The Contrast Between Behavioral Principles and Cognitive Principles in Learning

In pages 150-157 in the Weaver textbook, the author takes an in-depth look at the different approaches in educational philosophy. The author works from two different schools of thought: one being a congnitive approach modeled around mini-lessons, while the other a more pre-determined and set instruction based on behavorist principles.
The author begins by explaining mini-lessons and its correlation to a constructionist approach to education. The concept of mini-lessons and its application was introduced by Lucy Calkins in The Art of Teaching Writing, then expanded with Nancy Atwell's In the Middle: Writing, Reading, and Learning with Adolescents. Their approach focuses on the practice of mini-lessons, which are short and brief explanations of concepts meant to aid students in their learning of a certain topic or technique. Some of the key concepts of this approach include: keeping lessons between five and ten minutes, applying these lessons when the teacher sees a common problem or mistake, and a close analysis of the students needs and readiness for the mini-lessons. Essentially, teachers act through their own discretion, applying mini-lessons when they see fit, not through any set or fixed cirriculumm. Another important aspect is the concept of no follow-up after the mini-lesson; the teacher simply helps when it is apparent that the student needs help and is ready.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, is the more traditional approach towards instruction, which is based in behavioral pyschology. This type of instructional approach can trace its roots back to 1920, when a man named Edward Thorndike devised the "laws of learning." Some of the tenets of this approach involve the Law of Readiness, the Law of Exercise, and the Law of Identical Elements. Thorndike believed that learning should be ordered and efficient, ( Law of Readiness) following a structured regiment of writing skills that students are expected to master. In addition, and in contrast to a constructionist approach, Thorndike prescribes learning based through drills, exercise, and practice ( Law of Exercise). Finally, in the Law of Identical Elements , Thorndike proposes that the learning of a " stimulus-response connection" should be tested in the same conditions that it was learned in. This is based in approach that tests isolated skills through test questions that have a direct relation with practice questions and exercises.
In conclusion, there are many marked contrasts in the differing approaches, cognitive versus behavioral. Where in a behavioral approach the educator looks for a student to master isolated concepts, in a cognitive approach the educator looks for the construction of concepts, not just a quick memorization quickly forgotten after testing. Also, the behavioral approach is grounded in linear, definite practices, exercises, and tests, whereas the cognitive approach is aware of the many different ways people come to learn and understand concepts. A cognitive approach believes learners must construct their own understanding of the concepts in order to fully understand or grasp the subject they are learning. Where the behavioral approach aims to instruct through an ordered and precise regiment, the cognitive approach aspires to educate in a more natural, "hands-off" manner, hopefully helping the student to develop his own construction of the concepts being taught.

Grammar Girl

I first saw Grammar Girl a few months ago on the news. What do you think about this idea? Watch the clip and let me know if you think it is as great as I do!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWFCMOo0Wis

Iconica

The text The Language of Ionica describes the use of symbols as a language. The author writes about the growth of Ionica from the time of cavemen to modern times.
The different elements are described:
(a) REAL: natural forms
(b) SYNTHETIC: ideal archetypes
(c) CODED: information
(d) ABSTRACT: digital abstraction
(e) SUBCONSCIOUS: mind/dreams
(f) METAPHYSICAL: energy
"These elements are the roots of the iconic language,"

The part that surprised me the most was when the author talked about the use of a grammatical system. For some reason, I thought there was no grammar system and everyone who used symbols as a form of language talked like cavemen. Now, I know differently.

Von'Dragas Smalley's New Thread

William Shakespeare's use of language is, arguably, the best in English history in terms of plays and poetry. As a dramatist playwright and poet Shakespeare redefined the performance of plays with his language alone. His plays have been translated in every major living language. Popular belief among philosophers suggest that no new ideas exist. Critiques of Shakespeare have been around so long, that some critical historians believe that eventually no new material will be able to be written or produced about Shakespeare. Thus, Shakespeare will eventually not be taught in classrooms; and subsequently his legacy will die out. Do you agree with this perspective?

Alternatives to the Error Hunt

Helping students revise and edit their work, during the writing process, allows them to learn from their mistakes and eliminate the number of errors that are made in their writing. Thus, Weaver takes a constructivist stance on errors, and believes that errors can be used as a tool for teaching. First, Weaver suggest that teachers give students plenty of time to read during school. This suggestion enforces the assumption that the more a student reads the more familiar the student becomes with discourse associated with that discipline. Thus, is is wise that students use reading time and quick quizzes to get well acquainted with grammar and style. This can also limit the amount of plagiarism that can accidentally happen among students. Next, Weaver insist that teachers make sure students have plenty of time for all phases of the writing process. Reviewing literature review on the discipline, or having students read from a number of different authors on the same topic, is essential for students during the self editing process. Therefore, students will feel that their audience is more public. Teachers should also develop and collect resources that are useful for editing, such as editing checklist. The editing checklist serves as a model for students to follow, which leads directly into Weaver's next suggestion. The author suggest that teachers provide students with a model of what is expected so that students can follow a template for the assignment and have a higher chance for success. Teachers can help students help themselves, by creating peer editing workshops. If the teacher finds that a large number of students are making the same grammatical mistakes, then mini lessons should be taught to the entire class. Teachers should also hold mini-conferences with students to point out what matters need special attention within that particular student's writing. Weaver ends this section of the book by giving teachers some suggestions on how to approach responding to errors in the final draft. The suggestions are the teachers should not do anything about the remaining errors, respond only to selected kinds of errors, or put check in the margin of lines where there is an error and invite the student to correct the errors. Nonetheless, Weaver's approach to using errors as motivation for tutorial materials takes a constructivist stance very common today in American education.

School House Rock---

I thought this was pretty funny! It is a Mad TV version of School House Rock.

ESL Games and Quizzes

This is a cool website for ESL teachers to visit and get great ideas from. The website includes games ranging from elementary to advance. Their are also quizzes for ESL students to practice their newly acquired language skills and such. Play a game and let me know what you think about the overall layout of the site. To visit the website you will have to copy and paste the website URL into the address bar of your current PC.
Peace. One.


http://www.teflgames.com/games.html

The Tower of Babel...

The Tower of Babel and the Teaching of Grammar: Writing Instruction for the Twentieth Century is written by Amy Martinson. She speaks on four separate yet correlating subtopics.
1) What is grammar?
2) Why have we moved away from grammar
as part of writing instruction?
3)What are some of the differing opinions, past and present, regarding grammar as it
relates to writing instruction?
4) Does grammar have a place in the writing
classroom of the new century? If so, where?

Martinson provides three different definations to grammar. Grammar 1 suggests, "grammar to be the 'unconscious knowledge' of language, claiming that all persons who use a language, whether literate or not, know the language or else they could not use it." Grammar 2 on the other hand, "is our conscious knowledge of language, including "concepts, terminology, and analytic techniques for talking about language." Grammar 3 defines grammar under the the claim of Gribbin, " grammar is not really grammar, but is 'linguistic etiquette' or usage." Next, we will discuss 'why has grammar moved away as part of writing instruction.

Why have we moved away from grammar as part of writing instruction? Research claims that formal grammar did not improve writing and could even bring about a 'harmful effect on the improvement in writing'. In fact, teachers tended to switch from 'product' writing to 'process' writing. The trend of a constructive approach started to replace the traditional behavioral approach to teaching. To clarify, the focus in the writing classroom was no longer on the end product, the paper, but on the process by which the paper came to be. 'Product' versus 'process' is a debate which flares differing opinions, past and present, regarding grammar as it relates to grammar.

One anti-grammar view (already mentioned)is by Braddock claiming grammar to be "harmful" to writing development. On the contary, Constance Weaver, author of "Teaching Grammar in the Context of writing," reminds us "that during the Middle Ages grammar was thought to be the foundation of all knowledge, the necessary prerequisite
for understanding theology and philosophy as well as literature." Most will agree that modern research has hindered students to perform their 'grammatical duties' due to a radical belief that it is the 'process' and not the 'product' which is of up most importance. This brings us to our final question, " Does grammar have a place in the writing classroom of the new century? If so, where?"

Grammar is probably the most important aspect of writing instruction and should always remain an intricate part of the classroom. How may one possibly be grammatical literate if they are not provided with proper instruction. This trial and error approach (process) to writing instruction, regarding grammar, should not be an entity on its own but rather a co-contributor to the 'product'. In other words teachers should implement a sequence to writing papers. This sequence is of the following: 1) Outline 2) Rough Draft 3) Revision 4)Peer Editing 5) Final Paper. For the most part high school teachers follow this writing instruction order, and if they do not well they should. This is a very effective writing system and is efficient within the common high school classroom.

I hope you have all gone away with a new perspective to teaching grammar as part of your writing instruction. Your students will be better off.

Prescriptive Grammar of England in the 17th and 18th Centuries

Chapter 2 of Grammar for Grammarians deals with the period of 1642-1700 in England. This period can be called the Prescriptive Period because many 'grammarians' tried to formulate and control the English language. Because England had been in turmoil for most of this period by the 1660s there was a movement to change language and order, regulate, conform, and correct the language and the cultural of the people. The attitudes and interests of the people began to change and they took a new look into the importance of English. They modeled this view from the perfection of Latin since there was a renewed interest in Latin language and Literature in England. Four prominent figures where John Dryden, Daniel Defoe, Johnathon Swift (The author who we made swifties in class the other day), and Samuel Johnson. These figures tried to do three things to English:
1. Standardize it by creating a system of rules for which it had to follow.
2. Refine it by taking away any defects in the language.
3. Ascertain it by making perfect so it will never change and evolve. They did this so that there work would always be understood.
These ideas were good because standarizing the language would make it easier to be taught in schools and more people would be able to speak and understand the language. However refining it and trying to ascertain it would not benefit the language because having the language grow encourages more intellect between scholars. Since this is was the belief of the group they tried to push for an English Academy to monitor the language and create the three rules above. This did not happen however, but there were grammars that were produced that helped understand the difficulties of English.
Although the grammarians of the time did not fully re-order the English language there were leaps and bounds made it its theory and thoughts. Many people began to look into why we have past participle and why it is important to the language. Grammarians were taking a new look into the marvelous language of English!!!!!!

Conjunction Function

This video is a classic 'School of House Rock' production so I thought it would cool to post this as my thread(Plus, it was a part of my mini-lesson). Enjoy! Let me know what you think of the video. Peace. One.

Tom Swifties

Go to the following website and learn what "Tom Swifties" are.

Look at the books from the 1920s for examples.

PROMPT 1:

Get together in groups of 3-4. Go to the following webpage (and other related ones you find yourself). Your group's task is to create a 12-item test for another group that this group has to solve. The group that solves most of the 12 items it gets from another group wins. You need to retype Tom Swifties that you find on the webpage, but you leave out the last word, i.e., the pun, for the group to fill in the blank.

Examples:

1. How do you start a model-T Ford without a battery?" asked Tom _____________ .

(answer: CRANKILY)

2. "I have to wear this cast for another six weeks," said Tom _________________ .

(answer: DISJOINTEDLY)

3. "I'm shocked," said Tom _____________________ .

(answer: ELECTRICALLY)


You should select sentences that people are able to guess, when they think hard.

EMAIL me your 12-item quiz (with solutions). Only one per group, please!


PROMPT 2:

Invent 3 Tom Swifties on your own!!! Publish them as a comment to this blog. If you work in groups, indicate all your names on your blog entry.

Special Languages

TASK 1:

Do a quickwrite as a comment to this blog about the PROMPT:Is it possible to live without numbers? Is it possible to live without words for or sense of time? Is is possible to live without words for colors? Why, or why not? If yes, what would it be like?

TASK 2:

Read the following text. What are the special features of this language? Make a bullet-pointed list with examples in a Word document.

TASK 3:

Do a quickwrite about this philosophical question:

According to the theory of linguist Benjamin Whorf, who died in 1941, "people are only capable of constructing thoughts for which they possess actual words." Do you think this is true? In your opinion, do people first have a concept, and then invent words for it, or do they first need words to create a concept around them?

EMAIL me prompt 2 and 3.

Grammar Tutor

This is actually a very nifty little Web site. I was skeptical at first, but once I began browsing, I realised how cool it is. This site is an online proofreading/ editing site. For those of us who will probably be writing for the rest of our lives, this is awesome, but it would work really nicely for students with major papers that need edited. The company is based out of Australia and charges kind of a lot to actually write a paper for someone, but none of us should care about that anyway. :) However, to proofread they charge $0.037/word. Which, for a small paper wouldn't be that bad. There are also links to a grammar book. It teaches about commas, apostrophes, complex/simple sentences and much more! I think this is an awesome site, what do you think?

ESL Students

I recently have an ESL Student in the class I am observing and I thought this website would be very helpful for an ESL Student. On the website there are games, vocabulary activites, grammar activities, listening activities, poems (even Limericks), songs, sentence patterns, etc. Check it out and let me know what you think.....

Website

Grammarian for Grammarians: Part 1: Prespective Grammar

"This section of the book explores the rules of usage established by the prescriptive grammarians of the 18th century and traces their continuing influence on present-day conceptions of grammar, especially among non-specialists" (8). The first section deals with the Classical Period (500 BC - 500 AD) and centers on the idea that the Greeks and the Romans were the first people to study language. The Greeks were interested in language because they had become aware of other languages through "trade and diplomacy" and the fact that there were many "distinct dialects" in their own language (8). During this time, the Greeks invented the first alphabet that gave each consonant and vowel a symbol. This alphabet was the basis of our own English alphabet. The Greeks were not just interested in the ideas and concepts of language but also the origin of words. Nature vs. convention was one of the main debates during this time; people were trying to figure out if "words imitate nature or do they have an arbitrary relationship to what they represent" (9). A study based on the "order that is found in language" was also being done by the Greeks at this time (9). The Greeks were responsible for the beginnings of the different parts of speech. Plato created the the concept of noun and verb around 400 BC and in 350 BC Aristotle added the idea of a conjunction. In 100 BC Dionysius added "participle, article, pronoun, preposition, and adverb" to the list which gave the Greeks eight different parts of speech. However, in 1761 Joseph Priestley "submitted adjective for participle" in his book The Rudiments of English Grammar (10). Even though the Greeks did many things to advance the study of grammar and language, they were still somewhat in the dark age about three different issues. "First, there was no understanding of the genetic relation among languages, especially between Latin and Greek" (13). "Second there was a fundamental, mistaken belief that any type of language change was a form or language 'decay'" (13). "Third, there arose a mistaken conception that spoken language is secondary to written language; that is, that speech is an imperfect representation of writing" (13). During the Middle Ages (500-1500 AD) the rise of Latin as the "better" language became apparent and became the "primary subject of language study" (14). It was not until the Renaissance (1500-1650) that vernacular languages became a form of writing and study. This was also the time that printing written language was expanding and language easier to obtain and study.

Computational Limericks

This was a very interesting article. The article begins by stating what us as readers might be thinking, which is “ why is this relevant”. Lessard and Levison stated that limericks represent the stage between puns and jokes. In short, unlike crass jokes, these jokes have a loose structure. We are then given three models of limericks.

The first of these is exhaustive generation. The text was a little unclear as to what this entails, but I gathered that this is writing whatever you are thinking, no matter how senseless. I assume that this can clear ones’ mind, and also give a bank of ideas to go back to. The next step is production, followed by backtracking and editing, restricted by a set of rules. The third is multiple constraint satisfaction.. This , as the article states, “ is the production of a text that obeys multiple constraints”.

After we are given a summary of the rules that govern a limerick, we get an explanation of what a limerick actually is. I would rather have this come before the specifics, but I digress. For those that don’t know, ( and trust me, I was a part of this group before I read this article) a limerick is a 5 line poem that is generally humorous. The poem has an aabba rhyme scheme, and lines 1, 2 and 5 have 9 syllables. Lines 3 and 4 have six syllables.

The articles talks in detail about how the limerick is dictated by the rhyme scheme, which I found to be interesting. Obviously any type of set rhyme scheme is self restricting, and it is this restriction that ironically can bring out some pretty creative limericks. As the article states, this rhyme scheme sets about a right to left approach of writing the lyric, where the writer may choose the word that will rhyme first, and then base the rest of the line off of that word. When the Limerick begins, the writer sometimes chooses to make a skeleton of the overall poem. For example, If I was writing one, and was including my name, I would try and compose a list of words that rhyme with Zach ( quack, sack, rack, tack, etc).

The article talks about how most limericks have some lexical similarities within the poem. For example, many of the words could be dealing with the same topic. The example we are given is food preparation, with many of the words having to deal with this topic ( the limerick contains the words roasted, boiled, baked, toasted, stewed). Also there is such a thing as a historical limerick, which generally follows a certain plot structure, if you will. A limerick about the crashing of the Hindenburg would start out with the motivation, the act, the factor that made it crash, and the consequences.

Limericks also deal with a great bit of wordplay. Generally the sound of the word is very important. For example, we are given a limerick about a dog that plays a musical instrument and keeps thieves away. Given its relation to music, we see some clever wordplay on the word bark. Almost anyone vaguely familiar with music knows of Bach, so the limerick states at the end” For its Bach was much worse than its Bite”. All in all, I found this article to be interesting because I didn’t realize that something so seemingly simple could have such complexity.

Limericks

Today, we'll do a group-work CREATIVE WRITING task that deals with rhythm and rhyme of language.

I have emailed you all the works of art of last year's ENGL 300 course.

Let's see if we can exceed them! Go to the following website, and learn about the rhythm and rhyme of limericks.

Then, look at your email and read the examples from last year.

TASK:

Get together in groups of three or four people (maximum), and create your own limerick. Observe the following rules:

1) The rhythm must be correct.
2) The long lines must rhyme.
3) The short lines must rhyme.
4) There must be a pun in it.

No restriction about the topic! Can contain "language," too. After all, limericks allegedly originate from pubs in Ireland...

When you're done, publish your limerick as a comment to this blog entry, and indicate all the names of your group members!

Can one invent a language with a grammar system???

TASK 1: Do a quickwrite (3-5 min.) as a comment to this blog entry about the PROMPT:

"Is is possible to invent a language with a whole new grammar system, which can actually be used for communication by people all over the world?"


TASK 2:
We are going to watch the following film in-class: "The Language Challenge - - Facing up to Reality."

TASK 3:
TOPIC: translation again..... take about 10 minutes to complete this task.Work with a partner and translate the following text into English to the best of your ability:

Patro nia, kiu estas en la ĉielo, Sankta estu Via nomo.
Venu reĝeco Via. Estu volo Via, kiel en la ĉielo, tiel ankaŭ sur la tero.
Panon nian ĉiutagan donu al ni hodiaŭ.
Kaj pardonu al ni ŝuldojn niajn, kiel ni ankaŭ pardonas al niaj ŝuldantoj.
Ne konduku nin en tenton, sed liberigu nin de la malvera:
Ĉar Via estas la regado, la forto, kaj la gloro eterne.


TASK 4:
Open the following file. Read along with the text (original and English translation) while we are hearing the sound file on the smartboard computer.

PROMPT: Email me the following answers in essay format. If you don't get done in class, it will be homework for Wednesday.

1) How much would you understand if you just heard the spoken version?
2) If you understood something, what was the reason for that? If you didn't, what was the reason for that?
3) Would it take you longer or shorter to learn this language than to learn German, French, Spanish, or another languague like these? Explain.
4) Do you think it has a future? Explain.
5) Could you create something like this? If you had to, how would you proceed; whom/what would you involve, what would it be like?


LAST EXTRA CREDIT OPPORTUNITY: (Due date: Friday this week)

If you still need to make up for an unexcused missed day, or for homework/blog comments, write a 2 page essay about the history and development of this language! You can use the Internet for sources, but you have to quote accordingly in correct MLA or APA format.

OR:

Write a paper of the same length about other languages like that!

Joker: English translation of an Indian song

Go to the following Youtube file and read the subtitles of the "English translation of an Indian song."

:-) This is just MY new thread; you don't have to comment on it!

How important is grammar when grading English Papers?

If you are an English major or have had a few English classes, you have most likely realized that each instructor is different. A paper you reeive an A on in one class might earn you a C in another. Some instructors will lower your letter grade with every 3 grammatical errors they find in your papers. Other instructors focus more on content then mechanics. Personaly, I think that content is always more important than mechanics. I think the abillity to craft a well formulated argument with plenty of relevent evidence and a proper format and flow is much more important then a few grammatical errors. What type of relation should content and grammar have in an English class? I am a content person, but I've known professors that are anal about mechanics. Which are you? :)

Mission of Writing Centers Blog Summary

The article decsribes the three types of customers they see: first time patrons, return students, and referred students. It also explains how a tutors job is to use minimalist tutoring, and should avoid becoming an editor for the students. They stress the need to ask the students questions about their papers such as: "What concerns do you have?" The job of a tutor is to educate the student on proper writing techniques and help them become better writers. As a tutor, you might edit a first time student's paper, but only if you inform them to make an appointment in advance next time and come prepared with specific questions and concerns. A returning student should come prepared and be ready to answer questions about his paper as well as learn how to improve. Tutors may also hand out or refer writing manuals and guides to the students. A referred student is someone who has been refered to the writing center by a faculty member. These students will most likely need some serious work on mechanics(grammar) or even proper structure for papers and how to formulate a well developed thesis. The article also discusses the use of technology in the internet age. Tutors must realize and educate themselves on various ways of cummincating via technology. Word processing programs, e-mail, and blogs are examples of the various ways in which the world communicates or uses technology in writing today.

In-Class, April 18: Grammar, Syntax, and Translations

Today, we are going to investigate in how far a TRANSLATOR is able to remain "close to the text" (literal translations), or has to transcribe (free translation) the content of the original text.

TASK 1:
Do a short freewrite about WHAT IS BETTER: TO TRANSLATE AS LITERALLY AS POSSIBLE, OR TO SAY IT ACCORDING TO YOUR OWN LANGUAGE'S CUSTOMS AND IDIOMS, THUS LOSING PARTS OF THE ORIGINAL TEXT AND THE AUTHOR'S STYLE?

Publish your quickwrite on this blog as a comment.


TASK 2: Read the texts (6 pages) in the following Translations">Picasa slide show.

INSTRUCTIONS:
Click on the first SMALL one of the six images you see. Then, click on the MAGNIFYING GLASS symbol on your right side (because the original texts are very small). When you've enlargened the image with the magnifying glass, pull the page up and down with the cursor, so you're able to read the whole page.

When you've read the six pages, answer the following essay questions, and EMAIL THEM TO ME:

1) What do you think about the different translations of the same original text from Homer? Which one is your favorite?

2) What are the reasons for different translations of the same text?

3)If you translated a text, what would influence you, and what would you try to do?

4) Do you think human translators will ever become unnecessary?

5) What would you prefer to read - books in their original versions, or as an English translation?

6) Can there be a perfect translation?

7) for extra credit (makes up for one missed blog response from the past): Find an online translation engine, and email me a long German sentence of at least 10 words that you translated from English, and which you think I can understand.

In-Class, April 16: Writing Centers and Tutors

For those who have not yet done so: read the blog summary about MINIMALIST TUTORING first.

Then, either pick one partner, or work by yourself:

Your TASK 1 is to read the following ERIC document, "How to Communicate Politely and be a Tutor, Too" by Therese Tonus.

Answer the following three questions in written form:

1) How should Writing Center tutors behave?
2) Which mistakes do Writing Center tutors make? (with examples)
3) Which compromises do Writing Center tutors have to make?

Email the answers to me. If you have worked with a partner, write both your names in the email.


TASK 2: (individual work)
Pretend you are a tutor at the Writing Center.
Go to Purdue's website "Exercises for Eliminating Wordiness." Do the assignments on this site (first, rewrite the sample sentences, eliminating redundancies and repetitions, thus shortening them. Then, rewrite the story about mysteries in a short and precise way.) Email me your shortened sentences and story (this will be HOMEWORK for next Monday if you don't get done in class).

TASK 3:
If you get done early with the assignments, answer to the newly published blog threads by your peers.

Free Rice

I was watching the news and saw a piece on this website and thought we should all try it out in class!!!! The goal of the website is to give you 4 clues to a word and when you guess the word right the website donates grains of rice to a third world country. If you get 4 words right then 1 person gets enough rice to live on for 1 day!!! Imagine if everyone in the United States answered one word a day?????


FREE RICE

Online Teaching

Recently, online teaching has become very popular. Students are no longer attending classrooms, instead they stay home every day and learn through their online courses on the computer. What are some advantages/disadvantages to this? Do you think this is an overall good idea? How will it affect students and teachers?

Minimalist Tutoring

Video Summary

Minimalist tutoring makes a lot of sense to me. The students go to the writing center to get help with their writing. The goal of the tutors there is to get the students to write on their own. To facilitate this they have them start writing as soon as they get there. If student has specific questions they answer them but in a way that encourages learning. They will not give the student the answer but help them find it out for themselves. If the student gets stuck, the tutors will ask them probing question in an attempt to stimulate the student’s ideas. The idea is to get the student to write the paper themselves. This way they do not get Dependant on the tutors but eventually don’t need them anymore. Most of what the tutors do is encourage the students to think that they are capable of writing. Low self efficacy is the biggest problem that they deal with. The students also need help getting their ideas on paper in a cohesive manner. Sometimes they have read the material but don’t have a starting place. These students often times just need a little push in the right direction. These tutors are doing the same things for these students that my parents did for me. Minimalist tutoring seems to be a great way to help students learn to write proficiently.

Bryan Norbut

Commas

Amy Mckenzie's New Thread

One of my high school English teachers told me that it was pointless for teachers to teach their students pure grammar. She believed that doing so was a waste of time because students may be able to fill out worksheets but the next day they would not be able to apply what they had learned in their writing. At the time I thought she was right but now that I am writing a lot more papers, I wish I knew more about grammar and think that it would be helpful. What do you think?

Second Language?

Many people have said that it is integral to your education to learn a second language. The arguments range from it helping the learner better understand the grammar of their native language to helping them better understand a different culture and thus encourage diversity. I have been encouraged from a very young age to learn a second and them third language. This encouragement has come from teachers and friends and my parents. It is also apparent that SIU agrees with them because it has made it a requirement for students to study a second language. What do you think? Is it important to learn a second language? Does it help you to understand grammar? Does it encourage diversity? Is it really worth all of the work? Are there other reasons why it would be beneficial to learn a new language?

In-Class, April 14: Peer-Edit Session

For our peer-editing session today about the research package, fill in all the points on the peer editor's sheet, and also look for:

HOC (Higher Order Concerns; i.e., organization, format, ideas, logic, content, etc.)
and
LOC (Lower Order Concerns; i.e., grammar, spelling, punctuation, text flow, etc.).

You're allowed to write on the original paper (in a different color, please). In case you're peer-editing an electronic version instead of a paper copy, you have to insert electronic comments, and you also need to fill in the peer editor's sheet electronically.

At the end of the lesson, give your peer the edited paper back, and staple your editor's sheet at the back. Your peer has to hand in his/her editor's sheet together with the final paper. I WON'T ACCEPT ANY FINAL PAPER WITHOUT THE EDITOR'S SHEET. If you've peer edited an electronic version in class today, you can fill in the sheet electronically (you already have it in an email), too. Just make sure your peer can print it out and attach it to his/her final essay.

When you're done with peer-editing, you can fill in the remaining blog entries, and already begin with the readings for the next blog summaries indicated in the blog below (and also emailed to you).

last blog summary texts

The following are the texts for the blog summaries that still have to be done this semester:

Daniel Colcord: Look at the following website and describe the mission of Writing Centers, the typical kind of students they receive as “customers,” and the best practices of Writing Center tutors. Prompt for the others: What is your personal opinion about the “best practices”?

Bryan Norbut: Watch the video (interview of Writing Center tutors) on the following website, and explain what “minimalist tutoring” is. Are you in favor of it, or against it? What would the contrary be?

John Lynch: Summarize pp. 150-157, chapters “Teaching Grammar via Mini-lessons” through “Mini-Lessons as a Reflection of the Cognitive/Constructivist Paradigm,” from the Weaver book Teaching Grammar in Context.

Von Smalley: Read pp. 87-101, “Teaching Final Revision and Editing/Proofreading” from the Weaver book Teaching Grammar in Context, and offer your personal opinion about “hands-off policy” and “benign neglect.”

Jessica Berry: Summarize aspects from pp. 8-20, “Part I: Prescriptive Grammar” from the Parker/Riley book, Grammar for Grammarians. It deals with the history of grammar from the classical period over the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

Alison Romershausen: Summarize aspects from pp. 21-35, “The Prescriptive Period” from the Parker/Riley book, Grammar for Grammarians. It deals with grammar in 17th-19th century England.

If there's anybody who has not published a blog summary yet, and is not on this list, this is the time to contact me and get your topic!

Inclusion of Students with Special Needs: Teaching and Learning

It can be difficult enough to teach students in a class when they have minor learning differences, but when you add a student who has a special need or mental disorder it can add to the complication. When it comes to teaching language or grammar in your class, how would you cope with a student in your class who has special needs? How would you balance out your lesson to include the students with special needs and the students who are at normal standards? To go along with this idea, how would you incorporate students into your lesson who are gifted or advanced learners?

This link has useful tips and ideas on how to teach students with special needs and how to include them in a normal classroom setting.

In-Class, April 9: Fry Graph for Readability

In-Class activity:

A) Watch the Youtube file "One Semester of Spanish Love Song."
Do a quickwrite of 100 words or more about the prompt: "What did you learn about teaching an L2 language from the Youtube file 'One Semester of Spanish Love Song'?"

B)Today - while we are awaiting the survey results coming in - we are going to assess our own personal READABILITY level measured by the Fry graph.

The reading of the handout which was due today explained who Fry was, what the graph assesses, how the procedure goes, and what readability really is. You also have the blog summary which gives you a detailed account.

Now, your TASK is to create your own Fry graph. Use the following link to review the procedure, and draw a colored bullet on the handout I gave you at the place where your own readability score lies.

For this assessment, you will need three 100-words-samples of your previous writing.

Where do we get those from?

1) Your first 100-words-sample will be one of your previously published blog comments. Just cut any of your comments out of the blog, paste it into words, and cut it off after having counted 100 words. Then, perform the steps mentioned on your handout from Monday. (This sample will probably have a less high readability level, since most student don't consider blogs "academic writing," and pay less attention to word choice, syntax, vocabulary, flow, and sentence length.)

2) Your second 100-words-sample should come from the finished parts of your research essay. You can either take your abstract, if it has 100 or more words, or parts of your Lit Review or other subheadings. Just count 100 words in a row, and perform the steps mentioned on the handout. (This sample is expected to have a very high readability level, because our research essays are aimed at a professional audience.)

3) Your third 100-words-sample will come from the quickwrite which we did at the beginning of the lesson. Your prompt was: "What did you learn about teaching an L2 language from the Youtube file 'One Semester of Spanish Love Song'?" (Well, this sample should show your average readability, when you don't try to sound 'academic,' and you don't talk down because it is 'just a blog'...) Perform the usual steps.

Write your name on your Fry graph entry and submit it to your instructor!

When you're done with this little assessment exercise and still have time, you can continue working on points 6+12 (Lit Review, and Annotated Bibliography) for your research essay, or create your own "new thread" for our blog, or answer to the interesting new threads opened by others!!!

HOMEWORK for Friday:
Have your points 1-9, as well as 6+12 completely finished. We are going to edit our previously created graphs on Friday by typing in the correct numbers resulting from our surveys. Then, we'll complete the research essay in an in-class workshop Friday and next Monday by analyzing our three graphs, and putting the last results in our abstracts, the 'result' part, and the conclusion.

Input and Classroom Interaction

This article offers different case studies that involved a Polish teacher of English history interacting with Polish speaking students. When the students, who are not as far advanced as the teacher, do not understand him, he speaks to them in Polish. This article opened up the question of whether the teacher should continue to talk to the students in English or in their own language?

In my opinion, I feel that the teacher should speak in their own language if the students are having a difficult time understanding. To me understanding is the beginning of knowledge. To further emphasize my point, I would not expect a teacher speak to L2 beginners at a college level standard.

Here are some points that the article brings forth:

--That teachers need to match the level of their classroom interaction and the teaching materials with the learners proficiency level.

--To explain difficult words before teaching the passage and look for contextual learning in their students.

--Make sure the students know clearly what the learning tasks involved for the lesson before presenting the lesson.

--Basically trying to remove communication barriers and to teach contextually versus word for word memorization. Let the students discover the message.

After consideration of this article, what would you believe is the right avenue of education on this particular subject?

Total immersion in the L2 language, or explanations in L1?

....Regina M. Evans....

Readability versus leveling

The article talks about two types of procedures that teachers use to select books for readers and different stages; readability and leveling. Teachers know that introducing reading material that is appropriate for the grade level is an important part of the reading process. Readability formulas usually give a numerical score to rank books or other reading matter in an order of difficulty. Leveling, on the other hand, also yields a score of difficulty, but it is less objective and takes into account some subjective factors of judgment.
William Holmes McGuffey developed the first widely used "leveled" set of readers in 1836, using a numerical ranking instead of grade level designations. Most traditional readability formulas are based on two measures: syntax difficulty (grammatical complexity) usually measured by sentence length and semantic difficulty (meaning or word meaning) usually measured in syllables or number of letters. Leveling, however, is less objective and takes a number of "text support" factors into consideration such as; content, illustration, length, curriculum, language structure, judgment and format.
Readability formulas can be bad because they do not take into account motivation and appropriateness. There are many students that read on a level below their grade and when a student cannot understand what they are reading, they most likely will not read it. Readability formulas do not take into account factors inside the reader's head and tend to be text based. Leveling tries to compensate for part of this limitaion. Leveling is not used outside the classroom while readabilty is used in both. Readability has the strength of objectivity and consistency that any person or computer will get the same score. Leveling has the strength of taking more factors into account than traditional readability formulas and usually provides finer gradations at the primary levels. Both those in the field of readability and leveling are trying to help classroom teachers to teach reading better by helping them select books for their students.

Language in the Court Room

In the following link there is an article about a judge who likes to "think out side of the box" and give unique rulings. In this case he told Spanish speaking defendants that they need to learn English or go to jail. Since we know that it takes awhile to learn language and it can be extremely hard how do you feel about his ruling? Do you think it is right for their crimes? If you were a judge would you use your power to get more people to learn English? Think of these questions as you read. It is diffidently a unique article!!

Judge's Ruling

Language Assignment

Teaching Students with ADD

For teachers, teaching students with Attention Deficit Disorder can be really difficult. These students can cause disruptions in the class because of uncontrollable restlessness, blurting out of answers, and an inability to pay attention. The link that I have given is a website that gives some ideas on how to teach students with this disability.

Teaching Foreign Languages to Elementary Students

How early should we start teaching students a foreign language? Is it appropriate to teach a foreign language to a student who is still learning their native language? I found this article about an elementary school who began teaching their students a foreign language in kindergarten. Tell me what you think!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/07/AR2006080701284.html

Amanda

Our groups, and links to our surveys

This is the blog entry on which you will all post your surveys, so we can take other groups' surveys as peer-editors, to tell them whether everything worked.

Below, I will list all the groups, and the group members' names. Under the heading "topic," you will post your survey link when it is done.

EVERYBODY needs to TAKE THREE SURVEYS; you can choose which ones! You are responsible for telling the group whose survey you took whether you found any mistakes of logic / layout / options to click on / spelling, etc.

TASK: You will each take three surveys, and write a short memo to each group whose survey it was how you found the survey, what was good about it, what was ambiguous about it, what to change, etc.

EMAIL YOUR MEMO to the members of the group who did the survey, and to me in a copy.



GROUP 1:

Survey Topic: "Understanding Autism Through Supervision"


Group Members: Vanessa Knepp, Alison Romershausen, Daniel Colcord, Regina Evans

Audience: Supervisors of autistic children

Purpose: To learn different approaches & techniques of educating, communicating with, and enhancing overall the life of an autistic child.

Anticipated Outcome: The approaches and techniques used will differ for each child.

Statement of Need: This will display personal accents and a variety of approaches which will help show the large spectrum that affects autistic children.



GROUP 2:

Survey Topic: "What Second Language Teachers Think About AAE as a Second Language"

Group Members: Amy McKenzie, Bonnie Bilyeu, Bryan Norbut

Audience: SIUC's Foreign Language Department staff

Purpose: to explore the opinions of F2 instructors of AAE as a second language, to ascertain whether AAE is worthy of foreign language status

Anticipated Outcome: We doubt they will recognize it as a second language

Statement of Need: We feel it is important to seek the opinions of experts in the field of foreign language to ascertain whether AAE is worthy of foreign language status


GROUP 3:

Survey Topic: "Teaching English as a Second Language"


Second part of survey

Group Members: Zach Casselman, John Lynch, Jen Johnson, Von Smalley, Issak Diaz

Audience: teachers of diverse students

Purpose: See how teachers approach and apply methods to teach foreign students.

Anticipated Outcome: We predict teachers will not indicate any existing bias, and that they will work on a 1 on 1 basis with students.

Statement of Need: Look into relationship of teachers and foreign students, and look into better teaching strategies to employ.



GROUP 4:

Survey Topic: "Should Ebonics Be Used In Schools?"

Group Members: Ti'erra Taylor, Josette Maxime, Amanda Yates

Audience: 3 teachers, 2 parents, 5 students

Purpose: To see if people believe that teaching Ebonics in schools is good or bad, and how they feel it affects the students.

Anticipated Outcome: We anticipate that people will think it is good to teach Ebonics in schools.

Statement of Need: This survey is important because it'll give different perspectives on people's opinion of using Ebonics in school.



GROUP 5:

Survey Topic: "Language Acquisition Among Twins"

Group Members: Amanda Murphy, Ashley Wetzler

Audience: Our audience will be comprised of twins or people who deal with twins.

Purpose: Our purpose is to see whether language acquisition differs between twins and those who aren't twins.

Outcome: We think that there will be a difference in the learning acquisition of twins.

Statement of Need: This information is important because it may change the way that language needs to be taught to twins.


GROUP 6:

Survey Topic: "It's 'cause we is Twins?"

Group Members: Alex Gholson, Christian Holt, Lindsay Buettner, Stephanie Tillery, Jessica Berry

Audience: twins, family, friends, teachers

Purpose: To discover whether or not twins are at a linguistic disadvantage.

Anticipated Outcome: Any disadvantage is not created from being twins, but from external influences.

Statement of Need: To dispell any misconceptions brought on by past research about language development in twins.


GROUP 7:

Survey Topic: Click Here to take survey">"Learning a Second Language"

Group Members: Jim Radice, Mike Schloz

Audience: Undergraduate Foreign Language students.

Purpose: Why students choose to take a foreign language.

Anticipated Outcome: Students want to learn foreign languages to broaden their horizons. Not enough Americans learn foreign languages.

Statement of Need: This survey is important because it will provide data on the reasons people take foreign languages, and offer instructors more info on the motivations of their students.

Homework for Friday, March 21st

HOMEWORK for this FRIDAY:

1. As a preparation for our guest speaker about the topic of L2 next Monday, please read the text "The Role of Grammar in the Communicative Classroom" which I will distribute today in class for Friday, March 21st. (For those who are interested: here's a JSTOR review article by Terry Ballmann evaluating this text. It is chapter 2 out of a methodology textbook for foreign language instructors, The Communicative Classroom.)


2. Answer questions 1 + 2 on the handout in written form (email, or hard copy).

3. Write a short statement of what YOU think about teaching "no grammar," or "grammar for grammar's sake" in second language learners' classes.

Tip: This would make a good topic for your surveys, too!


IN-CLASS ACTIVITY on WEDNESDAY, March 19th:

1. Mini-Lesson by Amanda Yates
2. Work on our surveys

a) get together in groups, and discuss your survey project
b) take one index card per group, and write on it in this order:
- your survey's title
- the name of your group members
- a definition of your audience
- the purpose of your survey
- your anticipated outcome
- statement of need
(WHY this survey is important; what kind of new data it will procure)

Submit your index cards to me for approval by the end of today's lesson.

c) Brainstorm possible questions for your survey (just one paper per group).

d) Begin to compose the introductory letter to your audience.

e) Find research articles dealing with your topic, for the "Literature Review" part of your research paper about the survey.

ASSIGN ROLES TO YOUR DIFFERENT GROUP MEMBERS! For example, one person looks up research, another begins the introductory letter, another notes down the questions you put together...

IF ONE OF YOUR GROUP MEMBERS IS MISSING TODAY, it's your responsibility to contact that person to tell him/her what you've done, and what you expect him/her to do!

Reviewing First and Second Language Acquisition: A Comparison Between Young and Adult Learners.

This article is written by Hiromi Hadley. The main focus of this article is to compare the abilities of learning a first and second language between children and adults. The author focuses on language input as an external factor and the learner’s age as an internal factor. The author then goes on to explain the implications for English language learning in classrooms in Japan. The author hopes that the findings from her research will “encourage second language learners and parents, as well as practicing teachers, to reflect upon their own learning and teaching strategies” (Hadley). This article focuses on many different points like the difference in terms of quantity and quality of external input between children, an L1, and adults learning an L2 in the classroom, and the learner’s physical, cognitive, and affective developments as an internal factor. When focusing on input as an External Factor the author centers the attention on both the quantity and the quality of the learners input, connectionism, meaningful input, and the differences in additional input that is provided through interaction. The autor also talks about how child-directed speech and teacher talk affect language acquisition and levels of comprehension. The learner’s age as an internal factor is another topic that this article looks at. The author talks about how physical, cognitive, and affective developments in the learner all affect their ability to learn a language. Language ego and second identity are key factors in affective development as well as attitudes and motivation. All of these things that affect the learner also affect his or her ability to learn a second language. The Critical Period Hypothesis is the idea that language acquisition in L2 learners is increasingly difficult to do after the age of puberty. This hypothesis shows that there are age-related differences in the acquisition of language due to the fact that the learner goes through significant physical, cognitive, and emotional changes at puberty. The author believes that for people to acquire a second language in the classroom better they must focus on the learner as a person and the learning environment. When you have a good learning environment and the learner is up to the task then language acquisition may not be all that hard.

Focal Skills and L2 Acquisition

This article discusses the efforts used at Shenandoah University to introduce early English language learners to improved language acquisition. The university believes that having a clear purpose is important for acquisition, thus, the Focal Skills approach was created. In this program, students are placed in one of four modules (listening, reading, writing, immersion). Each module focuses on communication rather than rules of language, and meaning rather than the language itself. There is no pressure on the students to produce language until they are comfortable with it. Classroom activities are aimed at encouraging student interest rather than calling attention to the rules of grammar. Every four weeks the students are tested to see how much progress they have made and whether they should move on to another module. Once students students begin to develop output and apply language and grammar rules, the program then helps students develop their skills through working in cyberspace. Instructors train their students with "focused rewrites" which involve the teacher restating sections of the students work. Students and teachers meet on a daily basis to go over the rewrites. The teachers use a computer program called Share Space which "aligns student output and teacher changes in parallel columns." Students explore the web to learn about language output and also to share their work with others. By seeing the correct models of output ,the students are able to gradually improve their own writing skills.

the next three blog readings

summary by Amanda Yates: Focal Skills and L2 Acquisition: Writers do it better in Cyberspace
due Wednesday, March 19th

summary by Stephanie Tillery: Reviewing First and Second Language Acquisition:
A Comparison between Young and Adult Learners
due Friday, March 21st

summary by Regina Evans: Instructional Input (read only pp. 117-126)
due Monday, March 23rd

New Topic: Surveys

After our mini lesson today, we're going to start our big semester project: the surveys, which are the basis for our research essays.

First, an ANNOUNCEMENT: next Monday, March 23rd, we will welcome a guest speaker, Dr. Thorsten Huth, who is going to talk about L2 acquisition. Thorsten is a German teacher in the Foreign Language Department. I count on your collaboration to make this an interesting presentation - which means, participate, and ask him questions!!!

Today, we'll learn how to create online surveys with SurveyMonkey.com.

I'll show you a couple of sample surveys we've created in ENGL 300-002 last year.

Your TASK will be:

1) to get together in (permanent) groups
2) to pick a topic that deals with "language acquisition" (not confined to pure grammar)
3) to assemble questions about your topic that you might ask in a survey
4) to figure out who your audience is going to be (will your questionnaire be for students, parents, teachers, or guardians; or relatives/parents of autistic or disabled children?)
5) to note down emails of the contact persons you are going to interview (you should have between 10 - 20 interviewees!!!) Take into consideration that many people don't answer email surveys. So, if you address 20 people, count on it that 50% won't respond, anyway. If you have less than 10 interviewees, that won't give you a valuable research basis.

You don't have to type anything into the online questionnaire yet!!! Just assemble everything on paper for your group.

Further tasks (that will become homework, depending how far we get with our in-class work today and on Wednesday):

1) Write a letter of introduction to the persons you will interview. State
- your name;
- class;
- instructor;
- why you do this survey;
- that you don't need consent by the Human Subjects Committee (HSC)/ Institutional Review Board (IRB) of SIU to conduct this survey, because it doesn't involve minors, or take blood samples, and is not for publication but for in-class practice only;
- that the survey is anonymous
- what the aim of your survey is
- how long it will take (not longer than 10 minutes)
- that your subjects can have the results of your survey from you, when it is finished
- how you will compensate them for taking the survey, if you do that
- say THANK YOU for taking the survey.

A lisp is a speech defect consisting in pronouncing s and z like or nearly like the th-sounds of thin and this. It can also be any unconventional articulation of the sibilants, as the pronunciation of s and z with the tongue between the teeth (lingual protrusion lisp), close to or touching the upper front teeth (dental lisp), or raised so that the breath is emitted laterally (lateral lisp). I have included an article that describes what a lisp is and what causes a lisp in children.

http://www.childrentoday.com/articles/development/a-lithp-is-just-a-lisp-1606/3/

Working with Input

The article "working with input" discusses how input is one of the key components to acquisition. Some of the keys to input are comprehension and meaning bearing. Comprehension is very important for the learner to understand what a writer/speaker is saying in order for acquisition to happen. (Acquisition means to gain something, or to acquire something.) The example in the text speaks about using the word "chien" with a person who is trying to learn French. With continued conditioning, the learner will learn that the word "chien" (pronounced "chee-en") means "dog". Another key to input is "meaning-bearing". This means that what ever message that the learner is listening to has to have some sort of message that the learner is supposed to attend to. With 1st and 2nd language acquisition it is important to modify speech to help the learner to fully comprehend and gain lasting knowledge of what it is that they're learning. Vocabulary is also very important with input. Even when learning different languages. Total physical response, or TPR is a great way to teach vocabulary, you HEAR the word and SEE the object, hence the total PHYSICAL response.

A Look at a Scottish Dialect

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DYtz7Mon3c&feature=related


The point of this lesson is to instruct the students on one specific dialect of English, Scottish. There are various reasons to study dialects such as: actors training, learning about culural diversity, learning about how the english language differs geographically, and of course writing fiction or drama. We are going to take a look at a Scottish dialect from Aberdeen, Scotland. Listen to the sound file and see if you can understand what he says.

Link- http://web.ku.edu/idea/europe/scotland/scotland.htm (Scotland Fourteen)

Did you understand him clearly? Did you recognize any specific pronunciation differences? Here is an explanation of some of the different pronunciations that the speaker uses.

Scotland Fourteen - Text

"The area the subject comes from retains its rich, strong dialect of North-east Scots and the speaker can switch fluently between Standard Scots and his own dialect. Comma Gets a Cure is read in a more standard way, but the unscripted speech is in Scots; hence the pronunciation of Aberdeen, from, toon, over, called, do, outside; and the use of ken and wee for know and little. The vowel of man is very back; a'body means everybody, and the sound in her is very openly realized. With this speaker the initial /th/ is sometimes dropped, so that becomes 'at. One key substitution in the dialect is the traditional /f/ for word-initial /wh/, so when become fin, what becomes fit and so on. The glottal stop, as with many young Scots, is ubiquitous; and consonants, especially the /r/ sound, very muscular."

Recorded by Ros Steen, 2005; and edited June 4, 2005 by Paul Meier. Running time: 00:04:33.

Examples of Scottish words and pronunciation used throughout the sound clip:

Scottish English Pronunciation of Scottish Words

Fur for likin'- final 'g' is often omitted

Yer you/your sufferin'

Sae so struttin'

Wirsh washed strokin'

Wus was relaxin'

Lik like surprisin'

Ken know le-er (letter)- glottal stop, t is not pronounced

Wee little mirror- r is pronounced with a rolling of the tongue

Fin when hurry

U's and O's are strongly pronounced as in:

U- duke and huge

O- foot and soon

You can use this link http://www.cs.stir.ac.uk/~kjt/general/scots.html to browse through various Scottish words and how they pronounce various English words.

Task For Children

Have children listen to sound clip to see if they can pick up on any additional Scottish words and/or pronunciation using 'Scots Tongue'.

Link- http://www.cs.stir.ac.uk/~kjt/general/scots.html

Assessment

Class Discussion. Participation points awarded to entire class.

Valley Girl Dialect

The purpose of this exercise is for the students to get familiar with the California, or valley girl dialect. This is a dialect that many students have heard, probably through movies such as legally blonde or clueless. This will be an interesting way for the students to realize how different a dialect can be in the English language. This dialect has also been called Valspeak.

Emphasizing phrases: Some words are used very liberally to exaggerate a sentence.

Ex I so totally aced that test!

Oh most definitely we are gonna go to the beach after school!

Using like as a quotative particle: In Valspeak, the word like is used almost in the same was a comma. Where we might say “ umm” or pause between thoughts, Valspeak uses like.

I got out of class, and like, I was so tired.

I was like, shut up, you gotta be joking

Intonation of phrases to make a phrase sound like a question.

Your taking Todd to the prom? ( simple statement made as a question)

Girl 1: I’m going to quit my job on Saturday

Like, shut up? ( phrase used as a question. Here it is inquiring as to the seriousness of girl 1’s statement.

Students will listen to the following clip:

Exercise 1. The students will visit the following dialect translator and translate a passage into valley girl. Some interesting ideas for transfer are poems, samples from essays, etc. Show the students how different a Robert Frost poem might be if translated into valley girl. The students should be pretty familiar with this type of talk. What is important for the students to realize is how diverse our culture is, and how valley girl is obviously just one different dialect spoken in this country.

Exercise 2: Have the students watch an edited version of the following youtube video Has the dialect been played up to represent the stereotype of the typical surfer? What rules that we have covered are seen in this video? The students will write a short response 250- 300 words, about the prevalence of Valspeak in Midwestern language.

Exercise 3. For the last exercise, the students will break into pairs and will take turns interviewing each other. The interviewer will speak in a regular Midwestern accent, and the the person interviewed will use Valspeak. This will help to give the students a clear contrast of Midwestern language to Valley speak. The students will write a one page response to this, focusing on the differences in Midwestern language and Valspeak. Does the use of Valspeak make one seem less intelligent? Ask students for their opinions.

Midtrack 9th Grade Dialect Discrimination Lesson

Objective: To define the use of language as a socially controlled, normative system to a 9th grade class, and have them understand the difference between "high bred" London accents and Cockney. Once an understanding of these dialects and their link to class discrimination is achieved, the lesson will move on to their own encounters with dialect in their lives. Journaling and class discussion will lead to an understanding of what dialect is; and why it sometimes leads to unfounded discrimination.

Introduction: I will play a short clip from the film My Fair Lady, as an attention getter, with the class's attention pointed towards the ways the characters use language and subsequently treat each other. Then, the class receives a lecture on the social queues gained from language. Covered is how the gentrified Londoner immediately assumes that the speaker of the cockney accent is uneducated and indicts the woman for damaging the "true" language that only he, of course, has the education to have mastered.

The sound file here is an example of a mild London cockney accent.

Task: The students will be asked to take notes on the aspects of this dialect, including the dropped "h"s at the beginning of words, such as "happy" becoming "ah-ppy". And mark the use of intrusive "r"s, found in "sto-ry", and glottilised "t"s, as in "lots".

Now I would tell a story of my own dealings with my mother's southern dialect. She would always use the turn of phrase "ink pen" instead of pen, but I did not understand why. Then one day when I was older, she asked me for a pin, but I brought her a pen. It was then that I realized that in her southern dialect the pronunciation for "pen" and "pin" are identical, both sounding like "pen". So, she says "ink pen" so people can differentiate that she is not talking about a "pin". The students will now journal individually on their own encounters with and assumptions concerning dialects. I will then lead a discussion on the impact dialect has had on our lives, with a focus being kept on the idea that there is not platonic ideal for language.

Conclusion: After participating in the discussion the student's personal ideas will have been reshaped with this new information. They will have an understanding of the social context in which language is used and will consequently understand that discrimination based on people's speech patterns is unfounded.

Shakespearen Dialect

Introduction:
Dialect can be used to dissect grammar by delving into the drama genre of English. Grammar will be explored by focusing primarily on the Shakespearean use of language in conversation. This differs from most teachings of language in Shakespeare as studies focus solely on the text. Students will learn to explain the variations between Shakespearean dialect and their own. Students will also understand how the rules of grammar and dialect give acting verisimilitude.

Importance of learning this concept:
Learning how dialect varies helps students understand the expectations that pertain to really making their acting of the play a success. Rule governed grammar differs among languages as well as between dialects. As students gain a better understanding of this concept, the will understand some of the difficulties foreign students have with learning another language. The students will gain this understanding by virtually being put into an environment where their own use of language is forbidden.

Drama Dialectic:
Actors studying Shakespeare often use the International Phonetic Alphabet (I.P.A) when forming their dialects. I.P.A. uses phonetic notations based on the Latin alphabet. It serves as the standard representation of spoken speech. I.P.A. gives the guidelines for the “correct” sounds of “Standard English.” Standard English is said to be the perfect mix of American and British English sounds. We may be able to recognize Standard English on paper, but most of the time we are actually pronouncing it incorrectly. Although, Shakespeare’s works are from Great Britain, you will not hear Shakespeare plays spoken in the “Cockney” British accent that was common of many people who lived during the Elizabethan era. The phonetic alphabet is composed of numerous symbols representing the variety of sounds present in the English language. Since the teaching of I.P.A and it’s symbols can easily fill a semester of class (and because we are only teaching a short unit on drama to 9th graders) we are not going to focus on having the students memorize these symbols. Rather we want them to focus on a few simple sound rules, when performing their scenes from Romeo and Juliet.

1. Words ending in “y” will be changed to “i.”

Example: “Happy”- in normal English we pronounce the “y” in happy with a long “ee” sound. However, in proper Standard English, it will not be a long “ee” sound. Rather, it will have a short “I” sound- “happi”

2. Words ending in “r” should be pronounced softly.

Example: “Yonder”-in our everyday speech we always pronounce the “r”. However, this makes the speech more harsh. Instead, make the “r” soft and drawn out.

3. Words beginning with “re” should be changed to “ri”

Example: “Return” Instead of carrying out the “e” as in “Ree-turn” it should be short “I” sound. Instead, say “ri-turn.”

4. Most words beginning with the word “a” should be pronounced with the “awe” sound.

Example: “Answer”- “Awe”swer

Example of dialect: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jas0DT-mtPA


Resources to learn dialect: http://www.antimoon.com/how/pronunc-soundsipa.htm

http://www.omniglot.com/writing/ipa.htm

Assignments:
One major assignment will be given as an overarching project that will incorporate smaller assignments to guide the students learning. The overarching assignment will be that students would get into groups and learn the words of a Romeo and Juliet and act out the scene based on their interpretation of the reading. Students would draw numbers that would govern which scene each group would act out. The smaller assignments are to reinforce the rules of grammar that students already know, while helping students understand the variations between modern American and Shakespearean dialect.

Students will be asked daily to reflect on the difficulties of using language that they are unfamiliar with inside of journal until the day of the actual production. The students will also be asked everyday to pick a line of within the scene that they are acting out and describe the rule of English that is ignored, altered, or dismissed in Shakespearean dialect. Students will then be force to recollect the actual rules of grammar in English and understand their relationship to other words in conversations or text.

Northern Irish for Acting Class

Objective: To teach an advanced class of freshmen theater students how to correctly learn to use a Northern Irish accent and dialect to enhance their acting while developing an appreciation for the Irish culture and language.

Materials Required:
Small, green top hat
Instant Irish accent mouth spray (in spearmint flavor)
Optional sheep
Pot of gold (to share with teacher)

Introduction: The students will first analyze the fundamental principles of language, including the way vowels and consonants are spoken. At first, students will be exposed to a text and attempt to read out loud with Irish accent. Then the students will listen to a few sound files of speakers native to Northern Ireland and have time to practice amongst their friends. Students will then be asked to go out into their community and speak with a Northern Irish accent. They will then report the people’s reactions, their feelings about the assignment, etc. in a one page report. By exposing students to the Northern Irish culture through teaching about their specific dialect, students will gain an appreciation to a unique culture while increasing their acting skills.

Accent Characteristics: There are many forms of accents and characteristics of the English language. English has evolved differently in many places. The Irish accent, specifically the Northern Irish for our study, has some variations that make it unique among other forms of English.
- The most basic difference in Irish English and other places where English is spoken revolves around the influence of the Gaelic language and its impact. Native Irish speakers integrated aspects of the Gaelic language into English, especially in the more rural areas of the North. For examples, Gaelic words like ludraman and amadan are used in conjunction with English words.
- The difference in Northern Irish English and its counterpart in the South can be seen more clearly through the stronger Gaelic influence that is incorporated in the North in comparison with the South.
- In general, speech in Ireland is rhotic-speakers pronounce a sound after a vowel in words like farm, first, and better.
- Further noting the distinctions between Northern and Southern Irish English, the vowel system of Northern Irish English resembles Scottish English rather than the English of Ireland. For example, boot rhymes with foot.
- Further distinctions include the noticeable tendency in Northern speakers to raise their pitch towards the end of an utterance.
Irish accent sound file: http://www.ku.edu/~idea/europe/ireland/ireland5.mp3

Task: Each student’s task is to come up with a skit utilizing what we have learned about northern Irish accents. This can be done alone or in groups up to three people. The more people in your group, however, the longer your skit must be. For one person the skit must be 3-5 minutes; two people 5-7 minutes; three people 7-9 minutes. You may choose whatever you would like to for the script. You may make one up, use a passage from a book, an excerpt from a movie or play; do whatever you wish, just be creative!

Assessment: To see how well you have mastered your northern Irish accent, you must go out into the community and start up a conversation with someone you don’t know. This can be in a restaurant, grocery store, elevator, church, or other public place. It doesn’t matter where it is; the only thing that matters is that this person does not know you. You must strike up a conversation with this person using your Irish accent, and they must be convinced that you are from Ireland. Evidence of this may be that they ask you where you are from, or some such comment. You don’t have to lie. If you are asked where you are from, tell the truth, and also tell about this assignment. You may do this in groups as well, but everyone must speak. To show me that you’ve done this, you will write me a one page, double spaced paper explaining what happened and what you thought of the assignment. You can have a lot of fun with this, don’t get overwhelmed. And don’t fake your papers, I will know.