DESCRIBING THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

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DESCRIBING THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

LANGUAGE GENDER

Magazine article

Poem

Letter

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One of the reasons we can communicate successfully is because we have some understanding of genre

A genre is a type of written organisation and layout

WHAT WE WANT TO SAY?

The study of functions and how they are realised in language, has had a profound effect upon the design of language teaching materials

Making language purpose a major factor in the choice of syllabus items

Teaching techniques

LANGUAGE AS TEXT AND DISCOURSE

Two components are needed for a statement to be successful

Order

Cohesion

Grammatical cohesion

Use of pronouns

Lexical cohesion

Repetition of words and phrases

Coherence

We need to look at language at the level of text or discourse

Texts that are longer than phrases or sentences

Grammar and vocabulary are vital components of language

APPROPRIACY AND REGISTER

When we attempt to achieve a communicative purpose, we have to choose which of these language forms to use

Six of the variables which govern our choice

Tone

Topic

Channel

Gender

Participants

Setting

A feature of language functions is that they do not just have one linguistic realisation

I was wondering if you'd like to come to the movies tonight

Do you fancy the cinema?

How about you come to the movies?

For example: Would you like to come to the cinema?

LANGUAGE IN USE

In emails we will often use contracted forms

Ill be at your place at 8

More formal letters are written out in full

For example: Thank you very much for inviting me

Currently SMS or text messages are a way of sending short and abbreviated messages

For example: hence thx 4 = thanks for

The language is governed by a number of rules and styles

Whether we're typing or talking, texting or emailing