A very interesting article about the SATs taken a few days ago by many schoolchildren including my own son:
http://community.tes.co.uk/forums/p/488574/6732581.aspx#6732581
Students of E303 and E844 might see links with some of the concerns of their courses.
I led a couple of sessions here for the e303 course. I decided it would be useful to apply some of the contents of the course to the study of literary texts and to critical reading.
The handout for the literature session is given below with some teacher notes in italics.
********************
The language of literature
Discuss the following questions in groups.
Is there anything distinctive about the language of literary texts?
If so, what is it? If not, what helps you to decide whether a text is literary?
The main feature is that they are deviant in some way.
Look at the following extracts from the beginnings of literary texts to help you decide. What, if anything, do they have in common?
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The Christening I am a sperm whale. I carry up to 2.5 tonnes of an oil-like balm in my huge coffin- shaped head. I have a brain the size of a basketball, and on that basis alone am entitled to my opinions. I am a sperm whale. When I breathe in, the fluid in my head cools to a dense wax and I nosedive into the depths. My song, available on compact disc is a comfort to divorcees, astrologists and those who have ‘pitched the quavering canvas tent of their thoughts on the rim of the dark crater’. ……
Armitage, S. (2010) Seeing Stars London : Faber and Faber. |
The field here is somewhat deviant. It might also be said that there is some deviance textually in the repetition of "I am..." I also thought "brain the size of a basketball" was an adaptation of "brain the size of a planet".
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1 Found Objects It began the usual way, in the bathroom of the Lassimo Hotel. Sasha was adjusting her yellow eye shadow in the mirror when she noticed the bag on the floor beside the sink that must have belonged to the woman whose peeing she could faintly hear through the vaultlike door of a toilet stall. Inside the rim of the bag, barely visible, was a wallet made of green leather. Egan, J. (2010) A visit from the Good Squad London: Corsair. |
Again some of the subject matter (peeing) seemed deviant and there was also some textual deviance in the way that it refers to "the usual way" right at the beginning of the story before we know what usual way is.
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I consider it my duty to forewarn the reader that the event described in this tale relates to a very distant time. Moreover, it is a complete invention. Mirgorod is now quite another place; the puddle in the middle of the town dried up ages ago, and the dignitaries, the judge, the clerk of the court and the mayor are all respected and well intentioned men. Gogol, N. (1834, translated Aplin H 2002) The Squabble London : Hesperus. |
This is a story that seems to be in a spoken mode in some ways and this is typical of Gogol's "skaz" technique. I also think there is textual deviance in the use of "Moreover" which contrasts with "a very distant time". So, it is not clear if the events are invented or just belong to a distant time. Also, the final sentence seems to throw both the distance and the invention into doubt.
Linguistic tools that could be useful
What are the linguistic concepts that you have learnt about so far on the course and how might they help you to analyse a literary text?
Some examples would include unusual marking of theme and rheme. A corpus would help a reader to recognise unusual combinations or expressions that typically belong to clashing registers (in the Longman Grammar sense of the word).
Which of the concepts, if any, might have revealed something about the texts above?
Corpus linguistics, the textual function.
Applying grammatical tools
What strikes you as you read the extract below?
The use of "I heard/I saw"
What I heard about Iraq in 2005Eliot WeinbergerIn 2005 I heard that Coalition forces were camped in the ruins of Babylon . I heard that bulldozers had dug trenches through the site and cleared areas for helicopter landing pads and parking lots, that thousands of sandbags had been filled with dirt and archaeological fragments, that a 2600-year-old brick pavement had been crushed by tanks, and that the moulded bricks of dragons had been gouged out from the Ishtar Gate by soldiers collecting souvenirs. I heard that the ruins of the Sumerian cities of Umma, Umm al-Akareb, Larsa and Tello were completely destroyed and were now landscapes of craters. I heard that the US was planning an embassy in Baghdad that would cost $1.5 billion, as expensive as the Freedom Tower at Ground Zero, the proposed tallest building in the world. I saw a headline in the Los Angeles Times that read: ‘After Levelling City, US Tries to Build Trust.’ I heard that military personnel were now carrying ‘talking point’ cards with phrases such as: ‘We are a values-based, people-focused team that strives to uphold the dignity and respect of all.’ I heard that 47 per cent of Americans believed that Saddam Hussein helped plan 9/11 and 44 per cent believed that the hijackers were Iraqi; 61 per cent thought that Saddam had been a serious threat to the US and 76 per cent said the Iraqis were now better off. I heard that Iraq was now ranked with Haiti and Senegal as one of the poorest nations on earth. I heard the United Nations Human Rights Commission report that acute malnutrition among Iraqi children had doubled since the war began. I heard that only 5 per cent of the money Congress had allocated for reconstruction had actually been spent. I heard that in Fallujah people were living in tents pitched on the ruins of their houses. I heard that this year’s budget included $105 billion for the War on Terror, which would bring the total to $300 billion. I heard that Halliburton was estimating that its bill for providing services to US troops in Iraq would exceed $10 billion. I heard that the family of an American soldier killed in Iraq receives $12,000. I heard that the White House had deleted the chapter on Iraq from the annual Economic Report of the President, on the grounds that it did not conform with an otherwise cheerful tone. Within a week in January I heard Condoleezza Rice say there were 120,000 Iraqi troops trained to take over the security of the country; I heard Senator Joseph Biden, Democrat from Delaware, say that the number was closer to 4000; I heard Donald Rumsfeld say: ‘The fact of the matter is that there are 130,200 who have been trained and equipped. That’s a fact. The idea that that number’s wrong is just not correct. The number is right.’ Weinberger E (2006) “What I heard about Iraq in 2005” London Review of Books Volume 28, number 1: 7-1 |
Compare it to the following version. What are the differences in terms of effect and which concept(s) from the course do you think could help explain the differences?
I think the concept of theme and rheme is very useful for examining the differences.
Iraq in 2005In 2005 Coalition forces were camped in the ruins of Babylon. Bulldozers had dug trenches through the site and cleared areas for helicopter landing pads and parking lots, thousands of sandbags had been filled with dirt and archaeological fragments, a 2600-year-old brick pavement had been crushed by tanks, and the moulded bricks of dragons had been gouged out from the Ishtar Gate by soldiers collecting souvenirs. The ruins of the Sumerian cities of Umma, Umm al-Akareb, Larsa and Tello were completely destroyed and were now landscapes of craters. The US was planning an embassy in Baghdad that would cost $1.5 billion, as expensive as the Freedom Tower at Ground Zero, the proposed tallest building in the world. A headline in the Los Angeles Times read: ‘After Levelling City, US Tries to Build Trust.’ Military personnel were now carrying ‘talking point’ cards with phrases such as: ‘We are a values-based, people-focused team that strives to uphold the dignity and respect of all.’ 47 per cent of Americans believed that Saddam Hussein helped plan 9/11 and 44 per cent believed that the hijackers were Iraqi; 61 per cent thought that Saddam had been a serious threat to the US and 76 per cent said the Iraqis were now better off. Iraq was now ranked with Haiti and Senegal as one of the poorest nations on earth. The United Nations Human Rights Commission reported that acute malnutrition among Iraqi children had doubled since the war began. Only 5 per cent of the money Congress had allocated for reconstruction had actually been spent. In Fallujah people were living in tents pitched on the ruins of their houses. This year’s budget included $105 billion for the War on Terror, which would bring the total to $300 billion. Halliburton was estimating that its bill for providing services to US troops in Iraq would exceed $10 billion. The family of an American soldier killed in Iraq receives $12,000. The White House had deleted the chapter on Iraq from the annual Economic Report of the President, on the grounds that it did not conform with an otherwise cheerful tone. Within a week in January Condoleezza Rice said there were 120,000 Iraqi troops trained to take over the security of the country; Senator Joseph Biden, Democrat from Delaware, said that the number was closer to 4000; Donald Rumsfeld said: ‘The fact of the matter is that there are 130,200 who have been trained and equipped. That’s a fact. The idea that that number’s wrong is just not correct. The number is right.’ Weinberger E (2006) “What I heard about Iraq in 2005” London Review of Books Volume 28, number 1: 7-1 |
For those who are interested in language analysis of literary texts, Short's (1996) book is very good.
Short, M. (1996) Exploring the Language of Poems, Plays and Prose Harlow: Longman.
This session involved students in designing in response to design briefs set by other students.
There was a lot of exploratory talk (Mercer 2000) with students giving reasons for something (eg "Papier mache would be good because you can shape it) or for not choosing a particular course of action (If we used glue, it would make it unrecyclable").
There were three other phenomena that struck me. Firstly, although there was a lot of talk, there were also silent episodes as students concentrated on the task. Secondly, the boundaries between study and social life seemed to blur (Snyder 2000) as students chatted about their experiences after they had finished the task. Thirdly, some of the students began to react against the use of pseudonyms.
Mercer N (2000) Words and Minds London: Routledge
Snyder I (2003) "A new communication order: researching literacy practices in the network society" in Goodman S., Lillis T, Maybin J and Mercer N (eds) (2003) Language, Literacy and Education: a Reader Stoke on Trent: Trentham
Another interesting but rather different session. We started in Second Life and then split into groups in Flash meetings for group discussions making use of a whiteboard before returning to Second Life for a plenary. The group task involved clarifying the concept of fragility before setting a design brief for the other groups.
The move to Flash meetings was interesting psychologically as people moved from being avatars to being their real selves. Many of the techniques for building meaning that Mercer refers to were apparent during this stage. For example, there were reformulations “We can use the whiteboard” followed by “You can use the whiteboard” with the interesting change of pronoun perhaps helping the students to feel more responsibility. There were also repetitions like “Breakable, yes”. There were elicitations “If you think about a design brief, what would you have”. There were also exhortations like “Great teamwork!”
The return to Second Life allowed for reflection on the task and to pass on information about the design briefs to be worked on.
The switches between Second Life and Flash Meetings seemed to work reasonably smoothly although there were some lags going between them.
Mercer N (2000) Words and Minds London : Routledge
There was a second session last night, which was again interesting. A lot of what I observed links with much of my other OU courses.
First of all it was noticeable how much the students learnt by talking to each other. This was evident even before we really started when one student helped another in completing some questions about the concept of fragility.
The next part of the session involved the students in constructing objects so there were many language phenomena which were interesting. These would seem to be language in action (Carter and McCarthy 1996). One interesting feature was the use of informal language while on task - eg "It is tricky/it is a bit fiddly". This reminds me somewhat of the hybridity referred to Gutierrez et al (2003).
There was a brief exchange in French between two French speaking students that was perhaps useful in enabling them to do the task. Perhaps, this use of languages other than English could be encouraged, especially if it makes the task more efficient and then the students would need to report in English so they still have scope for practising the English they need.
References
Carter R and McCarthy M (1996) Exploring Spoken English Cambridge: CUP
Guttierez K., Baquedano-Lopez P, and Tejeda C (2003) "Rethinking diversity: hybridity and hybrid language practices in the third space" in Goodman S., Lillis T, Maybin J and Mercer N (eds) (2003) Language, Literacy and Education: a Reader Stoke on Trent: Trentham
I am doing some language support for some sessions on Second Life for some students studying design.
We had the first session and it seemed to go well. Some general reflections are listed below:
- it is hard to control movements and it feels surprisingly embarassing when my avatar does strange actions like getting too close to others.
- the language used in the first discussion did not seem very technical but had features of general academic discourse - suggestions were made ("perhaps...." "might.....") and critiqued.
- text and voice is used, sometimes simultaneously which puts quite a demand on concentration.
- I gave brief feedback on language issues and the main items some students struggled with were my jargon (e.g "hedging"). This is understandable as they are not studying language but this makes it clear how much we get used to our own specialised terms.
It has been interesting that online group work for L185 seems to have been particularly successful this time - it is working how it should.
It is noticeable that there is a lot of supportive chat going on as well as the task focused discussion. There are many women in the groups and this does tend to confirm that women post more of what Rovai (2001: 41) calls “socio-emotional messages”.
Rovai, A.P. (2001) “Building classroom community at a distance: a case study” Education Technology Research and Development, Vol. 49, No. 4, 2001, pp. 33–48
I have recently finished this novel and it is interesting that he seems to be quite quotable in materials about language - he is featured in the E303 materials and I have used extracts from "The Corrections" in my face to face materials and some distance learning materials I wrote a few years ago. I suspect this novel will also be used by materials writers.
In particular, one of the main characters writes an autobiography featured near the beginning and later at the end of the book. The title of this is "Mistakes were made" and this made me wonder why it was not "I made mistakes" or "The mistakes I made" in the first extract. However, in the second extract, it becomes clear that it was not just the writer of the autobiography who made mistakes.
This is just one example of issues in the novel where the forms are significant for the meaning of the whole novel.
I have just finished reading this book. It is argued that we can say anything we need to say in any language but that each language forces us to make some distinctions that others might not. For example, in Russian, there is a need to decide whether something is siniy (dark blue) or goloboy (light blue). This, he argues makes the distinction more significant in speakers of Russian than it is for those who do not speak Russian although most people can recognise different shades of blue and label them as we do in English by, for example, using light and dark.
There is another key example, which is that of Matses, a language spoken in Peru. Here, speakers have to state how they know facts they state (Deutscher refers to them being like "the finickiest of lawyers" (page 153)). There are separate verbal forms for whether you know something from direct viewing, inferred from evidence (eg a footprint), conjecture or from rumour. This would presumably give listeners a good opportunity to be critical of other people's claims to knowledge.
Overall, a very interesting book although there are some aspects of the style that are slightly irritating such as a tendency to refer to language as weird or outlandish.
Reference
Deutscher G (2010) Through the Language Glass London: Heinemann.
There are interesting reports in Private Eye (unfortunately, the web site does not seem to include the details) about the contracts for interpreters.
It seems that the job of interpreter is being deprofessionalised and there are many compromises with quality as a result of saving money. One shocking case is where Czech interpretation is being used for Slovak users whereas in the Czech Republic, Slovak suspects are given interpreters using Slovak. As well as the danger of misinterpretation of nuance, there are the general affective factors of suspects being helped by people who do not share the same language.
The comedy programme "I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue" could provide useful examples of many aspects of language analysis. For example, last week there was a reference to 20,000 odd people in Thanet where the comedy derives from the fact that the odd could be attached to 20,000, meaning about 20,000 or to the people, meaning that the people are odd (strange).
It is interesting how often comedy can help us be aware of how language works in context/discourse. McCarthy's(1991) book starts with an example from Morecombe and Wise.
McCarthy M (1991) Discourse Analysis for Language Teachers Cambridge: CUP
Another good article in the London Review of Books. This time it is on Tony Blair's style in his autobiography.
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v33/n02/john-barnie/our-guy
This is a very interesting article on textbooks and the kinds of capitalistic perspectives that are often shown. If any students of E844 are reading, they might see the links with Wallace's article and her reference to the overuse of topics like "diets, dating and dinner parties".
It is interesting that there are still analyses of "Streamline" and "Strategies" as I wonder if these are still used. I think I remember Strategies as being quite critical as it says here. I also remember reading an East German textbook with a portrait of a British working man who was a Morning Star reader.
Gray J (2010) "The Branding of English and The Culture of the New Capitalism: Representations of the world of Work in English Language Textbooks" Applied Linguistics 31/5: 714-733
http://applij.oxfordjournals.org.libezproxy.open.ac.uk/content/31/5/714.full.pdf+html
I have received a couple of issues of the technogogy newsletter at http://tinyletter.com/technogogy
It has been useful and interesting so far.
This is a great source of lectures and other academic content. There is lots of Open University context. It is useful for students of EAP as they can access their subject matter and also useful for Masters in Education students as there is so much relevant content.
There is an interesting lecture by Lightbown at http://deimos3.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.woa/Browse/tc.columbia.edu.1389069061
This is a tricky aspect for some students and I think it might need some clarification. I think Poulson and Wallace is useful
Poulson and Wallace (2004: 6) suggest that it is important to:
· Have a sceptical attitude towards your own and other people’s knowledge and how it has been produced
· Have a habit of questioning knowledge and how this is produced
· Scrutinise claims and check the evidence for them
· Respect others’ points of view
· Be open minded
· Be constructive.
I think all of these points are useful. Some students on courses I have taught on have seemed to think it is mainly about finding fault and criticise texts for not being totally different kinds of texts.
Poulson L and Wallace M (2004) Learning to read critically in Teaching and Learning London: Sage.
We are trialling learnosity as a way of assessing oral skills and I have just marked the first TMA. This involves learners responding to various prompts by logging in to the Learnosity website. In the case of my involvement in the materials design, the prompts related to academic English (e.g. giving their responses to an academic text).
It seems to be a useful tool but feedback is quite time consuming as I often need to listen several times.
A very interesting article by Stefan Collin in the London Review of Books.
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v32/n21/stefan-collini/brownes-gamble
I think this is a good point:
" But this, other problems aside, comes perilously close to reducing important human experiences to a set of ‘preferences’ as reported on a tick-box questionnaire. I would hope the students I teach come away with certain kinds of dissatisfaction (including with themselves: a ‘satisfied’ student is nigh-on ineducable), and it matters more that they carry on wondering about the source of that dissatisfaction than whether they ‘liked’ the course or not."
There was a Languages staff development day in Cardiff last Saturday.
It was interesting to meet people teaching different languages. There was a strong feeling of teachers of Welsh that they were doing something important in terms of maintaining national identity.
It is clear that Elluminate is being widely used and is seen as having great potential but I wonder how long students need to get used to it.
I gave a brief presentation on plagiarism issues in EAP.
We had an Elluminate meeting last night to debrief on the L185 course. From a technical point of view, it was the first flawless Elluminate I have experienced. I have further meetings today and on Sunday.
I thought the content of the meeting was useful. As is often the case, there was quite a variety of views on the usefulness of metalanguage for language teaching. I tend to be someone who feels that metalanguage should be very limited but some colleagues did not agree.
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