English as a New Language - Knowledge of the English Language

Explain the difference between an independent clause and a dependent clause, and describe how they are combined in various ways to produce the main types of sentences: simple sentences, compound sentences, complex sentences, and complex-compound sentences.

A clause is a group of words with a subject and a predicate. A sentence goes one step further: it is a group of words with a subject and predicate that expresses a complete thought. For example, "When I sas him," is a clause, but it is not a complete sentence. An independent clause is a clause that can stand alone as a sentence but can also be joined with other clauses to make other sentences. A dependent clause, by contrast, cannot stand alone as a sentence, but must be combined with another clause of clauses to form a sentence. A simple sentence is a single independent clause--in other words, a complete thought consisting of a subject and predicate. A compound sentence consists of two or more independent clauses, often joined by a conjunction, such as "and" or "or." A complex sentence consists of an independent clause and a dependent clause joined by a subordinating conjunction such as "when" or "because." A complex-compound sentence is one with two or more independent clauses joined to one or more dependent clauses.

Define conjunction and explain the difference between coordinating conjunctions, correlative conjunctions, and subordinating conjunctions.

A conjunction is a word that connects other words, phrases, clauses, or sentences. Conjunctions are one of the eight parts of speech, along with nouns, verbs, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, and interjections. Coordinating conjunctions link together words or phrases that have the same grammatical function. For example, "I like to bike, and I like to run." There are seven coordinating conjunctions: for, and, not, but, or, yet, and so--these can be recalled using the acronym FANBOYS. Correlative conjunctions appear in pairs and also join words or phrases with the same function. Examples of correlative conjunctions include "either...or," "both...and," and "no sooner...than." For example: "I am going to the game, whether or not you come with me." Subordinating conjunctions join unequal parts of a sentence. Specifically, they link adverbial clauses--a type of dependent clause that serves as an adverb--to an indeendent clause. There are many subordinate clauses, but some of the most common are "when," "because," "before," and "if." In the example, "I will go to sleep when you come home," the conjuction "when" joins the independent clause "I will go to sleep" with the dependent clause "you come home."

Differentiate between a dialect and a language and describe why an ESL teacher should be award of how dialects affect language learning.

A dialect is a variation in a spoken language that nevertheless is intelligible to the larger language community. (If the variation is so large as to prevent mutual intelligibility, it is considered to be a separate language.) Dialects natually arise when a language is spread across a wide area. Often gradients emerge such that all of the members of a dialect community can understand the neighboring dialects, but the differences between the communities furthest apart are so great as to impede communication. While the linguistic distinction between language and dialect is clear, the reality in use is complicated by political and cultural interests--Indi and Urdu, for example, are treated as separate languages even though they are mutually intelligible, whereas Chinese is, in fact, a collection of mutually-unintelligible dialects unified only by a written language and a national identity. ELLs may bring varing dialects into the classroom, and teachers should be careful to appreciate legitimate variation rather than impose an arbitrary standard. Differencens in dialect may also slow language comprehension and acquisition, though the overall effect is likely to be slight.

Explain Basil Bernstein's theory of language codes.

A language code is the way language is used by a particular social group, in part as an expression of social identity. In the 1970s, the linguist Basil Bernstein suggested that language could be described as either consisting of elaborated code or restricted code. Individuals use an elaborate code when they communicate with strangers or people who do not share a common experience. In these instrances, they speak explicitly, at length, and with minimal colloguial or expressvie language. When in the company of friends or members of a shared community, by contrast, people use a restricted code, which relies on implied meanings and references, thereby communicating a lot with few words. Only individuals with shared backgrounde knowledge and experiences could understand restricted code, whereas any listener could understand an elaborated utterance. Bernstein argued that restricted codes are used primarily in narrow, unchanging social contexts where shared values can be assumed, whereas elaborated codes are used for broader, unpredictable interactons. He also associated the use of restricted codes with the working class.

Distinguish between congnates and loanwords, and describe how both can facilitate English language learning.

A loanword is a word adopted from a foreign language without translation, though it may be modified in small ways to fit the adopting language. Cognates are words in separate languages that have common origins. Cognates lead to similarities between languages by descent, whereas loanwords lead to similarities by borrowing. The existence of cognates is of great help to English language learners (ELLs) who speak closely-related languages. ELLs can often use the existence of knowen cognates to deduce the meaning of other words and even entire sentences. They are occasionally mislede, however, by false cognates--words in two languages that appear similar but in fact have different origins and meanings. Different languages loaned words to English at fifferent times in history, depending on forces of exploration, colonization, and war. The leading sources of English loan words are German; Danish; French; Greek; Latin; and, following the colonization of America, Spanish and Native American.

Define modal verb and explain how they are used in English and why they might pose particular problems for English language learners.

A modal phrase is an auxiliary verb that adds shades of meaning to the main verb of a sentence by adding an opinion, attitude, or feeling. The most common modal verbs in English are "would, will, can, could, may, and must." Modals present several challenges to ELLs. First, student L1s may not have corresponding forms: Spanish, for example, has no word for "will" or "would." Second, modals often have several unrelated meanings--"may," for example, can convey both possibility ("I may come") or permission ("May I go?"). Third, modals are irregular in their conjugation--for example, the verbs listed above do not add an "-s" in the third-person present. Finally, when a modal is combined with another verb, the second verb is not used in its infinitive form, as is generally the case when a sentence contains two verbs. Thus, native speakers say "I can go," not "I can to go," but would use the infinitive speakers say "I can go," not "I can to go," but would use the infinitive form "to go" in most instances, as in "I want to go."

Define morpheme, differentiate it from phoneme, and describe how morphemes are classified as either bound or free.

A morpheme is the smallest meaningful unit in a language. A morpheme functions as a linguistic sign--that is, it refers to something in reality. A phoneme, by contrast, is a unit of sound that can be put together with other sounds to form words. All words are morphemes or combinations of more than one morpheme, but not all morphemes function as stand-alone words. A free, or independent, morpheme can occur gy itsef; a ebound morpheme can only occur in combination with one or more additional morphemes. Prefixes and affixes are the most common types of bound morphemes--although they do have meaning and function to alter the meaning of the free morphemes to which they are joined, they cannot stand on their own in English usage.

Define noun and describe the following ways of categorizing nouns: as common or proper, as countable or uncountable, and as concrete or abstract.

A noun is a word that names a person, place, thing, quality, or acton. Common nouns refer to types or classes of things that have more than one member--for example, "president" or "state." They are not capitalized unless they begin a sentence. Proper nouns refer to specific people or things--for example, "President Lincoln," or "Florida." They are capitalized wherever they occur in a sentence. Countable nouns refer to things that can be counted. They have separate singular and plural forms (one egg, two eggs), and in the singular form can be preceded by "a" or "an." Uncountable nouns, often referred to as mass nouns, cannot be counted (milk, rice). They do not have plural forms and cannot be used with "a" and "an." Concrete nouns refer to things that can be perceived by the senses. Abstract nouns refer to things that cannot be perceived by the senses--for example, ideas, concepts, or beliefs. Whether a noun is concrete or abstract markes no difference in how it is used.

Explain the difference between phonemes, graphemes, and letters.

A phoneme is the smalles unit of sound in a language that makes a difference in meaning. Phonemes can be written in two different ways. Linguists commonly represent phonemes by using the International Phonetic Alphabet, which assigns a different symbol to each sound commonly found in languages around the world. A second way to represent a phoneme is by using graphemes, which are indivudal letters or groups of letters that depict how a sound is written in a given langauge. For example, in English, the sound /t/ is written either with a single "t" (as in "tall") or with two "t's" (as in the world "better,"). Thus, English has two graphemes, "t" and "tt," that correspond to the phoneme /t/. Linguists have a special term, digraph, to refer to any two-letter grapheme, such as "tt" or "ch." Phonetica alphabets and graphemes are necessary because written alphabets do not by themselves provide language learners with knowledge of how to pronounce a given word. Many letters have more than one pronunication, and often are silent. In other words, spelling is not a reliable guide to pronunciation.

Explain what a phrasal verb is and describe why they might be particulary difficult for an English language learner to master.

A phrasal verb is an idiomatic combination of a verb with another word, usually a prepostion or adverbs. Examples include "blow up," "break down," "chip in," "get away with," and "add up." These verbs pose unique difficulties for ELLs because the word combinations are idiomatic and yet fixed. Further, many phrasal verbs can be split when used in a sentence--for example, when referring to a column of numbers, we can ask "Can you add them up?," interposing the word "them" in trhe phrasal verb. ELLs are likely to find three aspects of phrasal verbs challenging: their idiomatic meanings, their seemingly arbitrary choice of preposition or adverb to couple with the verb, and the contexts in which they can and cannot be split.

Define and provide examples of the grammatical terms predicate nominative and predicate adjective.

A predicate nominative is a noun or noun phrase (thus making it nominative) that follows a linking verb (and thus is in the predicate of a sentence) and renames the subject. For example, in the sentence "John's favorite book is War and Peace," "War and Peace" is a predicate nominative. A predicate adjective is a word or words that follows a linking verb and modifies the subject of a sentence. In the sentence "The dog is brown," "brown" is a predicate adjective. Predicate adjectives are distinguished from ordinary or attributive adjectives, which typically precede the noun that they modify. Instead, a predicate adjective follows the noun and is paired with a linking verb.

Define pronoun and antecedent. Differentiate between the three types of pronouns (personal pronouns, possessive pronouns, and indefinitre pronouns) and explain how to choose which personal pronoun to use based on its grammatical function in a sentence.

A pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun (or noun phrase), which is referred to as the pronoun's antecedent. There are three types of pronouns. Personal pronouns refer to a specific person (or persons) or an object. They include many of the most common words in English; I, me/mine, your/yours, its, their, etc. Indefinite pronouns refer to nonspecific persons or things: anybody, everything, no one, someone, etc. Even native English speakers make frequent errors when using personal pronouns. These pronouns have two forms: the subjective form, to be used when the pronoun serves as a subject or complements a subject; and the objective form, to be used when the pronoun serves as an object. The subjective personal pronouns are I, you, he/she/it, we, you and they. The corresponding objective pronouns are me, you, him/her/it, us, you, and them.

Define and contrast segmentals and suprasegmentals, and describe how both contribute to phonetic meaning.

A segmental is discrete, identifiable speech segment that contributes sound in a sequential pattern. Examples include phonemes, syllables, diphthongs, and blends. Suprasegmentals occur when phonetic properties are spread over a broader range of speech segments, as occurs with pitch (tone or intonation) or stress. Suprasegmental properties are thus not inherent in the individual speech segments, but rather supervene on them, constituing an additonal communicative tool. The tem "prosodies" is often used as a synonym for "suprasegmentals." ELL students must master prosody in order to achieve full linguistic competency, as misplaced stress or tone can readily cause communicative failure.

Define tag question and describe its function in spoken English.

A tag question is a declarative statement turned into a question by the addition of an interrogative fragment, as in the example "Portland is the capital of Maine, isn't it?" Tag questions are often rhetorical--the speaker does not seek an answer--and they are also used to comunicate a desired answer to the listener. Many languages utilize tag questions ("n'est ce pas" in French and "da" in Russian are two frequent examples), but those in English tend to be complex and varied, thus posing production if not reception challenges for ELLs.

Discuss the various ways of classifying verbs: transitive vs. intransitive, finite vs. non-finite, and linking vs. action.

A transitive verb requires an object in order to constitute a complete thought, whereas an intransitive verb does not. "Throw" is an example of a transitive verb: it is incorrect to simply say "I threw" without adding an object. "Jump," however, is intransitive: "I jumped," is an acceptable sentence. Some verbs are both transitive and intransitive, depending on context. Linking verbs do not indicate action, but instead connect the subject to a word or phrase that describes the subject. The verb "to be" is the most common linking verb. Verbs that are conjugated to agree with a subject are called finite verbs. The three main types of non-finite verbs are infinitives, gerunds, and participles. An infinitive is a verb with the word "to" in front of it: to eat, to read, etc. A gerund is an "-ing" verb functioning as a noun--as in the example "I like swimming." A participle is a word formed from a verb but used either as an adjective, adverb, noun, or as part of a compound verb. For example, the past participle "gone" forms a compound noun in the phrase "has gone."

Identify and describe the different academic functions of language and explain their importance for English language learners.

Academic language is the language used in the classrooms, the workplace, and on formal assessments. ESL students also need to become proficient in academic language in order to express, or demonstrate, their knowledge in various content areas of interest. Whereas social or everyday language is used to convey information, express feelings, or simply to cement social bonds, academic language is used to achieve other functions. One classification suggests that academic language is used to "describe, define, explain, compare, contrast, make predictions, and persuade." Most ESL students achieve proficiency in social language long before they achieve academic language proficiency. An ESL student is likely to be immersed in social language early in his or her language experience, but will need academic language to be expressly modeled, scadffolded, and reinforced through targeted practice.

Define accentedness as it is used to describe English language learner (ELL) speech, place it in a larger context of intelligibility, and describe how it is relevant to English language instruction.

Accentedness refers to how an ELL's pronunciation differes from that of a native English speaker. Accentedness is a major factor in determining both the comprehensibility of speech, or how difficult it is to understand; and the intelligibility of speech, or whether it is, in fact, understood. These definitions have led scholars to suggest that, given limited instructional time, English language teachers should prioritize improving the elements of accentedness that have the most effect on comprehensibility and intelligibility--in other words, not all irregular pronunications are equal. Linguists have developed the concept of functional load to measure how important the proper pronunciation of a phoneme is for the production of intelligible speech. One pragmatic conclusion is for teachers to focus on correcting pronunciation errors that carry high functional loads and spend less or no time correcting those with low loads. Some educators argue that a student's accendtedness should only be of concern if it affects intelligibility. Comprehensibility, while desirable, is not a priority when instruction time is limited.

Define affix, contrast it with root, and describe how affixes can be further classified as inflectional or derivational.

An affix, or bound morpheme, is a morpheme that cannot occur independently, but must be joined to another morpheme. A root (also called a base, or a free morpheme), by contrast, can stand alone. One way to classify affixes is by where they are joined to the root morpheme: if they occur before the root, they are called prefixes; if they occur after the root, they are called suffixes; and if they occur in the middle of the root, they are called infixes. Infixes are rare in English but common in many other languages. A second way to classify affixes is by how they change the meaning of the base to which they are joined. Inflectional affixes may change the number, gener, case, or tense of the root, but they do not change its basic lexical meaning, nor its grammatical form. An example is the additional of "-s" to "student": the word becomes plural but remains a noun. A derivational affix, by contrast, may change the meaning of the base word and / or its grammatical form. For example, the addition of "un-" to "happy" changes its meaning, and the addition of "-ish" to "child" changes a noun into an adjective.

Define an appositive and explain how ELLs can use punctuation clues to help recognize the role an appostive serves in sentence meaning.

An appositve is a noun, noun phrase, or noun clauses that serves to explain or identify another noun nearby in the sentence. In the sentence "Your brother Skip called me," "Skip" is an appositive identifying the noun phrase "your brother." "Skip" and "your brother" can be described as being in apposition. In the sentence "Carla"--the only teacher to attend the training session--was well-prepared for the exerciese," "the only teacher to attend the training session" is an appositive that provides information about the noun "Carla." In general, appositives that are essential to the meaning of the sentence are not set off by punctuation marks, whereas those that are not set off by commas, dashes, or parentheses. Knowing this usage pattern would allow an ELL to recognize, for example, that the author of the sentence "Your brother Skip called me" recognizes that the person he or she is writing to has more than one brother, and thus signaled that the appositive "Skip" was critical to the meaning of the sentence by declining to set it off by commas.

Compare and contrast the descriptions of a sentence as consisting of a subject and a predicate and consisting of a noun and a verb.

Beginning students are often taught that English sentences need, at a minimum, a noun and a verb. In fact, many sentences contain nothing more than a noun and verb--for example, "John is running." However, this description of the simplest of English sentences does not describe the entirety of English sentences, most of which contain other parts of speech in addition to a noun and a verb. In contrast, the more formal terms subject and predicate are exhaustive: they refer to all the possible elements of an English sentence. A subject is what or whom a sentence is talking about, and a predicate tells something about that subject. Everything in a sentence is either part of the subject or part of the predicate. Simple nouns or pronouns often serve as the subject of a sentence, but the role can also be filled by more complex structures. Some sentences have implied subjects, as in command: "Be quiet!" In addition to the verb, the predicate often includes an object (direct and/or indirect) and various compliments.

Explain why the existence of cognates can potentially be both harmful and beneficial to ELLs.

Cognates are words that have a common origin, and retain similarities in meaning, spelling, or pronunciation. Cognates exist within a single language (in English, the words "biology" and "biography" share a common origin in the Latin root "bio," meaning "life") and between two languages that share a common origin. For example, the Spanish words "biologia" and "biografia" are cognates to their English counterparts, reflecting the common origins of Spanish and English. The existence of cognates makes learning a new language easier, especially for beginning learners in need of comprehension early on. However, not all words that appear similar between languages actually have similar origins and meanings. Linguistics refer to these as false cognates, and they make second-language learning harder rather than easier. For example, when English speakers encounter the Spanish word "embarazada," they often assume it means "embarrassed," but in fact, the two words are false cognates: "embarazada" means "pregnant."

Contrast the concepts of coherence and cohesion, and describe the various techniques used to achieve cohesion in writing.

Coherence and cohesion are terms used in discourse analysis to describe written texts. A text is cohesive if its individual sentences are linked in ways that bring them together into a single whole. A text is coherent if its ideas, or content, belong together. While it is simplistic, cohesion can be thought of as an achievement of grammar or rhetoric, whereas coherence demands that the text conrresponds to logic or relity. Linguists have identified five cohesive device that establish links among sentences. Reference occurs when a word in one sentence refers to a word in another, such as a pronoun to its antecedent. Conjunction occurs when a sentence begins with a word or phrase, such as "however" or "alternatively," that ties it to the previous sentence. Substitution occurs when a specific word is replaced with a general word in a subsequent sentence--for example, first writing "I doubt he will study," and then "But if he does..." Writers may also intentionally leave out parts of a phrase previously used, a technique called ellipses. Finally, writers may employ lexical cohesion by replacing a word with an appropriate descriptor, as when "Edison" is replaced with "the inventor."

Define communicative competence and its component parts.

Communicative competence, developed by the linguist Dell Hymes, refers to a language learner's ability to communicate effectively in various social settings. In order to succeed in communication, we need to know not only how to speak (or write), but what to say to whom and under which circumstances. Hymes identified four components of communicative competence. Linguistic competence refers to proficiency in grammar, vocabulary, and orthography. Sociolinguistic competence is the understanding of how to vary language use depending on the context or audience. Discourse competence is the knowledge of how to produce cohesive and coherent written or oral texts. Strategic competence is the ability to avoid or repair communication breakdowns--for example, by paraphrasing or using gestures to overcome the lack of useful vocabulary. The concept of communicative competence focuses attention on the fact that there is more to communicative success than mastery of syntax or acquisitio of vocabulary. Efective ESL teachers implicitly or explicitly teach all of the component competencies.

Define compound words, explain why they are often difficult for ELLs, and recommend teaching strategies to help ELLs understand them.

Compound words are words created by combining two separate words. The resulting word often has a meaning that is difficult to predict from the meaning of the combined words. Many languages, including English, make generous use of compound words, while they are virtually non-existent in other languages. While the meaning of many compound words adheres closely to the meaning of its separate parts--for example, the logic of "crosswalk" is easy to understand--others have either figurative meanings ("brainstorm") or meanings derived from older forms of English ("cobweb"), and thus may be difficult for ESLs to understand. However, many compound words make delightful combinations and thus may appeal to ELLs: "bookworm," for example, or "skyscraper." Learning these words may also stimulate ELLs to propose compound words of their own, thereby providing them with an early experience of creativity in English use.

Explain why connected speech presents particular challenges to English languaes learners (ELLs) and provide examples of the most common forms.

Connected speech refers to the way in which the pronunciation of a word can be changed by the words around it. Cantenation is the joining of the last consonatnt sound of one word with the beginning vowel sound of the next, as when "an apple" sounds like "a napple." Elision occurs when a sound is left out of a word--often a sound in a consonant cluster, as when "sandwich" is pronounced "sandwich." Assimilation is the blending of two sounds to create a new sound, as when "don't you" sounds like "doan chu" when spoken rapidly. Intrusion refers to the insertion of an unwritten sound into a phrase, as when "do it" is pronounced "dewit." Connected speech presents obvious listening comprehension challenges for ELLs. In addition, ELLs who rely heavily on reading to learn English (as with grammar-translation methods still in use overseas) may use connected speech far often when speaking, and thus sound unnaturally formal or stilted.

Define diglossia, and explain the difference between class diglossia and extened diglossia.

Diglossia is the use of two different languages (or two forms of one language) by a single speech community. One form is usually distinguishable as a high form, which is taught in school, used in formal situations, associated with prestige, and has a written form. The low form, by contrast, is acquired rather than taught, is used in informal settings, is often considered to signal low status, and often lacks a written form. Individuals who speak both forms typically engage in code-switching or alternating between the two languages to fit the context. Classic diglossia describes the situation in which a community speaks two forms of a single language. Extended diglossia occurs when the community alternates between two separate languages depending on context.

Describe various logical ways in which sentences relate to one another in the construction of coherent texts or conversations.

Discourse may be defined as a coherent sequence of written or spoken sentences. Linguists study the way in which competent language users connect individual sentences in order to create coherent wholes. Linguists may focus on small-scale (word- or phrase-based) connectors called cohesive devices or on broader, logical relations between sentences. For example, a sentence might add information to the broader text, perhaps through the use of a phrase like "In addition..." A sentence migth illustrate the effect of a previous cause, using "Consequently..." Sentences might also clarify previous sentences ("That is to say..."), provide a summary ("In conclusion..."), establish a logical or temporal order ("First...second..."), furnish an example ("For example..."), or qualify or contrast a previous point ("However..."). Each of these ways of relating one sentence to another contributes to the overall conhereence of a text or conversation.

Explain how a basic understanding of English etymology can help an ELL build vocabulary and decipher unfamiliar words.

Etymology is the study of the origin of words. Many English words have Greek or Latin roots and affixes. Learning those roots and affixes gives ELLs the ability to recognize the basic meaning of multiple English words and provides them with the means of deciphering the meaning of unfamiliar words by breaking them into their component pieces, which may be familar. For example, knowing that the Greek root "micro" means "small" makes the following words accessible to an ELL" microsecond, microbiology, and microbrew. Many English words are also formed from common Greek or Latin prefixes. Examples of common prefixes include "pre-," meaning "before"; and "semi-," meaning "half." Common suffixes include "-er," meaning "more"; and "-est," meaning "most." Knowing the meanings of these affixes will allow an ELL to decipher the meaning of many unfamiliar words. The term "derivation" refers to the formation of new words by adding a derivational affix to a root. (Derivational affixes that typically change the meaning or word class of the root.) For example, the word "thankful," an adjective, can be derived by adding "-ful" to the root "thank," a verb.

Define gerund, distinguish a gerund from a present participle, and provide examples of both.

Gerunds and present participles are both formed using the "-ing" form of a verb, and both are often parts of a broader phrase. Gerunds, however, functionas nouns, while present participles function either as progressing verbs (their most familiar use) or as adjectives. In the sentence "Hiking to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro is hard work," the word "hiking" is a gerund: it is a noun, the subject of the verb "is." In the sentence "Hiking to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro, John fell and sprained his ankle," "hiking" is a participle that initiates an adjectival phrase modifying the noun "John."

Define homonym, explain the difference between homographs and homophones, and describe a strategy to help English language learners learn each.

Homonyms are words that are spelled alike or sound alike but have different meanings and origins. If two words are spelled alike, they are called homographs ("graph" in Greek means "to write"). If the two words sound alike, they are called homophones ("phone" in Greek means "sound"). Examples of homographs include "entrance" (as a nound, it means "a door"; as a verb, it means "to captivate,") Examples of homphones include "bear" (an animal) and "bare" (as a verb, it means "to uncover.") ESL students should be shown the written form to help distinguish homophones, and the spoken form to help distinguish homographs. Two words may share both spelling and pronunciation but differ in meaning and, critically, in origin. (if they don't differe in origin, then they are not two different words, but simply one word with two meanings.) These words are referred to simply as homonyms. An example is "saw," which is both a cutting tool the past tense of "to see."

Define tense and create a framework that groups English verb tenses according to shared features.

In grammar, tense refers to the location of events in time. In English, tense is expressed by changing the form of verbs. While linguists recognize only two tenses in English (past and present) and classify the other variations in verbs as changes of aspect or mood, non-specialists commonly recognize twelve different tenses, which we can order in a 3 x 4 chart: Simple Progressive Perfect Perfect Progressive Present I walk I am walking I have wallked I have been w--ing Past I walked ~ Future I will walk ~ The porgressive forms are also referred to as continuous forms, as they are used to descrie actions or states that are ongoging at a certain oint in time. These are fashioned by combining a form of the verb "to be" and "-ing." The perfect tenses are fashioned by combining a form of the verb "to have" and the past participle of the main verb. The perfect progressive tenses are built using features of both the progressive and perfect tenses.

Explain how language ambiguities may arise for English language learners (ELLs), and how ELLs might use syntactic and semantic clues to resolve those ambiguities.

Language ambiguities arise when ELLs are confronted with a word that has multiple meanings (homegraph) or multiple pronunciations (heteronyms) and they must rely on context to determine the actual usage. For example, if presented with the sentence "Jack will lead the tour," an ELL could use his or her awareness of the basic English sentence structure subject-verb-object to realize that "lead" in this example (a homograph) is a verb and not a noun. Smiliarly, if presented with the sentence "Please don't ear the paper," an ELL can deduce from knowledge of syntax that "tear" is a verb rather than the heteronym "tear," a noun referring to moisture in the eye. Deciphering language ambiguities is an example of the broader use of context clues to decipher the meaning of unknown words or phrases. ELLs can often use their knowledge of sentence structure to deduce at least what part of speech an unknown word might be. For example, an awareness that the verb "to give" is often followed by both a direct and an indirect object, and that the former is usually an object and the latter a person, will provide an ELL with clues aobut an unfamiliar word.

Describe the various functions of language.

Language has a number of functions. The most obvious is to communicate facts, thoughts, or opinions to others. Linguists describe this function as referential in that the language we use refers to something that exists in our minds. We also use language to express emotions--often involuntarily, as when we cry out in alarm. Language has a social function beyond the expression of though--as when we engage in ritualistic pleasantries with a neighbor as a way of cementing a social bond. We use language to record information for future use, usually in written form. We also use language to influence reality--christen a ship with the invocation "I hereby christen..." We also use language to facilitate thought and memory, as when we talk to ourselves to overcome a mental block. Finally, we use language to express our personal or collective identity, as when we join a cheer at a sports stadium.

Explain why phonetic interference may arise during language learning and discuss strategies to overcome it.

Language interference occurs when features of a speaker's native language affects his or her ability to learn a second langauge. Phonetic interference refers specifically to issues that arise when trying to learn the sound system of a new language. In general terms, phonetic interference occurs when a language learner attempts to speak the foreign language using familiar sounds from their own native tongue. For example, Spanish has far fewer phonemes than English, including just one sound associated with the letter "i," the sound English speakers learn as the long "e" sound. Spanish-speaking ELLs, then, will tend to pronounce all "i's" in English as long e's, a common example of phonetic interference. One way to reduce phonetic interference is to introduce a word in speech before introducing it in writing, thus reducing the likelihood that a student will pronounce it according to native language rules. A second tactic is to devote large blocks of early instruction to the repetition of unfamiliar sounds.

Explain why it is important for teachers to create a classroom environment tha respects English language learners' home language and discuss strategies for achieving this.

Learning a second language can be an intimidating experience in any circumstance, but it is even more daunting for students who are adapting to life in a new country or attempting to gain social acceptance from their peers. ELLs often feel stressed and are wary of making errors, which can impede the learning process. Teachers should create a positive environment that recognizes student competence in their native language. Teachers should also ensure that all languages are treated equally and that one native language doesn't have priority over another. This is particularly important during group work, when cliques of like-language students might exclude others. Teachers should enforce rules about when students are allowed to speak in their native language. Teachers can also organize activities that invite translation of home languages, or presentations by students of elements of their home cultures. Finally, teachers should attempt to involve parents in their students' lessons to create continuities betwen home and classroom experiences.

Describe the framework linguists use for describing and classifying how consonant and vowel sounds are produced.

Linguists who study the physiology of sound production have classified the phonemes according to how they are produced. Each phoneme is articulated in a unique way. Consonant and vowel sounds hve different classification systems. Consonants are classified according to three criteria: (1) the location in the vocal tract where they are produced (the descriptive terms used are bilabial, labiodental, interdental, alveolar, alveopalatal, velar, and glottal); (2) the manner in which they are produced (stops, nasals, fricatives, affricates, approximants, and glides); and (3) whether they are voiced or unvoiced. For example, the [b] sound is describe as a "voiced, bilabial stop," and the [f] sound is described as a "voiceless, labiodental fricative." All vowels are voiced, and so the classification of vowels occurs along two dimensions, both of which refer to the position and movement of the tongue during utterance: (1) high, mide, or low; and (2) front, central, and back. Thus, the short vowel [u], as in the word "boot," is pronounced high and in the back of the mouth.

Contrast literal and figurative language and discuss the following types of figurative language: metaphors, similes, and idioms.

Literal language is language that means exactly what it says--the meaning of a literal sentence can be understood simply by understanding its component words. Figurative language conveys a meaning different from the literal meaning of its component words. Metaphors compare, or equate, two unlike things without using the words "like" or "as"--for example, "love is war," or "this problem is a real bear." Similes do the same, but use "like" or "as"--for example, "my throat is as dry as a bone." An idiom is a figurative expression that has gained widesrpread usage in a language community. Unlike a metaphor or simile, it doesn't necessarily make an comparison. Many idioms carried a literal meaning when they wer first conined, but that meaning has since been forgotten or rendered obsolete. For xamle, the idiom "Don't beat round the bush," which is now used to exhort someone to speak clearly and directly, orignially described the practice whereby a group of hunters would beat bushes with sticks in order to flush out their prey. Idioms are particularly difficult for ESL students to learn because they can't be understood simply through a study of their denotation.

Define morphological interference, and explain why an awarness of the morphological variation present in the languages of the world is beneficial to an ESL teacher.

Morphological interference occurs when a student's ability to learn a second language is influenced by the morphology of their native language. Languages differ significantly in how words are formed and what type of information can be conveyed in a single word (as opposed to being conveyed in a second word or conveyed simply by context). For example, English nouns typically have single and plural forms ("one goose," "two geese"), and verbs typically change with tense ("I eat," "I ate"). By contrast, nouns in Manarin Chinese do not change with number, and verbs do not change with tense; this additional information is provided by context. Even closely-related langaugages exhibit significant differences. English speakers, for example, are accustomed to verbs that have the same form in the first-person singular, first-person plural, and third-person plural, but a different from in the third-person singular ("I talk," "we talk," and "they talk" contrst with "he talks"). Spanish, however, utilizes a different verb form in each of these cases. Having a sense of the variations possible in language can help an ESL teacher understand the cause of a student's English errors.

Explain why the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) was created and describe how linguists use slash marks to distinguish between phonemes and letters.

No alphabet has a one-to-one correspondence between letters and sounds. In English, for example, 26 letters generate approximately 44 distinct phonemes. Nor do any two languages rely on the same system of sounds, even when they share an alphabet. The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), which was created in 1888 and revised repeatedly since, provides a standard system of symbols for all of the phonemes used in human languages. The existence of the IPA allows linguists to refer to sounds independently to how they are represented in a specific language. The IPA uses many symbols derived from the Latin alphabet, but it includes symbols from other sources, such as the Greek alphabet and even the Icelandic alphabet. By convention, when linguists want to refer to a phoneme, they place a symbol within slashes or brackets )"/a/" or "[a]") in order to distinguish it from a letter that might have different sounds in different languages or multiple sounds in a single language.

Define each of the eight parts of English speech.

Noun--a word tha names a person, place, idea, or thing. Nouns are often combined with determiners to form the subject of a sentence. They are often replaced by pronouns. Verb--a word trhat expresses an acton or state of being. Verbs are typically the core of the predicate of a sentence. In English, verbs change to agree with the subject and reflect tense, voice, mood, and aspect. Pronoun--a word that replaces a noun or noun phrase (its antecedent) that was previously used or understood. Adjective--a word that modeifies a noun, typically by describing the quantity, quality, or by distinguishing one noun from another. Adverb--a word that modifies a verb, adjective, or adverb and often shows degree, manner, place, or time. Preposition--a word (such as "in," "on," "with") that is usually combined with a noun or pronoun to establish a relatiohshi between that noun and another part of the sentence. The relationships include things such as location or time. Interjection--a word or phrase used to express emotion or surprise. Conjunction--a word tha links sentences, clauses, phrases, or words. Examples include "and," "or" and "but."

Descirbe activities that can help ELLS monitor and improve their pronunciation skills.

Perhaps the best way to help ELLs monitor their pronunciation skills is by using audio recordings in which ELLs repeat a word or phrase after a native speaker and then replay the recording. It may be helpful as well to provide students with surveys or question prompts that encourage them to reflect on which aspects of their pronunciation they need to improve on. Class activities like singing and choral reading are low-stress ways to focus on pronunciation. Above all, students have to be exposed to modeled speech at an appropriate level of phonetic complexity and given opportunities to practice in an environment in which they can focus on pronunciation rather than syntax or the complexities of social discourse.

Contrast phonetics with phonology and explain how linguists relate one to the other through the application of phonological rules.

Phonetics is the study of speech sounds in isolation, and phonology is the study of how speech sounds function in a context--in a syllable, a word, a sentence, or a language as a whole. The speech sounds that each discipline studies are called phonemens. English, for example, consists of approximately 44 unique phonemes, arising from the 26 letters of the apphabet used singly or in combination. A competent English speaker can distinguish between thee phonemes. Substituting one for another will result in a change in meaning--for example, substituting /m/ for /b/ in the word "ball" results in "mall." Phonetics considers how individual speech sounds are produced and perceived and might ask which sounds are present in a given language. Phonology, by contrast, would study the ways in which those sounds are used to create larger units of meaning. Phonological rules are the ways in which sounds change depending on where they occur and how they are used in speech. For example, the deletion rule states that an unstressed vowel is often deleted in rapid speech, as when the /o/ in "police" is dropped and the word is pronounced as /pleas/.

Explain why the following pragmatic features of communication are particularly important for English language learners: register, eye contact, physical proximity, and gestures.

Pragmatic features of communication are the non-linguistic factors tha influence what and how effectively we communicate in a given language community. These features are particularly important to ELLs because the conventions of their adopted language community might differ from those of their native language community. Register refers to the formally of language. By convention, English speakers will speak more formally in a professional setting than when talking to a close friend; ELLs may need instruction and practice to master these conventions. Students from different cultures may also have a different understanding of the significance of eye contact during the conversation: whereas in the United States, direct eye contact signals transparency, in many cultures it is seen as an aggressive assertion of status. Similarly, ELLs may have a different sense of appropriate personal space when conversing thena their typical American interlocutor, which can interfere with effective communication. The use of gestures in communication also varies widely by culture, as well as by context within a culture, and ELLs will have to learn or acquire the conventions of the language community in order to communicate effectively.

Define pragmatics, and explain the importance of implied meaning to successful communication.

Pragmatics is the study of how meaning is affected by context--or, stated differently, how people may use shared understandings and implications to reach understandings that are not entailed by the literal meaning of their words. An implication is a conclusion that can be drawn even though it isn't stated. We rely on shared understandings in order to carry out conversations. For example, if a person tells me that she has two daughters, I assume that she has only two, although logically, her statement is consistent with her having five. When I ask someone "Could you pass the salad?" we rely on the implied understanding that I want the salad, not a yes or no answer. Even the length or nature of our casual exchanges with strangers are drvien by shared understandings: when the cashier in the supermarket asks how we are doing, we both know that he or she isn't asking for a detailed reply. These examples help illustrate the broader point that communication always takes place in a context that creates implicit meaning in addition to the explicit meaning represented by the words themselve.

Discuss the order of morpheme acquisition in English and why it is relevant for ESL teachers.

Research has demonstrated that ELL students acquire English morphemes in a consistent order, regardless of their native language or the instructional context. The followig are the stages of morpheme acquisition: Stage 1: the "-ing" of progressive verbs ("eating"); the plural "-s"; and the copula "to be" (is, am, are) Stage 2: the auxiliary verb "to be" ("He is eating"); articles (the, a) Stage 3: irregular past tense verbs ("He went out") Stage 4: regular past tense verbs ("-ed"); third-person singular ("-s"); possessives ('s) Teachers should take these stages into consideration as they decide in which order to introduce these forms. Further, teachers may opt not to explicitly correct errors that this model will predict students to master at a later date, and instead of focus on correcting errors that correspond to a student's present stage of acquisition.

Define semantics and explain the difference between denotation and connotation.

Semantics is the study of the meaning of words, phrases, and sentences. The denotation of a word is its most literal definition, the one listed in a dictionary. The connotation of a word is the associations and emotions that a word evokes, either because of personal experience or shared cultural understandings. Connotations may change over time, and even if they are relatively stable, they will likely be difficult for an ESL student to understand. For example, "slender" and "skinny" have the same denotations, but for most native English speakers, the former has a positive connotation, while the latter has a negative connotation.

Explain how sentences can be classified into four categories by purpose or function.

Sentences can be classified in various ways--for example, the categories "compound sentences" and "complex sentences" classify sentences according to their syntax. Another common way to classify sentences is by their purpose, or what they are meant to achieve in a communicative setting. In this context, experts usually identify four different kinds of sentences. Declarative sentences make a statement: "Jodie is a tall woman." Interrogative sentences pose a question: "Is your mom home?" Imperative sentences give a command: "Please come here." And exclamatory sentences express strong feelings: "I can't wait for tomorrow!"

Compare and contrast social language and academic language, and explain why ESL students may master them at different rates.

Social language is language used in everyday communication. Academic language is used in the classroom and workplace, and on standardized assessments. Most students are exposed to social language earlier and more completely than they are exposed to academic language and become more proficient in social language as a consequence. Social language often doesn's follow grammatical conventions--in casual settings, people often speak in phrases rather than complete sentences, use slang, repeat themselves, and us narrative strategies that favor expediency rather than economy or logic. In an academic setting, by contrast, people are expected to use full sentences linked by grammatical transitions. Academic language typically requires a specialized or higher-level vocabulary, and variety is expected instead of repetition. It isn't uncommon for ESL students to be fluent in social language while struggling to achieve even minimal competence in academic language. The student's perceived mastery of the more common social language may lessen their motivation to improve their academic language performance.

Define sociolinguistics, dialect, and sociolect, and give examples of social factors that influence how people use language.

Sociolinguistics is the study of the factors that lead to variation in language use, such as region, gender, class, ethnicity, age, occupation, or bilingual status. A dialect is a variation in one or more features of a language, such as spelling, pronunciation, or word choice. Sociolect refers to language variations shared by members of the same social class. Sociolinguists also studey how our language use varies depending on the situation--people have a tendency to adopt the dialect of those they are speaking to, especially after lengthy exposure. People often adopt shared language as a means of showing solidarity with one another, as in numerous examples of working class English. Many studies have shown, however, they adopt an aspirational dialect--in other words, they adopt the language patterns of a social or economic class they hope to join. Research has also suggested that women use higher-status language on average than men, perhaps to compensate for their perceived lower status in society.

Explain how spoken and written language differ and describe strategies for teaching writing to English language learners.

Spoken and writeen language differ greatly in both form and purpose. The grammar of spoken language is less rigid, to the extent that many linguists believe that phrases are the fundamental units of speech, unlike the sentences used in writing. Speech tends to include many repetitions, ellipses, and self-corrections, and relies heavily on slang and first-person pronouns. Successful speech depends on paralanguage--the nonverbal features of conversation, such as tone, gesture, and facial expression--for successful communication. Written communication, by contrast, is planned, uses formal (and often complex) grammatical structures, avoids repetition, and relies on orderly presentation and evidence in order to be persuasive. Whereas speech is reciprocal--that is, it can adapt to the reactions and emotions of it audience--writing is non-negotiable, and thus must be crafted to be comprehensive and complete. English-language students have far more exposure to spoken English than to written English. Their natural tendency is often to write as they speak--that is, in phrases rather than sentences. Simply, the argumentative forms typically used in writing--with ideas presented in a logical sequence, or with a thesis followd with evidence or examples--are not the same as those used in speech and need to be expressly taught.

Distinguish between the main prosodic features of language (pitch, tone, intonation, and stress), and explain how they differ from phonemes.

Spoken language relies on differences in sound to create differences in meaning. The primary source of rthese sound differences is phonemes. Differences in sound can affect meaning at a lvel above that of individual phonemes, however, by operating on syllbles, words, or even sentences. Linguists refer to thses as prosodic feautres of language . The two main prosodic features are pitch (which in turn is divided into tone and intonation) and stress. Pitch, while technically a difference in the frequency of the vibration of the vocal cords, is recognized by listeners as a continuum between low and high. Many languages use pitch to distinguish between words, in which case it is referred to as tone. Cantonese, for example, is a tonal language. If the pitch rises or falls over the course of a sentence, it is referred to as intonation. In English, intonation is often used to distinguish a statement from a question. Stress refers to a difference in force applied to an element of speech, usually a syllable. With some words, changing the pattern of stress may lead to a change of meaning, as between "con-VERT" and "CON-vert."

Discuss how irregularities in English spelling, as well as the existence in English of phonetic features such as digraphs, diphthongs, and consonant clusters might present challenges for English language learners.

Students of any langauge benefit if that language has predictable rules of grammar, spelling, or pronuciation. Learning is made even easier if the student expereinces positive transfter--that is, if features of their native langauge are similar to those in English, and thus reinforce the learning process. The fact that the 26 letters of the English alphabet combine to forme approximately 44 distinct phonemes will complicate the learning process of ELLs, as there is no one-to-one correcpondence between spelling and pronunciation. For example, the sound /k/ can be written in many different ways in English, as in "cat," "kite," and "tack." Other features of English violate a regular one-to-one correspondence of letters to sounds. Digraphs, for example, are combinations of two or more letters to produce a unique phoneme--such as the /ch/ sound in English. Diphthongs are combinations of two or more vowels in a single syllable, often resulting in an unpredictable sound--for example, the word "chair" is usually pronunced with an /ur/ sound that is not eveident from its spelling. Consonant clusters occur when two or more consonants combine to form a single sound, as with the /Wr/ sound in "wreck." These features render English more difficult for the ELL.

Discuss how phonemes can be classified based on their location in a syllable or word.

Syllables typically have two components, an onset and a rime. The onset is the phoneme, or sound, that occurs at the beginning of the syllble. In English, only consonants can be onsets. If a syllalbe begins with a vowel sound, the syllable has no onset. The rime is the vowel and any consonants that follow the onset. Thus, every syllable has a rime, but not necessarily an onset. For example, the one-syllable word "and" has no onset, only a rime. In the word "bat," by contrast, the /b/ is the onset, and the /at/ is the rime. A second way to classify phonemes is by their order in a word. The first phoneme in a word is called the beginning phoneme, the last phoneme is called the end phoneme, and any phonemes in the middle are called medial phonemes. Teachers often promote phonetic awareness in beginning readers using this classification. For example, the teacher might teach the word "bet" by highlighting the beginning /b/, the ending /t/, and the medial /e/.

Define syntax, explain how it differs from the more common term grammar, and identify the most common syntactic form of English sentences.

Syntax is the way in which words are combined in a language to create phrases, clauses, and sentences. The word is often used synonymously with "grammar." However, "grammar" has a prescriptive sense that is often missing from "syntax"--the former describes the way words should be combined in order to be considered correct, whereas the latter describes the ways in which they are combined in reality to achieve effective communication. In common usage, "grammar" is a broader term than "syntax," referring not only to syntax, but also to phonology, semantics, and even punctuation. The most common syntactic form of an English sentence is subject-verb-object, as in the sentence "The dog bit the man." While this may seem too obvious to an native English speaker to be noteworthy, it is important to understand for a few reasons. First, many languages are constructed differently--for example, the basic order in Japanese is subject-object-verb. Second, the order is altered in English when the passive voice is used. For example, "The man was bitten by the dog" yields the syntactic form object-verb-subject.

Explain the basic rule of subject-verb agreement and discuss three sentence patterns that often present problems for ELLs and native English speakers alike.

The basic rule fo subject-verb agreement is that a singular subject requires a singular verb, and a plural subject requires a plural verb. One exception is in the simple past, in which a stand-along main verb (one without an auxiliary verb) doesn't change when the noun changes: "The man gave me a box," and "The men gave me a box," use the same verb form. Many helping verbs, however, do function according to the rule in the simple past. A second problem arises with compound subjects--two or more subjects joined by "and," "or," "nor." If two subjects are joined by "and,

Explain the basic rule of subject-verb agreement and discuss three sentence patterns that often present problems for ELLs and native English speakers alike.

The basic rule of subject-verb agreement is that a singular subject requires a singular verb, and a plural subject requires a plural verb. One exception is in the simple past, in which a stand-alone main verb (one without an auxiliary verb) doesn't change when the noun changes: "The man gave me a box," and "The men gave me a box," use the same verb form. Many helping verbs, however, do function according to the rule in the simple past. A second problem arises with compound subjects--two or more subjects joined by "and," "or," or "nor." If two subjects are joined by "and," they should be treated as a plural subject taking a plural verb. If they are joined by "or" or "nor," however, the subject nearest the verb shoulde agree with the verb: "Neither the dog nor the casts like liver." A third common error arises when the subject of a sentence is separated from the verb by an intervening phrase that contains a noun. Correct usage requires that the verb agrees with the subject, not the nearby noun. Thus: "The students who pass the test receive a prize."

Differentiate between use and usage, and significance and value as defined by Henry Widdowson and discuss how there terms relate to a difference between linguistic competence and communicative competence.

The linguist Henry Widdowson drew a distinction between language usage, or knowing how to construct words and sentences in accordance with formal rules; and language use, or knowing how to use language in order to achieve an objective. Widdowson used there terms to draw a sharp distinction between linguistic competence and communicative competence and argued that the latter took more time for second-language learners to achieve. Extending the same distinction, Widdowson argued that sentences have significance in isolation, but value when they are considered in the context of a communicative act. Widdowson's ideas influenced the communicative approaches to language learning, with their emphassis on authentic speech acts and the importance of pragmatic dimensions of communicatoin.

Define locution, illocution, and perlocution, and relate these to the general concept of pragmatic failrue.

The philosopher John L. Austin launched what came to be known as speech act theory in the 1970s by distinguishing between locution (what a person says), illocution (what a person means), and perlocution (the effect the person's utterance has). The classic example is the utterance at the dinner table of the locution "Is there any salt?" which has the illocutionary meaning of "Please pass the salt" and the perlocutionary effect of the salt being passed. A pragmatic failure occurs when a person fails to understand what is meant even though he or she correctly understood what was said. For example, a teacher might call the fact that a student is late to class by asking him or her "What time is it?" A pragmatic failture would occur if the student took the question at face-value and failed to understand it as a reprimand.

Describe Paul Grice's cooperative principle; explain how Grice uses the idea of implied meaning to link saying and meaning; and discuss Grice's four maxims, or the assumptions we make when we engage in conversation.

The philosopher Paul Grice's work focuses on how pragrmatics funtion in language--that is, on how we rely on shared assumptions, background knowledge, and implied meanings to communicate more or more clearly than our stated words would seem to allow. Grice's cooperative principle can be paraphrased to state that, when we engage in conversation, we assume that our interlocutor will cooperate in achieving understanding by speaking truthfully, logically, and concisely. Grice emphasized that what we mean is often implied by what we say and that a competent member of our language commuity will grasp the implications of our speech. We successfully communicate implied meanings, Grice agrues, when we obey four maxims of conversation. The maxim of quality states that we speak the truth. The maxim of quantity states that we provide as much information or detail as is necessary to fulfill our conversational purpose. The maxim of relevance states that we will stay on topic. The maxim of manner suggests that we will avoid ambiguity, use language our interlocutor can understand, and organize our speech in a logical way. Grice argues that these assumptions allow us to communicate many implied meanings without resorting to explicit explanations.

Identify and descirbe the different social functions of language.

The primary purpose of language is to allow people to communicate with and understand one another. Linguists often distinguish between academic language and social language--the latter being the everyday language we use in informal settings--and classify various types of social language based on their function. For example, the linguist Geoffrey Leach identified five different functions of social language. First, language is informational: we use it to convey information, and in this form, we value its accuracy and relevance. Second, language may be expressive, as when we use it to convey feelings or attitudes. Third, language may be directive--we may use it to convey orders or exert influence. Fourth, language may be aesthetic, as when it is used creatively or artistically. Fifth, language may be phatic--that is, it may be used simply to sustain a social relationship, such as when we engage in small talk with a stranger. Other linguists have classified social language in other ways--for example, many add a category of apologetic language. The importance of all this research is to draw attention to the various functions of everyday language.

Discuss the concept of World English and use it to illustrate the variations and evolution of the English language.

The term "World English" refers both to the spread of English as the global language of business and science and to the existence of many regional and national English dialects. Many of these dialects now count more speakers than those in Great Britain or the United States, leading some to hypothesize that one of these dialects may one day replace that of American English as the informal standard. Scholars of World English map its spread along the lines of colonial influence, through commercial and scientific hubs, among the world's educated and economic elite, and increasingly through the instruments of modern technology, such as the Internet or cell phone platforms.

Explain the difference between basic interpersonal commuication skills (BICS) and cognitive academic language proficicency (CALP), and why the distinction is important for ESL teachers.

The terms "BICS" and "CALP," coined by the educational psychologist Jim Cummins, correspond to the broader concepts of social and academic language. Social language, or BICS, is the language used in everyday life; while academic language, or CALP, is the language used in formal academic settings. Cummins highlighted the importance of treating the two types of language as separate systems. An ESL student will typically become proficient in BICS in as little as six months, while proficiency in CALP may take seven to 10 years. Furthermore, many English language learners never achieve full facility in CALP, whereas failure to acquire BICS is rare. Cummins warned educators not to make the mistake of assuming that a student proficient in BICS was also proficient in CALP--rather, it is natural for students to master the two competencies at different rates.

Describe what is meant by transformational or generative grammar and distinguish the terms "principles" ad "parameters" as used in this context.

Transformational grammar (or generative grammar) is an approach to syntax, developed by Noam Chomsky, that hypothesizes that the surface structure of any language can be explained as a transformation of an innate (or universal, or deep) structure of language which humans all share in common. The term "generative" refers to the idea that language learners learn to form (or generate) sentences by transforming the deep structures present in brains at birth. For example, Chomsky argued that declarative and interrogative sentences share a single deep structure, and linguists have established a set of rules by which the former can be transformed into the latter. Subsequent proponents of generative grammar introduced the term "principles" to name the rules of the hypothesized universal grammar and the term "parameters" to name the constraints that any actual language places on the set of universal rules. For example, a parameter of English grammar is that, in a verb phrase, the verb must precede its object complements, as in "ate the cake."

Define the concept of word analysis in the context of morphology and explain how this technique can promote English language learner language development.

Word analysis is performed by breaking a complex word into its constituent morphemes in order to help students understand an unfamiliar word. Word analysis relies on the fact that many English words are composed of separate, frequently-sued morphemes with identifiable meanings. For example, teaching ELLs the meaning of the prefixes "re-" (again) and "un-" (not), or the Greek roots "auto-" (self) or "chrono" (time) allows them to understand a wide range of words composed of these elements. Another morphological regularity that students can exploit when analyzing unfamiliar words is the fact that English adverbs are often formed by adding the suffix "-ly" to adjectives. Thus, an ELL who knew the adjective "easy" could deduce that "easily" was an adverb by using word analysis.