Sunday, May 3, 2009
30 April class
Most of our time today was spent listening to two of our peers' final project presentations. Because Bekir and Leping won't be able to join us during finals week, they presented. It was very nice of them to do that because I felt it helped give me some direction in my work. It reaffirmed that much of what I was doing was correct but it also gave me some ideas. They both did a fine job. In fact, knowing that I have to work hard to do well in this class made me think of how difficult it might be for a non-native English speaker. I have much admiration for our classmates from other countries.
23 April class
We spent some time discussing gestures and body language and how they affect communication. Even though they aren't language in a linguistic sense, they do communicate. Sometimes they can communicate very important pieces of information. For example, we talked about how in different cultures gestures can mean different things. In many Middle Eastern countries it is not wise to use the left hand because of its connection to bodily functions in the bathroom. Similarly, the index to thumb ok sign can mean something positive in the U.S. but negative in certain cultures abroad.
We also discussed aspects of the final project. It's difficult to believe the end of the semester is drawing to a close. Lots to do.
We also discussed aspects of the final project. It's difficult to believe the end of the semester is drawing to a close. Lots to do.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
16 April class
Class today started out with a comparison/contrast of texts--one in Old English, one in Middle English and one in Modern English. I enjoyed the activity. It helped having some Biblical background knowledge (the texts dealt with the story of Noah) as did having a good working and speaking knowledge of German. I knew English was a Germanic language, and I had seen Old English and Middle English in high school and undergrad classes; but they both made much more sense to me in this class because my German is so much better now than it was back in high school or undergrad days.
Dr. Smidt also shared a final project with us. I found it helpful to see the finished product. It was also motivating to see it. I was feeling somewhat overwhelmed by the whole thing, but I'm feeling somewhat better now. Unfortunately, I have to find a new subject to interview. I tried interviewing a Hispanic waiter at a local restaurant, but his knowledge of English ended up being too limited to conduct the interview or to get a good sample of writing. I'm trying interviewee #2 tomorrow. Hopefully, that one will go more smoothly.
Dr. Smidt also shared a final project with us. I found it helpful to see the finished product. It was also motivating to see it. I was feeling somewhat overwhelmed by the whole thing, but I'm feeling somewhat better now. Unfortunately, I have to find a new subject to interview. I tried interviewing a Hispanic waiter at a local restaurant, but his knowledge of English ended up being too limited to conduct the interview or to get a good sample of writing. I'm trying interviewee #2 tomorrow. Hopefully, that one will go more smoothly.
Chapter 13 Read & Retell
Chapter 13 dealt with historical linguistics. History interests me a great deal, but I don't think I would be very patient in studying linguistics historically via the process the chapter described with the Polynesian languages. The case study was interesting. I enjoyed seeing how they used history, archeology and anthropology to surmise how the Polynesian languages developed and how they are related to one another as a language family.
The chapter also briefly described the language families of the world. English and many western European languages descended from the Indo-European family. The family language trees proved helpful in visualizing the evolution of each family. The chapter spent most of the time on the Indo-European because of the assumption that most readers of this text have a strong English background. The other language families of the world received less attention. Some language families are quite small and don't belong to a larger family; Japanese is such an isolate.
The last part of the chapter dealt with language changes brought on by contact between different languages. For example, bilingualism or multilingualism--both fairly self explanatory terms--can become nativization, when a community adopts a new language in addition to its native language such as English in India. Pidgin, a simplified version of a majority or dominant group's language adopted by a minority or subordinate group, can evolve into creole--a former pidgin that has acquired native speakers.
The key to the whole chapter again is the fact that language is always evolving and changing.
The chapter also briefly described the language families of the world. English and many western European languages descended from the Indo-European family. The family language trees proved helpful in visualizing the evolution of each family. The chapter spent most of the time on the Indo-European because of the assumption that most readers of this text have a strong English background. The other language families of the world received less attention. Some language families are quite small and don't belong to a larger family; Japanese is such an isolate.
The last part of the chapter dealt with language changes brought on by contact between different languages. For example, bilingualism or multilingualism--both fairly self explanatory terms--can become nativization, when a community adopts a new language in addition to its native language such as English in India. Pidgin, a simplified version of a majority or dominant group's language adopted by a minority or subordinate group, can evolve into creole--a former pidgin that has acquired native speakers.
The key to the whole chapter again is the fact that language is always evolving and changing.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Finegan 14 Read & Retell
History is a love of mine so reading about the history of English was fun, albeit a bit technical at times. The chapter fit well with the video we watched this week (good planning, Dr. Smidt). I had basic background knowledge of Old, Middle, King James and Modern English, but the video and chapter enhanced that.
English is basically a Germanic language, which also interests me a great deal because I know German quite well. Reading about the inflectional nature of Old English made much sense because German is still very inflectional today.
Reading and viewing information about Middle English took me back to my high school senior year Brit Lit class. We read and spent much time on Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. In fact, we had to memorize the Prologue in its original Middle English. I remember hating doing that and really not understanding the words much. Now that I speak German much better, when I read or hear Middle English, it is really quite understandable, especially listening to it.
English has changed a great deal in its form, look and sound over the centuries. It has retained certain aspects/words from all its forms, but it continues to evolve. I wonder how technology, especially texting, will affect our modern English. Will Chinese, as the country becomes a greater power and influence in the world, affect English like English has affected so many other languages. Will we resist the influx of foreign words like the French have with English? It's important to know history. It helps us as teachers to know where we came from and where we could be headed.
English is basically a Germanic language, which also interests me a great deal because I know German quite well. Reading about the inflectional nature of Old English made much sense because German is still very inflectional today.
Reading and viewing information about Middle English took me back to my high school senior year Brit Lit class. We read and spent much time on Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. In fact, we had to memorize the Prologue in its original Middle English. I remember hating doing that and really not understanding the words much. Now that I speak German much better, when I read or hear Middle English, it is really quite understandable, especially listening to it.
English has changed a great deal in its form, look and sound over the centuries. It has retained certain aspects/words from all its forms, but it continues to evolve. I wonder how technology, especially texting, will affect our modern English. Will Chinese, as the country becomes a greater power and influence in the world, affect English like English has affected so many other languages. Will we resist the influx of foreign words like the French have with English? It's important to know history. It helps us as teachers to know where we came from and where we could be headed.
April 9 class
Class this week was helpful. It really focused us on getting at our final projects. I needed that. The semester is really coming quickly to a close, and I needed that push to think about wrapping things up. The small group work we did was helpful, but it was also a bit laborious. No one seemed to want to talk or get going. I'm wondering how an asynchronous course works. I haven't taken one yet, but I'm not certain it would be as good as the synchronous meeting. I have enjoyed being exposed to this type of learning.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
02 April class reflection
Class this week went by quickly. We spent some time discussing our past quiz. There seemed to be a lull in the class during this time. I'm not certain if people were afraid to ask questions or if there really were no questions. We also spent some time in small groups doing some exercises in Finegan related to this week's readings on information structure. That seemed to go pretty well. I felt we didn't get much time to talk about the video, which was an interesting culmination to many previous thoughts and ideas in the books and course. It really helped draw many thoughts together as we close in on the end of the semester.
Finegan 9 Read & Retell
Having not really much enjoyed chapter 8 of Finegan, I was a bit hesitant to read chapter 9. I was presently surprised that I found it more interesting although still somewhat less captivating than readings earlier in the semester. The chapter focused on speech acts and conversation. It's interesting to think that something that comes quite easy to most people (speaking and conversing) really is quite complex. Linguists, as I should have surmised, have dissected our speech and conversation into explainable patterns and parts. So much of what we say can be understood in different ways depending on context. I liked how the chapter explained that the terms declarative, interrogative and imperative are really oversimplifications of what happens in spoken language...it depends on context.
The part of the chapter I found most interesting was the section on the cooperative principle. The four maxims are ideas we speakers are mostly aware of. Sometimes we are guilty of violating a maxim. We all know some chronic violators of certain maxims. For example, a recent manner of saying someone has violated the maxim of quantity is by saying to them "too much information." I also thought it interesting the thoughts behind lying and truth as explained in the maxim of quality. People by nature expect people to tell the truth.
The intricate dance that occurs in conversations was also amusing...opening sequences, turn taking, closing sequences, etc. I never thought that all of this would be explained as it is...and we're just scratching the surface in this class.
Finally, the cultural aspect of language is super important for L2 teachers and learners. I had already heard about many American Indians having large pauses between thoughts, but hadn't necessarily thought about how it might affect my teaching or communication with people from different cultural background. My favorite statement in the whole chapter was the Mandarin "Have you eaten rice yet?" equivalent to our "How are you?" I tend not to ask "How are you?" unless I really mean it. If a person is just really saying "hello," I feel he/she should just say "hello" or some equivalent to it.
The part of the chapter I found most interesting was the section on the cooperative principle. The four maxims are ideas we speakers are mostly aware of. Sometimes we are guilty of violating a maxim. We all know some chronic violators of certain maxims. For example, a recent manner of saying someone has violated the maxim of quantity is by saying to them "too much information." I also thought it interesting the thoughts behind lying and truth as explained in the maxim of quality. People by nature expect people to tell the truth.
The intricate dance that occurs in conversations was also amusing...opening sequences, turn taking, closing sequences, etc. I never thought that all of this would be explained as it is...and we're just scratching the surface in this class.
Finally, the cultural aspect of language is super important for L2 teachers and learners. I had already heard about many American Indians having large pauses between thoughts, but hadn't necessarily thought about how it might affect my teaching or communication with people from different cultural background. My favorite statement in the whole chapter was the Mandarin "Have you eaten rice yet?" equivalent to our "How are you?" I tend not to ask "How are you?" unless I really mean it. If a person is just really saying "hello," I feel he/she should just say "hello" or some equivalent to it.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Finegan 8 Read & Retell
Finegan 8 handled the topics of information structure and pragmatics. Of all the chapters we have read this semester, I would have to say this chapter interested me least. I would venture to guess that my interest level was somewhat dependent on the abstract nature of some of the concepts. The chapter was filled with many terms, some of which were familiar and some of which I had difficulty wrapping my head around. I actually felt somewhat enlightened at the end of the chapter with the summary statement--"Syntax is thus used to convey two kinds of imformation: semantic information and pragramatic information."
Information structure is highlighting and deemphasizing certain information in a language text. Discourse context plays a role in how this occurs. The study of information structure is pragmatics. Various topics that seemed somewhat easier to grasp were given vs. new information, contrast, topics, definite vs. indefinite information, passive vs. active, etc. It was interesting to read how different languages deal with these concepts in different ways...word order, pitch, etc. The concepts that I found a bit abstract were fronting, left dislocation and clefts. The example sentences were helpful, but I don't think I could take a sentence and dissect using these terms.
One item I especially enjoyed learning about was use of passive and active voice in sentence construction. I tend to attempt to use active voice because it was so drilled into me during writing classes. I appreciated reading about proper use of passive voice to help flow and understanding. I had never thought of it in that way.
Information structure is highlighting and deemphasizing certain information in a language text. Discourse context plays a role in how this occurs. The study of information structure is pragmatics. Various topics that seemed somewhat easier to grasp were given vs. new information, contrast, topics, definite vs. indefinite information, passive vs. active, etc. It was interesting to read how different languages deal with these concepts in different ways...word order, pitch, etc. The concepts that I found a bit abstract were fronting, left dislocation and clefts. The example sentences were helpful, but I don't think I could take a sentence and dissect using these terms.
One item I especially enjoyed learning about was use of passive and active voice in sentence construction. I tend to attempt to use active voice because it was so drilled into me during writing classes. I appreciated reading about proper use of passive voice to help flow and understanding. I had never thought of it in that way.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Class 26 March 09
We had a visitor in class today, Dr. Contag from the Spanish department. It was great to have an observer in class, sharing her thoughts on various topics and questions that came up.
We spent some of class focused on the differences between men and women and language use, based upon our viewing of the assigned video. I wonder how discussing this online affected the discussion. Would it have been different had we been face to face? Gender related issues can often get heated during discussion. So much communication happens through facial expression, body language and tone of voice. For the most part, we can't rely on those during our online discussions.
The class went through some of the answers to our latest quiz. I found it very interesting that some people could visualize the tree diagrams that were being described orally, while others had major difficulties. I think it was a great demonstration of the difference between visual and aural learners.
The remainder of class dealt with the final project. Some of us got special wiki tutoring. It was helpful. It was pretty amazing that we could see what Dr. Smidt was doing on her computer screen. The power of technology.
We spent some of class focused on the differences between men and women and language use, based upon our viewing of the assigned video. I wonder how discussing this online affected the discussion. Would it have been different had we been face to face? Gender related issues can often get heated during discussion. So much communication happens through facial expression, body language and tone of voice. For the most part, we can't rely on those during our online discussions.
The class went through some of the answers to our latest quiz. I found it very interesting that some people could visualize the tree diagrams that were being described orally, while others had major difficulties. I think it was a great demonstration of the difference between visual and aural learners.
The remainder of class dealt with the final project. Some of us got special wiki tutoring. It was helpful. It was pretty amazing that we could see what Dr. Smidt was doing on her computer screen. The power of technology.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Finegan 10 & 11 Read & Retell
I found chapters 10 and 11 of Finegan quite interesting. They both dealt with various aspects of language variation due to context, whether that be the setting or the people involved in using the language.
Chapter 10 focused on register or style of language, which varies depending on the speech situation (setting, purpose and participants). Depending on the speech situation, a person uses different registers or styles of speech, which can be characterized by various linguistic features such as lexical, phonological, grammatical and semantic. In a monolingual community like I have experienced most of my life, I can apply this to how I might speak to friends versus meeting an academic advisor at a university for the first time. My speech with friends will be much less formal than my speech with the advisor. In a multilingual situation, other kinds of situations arise. For example, I lived in Marburg (Germany) for a year. My adult friends could speak high German (a standard form or school form of German) or Hessisch, a local dialect from Hessen, which was like a different language that I could not understand. When we were in a group, they needed to speak high German so I could understand, but it was very difficult for them to speak high German with native speakers in the same group. They were almost compelled to speak Hessisch. I was reminded of this by the discussion on the top of page 318 in regards to difficulty communicating in one language versus another depending on the setting.
Slang is another aspect of register. As a teacher I'm always trying to learn the newest adolescent slang. I want to know what "kids" are saying, but I'm not a big fan of older adults using what is considered an adolescent type slang.
Jargon is another style of language that each of us in the professional world comes to know. In education, one of the most frequently used words that signals working in the field is the word "piece." At conferences it almost becomes ludicrous as to how many times one may hear it used.
Chapter 11 of Finegan dealt with dialects. A dialect is a variety of language based upon a particular region or social group. As mentioned above, Germany has many dialects...Bavarian, Hessisch, Platt, and so forth. A person from Bavaria has a difficult time understanding a person from Hannover if they are speaking in their particular dialects. I'm glad the chapter pointed out the difference between dialect and accent; I sometimes confused those terms. It was interesting reading about British versus American forms of English as well as the African American English or Black vernacular. I am definitely guilty of sometimes judging people on the usage of language that is different from my Upper Midwestern dialect, which closely resembles the standard English we hear on television and radio. One major fact I have learned in this class is that languages of various kinds are legitimate and complex in composition.
Chapter 10 focused on register or style of language, which varies depending on the speech situation (setting, purpose and participants). Depending on the speech situation, a person uses different registers or styles of speech, which can be characterized by various linguistic features such as lexical, phonological, grammatical and semantic. In a monolingual community like I have experienced most of my life, I can apply this to how I might speak to friends versus meeting an academic advisor at a university for the first time. My speech with friends will be much less formal than my speech with the advisor. In a multilingual situation, other kinds of situations arise. For example, I lived in Marburg (Germany) for a year. My adult friends could speak high German (a standard form or school form of German) or Hessisch, a local dialect from Hessen, which was like a different language that I could not understand. When we were in a group, they needed to speak high German so I could understand, but it was very difficult for them to speak high German with native speakers in the same group. They were almost compelled to speak Hessisch. I was reminded of this by the discussion on the top of page 318 in regards to difficulty communicating in one language versus another depending on the setting.
Slang is another aspect of register. As a teacher I'm always trying to learn the newest adolescent slang. I want to know what "kids" are saying, but I'm not a big fan of older adults using what is considered an adolescent type slang.
Jargon is another style of language that each of us in the professional world comes to know. In education, one of the most frequently used words that signals working in the field is the word "piece." At conferences it almost becomes ludicrous as to how many times one may hear it used.
Chapter 11 of Finegan dealt with dialects. A dialect is a variety of language based upon a particular region or social group. As mentioned above, Germany has many dialects...Bavarian, Hessisch, Platt, and so forth. A person from Bavaria has a difficult time understanding a person from Hannover if they are speaking in their particular dialects. I'm glad the chapter pointed out the difference between dialect and accent; I sometimes confused those terms. It was interesting reading about British versus American forms of English as well as the African American English or Black vernacular. I am definitely guilty of sometimes judging people on the usage of language that is different from my Upper Midwestern dialect, which closely resembles the standard English we hear on television and radio. One major fact I have learned in this class is that languages of various kinds are legitimate and complex in composition.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Class on 19 March 09
Class was pretty typical today. We had a little bit of a small group glitch but it worked itself out quickly enough. Good thing Dr. Schmidt is so adept at using the software; she was able to create small break out groups pretty quickly. It's still amazing to me how many people do not want to speak with their microphones. In face to face situations, I can somewhat understand a reticent person; online reticence still catches me off guard.
I'm a little worried about the quiz we had this past weekend. Some of the concepts I felt I had in hand, but then little pieces of the quiz caused doubt. For example, the small differentiation of labels on the quiz's tree diagrams made me a little uneasy. Also, matching the tree diagrams to the sentences seemed easy enough until I saw the pattern (or at least what I thought was a pattern) in the answers. I hate when there isn't a random pattern of answers on a quiz or test. I think this was the case with the quiz. The Fijian work also made me a little uneasy. Some of this linguistics information is difficult enough to understand when dealing with English. When it has to be applied to another language, it can be that much more of a challenge. I get why we're doing it, but it does create a sense of doubt in my mind.
I'm a little worried about the quiz we had this past weekend. Some of the concepts I felt I had in hand, but then little pieces of the quiz caused doubt. For example, the small differentiation of labels on the quiz's tree diagrams made me a little uneasy. Also, matching the tree diagrams to the sentences seemed easy enough until I saw the pattern (or at least what I thought was a pattern) in the answers. I hate when there isn't a random pattern of answers on a quiz or test. I think this was the case with the quiz. The Fijian work also made me a little uneasy. Some of this linguistics information is difficult enough to understand when dealing with English. When it has to be applied to another language, it can be that much more of a challenge. I get why we're doing it, but it does create a sense of doubt in my mind.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
05 March class
I wasn't able to attend our online session on 05 March. I had a work committment. Today as I write this, it seems like forever since being together...having missed a week followed by a week of spring break. I'm looking forward to this afternoon.
Finegan 6 Read & Retell
Finegan 6 dealt with semantics. I like to use the phrase "It's all semantics" sometimes when having a disagreement about an issue with a friend or colleague. After reading the chapter, I have a much better understanding about what semantics really is.
I liked the explanation that linguistic meaning is often refered to as denotation while connotation usually includes both social and affective meaning. It's helpful connecting known terms like denotation and connotation to more technical, linguistic terms.
I enjoyed the sections on hyponymy and part/whole relationships. It amazed me how technical various aspects of semantics can get. For example, I knew about antonymy, but never heard of gradable and nongradable aspects of it. The discussion about determining homonymy and polysemy never occurred to me as far as how dictionaries decide on how to include words in the entries of their book. Very interesting.
The way culture affects semantics struck me at several points in the reading. I just took my first semester of Spanish last fall. Reading about deixis made me think of having learned about the spatial deixis for "near the speaker," "a little distant from the speaker," and "far from the speaker." The other example of culture affecting semantics that was fun to read about was the seat of emotions metaphor...for us we think "heart" while others think "stomach." I totally get the stomach metaphor...butterflies in the stomach, stomach ache when facing something difficult to do, getting an upset stomach because of a situation rather than an illness.
The many terms in the chapter were a bit overwhelming, but they did make sense to me. I suppose you have to have a language to talk about these aspects of language.
I liked the explanation that linguistic meaning is often refered to as denotation while connotation usually includes both social and affective meaning. It's helpful connecting known terms like denotation and connotation to more technical, linguistic terms.
I enjoyed the sections on hyponymy and part/whole relationships. It amazed me how technical various aspects of semantics can get. For example, I knew about antonymy, but never heard of gradable and nongradable aspects of it. The discussion about determining homonymy and polysemy never occurred to me as far as how dictionaries decide on how to include words in the entries of their book. Very interesting.
The way culture affects semantics struck me at several points in the reading. I just took my first semester of Spanish last fall. Reading about deixis made me think of having learned about the spatial deixis for "near the speaker," "a little distant from the speaker," and "far from the speaker." The other example of culture affecting semantics that was fun to read about was the seat of emotions metaphor...for us we think "heart" while others think "stomach." I totally get the stomach metaphor...butterflies in the stomach, stomach ache when facing something difficult to do, getting an upset stomach because of a situation rather than an illness.
The many terms in the chapter were a bit overwhelming, but they did make sense to me. I suppose you have to have a language to talk about these aspects of language.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Freeman 9/Finegan 5 Read & Retell
Both chapters basically dealt with English syntax, the rules governing the formation of sentences in a language. It's a complex topic, and both chapters reinforced the idea that this was simply an introduction. Linguists try to describe syntax by formulating rules, the goal being to formulate the fewest amount of rules to generate an infinite number of sentences in a language.
Native speakers acquire a language's syntax. They know the rules subconsciously and use them correctly for their setting/demographic. The information in these chapters explained how linguists study what is natural to a native speaker and posit theories as to how the language functions when spoken and written in sentences. Linguists use the term grammar, which can have several meanings (the internal rules of native speakers, the descriptions of syntactic structure and most commonly the traditional rules most people are taught).
The rules of syntax have to deal with both the deep structure and the surface structure of a sentence. Both chapters used tree diagraming as a graphic organizer to show this structure and grammar. I have never done this type of diagraming but look forward to practicing it.
As usual, Finegan proved a more technical read with many terms. Freeman focused on highlights and provided information on using syntax in teaching reading and second language instruction. Syntax tends to be of little use to the word recognition camp because of the focus on individual words. The sociopsychololingistic view finds syntax useful, one of three cueing systems. Cloze activities are a good example of this application. Having learned and taught much traditional grammar, it's hard to read that traditional grammar instruction leads to little learning in regards to reading and writing. I'm glad the texts did mention mini-lessons in a writing workshop setting; these mini-lessons can focus on certain syntactical aspects that can improve writing. It makes sense to do this in context rather than in drill and practice format.
Native speakers acquire a language's syntax. They know the rules subconsciously and use them correctly for their setting/demographic. The information in these chapters explained how linguists study what is natural to a native speaker and posit theories as to how the language functions when spoken and written in sentences. Linguists use the term grammar, which can have several meanings (the internal rules of native speakers, the descriptions of syntactic structure and most commonly the traditional rules most people are taught).
The rules of syntax have to deal with both the deep structure and the surface structure of a sentence. Both chapters used tree diagraming as a graphic organizer to show this structure and grammar. I have never done this type of diagraming but look forward to practicing it.
As usual, Finegan proved a more technical read with many terms. Freeman focused on highlights and provided information on using syntax in teaching reading and second language instruction. Syntax tends to be of little use to the word recognition camp because of the focus on individual words. The sociopsychololingistic view finds syntax useful, one of three cueing systems. Cloze activities are a good example of this application. Having learned and taught much traditional grammar, it's hard to read that traditional grammar instruction leads to little learning in regards to reading and writing. I'm glad the texts did mention mini-lessons in a writing workshop setting; these mini-lessons can focus on certain syntactical aspects that can improve writing. It makes sense to do this in context rather than in drill and practice format.
26 February class
Class this week was enjoyable as usual. I really liked how most of the small group talked via their headsets. It was great to hear everyone and not just chat via typing on the computer. Going through the exercises as a small group is always very helpful and reassuring. I felt very comfortable with this week's exercises and was able to help some others better understand some of the lexical categories.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Freeman 7 & 8 Read and Retell
These two chapters in Freeman both deal with morphology and its implications in teaching reading and teaching a second language. Although I have never taken a class in which I remember discussing morphology per se, I found the information in these two chapters fascinating. I love words and grammar, and reading about both topics was an enjoyable experience.
The Freemans have a knack for explaining concepts and ideas more simply than Finegan. They also emphasize different aspects of the topic. Although chapter 7 covered similar topics to our last Finegan reading (bound and free morphemes, types of languages, word etymology), some different topics included:
1) the differences between analytic (English) vs. synthetic (Latin) languages
2) traditional vs. current approaches to classifying words (I loved reading about the no preposition at the end of a sentence rule and its origin.)
Having entire chapters devoted to implications for teaching reading and second languages is a strength of this book. The Freemans obviously espouse a sociopyscholinguistic view of reading and the bias against the Put Reading First and word recognition view of reading surfaces throughout the chapter. I tend to be an eclectic practicioner when it comes to teaching philosophies. I think both views can offer teachers and students ideas to approaching reading and second language learning. I think some of this has to do with what type of learner a student is and the personal backgrounds of the students. I agree with the Freemans that words can't all be learned, they have to be acquired; but I do think words can and should be learned in context rich settings.
The info on Krashen's Natural Order hypothesis was new and interesting. His research and others show that morphemes are acquired in a fixed order depending on the language being learned rather than the native language of the learner. This can be helpful info for a teacher as he/she approaches teaching a second language.
Academic language and the difficulty in teaching and learning finished out chapter 8. I have first hand experience with this. Having lived in Germany for a year, my everyday German became quite proficient. After a year, however, I still had issues with reading higher level newspapers and journals; the vocabulary was beyond my grasp. That it takes at least 5 years to acquire academic language is important for all teachers to remember when dealing with ELLs.
The Freemans have a knack for explaining concepts and ideas more simply than Finegan. They also emphasize different aspects of the topic. Although chapter 7 covered similar topics to our last Finegan reading (bound and free morphemes, types of languages, word etymology), some different topics included:
1) the differences between analytic (English) vs. synthetic (Latin) languages
2) traditional vs. current approaches to classifying words (I loved reading about the no preposition at the end of a sentence rule and its origin.)
Having entire chapters devoted to implications for teaching reading and second languages is a strength of this book. The Freemans obviously espouse a sociopyscholinguistic view of reading and the bias against the Put Reading First and word recognition view of reading surfaces throughout the chapter. I tend to be an eclectic practicioner when it comes to teaching philosophies. I think both views can offer teachers and students ideas to approaching reading and second language learning. I think some of this has to do with what type of learner a student is and the personal backgrounds of the students. I agree with the Freemans that words can't all be learned, they have to be acquired; but I do think words can and should be learned in context rich settings.
The info on Krashen's Natural Order hypothesis was new and interesting. His research and others show that morphemes are acquired in a fixed order depending on the language being learned rather than the native language of the learner. This can be helpful info for a teacher as he/she approaches teaching a second language.
Academic language and the difficulty in teaching and learning finished out chapter 8. I have first hand experience with this. Having lived in Germany for a year, my everyday German became quite proficient. After a year, however, I still had issues with reading higher level newspapers and journals; the vocabulary was beyond my grasp. That it takes at least 5 years to acquire academic language is important for all teachers to remember when dealing with ELLs.
Friday, February 20, 2009
19 February class
It was somewhat a relief to finish class this past Thursday. It was a stressful weekend and week prior to it with work related responsibilities, another grad course's assignments and getting done with this course's assignments on time. My favorite part of class on Thursday was when the native Chinese speakers took over and talked about our exercises that focused on Chinese pictographic characters. It was fun seeing them draw their characters online. I have a hard time understanding how Chinese can be written quickly. Also, given the one example with the words that all ended in -ing, it made me think how difficult working with the Chinese tones would be.
As far as morphology is concerned, I really enjoyed the content in this chapter and the focus on lexical labels and such. I learned about a group called SPOGG--Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar. I'm thinking I may join. Maybe Will Smith is a member, too.
As far as morphology is concerned, I really enjoyed the content in this chapter and the focus on lexical labels and such. I learned about a group called SPOGG--Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar. I'm thinking I may join. Maybe Will Smith is a member, too.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Week 5 class
One trend I seem to be noticing in our time together online is that fewer and fewer people are using their headsets to speak. I can understand why...it seems there is less frustration with the technology if people don't try to speak. Esther's voice is almost always easily heard and understood, but many others are still having difficulties.
The most useful part of class last time was going through the exercises together. Although I had one of the exercises entirely wrong, it was good to hear the logic and reasoning behind the ideas of phonemes vs. allophones. I also appreciate Dr. Schmidt's understanding that we're novices in this whole area; it was nice to be graded for effort rather than correctness on the non-IPA transcription part of the assignment.
The most useful part of class last time was going through the exercises together. Although I had one of the exercises entirely wrong, it was good to hear the logic and reasoning behind the ideas of phonemes vs. allophones. I also appreciate Dr. Schmidt's understanding that we're novices in this whole area; it was nice to be graded for effort rather than correctness on the non-IPA transcription part of the assignment.
Finegan 2 Read & Retell
Chapter 2 of Finegan proved fun to read. I love grammar so it was interesting getting to analyze simpler concepts like parts of speech at a deeper level. This chapter dealt with lexicon and morphology, terms that are now more understandable to me following the reading.
Morphemes are the smallest linguistic unit carrying meaning. They can stand alone (free) or need something to attach to (bound). Bound morphemes tend to carry information regarding plurality, case, tense and person. It was interesting to learn that although English uses bound morphemes in the form of affixes (prefixes and suffixes), other languages have infixes and circumfixes--two terms I had never heard before.
A language can expand itself by manipulating morphemes through compounding, reduplication, affixation and shortening. Again, it was interesting to see how English doesn't really reduplicate like other languages. Having learned German, I very much understoods the reference to German using the concept of compounding to the extreme; it has some very long and complex words.
Languages can also add to themselves by borrowing words from other languages. Again, having learned German, I know German borrowed a great many words from the French, the English and the Americans in the last two centuries. Germans will even try to pronounce most of the words like the borrowed language...like Kusin (a French word for male cousin) and e-Mail (an American word).
The discussion of morphological systems--inflectional, isolating and agglutinatin--proved the most difficult to understand. The inflectional made the most sense to me--again because of my knowledge of German.
I had never heard of corpus study, but it proved interesting to think about distribution verses frequency within a set of texts organized by genre. The most commonly used words did not surprise me. That the most common verbs were "to be" and "to have" also made much sense. Having learned German, those verbs are highly important.
Morphemes are the smallest linguistic unit carrying meaning. They can stand alone (free) or need something to attach to (bound). Bound morphemes tend to carry information regarding plurality, case, tense and person. It was interesting to learn that although English uses bound morphemes in the form of affixes (prefixes and suffixes), other languages have infixes and circumfixes--two terms I had never heard before.
A language can expand itself by manipulating morphemes through compounding, reduplication, affixation and shortening. Again, it was interesting to see how English doesn't really reduplicate like other languages. Having learned German, I very much understoods the reference to German using the concept of compounding to the extreme; it has some very long and complex words.
Languages can also add to themselves by borrowing words from other languages. Again, having learned German, I know German borrowed a great many words from the French, the English and the Americans in the last two centuries. Germans will even try to pronounce most of the words like the borrowed language...like Kusin (a French word for male cousin) and e-Mail (an American word).
The discussion of morphological systems--inflectional, isolating and agglutinatin--proved the most difficult to understand. The inflectional made the most sense to me--again because of my knowledge of German.
I had never heard of corpus study, but it proved interesting to think about distribution verses frequency within a set of texts organized by genre. The most commonly used words did not surprise me. That the most common verbs were "to be" and "to have" also made much sense. Having learned German, those verbs are highly important.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Read & Retell (Freeman 5 & 6, Finegan 12)
This week's readings basically provided information on orthography, how writing systems developed, and how to view spelling and reading instruction based on knowledge of orthography and phonetics.
Writing is a rather new phenomenon that came about from earlier use of pictograms that originally represented objects or ideas. Basically, writing systems can be syllabic (symbols represent syllables like cuneiform), logographic (symbols represent morphemes/words like modern Chinese) and alphabetic (symbols represent phonemes). English is alphabetic. Unfortunately, English does not achieve a one to one correspondence between sounds and letters, which has led to a rather complex system of spelling...much to the chagrin of ELLs.
Language evolves. As such its orthography evolves also. English, for example, has gone through periods known as Old English, Middle English and Modern English. American influences have brought about changes to English as well. Basically, English spelling can be determined by three forces--phonetic (spell words the way they sound), semantic (spell words alike that share meaning), and etymological (spell words to reflect origin). Although English spelling is complex, patterns do emerge. Teaching students about these patterns may be the most effective way of teaching spelling.
Finally, knowledge of writing and spelling will influence how teachers teach spelling and reading. The two main camps, which we have read about previously, are the word recognition (WR) view and the sociopsycholinguistic (SPL) view. The WR people focus on a systematic and explicit use of phonics to help students with a part to whole view of words and language arts. The SPL people teach students to construct meaning through background and one of three linguistic cueing systems, including graphophonics, within the context of real texts and settings.
Writing is a rather new phenomenon that came about from earlier use of pictograms that originally represented objects or ideas. Basically, writing systems can be syllabic (symbols represent syllables like cuneiform), logographic (symbols represent morphemes/words like modern Chinese) and alphabetic (symbols represent phonemes). English is alphabetic. Unfortunately, English does not achieve a one to one correspondence between sounds and letters, which has led to a rather complex system of spelling...much to the chagrin of ELLs.
Language evolves. As such its orthography evolves also. English, for example, has gone through periods known as Old English, Middle English and Modern English. American influences have brought about changes to English as well. Basically, English spelling can be determined by three forces--phonetic (spell words the way they sound), semantic (spell words alike that share meaning), and etymological (spell words to reflect origin). Although English spelling is complex, patterns do emerge. Teaching students about these patterns may be the most effective way of teaching spelling.
Finally, knowledge of writing and spelling will influence how teachers teach spelling and reading. The two main camps, which we have read about previously, are the word recognition (WR) view and the sociopsycholinguistic (SPL) view. The WR people focus on a systematic and explicit use of phonics to help students with a part to whole view of words and language arts. The SPL people teach students to construct meaning through background and one of three linguistic cueing systems, including graphophonics, within the context of real texts and settings.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Week 4 class
Week 4 took on a different tone. We definitely had fewer students using their mics to speak. It's interesting that in an online class, students still get self conscious about speaking. I think some of it may have had to do with the technical difficulties we had the previous week, but I think there still is a certain level of timid behavior online.
Working through the exercises proved helpful. Most of us were having issues with understanding the exercises with the languages of Fiji and Samoa. It helped to know that many of us were struggling through them. Although I still have tentative feelings about my understanding of some of these linguistic principles, the period did help greatly.
Another observation that amused me was the chatter about the quiz and homework. I didn't think the amount of material on the quiz was that demanding, but a good number of people voiced otherwise. I'm wondering if this has to do with age, nationality, personal calendars or other factors. What was great to hear was our professor, Esther, listening. She reminded us that the course should have certain demands at the 600 level, but she also lengthened the time to do the quiz by 24 hours. It was a good solution.
Working through the exercises proved helpful. Most of us were having issues with understanding the exercises with the languages of Fiji and Samoa. It helped to know that many of us were struggling through them. Although I still have tentative feelings about my understanding of some of these linguistic principles, the period did help greatly.
Another observation that amused me was the chatter about the quiz and homework. I didn't think the amount of material on the quiz was that demanding, but a good number of people voiced otherwise. I'm wondering if this has to do with age, nationality, personal calendars or other factors. What was great to hear was our professor, Esther, listening. She reminded us that the course should have certain demands at the 600 level, but she also lengthened the time to do the quiz by 24 hours. It was a good solution.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Freeman & Freeman 3-4 Read and Retell
When students do not grasp concepts we teach, we often reteach with a different presentation of the information or focus on a different modality of learning. F & F's presentation on phonology provided clear and concise information that proved cloudy for me in Finegan. It reinforced the idea that phonology is complex, and the great majority of young children acquire and master it in context without ever having formally learned it.
Chapter 3 reviewed many of the terms we studied in Finegan. F & F focused on how vowels (air passing freely through vocal tract and influenced by tongue and lips) and consonants (constricting air in various ways between lungs and lips) are formed. The charts in F & F helped me organize the various vowel and consonants sounds much better than Finegan. The information on why tongue twisters are difficult for people to say quickly was new information. Now I don't feel so bad when I can't do it well. The "Peggy Babcock" example had me laughing out loud as I attempted it.
Chapter 4 focused almost entirely on how phonology can influence the teaching of reading and a second language. Basically, F & F talked about the two main camps in the field of teaching reading--word recognition and sociopsycholinguistic. Phonemic awareness plays a larger role in the teaching of the word recognition view of reading; it is taught and drilled. In the sociopsycholinguistic view phonemic awareness is acquired through experiencing language. Focusing on learning through making meaning is the key. F & F traced the evolution of second language instruction, from the grammar translation method to the audiolingual method to the Natural Approach and sustained content language teaching. The focus in most of today's classrooms is using language to communicate. Teachers need to understand phonological differences (with allophones, dialects and the language itself) in language in order to better serve their second language learners.
Chapter 3 reviewed many of the terms we studied in Finegan. F & F focused on how vowels (air passing freely through vocal tract and influenced by tongue and lips) and consonants (constricting air in various ways between lungs and lips) are formed. The charts in F & F helped me organize the various vowel and consonants sounds much better than Finegan. The information on why tongue twisters are difficult for people to say quickly was new information. Now I don't feel so bad when I can't do it well. The "Peggy Babcock" example had me laughing out loud as I attempted it.
Chapter 4 focused almost entirely on how phonology can influence the teaching of reading and a second language. Basically, F & F talked about the two main camps in the field of teaching reading--word recognition and sociopsycholinguistic. Phonemic awareness plays a larger role in the teaching of the word recognition view of reading; it is taught and drilled. In the sociopsycholinguistic view phonemic awareness is acquired through experiencing language. Focusing on learning through making meaning is the key. F & F traced the evolution of second language instruction, from the grammar translation method to the audiolingual method to the Natural Approach and sustained content language teaching. The focus in most of today's classrooms is using language to communicate. Teachers need to understand phonological differences (with allophones, dialects and the language itself) in language in order to better serve their second language learners.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Week 3 class
It was good getting to hear other people explain the content from our readings this week, especially the information from the small group discussion. I had read everything beforehand, but I didn't necessarily feel comfortable with all the terms. The small group discussion helped. It was frustrating as far as the technology goes, but hopefully we will be able to work that out. It's definitely a good thing to speak and listen rather than just type in the chat area.
I really love the spirit of our group. Even though many of us have not met each other in person, there seems to be a good sense of collegiality already. People are very encouraging while we are live and also in the comments in the threaded discussions. Thursday afternoons are becoming something I look forward to.
I really love the spirit of our group. Even though many of us have not met each other in person, there seems to be a good sense of collegiality already. People are very encouraging while we are live and also in the comments in the threaded discussions. Thursday afternoons are becoming something I look forward to.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Week 2 reading reflections in Finegan
Reading Finegan chapters 3 &4 proved somewhat difficult due to the nature of the content. Linguistics in general is a new area for me, but I really lack background knowledge in phonetics and phonetics and phonology other than basic knowledge in teaching beginning reading (which I studied many years ago and have never done in my teaching) and dabbling in choral music and singing.
Chapter 3 focused on sounds and describing them through the phonetic alphabet system known as the IPA. This I know from directing choirs. Oftentimes, song texts are described via the IPA. It's a helpful tool in the world of choir directing. Likewise, many of the terms related to airflow and mouth placements are important to the singer and to the choir director explaining to singers how to produce sounds. Reading the chapter reminds me how complex one seemingly little part of the body (the mouth) is. Trying to describe the sound production process takes a great deal of specific language and knowledge. I don't think I would want to become a speech pathologist.
Chapter 4 focused on phonology, the study of sound systems in languages. Keeping terms like phonemes and allophones straight in my head is proving difficult at this point. I'm hoping class tomorrow will help straighten that out. Again, it's interesting getting a taste of how linguists create language to explain what just happens naturally in people, even more amazingly to very young children. Even though this process is complex, young children uncover the phonological rules and underlying forms for word units in order to produce surface forms of the language simply by experiencing language in their environments. Amazing!
Chapter 3 focused on sounds and describing them through the phonetic alphabet system known as the IPA. This I know from directing choirs. Oftentimes, song texts are described via the IPA. It's a helpful tool in the world of choir directing. Likewise, many of the terms related to airflow and mouth placements are important to the singer and to the choir director explaining to singers how to produce sounds. Reading the chapter reminds me how complex one seemingly little part of the body (the mouth) is. Trying to describe the sound production process takes a great deal of specific language and knowledge. I don't think I would want to become a speech pathologist.
Chapter 4 focused on phonology, the study of sound systems in languages. Keeping terms like phonemes and allophones straight in my head is proving difficult at this point. I'm hoping class tomorrow will help straighten that out. Again, it's interesting getting a taste of how linguists create language to explain what just happens naturally in people, even more amazingly to very young children. Even though this process is complex, young children uncover the phonological rules and underlying forms for word units in order to produce surface forms of the language simply by experiencing language in their environments. Amazing!
Week 2 reflections
I am enjoying the synchronous aspect of this online class. I feel I have already gained more from this class than the previous asynchronous online class I took. I really feel that to a certain extent a synchronous course can offer even more benefits than a face to face course. I think in a face to face course, although people are physically present, they can hide and not participate. It's difficult to hide in a synchronous online course. This helps create good discussion among the whole group, which does not always happen in a face to face course.
I still have some frustrations with the technology. I had a headset with microphone, and it didn't function. I am having some IT people check it so that it will hopefully be working tomorrow, but it worries me a bit. I'm not very tech savvy as far as troubleshooting problems as they are happening. It makes me anxious.
I still have some frustrations with the technology. I had a headset with microphone, and it didn't function. I am having some IT people check it so that it will hopefully be working tomorrow, but it worries me a bit. I'm not very tech savvy as far as troubleshooting problems as they are happening. It makes me anxious.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Week 1 reading reflection
If I could summarize chapter 1 of Freeman and Freeman, I would have to use the word "complex." Although researchers have studied this for decades, much is still unknown about how young children acquire their first language. The brain is a complex organ, and various disciplines (developmental psych, sociology, anthropology and education) bring a little bit different view and aspect to the ideas behind first language acquisition. Most experts would lean toward the idea that first language acquisition is to a large extent innate and built in.
Chapter 2's summary word would be "tension." A definite tension exists between the two camps as to how people acquire written language and languages other than their own. The behaviorists think these languages are learned while the constructivists believe they are acquired. Having trained as an el ed educator, I learned in my undergrad work about how children learn to read and how to teach reading and writing. I definitely was trained in the behaviorist part to whole model. While I taught, however, my learning and teaching evolved to the constructivist model.
As a second language learner myself, I learned but did not acquire German in my high school years. I knew the rules, the vocab, and conjugations and declensions; but I really could not speak or listen. Then I spent a year in Germany and it all came together. I feel very comfortable in all four skills of the language--reading, listening, speaking and writing. I do feel my structural knowledge helped me once I was immersed, but the immersion helped me truly acquire the language.
I recently took Elementary Spanish I at the college level and experienced major frustration. It was taught for acquisition and not learning. There were no vocab quizzes, no exercises to emphasize structures. It was basically learn through reading, writing and listening. I learned things, but I think I would have learned more if I could have asked questions in English and done some memorization and repeated practice of certain aspects of the language. To me as a teacher and learner, it's not either/or, it's both/and. I think that in teaching and learning a second language or writing, there needs to be a balanced approach to instruction. I think that I would let the constructivist view predominate, but at times the behaviorist practice can be helpful. I think to a certain extent, different students learn in different ways and the balanced approach will hit different students' learning modes.
(I'm not commenting specifically on the Finegan reading because many of the ideas were similar to those conveyed in American Tongues and the Freeman reading.)
Chapter 2's summary word would be "tension." A definite tension exists between the two camps as to how people acquire written language and languages other than their own. The behaviorists think these languages are learned while the constructivists believe they are acquired. Having trained as an el ed educator, I learned in my undergrad work about how children learn to read and how to teach reading and writing. I definitely was trained in the behaviorist part to whole model. While I taught, however, my learning and teaching evolved to the constructivist model.
As a second language learner myself, I learned but did not acquire German in my high school years. I knew the rules, the vocab, and conjugations and declensions; but I really could not speak or listen. Then I spent a year in Germany and it all came together. I feel very comfortable in all four skills of the language--reading, listening, speaking and writing. I do feel my structural knowledge helped me once I was immersed, but the immersion helped me truly acquire the language.
I recently took Elementary Spanish I at the college level and experienced major frustration. It was taught for acquisition and not learning. There were no vocab quizzes, no exercises to emphasize structures. It was basically learn through reading, writing and listening. I learned things, but I think I would have learned more if I could have asked questions in English and done some memorization and repeated practice of certain aspects of the language. To me as a teacher and learner, it's not either/or, it's both/and. I think that in teaching and learning a second language or writing, there needs to be a balanced approach to instruction. I think that I would let the constructivist view predominate, but at times the behaviorist practice can be helpful. I think to a certain extent, different students learn in different ways and the balanced approach will hit different students' learning modes.
(I'm not commenting specifically on the Finegan reading because many of the ideas were similar to those conveyed in American Tongues and the Freeman reading.)
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Our first class period
Our first online class period last week made me excited about this course. My first online course at MSU-M was asynchronous. I really liked the synchronous aspect of our first meeting. It was great to hear voices and see faces, even though it was electronic. I had a good vibe about our first meeting. Although there were moments of minor frustration (delayed speech, initial links not able to be accessed, etc.), I enjoyed the first meeting. I like the openness of the group and the energy. I look forward to learning more--from our professor, from my peers and from my personal study.
American Tongues
I have always been fascinated with language. I'm a pretty verbal person...my elementary and secondary teachers could attest to that (I got a C- in conduct in 3rd grade--ouch). My dad's parents emigrated from Germany in 1924 and never stopped using their mother tongue, although they became very proficient in English. I was especially close to my "Oma," who inspired me to learn German and love my German heritage. I spent a year living and working in Germany and miss having the opportunity to speak and listen in that second language.
The video held my interest throughout. Of course, as a Wisconsinite I took offense at the woman's comment about our "o" pronunciation. (Just kidding.) I feel, as most, that my form of English is standard English. (I have learned to laugh at our Midwestern accent.) Although I had thought or experienced many of the ideas in the video, it was a good reminder of how language is personal, political and a matter of pride for individuals and groups. As a teacher, I have mostly dealt with students of a similar demographic to my own. I'm looking forward to exploring and discussing the issues brought forth in the video.
The video held my interest throughout. Of course, as a Wisconsinite I took offense at the woman's comment about our "o" pronunciation. (Just kidding.) I feel, as most, that my form of English is standard English. (I have learned to laugh at our Midwestern accent.) Although I had thought or experienced many of the ideas in the video, it was a good reminder of how language is personal, political and a matter of pride for individuals and groups. As a teacher, I have mostly dealt with students of a similar demographic to my own. I'm looking forward to exploring and discussing the issues brought forth in the video.
Online learning
I haven't had much experience with online learning. I completed my first online course last semester. It was an asynchronous elementary education course that really focused on individual learning rather than building a community of learners. We basically had to read each chapter of the text and then react in the discussion area of D2L or in the drop box. Feedback from the professor was rare. The only other assessments were a couple of final projects related to text readings and the scope of the course. I learned things, but I think it could have been much more valuable had we interacted with each and with the instructor in a more regular and regulated way. I'm excited about this course based on our first synchronous meeting.
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