Politeness in sociolinguistics and pragmatics with examples and clear explanations written by Dr. Mohammad Hossein Hariri Asl with a video tutorial narrated by the author. Video of politeness in sociolinguistics Watch this video on YouTube Dictionary definition of politeness Behaving and speaking in a way that is correct for the social situation you are in…
Pragmatic 1100 Words You Need Week 43 Day 4 Pragmatic 1100 Words You Need Week 43 Day 4 /prægˈmæt.ɪk/ (adj) Pragmatic definition based on real practice and experience, practical, realistic, not theoretical, matter of fact, sensible, commonsensical, businesslike, logical, rational, hardheaded, reasonable, down-to-earth Example The pragmatic approach to science involves using the method which appears…
Classroom Ethnography Classroom ethnography involves the kind of detailed descriptive work advocated by Johnson. They emphasise the importance of obtaining multiple perspectives through triangulation. Watson-Gegeo distinguished four approaches to classroom ethnography: Ethnography of communication Micro-ethnography Discourse analysis Critical ethnography The ethnography of communication has its origins in anthropology and, in particular, in the work of…
Functionalism Functionalism proposes that Universal Grammar can ultimately be explained without recourse to a special language organ that takes up where cognition leaves off. It attempts to rectify a lack of emphasis on learning in the rationalist perspective. The source of knowledge is proposed to lie in the input, not in the mind. Discoveries are…
Conversation Analysis Conversation Analysis Like ‘discourse analysis’, Conversational Analysis provides a tool for conducting micro-analyses of classroom discourse and, in particular, for examining the sequential development of classroom talk. CA derives from a branch of sociology-ethnomethodology. Seedhouse identified five key principles of this method of enquiry: Indexicality, i.e. the use that interactants make of shared…
Communicative Language Testing Communicative Language Testing The advent of communicative language testing saw a growing preference for face-to-face interaction as the context in which the assessment of spoken language skills would occur. In communicative language testing, the target of test inferences is performance of a set of communicative tasks in various contexts of use. The…
Functionalist Theories of SLA Functionalist theories of L2 acquisition share a number of concerns with variability theories. For example, both are concerned not just with how linguistic knowledge is represented in the mind of the learner, but also with how this knowledge is used in discourse. Also, both types assume that syntax cannot be considered…
Competence Competence corresponds to the I-language (Internal Language). Competency is the speaker/hearer’s knowledge of his language. It’s an abstract version of knowledge. Competency is independent of situation. It represent what the speaker knows in the abstract. The different types of competence are: grammatical competency, linguistic competency, communicative competency, pragmatic competency, Communicative Competency: Discourse Competency: The…
Speech Acts Speech acts are carried out over various turns and their exact shape takes into account interlocutor reactions. In other words, conversation is co-constructed by both interlocutors, which is something that can never be simulated with DCTs. Speech acts are certainly the most researched area of pragmatics, and they are arguably the most social,…
Form-Focused Instruction Form-Focused Instruction Traditionally, language pedagogy has emphasized form-focused instruction. The Grammar-Translation Method and the Audiolingual Method both involve attempts to teach learners grammar, differing only in how this is to be accomplished (Ellis, 1997). Form-focused Instruction is in contrast with ‘naturalistic learning’. It intends to examine whether instruction could change the natural order…