england-judged-as-less-intelligent-new-research-162886" target="_blank">Amanda Cole on attitudes to working class and ethnic minority accents</a></p><p><a href="https://theconversation.com/posh-spice-sounds-posher-but-changing-your-working-class-accent-isnt-a-ticket-out-of-discrimination-189401" target="_blank">Posh Spice and accent change</a></p><p><a href="https://theconversation.com/british-people-still-think-some-accents-are-smarter-than-others-what-that-means-in-the-workplace-126964" target="_blank">Devyani Sharma on accent attitudes in the workplace </a></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10197410786688948277noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13109151.post-73681258411228581672023-04-18T17:37:00.004+01:002023-04-18T17:37:38.591+01:00Opinion pieces for exam revision <p> As you get ready for the exam season this summer, it's a good idea to read lots of opinion pieces to soak up the features of the genre: the style, structure, sub-editorial choices and the ways that arguments are constructed, among them. </p><p>It probably helps too to focus most of that reading and preparation on opinion pieces about language, because that's the course you're studying and what you're going to be writing about. So, here are a few suggestions for recent pieces about language that you might find useful. </p><p>It's worth bearing in mind that in your exam, AO5 is worth 10 marks and AO2 20 marks, so you probably want to err on the side of caution with the language content and maybe offer a little bit more knowledge about language and ideas from language study than a few of these, while also making sure that every bit of language knowledge and research that you introduce is made accessible to your target readers. </p><p><a href="https://uk.news.yahoo.com/opinion-britain-dull-london-accent-111554735.html" target="_blank">London Evening Standard piece on MLE</a></p><p><a href="https://inews.co.uk/opinion/multicultural-london-english-dialect-40-years-old-middle-class-britain-terrified-1690448" target="_blank">The i on MLE</a></p><p><a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/accent-bias-shaming-bbc-english-b2216735.html" target="_blank">Indy Voices on regional accent pride</a></p><p><a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/suella-braverman-invasion-migrants-firebombing-b2214905.html" target="_blank">A Nov 22 piece on the language round migration</a></p><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/10/migration-debate-metaphors-swarms-floods-marauders-migrants" target="_blank">An older (2015) Guardian piece on the language associated with migration</a></p><p>Next time round, I'll suggest a few recent pieces that could be useful for a bit of analysis for Question 3 on Paper 2. </p><p><br /></p>Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10197410786688948277noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13109151.post-38190349148540008752022-12-16T11:45:00.003+00:002022-12-28T12:07:41.831+00:00Getting the Word Out 2022<p>WOTY (Word of the Year) Season is in full swing and the lists from the various dictionaries and organisations who produce them, along with the blogs, the explainers and articles in the press about them are always a useful resource for the A Level, especially when looking at Language Change. </p><p>I'll put together a fairly comprehensive set of links next week to all the stories I've come across, but in the meantime, here's <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/word-of-the-year-oxford-dictionary-goblin-mode-b2243048.html" target="_blank">a link to a piece I wrote for The Independent</a> about WOTY2022. </p><p>These stories (that aren't mentioned in my article) are also worth a look:</p><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/dec/01/trump-mainstreaming-gaslighting-word-of-the-year" target="_blank">Gaslighting</a></p><p><a href="https://twitter.com/mashedradish/status/1602679488688660483" target="_blank">Woman</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/dec/13/dictionarycom-word-of-the-year-woman" target="_blank">woman</a> again</p><p><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2022/12/goblin-mode-oxford-2022-word-of-the-year/672430/" target="_blank">Goblin mode</a> and more <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/dec/05/goblin-mode-new-oxford-word-of-the-year" target="_blank">goblin mode</a></p><p><a href="https://www.economist.com/culture/2022/12/14/and-the-word-of-2022-is" target="_blank">Hybrid work</a></p><p>There's also the <a href="https://www.americandialect.org/woty" target="_blank">American Dialect Society's WOTY2022</a> to look forward to which is probably one of the most exciting dates on the linguistic calendar. Last year's overall WOTY for them was <a href="https://www.americandialect.org/2021-word-of-the-year-is-insurrection" target="_blank">insurrection</a>. </p>Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10197410786688948277noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13109151.post-51252622839714343462022-11-24T09:22:00.002+00:002022-12-05T08:09:36.894+00:00Accent bias: a guest blog for TEFL Workers' Union<div><i>I don't normally blog opinion pieces on here but thought I'd share this one as I was asked to write a few things for the <a href="https://teflworkersunion.org/" target="_blank">TEFL Workers' Union</a> (here on <a href="https://twitter.com/TeflUnion" target="_blank">Twitter</a> and here on <a href="https://t.co/ngblfDEBVd" target="_blank">Facebook</a>) on language discrimination. (And A level students might find it a useful model to look at/critique!)</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><b><i>Accent bias is real and affects people in tangible social and economic ways. Worst affected – according to the research – are those from working class and/or racialized minorities, as well as younger people starting off at university and in the workplace. </i></b><br /><br />For many people, the accent norm is seen as a southern, often RP, voice, but the reality is that the majority of people in the UK don’t have those kinds of accent. ‘Regional’ accents associated with industrial cities are often among the most stigmatized. <br /><br />Accent bias is about more than just a few jokes and hurt feelings: it’s about making people feel they are not good enough, making them feel like they need to change to ‘fit in’, and about overlooking people’s potential, expertise and intelligence, all because of lazy stereotypes. <br /><br />The problem is obviously widespread & structural too. Attitudes to accent are often more about attitudes to social groups, so the language is often just an index of that. Interviews we’ve done on the Lexis podcast with language experts like <a href="https://anchor.fm/lexispodcast/episodes/Devyani-Sharma---E3-eg03a6" target="_blank">Devyani Sharma</a>, <a href="https://anchor.fm/lexispodcast/episodes/Episode-17---Dr-Amanda-Cole-e11op4h" target="_blank">Amanda Cole</a> and <a href="https://anchor.fm/lexispodcast/episodes/Episode-13---Accent-Special-enrijg" target="_blank">Lauren White</a> all show this. <div><br /></div><div>Educators have an important role to play in fighting back against accent bias and all it entails. We can’t argue for equality of opportunity on one hand and uphold reactionary and discriminatory language attitudes on the other. It’s incumbent on all of us working in education to challenge this inequality.</div><div><br /></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">While it’s
usually good news for language educators to see issues about language prejudice
getting an airing in the media, it also tends to show the gulf between what
linguists think about language and what the general public thinks. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Last week,
various newspapers and online outlets ran stories on the publication of <a href="https://www.suttontrust.com/our-research/speaking-up-accents-social-mobility/" target="_blank">a report from The Sutton Trust</a> about accent bias in the UK. The report featured
work from linguists on the <a href="https://accentbiasbritain.org/" target="_blank">Accent Bias Britain project at QMUL</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The
findings made pretty grim reading: 30% of university students and 25% of
professionals in workplaces said their accents had been mocked, while similar
percentages felt self-conscious about their accent.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">There was
also a pattern of accents belonging to racialized minorities and people from
working class backgrounds reporting more mockery of their varieties, leading to
some people feeling a stronger need to change their accent to fit in.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Tellingly,
even when responding using exactly the same words, accents indexed as working
class and/or minority ethnic were rated as lower for professional expertise and
competence. Of course, who these lower ratings came from were interesting too…
mostly southern and upper class people. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">None of
this is particularly new: accent bias studies have been conducted for the best
part of 50 years (and the Accent Bias Britain site is excellent for mapping and
summarizing these studies) and the accent hierarchy of the UK seems deeply
entrenched, along class, ethnic and regional lines. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">What then
can linguists and the wider education community do to challenge this? There are
positive noises from the project about making people aware that accent bias
exists and to be conscious of it, and that seems to have an effect on responses
straight away in professional settings.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The
comments that followed many of these news articles give us an insight into what
we’re up against. One tweeter offered the cry laugh emoji at the end of their
deeply empathetic reply: “Do you need to ask
why anyone ‘would want’ to lose a brummie accent?”.</p>
Others variously saw the report as some form of ‘wokeness’ (yawn) or an appalling lack of ‘resilience’ on the part of the respondents. ‘Get over it’, ‘deal with it’ and ‘it never did me any harm’ seemed to be the order of the day for many others, with reactionary narratives the norm. <br /><br />The ‘it never did me any harm’ response is perhaps one of the laziest of all and brings to mind other favourites of the reactionary boomer - smacking, power cuts or even world wars (fought before they were born) among them - as things we should just get over without complaint. <br /><br />What’s so lazy about this is the self-assurance that just because the person thinks it’s never done them any harm that no harm has been done. What about those opportunities you were never aware of because you’d been written off as unsuitable the moment you opened your mouth? <br /><br />When presented with research like this showing that accent prejudice is rife and has real world consequences - denial of opportunity and equal opportunities for large parts of the population – we’ve really got to do better than writing it off as the hurt feelings of woke Gen Z snowflakes. <br /><br />Language bias and discrimination is an issue that is at the heart of a lot of work that language educators get involved in education to fight against – often because we come from backgrounds that bear the brunt of these prejudices but also because it’s about fairness and equality. And kicking back against reactionary narratives around accent bias, challenging prevailing popular discourses and offering a critical and socially just response is something that I think is incumbent on us all to offer. </div>Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10197410786688948277noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13109151.post-77716750370674301592022-11-08T15:22:00.004+00:002022-11-08T15:36:36.923+00:00Accent attitudes: lessons in discourses <p>As I posted
a day or two back, accent attitudes have been back in the news. Following <a href="https://twitter.com/suttontrust/status/1588072531809951744" target="_blank">a report from The Sutton Trust</a>, using research from the team behind <a href="https://accentbiasbritain.org/" target="_blank">Accent Bias Britain</a>, various newspapers and online sources decided to cover the broad
findings of the report and discuss attitudes to UK regional accents and those
associated with people from working class and/or racially minoritised backgrounds.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Accent
stories are pretty popular in the press and we’ve seen a lot of coverage of
them in the last year or two. Whether it was the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-58040793" target="_blank">attacks on TV presenter and footballer Alex Scott for her pronunciation of -ing</a>, <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/09/27/amol-rajan-accuses-bbc-posh-having-accent-bias/?utm_content=telegraph&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1664301076-1" target="_blank">BBC presenter Amol Rajan’s appeal for a wider variety of accents at the BBC</a> or <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/aug/23/voice-accent-technology-call-center-white-american" target="_blank">Artificial Intelligence being used to make call centre workers sound ‘whiter’</a>, accents get you clicks.
And in the (anti) social media hellscape (thanks Elon) that we’re heading into in
2022, a lot of those clicks are hateclicks. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">While the
stories and op-eds are pretty good sources for A Level students to analyse and evaluate
and even use as style models, the replies and online comments are more visceral…
and sometimes pretty vile. But having said that, they are useful short texts to
pull apart in class, so here are a few ideas for what to do with them.</span><br /><br />1. Assemble a <b>cline of contempt</b>: take each tweet/reply/comment and copy it onto a grid where you can cut them out and line them up. Rank them in order of their negativity to the linguistic position being discussed. Is this one more negative about certain accents than this one? How can we tell? Are they equally awful but just focusing on different things?<br /><br />2. Group them into <b>patterns of peevery</b>: what are the themes behind their complaints? Are they annoyed at the absolute wokeness of a linguist even arguing that there such a thing as accent bias, or just annoyed that young people are being sensitive about accents? Group them into shared themes and discuss what these concerns might tell us about these language discourses.</p><p class="MsoNormal">3. Analyse them for <b>discourses of doom</b>: blow up each message onto a sheet of A4 and pull them apart linguistically, annotating them and using your three AOs for P2Q3 as a guide. AO3 for meanings and what is being represented, along with the discourses being tapped into and reproduced; AO1 for linguistic descriptions of the techniques and structures being used; AO4 for connections between these texts and the wider discourses you have identified in previous lessons, and perhaps even connections to the other texts as your analysis develops. Maybe you could even start to write comparative analytical paragraphs on two or more messages. </p><p class="MsoNormal">4. <b>Answer back</b>: choose a couple of texts that you can respond to and use this as practice for your P2Q4 work (where you write an opinion piece in response to the issues raised in the texts from P2Q3). Write back to the message. Perhaps you could discipline yourself to just sticking to the length of a tweet or a couple of sentences; perhaps you could develop this into a couple of paragraphs. Think too of how you can show your AO2 knowledge to challenge uninformed and prescriptive views of language. If you see a message that you think is actually right about something but not very well-supported, think about how you can develop a more linguistically informed way of phrasing it, by referencing research, theory and examples from case studies.</p><p class="MsoNormal">5. <b>Ask what they're on</b>: "I'm not earth to bow to ridiculOus", I ask you....</p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Here are a few anonymised responses to the accent stories
that you might want to use. <o:p></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL-NhNfEIjf4PVJr7ZrQ-iFPJFijvoDKS0YYZ8ejYMmhaAR6hxXTjwX5x4P3FUzIDCVXpbAbt_EaIUNUm9TpDLBUhG_Cw6VIovt9H-bXtTF8SBdLNt3bOCRX13wyLcWPLD5vvZBtg2AERh4CT2zmvLQFOlskgfao1dpy6pXtKf5VW6RsnAKA/s875/opinion%201.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="439" data-original-width="875" height="161" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL-NhNfEIjf4PVJr7ZrQ-iFPJFijvoDKS0YYZ8ejYMmhaAR6hxXTjwX5x4P3FUzIDCVXpbAbt_EaIUNUm9TpDLBUhG_Cw6VIovt9H-bXtTF8SBdLNt3bOCRX13wyLcWPLD5vvZBtg2AERh4CT2zmvLQFOlskgfao1dpy6pXtKf5VW6RsnAKA/s320/opinion%201.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbZ8WzIrhZMRYmJ9J70gOFjAQHRaO0ax7Kuxf8iqWcvQmQBjzX0NLb6xCsGzF05aYmJAA8twB5fDlcI0osqaiJLvZZA4N-ripSZhfwSKnAHEC0dl1ZKgW0I3k0T0x8HXCNRjepmQmvwDG9VsIsOf52e9fMsGSTMpfXoTHiMtRVnA6fg-ojrg/s840/opinion%202.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="335" data-original-width="840" height="128" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbZ8WzIrhZMRYmJ9J70gOFjAQHRaO0ax7Kuxf8iqWcvQmQBjzX0NLb6xCsGzF05aYmJAA8twB5fDlcI0osqaiJLvZZA4N-ripSZhfwSKnAHEC0dl1ZKgW0I3k0T0x8HXCNRjepmQmvwDG9VsIsOf52e9fMsGSTMpfXoTHiMtRVnA6fg-ojrg/s320/opinion%202.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFtI4xoeIvzjJiy2QvKRFymuZkSaO87lyoXgSTrhThyiGYkZpObt2E8_gNFA2QkaMaBL3iO3VYwIXaqD8Ke3IIk-gCTTnL9ZP1krIzdWN2e0BNfQYhk399GVeD1CWMAMlVvOZVtuJIFFswgu8eiM--2P_JNCfki1k6cX2-cp8o3ua8dL154Q/s889/opinion%203.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="306" data-original-width="889" height="110" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFtI4xoeIvzjJiy2QvKRFymuZkSaO87lyoXgSTrhThyiGYkZpObt2E8_gNFA2QkaMaBL3iO3VYwIXaqD8Ke3IIk-gCTTnL9ZP1krIzdWN2e0BNfQYhk399GVeD1CWMAMlVvOZVtuJIFFswgu8eiM--2P_JNCfki1k6cX2-cp8o3ua8dL154Q/s320/opinion%203.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; 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margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="255" data-original-width="845" height="97" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMyyTdWtQRei-wA_yV5ubipn5LAA8VpCnT406eSGNDledOEzwUJ6CYGX62_2VltiYNg23AGZODCMR4Q-J4AsAENScQ4cGAmGPIdv4Nz4_ZbyaCXJaotwlNjgV6dLEqJfGqxM5cUk118D5ugG-8PbFX10ttPW_ockG6SmfOhZC0lTE2OQlDug/s320/opinion%205.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0pJKMWpUjOy39yjOd6b4YyZ37XnBdPTFgba_JPi5ENC9-rV4shd_a9rxpYnCrbPzK_bMNNrLWT75b5YvdJaiD2lCKpLHj_qno18nOv0HvOnOXPGOfO20i09w0mpNMUxPXq7n8oK-_XQ3EXJSKWWeQ6Eg20aGRp29Vv1BM1bBYYLlUPdfR2Q/s837/opinion%206.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="127" data-original-width="837" height="49" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0pJKMWpUjOy39yjOd6b4YyZ37XnBdPTFgba_JPi5ENC9-rV4shd_a9rxpYnCrbPzK_bMNNrLWT75b5YvdJaiD2lCKpLHj_qno18nOv0HvOnOXPGOfO20i09w0mpNMUxPXq7n8oK-_XQ3EXJSKWWeQ6Eg20aGRp29Vv1BM1bBYYLlUPdfR2Q/s320/opinion%206.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; 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margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="390" data-original-width="842" height="148" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzSdq5zGiinqRvnh0JkdPDn0gnX_xaZWq9D3qgZLS4AXRL1k58XBspDonHhfuUWuEnKY3yeSKaS8LeTgwB6W1vrlNvJ9ZPQSrkV8EOXPQNWT-UCqPLdBq3JfbpTvZzMTdGMq8Ivi3mSVReLRCmM1WmVWXjBfmfNCNqdiJMUg_7TWGq5zDvXQ/s320/opinion%2014.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6FckjdVaONkATLXKToexOtPceO1VMX626Kgq2p_TCNZb3EqiPj1Noe0Klz1OEZwVajKuRSyN-wdsgEin8og9uaInitgbQDv2Z_cXNCHm9oPqj5fztefc82IdyHp4h6U39AAdV/s839/opinion+15.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="319" data-original-width="839" height="122" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6FckjdVaONkATLXKToexOtPceO1VMX626Kgq2p_TCNZb3EqiPj1Noe0Klz1OEZwVajKuRSyN-wdsgEin8og9uaInitgbQDv2Z_cXNCHm9oPqj5fztefc82IdyHp4h6U39AAdV/s320/opinion+15.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p class="MsoNormal">And of course, before social media existed, we had letters to the editor (ask your gran) and some of these were nicely crafted. You still find them in the wild occasionally, like here in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/nov/06/pride-and-prejudice-over-working-class-and-regional-accents" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>. So these could be mixed in too to spread the range and offer some more rhyme and reason. </p>Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10197410786688948277noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13109151.post-9566684302226595752022-11-03T12:28:00.002+00:002022-11-03T15:00:09.679+00:00Accent bias in the media<p>It's been a while, sorry! Most of the posts I used to add here seemed simpler to do as tweets, linking to news stories, but I might start blogging more regularly again as Twitter seems to be taking a turn for the worse. </p><p>Anyway, here's a load of stories and links connected to a recent report from <a href="https://www.suttontrust.com/our-research/speaking-up-accents-social-mobility/" target="_blank">The Sutton Trust</a> and using research by <a href="https://accentbiasbritain.org/" target="_blank">Accent Bias Britain</a> into... well, accent bias, as you might expect. The Sutton Trust tweeted about it <a href="https://twitter.com/suttontrust/status/1588072531809951744" target="_blank">here</a> as well. </p><p><a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-63494849" target="_blank">BBC story</a></p><p><a href="https://news.sky.com/story/open-your-mouth-and-you-have-a-disadvantage-uks-accent-bias-problem-and-who-it-affects-most-12736925" target="_blank">Sky News</a></p><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/inequality/2022/nov/03/bias-against-working-class-and-regional-accents-has-not-gone-away-report-finds" target="_blank">Guardian</a></p><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/nov/03/can-you-lose-accent-england-southern" target="_blank">A Guardian comment piece on it</a></p><p>I might come back to the comments and replies another time and we'll probably address some of this in a future episode of <a href="https://anchor.fm/lexispodcast" target="_blank">Lexis</a>. </p><p>Nice YouTube explainer here from Devyani Sharma too.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Wz9qy4ipfVg" width="320" youtube-src-id="Wz9qy4ipfVg"></iframe></div><br /><p></p><p>And an unconnected accent piece from a day or two back: <a href="https://theconversation.com/james-bonds-ethnicity-might-change-but-his-accent-probably-wont-193176" target="_blank">James Bond</a></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10197410786688948277noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13109151.post-17194530187628618872021-06-02T17:50:00.001+01:002021-06-02T17:52:41.680+01:00What Opportunities can Technology afford beyond the Pandemic?<p><i>This is a guest blog by <span style="font-size: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dr. Clara Vaz Bauler is an associate professor of TESOL/Bilingual Education at Adelphi University, New York. Thanks to Clara for writing this and for the ideas shared here.</span></i></p><p>Typical, face-to-face learning environments offer advantages that online learning does not. The same can be said for online learning. This year, in the midst of the chaos of the pandemic and the rushed changes I had to make, I was pleasantly surprised by the many new opportunities my students and I had to communicate and share ideas. I could see all my students’ names and learn how to pronounce them by having students share on Flipgrid. This same video platform also allowed me and my students to share about ourselves without worrying about class time or period ending, as we could post videos and comments on our own pace. Above all, I could see and hear my students’ thinking in online discussions as ALL contributed their ideas. </p><p>As “Zoom classrooms” can be very frustrating with distracting noises, intrusion to privacy, and wifi interruptions, it is only natural that we blame the online medium for everything that went wrong in education during the pandemic. However, if we stop and ponder about what fundamentally constitutes the educational experience, especially the relationship between teachers and students, online spaces have much to offer. Online pedagogical practices have the potential to amplify student participation in ways that typical face-to-face environments cannot. So, it is imperative that we take this opportunity to engage in deep reflection about the possibilities technology can offer as we transition to physical buildings and face-to-face environments. Here are a few of my own reflections.</p><p><b>Multiple “Entry Points”</b></p><p>One of the main dilemmas I faced during remote learning was the use of cameras in my class. At first, I quickly condemned the online environment for my students’ apparent lack of participation. However, in digging deeper, I realized that the disruption of typical classroom practices aligned with the stressful conditions of the pandemic might have been a source of anxiety to my students. Instead of focusing on what my students could not do, I started rethinking how I was organizing my virtual synchronous meetings, paying close attention to alternative ways my students could actively engage. This reflection prompted me to reimagine what participation might look like given our difficult circumstances. I found out that helpful alternatives to cameras on included multiple “entry points” for participation based on choice and non-verbal modalities. I started experimenting with multimodal tools, using Jamboard to share emotions and brainstorm and Pear Deck to express ideas via drawing, labeling and polling. </p><p>Digital media also helped me foster and support self-expression by allowing students to post images, GIFs, memes, and videos on Padlet. Visuals are widely used for “comprehensible input” or for language receptive tasks. However, there is tremendous power in also using images, drawings and charts for language production. These symbolic tools afford students multiple possibilities to express meaning. Flexibility is key. Below is how we used Padlet to share a create a multimodal class glossary.</p><p><span id="docs-internal-guid-b03a27ae-7fff-00d6-205a-2582c9e13fe8"><a href="https://padlet.com/cbauler/f0ebyialyedbj8qo" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 343px; overflow: hidden; width: 624px;"><img height="343" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/7GrnjEm22N097nLkV6xretXLZs105QGZfbzg3PfP1HxMP-m3GlqmwM1k0UuxdUo8qMi-9o4VLs-xT59tOennAh39OxQmyU0LyeR8UBHhqQe3kN3t8AOi1-5J_XXbtdQ0WGdUzCss" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="624" /></span></span></a></span></p><p>Equity and inclusion demand re-examination of our practices. It can be hard to teach with cameras off or to change the ways we organize spaces for education, but allowing multiple entry points to the lesson enabled ALL students to engage. In the face-to-face classroom, students should also have the option of “turning their cameras off.” As teachers, we can focus less on the (often) few students who raise their hands and more on providing a space for EVERYONE to share input, either via writing, drawing or choosing from the many languages students speak. Multilingual learners especially benefit from this rich multimodal environment as they are able to tap into both their linguistic and semiotic resources to engage with varied types of literacy. This flexibility helps in developing reading, writing and vocabulary (Ascenzi-Moreno, Güílamo, & Vogel, 2020). To me, making slides interactive, manipulating and actively using texts, images and symbols to communicate have become indispensable for fostering an equitable and inclusive environment. </p><p><b>A Room for Emotions</b></p><p>One of the most important things I lost in typical face-to-face teaching practices was the ability to connect and immediately attend to students’ feelings by just approaching students or saying hello. Although dramatically different from physical spaces, the virtual environment also became a place where my students and I could connect. In particular, Flipgrid was very helpful in providing a platform for community building. We shared weekly journals about ourselves, our languages, and our cultural practices. I also used Flipgrid to create a question corner where my students and I could drop videos about anything, from actual questions, to saying hello or provide comments on the topics for the week. When posting on Flipgrid, students could choose to keep cameras on or off. Below is one example of a weekly journal where we shared about our favorite idiomatic expressions.</p><p><br /></p><p><span id="docs-internal-guid-3fc2732d-7fff-6494-e3d0-53d28f8a44f0"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 348px; overflow: hidden; width: 624px;"><img height="348" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/Zk-S8Z_rlf5LmDpZzuUF2F8ChsWgY-x_zocnsFxrYuqwvBApx52F28aNBz8a1SMriKOCTa2tVXxBZ06y7iq3Ufn8CIMBT5_0EnRFE2sbFYPmaYBZpl_5IDZzjaukhOpMAHy3Z6nX" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="624" /></span></span></span></p><div><div>Asynchronous video platforms such as Flipgrid are perfect for building and sustaining community as they are not bound by a class period time or physical space. Because of that we all had time to share and get to know each other more deeply. I can honestly say that without Flipgrid, I would not have had the opportunity to meet each one of my students as individuals as they shared their stories, expressed their emotions and revealed their personalities every week through short video messages. This is one of the dearest learning moments I had this year. For this reason, Flipgrid will remain my favorite digital tool which I will definitely continue to use in my face-to-face classes. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>Mimicking Social Media Conversations</b></div><div><br /></div><div>I have always been a huge fan of online discussion boards and it is something I have always integrated with my face-to-face teaching. I even did my whole PhD dissertation on it! During the pandemic, I could experiment with different, more engaging ways, to mimic online discussion boards after social media conversations. I have always wanted to do that because I knew deep down that although great, discussion boards were still considered “assignments” my students needed to “turn in.” I wanted these discussions to feel real and authentic. So, this semester, I started designing online discussion boards very differently. I created routines that would encourage my students to be creative, rely on visuals to make meaning, straying away from the usual “paragraph” format. </div><div><br /></div><div>The routines involved responding to prompts based on readings and watching videos, as usual, but forced students to craft a more thoughtful post by having them create some sort of visual that would represent their thinking about the texts they were reading and videos they were seeing. We used word clouds, sketches and mind maps to summarize and illustrate our ideas. In addition, the post needed to be short. In some discussions we even experimented with the old 140-character Twitter format. Most importantly, specific prompts for commenting involved responding and reacting based on the visual thinking shared by peers. Below is one example of such discussion where students followed three steps to post and comment. They first took notes using the “I notice, I wonder” format; then they drew relationships and ideas using a physical notebook or google drawing tools. They shared their visual thinking as a screenshot, a very common practice on social media. Finally, they wrote a response to the prompt in Twitter format. The comments were focused on building upon insights, questions, reactions and opinions based on their peers’ sketches. </div></div><div><br /></div><div><span id="docs-internal-guid-3f0c67a8-7fff-ae9c-c4e8-c71e2a9d499d"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0f1419; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 395px; overflow: hidden; width: 624px;"><img height="395" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/wvnSOJbXcos6pDAtxNGLmG3UcFo4YFeYFbe20dbBO-Mn3E1Vl6wwjIThgYEYFz4tV2_bbEBZrH89EwuW1NJDttYCmHfvv-h3LuRDg5e3orpdl6wM0W1-TIDxNgCUp5ZROq07jsVP" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="624" /></span></span></span></div><div><br /></div><div>Another advantage of online discussions was the personalization of the messages as we could access students’ profiles as they posted and shared their ideas, just like on social media. Most course management systems, such as Moodle, Google Classroom or Canvas, include a profile option. I often did not pay enough attention to them until the pandemic. The profile option was completely underutilized in my class. But with the need to connect and see each other during the pandemic, creating a profile became an important way students could get to know more about each other. It was also fun because the profile was very visible anytime students posted and looked each other up. Students created a complete Moodle profile that represented who they were. They were asked to include one image (e.g., best selfie, favorite pic or preferred symbol) and three things about themselves (e.g., favorite hobbies, subjects, places, languages you speak or would like to learn, music and food preferences, etc.). Below is an example of a creative student profile. </div><div><br /></div><div><span id="docs-internal-guid-7307e9af-7fff-f174-932e-e1f2ea9fca50"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 187px; overflow: hidden; width: 624px;"><img height="187" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/Imf82CotimPvZf6qnokqboi_LzlHpV8Wd4LyyAdTE74UA_7LG-6nTAUdsxnAtTCx6qnRWPh8Z-217mGH0XZVeN0DmQkOQhWhfD0U5XdTQxG9YICAWgtHGlFjZRpym9V6xO-GGZ2M" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="624" /></span></span></span></div><div><br /></div><div><div>Promoting democratic conversations requires active engagement in dialogue about controversial issues and divergent opinions. The classroom is often a place where we try to foster these types of conversations via socratic seminars and debates. However, the physical environment and the fast-paced schedule of the typical school day impose real constraints for equitable and inclusive democratic conversations. When we compare classroom discussions with the hot debates and conversations we witness on social media, the limits become even more evident. Online discussion boards have the potential to maximize dialogue as students can post on their own time, affording time to think and craft a careful argument in response to a prompt or a rebuttal from a peer. This discussion can be even more exciting if we employ social media strategies such as the use of shared texts, videos, visuals to enforce the message and a reason to continue the back and forth dialogue. I will continue to refine online discussion boards and use them as the main form of dialogue in my face-to-face classes as they allow for every student to voice their opinions in a personal and meaningful way. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>Final Thoughts...</b></div><div><br /></div><div>This year, online learning offered me and my students alternatives to often rigid and frequently inequitable schooling practices. If we want to say face-to-face learning is better and there is nothing like having students in school in person, we need to rethink how we organize education spaces no to constrain and limit the kinds of interactions we want to foster. Surprisingly, online environments tend to offer more options for collaboration and participation for all students. This is especially true for many linguistically, culturally and racially diverse students, who can be particularly impacted by the lack of flexibility in a system that was not designed for adaptability and creativity, but conformity. I hope we can build upon important changes and discoveries we made during the pandemic. Let’s not rush to get back to “normal,” but use this opportunity to reimagine how we organize rich spaces for learning, using what works in both physical and virtual environments. </div></div><div><br /></div><div><div><b>References</b></div><div>Ascenzi-Moreno, L., Güílamo, A., & Vogel, S. (2020). <a href="http://libproxy.adelphi.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/integrating-coding-language-arts-view-into-sixth/docview/2417390927/se-2?accountid=8204" target="_blank">Integrating Coding and Language Arts: A View into Sixth Graders' Multimodal and Multilingual Learning</a>. Voices From the Middle, 27(4), 47-52.</div></div><div><br /></div><div><span id="docs-internal-guid-5deaaacb-7fff-bc89-6c80-3336b854c038"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dr. Clara Vaz Bauler is an associate professor of TESOL/Bilingual Education at Adelphi University, New York. She has a Ph.D. in Education with emphasis in Applied Linguistics and Cultural Perspectives and Comparative Education from UCSB. Clara taught EFL and ESL for thirteen years before becoming a teacher educator. She is passionate about finding and implementing </span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">digital media technology to validate and leverage multilingual learners’ linguistic, cultural and racial assets. Dr. Bauler is the co-author of </span><a href="https://aumultilingualism.transistor.fm/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">@aumultilingualism</span></a><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> podcast with her multilingual freshman college students and is always sharing ideas about language learning and technology on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/ClaraBauler" target="_blank">@Clara Bauler</a>. </span></span></div><div><br /></div><p><span> </span><span> </span><br /></p>Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10197410786688948277noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13109151.post-59432344249700085172021-04-09T11:10:00.000+01:002021-04-09T11:10:02.740+01:00Putting the F in NEA: making language investigations work<p><i>The latest guest blog comes from David Chew, a teacher in the East Midlands. Here he looks at how he approaches the NEA language investigation from its earliest ideas and inception through to the detailed analysis needed to make it work, and he looks at how the mysterious <b>F score</b> can add a new dimension to discussions of formality in texts. </i></p><p>“It’s more maths and science than a literature essay.” This is my opening announcement to a class of English Language students as we embark on the AQA Language Investigation NEA (coursework). The subsequent groans could fill a pandemically-induced empty football stadium.</p><p>In an attempt to shift students’ perceptions of having opted for an “Arts” based A level, I riff on about creating “a fair test” and identifying “measures of central tendency”. I am fully aware, after teaching variations of this investigative language study for over 20 years now, that I need to shock Mark into realising that he will need to find something to count, count it and then report what the count tells him about language and language users.</p><p>Don’t worry. I hear your gasps of “you can’t reduce the niceties of language analysis to bean counting” and “where are your socio-linguistic sensibilities?”. We will come to that; especially since AO3 is the weightiest of the three AOs awarded to this study and trades marks for appreciation of contextual factors and meanings.</p><p>But Mark needs to understand this isn’t an essay; it isn’t a commentary; and it certainly isn’t a report. It is however a precursive experience to a university dissertation.</p><p>Assumptions challenged, the next pitfall is approach. There are two processes which students must engage in: conducting an investigation and writing about it. These processes exist in a chicken and egg symbiosis. Do I teach one and assume the other will follow? If they don’t know how the writing will be structured, how can they cover all the bases when they launch themselves into investigating? If they haven’t assembled data and identified variables, how can they formulate a hypothesis? I tend towards spinning both plates at once, knowing that different students will develop their understanding of these processes in different ways.</p><p>And what to investigate? I advise students to go with what they know and enjoy. After all, they will be engaging with the material for several months: that’s a prison sentence if your teacher has foisted an idea onto you just because your initial reaction was “I don’t know what to investigate”. So, will it be editorials in Horse and Hounds magazines? Perhaps you’ve noticed that sports commentaries on radio stations are more effusive than TV commentators. Your swimming coach has a different way of addressing the team competitors whether you are winning or losing. You’ve noticed that your young female cousin is learning to read faster than your little brother. You suspect that the talk on reality TV shows featuring young people doesn’t match what you have been told about 20th century theories of genderlect. </p><p>However, I draw the lines at poetry and advertising slogans. Not because there isn’t anything to be discovered in these texts: there most certainly is. But you’ve got to write 2000 words covering at least two language levels (or systematic frameworks in old money) and “Guinness is good for you” repeated over the decades with different images of Toucans can only get you so far. Similarly, there is a post grad thesis to be had looking at the implicature of e e cummings dispensing with capitals, but not a successful A level NEA.</p><p>There’s always one, though. However much you encourage them to tell you about their latest loot box disappointment, their bilingual grandmother, or their moonlighting gig shelf-stacking on Fridays when they should be attending PSHE lessons, they will still succumb to the lure of an investigation into the comparison of tabloid and broadsheet newspapers. They don’t see any downside to this choice, even when they admit that they don’t read newspapers, and can you just remind them why the Guardian is a broadsheet anyway.</p><p>What have I learned over twenty years? A wise colleague transformed my teaching, and students’ outcomes, when she pointed out that moving from a general hypothesis to a detailed analysis was a bit of a stretch for the investigator and the reader. So, the Queen’s Christmas broadcasts have become more informal during her 68-year reign, but what exactly will you look for to support this hunch? This is where a series of language level-based expectations come in. In terms of lexis, there will be fewer Latinate words now than there were in 1952. There will be more colloquialisms in 2020 than ever before. And that use of first-person pronouns, unique to royalty (and Margaret Thatcher), might also have changed semantically. These organised, structured, and coded expectations then become the organising framework and structure for the analysis section. Everything is now set up clearly for the investigator to investigate and the reader to read.</p><p>Ideally you would start the investigation at the end of the two-year course. This would allow students to reference theories and theorists which they have already studied in Language and Gender, Child Language Acquisition, power, change, diversity etc. But this isn’t practical, so you’re faced with signposting students to ideas and concepts which they don’t yet know are relevant to their investigation. At this stage you are grateful that, although you don’t know much about anything, you do know a little about everything. There is one theory, however, I discovered that you can bank on to bolster most investigations. One panacea theory; one magic bullet. That is the F Score. </p><p>It’s great. It assigns numerical value to word classes based on whether the word class is deemed to be more formal or more informal. So, adjectives are more formal whilst adverbs are more informal. Students look at their data samples, identify the word classes being used, and apply a formula: [F = (noun frequency + adjective freq. + preposition freq. + article freq. – pronoun freq. – verb freq. – adverb freq. – interjection freq. + 100)/2]. Now they have a number for the degree of formality of each data set. We are talking charts, graphs, means, modes, medians, trendlines….. At this stage Mark wishes he had paid attention in GCSE maths. His classmate Sophie did pay attention though and, having analysed a sample of 6 editions of The Aberdeen Press and Journal over 220 years, she has a wealth of statistical analysis about the formality of language.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkwHiScrgieTfZ626YfO_4XlqmF9-sHfJGeB9Oy26As5JCthf-8KDv3RzsBFgG4OUZsD62jfkG1xRHjoFC1U-Y9ySyb6bw735W-batEtlRjAqXms6Hp8mpoFNowrPf31EvwWqb/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="207" data-original-width="468" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkwHiScrgieTfZ626YfO_4XlqmF9-sHfJGeB9Oy26As5JCthf-8KDv3RzsBFgG4OUZsD62jfkG1xRHjoFC1U-Y9ySyb6bw735W-batEtlRjAqXms6Hp8mpoFNowrPf31EvwWqb/w400-h178/image.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>Even Mark can now see how he could measure the spoken formality of his favourite sports stars:</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLgdFvQSdJXcz7go3FR-wnUAzNWKjuRFm2mnzaRxjEkn7nMfquvlsXfNV7iM6hWvsW4nxj_xKw_G81E3ofGxIDld-seDeAOdJkAav4O-rquwF006SdmYsh5-d8Z4dHwEZnT1b5/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="119" data-original-width="741" height="102" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLgdFvQSdJXcz7go3FR-wnUAzNWKjuRFm2mnzaRxjEkn7nMfquvlsXfNV7iM6hWvsW4nxj_xKw_G81E3ofGxIDld-seDeAOdJkAav4O-rquwF006SdmYsh5-d8Z4dHwEZnT1b5/w640-h102/image.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAsy0AwPS5EY2hlr3w8dRAzpc-xoQViArud4DlEfHkPMW_e60xWiP6CS-apfYvNSUefvzvPE2WEKgP-ETAJ2jvrH1py_mlRXKDuYguizVtd2mjkyZ2OZbBUW6PJHT_KkDPgkmI/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="106" data-original-width="732" height="92" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAsy0AwPS5EY2hlr3w8dRAzpc-xoQViArud4DlEfHkPMW_e60xWiP6CS-apfYvNSUefvzvPE2WEKgP-ETAJ2jvrH1py_mlRXKDuYguizVtd2mjkyZ2OZbBUW6PJHT_KkDPgkmI/w640-h92/image.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>At this stage you throw in the curve ball. “Well done, Mark. Now which of your subjects are monolingual?” Now you’re sold on this universal remedy, I would love to claim ©dchew, but I can’t. Instead get the full monty <a href="http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/Papers/Formality.pdf" target="_blank">here</a>.</p><p>Don’t misunderstand me. I’m not an English teacher simply because the Maths department wouldn’t have me. I don’t think that there is beauty in numbers alone; but they do have their place when your student’s investigation needs some close comparative analysis and some marks for AO1 and AO2.</p><p>Context really is everything, though. Once you have counted those Latinate derivations, those run of the mill colloquialisms, and “did she mean ‘we’ as a singular or a plural”, you need the context. Why was the 1992 Christmas message an anomaly in the bar chart representation of the Queen’s increasing informalisation? Perhaps because saying “annus horribilis” ad infinitum takes the Latinate lexis count sky high for that year! When those reality TV shows go out after the watershed and editorialise the hours of recorded talk to 45 minutes of the most dramatic dialogues between two self-serving egotists, then perhaps you really do need to consider the Observer’s Paradox. When you have squeezed the pips out of the numbers, you need to recognise that the F score won’t tell you about semantics, production, reception, representation and variables.</p><p>Ah, variables. To keep them open or closed? If Mark is comparing female and male language use (go with me on binary for now), he needs data sets from each group. But if he is going to attempt to ascribe any causal links to his findings, then all the other factors in the data set such as age and audience and familiarity and function had better be the same. Every year I find myself trying to explain the implications of correlation and causality to students who would have preferred media studies on their GCSE timetable to pipettes and Van der Graaf generators. I have honed it down to this example which I tell students every year. “I have looked at the latest test results for this class and I have to say I am pleased that on the whole the boys did better than the girls in the class. So, girls, since all the boys wear ties and none of you wear ties, I suggest that you start wearing a tie if you want to be as good as the boys in the next test.” </p><p>Four months into the investigation you overhear Mark telling his classmate that trendlines only really work for comparing data sets over time. He then points out that using mode rather than mean would allow the anomalous data set to be included without skewing the results. He berates his friend for ignoring audience demographics and begins to explain synthetic personalisation. You sit back and smile. Your work here is done. The groans which filled that pandemically-induced empty football stadium are no more. </p><p><br /></p><p> </p>Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10197410786688948277noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13109151.post-1657595810779312432021-04-08T20:23:00.002+01:002021-04-08T20:23:40.994+01:00Quickfire Comparisons: Paper 1 Question 3<p>This is an activity I've been using for revision of Question 3 on Paper 1. The texts are all ones I've used before and some might be recognisable from courses and/or resources I've presented before, but I think the activity is a new one (for me, at least). The idea is to think about connections (the AO4 bit of Q1-3) by quickly identifying them (points of similarity or difference) and then including a language point to support each one. This starts with short texts and then moves on to slightly longer ones, so you might want to find more than 2 connections in these later ones. The point is to read the extracts and identify points as quickly as possible...</p><p>Rather than look at lots of pairs of full texts, you might want to try some quick comparisons of shorter texts for Question 3. Read each pair of extracts quickly and identify two points to compare/contrast. Each time, try to make the representation of the topic one of your two points, but then vary the other point from the following list, so you have discussed a range by the end:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>mode<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></li><li>genre<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></li><li>time</li><li>audience<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></li><li>purpose<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></li><li>representation of author/text producer</li></ul><p></p><p>Identify at least one feature of language for each example to help you illustrate your points.</p><p><b>Pair 1</b></p><p><i>A. Extract from TV cookery show</i></p><p></p><blockquote>so I’ve got some pancetta here (1) and (.) I’m gonna fry it (.) in the pan (.) need a bit of oil (2) I love pancetta (.) such a lovely flavour</blockquote><p></p><p><i>B. Extract from cookery book (Lorraine Pascale, Glam Mac and Cheese recipe)</i></p><p></p><blockquote>Fry the pancetta in a medium frying pan over a gentle heat until it just starts to brown and crisp up, then add the thyme leaves and spring onions and cook for a further 3 minutes.</blockquote><p></p><p><b>Pair 2</b></p><p><i>A. Spoken account from beginning of a story about an incident at school (Source: <a href="http://www.teachrealenglish.org/teaching-units/12-zack-the-bike-incident/" target="_blank">QMUL spoken language resources</a>)</i></p><p>Zack: no it was like (.) it was the end of school yeah so that school's finished yeah</p><p> and everyone was going home </p><p> and I was getting my bike from the bike rack </p><p> and I was going out </p><p> and I was riding my bike </p><p> and he stopped my bike.</p><p> I was like "yeah" </p><p> and he goes "get off the bike”</p><p><i>B. Extract from an Arthur Conan Doyle story (1903)</i></p><p>A quarter of an hour passed, and then a second cyclist appeared. This time it was the young lady coming from the station. I saw her look about her as she came to the Charlington hedge. An instant later the man emerged from his hiding-place, sprang upon his cycle, and followed her. In all the broad landscape those were the only moving figures, the graceful girl sitting very straight upon her machine, and the man behind her bending low over his handle-bar with a curiously furtive suggestion in every movement. She looked back at him and slowed her pace. He slowed also. She stopped. He at once stopped, too, keeping two hundred yards behind her.</p><p><b>Pair 3</b></p><p><i>A. An extract from The Scotsman website (2011)</i></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRtHz1dyAwTAvVspjs6xWff5sKrl0o9lrOtvshndsSr7af8wpK9eXxHUiEMxmguJSjQz2GsHoGD9HoI1_3SBf29WYET3f2Q79dXVDSFG6SVNWX7z9bcGqIGNJnLU9-EC92NHb2/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="520" data-original-width="320" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRtHz1dyAwTAvVspjs6xWff5sKrl0o9lrOtvshndsSr7af8wpK9eXxHUiEMxmguJSjQz2GsHoGD9HoI1_3SBf29WYET3f2Q79dXVDSFG6SVNWX7z9bcGqIGNJnLU9-EC92NHb2/w395-h640/image.png" width="395" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p><i>B. An extract from The Scotsman newspaper (1871) </i></p><p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVtobSMxnGxBWlbx_ClJdGF1Osnncub6HkDywkLBTThrJ2_EiuKWhIc0h2HrCwDLTQ-IXAF5N414RsfzTd3LvNfF8POuxpadILYFjavIUgx-DG8RQd4UVOMMfCc44XECxpwvHJ/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="427" data-original-width="345" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVtobSMxnGxBWlbx_ClJdGF1Osnncub6HkDywkLBTThrJ2_EiuKWhIc0h2HrCwDLTQ-IXAF5N414RsfzTd3LvNfF8POuxpadILYFjavIUgx-DG8RQd4UVOMMfCc44XECxpwvHJ/w323-h400/image.png" width="323" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p> <b>Pair 4</b></p><p><i>A. An account of an anti-fascist demonstration against “alt-right” Trump supporters in 2017 from an <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/04/far-right-white-supremacists-berkeley-protests-antifa-trump" target="_blank">American politics website</a></i></p><p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWI2VIOKID2JcaL0hxqnKVz4JpuiD7OhMS1c-Hrjfg8hyphenhyphenqD6Up1dyzQq7nch07aA3AUe7wZ-3eMU7rBS0NcV6pda1k60aVaMMakb2Rpj2_3lWFvlnxCg4WiNapJGa_e2ESeiOc/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="364" data-original-width="602" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWI2VIOKID2JcaL0hxqnKVz4JpuiD7OhMS1c-Hrjfg8hyphenhyphenqD6Up1dyzQq7nch07aA3AUe7wZ-3eMU7rBS0NcV6pda1k60aVaMMakb2Rpj2_3lWFvlnxCg4WiNapJGa_e2ESeiOc/w400-h241/image.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><br /></p><p><i>B. An extract from a letter giving an eye-witness account of part of the “Gordon Riots” in London in 1780</i></p><p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSDxS1ni08V8A21hNLNEcZfKXtmJMyXdMRyNEhLWKv-d971ZLSZSGU-Sf9Tx7HER1BpEIkmJZhE654oyHx1FduraPUku9jETC78RakDDGggjHzw9G-k_PjuCtKFCBr7NT56Jzv/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="239" data-original-width="602" height="254" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSDxS1ni08V8A21hNLNEcZfKXtmJMyXdMRyNEhLWKv-d971ZLSZSGU-Sf9Tx7HER1BpEIkmJZhE654oyHx1FduraPUku9jETC78RakDDGggjHzw9G-k_PjuCtKFCBr7NT56Jzv/w640-h254/image.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p><div><br /></div>Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10197410786688948277noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13109151.post-10692132404112275262021-04-06T13:04:00.003+01:002021-04-06T13:04:33.456+01:00Many Ways to Climb the Mountain<p><i>And the guest blogs keep coming... </i></p><p><i>This one is another from Neil Hutchinson, who teaches at Kirkbie Kendal School in the Lake District (on Twitter as <a href="https://twitter.com/HutchinsonNet" target="_blank">@Hutchinsonnet</a>) and here he looks at the foundations of Meanings and Representations when approaching Paper One: Section A.</i></p><p>For students and teachers it can sometimes feel as though the analysis of texts is an arduous uphill struggle. It needn’t be. It’s always heartening to discover you’re not alone on the expedition. The thought that you’re isolated in your decision making is so often the foundation of existential panic. So it was a huge relief to me, and I’m sure countless others, to read <a href="http://englishlangsfx.blogspot.com/2021/03/finding-meaning-in-meaning-and.html" target="_blank">this post</a> from fellow guest blogger Mr McVeigh. In this excellent entry, he talks about his approach to Paper One: Section A with a focus on questions 1 and 2. It was heartening to see that there are other practitioners out there making planning a response by examining meaning, before effect, the focus of approaching the questions. </p><p>My own approach is broadly similar, with a few differences, and based on the needs of the small bunch of Year 12 students sitting in front of me, sometimes struggling to meet the demands of these questions and scale the heights of the mark scheme, due to shaky foundations beneath their feet. </p><p>To remedy this I decided to refine my approach. The historical ‘framework’ approach is of course useful. I do want my students to be able to spot clause elements a mile away. Or label lexical items, with precision, but these alone are not summit markers in a response. Making meanings and representations the top and bottom of their approach, with terminology acting more like the gear to help them along the journey, seems the most sensible route plan. </p><p>Mr McVeigh wrote:</p><p></p><blockquote><i>I like students to identify at least three representations. I normally say that the author is always represented within a text so that is always a good starting point.</i></blockquote><p></p><p>This after he has them, <i>“contextualise the text by identifying the purpose, audience and form of a text (PAF)”</i>. </p><p>This is similar to my approach. We spend a lot of time focusing on the layers of representations as a starting point and then allow the meaning to reveal itself as the trek begins. I use the simple image of a triangle (mountain if my extended metaphor has landed thus far), which I will go into in more detail below. </p><p>As an example, for upcoming exam(ish) preparation we looked at the June 17 paper, featuring the article from the Metro on athlete Veronica Campbell Brown. Spoiler warning ahead. </p><p><b>The ‘What’</b></p><p>The first thing I asked the students to do was to read the text and simply list all of the representations they can find in the text. I don’t want them to come up with ideas about these representations at this stage. For the students who struggle to generate ideas to discuss in the questions I find this is extremely valuable as it gives them something to aim for. They’re mapping out their route through the questions already before they’ve even thought of anything analytical to say. </p><p>At this stage I will write all of these representations on the board: </p><p><span id="docs-internal-guid-62befedb-7fff-5b58-1f3e-76e396b75490"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 275px; overflow: hidden; width: 602px;"><img height="338.937860288927" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/LiXZK2sNfnPd_eZ7wQ4-mC6IpsWrgl92umEnRNMT4jOGRJ-7QGZ_kQKnnwZqAjEm1kyuoSX_UvgCNY5S1ZlWVnexhvm6Zvc0D0t3gYpwmqWEUywnFq2SYLpM3Tb1sw4mr7mz9Rwi" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: -26.4151px;" width="602" /></span></span></span></p><p><br /></p><p>They listed Veronica Capbell Brown as the most obvious person represented, but from there I encouraged them to consider who else or what else was being represented through her. It stands to reason that people don’t exist in representational vacuums. Especially with celebrities and the world of sport, people see themselves reflected back in those they look up to or hold in high esteem. They were then able to say:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Women</li><li>Black People</li><li>Black Women</li><li>Jamaica</li></ul><p></p><p>And just as the students wearing their uniforms outside of school represent our institution I ask them to consider how the individual might represent organisations or institutions. This led to:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Athletics</li><li>The Olympics</li><li>Sprinting</li><li>Professional Etiquette</li><li>Celebrity</li></ul><p></p><p>And then through polarisation present in the article, and again similar to Mr McVeigh, they were able to identify:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Britain/British Identity</li><li>British Athletics</li></ul><p></p><p>And as Mr McVeigh always reminds them, I ask them to consider how the writer is representing themselves or the publication they’re writing for. So to cap it all off:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>The Metro</li><li>Will Giles (writer)</li></ul><p></p><p>This really gives the students a solid base camp with a variety of routes to follow. And it is something every student of every ability can do in an exam context. Naturally, those aiming for the highest bands will be more able to discuss the wider implications of the representations on display. They will even be able to spot patterns of wider discourse, which is really going to help them with AO3. More on that later. While those at the lower end will all be able to explore the representation of the individual named in the text, often the most obvious, yet still, the most salient of all listed above. </p><p>At this point it is worth reminding them that they can’t discuss everything. This is where the interactive whiteboard comes in handy because we now organise that list into a hierarchy (see images below). We decide on this together based on the text in front of us. I ask them is the representation of Veronica Campbell Brown more salient than the representation of black people or women in general? We decide yes. After all she is named in the headline as opposed to say, <i>“Black athlete runs in wrong lane…” or “Female athlete runs in wrong lane…”</i> We do discuss that Campbell Brown is referred to as <i>“The Jamaican”</i> but we consider this as part of the patriotic, tribal stance The Metro is adopting, which we discuss later.</p><p>Before developing that, I first ask them if this seems more openly critical of black people or of women? For simplicity, does it seem more racist or sexist? That is not to say it is neither, arguably these prejudices exist between the lines because they feed into the wider social discourses, which are still present in our society. What we are doing at this stage is glancing back over the whole text and spotting what jumps out, again before we have really started to think of the ‘How’. They decide that for a number of reasons, the representation of women seems salient. They look to the overall discourse structure of listing Campbell Brown’s achievements in the opening and then following it with the angry sounding second paragraph, in which Giles utilises the verb phrase, <i>“managed to RUN…”</i> They felt this fed into a wider social discourse of belittling successful women’s achievements. </p><p>The final order is listed above in the images of my board. The triangle/mountain image comes into its own here because although Veronica Campbell Brown is undoubtedly the peak in terms of representation, that can only exist on the foundation of typical/historical representations that exist within society. Her image in this article rests on the patterns of how women, black people, athletics etc are represented in our wider culture. </p><p>Before moving on to discussing how these representations were being established through language, I emphasised with students that once they had organised them in order of salience they could choose any three to focus on in their answer. Again this is crucial in eliciting a response from every student which is personal and potentially different. The lower ability students may want to focus on the top three whereas those aiming for the highest marks may want to start at the top and pull in something less obvious and perhaps more perceptive. </p><p><span id="docs-internal-guid-20a18672-7fff-1d62-88ef-e5a39366ad04"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 178px; overflow: hidden; width: 602px;"><img height="339" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/qKMQMlrXzoCQ09vJqc9h9pLabcodqVUfxZRL1Xz8TWMhAqTtY2EnTBnfGZc2GQ7aq64hx1YvNfaGcWPKqcPiUPKptXs6glBQxOID1n0qqUGe1Bck-tMMFBL_1lvvYEuExwT26rpF" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: -85px;" width="602" /></span></span></p><p><span id="docs-internal-guid-ea55a71c-7fff-6de8-930f-4d0fd2c61504"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 203px; overflow: hidden; width: 602px;"><img height="339" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/kuYfwDZ68lLIT-wuU2ehOq7zjs_gR0uCe5oYGR-grpkwA-M1bI7BT_ssaLnMUg_00Ci3p-Lf8mYUlmlus20yH6AFumNEF99PVLcKPyE9a-j6gqX6ILohWb7qgn_YFVlxDwfMyor-" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: -123px;" width="602" /></span></span></p><p><b>The ‘How’ </b></p><p>As this article is more about an approach to the questions, I will focus less on this part. But it is here where we start to come up with statements about how these people and institutions are being represented. Again, nothing too linguistic at this stage. Simply what seems to be jumping out? These can be seen in red in the image, but they decided VCB was being represented negatively as either a heartless cheat or as an incompetent woman who did not seem deserving of her accolades. As mentioned above it was very easy for them to now suggest that women are often ridiculed in our wider culture as a way to downplay their achievements. Some discussed, away from the world of sport, the ongoing, relentless and hateful treatment of Mary Beard here. </p><p>It is only now we get to frameworks. Once they have organised their thinking in this way, the language and structure seems to reveal itself in a way it otherwise wouldn’t have done before. They have a solid route and the terrain looks easier for them to negotiate. If you want a more detailed approach for this stage, I recommend <a href="http://englishlangsfx.blogspot.com/2021/03/paper-one-section-trying-something-else.html" target="_blank">this one</a>. </p><p>With these representations and meanings in mind we explored that second paragraph in more detail:</p><p><i></i></p><blockquote><i>But despite all that experience, she has still managed to run in the wrong lane. </i></blockquote><p></p><p>Verb phrase aside, they discussed the sentence opening with the coordinating conjunction functioning as the opening of the adverbial, something I’m sure would have led to much prescriptivist moaning, if they happened upon the Metro that morning on their commute. Why make this deliberate “error”? Well it must be to emphasise that what follows is bigger than all of those achievements just listed. This ramps up the tone of anger, sarcasm, humour and does a great job of reducing this successful athlete to the status of either ‘silly girl’ or ‘evil witch’ or both. We re-wrote this sentence in a variety of ways and decided the fronted adverbial was loaded with meaning, which supported what they had already said about the representations. Then there’s the obvious graphology of the capitalisation to anchor this. </p><p><span id="docs-internal-guid-d96d1805-7fff-a095-e915-e74f1e1a96ca"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 235px; overflow: hidden; width: 602px;"><img height="339.0052617600965" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/r7UB3V4loPWugNuaU7XiESNB1sQTH_H9qDxXBlzc5ybTJmtfkYs1RD7y1fofdkgCBq9amiwRdRcttrQDPB8u0jQogbHY7RhS2yN0QVXuGPzuoSLuTD7ymsUV1YfccFAtwsmRqaky" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: -88.9408px;" width="602" /></span></span></span></p><p><b>The ‘Why’</b></p><p>If in reading this so far you have wondered where the PAF (purpose/audience/form) or GCAP (genre/context/audience/purpose) as I teach, comes in. Well it’s here. I call these the macro concepts of linguistic analysis. The micro elements come from the areas of the frameworks or language levels and should always be used to comment on the macro concepts. </p><p>We now make decisions about these macro concepts and the impact they have had in the writing of the text. Did Will Giles set out to destroy this athlete because she is a woman or is this an unfortunate consequence of something else from GCAP? Starting with the macro concept of Context of production, we looked at the date (2015), and the patterns of language which seemed to focus on British athletics and came up with the idea that there may have been a renewed interest in the sport in this country as a result of the 2012 Olympics. This focus on nationalism and tribal loyalties to Team GB goes some way to underpinning what The Metro might have been trying to do in this article through these representations. They have perhaps tried to position us against this Jamaican athlete to drum up tribal support for our team, but have used conventional negative representations of women to do it. We also discussed the impact of The Metro and its tabloid style in the informal register adopted in our example. On the part of the producer, it may only be a funny (not funny) story for someone to read in 5 mins on the bus (Audience+context), but as we know, context of reception is everything and for a young woman aspiring to be an athlete this could have a far reaching impact. </p><p>This layering of meaning according to GCAP is going to unlock a variety of interpretations of features and patterns that will allow the students to score highly in AO3. As with subject terminology for AO1, points about genre, context, audience and purpose are only as valuable as the argument you pin them to. </p><p>So just because we come to the macro concepts of GCAP last in this strategy does not make it an afterthought. Quite the opposite in fact. An understanding of the construction of a given text from the perspective of GCAP is part of the foundation to understanding the representations in the first place. But rather than taking the approach of, <i>‘this is a tabloid newspaper article therefore it will represent x as y’</i>, I much prefer, <i>‘x is represented as y, possibly because this is a tabloid newspaper article but it may be more to do with z.’</i></p><p>I think that the macro concepts should be something outlined and discussed in introductions as part of the foundation on which the students can build. As long as they’re tied to meanings and representations and contribute to the direction of travel. So putting all of the above together a successful intro to a Question 1, with this text as a basis, may look like:</p><p><span style="color: #2b00fe;"></span></p><blockquote><p><span style="color: #2b00fe;"><i>In Text A, The Metro and writer Will Giles, offer a stereotypically negative representation of women, through Veronica Campbell Brown, as a means of generating national support for British Athletics in the wake of the 2012 Olympics. At various points Campbell Brown is represented as foolish and dull-witted, someone undeserving of her previous achievements and at worst, a dishonest cheat. Giles adopts a classically tabloid style to create these meanings, potentially for click-bait in an online format or to entertain a tribal sports fan on their daily commute. </i></span></p><p></p></blockquote><p>This is slightly wordy, but you get the picture. This intro condenses everything into one paragraph, which covers three strands of representation and their link to audience, genre and two contextual factors. </p><p>Hopefully this has given you some ideas about how to approach the Paper One mountain with students, particularly mixed ability students. Well done for reaching the summit! </p><div><br /></div>Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10197410786688948277noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13109151.post-52262094332844735002021-04-06T12:20:00.003+01:002021-04-09T11:19:03.841+01:00Teacher blogs: a quick list<p>Back in the mists of time, I started this blog for my students at St Francis Xavier Sixth Form College in south London (hence why it's still got SFX in its URL) to support what we were doing in class for A level English Language. I posted links to news stories about language and short activities linked to what we did in class and we used the blog as a way of keeping up to date with what was being discussed in our subject. I kept the blog going when I left SFX to go and work at UCL on the Teaching Grammar in Schools project and then back to teaching again in Essex and working at the English and Media Centre. </p><p>The blog started in the days before Twitter appeared, so since then, a lot of the short links to news stories have appeared there on the <a href="https://twitter.com/EngLangBlog" target="_blank">EngLangBlog account</a> instead and the posts here have become a bit more sporadic but also a bit longer and with different audiences in mind. Many of them are still aimed at students but a few of the newer ones are now aimed at teachers too. So, if you're new to teaching A level English Language - or just interested in what other teachers do - you might find a few of those teacher blogs handy to have in one place. Not all of them were necessarily aimed at teachers to start with, so if you're a student you might find them handy too. </p><p>Anyway, here are a few to get you started:</p><p><b>Paper 1</b></p><p><a href="https://englishlangsfx.blogspot.com/2021/04/many-ways-to-climb-mountain.html">https://englishlangsfx.blogspot.com/2021/04/many-ways-to-climb-mountain.html</a></p><p><a href="http://englishlangsfx.blogspot.com/2021/04/rules-regulations-paper-1-exam-style.html" target="_blank">http://englishlangsfx.blogspot.com/2021/04/rules-regulations-paper-1-exam-style.html </a></p><p><a href="http://englishlangsfx.blogspot.com/2021/03/finding-meaning-in-meaning-and.html">http://englishlangsfx.blogspot.com/2021/03/finding-meaning-in-meaning-and.html</a></p><p><a href="http://englishlangsfx.blogspot.com/2021/03/paper-one-section-trying-something-else.html">http://englishlangsfx.blogspot.com/2021/03/paper-one-section-trying-something-else.html</a></p><p><br /></p><p><b>Paper 2</b></p><p><a href="http://englishlangsfx.blogspot.com/2021/04/paper-2-question-3-slaying-beast.html">http://englishlangsfx.blogspot.com/2021/04/paper-2-question-3-slaying-beast.html</a></p><p><a href="http://englishlangsfx.blogspot.com/2021/03/paper-2-section-marrying-ao1-and-ao2-in.html">http://englishlangsfx.blogspot.com/2021/03/paper-2-section-marrying-ao1-and-ao2-in.html</a></p><p><a href="http://englishlangsfx.blogspot.com/2020/12/thinking-big-planning-and-structuring.html">http://englishlangsfx.blogspot.com/2020/12/thinking-big-planning-and-structuring.html</a></p><p><a href="http://englishlangsfx.blogspot.com/2020/11/guiding-reader-essays-for-paper-2.html">http://englishlangsfx.blogspot.com/2020/11/guiding-reader-essays-for-paper-2.html</a></p><p><a href="http://englishlangsfx.blogspot.com/2020/11/planning-and-writing-paper-2-essays.html">http://englishlangsfx.blogspot.com/2020/11/planning-and-writing-paper-2-essays.html</a></p><p><a href="http://englishlangsfx.blogspot.com/2020/03/paper-2-section-b-resources.html">http://englishlangsfx.blogspot.com/2020/03/paper-2-section-b-resources.html</a></p><p><a href="http://englishlangsfx.blogspot.com/2019/01/when-dan-asked-what-he-should-post.html">http://englishlangsfx.blogspot.com/2019/01/when-dan-asked-what-he-should-post.html</a></p><p><a href="http://englishlangsfx.blogspot.com/2019/01/lists-concepts-different-ideas-thinking.html">http://englishlangsfx.blogspot.com/2019/01/lists-concepts-different-ideas-thinking.html</a></p><p><br /></p><p><b>NEA</b></p><p><a href="http://englishlangsfx.blogspot.com/2020/09/using-lexis-podcast-to-inspire-language.html">http://englishlangsfx.blogspot.com/2020/09/using-lexis-podcast-to-inspire-language.html</a></p><p><a href="https://englishlangsfx.blogspot.com/2021/04/putting-f-in-nea-making-language.html">https://englishlangsfx.blogspot.com/2021/04/putting-f-in-nea-making-language.html</a></p>Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10197410786688948277noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13109151.post-24166360343202206862021-04-02T20:55:00.002+01:002021-04-02T20:58:30.363+01:00Rules & Regulations: Paper 1 exam-style question<p>If you're a teacher and you've exhausted all the previous papers from AQA and are yourself just a bit exhausted after the... stuff... that's been happening over the last year, I thought I'd try to offer a few possible exam-style questions here. I won't claim any great originality for these as they have all appeared in some form or other in different places - either in textbooks or resources I've worked on - but some of them are in a slightly new form, so they might prove useful. </p><p>Anyway, here's a possible pair of Paper 1 texts for Questions 1-3, based on school rules. Both of these texts originally appeared in a Workbook I did for the old AQA B spec which is now long out of print. I've also done a mark scheme for this which you can find <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/k2l5un3lterd249/%288%29%207702-1_Mark%20Scheme_School%20Rules%20practice%20paper.docx?dl=0" target="_blank">here</a>.</p><p><br /></p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p><b>Practice paper: school rules</b></p><p>Paper 1 (7702/1)</p><p>Section A</p><p>Textual variations and representations</p><p>Answer all questions from this section.</p><p>Advice</p><p>It is recommended that you use: </p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>30 minutes reading and preparing the texts </li><li>30 minutes writing your Question 1 answer </li><li>30 minutes writing your Question 2 answer </li><li>20 minutes writing your Question 3 answer </li></ul><p></p><p><br /></p><p>Text A is an extract from a sixth form college’s student handbook from a section outlining the student code of conduct in 2012.</p><p><br /></p><p>Text B is taken from a set of school rules issued to pupils and their parents at the Brondesbury and Kilburn High School in London in 1892.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Question 1 </b><br />Analyse how Text A uses language to create meanings and representations.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><i>[25 marks]</i></p><p><b>Question 2 </b></p><p>Analyse how Text B uses language to create meanings and representations.</p><p><i>[25 marks]</i></p><p><b>Question 3 </b></p><p>Explore the similarities and differences in the ways that Text A and Text B use language. </p><p><i>[20 marks]</i></p><span><!--more--></span><p><br /></p><p><b>Text A</b></p><p>STUDENT CODE OF CONDUCT </p><p><br /></p><p>As a student at The National College we aim to give you all the support and guidance that you need to ensure that you achieve success. The Code of Conduct is a guide showing you what we expect from all students at the College so that we can help you to achieve in a supportive, caring and non-threatening environment. </p><p><br /></p><p>1. Behave and speak towards all staff and other students in a way that does not offend others e.g. using foul or abusive language, racist or sexist behaviour or anti-social behaviour such as spitting. This applies to all areas of the College premises and on transport to and from College. </p><p><br /></p><p>2. Dress in a way that does not offend others. Hoodies must not be worn with the hood up in college and no form of headgear (including baseball caps, hats or scarves) may be worn in classrooms, studios, workshops or any other teaching areas unless for medical or religious reasons. </p><p><br /></p><p>3. Seek help if needed. </p><p><br /></p><p>4. Treat everyone with respect. Any form of bullying will be treated extremely seriously and may lead to permanent exclusion from the College. </p><p><br /></p><p>5. Be punctual and attend all lessons (unless your absence has been agreed in advance and through he proper channels) </p><p><br /></p><p>6. Inform your tutor if you are absent or likely to unavoidably late. </p><p><br /></p><p>7. Agree with your tutor what you need to do to catch up if you have been absent. </p><p><br /></p><p>8. Work to the best of your ability in class and ensure that you do not interfere with the learning of others. </p><p><br /></p><p>9. Complete punctually all work set outside the lesson. </p><p><br /></p><p>10. Meet deadlines for all work. </p><p><br /></p><p>11. Make sure all work produced for assignments and exams is your own work. Where information is used from another source this must be referenced appropriately. Plagiarism and/or cheating may lead to disciplinary action by the College and/or Awarding Body/Examinations Board. </p><p><br /></p><p>12. Treat all College property with respect. </p><p><br /></p><p>13. Wear or carry your ID badge at all times and be prepared to show it to any member of staff if asked. </p><p><br /></p><p>14. Follow the College’s Health and Safety rules at all times. </p><p><br /></p><p>15. Switch off your mobile phone in class. Students whose phone use interferes with class discipline may have their equipment confiscated and returned at the end of the day.</p><p><br /></p><p>16. Do not take food or drink (apart from bottled water) into classrooms, workshops or sports areas. </p><p><br /></p><p>17. Smoking is a harmful and antisocial habit and is discouraged by the College. If you wish to smoke, please do so only in designated smoking areas. Smoking is not permitted outside the College gates. </p><p><br /></p><p>18. Dispose of your litter responsibly by using bins and recycling zones located in and around the College. </p><span><!--more--></span><p><br /></p><p><b>Text B</b></p><p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaxCCCc6BDUbA3tUnWoGxahMqVOAgBs4yzG8f2Y77fosJ3gzunesk5FLrNvj2MzOJRrB28KZQHgwx_u3a37CykwtUTYBwewAF6RvvJj2LsRfLvdB_82C6aoCU5sOmMy1K4e8g3/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="780" data-original-width="602" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaxCCCc6BDUbA3tUnWoGxahMqVOAgBs4yzG8f2Y77fosJ3gzunesk5FLrNvj2MzOJRrB28KZQHgwx_u3a37CykwtUTYBwewAF6RvvJj2LsRfLvdB_82C6aoCU5sOmMy1K4e8g3/w493-h640/image.png" width="493" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><br /></p>Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10197410786688948277noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13109151.post-85348890038799983222021-04-02T15:46:00.001+01:002021-04-02T15:48:00.080+01:00Paper 2 Question 3 – Slaying the Beast<p>This guest blog is by Anna Browning (on Twitter as <a href="https://twitter.com/wordphile" target="_blank">@wordphile</a>) who is a teacher in the East Midlands. She says, 'I've been teaching for over 25 years and have learned so much from colleagues over the years; now it's a genuine pleasure to help others where I can'. Thanks for a great post.<p>Of all the questions on the AQA A Level Language Papers, this is the one that my students need the most help with. It is not that that skills are different, or that the texts are difficult – it is that there are so many balls to keep in the air at once. The examiner’s report (which I advise you to read) makes it clear that this is the question that candidates find most challenging.</p><p>What I have outlined here is a way to teach students. It is like a slow “guided reading” process that teaches students to see what is significant and interesting in the data.</p><p><b>1.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Slow them down – make your students take the time to read.</b></p><p>Observing my students when faced with an article has taught me that they want to start annotating straight away. Out come the highlighters and the coloured pens and away they go. I understand – they see “just reading” as wasting time and making a mark on a piece of paper is tangible evidence that they are making progress with the task. The trouble is, they are frequently highlighting features without having understood the articles properly. Tell them to put down the pens and just read. Then write down three things about each source: </p><p><b>What is it? Who wrote it? Why was it written? </b></p><p>Get them to write these questions in large letters somewhere prominent and to keep them front and centre as they look at the texts.</p><p><i>Top tip – if there is a shorter article, look at it first and compare the longer one to it rather than the other way around. Simply, the shorter article will have fewer things to spot that the longer one.</i></p><p><b>2.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Place the texts in a wider discourse.</b></p><p>Encourage your students to be precise about this. The articles will be about language change or language varieties and they will have encountered the debates and discourses in lessons and in their wider reading. You might have two articles about the way language change is perceived as decay, the apparent loss of accents and dialects over time, or the way women’s use of vocal fry and uptalk is seen as disempowering. Make this the first sentence of the answer and you are on to a winner from the start. </p><p><i>Be careful though, of having a reductive list of discourses. It is important to write about what IS there, not what we might LIKE to be there. </i></p><p><b>3.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Find links and patterns.</b></p><p>On the paper, the two text are printed so that they can be placed side by side. This is so that from the very start, students can do just that and see them as a data set. Now to ask the next question – what else links these two sources that might be relevant? Do they use the same language? Are the writers, the contexts, or the attitudes similar? Are there any patterns across the two texts in the language or structures that are immediately obvious? </p><p><i>In my classroom we like to look for figurative language, rhetorical devices and code-switching on a first pass. </i></p><p><b>4.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Compare the way the writers represent themselves.</b></p><p>Start with the by-line. In an opinionated editorial (op. ed.) the writer is usually an “expert voice” and the views are the writer’s own. A journalist will often distance themselves somewhat from the opinions by using quotation or paraphrasing an authority on the subject. However, there is no such thing as an unbiased writer. It is often interesting to compare the ways that writers shape and frame arguments by selection.</p><p><b>5.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Analyse the representation of ideas and opinions. </b></p><p>Analyse the different ways that writers represent the opinions of others. It can be helpful to look at how experts are described – are they “linguists” or “language boffins” and what difference does it make? What assumptions are made about the knowledge and interests of the reader? What is simplified, glossed or exemplified? What use is made of metaphor or cultural references? Are the ideas being presented new or established? What sorts of sentences are being used – simple or complex? Declarative? Is the tone personal or impersonal? Is the register formal or informal…</p><p><i>Top tip – teach them to look at co-text as well as context. If you pick out a word or short phrase, then look at what comes right before and right after it and how that changes things. </i></p><p><b>6.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Evaluate how the reader is positioned.</b></p><p>How have the two writers shaped their presentations of the issue for the audience? Remind your students that most people do not choose their reading material because it challenges their ideas and opinions – quite the opposite. I read the newspaper that most accords with my world view. Persuasive speeches do not change people’s minds – whatever we tell students at GCSE - they reinforce beliefs. And advertisements do not make you want to buy aftershave – they suggest that THIS aftershave might the one for people like you… </p><p>In my classroom, our current favourite device is the conditional sentence. </p><p><i>“If you don’t like uptalk, then you are going to hate vocal fry.” </i></p><p>See? There is not much room for the reader to LIKE uptalk in that sentence – it assumes that the readers do not like uptalk and are quite ready to dislike whatever new vocal tic they are exposed to. </p><p><b>7.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Finally, make a choice about what to write about.</b></p><p>If your students have spent the best part of a double lesson looking at the texts in depth, then they have far too much to say. </p><p>Now comes the distillation process – <b>what is most significant and interesting about the way these two writers have engaged with this linguistic topic and shaped their texts for their audiences?</b></p><p><br /></p><p> </p><div><br /></div>Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10197410786688948277noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13109151.post-84386716989909799012021-03-28T20:35:00.001+01:002021-03-28T20:36:10.942+01:00Paper 2 Section A: marrying AO1 and AO2 in an 'evaluate' question for language change<p><i>In this new guest blog, Donal Hale takes a look at how he and his students deal with both the content and linguistic register needed for good 'Evaluate the idea...' answers in Paper 2 Section A. Donal is Assistant Subject Leader i/c KS5 English at Huntington School, York and can be found on <a href="https://twitter.com/HaleDonal" target="_blank">Twitter here</a>.</i></p><p>One of the issues that many students appear to face with the ‘evaluate the idea that’ question is: how do you ensure students still develop an argument, and sound like a linguist as they do so, when evaluating a viewpoint of language change, for instance? Especially without a data set to draw from (like in Child Language Development). Whilst the primary use of AO1 is to assess the structure, fluency and shape of the argument in this section of the exam, rather than analysing data, we do need to also ensure students are using subject/topic-appropriate vocabulary as part of this linguistic register to create a more convincing argument.</p><p>Although the majority of marks for this question (20/30) are for AO2, AO1, like much to the AQA Language specification is the bedrock to any decent evaluation of language study. So, how can we support students in a happy marriage of AO1 and AO2?</p><p>Perhaps a specific example might be useful to illustrate some hints and tips, so I will use the following question as the basis of my approaches to this section of the exam:</p><p></p><blockquote><i>Evaluate the idea that language is decaying slowly.</i></blockquote><p></p><p><br /></p><p><b>Keeping evaluation at the forefront of all ideas</b></p><p>My first tip, which albeit may appear to be a very simple one, is to evaluate the proposed viewpoint very concisely, in a single sentence, before students zoom off and bring in the concepts and references (AO2) for their line of argument – in essence, ensuring they guide the reader in their development of an argument for AO1. For the question above, I may offer the following as an example of how they do this and ask them to reflect on how this aligns with their own views:</p><p><span style="color: #990000;">I maintain that language change is a neutral process, rather than a process of slow decay, that neither indicates evolution or deterioration. </span></p><p>We then spend time unpicking what argument is being put forward here, and shaping their own argument around this (whether they agree or disagree!).</p><p>The next step concerns exemplification of this key line of argument i.e. what supporting evidence will we use to “prove” these ideas. To do this, I might offer some support to students’ thinking in the form of frontloading the ‘indicative content’ might be useful for this question, to act as a springboard for them to judiciously select what knowledge of language study can be drawn into this question. For example:</p><p>Students are likely to:</p><p>•<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>conceptualise nature and causes of language change as a process</p><p>•<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>explore views of language change (e.g. decay metaphors, evolution views, progress, functional theory etc) using specific examples</p><p>•<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>evaluate and challenge descriptivist stances</p><p>•<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>evaluate and challenge prescriptivist and decay views </p><p>Students use this to then explore their class notes, and select what is most relevant in supporting them to answer this question – this, in essence, formulates their planning of their responses.</p><p><b>The missing bits: linguistic register</b></p><p>When I ask students to feedback their ideas based on what we have planned so far, it is always AO2 focused and centred on concepts and references that help shape of the debate, and it is rare that students support these ideas of, let’s say Aitchison’s ‘crumbling castle’ metaphor, with what we might term a linguistic register to reinforce their argument. This is fine, for now, I say, before I present this introduction that expands upon our singular sentence evaluation from earlier (which I underline below):</p><p><span style="color: #990000;">The English language is an entity that is continuously changing, and the notion that this process is one of decay is not new to discussions among linguists. The use of language can be an emotive issue, and those harbouring prescriptivist attitudes often attribute ‘language decay’ to societal changes, such as the behaviour of the younger generation and technology. Aitchison (1996) has categorised these prescriptivist views into three categories: the damp spoon syndrome, the crumbling castle view, and the infectious disease assumption. The crumbling castle view resonates most closely with the idea that language is decaying slowly, comparing English to a beautiful old building that is collapsing. Conversely, descriptivists may argue that language is evolving, and that changes only enrich it. However compelling either argument may seem, <u>I maintain that language change is a neutral process, rather than a process of slow decay, that neither indicates evolution or deterioration. </u></span></p><p>Students, broadly, are happy with this, and confident, until I ask the question:</p><p></p><blockquote>How do we develop this argument cogently and still maintain a linguistic register?</blockquote><p></p><p>Errrrr…</p><p><b>A happy marriage</b></p><p>I use my own metaphor to introduce a model paragraph regarding a ‘marriage’ of AO1 and AO2 to signpost to the students that they are not separate entities in evaluative questions, nor do you need a data set to develop a linguistic register (AO1) when shaping a critical debate using theories (AO2).</p><p>I use this model for this question, which I explain will be a main body paragraph within the whole essay response:</p><p><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Moreover, a change that is occurring within the vocabulary of the English language is the use of portmanteau. For example, the blending of the proper noun ‘Britain’ and the simple present tense verb ‘exit’ forms the term ‘Brexit’, which expresses the idea of Britain exiting from the EU. This term has emerged as a neologism in recent years, after first being coined by Peter Wilding in a blog post (2012).</span> <span style="color: #800180;">The crumbling castle view dictates that portmanteaus indicate laziness, as they shorten a concept to make it easier to say. However, it has been suggested by linguists that ‘Brexit’ was central to ensuring the success of the Leave Campaign in the 2016 referendum; in this way, the portmanteau can be regarded as a powerful tool that helped to shape decisions of society. This concept is supported by Halliday’s Functional Theory (1975), which states that language changes to meet the needs of its users.</span> <span style="color: #2b00fe;">The blend ‘Brexit’ was used by the Leave campaign as a psycholinguistic technique to attract support from voters, showing how it has functioned to meet the needs of the Leave campaign. </span><span style="color: #800180;">Therefore, language change can be seen as catalyst of social change, rather than a sign of languor. </span></p><p><span style="color: #2b00fe;">AO1</span></p><p><span style="color: #800180;">AO2</span></p><p>We unpick this model and consider not merely what aspects of linguistic register the paragraph covers, but more importantly, how it connects and reinforces the AO2 ideas. Students pick out the moments they feel this occurs and we examine the relationship in greater detail. This helps sharpen their focus ensuring the fluency of their argument is inextricably linked to a linguistic register, rather than examining ideas as a psychologist or sociologist might do.</p><p>As you would expect, students then use the model as a style model to create their own paragraph that marries these two elements effectively. Before they submit this for feedback, I ask them to underline where the relationship occurs in their writing, and I focus my feedback on how happy the marriage is! </p><p>Note: feel free to use your own metaphors for this.</p><p>Whilst deceptively simple, some might say, I have always found this highly effective. Indeed, as teachers this is fundamentally how we ensure learning takes place – making complex cognitive process seem simple and manageable to allow students to write essays with success.</p><div><br /></div>Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10197410786688948277noreply@blogger.com