Examples of Language System
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Examples of Language System
Teaching pronunciation
Pronunciation involves far more than individual sounds. Word stress, sentence stress, intonation, and word linking all influence the sound of spoken English, not to mention the way we often slur words and phrases together in casual speech.
For example, /p/ is aspirated in English but not in Spanish, so when a Spanish speaker pronounces 'pig' without a puff of air on the /p/, an American may hear 'big' instead.
Teaching Language functions
Examples of Language System
Teaching vocabulary
Is what we say is for a specific purpose. Whether we are apologizing, expressing a wish or asking permission, we use language in order to fulfill that purpose. Each purpose can be known as a language function
So, for example, if we want to teach the present simple for habitual actions, we can show elementary students pictures of someone with an interesting occupation (in this case a marathon runner). After talking about running ('Would you like to run?', 'Do you take exercise?‘, etc), the students see the following picture.
Now we can look at a few ideas for teaching:
- grammar
- pronunciation
- vocabulary
- language functions
At beginner levels, teachers frequently use explain and practice procedures. For example, we might have individual pictures on flashcards showing people who are tired, sad, happy, frightened, exhausted, etc. We hold up a picture, point to it and say 'tired ... she's tired’. A way of exploiting this is to get the class (with our help) to build their own vocabulary tree.