专题一 教育语言学导论

教育语言学

张京鱼

专题概述：

Educationallinguistics, as the name suggests, involves two disciplines: education andlinguistics. Educational linguistics is concerned with the study of language inteaching and learning. It has interests in the nature of the linguistic systemand its role in learning, as well as in what kinds of knowledge about languageshould be taught. It highlights areas of linguistics that are most relevant to teachers.

In our case,it is the teaching and learning of English as a second or foreign language inprimary or secondary schools in China. In other words, the target language isEnglish but working language in Chinese schools is Chinese, the mother tongueor the first language (L1) for both students and most teachers, if not all.Since our students learn English as a second language (L2) when they havealready mastered their L1 Chinese, their knowledge about Chinese plays a rolein their English learning. This role could be positive or negative. Tobecome a better teachers, English teachers need to know both English andChinese well.

学习策略：视频讲解、协作学习、问题解决、讨论交流等。

◆学习目标：了解教育语言学这个学科，课程整体目标

◆知晓教师课堂语言与教学效果的关系

◆通晓课堂互动中教师的角色：交际者&教育者

◆熟悉语言的基本单位

◆提问与找出答案

◆学习重点：语言学与教育的关系，努力使自己成为一个通晓语言内在规律和

语言使用规律对的英语教师

专题一教育语言学导论

Educational Linguistics: an understanding of language fosters betterteachers

1.1 Educational Linguistics

Educational linguistics, as the name suggests, involves twodisciplines: education and linguistics. Educationallinguistics is concerned with the study of language in teaching and learning.It has interests in the nature of the linguistic system and its role inlearning, as well as in what kinds of knowledge about language should betaught. It highlights areas of linguistics that aremost relevant to teachers.

In our case, it is the teaching and learning of English as a secondor foreign language in primary or secondary schools in China. In other words,the target language is English but working language in Chinese schools isChinese, the mother tongue or the first language (L1) for both students andmost teachers, if not all. Since our students learn English as a secondlanguage (L2) when they have already mastered their L1 Chinese, their knowledgeabout Chinese plays a

role in their English learning. This role could bepositive or negative. To become a better teachers, English teachers need toknow both English and Chinese well.

1.1.1Course Objectives

To encourage you to reevaluate your own beliefs and attitudes aboutlanguage.

To make you aware of the complexity of language and able toarticulate this awareness.

To make you aware of some of the similarities and difference betweenEnglish and Chinese.

To expose you to the ―core‖ sub-fields of linguistics (phonology,morphology, syntax, and semantics).

To enable you to teach English in a more systematic and effectiveway.

Education and Linguistics

Many teachers recognised that ―educational failure is

primarily linguisticfailure‖

1.2 LinguisticSciences and Language Teaching

Halliday, McIntosh &Strevens (1964) in their The LinguisticSciences and Language Teaching (1964). (223-251) identified three types oflanguage teaching:

―prescriptive‖ (referring to practices that prescribed preferredexpressions, such as I did, rather than I done);

―descriptive‖ (referring to methods of describing language much as alinguist does) and

―productive‖ (involving students in using the resource oftheir language in powerful ways).

Of the three, Hallidayet al concluded, it was prescriptiveteaching that predominated, while too little work was devoted in schools todescriptive or productive teaching.

1.3Classroom talk

Student (excitedly): Miz Jones, you rememberthat show you tole us about? Well,me and my momma‘nem—

Teacher (interrupting with a ―warm‖ smile):Bernadette,start again. I‘m sorry, but I can‘t understand you.

Student (confused): Well, it was that show,me and my momma—

Teacher (interrupting again, still with that ―warm‖ smile):Sorry, I still can‘t understand you.

(Student, now silent, even more confused than ever, looks at floor,says nothing.)

Teacher: Now Bernadette, first of all, it‘s Mrs.Jones, not MizJones. And you know it was an exhibit, not a show.Now, haven‘t I explained to the class over and over again that you always putyourself last when you are talking about a group of people and yourself doingsomething? So, therefore, you should say what?

Student: My momma and me—

Teacher (exasperated): No! My mother and I.Now start again, this time right.

Student: Aw, that‘sokay, it wasn‘t nothin. (Smitherman,1977, pp. 217-218)

What can we learn from this classroom interaction?

1.3.1 Teachers as Communicators

Clearly, communication with students is essential in effectiveteaching. To communicate successfully, teachers must know how to structuretheir own language output for maximum clarity and have strategies forunderstanding what students are saying. Since understanding student talk is keyto analysis of what students know, how they understand, and what teaching moveswould be useful.

In as diverse a society as that of USA, teachers must be prepared towork with children from many different cultural, social, and linguisticbackgrounds. Studies of discourse patterns in American Indian (Philips, 1993),Native Hawaiian (Boggs, 1972), Puerto Rican (Zentella, 1997), and AfricanAmerican (Heath, 1983) homes and communities have shown that the speechpatterns that children bring to school from their homes can be quite differentfrom the ones that are valued at school. These speech patterns are nonethelessessential to functioning effectively in their home communities.

Acquiring the academic discourse patterns of school is an importantpart of the educational development of all students, but it is neithernecessary nor desirable to promote it at the expense of the language patternschildren already have. In fact, Mrs. Jon es‘ pedagogical approach to languagedevelopment is more likely to SOUR children like Bernadette to the wholeexperience of schooling than it is to instruct them.

Your students are learning English as a second language, andunderstanding the course of second language acquisition (including such mattersas what sorts of mistakes they are likely to make and how much

progress can beexpected in a unit of time) helps teachers communicate with them moreeffectively.

Even advanced speakers of English as a second language may useconversational patterns or narrative organization that differ from those of themainstream. Understanding how their language use might differ from that of thenative European-American English speaker is crucial for effective teaching.

Study questi on: How should teachers cope with students‘ mistakes orerrors?

1.3.2 Teachers as Educators

Teachers are responsible for selecting educational materials andactivities at the right level and of the right type for all of the children intheir classes. This requires a reasonable basis for assessment of studentaccomplishments and the capacity to distinguish between imperfect knowledge ofEnglish and cognitive obstacles to learning. In order to teach effectively,teachers need to know which language problems will resolve themselves with timeand which need attention and intervention. In other words, they need to know agreat deal about language development.

What should classroom teachers know about Language?

English teachers would benefit from better, more intensive, and morecoherent preparation in educational linguistics.

1.4 What arethe basic units of language?

Teachers need to know that spoken language is composed of units ofdifferent sizes – sounds (called phonemes if they function to signal differentmeanings in the language), morphemes (sequences of sounds that form thesmallest units of meaning in a language), words (consisting of one or moremorphemes), phrases (one or more words), sentences, and discourses.

Crucial to an understanding of how language works is the idea

of―arbitrariness‖. Sequences of sounds have no meaning by themselves – it is onlyby convention that meanings are attached to sound. In another language asequence of sounds that is meaningful in English may mean nothing at all, orsomething quite different.

Arbitrariness (form and meaning duality)

Except onomatopoeic words such as cuckoo, crash, wow wow, etc.

房子 house, maison, dom; 手hand, main, ruka

What‘s in a name? That which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet. –ShakespeareQuote

Phonemes

Each language has an inventory of phonemes that may differ from thatof other languages. Phonemes can be identified by virtue of whether a change insound makes a difference in meaning. Thus, in

English ban and van constitutetwo different words, showing that [b] and [v] are different phonemes.Similarly, hit and heat are two different words, showing that theshort vowel sound [I] of hit is different from the long vowel sound [i]of heat.

Notice [I]=[i]; [i]=[i:]

Shaanxi dialect has one more phoneme /v/ which is lacking inMandarin Chinese (Putonghua), so it is easy for the local people to learnEnglish sound [v]. Compare vest vs west.

–袜子; 文学; 物理/武力

Many dialects do not distinguish [n] and [l], so those whospeak such dialects may have problems with these two sounds.Night vs light;need vs lead.

Sichuan Dialect does not have the sound [∫] , but it seemsthat people whose mother is Sichuan dialect do not have problems with theEnglish phoneme /∫/.

1.5Descriptive vs Prescriptive

In most logics and some languages, double negatives cancel oneanother and produce an affirmative sense; in other languages, doubled negativesintensify the negation. Languages where multiple negatives intensify each otherare said to have negative

concord. Portuguese, French, Persian, and Spanish are examplesof negative-concord languages, while Latin and German do not havenegative concord. StandardEnglish lacks negative concord, but it was normal in Old English and Middle English, and somemodern dialects do have it (e.g. AfricanAmerican Vernacular English and Cockney), although its usagein English is often stigmatized.Read

more: https://www.360docs.net/doc/0811808795.html,/topic/double-negative#ixzz26nzJlKXs Languages without negative concord typically have negative

polarity itemsthat are used in place of additional negatives when another negating wordalready occurs. Examples are "ever", "anything" and"anyone" in the sentence "I haven't ever owed anything toanyone" (cf. "I

haven'tnever owed nothingto no one" in negative-concord dialects of English, and"Nuncadevinada a ninguém"in Portuguese, lit. "Never have I owed nothing to no one"). Note thatnegative polarity can be triggered not only by direct negatives such as"not" or "never", but by words such as "doubt" or"hardly" ("I

doubt he has ever owed anything to anyone" or"He has hardly ever owed anything to anyone").

Stylistically, in English, double negatives can sometimes be

usedfor understated affirmation (e.g. "I'm not feeling bad" vs. "I'm feelinggood"). The rhetorical term for this is litotes.

Litotes 曲言法、间接肯定

Mandarin Chinese also employs litotes in alike manner. One common construction is 不得不 (Pinyin: bùdébù, "cannotnot"), which is used to express (or feign) a necessity more regretful andpolite than that expressed by 必

须 (bìxū).Compared with "我必须走" (Wǒbìxūzǒu, "I need to go"), "我不得不走" (Wǒbùdébùzǒu)tries to emphasize that the situation is out of the speaker's hands and that hehas no choice in the matter: "Unfortunately, I've got to go".Similarly, "没有人不知道" (Méiyǒurénbùzhīdào, "There is not a person whodoesn't know") is a more emphatic way to express "Everyoneknows".

Double negatives nearly always resolve to a positive meaning even incolloquial speech, but illogically so can triple negatives as well. Saying"我不相信没人不来"(Wǒbùxiāngxìnméirénbùlái, "I do not believe no one will notcome") should mean "I believe some people will not come" but ismore often understood to mean "I think everyone will come". However,triple and multiple negatives are considered obscure and are typically avoided.

The ban on using double negatives to convey emphasis does not applywhen the second negative appears in a separate phrase or clause, as in Iwill not surrender, not today, not ever or He does not seek money, nomore than he seeks fame. Commas must be used to separate the negativephrases or clauses in these examples. The sentence He does not seek money nomore than he seeks fame is unacceptable, whereas the equivalent sentencewith any is perfectly acceptable and requires no comma: He does notseek money any more than he seeks fame.What is a Split Infinitive?

An infinitive is spl it when the verb, which in English will have a?to‘ accompanying it, is not placed next to the actual doing word. So we couldsay ?I am going to wash my hair with a different shampoo.‘ Here the infinitiveis ?to wash.‘ However, if we split the infinitive then the sentence would read,?I am going to always wash my hair with a different shampoo.‘ Here the word?to‘ and the word ?wash‘ have been separated by the word ?always‘, which haseffectively split the infinitive.

Within everyday spoken English the infinitive is split so often thatmost people don‘t even notice, but within written English and particularly whenwriting business English, it is not best practice. As a golden rule to follow,check that

when you use an infinitive, which in English has the ?to‘ attached to it, that it is next to the verb. An easy way of identifying a verb is todescribe it as a ?doing‘ word. It is the word that conveys what is being doneand it is active in the sentence.It is actually quite easy to see if you have split an infinitive throughthoroughly proofreading your work after you have finished it, then for addedmeasure, utilising an online punctuation software application so that you canbe absolutely sure that your infinitives are presented as they should be. This is not really something to worry about in spoken English, but due careshould be taken when writing to avoid splitting your infinitives.

1.6 Elementsof Human Languages

Sound Patterns

/n/ vs /?/

/m/, /n/, /?/ = nasals

Sin vs sing, thin vs thing

Ink

Sink

Sank

Think

Thank

It‘s a pa n cake.

I want a pair of sun glasses.

/k/, /g/, /?/ = velars

/?/ is a velar nasal. It is a velar as wellas a nasal.

/n/ /?/ whenever it appears before a velar.

What about ―bu n k‖ and ―you ca n go now‖?

Manifestations of Linguistic Knowledge

1.7Questions from Middle Schools Teachers

Respectful 与respectable 的区别？

中国学生喜欢使用 make/let A become B (adj/n)， become 的滥用。英语使役动词的地道用法是什么？本族人会经常用吗？

keep doing/keep on doing 的区别？

Engage, involve 和adjust 这些―使某人……‖意义的动词，应怎么交给学生？

How to express ―在周末‖？On weekendsor at weekends?

Respectful 与respectable 的区别？

Respectful：表示尊敬的；有礼貌的；谦恭的

I hope you would be more respectful to your father.

He behaved in a respectful way.

Respectable: 值得尊重的；体面的；不错的;

She is a respectable married woman.

His work is respectable but not outstanding.

Respectful or Respectable Guests/teachers?

Engage, involve 和adjust 这些―使某人……‖意义的动词，应怎么交给学生？

Engage=使忙碌, 使从事于, 使参加, 使某人订婚，[常用被动语态] be engaged to sb表示―跟某人订婚‖。

Please wait a minute, she is engaged just now.

I tried to engage him in conversation, but in vain.

Involve: 使忙于；使卷入；使陷入。

One foolish mistake involved him in a good deal of trouble.

He was involved in trouble.

He was involved in working out a plan.

I got involved in a quarrel about the price.

Adjust: 调整；使适应

This kind of desk can be adjusted to the height you need.

He can't adjust himself to the whirl of modern life inthis big city.

He adjusted himself very quickly to the heat of the country.

Keep or keep on doing & on or at weekends

Keep doing 继续不断

News of success keeps pouring in.

Tired as she was, she kept doing it.

Keep on doing 继续（进行/下去）

We kept on working in the fields in spite of the rain.

Keep on doing what you are doing.

Prices keep or keep on increasing?

How to express ―在周末‖？Onweekends or at weekends?

Both are OK depends on which variety of English you areusing/speaking.

He likes to go climbing at weekends (British English)/onweekends (American English).

专题二英语语音

◆专题概述：

Phonetics,especially, Articulatory Phonetics - describes how vowels and consonants areproduced or “articulated” in various parts of themouth and throat. 讲解英语音素、汉语音素、以及汉英音节结构的特点，美语和英语的语音区别

◆学习策略：视频讲解、问题解决、讨论交流等。

◆学习目标：了解英汉音节结构特点

◆知晓英语和美语的语言特点，能辨别英语和美语等；

◆熟悉美语的闪音规则等。

◆Learn the InternationalPhonetic Alphabet. This is an alphabet

that is used in dictionaries,Englishdictionaries being no

exception, to indicate how to pronounce words. Forexample,

the word "house" can be written down in the

InternationalPhonetic Alphabet as \'haus\. Symbols of the

International Phonetic Alphabetinclude"a:" as in "arm" and

"father,""?"as in "cat" and "black,""u:" as in"blue" and "food"

and "ai" as in "five"and "eye."

◆Learn the phonetics ofEnglish consonants. All English

consonants involve the stoppage of flow of airin vocal tract.

English consonants can be divided into voiced sounds that

areproduced by vibration of the vocal cords ("b,""d,""g"), and

voiceless sounds,that do not involve vibration of thevocal

cords ("p,""t,""k"). English consonantscan also be classified

by the place of articulation: labial, which meansinvolving the

lips ("p,""b,""m,""w"); dental, which means involving the

teeth ("f,""v"); alveolar, which involves the area behind the

teeth("t,""d,""s,""z"); palatal, whichmeans involving the hard

palate ("y"); and velar, which meansinvolving the soft palate

("k,""g,""h").

◆Learn the phonetics ofEnglish vowels. English vowels can be

classified as sounds involving theunrestricted flow of air

through the mouth. All vowels sounds are voiced.Vowels can

be classified by the degree of openness of the mouth and

height of the tongue into high ("i:" in"see,""heat"), mid ("e" in

"met,"bed") and low vowels ("?" in "cat,""black"). Please note

that the lower the tongue the more open themouth.

◆学习重点：美语和英语语音上的差异，汉语音素的差异