Course pack in EL 102 Structure of English

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Topic I: Noun 3
Topic II: Pronoun 7
Topic III: Verb 15
Topic IV: Adjective 20
Topic V: Adverb 24
Topic VI: Preposition 28
Topic VII: Conjunction 33
Topic VIII: Interjection 36
Topic IX: Basic Sentence Pattern 40
Topic X: Sentence Structure 44
Topic XI: Four Types of Sentence 47
Topic XII: Linguistics 62
Topic XIII: Grammar 64
Topic XIV: The Sounds of English 66
Topic XV: Theories of Language Teaching 73
Topic XVI: Language Teaching Methodology 77
References: 91
LESSON 1: NOUNS
Nouns can be recognized by means of the following characteristics:

1. They are names of entities - a person, place, thing, of idea.

2. They have two INFLECTIONS, the PLURAL {-es} and the POSSESSIVE
(sometimes called the GENITIVE) {-‘s}. Both inflections have various
ALLOMORPHS
/əz/ appears after morphs ending in sibilants or affricates / s, z, š, ž, č ǰ /
/s/ appears after morphs ending in voiceless consonants / p, t, k, f, Ɵ /,
except the sibilants and affricate / s, š, č /
/z/ appears after morphs ending in vowels and voiced consonants / b, d, g, v, ð,
m, n, ŋ, l, r. y, w /, except the sibilants and the affricate / z, ž,
ǰ/

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 3. They may be marked by noun-forming DERIVATIONAL SUFFIXES added to
bases or stems, usually belonging to other parts of speech, e.g.
• added to verbs
{-age} breakage
{-ee} employee

• added to adjectives
{-ity} facility
{-ness} happiness

• added to other nouns

{-cy} advocacy {-
ian} librarian
{-ship} friendship

4. They fill certain characteristic positions in relation to other parts of speech in

phrases and sentences.  just before a verb

Red roses bloom in my garden.

• after determiners such as articles, demonstratives, and possessive adjectives,

e.g., the examination, these reviewers, my hand-outs
5. Unlike other languages, gender is not an important feature of English grammar.
Gender is only marked in certain pairs of nouns, e.g., waiter/waitress, host/hostess

6. Certain SUPERFIXES/STRESS PATTERNS occasionally identify nouns from

other parts of speech as in: récòrd and rècórd. These two words are
morphemically alike; however, we identify the stress pattern / ˊ ˋ / as a noun.

7. Nouns can serve as HEADS in a noun phrase. As heads they may be preceded by
one or more single-word modifiers and followed by a phrasal or clausal modifier
or both

The small study table in my room which my father bought

Functions of Nouns

 subject of verbs Several items have ambiguous stems.

 direct objects of verbs They administered the test .

 indirect objects of verbs The lecturer provided the participants hand-

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 outs.
• subject noun We are LET reviewers .
predicates/
• predicate nouns
 object noun The reviewees chose him their
predicates/ representative.
 objects of in our review class
prepositions
 appositives The LET, a professional examination, is
conducted every year.
 vocatives/nouns of Anne, how did you find the exam?
address

Noun Types

1. COMMON NOUNS refer to a kind of person, thing, or idea

• COUNT NOUNS which take the plural inflection
• MASS/NONCOUNT NOUNS which don’t take the plural inflection

2. PROPER NOUNS are names for unique individuals or places

3. COLLECTIVE NOUNS are able to take either singular or plural verbs forms,
depending on the interpretation given to the noun, i.e., whether it is seen as a unit
or as a collection of individuals The team has won all its games.
The team have won awards in their respective events.

NOUN GENDER

In general there is no distinction between masculine, feminine in English nouns.

However, gender is sometimes shown by different forms or different words when
referring to people or animals.

Examples
Masculine Feminine Gender neutral

man woman person

father mother parent

boy girl child

uncle aunt

husband wife spouse

actor actress

prince princess

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waiter waitress server

rooster hen chicken

stallion mare horse

Many nouns that refer to people's roles and jobs can be used for either a masculine or a
feminine subject, like for example cousin, teenager, teacher, doctor, student, friend, and
colleagues.

Examples:

Mary is my friend. She is a doctor.

Peter is my cousin. He is a doctor.
Arthur is my friend. He is a student.
Jane is my cousin. She is a student.
It is possible to make the distinction for these neutral words by adding the words male or
female.

Examples
Sam is a female doctor.
No, he is not my boyfriend, he is just a male friend.
I have three female cousins and two male cousins.
Infrequently, nouns describing things without a gender are referred to with a gendered
pronoun to show familiarity. It is also correct to use the gender-neutral pronoun (it).

Examples
I love my car. She (the car) is my greatest passion.
France is popular with her (France's) neighbours at the moment.
I travelled from England to New York on the Queen Elizabeth; she (the Queen Elizabeth)
is a great ship.

ANOTHER EXAMPLE

The feminine of some nouns are formed in the following ways:

1. by adding -ess:

host – hostess

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2. If the masculine ends in -er or -or the -er or -or is dropped before adding –ress:

tiger - tigress actor

- actress

3. Some changes are made before adding -ess : Duke - duchess master - mistress

See how the following nouns are changed in their feminine.

ARTICLES

ARTICLES are a subclass of DETERMINERS, which are noun-marking words.

They usually come before the nouns they modify.

a/an (indefinite the (definite article) no/zeroarticle

articles)
Only before singular Before uncountable/mass Identifies certain indefinite
(sg) countable nouns nouns (UNs) and countable meanings of nouns

(CNs) plural (pl) nouns

1 Before an Backward reference to a N Refers to all members of a
unidentified sg CN, one already mentioned class
example of its class a
chair (furniture) A dog . . . and here is the dog Dogs are
now. domestic animals.

2 Before an Forward reference to an Distinguishes one class from

unidentified sg CN that identification soon to be made, another
often by modifiers following a
is representative of its noun The history of his town Men, not women, are
protectors.
class
a dog (a domestic
animal)

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3 Before a predicate N Before superlatives and before Refers to an indefinite
after a be verb if no ordinal numbers, except number but
determiner is used ordinal numbers used alone not
. . . is a good (first in her batch) necessarily to all members of
neighbour The best cake I have ever seen a class.
The first person to fly in space Seedlings are beginning to
sprout. (many)

4 With UNs to mean a Content know to both writer With plural nouns after be.
kind of, or with kind and reader His brothers are

of, or certain The chapel in the village engineers.

a smile an (only one chapel)
insight

5 Before few and little to Identification of a class, With institutions and

mean some but not especially in a practices felt to be unique
many A few friends generalization, followed by a Offices open at 7 o’clock.
A little salt noun, or an adjective Dinner is usually late.
The youth is the hope of the
future.
the physically challenged

6 When using a proper Beginning of a phrase With set phrases, usually

noun to indicate the containing an appositive pairs
characteristics of the Interpret this item, the one Heaven and hell
with an illustration
person named
She is a Sister Teresa.
(a saintly person)

7 To name “a certain With prepositional phrases

person whose name At rest, in danger, on time

is.”
A Mr Alba came to see
you.
8 With nouns used in headlines
in newspapers, captions in
books, signs, labels and the
like
MURDERER ESCAPES
BEWARE OF DOG

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 9 For a family name in the With common nouns used as
plural terms of address and
The Basas have arrived. therefore capitalized.
We are ready to go,
Mother.
10 Distinguishes people who have
the same name
The Jessica Reyes who joined
the beauty pageant is not the
Jessica Reyes who is my
cousin.

11 When the article is part of a

geographical name
The Philippines
The United States
The Red Sea
12 When the article is accepted as
part of any kind of proper
name
The Philippine Star
The Princess of Negros
The Hilton
The University of St. Tomas
The United Nations
LESSON 2: PRONOUNS Most pronouns stand for, refer to, or replace a noun or a noun
phrase within a text; hence, they occupy the same position as a noun or noun phrase does.
The word or words that a pronoun stands for are its ANTECEDENT or REFERENCE.

My brother holds dual citizenship. He is not only a Filipino but also a Canadian
citizen.

I and she stand for the speaker or writer.

I am a Filipino, but I am living in Australia now.

Pronouns can also be a direct reference to an outside situation (e.g., “What is that?” in
response to a sound or noise).

Kinds of Pronouns

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 There are many different kinds of pronouns: SUBJECT, OBJECT, POSSESSIVE,
REFLEXIVE, DEMONSTRATIVE and others. The forms within each category are
distinguished by number (singular/plural), person (first/second/third)
gender (masculine/feminine/neuter), and in the case of demonstratives, by number and
proximity.

Personal and Related Pronouns

Person/ Personal Possessive Reflexive/

Number Intensive
Subject Object Noun Determiner
Singular Form Form replacemen /
t Adjective
+I I Me Mine my myself
+ II you You Yours your yourself
+ III

Masculin e he Him His his himself

Feminine she Her Hers her herself

Neuter it It - its itself
Plural

+I we Us Ours our ourselves

+ II you You Yours your yourselves
+ III they Them Theirs their themselves
Things to Remember:
1. Animals closely related to people can be referred to by he, him, and his or she,
her, and hers.

The dog loves his/her/its master.

2. Use it and its to refer to inanimate objects except ships, which are always referred
as she.

3. Countries and schools are sometimes referred to by she or her.

4. Traditionally, the pronouns he, him, and his have been used for mixed groups or
groups in which the sex is unknown. Many people now object to this use, so they
use both the masculine and feminine forms and the plural forms to avoid the
problem.
Everybody submitted his or her assignment. (awkward)
All the students submitted their assignments. (acceptable)

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 5. If I, me, my or mine or their plural counterparts are part of a pair or a series, put
them last.
The teacher confiscated his toy and mine, too.
Father helped Tony with his project, and he will help my sister and me
with ours tomorrow.

Reflexive Pronouns

1. Use the reflexive pronoun as the object of the verb form or preposition to refer to
the subject of the sentence.

The baby is able to feed itself .

Luis cut himself with a razor blade.

2. The phrase by + self or its emphatic form all by + self means alone or without any
help.

I crossed the river (all) by myself.

Intensive Pronouns

The intensive form occurs directly after the word it modifies or at the end of the clause.
The mayor herself distributed the relief goods. The
mayor distributed the relief goods herself .

Reciprocal Pronouns

1. The reciprocal pronoun forms are each other and one another. They mean that
each part of the subject did the action and also received the action.

2. They must be objects of verb forms or objects of prepositions.

3. Some prefer to use each other for two people or things and one another for more
than two.
The two finalists congratulated each other for making it to the top. The class
members prepared surprise gifts for one another during the Christmas party.

Demonstrative Pronouns

1. Demonstrative pronouns occur alone. They do not precede nouns.

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 This is my favourite movie.

2. Demonstrative pronouns can show distance or contrast not connected with

distance.

(distance) This is mine; that is yours over there.

(contrast) Which ones do you prefer, these or those?

Indefinite Pronouns

Personal none no another

one other ones
anyone everyone nobody someone others
anybody everybody somebody
Non- anything everything nothing something another
Personal every one none other ones
others

Use singular verbs with compound pronouns and use singular pronouns to refer to them
in formal writing.

Formal: Nobody brought his book today.

Informal: Nobody brought their books today.

Interrogative Pronouns

Who, whom, whose, which, and what can begin questions.

1. Use who, whom, whose and which to refer to persons..

2. Use what and which to refer to things and events.
3. In formal writing, use who for the subject of a clause and whom for the object of
the verb or preposition.

Relative Pronouns

1. RELATIVE PRONOUNS (sometimes called CLAUSE MARKERS) introduce

dependent clauses (also called RELATIVE CLAUSES).

2. Relative pronouns used in adjective clauses are who, whom, whose, which and
that.

3. Who, whom, and whose are used for persons while which is used for nonpersons.

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 The guest who came to dinner is the governor.
The book which I bought is a best seller.

4. That is a neutral form. It can be marked +human or–human. In other words, it can
be a substitute for both who (+human) or which (-human).
The guest who/that came to dinner is the governor.
The book which/that I bought is a best seller.

5. In informal writing, whom is optional; in formal writing, whom must be used

(informal)Nora is the girl you saw in the party last night.
(formal)Nora is the girl whom you saw in the party last night.

6. That, which and whom are the only relative pronouns that can be left out.
The instrumental music (that) I like to hear often is that of Zamfir. The
house pests (which) I hate to see are the rodents and the cockroach.

7. Who, whom, and whose can be used in both essential/RESTRICTIVE and

nonessential/NON-RESTRICTIVE clauses.
The man, who came to dinner, is the mayor. (non-essential/nonrestrictive,
bounded by commas)
The man who came to dinner is the mayor. (essential/restrictive, without
commas)

8. That instead of which is used only in essential or restrictive clauses, so do NOT

put commas around clauses beginning with that.
The poster that won first prize pleased both the judges and the viewers.
*The poster, that won first prize, pleased both the judges and the viewers.
(*means ungrammatical)

9. Use which in nonessential or nonrestrictive clauses. Separate nonessential clauses

from the rest of the sentence by commas.
Our car, which has been running for three days, should be brought to the
machine shop for check-up.

10. Relative pronouns used in noun clauses are that, what, whatever, whoever,
whomever and whichever.
(noun clause as subject) Whatever you offer will be appreciated.
(noun clause as direct He will befriend whoever he gets object)
acquainted with.

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 11.Look at the antecedent of who, that or which when used as subject to decide
whether the verb following should be singular or plural.
The painting which is exhibited is the painter’s masterpiece.
The farmers who own orchards earn much from their harvest.

LESSON 3: VERBS

A verb can be recognized by means of the following characteristics:

• Denotes an action (e.g., read) or a state of being (e.g. know). ACTION VERBS
are dynamic. STATE OF BEING VERBS (or STATIVE VERBS) includes the
copula or linking verbs, e.g. the be-verbs, remain, appear, and become.

• Has four inflections

{-s} of third person singular present tense verbs
{-ed} of simple past tense verbs
{-en} of the past participle
{-ing} of the present participle

The third person singular –s has the same allomorphs as the noun plural and the
noun possessive.

The –ed past tense inflection has three allomorphs:

/əd/ after morphs which end in / t / or / d / as in planted, raided
/t/ after morphs that end in voiceless sounds except / t / as in brushed,
jumped, walked

/d/ after morphs which end in voiced sounds except / d / as in cleaned,

grabbed, agreed

• Follows a subject noun and may be followed in turn by adjectives

}______ eager [to enhance their knowledge].

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 The reviewees }______ seriously.
}______ their hand-outs.

• May fall under one more or more of these types o INTRANSITIVE VERBS
which does not take an object (direct)
Flowers bloom.
o TRANSITIVE VERBS which require an object (direct)

Flowers need water and sunlight. o DITRANSITIVE VERBS

which take two objects (direct and indirect)
Alex gave his girlfriend three red roses.
o LINKING/COPULA VERBS where what follows the verb relates back to
the subject (subject complement -- a predicate noun or a predicate
adjective)
Roses are lovely Valentine’s Day gifts.
Roses are sweet.
o COMPLEX TRANSITIVE VERBS where what follows the object
(direct) relates to the object
They chose Niña, muse of the team.
o PREPOSITIONAL VERBS which requires a prepositional phrase to be
complete
We looked at the pictures taken during our graduation

• Have tense and aspect qualities. Tense and aspect have to do with form. TENSE is
“the grammatical marking on verbs that usually indicates time reference relative
to either the time of speaking or the time at which some other situation was in
force” (Jacobs 1995). Time reference has to do with meaning. Events and
situations are located in time, perhaps to our speaking about them, perhaps while
we are speaking about them, or perhaps at some later time. English has three
tenses – present, past, and future. The present and the past tenses have inflectional
markings; while the future is marked by the inclusion of the modals will or shall.
Simply put, tense is a set of verb forms that indicate a particular point in time or
period of time in the past, present, or future.

ASPECT is a general name given to verb forms used to signify certain ways in
which an event is viewed or experienced. Aspect can view an event as completed
whole (simple), or whether or not it has occurred earlier (perfect aspect) or is still
in progress (progress).

Noel has attended the review classes. (perfect)

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 Now he is studying for the LET exam. (progressive)

The tenses in combination with aspects make up the following 12 tenseaspect

categories. These make up the traditional 12 tenses.

Tense-Aspect Combinations

Simple Perfect Progressive Perfect

Progressive
Ø have + -en be + -ing have + -enbe + -ing

Presen dream/dreams has/have dreamed am/is/are dreaming has/have been

t dreaming
eat/eats has/have eaten am/is/are eating has/have been
eating

Past dreamed had dreamed was/were dreaming had been dreaming

Ate had eaten was/were eating had been eating

Future will/shall will/shall have will/shall will/shall have been
dream dream be dreaming
dreaming
will/shall eat will/shall have will/shall be will/shall have been
eaten eating
eating
Sometimes, if we want to draw attention to the time of the action, we use an
ADJUNCT OF TIME, which can be an adverb, a noun group, or a prepositional
phrase, e.g.:

(adverb) She’s coming tomorrow.

(noun group) Results of the examination were released last week.
(prepositional phrase)He will feel relieved after the exam.

VERB TENSES: Their Meanings and Common Uses

SIMPLE ASPECT: complete wholes; unchanging

1. SIMPLE PRESENT: the present in general

• To talk about our thoughts and feelings at the present moment or about our
immediate reactions to something I’m terribly busy.
He looks excited.

• To talk about a settled state of affairs which includes the present moment He lives
in Sagada now.
Our teacher is very competent and considerate. We like her very much.

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 • To say something is always or generally true There are 24 hours in a day.
The earth revolves around its axis.

• To talk about something that a particular person or thing does regularly or

habitually.
I get up early to take a bath.
Every Sunday, I attend church services.
• To discuss what happens in a book, play or film
In the movie, he plays the character of Juan Tamad.
In those early chapters, he keeps himself isolated to other people in the
village.

• To describe an event such as a sports match or a ceremony at the time it is

happening as radio and TV commentators do
Doods takes the ball, and then passes it quickly to Alfie. Alfie turns,
shoots, and scores two points.

2. SIMPLE PAST: Stating a definite time in the past

An adjunct of time or other time expression is necessary to specify the particular
time in the past we are referring to.

• To say that an event occurred or that something was the case at a particular time in
the past.
The university officials flew into Jakarta last week to sign a
memorandum of agreement with a sister school.

• To say that a situation existed over a period of time in the past.

He lived in his ancestral home in the countryside during his last years.

• To talk about an activity that took place regularly or repeatedly in the past, but
which no longer occurs
We swam in the river a great deal in my childhood.

3.SIMPLE FUTURE: An expression of what we think might happen or what we

intendto happen
• To say that something is planned to happen, or that we think it is likely to happen
in the future
What do you think Ella will do to fix it?

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 • To talk about general truths and to say what can be expected to happen if a
particular situation arises
An attack of dengue fever can keep a man off work for a few days.
He will earn nothing and he have trouble paying his hospital bills.

PERFECT ASPECT: prior

1. PRESENT PERFECT: the past in relation to the present
We cannot use adjuncts or expressions which place the action at a definite time in
the past. But we can use adjuncts of duration, e.g. forever, always. *I have
watched it the other day.
I ate raw vegetables, which I always avoided, and there was no other
choice.
To mention something that happened in the past but we do not want to state a
specific time.
I have read the book several times.

2. PAST PERFECT: Events before a particular time in the past

To talk about a past event or situation that occurred before a particular time in the
past
By noon, students had gathered at the quadrangle with their
placards.

3. FUTURE PERFECT
To refer to something that has not happened yet, but will happen before a
particular time in the future.
By the time he graduates, his parents will already have left for New
Zealand

PROGRESSIVE ASPECT: incomplete action; changing

1. PRESENT PROGRESSIVE: Accent on the present

• To talk about something that is happening at the moment we are speaking I’m
already feeling bored and hungry.

• To emphasize the present moment or to indicate that a situation is temporary

She’s spending the summer in her hometown.

• To indicate changes, trends, developments, and progress He’s performance in

class is improving.

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 • To talk about a habitual action that takes place regularly, especially one which is
new or temporary
She’s spending a lot on clothes these days.
2. PAST PROGRESSIVE: accent on the past
• To talk about continued states or repeated actions which occurred in the past
His body was trembling; his fever was rising.

• To contrast a situation with an event which happened just after that situation
existed. We use the past continuous to describe the first event and the simple past
to describe the event which occurred after it. We were standing at the main gate
waiting to welcome the guest speaker. He arrived 20 minutes later.

3. FUTURE PROGRESSIVE
• To say something will surely happen because arrangements have
been made
They will be sending their students regularly to the University for English
Proficiency Enhancement.

• To emphasize the duration of a recent event She’s been crying

bitterly.

PERFECT-PROGRESSIVE ASPECT

1. PRESENT PERFECT PROGRESSIVE

 To talk about an activity or situation that started at some time in the past,
continued, and is still happening now.
The economy has been declining in many parts of the world.

2. PAST PERFECT PROGRESSIVE

• To emphasize the recentness and duration of a continuous activity which took
place before a particular time in the past?
The old woman had been living alone in that dilapidated house.

• To say that something was expected, wished for, or intended before a particular
time in the past.
I had been expecting a phenomenal rise in his political career.

3. FUTURE PERFECT PROGRESSIVE

 To emphasize the duration to an event at a specific time in the future

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 By January 2011, she will have been serving this university for 38 years.

AUXILIARY/HELPING VERBS

1. VERB PHRASE/VERB COMPLEX: consists of an auxiliary + a main verb, e.g.,

must work, have been reading, will be informed. The underlined word or words
are the auxiliary or helping verbs.

2. AUXILIARY/HELPING VERBS

A. MODAL AUXILIARIES and their related phrasal forms

True Modals Phrasal Modals

can, could be able to
will, shall be going to, be about to
Must have* to, have got to
should, ought to be to, be supposed
would (= past habit) used to
may, might be allowed to, be permitted to
*The verb betakes several forms such as is, are, was, were, and will be.
Have taken the forms has, have, and had

 NON-MODAL AUXILIARIES : be, do, and have verbs

Of all the auxiliaries, only the non-modals can change form.

Distinguishing Characteristics between True Modals and

Phrasal Modals

True Modals Phrasal Modals

1 Do not inflect, i.e., the forms Inflect like other ordinary verbs
remain unchanged am/is/are/was/were/will be able
to pass
Canpass

2 Lack tense and a resultant lack Subject-agreement rule

of applies except the form used to
subject-verb agreement We are able to pass the LET.
We can pass the LET. He is able to pass the LET.
He can pass the LET.

3 Do not require an infinitive Requires an infinitive marker

marker to precede the main toto precede the main verb
verb has/have/had to study hard

must study hard

3. OPERATORS/OPERATOR VERBS
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 • The OPERATOR is a verb that has three main functions: 1) It precedes the
negative and combines with it when the negative is contracted to n’t; 2) It
is the verb that moves around the subject to the sentence initial position in
yes-no questions; and 3) It is also the verb that appears in the tag phrases
of interrogative sentences or tag questions.
My father will not approve your marriage proposal.
My father won’t approve your marriage proposal.
Will your father approve my marriage proposal?
Will your father not approve my marriage proposal?
Won’t your father approve my marriage proposal?
Your father will approve my marriage proposal, won’ the?

• When a clause contains no verb eligible to be an operator, do is

introduced.
He attends the graduation ball tonight.
 He does attend the graduation ball tonight.
 He does not attend the graduation ball tonight.
 Does he attend the graduation ball tonight?
 He attends the graduation ball tonight, doesn’t he?

• If there are two or more auxiliary verbs present in the VERB PHRASE,
the first auxiliary serves as the operator.
He has been reading the Obama autobiography.
 He has not been reading the Obama autobiography.
*He has been not reading the Obama autobiography.
 Has he been reading the Obama autobiography.
He has been reading the Obama autobiography, hasn’t he?

SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT/CONCORD RULES WHICH OFTEN CAUSE

ERRORS

1. Collective nouns may take either a singular or plural verb inflection dependingon the
meaning.
• Conceived of as one entity – takes a singular verb Our school team
has won its games.
• Conceived of as more than one entity or refers to individual
membership – takes plural verb
Our school team have won all their games.

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2. Some common and proper nouns ending in –s, including –ics nouns and certain
diseases are always conceived as single entity – take a plural verb.
The recent news is exciting.
Mathematics is repelling to many students.
Measles is a contagious disease.
The United States is still a powerful country.

3. Titles of works even when plural in form are conceived of as single entitles.
The Ten Commandments is a beautiful movie.
The Syntax Files is good reading for those in linguistics.
The song Greenfields brings nostalgia to people of my generation.

4. Nouns occurring in sets of two take the singular when the noun pair is present but take
the plural when pair is absent.
That pair of Lee jeans is expensive.
My glasses are missing.

5. Fractions and percentages takes a singular verb inflection when modifying anon-count
noun and a plural verb when they modify a plural noun. Either a singular or plural
verb inflection may be used when they modify a collective noun, depending on the
speaker’s meaning.
More than a half of the cake is eaten.
Twenty percent of the students are not joining the field trip.
One-fourth of the audience is/are teachers.

6. A number normally takes the plural. The number takes the singular.
A number of parents are coming for the meeting.
The number of signatories is substantial to merit approval of the
motion.

7. When we use a number and a plural noun to talk about two or more things, weusually
use a plural verb. We use a singular verb with ‘one’.
Seven days make up a week.
One solid evidence is enough to prove his dishonesty.
8. When we are talking about an amount of money or time, or a distance, speed,or
weight, we usually use a number, a plural noun, and a singular verb.
Five hundred dollars is a lot of money.
Three years is a long time to wait for a family member from abroad to
come home.
Eighty kilometres per hour of travel is quite risky on slippery roads.

19 | P a g e
 Seventy-five pounds is all she weighs now.

9. Arithmetic operations take the singular because they are perceived asreflecting a single
numerical entity on both sides of the equation or equal sign.
Two plus two is/equals four.

10. The quantifiers a lot (of), lots of, and plenty of take a singular verb if the subject
noun is non-count by plural verb if the subject head noun is plural.
A lot of sound views were advanced during the discussion.
A lot of nonsense is evident from uninterested participants.

11. Traditional grammar states that when used as a subject, none (meaning not one) is
always singular regardless of what follows in a prepositional phrase.
None of the boys joins the mountaineering group.
None of the rice is eaten at all.

12. Traditional grammar maintains that the antecedent of the relative pronoun isthe
noun before.
Alice is one of the graduate students who have finished her master’s degree in a
short period of time.

13. For correlatives either . . . or and neither . . . nor, traditional grammar argues for a
proximity rule, i.e., subject-verb agreement should occur with the subject noun nearest
to the verb.
Either my friend or my classmates are expected to help me with my project.
Neither my classmates nor my friend volunteers to lend support.

14. A singular noun or pronoun should take a singular verb inflection regardlessof
what else occurs between the subject and the verb.
Jimmy, along with his co-teachers, conducts a cleanliness campaign in the
barangay.

15. In questions, subjects don’t always come before verbs. Identify accurately
thesubject before deciding on the proper verb to use.
Does your father usually go jogging?
What are the pages our teacher wants us to read?

VOICE

VOICE pertains to who or what serves as the subject in a clause. In the ACTIVE
VOICE, the subject of a clause is most often the agent, or doer, of some action. In the

20 | P a g e
PASSIVE VOICE, the subject of a clause is the receiver or undergoer of the action. The
passive “defocuses” the agent. (Shibitani 1985 in Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman
2001)

The lifeguard saved the child. (active)

The child was saved [by the lifeguard]. (passive)

The passive voice is more limited than the active in that it requires only the transitive
verbs – verbs that take direct objects.

The passive morphology is be . . . –en, i.e., a form of the be verb + the past participle.
Usually in passive sentences the agent is not mentioned at all, referred to as the
AGENTLESS PASSIVE. If the agent is mentioned (= AGENTED PASSIVE), it appears
in a prepositional phrase marked by the preposition by.

Some passive sentences have no active counterparts.

Justin was born in Canada.

Advantages of the Active Voice

1. An active clause can give more information in fewer words.

2. An active verb makes writing livelier and more vivid.

Uses of the Passive Voice

1. A passive construction emphasizes the result in an impersonal style. This use is

sometimes desirable in scientific and technical writing.
A new strain of malaria was discovered.

2. A passive verb emphasizes a victim or the result of a disaster.

Active: The child broke the antique vase.
Passive: The antique vase was broken.

3. Use the passive when the agent or the actor is so unimportant or is obvious that
you do not need to mention it.
Rica was born in Seychelles.

4. Use a passive verb if you want to hide the name of the person who is responsible
for an unpleasant decision or result. An increase in tuition fees was proposed.

21 | P a g e
Forms of the English Passive

We usually form simple passives like these:

Paper is produced from trees. (simple present) Paper was

produced from trees. (simple past)

Here are other possible forms:

1. With modals
Paper can be produced from trees.

2. With present perfect

Paper has been produced from trees.

3. With present progressive

Paper is being produced from trees.

4. With past progressive

Paper were being produced from trees.

5. With be going to for future

Paper is going to be produced from trees.

PHRASAL VERBS

These are verbs which consist of two or three words. They consist of:

1. a verb followed by an adverb;

go up, spill over, and push through
2. a verb followed by a preposition; come upon, reckon
with, and bank on
3. a verb followed by an adverb and a preposition break out
of, look forward to, and go along with

Just like ordinary verbs, phrasal verbs may be used:

1. intransitively
Why don’t you speak up?
2. transitively

22 | P a g e
 Let’s cut down pollution to conserve our environment./ Let’s cut
pollution down to conserve our environment.

Note that some phrasal verb may be separable. This is further explained below.

3. both intransitively and transitively A plane took off.

She took off her coat because it was warm./ She
took her coat off because it was warm.

Meaning of Some Phrasal Verbs

A two-word verb often has a one-word synonym, which is generally more formal.
Here are some examples:

Phrasal Synonym Phrasal Synonym

Verb Verb
call up Telephone give in/up surrender
keep on Continue leave out omit
pick out Choose put off postpone
Separable and Inseparable Verbs

• Parts of inseparable phrasal verbs cannot be separated. If there is a direct object, it

follows the phrasal verb.

Look after your baby brother.

*Look your baby brother after. Look
after him

• On the other hand, the object of separable phrasal verbs is movable. A pronoun
object comes between the first and second part. A short noun object can come
between the two parts or can follow the second part.

Donna turned it on.

Donna turned the light on. Donna
turned on the light.

• Some phrasal verbs can be either separable or inseparable according to their

meanings in a certain context.

She passed out. (fainted)

She passed the brochures out. (distributed)

23 | P a g e
 The car broke down. (stopped running)
The polite broke the door down. (opened by force)

Separable Phrasal Verbs with Their Objects

Object

back it/the car up

blow it/the candle out
it/the balloon up

break them/the statistics down down

them/the negotiations off

bring it/the change about

it/the subject up

burn it/the building down

them/the papers up

clear them/the dishes away

it/the misunderstanding up

close it/the business down

draw it/the agreement up
fill it/a form in/out
it/the cup up

find it/the answer out

give it/this old bag way
it/eating candy up

it/the news out

hand it/the work in/out

keep them/expenses down
it/the radio on

leave it/the question out

Let them/our friends in/out
lock them/the prisoners up
look them/our relatives in up
Manila
make it/the handwriting out
it/a story up

mix it/food being prepared up

them/people up

pass it/the responsibility on

pay it/the money back
them/my enemies back

pick it/a new shirt out

point it/the problem out
LESSON 4: ADJECTIVES

24 | P a g e
An adjective :

1. Is a word which describes or denotes the qualities of something

2. Commonly occurs between a determiner and a noun, or after be or other linking

verbs or immediately following the intensifier very the _____ baby seems (very)
_____ the hungrybaby seems (very) hungry

3. Is associated with certain derivational morphemes

{-y} healthy, leafy
{-al} racial, normal
{-able} understandable, visible
{-ed} aged, learned
{-ful/-less} hopeful, hopeless
{-ish} childish, boyish
{-ive} active, native
{-ous} famous, marvellous
4. Has inflectional morphemes for comparative and superlative forms pretty prettier
prettiest

5. Modifies or complements nouns The honest man (modifier)

The man is honest. (complement)

6. Has various types in terms of characteristic positions: ATTRIBUTIVE which

precede nouns, and PREDICATIVE which follow linking verbs
The diligent students pass the tough exam . (attributive)
They are happy with their high scores. (predicative)

Other Related Concepts

1. Restrictive/Non-restrictive adjectives
RESTRICTIVE adjectives are necessary for defining which noun is being referred
to while NON-RESTRICTIVE adjectives merely add information without being
essential for identification.
A concrete house. (restrictive)
My uncle owns a house, built of concrete materials. (non-restrictive)

2. Polarity
POLARITY refers to positive and negative contrasts in a language.
Positive polarity Negative polarity

25 | P a g e
 big small, little
old young
long short
good bad
fast slow
Adjectives with positive polarity are UNMARKED FORMS because they are
used more frequently in a given language, learned earlier by children, and used in
neutral contexts. Adjectives of negative polarity are MARKED.

They are less frequently used.

3. GRADABILITY

• Adjectives can be placed in continuum of intensity, with the intensity increasing

or decreasing depending on the intensifier chosen.

[Less [More
intense] intense]
Somewhat rare, rare, quite rare, very rare, extremely rare

• Adjectives that can be compared are also called gradable adjectives. Comparative
forms (adjectives marked by -er, more, or less) show differences/contrasts
between two things or groups. Superlative forms (marked by –est, most, or least)
show differences in three or more things or groups.

• Comparison do not apply to absolutes such as unique, possible, impossible,

horizontal, round, square, and fatal. They can co-occur with words like nearly
and almost.
The accident was fatal.
The accident was nearly fatal.
The accident was almost fatal.

• The as . . . as construction is used to show that two things or groups are similar.
Ella is as tall as her mother.

Order of Adjectives in Noun Groups

When two or more adjectives are used in a structure, they usually occur in a particular
order or sequence as follows:

26 | P a g e
DET opinio n size shape conditio n age colour origin NOUN

many Pretty smal round chipped antiqu Blue Chines e vases

l e
LESSON 5: ADVERBS

ADVERBS modify or change the meaning of other words such as verbs,

adjectives, another adverb, or even a whole sentence.

(verb modifier) The athlete can run fast.

(adjective modifier) Sailboats are really beautiful to watch.
(adverb modifier). The athlete can run very fast.
(sentence modifier) Perhaps, Nina’s family will give a party
Adverbs or adverbials vary in form as follows:

Adverbial clause: The child cried because he was hungry.

Adverbial phrase: Diane sang very sweetly.
Prepositional phrase: She sang during our class reunion.
Word: We eagerly look forward to your graduation.
Adverbs can be readily recognized through certain affixes. For example:

1. Suffix –ly hopefully, popularly

2. Prefix a- aloud, adrift, anew
3. Suffix –wise lengthwise, clockwise
4. Suffix –wards Kinds backward(s), forward(s)
of Adverbs

1. Adverbs of frequency: answer the question how often?

(always, never, usually, rarely)
2. Adverbs of relative time can be used with all tenses as meaning permits
(just, still, already, lately)
3. Adverbs of manner answer the question how? orhow well?
(carefully, eagerly, clearly, quickly)
4. Adverbs of place answer the question where?
(here, in the city)
5. Adverbs of time answer the question when?
(today, on April 15)
7. adverbs that emphasize only and even

Where we put only makes a big change in the meaning of a clause. To illustrate:

(no one else) year. 1. Only he invited Alex to join the team this

27 | P a g e
 (not ordered) year. 2. He only invited Alex to join the team this year this

(no one but Alex) 3. He invited only Alex to join the team this year.
(to join, not to do 4. He invited Alex only to join the team this year.
anything else)

(recently as or 5. He invited Alex to join the team only this

year.
at no other time)

Positions of Adverbials

While some adverbials are fixed in their positions in the sentence, others are
movable. They can occur sentence initially, medially, or finally.

Sentence-initial: Doubtlessly, we must conclude that the findings are correct.

Sentence-medial: We, doubtlessly, must conclude that the findings are
correct.
Sentence-final: We must conclude that the findings are correct, doubtlessly.

Order of Adverbials

When two or more adverbials co-occur in final position in the same sentence,
ordering should be observed.

{direction} + position↔ manner + time ↔ frequency + {purpose}

{goal } {reason}

He walks homeleisurely at 5:30 PMevery daybecause he wants to feel relaxed.

He walks homeleisurelyevery dayat 5:30 PM because he wants to feel relaxed.

LESSON 6: CONJUNCTIONS

Coordination
COORDINATION is the process of combining ideas. Two constituents of the same type
can be put together to produce another larger constituent of the same type. Traditional
grammar calls this process COMPOUNDING.

28 | P a g e
 Compound sentence: The boys sangandthe girls danced last night.
Compound subject: The teacher andher students will join the parade.
Compound verb: The children playandeat during recess.
Compound object: We boiled cornandcassava.

Conjoining like constituents as shown above is referred to as SIMPLE

COORDINATION. Here are other ways of coordinating ideas:

1. ELLIPSIS: Omission or elision of the first verb phrase in the second and adding
the word too or either (for UNINVERTED FORMS), and so or neither (for
INVERTED FORMS).

Affirmative forms
My friends like to read storybooks and I, too. (uninverted)
A horse runs fast, and so does an ostrich. (Inverted)

Negative forms
Donna can’t climb a tree, and his little brother can’t, either.
(uninverted)
Ducks can’t fly high, and neither can chickens. (inverted)

2. Use of PRO-FORM, i.e., the substitution of pronoun for a repeated noun.

Luis plays the guitar andhe plays the harp, too.

3. COMPLEX or CORRELATIVE CONJUNCTIONS like both . . . and..

My father is both kind and sincere.

Forms of Coordinating Conjunctions

Other than and, simple coordinating conjunctions include: for, nor, but, or, yet, and so.
Note the following examples:
milk or chocolate small
but/yet terrible
He came late, so he missed the fun. (clausal)
They accepted the verdict, f or they failed to counter the charges against them.
(clausal)

Other forms of correlative conjunctions are either . . . or, not only . . . but also, and
neither . . . nor. These pairs are used together Either Tony or Nico will top the test.
Anna is neither friendly nor generous.

29 | P a g e
 Our teacher is not only competent but also very understanding.
Use of Coordinating Conjunctions

Below is a straightforward account of the simple conjunctions:

Conjunctio n Meaning Conjunctio n Meaning

For Because or one or the other of two

alternatives is true
And Plus yet but at the same time
Nor conjoins two negative so therefore
sentences, both of
which are true
But shows contrast
A deeper and thorough study of each conjunction, however, reveals certain properties
beyond the given straightforward account. To illustrate, here are the other meaning and
uses of and.

1. As LOGICAL OPERATOR (the truth-conditional meaning)

The entire conjoined statement is true so long as each conjunct that makes it up is
true. If one conjunct is false, then the statement is false.

2. As MARKER of many meanings

Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman (2001) citing Posner (1980) provides these
illustrations:
• (and there . . .)
Annie is in the kitchen, and she is making doughnuts.
• (and during this time . . .)
Annie fell into a deep sleep, and her facial color returned.
• (and coming from it . . .)
The window was open, and there was a draft.
• (and after that . . .)
Peter married Annie, and she had a baby .
• (and thereby . . .)
Paul pounded on the stone, and he shattered it.
• (If you give me your picture, I’ll give you mine.) Give
me your picture, andI’ll give you mine.

3. As INFERENTIAL CONNECTIVE
A reader/listener can draw an inferential connection from sentences like Susan
jumped and hurt her ankle. The use of and invites the listener/reader to seek some
other implicit relevant connection between stated conjuncts.

30 | P a g e
 4. As MARKER OF SPEAKER CONTINUATION
In conversational discourse, sometimes a speaker uses and to signal that the
utterance to follow is in some way connected with what has come before. This
particular use of and goes beyond the usual content conjunctive use; rather it
places and into the category of discourse markers like oh and well.

Subordination
SUBORDINATION means putting less important ideas in less important
grammatical structures like dependent clauses. One means of subordination is
SENTENCE COMBINING or REDUCING.

Sentence combining

Melissa topped the test.

Melissa was late by twenty minutes.

Although late by twenty Melissa topped the test.
minutes,
dependent clause independent clause

Reducing


Although late, Melissa topped the
test
dependent independent clause
clause

Subordinating Conjunctions

Subordinating conjunctions do the job of connecting dependent clauses to independent

clauses. Shown below are different types.

Type Conjunction Type Conjunction

Time when, before, after, conditional if, unless
since,
while, until, as

Purpose in order to, so that reason because, since, as

Result so that concessive although, though,

while, despite
Place where, wherever manner as, like
Time Her father died when she was young.

31 | P a g e
 Conditional IfI could afford it, I would buy a car.
Purpose They had to extend the session in order to discuss all
concerns raised.

Reason I couldn’t ignore him because he was my childhood

playmate

Result She reviewed very hard so that she would pass the
LET.

Concessive While I did well in class, I was a poor performer at club

activities.

Place Wherever I stayed, I found troublesome neighbors.

Manner Is she often rude and cross likeshe’s been this past
week?

Relative Clauses

Another form of subordination involves the EMBEDDING of one clause within another.
For example:

The lady came into the room.

The lady was small and slender.
 The lady [the lady came into the room] was small and slender.
The lady who came into the room was small and slender.

The most common relative pronouns which mark relative clauses are: that, which, who,
whom, and whose. Their uses are presented earlier in the section on pronouns
LESSON 7: PREPOSITIONS

Prepositions are notoriously difficult for ESL learners for several reasons.

1. Several English prepositions are realized as a single form in the learner’s first
language.

Pumunta kami sapalengke. (We went to the market).

Lumangoy kami sailog. (We swam in the river.)
Sakalyeanggulo. (The commotion occurred on the street.)
Antayinmoakosakanto. (Meet me at the street corner.)

2. The English preposition is not necessarily realized by a single word. Thereare

complex forms like because of and in spite of or coalesced forms like into and
onto.

32 | P a g e
 3. Certain prepositions co-occur with verbs, adjectives, and nouns to formclusters.
to substitute for to be afraid of
infavorof awareness of

4. English prepositions are polysemous. They bear varied meanings.

(space) Throw the at the wall.
(time) It rains at night.
(degree) Water freezes at 00 C.
(idiomatic) She’s good at dancing.

Meanings of Prepositions

1. Many prepositions prototypically deal with locating objects in space involving

two or more entities. One entity is for foregrounding, while the other serves as
background. The former is the figure and the latter is the landmark. In

Throw the ball at the wall.

figure landmark

2. Note the following figure

At on in
Bythrough ↕ ↕ ↕
Withabout
Underover
From off out of

Adapted - Dirven 1993

• At, on, and in are the basic and most general place prepositions. At denotes
place as a point of reference, on denotes physical contact between the figure
and landmark, and in denotes the enclosure of the trajector in the landmark.

They met at the main gate.

Put the box on the table.
The ball is in the box.

• From, off, and out of are source prepositions involving the notion of
separation from place.From denotes separation from a point of orientation, off
denotes separation from contact with line or surface, and out of, separation
from inside a landmark.

33 | P a g e
 We walked from the gate to the waiting shed.
The box fell off the table.
Take the ball out of the box.

• By and with are proximity prepositions, which locate the figure in relation to a
point of orientation marked by the preposition at. By denotes the idea of
“connection” while with denotes both a point of orientation and the idea of
connection. In its spatial sense, with can occur only with animate nouns as
landmark.

He stood by me in all throughout the campaign.

He rides withme to our place of work.

• Through and about require the landmark to the seen as a surface or a volume
and are positioned in the diagram above next to in. Through structures space
as a tunnel or channel. About denotes spatial movement in any direction.

Move the other side of the mountain through the tunnel.

He walked briskly about the yard for his morning exercise.

• Under and over are vertical space preposition. Under denotes a figure at a
lower point than the landmark. Over denotes a figure that is at a higher point
than the landmark.

Don’t keep your shoes under the table.

We watched the game over the fence.
Selected Meanings and Uses of Common Prepositions

1. at (exact) We left at2:00 pm.

2. about (approximate) We left about 2:00 pm.
3. against (contact) to lean against the wall
4. around (approximate) around 2:00
5. by (nearness) bed by the window
(no later than) by 2:00
6. from (source) paper is made from wood
7. of (before) a quarterof ten

34 | P a g e
 8. on (contact) on the wall
(day, date) on Sunday, on November 8th
(communication) onradio, TV
(concerning) a round-table discussion on language
policy
9. over (spanning time) over the weekend

(communication) over the radio, TV

10. through (penetrate) through the forest
(endurance) through thick and thin
11. to (until) work from 8 to 5
(before) a quarter to 11:00
(degree) He is honest tosuch extent.
12. under (less than) in under an hour
(condition) under stress
13. with (together) He grew smarter with the years.
(equal standing
or ability) rank with the best
(manner) delivered his speech with ease

Variations in Use of Prepositions

1. spatial proximity a house near/by the lake

2. time/degree approximation cost about/around Php1,500.00
3. telling time a quarter of/to ten a
quarter after/past ten

4. location along something linear the houses on/along the river

5. in a time period It occurred in/during 1901.

6. temporal termination studied from 8 until/till/to 5
7. location lower than something below/beneath/under/underneath the
bed
8. location higher than something above/over the piano
9. location in/at the rear of behind/in back of the cabinet something
10. location adjacent next to/beside the cave

NEGATION

In English, negation affects words, phrases, and sentences.

35 | P a g e
Forms to Express Negation

The following forms mark negation in English (Celce-Murcia and LarsenFreeman,

2001.):

Affix-Negation No-Negation Not-Negation

a- (atypical) dis- no (no plans) not, n’t
(dishonest) nothing (I cannot/can’t) play the
nobody no one
in/im/ir/il- nowhere piano.) never (not + ever)
(inadequate/impossible/ (My aunt has never left
irrelevant/illegal) non- our town.) neither (not +
(non-formal) un- either) nor (and + not)
(uncomfortable) Neither his brother nor his
-less (useless) sister helps support him in
his studies.
-free (fat-free)

Negation at the lexical or word level can simply use the negative affix. For example:

untidy untidily
impossible impossible
inadequate inadequately
illegally illegally
dishonest dishonestly
atypical atypically
Determining which affix to use is not always predictable. However, the choice of im-, in-,
il- or ir- is PHONOLOGICALLY CONDITIONED by the consonant which follows it,
i.e., im- is used if the following consonant is bilabial (b, p, m), il- goes with a stem
beginning with l, and ir- with a stem beginning with r. The prefix in- is the most
common.

Nothing, nobody, and no one are indefinite pronoun while nowhere is an adverb.

Other negative items include never (negative adverb of frequency), nor (negative
coordinating conjunction and neither . . . nor (negative correlative conjunction.

The basketball players never admitted their mistake.

The pre-schoolers can neither read nor write, nor can they comprehend do
mathematical computations yet.

At the phrase level, no can function as a negative determiner in a noun phrase.

No agreement has been reached yet.

36 | P a g e
No may also be followed by a gerund as in no reading, no parking, or no littering.

Not is used before infinitive verbs to make the phrase negative.

She reminded her friends not to forget their bathing suits.

At the sentence level, not or its contraction n’t is the main NEGATOR. This applies to
different sentence types.

(statement) Mgrs. Palma is not /is n’t our teacher.

(question Are you not /Are n’t we meeting today?
(command) Do not /don’t laugh.
(exclamation) Was it not /wasn’t it exciting!
No and not are negative substitutes. No can be a negative substitute for a whole sentence
while not for a subordinate clause.

A: Is she coming with us?

B: No. She’ll do library work for an hour.

A: Is Pepito interested in the post?

B: I’m afraid not. He’d rather be a plain member.
Are you joining us on Friday? If not, please let me know by tomorrow.

Placement of not

1. Not usually follows the be-verb, whether functions as a main verb (copula) or an
auxiliary/helping verb.

(main) Surprisingly today, the birds are not noisy.

(auxiliary verb) I’m wondering why they are not chirping.

2. Other than be, not follows the auxiliary verb if one is present or the first auxiliary
(modal, phrasal modal, or have) if there are two or more.

I cannot swim well.

The principal must not have been joking when he said that.
We have not been analysing the data since we received them.

3. With other main verbs, a do-verb is introduced before negation can take place.

37 | P a g e
 The child swims in the pool. The child does swim in the pool.
The child does not swim in the pool.

YES/NO QUESTIONS

Inverted and Uninverted Yes/No Questions

YES/NO QUESTIONS are often defined as questions for which either “yes” or “no” is
the expected answer. They are produced with a rising intonation.

Yes/no questions are formed by inverting the subject and the operator.

Lucy is your cousin. Is Lucy your cousin?

She can speak fluently. Can she speak fluently?
She has been a consistent debater. Has she been a consistent debater?
She loves (= does love) to read opinion columns. Does she love to read opinion
columns?

Yes/no questions may have a statement word order, i.e., the word order is uninverted. This
sentence, however, is likewise said with a rising intonation.

2
Lucy is your 3cousin3↑
2
She can speak 3fluently3↑

Answers to Yes/No Questions

Yes/no questions usually take short answers using the operator. The operator is underlined
below.

1. Is your sister fond of sweets? Yes, she is.

No, she isn’t.
*Yes, she’s.

2. Can you speak Chinese?

Yes, I can.
{No, I can’t.

3. Are we supposed to attend?

Yes, we are.
No, we aren’t

38 | P a g e
 4. Have they eaten?
Yes, they have.
No, they haven’t

5. Does the baby walk? Yes, it does.

No, it doesn’t.

If the sentence contains more than one auxiliary verb, the short answer may also contain
an auxiliary verb in addition to the operator.

Will they have joined? Yes, they will have.

No, they won’t have.

If the second or third auxiliary is a be form, it is usually omitted.

Will she be able to pass? Yes, she will.

No, she won’t.

Negative Yes/No Questions

Semantic problems may arise for many ESL learners who react to a negative
yes/no question in a literal manner in their language. This means that they agree or
disagree with the form of the yes/no question, thus causing miscommunication.

Don’t you feel sorry? Yes (I don’t feel sorry).

No (I feel sorry).

Among native speakers of English, the expected response is:

Don’t you feel sorry? Yes, (I feel sorry).

No, I don’t feel sorry}.

Focused Yes/No Questions

While neutral yes/no questions, as in the preceding cases, query on the whole state,
activity or event, this query can be more focused sometimes.

Does Alex plan a foreign trip with Melly? (or did someone else?)
Does Alex plan a foreign trip with Melly? (or did he only suggest?)
Does Alex plan a foreign trip with Melly? (or is it something else?)
Does Alex plan a foreign trip with Mélly? (or is it with someone else?)

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The focused sentence element gets the primary stress as shown above.

Some versus Any in Questions

Some and any can both occur with different question types depending on the meaning.

• In open or unmarked questions, any is used in questions as well as in negatives.

(question) Is there any sugar?

(negative) There isn’t any sugar.

• However, some is used in questions that expect a positive response, e.g., an offer:
Would you like some cold drink? (encourages a “yes” answer)

• Here are questions to consider:

Is there some relief? (expects a “yes” answer)

Is there any relief? (neutral question/no special meaning involved)
Isn’t there some relief? (Surely there is.)
Isn’t there any relief? (hopeful that there would be)
Is there no relief? (hopeful that there would be)
Other Functions of Yes/No Questions

1. Direct request: Can I borrow your notes on phonology?

2. Less direct request: Could I borrow your notes on phonology?
3. Polite request: I wonder if I could borrow your notes on
phonology.
4. Offers or invitations: Would you like to have a cup of coffee?
5. Commands Would you please pay attention?
6. Reprimands thing? Don’t you have enough sense to do such a

7. Complaints Have you ever tried using this gadget at

all?

WH-QUESTIONS

WH-QUESTIONS are used to seek specific information so they are also referred
to as INFORMATION QUESTIONS. Except for how, these words begin with wh- : who,
whose, whom, what, which, where, when, why, and how.

A variety of constituents can be queried in a wh-question. Consider this sentence:

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 Liza bought a beautiful house for her parents before she went to Canada.

Subject NP: Who bought a beautiful house?

(Liza)
Object NP: What did Liza buy?
(a beautiful house)
Object of the For whom did Liza buy a beautiful house?
preposition: (her parents)
Who(m) did Liza buy a beautiful house for?
(her parents)
Verb phrase: What did Liza do when she came home?
(She bought a beautiful house).
Determiner: Whose parents did Liza buy a beautiful house for when she came
home?
(her parents)
Adjective: What kind of house did Liza buy?
(a beautiful house)
Adverbial: When did Liza buy a beautiful house?
(before she went to Canada)
Adverbial: Where did Liza go?
(to Canada)

Wh-questions elicit specific kinds of information.

What? The answer is non-human.

Who? The answer will be human.
Which? The answer is one of a limited group.
When? The answer will be a time or an occasion.
Where? The answer will be a place or situation.
Why? The answer will be reason.
How? The answer will show manner, means, or degree.
How much? The answer will be connected with an uncountable noun.
How many? The answer will be connected with a countable noun.
How often? The answer will indicate frequency.
Forming Wh-Questions

If who, what, or which is the subject of the sentence, it is followed by the normal word
order of a statement.

Statement: Grammar study is exciting.

Question: What is exciting?

Statement: Those big dogs chased the cat.

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Question: Which dogs chased the cat.

Statement: Their teacher gave a test.

Question: Who gave a test?
Whom/who, what and which as objects form questions by putting the wh-words first, and
do, does, or did next.

Statement: He planted fruit trees.

Question: What did he plant?

Statement: Mothers bathes my baby sister .

Question: Who(Whom) does my mother bathe?

Statement: The children catch yellow butterflies.

Question: Which butterflies do the children catch?
A modal (e.g., can) cannot be replaced by do, does, or did. The do-verb replaces the main
verb.

Statement: My three-year-old sister can read .

Question: What can my sister do?

Social Uses of Wh-Questions

Certain fixed formulaic wh-questions serve social functions (Celce-Murcia and Larsen
Freeman 2001). Among them are:

Introductions: How do you do?

Greetings: How are you?/ How have you been?/ What’s
up?/ What’s new?

Eliciting personal reactions: How was the test?

Making suggestions: Why don’t you seek advice? How about a trip?
Responding positively to Why not?
a suggestion:

Expressing exasperation: What now?

Seeking another’s opinion: How about you?/ What do you think?
Challenging another’s opinion: What for?/ How come?/ Since when?
Expressing perplexity: What to do?
Asking for clarification/expansion: What about it?
LESSON 8: INTERJECTION
An interjection is a part of speech that demonstrates the emotion or feeling of the

author. These words or phrases can stand alone, or be placed before or after a sentence.

Many times, as within the examples of interjections below, you'll notice many

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interjections are followed by an exclamation point Here are some examples of

interjections and their definitions:

1. Ahem - The sound of someone clearing their throat in an attempt to get your
attention

2. Aah - Used as a call for help or when someone is scared

3. Boo - Used to scare someone or to voice disapproval

4. Eh - Used when you didn't hear or understand what someone said

5. Eww - Conveys dislike or disgust

6. Hmm - Can mean you're thinking or hesitating

7. Jeez - Could indicate you can't believe something or you're exasperated

8. Ooh-la-la - A slightly comical way to refer to something as fancy or special

9. Oops - An exclamation people use when they do something by accident

10.Phew - Expressing relief or gladness something is over

11.Whoa - Can show surprise or amazement

12.Yahoo - Expresses joy or happiness

13.Yeah - Demonstrates a very strong affirmation or approval

14.Yoo-hoo - An expression used to get someone's attention

15.Zing - Usually used comically to emphasize a clever statement or comeback

Interjections in a Sentence

Here are some more interjections, this time used in the context of an
accompanying sentence:

1. Ahh, that feels wonderful.

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 2. Alas! I'm lost in the wilderness.

3. Bah! That was a total waste of time.

4. Bless you! I couldn't have done it without you.

5. It's time for me to go. Cheerio!

6. Congrats! You finally got your master's degree.

7. Crikey! Do you ever think before you speak?

8. Gesundheit! Are you starting to get a cold?

9. Good grief! Why are you wearing shorts in the winter?

10.Grrr. I'm going to get back at him for that.

11.Humph. He probably cheated to make such good grades.

12.Oh dear! I don't know what to do about this mess.

13.Shoot! I forgot my brother's birthday.

14.Well, duh! That was a stupid thing to do!

15.Yowza! That is a gorgeous gown.

More Interjection Examples

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LESSON 9: BASIC SENTENCE PATTERNS
Below are basic patterns around which most English sentences are built.

1. N be Adj where the adjective is a SUBJECT COMPLEMENT, in

particular a PREDICATE ADJECTIVE. The adjective refers back to
the subject.
The copula verbbe means “may be described as.”

Roses are sweet. (Subject complement = predicate adjective)

2. N be UW (= uninflected word) where the uninflected word is an

ADVERBIAL such as here, there, up, down, in, out, inside, upstairs,
downstairs, on, off, now, then, yesterday, and tomorrow. Be has the
meaning of “be located” or “occur.”

The meeting was yesterday. (Adverbial)

3. N1 be N1 where the superscript means that the two nouns have the
same referent. The second noun following the be verb is also a
SUBJECT COMPLEMENT, in particular a PREDICATE NOUN or
PREDICATE NOMINATIVE.

Her neighbor is my cousin. (subject complement = predicate nominative)

4. N InV (= intransitive verb)

where the INTRANSITIVE VERB does not require an object. The verb
being self-sufficient can stand alone with its subject.

Glasses break.

5. N1 TrV (= transitive V) N2 where N2 does not have the same referent

as N1. N2 is called the
DIRECT OBJECT of the verb, “the receiver of the action.”
The girl buys yellow roses.

6. N1 TrV N2 N3 where the superscripts 1, 2, and 3 indicate that each

noun has a different referent.

Mother gave a gift to the orphan.

(usually reads as Mother gave the orphan a gift.)

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 Two noun objects occur after the verb. Still N 2 is the direct object and N3
is the INDIRECT OBJECT. If we omit the last noun, the pattern is identical to that in
item 5. Note that the indirect object is preceded by the preposition to (sometimes for or
of). If the two objects are inverted, the preposition disappears.

He made a toy house for her.

He made her a toy house.

The teacher asked a question of her.

The teacher asked her a question.

7. }N2
}Adj
}Pronoun
N1 TrV N2 }Adv (of place), uninflected
}Verb, present participle
}Verb, past participle

There are choices of different forms in sentence final position. These are illustrated as
follows:

(object complement) The class voted Henry secretary.

(adjective) The principal found the gardener efficient .
(pronoun) We considered the writer you.
(adverb of place) The teacher directed them outside.
(present participle) She saw them praying.
(past participle) I imagine my father overworked.
The most common illustration of this sentence pattern is one with the occurrence of a
final N2.

LESSON 10: THE FOUR ENGLISH SENTENCE TYPES

There are four types of English sentence, classified by their purpose:

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 1. Declarative sentence
(statement)
2. Interrogative sentence
(question)
3. Imperative sentence
(command)
4. Exclamative sentence
(exclamation)

(form = structure / function = job)

1. Declarative Sentence (statement)
Declarative sentences make a statement. They tell us something. They give us
information, and they normally end with a full-stop/period.

The usual word order for the declarative sentence is:

subject + verb...
Declarative sentences can be positive or negative. Look at these examples:

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 Declarative sentences are the most common type of sentence.

2. Interrogative Sentence (question)

Interrogative sentences ask a question. They ask us something. They want
information, and they always end with a question mark.

The usual word order for the interrogative sentence is:

(wh-word +) auxiliary + subject + verb...

Interrogative sentences can be positive or negative. Look at these examples:

3. Imperative Sentence (command)

Imperative sentences give a command. They tell us to do something, and they end
with a full-stop/period (.) or exclamation mark/point (!).

The usual word order for the imperative sentence is:

base verb...
Note that there is usually no subject—because the subject is understood, it is
YOU.

Imperative sentences can be positive or negative. Look at these examples:

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4. Exclamative Sentence (exclamation)
Exclamative sentences express strong emotion/surprise—an exclamation —and
they always end with an exclamation mark/point (!).

The usual word order for the exclamative sentence is:

What (+ adjective) + noun + subject + verb

How (+ adjective/adverb) + subject + verb Look at
these examples:

What a liar he is!

What an exciting movie it was!
How he lied!
How exciting the movie was!
LESSON 11: SENTENCE STRUCTURE 1.1

Simple, Compound, Complex, and Compound-Complex

Simple Sentences
- A simple sentence contains a subject and a verb.
- It expresses a single complete thought that can stand on its own.
Examples:
1. The baby cried for food.
There is a subject and a verb that expresses a complete thought.
2. Professor Maple’s intelligent students completed and turned in theirhomework.
A simple sentence does not necessarily have to be short. It can have adjectives. In
this case, there are two verbs “completed” and “turned in.” However, the sentence
expresses one complete thought and therefore is a simple sentence.
3. Megan and Ron ate too much and felt sick.
Although there are two subjects and two verbs, it is still a simple sentence
because both verbs share the same subjects and express one complete thought.
Compound Sentences
- A compound sentence has two independent clauses. An independentclause is a
part of a sentence that can stand alone because it contains a subject and a verb
and expresses a complete thought.
- Basically, a compound contains two simple sentences.
- These independent clauses are joined by a conjunction (for, and, nor,but, or, yet,
so).
Examples:
1. The shoplifter had stolen clothes, so he ran once he saw the police.

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 Both sides of the conjunction “so” are complete sentences. “The shoplifter had
stolen clothes” can stand alone and so can “he ran once he saw the police.”
Therefore, this is a compound sentence.
2. They spoke to him in Spanish, but he responded in English.
This is also a compound sentence that uses a conjunction to separate two
individual clauses. Complex Sentences
- A complex sentence is an independent clause joined by one or more dependent
clauses. A dependent clause either lacks a subject or a verb or has both a subject
and a verb that does not express a complete thought. - A complex sentence always
has a subordinator (as, because, since, after, although, when) or relative pronouns
(who, that, which).
Examples:
1. After eating lunch at The Cheesecake Factory, Tim went to the gym toexercise.
The independent clause is ‘Tim went to the gym to exercise.” The subordinating
clause before it is dependent on the main, independent clause. If one were to say
“after eating lunch at The Cheesecake Factory,” it would be an incomplete
thought.
2. Opinionated women are given disadvantages in societies that privilege
maleaccomplishments. The subject is “opinionated women” and the verb is “are
given.” The first part of the sentence “opinionated women are given disadvantages in
societies” is an independent clause that expresses a complete thought. The following
“that privilege male accomplishments” is a relative clause that describes which types
of societies.
3. The woman who taught Art History 210 was fired for stealing school supplies.The
dependent clause in this sentence is “who taught Art History 210” because if removed,
the rest of the sentence would stand as an independent clause. “Who taught Art
History 210” is an adjective clause that provides necessary details about the subject,
woman. Compound-Complex Sentences
- A compound-complex sentence has two independent clauses and at least one
dependent clause.
Examples:
1. After the two soccer players lost their game, they joined their other teammatesfor
lunch, and they went to the movies. If we remove the dependent clause “after the two
soccer players lost their game,” we have a compound sentence. The dependent clause
makes this sentence compoundcomplex.
2. The man believed in the system, and he knew that justice would prevail afterthe
murderer was sent to jail.
Practice:
Identify whether the sentences are simple, complex, compound or compoundcomplex.
Please underline dependent clauses where it applies.

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 1. Vampires Dairies is my favourite television show, but I also love TrueBlood.
2. The student wiped the white board that was filthy with last week’s notes.
3. The trendy fashion designer released her new line on Wednesday.
4. Trina and Hareem went to a bar in Hollywood to celebrate theiranniversary.
5. Wicked Regina cast a spell on the entire city, so the citizens decided torebel.
6. While waiting for the paint to dry, Angela went to Home Depot, andMartin
organized the kitchen appliances.
7. After listening to the Kanye West CD, I have new respect for his music.8. After
the teacher chose groups, John and Sara were selected as partners for a project,
yet Sarah did most of the work.

SENTENC STRUCUTRE 1.2

Using different types of sentences allows you to highlight different relationships
between ideas and to add variety to your writing. This resource is designed to help you to
construct sentences accurately, so that your meaning is clear.

1. Clauses and phrases

2. Simple sentences
3. Compound sentences
4. Complex sentences
5. Answers to practice exercises
Clauses and phrases
Sentences are made up of clauses and phrases. All sentences must have at least
one independent clause.
Clauses
A clause is a group of words which has:
• a subject, ie. the focus of the clause, or someone or thing which does something in
the clause and
• a complete finite verb, ie. a verb which has a subject and a sense of time For
example, Subject Verb
• The lecture finished at 3 pm
• Pollution causes cancer
• New Zealand is in the south Pacific
There are two kinds of clauses: independent (or main) clauses and dependent (or
subordinate) clauses.
Independent
• An independent clause expresses a complete thought and can stand on its own as a
sentence.
Example: Learning a new language is often frustrating.
Dependent

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 • A dependent clause does not express a complete thought and needs to be joined to
an independent clause to become a sentence. It usually begins with a word such as
although, while, because, who, which, if, etc.
Example: Although learning a new language is often frustrating
Phrases
• A phrase is a group of words which does not have a subject, e.g. walks to work
every day or does not have a finite verb
Example: The reason being their good design

Simple sentences
• A simple sentence has only one clause, which must be an independent clause. The
word “simple” does not necessarily mean “easy”; simple sentences can also
contain phrases, so they are often long and complicated. However, they still have
only one subject and one finite verb.

The diagram below illustrates the basic elements of a simple sentence.

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In this type of sentence, each clause has equal (or nearly equal) importance.
The clauses can be joined in three ways:
1. With a coordinating conjunction
Example: and, but, or, for, nor, yet, so
Example: Diversity has become a strategic imperative for corporations, and the
term has already entered the corporate vocabulary or with a correlative
conjunction Example: not only ... but also
Example: Not only have conservationists been successful in bringing issues to the
attention of governments, but they have also achieved considerable success in
having policies and institutions introduced or changed to meet their demand. 6
2. With a semi-colon (;)
Example: Astute depositors could see what was happening to the value of the land
that was supporting the assets of the banks; they moved quickly to remove their
deposits for cash.
3. With a semi-colon and another kind of link word called a conjunctive adverb
Example: furthermore, however, therefore, in contrast, similarly
Example: These obvious contamination problems have long been known;
however, what is not often realised is the organic matter carried in ground water
can contaminate samples. Many of these link words can also be placed in other
parts of the sentence. However, some other aspects of the reforms appear
counterproductive. Some other aspects of the reforms, however, appear
counterproductive. Some other aspects of the reforms appear counterproductive,
however.

Complex sentences
A complex sentence has one independent clause and one or more dependent clauses

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 In this type of sentence, the clauses do not have equal importance. The independent (or
main) clause contains the most important idea, and the dependent clause adds extra
information. The two clauses are linked by a subordinate conjunction placed at the
beginning of the dependent clause.
e.g. although, because, just as, whereas, unless, even though Example:
Today, New Zealand lacks crocodiles, goannas, freshwater turtles and land turtles,
even though all were probably part of its Gondwanan heritage. Even though
crocodiles, goannas, freshwater turtles and land turtles were probably part of its
Gondwanan heritage, New Zealand lacks these species today.

Compound-complex sentences
 A compound-complex sentence has two or more independent clauses and at least
one dependent clause.

Example:

When the new structure was proposed in 2003, the Council at first refused to discuss the
plans with community groups, but the Environment Court over-ruled the decision and
insisted on a full consultation process.
LESSON 12: LINGUISTICS

Language - A system that uses some physical sign (sound, gesture, mark) to express
meaning.

Linguistics is the scientific study of language. Its breadth and depth reach various fields
and affect our daily lives. In the field of language teaching, linguistics plays a very
important role. Primarily, it provides language teachers with “what to teach” since basic
linguistic concepts serve as the foundation of language, hence language teaching.
Secondly, the study of language and how it is learned provide teachers with basic ideas
on “how to teach”.
We are uniquely language user We Use Language Other Animals Communicate

We can separate our vocalization from a given

• Cats arch their back to scare the
situation (cats only arch their back in the appropriate
neighbour cat
situation).

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 • Bees tell each other when they
• We can lie (animals only report)
have found food
• Chimpanzees can be taught to use
• We can speculate (animals are bad at
primitive sign language to
counterfactuals)
communicate desires.

4 parts to Language Grammar

• Phonology – Rule pertaining to the sound system  Morphology – Rules
governing word structure.  Syntax – Rules governing the structure of sentences
 Semantics – Rules concerning meaning.

How Do We Make Speech Sounds?

History of English Language

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 EL 1 Structure of English

Helps teachers understand the origins of our phonology, morphology, orthography

and semantics.
• Helps teachers understand and explain our spelling system.
• Provides an appreciation for the variety and expressive precision of English
vocabulary.
• Enhances vocabulary teaching.
• Explains the historical origin of some common errors seen in invented spelling.

Vocabulary Building
• Latin words from this period are often composed of prefixes, roots and suffixes.
• Students can learn many vocabulary words at once by learning about these Latin
roots and affixes.
Prefixes and suffixes: Using this information in the classroom

• Most of today’s suffixes date from the Middle English period of history.
- Inflectional Suffixes (learned early):
-s, -es, -ed, -ing, -er, -est
• Derivational Suffixes (usually change part of speech):
-able, - ness, -ful, -ment, -ity
• The suffixes may change pronunciation of base words:
- define à definition
- compete àcompetition

BACKGROUND: Language, including the phonology, is always changing but the

“great vowel shift” was an unusually profound and quick change. It occurred over a 100
to 200 year period from 1400 to 1600. Scholars have not really found a reason for this.
Examples of some changes in vowels that occurred in the modern period of English are
shown on the next slide. The great vowel shift
• During the Renaissance, the pronunciation of words changed particularly for the
vowel sounds.
• The spelling system was already established and did not change to accommodate
the changing sound.
You now know
• What sounds will children confuse with /p/ and how can I help?
• Why do common sight words such as “was,” “what,” and “said,” have irregular
spellings?
• How many meaningful parts (morphemes) are there in the word contracted?
• Why is English spelling perceived as “crazy?”

Rules that enable us to combine morphemes into sentences (bridge between sound and
meaning).
When children put words together they are following syntactic rules about how
morphemes are put together.

Semantic
Arbitrariness of the Sign - Sounds of words bear no relationship to meaning
(except for onomatopoeia).
In Philosophy we often distinguish between denotation and connotation.

Semantics Follow Syntax

“The people talked over the noise”

Two Syntactical Interpretations

1. [The people] [talked [over]the noise]]] - Over is a preposition
2. [The people [talked over][the noise] – Over is a particle

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 EL 1 Structure of English

A single sentence can correspond to two propositions, each of which has a distinctive
syntactic (and logical) structure, hence, a different cognitive representation.
• Evidence that meaning is assigned to syntactic structure, rather than to words and
sentences.

LESSON XIII: GRAMMAR

Grammar - How do we know that one sentence is grammatical and the other is not?

Enter Rules
But what are rules, and how are they represented in the brain?
How do we come to have such knowledge?
In what form is such knowledge represented in the mind? How can
children learn grammar?

Interesting Facts about Language

• The number of sentences is infinite.
• We are able to distinguish grammatical from ungrammatical sentences.
• We are able to recognize truncated sentences (“Stop it”) that are missing nouns.
• We are able to recognize ambiguous sentences (“Andrew saw the girl with
binoculars”)
• We can create sentences that paraphrase each other.

Noam Chomsky
Focused on the vast and unconscious set of rules he hypothesized must exist in the minds
of speakers and hearers in order for them to produce and understand their native
language.

Chomsky’s Views
• He abandons the idea that children produce languages only by imitation
(abandon behaviorism)
• He rejects the idea that direct teaching and correcting of grammar could account
for children’s utterances because the rules children were unconsciously acquiring
are buried in the unconscious of the adults.
He claims that there are generative rules (explicit algorithms that characterize the
structures of a

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 EL 1 Structure of English

Hypothesis – The inborn linguistic capacity of humans is sensitive to just those rules that
occur in human languages. Language development occurs if the environment provides
exposure to language. Similar to the capacity to walk.

Universal Grammar - Despite superficial differences all human languages share a

fundamental structure. This structure is a universal grammar. We have an innate ability to
apply this universal grammar to whatever language we are faced with at birth.

Prescriptive vs. Descriptive Rules

• Prescriptive Rules – E.g., Don’t split the infinitives. A pronoun must agree in
gender and number with the noun to which it refers.
• Descriptive Linguistics – Implicit knowledge of rules that are inherent in the
language.

Grammar is descriptive
Support for Chomsky 2
Claim that children can’t be taught grammatical rules because they are not explicitly
known. Rather, they absorb these rules unconsciously, as their language is spoken around
them.

Phonological Rule: Plural Marker

DEFINITION OF LANGUAGE
Cognitivist
Structuralist Transformationalis t Functionalis Behaviorist Interactionali
t st
System Mental Interaction
Phenomenon
Arbitrary Innate To persuade Repetition Socialization
(absolute)
Means of To give/ask Reinforceme nt
Communication LAD information
Primarily Vocal To make
someone do
something
OTHER DEFINITIONS
PSYCHOLINGUISTS- Language is learned through schema
SOCIOLINGUISTICS- Language performs a social function
WEBSTER- Language is the expression and communication of emotions or ideas between
human beings by means of speech and hearing that is systematized and confirmed by usage
among a given people over a period of time.
LESSON XIV- THE SOUNDS OF ENGLISH

The sounds of English (A language is a complex structure)

A. Vowel sounds – high, mid, low ( front, central back)

Vowel sounds can also be classified as SPREAD, ROUND OR NEUTRAL.

B. CONSTANT SOUNDS
NASAL PLOSIVES FRICATIVES AFFRICATIVES LATERAL
GLIDES

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 EL 1 Structure of English

m,n,ng b,d,g,p,t,k, v,f,s,z,sh dz,ch w,l,r,j,h

(voice and
voiceless)
What is a word?
A word is a particular combination of sounds and meaning.

• We can identify words by the strings of sounds that comprise them.

• We can also tell what a ‘possible word’ in our native language is.

Listeners tacitly know:

• The sound sequences that make for ‘possible words’ in their language.

What lies behind our ability to distinguish possible from not possible words?
Tacit knowledge of the phonotactic constraints of the language.

Loanwords

• As a result of cultural contact, one language may ‘borrow’ words from another.
• The newly borrowed words are transformed to meet the phonological constraints
of the borrowing language.

Words have phonological structure

• The phonological structure of a word tells us how to pronounce it and how to

recognize or distinguish it from other words.

Words have morphological structure

• The morphological structure of a word is a guide to its meaning and its role in
sentence structure.

Second Language Acquisition Theories.

A plethora of theories have evolved and they can be broken down into four major
categories:
• Behaviorist “Use behavioral training for accurate pronunciation and rote memory
of information such as object and motor vocabulary.”
• Humanistic “Reduce tension and support a positive emotional state in the learner.
• Cognitivist “Align learning with the brain and its natural ways of knowledge
acquisition.”
• Postmodern Techniques of Knowledge:
• Constructivist “Leave behind one-size-fits-all methods and negotiate activities
and objectives based on the needs of the learner, using knowledge of learning
styles and multiple intelligences, and encouraging meta-cognition and self-
reflection in order to increase students’ selfknowledge and capacity for making
conscious meaning.”

Linguistic Concepts

Scope of Linguistic Studies:

1. Phonology. It studies the combination of sounds into organized units of speech, the
combination of syllables and larger units. It describes the sound system of a
particular language and distribution of sounds which occur in that language.
Classification is made on the basis of the concept of the phoneme. It is the study

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 EL 1 Structure of English

of the sound system of language: the rules that govern pronunciation. It is the
component of a grammar made up of the elements and principles that determine
sound patterns in language.

Phonological Rules
The rule system within a language by which phonemes are sequenced and uttered to
make words. Language consists of a fairly small set of sounds (phonemes). There are
about 40 in English. Most have no meaning in themselves; rather we string them together
to form meaningful bits and pieces.

Phonology: A related Term

• PHONOLOGICAL PROCESSING: The use of information about speech sounds
which can include:
- Pronouncing words
- Remembering names
- Rhyming, identifying syllables
- Segmenting and blending sounds

2. Phonetics. It studies language at the level of sounds: how sounds are articulated
by the human speech mechanism and received by the auditory mechanism, how
sounds can be distinguished and characterized by the manner in which they are
produced.
3. Morphology. It studies the patterns of formation of words by the combination of
sounds into minimal distinctive units of meaning called morphemes. It deals with
the rules of combining morphemes to form words, e.g. suffixes or prefixes are
attached to single morphemes to form words.
Morphology is the study of word formation; it deals with the internal structure of
words. It also studies the changes that take place in the structure of words, e.g. the
morpheme ‘go’ changes to ‘went’ or ‘gone’ to signify changes in tense and aspect.
4. Syntax. It deals with how words combine to form phrases, phrases combine to
form clauses, and clauses join to make sentences. Syntax is the study of the way
phrases, clauses and sentences are constructed. It is the system of rules and
categories that underlies sentence formation. It also involves the description of
rules of positioning elements in the sentence, such as noun phrases, verb phrases,
adverbial phrases, etc.
5. Semantics. It deals with the level of meaning in language. It attempts to analyze
the structure of meaning in a language, e.g. how words similar or different are
related; it attempts to show these inter-relationships through forming categories.
Semantics accounts for both word and sentence meaning.
6. Pragmatics. It deals with the contextual aspects of meaning in particular
situations. It is the study of how language is used in real communication. As
distinct from the study of sentences, pragmatics considers utterances – those
sentences which are actually uttered by speakers of a language.
7. Discourse. It is the study of chunks of language which are bigger than a single
sentence. At this level, inter-sentential links that form a connected or cohesive text
are analyzed.

I. Basic Linguistic Concepts

1. Phonology is the study of sounds—the most basic building blocks of language. From
these basic units, sounds are arranged into bigger units of speech. From this basic
definition, it is safe to say that this study of the sound system of language
determines the rules of pronunciation
Some of the most important concepts that should be remembered in relation to
phonology are the following:

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 EL 1 Structure of English

• Phoneme- the smallest unit of a sound that causes a difference in meaning

(e.g. /m/, /n/, /æ/) [pIn] <a piece of small and solid metal> would have a different
meaning if pronounced as [pEn] <a tool for writing> (or that changes one word
into another word).
- Phonemes should not be confused with letters. Phonemes are the sounds
of speech. Letters may represent phonemes in written language.

Consonant phoneme
• A consonant phoneme is a speech sound that is formed by fully or partially
obstructing flow of the airstreams. Consonants are often described as closed
sounds

Allophones - variants or other ways of producing a phoneme. They are phonetically

similar. For example, the systematic variations of /p/ are:
i. Aspirated /p/ as in pen

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 ii. Released /p/ as in spot
iii. Unreleased /p/ as in pot
Consonants - sounds produced with the obstruction of airflow. The airflow is either
blocked momentarily or restricted so much that noise is produced as air flows past the
constriction. Consonants are described in terms of physical dimensions such as: place of
articulation- a point of contact between two articulators (e.g. tongue and lips), manner of
articulation- the description of how the speech organs are involved in making a sound,
and voicing-the change in sound (i.e. either voiced or voiceless). To further understand
and remember these concepts, check the table of consonant sounds below. (Source:
Parker, F.
& Riley, K. (1994) Linguistics for Non-Linguists)
Phonics – Teaching the connections between sounds and spelling
PHONETICS: The study of linguistic speech sounds and how they are produced and
perceived.
• What parts of your mouth are involved?
- tongue & roof of mouth; lower lip and upper teeth; lower teeth and
tongue
Orthography - A writing system.
• What part of each of these words stands for the sound of long e? tree speak
chief be baby receive these
• Which orthographic rule is used in adding each of the suffixes below?
cups pennies tripped starring baking
La bio de n ta l

In te rde n ta l

Alve ola r
Bila bia l

P a la ta l

G lotta l
Ve la r

voiceles s
p T K
STOPS Voiced b D G
voiceles s
f ϴ S Š h
FRICATIVES Voiced v ð Z Ž
voiceles s
AFFRICATE Č
S Voiced ǰ
voiceles s

NASALS Voiced m N Ƞ
voiceles s

LIQUIDS Voiced L R
voiceles s

GLIDES Voiced w Y
Vowels- sounds produced with little obstruction in the vocal tract and are generally
voiced. They are described in terms of: tongue height, frontness, lip rounding, and
tenseness. To further understand and remember these concepts, check the diagram of
vowel sounds below. (Source: www.thedialectcoach.com)

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Suprasegmentals- prosodic features that form part of the make-up of sounds no matter
what their place or manner of articulation is. These properties are pitch, intonation, stress,
and juncture.
Pitch- the auditory property of sound that is determined by the frequency of the
waves producing it -- highness or lowness
Intonation- refers to the variation of tone when speaking. It is the rise and fall of
pitch which may contrast meanings of sentences. The statement “Mario is a
teacher” ends with a fall in pitch; while “Mario is a teacher?” has a rising pitch
Stress - refers to the relative emphasis of syllables; the syllable that receives the
most prominent stress is referred to as primary stress. To produce a stressed
syllable, one may change the pitch (usually by raising it), make the syllable
louder, or make it stronger.

e.g.

2 1 2 1 1 2
Fundamental introductory secondary
Juncture - refers to the pauses or breaks between syllables. The lack of any real
break between syllables of words is referred to as close juncture; plus juncture, or
open juncture is used to describe a break or pause between syllables in the same
word or adjacent word—e.g. nitrate vs. night rate; why try vs. white rye; black
bird vs. blackbird

2. Morphology is the study of the patterns from which words, through the
combination of sounds, are formed. When these sound units are combined, they
form distinctive units of meaning called morphemes. In general English
terminology, these are usually called affixes—although morphemes are more
than just the ordinary affix that we have learned in Basic English courses. Some
of the most important concepts to be remembered are the following:

Morphological Rules
Language is made up of Morphemes. (we call these morphemes as Lexicon - our mental
dictionary). 3 million words in English (about 200,000 words in common use today).

• Morphemes- a word or a part of a word that has meaning; morphemes cannot be

further subdivided since it is the smallest unit; it may be found in other words
since it usually has a stable meaning (e.g. the word “review” has two morphemes
{re}, which usually means ‘to do again’ and {view} )
• Allomorphs- variants of a morpheme that may be phonologically or
morphologically conditioned (e.g. the plural {-s} has at least three allomorphs [-s]
as in /catS/, [-z] as in /dogZ/, and [-iz] as in /boxIZ/

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 • Free morphemes- those that can stand on their own as independent words—e.g.
{view} in review and {like} in unlike; they can also occur in isolation.
• Bound morphemes- those that cannot stand on their own as independent words;
they need to be attached to a free morpheme or a free form—e.g. {re-}, and {un-}
they are commonly called affixes
• Inflectional morphemes- those that do not change the form class of the words or
morphemes to which they are attached; they are always attached to complete
words; they cap the word; they are a closed-ended set of morphemes. English has
only 8 inflectional morphemes:
-s 3rd person sing. Pres. She stay-s at home.
-ed past tense She stay-ed at home.
-ing progressive She is stay-ing at home.
-en past participle letter. She has writt-en a

-s plural She wrote letter-s

-‘s possessive Kay-‘s book is new.
-er comparative This car is fast-er than that.
-est superlative This is the fast-est car.
• Derivational morphemes- those that are added to root morphemes or stems to
derive new words; they usually change the form class of the words to which they
are attached; they are open-ended, i.e. they are potentially infinite.
e.g. real + {-ize} =
realize hope + {-ful} =
hopeful
{un-} + faith + {-ful} = unfaithful
3. Syntax is the study of the way phrases, clauses and sentences are constructed. It
deals with how words, phrases, and clauses combine to make meaningful
“thoughts” and “ideas”. It also involves the description of rules of positioning
elements in the sentence, such as noun phrases, verb phrases, adverbial
phrases, etc. Some of the most important structures that should be
remembered are the following:

• Structure of Predication- has two components: a subject and a predicate (e.g. the
moon shines; soldiers fought bravely; rain has ceased falling)
• Structure of Complementation- has two components: a verbal element and a
complement (e.g. send the e-mail; plant new trees, be still)
• Structure of Modification- has two components: a head word and a modifier—
whose meaning serves to broaden, qualify, select, change, or describe in some
way affect the meaning of the head word (e.g. helpful students, great teachers,
interestingly delicious)
• Structure of Coordination- has two components: equivalent grammatical units
and joined often but not always by a coordinating conjunction (e.g. black and
white; love not hate; neither safe nor secured)

Syntactic Rules
Rules that enable us to combine morphemes into sentences (bridge between sound and
meaning). When children put words together they are following syntactic rules about how
morphemes are put together.

SYNTAX: The rule system governing sentence formation; the study of sentence
structure.
• Arrange these words into a coherent sentence and write it down.
little mine red is sports car cute the
“the red cute little sports car” “the sports little red cute
car”

How does word order affect the meaning?

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Who’s the boss? Jan is the boss of Martin. Martin is the boss of Jan.
The boss of Jan is Martin. Is Jan the boss of Martin?

4. Semantics deals with the level of meaning in language. It attempts to analyze how
words similar or different are related and in turn, show these inter-relationships
through forming categories. Semantics accounts for both word and sentence
meaning. Some of the most important concepts to be remembered are the following:
• Lexical Ambiguity- a characteristic of a word that has more than one
possible meaning (e.g. the English word “bank” may mean ‘a financial
institution’ or ‘an edge of a river’)
• Syntactic Ambiguity- a characteristic of a phrase or sentence that has
more than one meaning (e.g. ‘He ate the chips on the couch.’ can mean
‘he ate the chips while sitting on the couch’ or ‘he ate the chips that
were placed or left on the couch’)
• Synonymy- words having the same idea; (e.g. big and huge; student
and pupil; buy and purchase)
• Antonymy- two words which are different in form and in meaning
(fast and slow; heavy and light) Some antonyms are gradable (hot and
cold—not everything that can be hot or cold is, in fact, either cold or
hot; a liquid, for example, may be warm or cool)
• Hyponymy- a word or a phrase that has its meaning included within
another word; the contained word is also know as the superordinate
(e.g. laptop contains the meaning of computer; therefore, laptop is a
hyponym of the superordinate computer)
• Homonymy- a sense relation in words with the same phonetic form
but different in meaning (e.g. bow ‘to bend forward to show respect’ or
‘a weapon that shoots arrows’)
• Anaphora- a linguistic expression that refers to another linguistic
expression (e.g. The earthquake killed hundreds of thousands of
people in Haiti. It was devastating.) It is used anaphorically to refer to
‘the earthquake’.

SEMANTICS: The study of word and phrase meanings To

what category do these words belong?
bicycle bus taxi
automobile scooter
skim scan peruse review study

5. Pragmatics deals with the role of context in the creation of meanings. It is the
study of how language is used in real communication. Pragmatics considers
utterances, which are actually uttered by speakers in authentic communication.
Some of the pragmatic concepts that should be remembered are the following:

• Locutionary force the literal meaning of the sentence; what sentences

say (e.g. “Why don’t we buy a new car?” – Wh Question)
• IIllocutionary force: the pragmatic meaning of the sentence; what
sentences do (e.g. “Why don’t we buy a new car?” – Request of
Action: “buying a new car”)
• Perlocutionary force: the reaction of the hearers: how people react to
sentences (e.g. “Why don’t we buy a new car?” – husband gets
annoyed/interested/amused: husband ignores/ husband searches for
brochures/ husband takes the wife with him to the car dealer)
• Conversational maxims is any of four rules which were proposed by
Grice (1975) stating that a speaker is assumed to make a contribution
that is adequately but not overly informative (quantity maxim); the
speaker does not believe to be false and for which adequate evidence is

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 had (quality maxim); is relevant (maxim of relation or relevance), and
is clear, unambiguous, brief, and orderly (maxim of manner).
• Implicature is something that is meant, implied, or suggested which is
different from what is actually said. (e.g. When Aling Myrna said that
Mang Jun is going to drive them to the Airport, Aling Aning said “I
better check my insurance policy”. Aling Aning’s utterance shows that
Mang Jun is a fast and reckless driver.)

LESSON XV- THEORIES OF LANGUAGE AND ITS INFLUENCES ON

LANGUAGE TEACHING

Theories of Language and its Influences on Language

Teaching
Some of the most basic questions in language teaching and learning are: “how does one
learn a language?” and “how should a teacher teach language?”. These questions may be
answered by some of the theories of language, which took roots from linguistics. The
discussions below will present an overview of the developments of various theories that
influenced the practices in modern-day language teaching.

Theories of Language
Structuralists see language in terms of its structure. They believe that by describing the
observable and verifiable features of the language, one can learn it. Hence, as the name
implies, structuralists see language as a system and studying these systems would make it
possible to learn language. Some of the most prevalent thoughts that sprung out of
structuralist views are the following:

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 • Language is a means for communication- Language is an important tool for
communicating. It gives shape to people’ thoughts, as well as guides and controls
their activity.
• Language is primarily vocal- Speech is the primary concern of language, and the
written form is merely a graphic representation of the oral language. Therefore, it
is assumed that speech is a priority in language teaching.
Language is a system- Language is a system which is structurally related with
other elements or ‘building blocks’ for the encoding of meaning. These
elements are the phonemes (sounds), morphemes (words), and tag memes
(phrases and sentences/clauses).
• Language is arbitrary - There is no inherent relation between the words of a
language and their meaning or ideas conveyed by them. The relationship between
the words and the “things” they denote is merely dictated by what the natives
“want” it to be.

Transformationalists believe that language is innate and universal. They believe that
language rules are universal and every normal being would eventually find ways to
transform input into intelligible language. Some of the most important tenets of
transformationlist view to language are the following:
• Language is a mental phenomenon. It is not mechanical.
• Language is innate. The presence of the Language Acquisition Device (LAD) in
the human brain predisposes all normal children to acquire their first language in
an amazingly short time, around five years since birth.
• Language is universal. All normal children acquire a mother tongue. Also, all
languages must share key features of human languages such as: all languages have
sounds; all languages have rules that form sounds into words; and all languages
have transformational rules that enable speakers to ask questions, negate, issue
orders, defocus the doer of the action, etc.

Functionalists believe that language is vehicle for expressing “functional meaning” such
as expressing one’s emotions, persuading people, asking and giving information, making
people do things for others, etc. This view deviates from the structural view since it
focuses more on the meaning rather than form. Thus, this leads to a language teaching
that prioritizes the teaching of language notions and functions rather than language rules.

Interactionists believe that language is a vehicle for establishing interpersonal relations

and for performing social transactions between individuals. Interactionist principles are
basically pegged on the socio-cultural theory of Levinsky Vygotsky and the Experiential
learning theory of Jean Piaget and John Dewey. Interactionists view language as a vital
tool in creating and maintaining social relations through conversations. Some of the most
basic premises (Richards & Rodgers, 2001) that interactionists hold are the following:

A. We are born to talk.

B. Talk is organized in conversations.
C. Conversations have rules/maxims.
D. These maxims are learnt through conversation.
E. 2nd lg. maxims are learnt through participation in cooperatively structured
interactional activities.

Theories of Second Language Acquisition

1. Behaviorist learning theory. This theory holds that the language
behaviour of an individual is conditioned by the rewards and punishments
provided by his/her environment. It regards language as a “behaviour”
which means that, like other forms of human behaviour, it may be learned
through the a process of habit formation. The three crucial elements of
learning in behaviourism are: a stimulus, which serves to elicit behaviour;
a response triggered by the stimulus, and reinforcement, which serves to

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 mark the response as being appropriate (or inappropriate) and encourages
repetition (suppression) of the response. Behaviorist perspective in
language learning is usually attributed to B.F. Skinner’s Verbal Behavior.
2. Cognitive learning theory. Chomsky contested Behaviorist assumptions
since individuals are not machines that can be set to learn something. He
argues that language is not acquired by sheer imitation and through a form
of conditioning on reinforcement and reward. He believes that all normal
beings are born to learn a language, through an innate Language
Acquisition Device that allows humans to transform inputs into the
universally accepted language rules.

Major strategies used in the Cognitive approach include:

- Chomsky’s Generative Grammar: “Language is learned through

reinforcement and an active language processor, the language
acquisition device (LAD) which generates rules through the
unconscious acquisition of grammar.”
- Krashen’s Monitor Model: “Krashen considered acquisition (an
unconscious process that occurs when language is used for real
communication) more important that learning (which involves
“knowing about” language and its rules) in achieving fluency, and
deemphasized direct instruction of syntax rules.”
- Information-Processing Theories: “The sensory register
(input/recognition), short-term memory (information encoding), and
long-term memory (storage) work together during learning.”
Perception is the process by which the sensory register receives and
briefly holds environmental stimuli, either as images or sound patterns,
and selects input for further processing.”
- Alternative Theories of Mental Functioning: “As information is
received, the brain creates a pattern across the net, adjusted over time
by repeated exposure.”

3. Krashen’s Monitor Model. Probably the most cited theory of second

language acquisitionis Krashen’s theory which involves five general
hypotheses:

a. The acquisition/learning hypothesis claims that there are two ways of

developing competence in L2:

Acquisition – the subconscious process that results from natural

communication between people where language is a means, not a focus
nor an end in itself. This means that language may be learned even in the
absence of formal teaching.
Learning – the conscious process of knowing about language and being
able to talk about it. This means that explicit teaching should be done
since it involves knowledge of the language rules.
(Grammar and Vocabulary)

b. The natural order hypothesis suggests that there is a predictable and natural
order from which grammatical structures will be acquired for both children
and adults.
c. The monitor hypothesis claims that learners who have acquired or learned
particular language rules will eventually monitor or check himself or herself
during the process by which he/she uses that language. The monitor is an
editing device that may normally operate before language performance.
d. The input hypothesis. For an individual to learn a language, Krashen believes
that learners should be exposed to grammatical features a little beyond their

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 current level (i + 1), those features are acquired. Too difficult lessons may
threaten the learner, while too easy lessons may bore a learner. This will both
result in failure
e. The affective filter hypothesis. Krashen believes that emotions play a very
important role in language learning. The more threatened or anxious a learner
is, the lesser or slower will he/she learns. On the other hand, the more
confident a learner is, the higher and faster is the possibility for him/her to
learn a language.
• Other Universal Theories
1. The Competition Model by Felix (1985):
2. Dulay and Burt’s Creative Construction Theory (1974):
3. Krashen’s Monitor Model
1. The Acquisition-Learning Hypothesis (1981)
2. The Natural Order Hypothesis
3. The Monitor Hypothesis: The Input Hypothesis:
4. The Affective Filter Hypothesis

4. Continuum of learning - language is acquired through predictable and

sequential stages of language development.

Stage I: The Silent/Receptive or Preproduction Stage

Stage II: The Early Production Stage
Stage III: The Speech Emergence Stage
Stage IV: The intermediate Language Proficiency Stage
Stage V: The Advanced Language Proficiency
5. Alternative Theories of Mental Functioning:
6. Multiple Intelligences by Howard Gardner (1983):
7. Emotional Intelligence by Salovey and Mayer (1990) and popularized
Goleman (1998):
8. Suggestopedia by Lozanov (1982): “Pronunciation, vocabulary, and
grammar are assimilated and learned intuitively.”
9. Humanistic Approach
10.Postmodern Techniques of Knowledge
- constructivism, intercultural positioning, metarational thinking, and
creation of meaning

Influences of Theories on Language Teaching

1. Behaviorism led to methods and activities that make students “overlearn” the
lesson. Most activities involve mimicry and memorization. Moreover, teaching
under the behaviourist perspective involves a lot of practice and drills. These are
repeated until students master the lesson. Some of the most popular “products” of
behaviourism are the Audio-Lingual Method (ALM), Oral Approach/Situational
Language Teaching, Operant Conditioning approach, Bottom-up Text processing,
Controlled-to-Free writing, etc.
2. Cognitivism produced language teaching approaches and Activities that
prioritizes language analysis over language use and instruction by the teacher. It is
compatible with the view that learning is a thinking process, a belief that
underpins cognitive-based and schema-enhancing strategies such as Directed
Reading Thinking Activity, Story Grammar, ThinkingAloud, etc.
3. The Functional view led to the creation of communication-based methods that
provide exercises and classroom activities that focus on the realistic functions of
the language, rather than the previous focus on the forms of the language. Some of
the offshoots of functional view are Communicative Language Teaching/

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 Communicative Approach, NotionalFunctional Approach, and Natural Approach.
These methods are learnercentered which means that learners have ample time for
interaction, information sharing, and negotiation of meaning, as opposed to the
previous approaches that are teacher-centered.
4. The view that is both cognitive and affective eventually developed to a holistic
approach to language learning or whole-person learning. These approaches
created humanistic techniques in teaching the language, which means that aside
from the cognitive aspects of the learner, teaching has involved the emotions of
the learners. One of these approaches is what has come to be known as the
Community Language Learning.

LESSON XVI: ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING METHODOLOGY

Language Teaching Methodology - Definition of some important terms: Language

and Literature teaching goes beyond knowing the content or the “what to teach”. Hence,
teachers should be knowledgeable and skilful in planning and executing lessons for a
language and literature class. The succeeding review discussions would focus the “how to
teach” language and literature. Before going into the details, here are some important
terms to be defined:
Approach - is a set of assumptions dealing with the nature of language, learning,
and teaching. (Anthony, E.; 1963)
- defines assumptions, beliefs, and theories about the nature of language and
language learning. (Richards, J. and Rodgers, T.; 1982, 1986) Method – is an
overall plan for systematic presentation of language based upon a selected
approach. (Anthony, E.; 1963)

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 - is an umbrella term for the specification and interrelation of theory and
practice. (Richards, J. and Rodgers, T.; 1982, 1986)
Technique – is a specific activity manifested in the classroom which is consistent
with a method and therefore in harmony with an approach as well. (Anthony, E.;
1963)
- is the level at which classroom procedures are described. It is a medium of
implementation (e.g., a particular trick, strategy, or contrivance) used to
accomplish an immediate objective.
Design – specifies the relationship of theories to classroom materials and
activities. (Richards, J. and Rodgers, T.; 1982, 1986)
Procedures – are the techniques and practices that are derived from one’s
approach and design. (Richards, J. and Rodgers, T.; 1982, 1986) Strategies – are
specific methods of approaching a problem or task , modes of operation for
achieving a particular end, planned designs for controlling and manipulating
certain information.

3. TEACHING LISTENING AND SPEAKING

A. The Teaching of Listening
The Goal of Teaching Listening- to improve the language competence of learners by
developing listening skills such as identifying and discriminating phonemes and other
suprasegmentals, maximizing comprehension of aural input, and identifying relevant and
non-relevant information.

The Nature of Listening

• Most used language skill at work and at home
• Takes up as much as 50% of our everyday communication
• Ironically, neglected most of the time (i.e. not included in most language activities
and classes)

Different views of listening in language teaching

1. Listening as a SKILL
Wolvin and Coakely (1992) identified 5 types of purposeful listening
a. Discriminative- listening to distinguish auditory and/or visual stimuli
b. Comprehensive- listening to understand the message presented orally
c. Therapeutic- listening to provide someone the opportunity to talk and
express his or her problems
d. Critical- listening to find out whether a message is logical or fallacious
e. Appreciative- listening to achieve entertainment

Listening comprehension skills or enabling skills

a. Listening for detail- listening for specific information
b. Listening for gist- listening to get only the main and most important ideas
c. Drawing inferences- listening to fill in gaps and draw conclusions from
the message uttered
d. Listening selectively- listening only to specific parts of the input
e. Making predictions- listening to create anticipations before and while
listening
2. Bottom-up Listening
In this process, teaching primarily focuses on sounds that are used to build up
units of information, such as words, phrases, clauses, and sentences. It is assumed
that by understanding these small units, the aural input will eventually be
understood. Hence, comprehension is built from “bottom” (sounds) to “up”
(understanding)

3. Top-down processing

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 This process may be referred to as the opposite of bottom up. In top down
processing, the assumption is that learners must learn how to apply their schema
or background knowledge to facilitate comprehension.
It is generally believed now that processing of information is neither topdown nor
bottom-up alone. It is now common knowledge that processing occurs at the same
time in what is known as parallel processing (Eysenck, 1993). In some instances,
one type of processing might take precedence over the other, depending on the
amount of practice an individual has had on a specific task.

4. Listening as an INTEGRATIVE PROCESS

This model is founded on the belief that that “developing listening competence
requires a systematic, developmental approach; opportunities for listening
practice in varied contexts and for different purposes; multiple opportunities for
self-assessment and feedback; and goal-setting.”
(Thompson, et.al., 2004)
The Stages of the Integrative Listening Model:
Stage 1: Prepare to Listen- determining the goal; analyzing the listening
context; and addressing the influence of various listening
filters

Stage 2: Apply the Listening Process Model- this involves five distinctive
components, namely: Receive, Comprehend, Interpret, Evaluate, and Respond

Stage 3: Assess Effectiveness of Listening Performance- reflecting on one’s

performance to determine the effectiveness and problems; assessment could
be during and after listening

Stage 4: Establish New Goal(s)- upon assessing, learners should establish new
goals to build on strengths and work on concerns

Factors that influence learners’ listening

1. Knowledge of the language system- a learner would find difficulties or ease when
listening if he/she is aware of the linguistic system of the language being used
2. Background knowledge- a learner would find it easy or difficult to understand
messages depending on how much schema does he/she have in relation to the
message
3. Knowledge of the situation and co-text- a learner would find it easy or difficult to
understand messages if he/she knows the situation and/or issues involved for
creating such messages

Listening can be best understood as a combination of low and high inferences (Rost,
1990). When they use their knowledge of linguistic features to infer (decode) the sounds
in an utterance, listeners make low-level inferences, because the focus of listening is
merely on the sounds and not on the message. On the other hand, if a learner listens to
understand what a message means, they engage in higher level inferences. This is done
by using their knowledge of both linguistic and pragmatic nature.

Learners also develop listening skills cognitively through the use of listening
comprehension strategies. These are mental mechanisms used to process and manage
information. The three categories of listening strategies are
• Cognitive- this strategy involves processing, interpreting, storing, and recalling
information. Some of the sample skills involved here are inferencing and
predicting.
• Metacognitive: this strategy involves managing & facilitating mental processes
and coping up with difficulties during listening. Examples of such strategies
include comprehension monitoring and visualizing.

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 • Social-affective: this strategy involves asking the help of others to facilitate
comprehension and managing one’s emotions when listening such as confidence
building and cooperation.

Problems that Language Learners Face during Listening

1. Text- learners may encounter difficulties in understanding the message because of
their lack of skills to discern the phonology & speech rate, e.g. a native speaker of
English would naturally speak English at a rate faster than a learner is usually
exposed to; skills to understand discourse features, e.g. the involvement of some
idiomatic expressions or euphemisms; and the skills to perceive differences
among text types, e.g. the different language items used when giving information
as compared to giving instructions
2. Task- learners may encounter problems when they are presented with different
types of question specially if these questions involve background knowledge about
a particular issue; amount of time, e.g. if the listener is given enough time to
process the message; and whether or not the listener can get the information
repeated, i.e. if the communication is oneway or two-way.
3. Interlocutor (speaker)- this may be related to the first problem; each speaker
would have different purposes and strategies when speaking, and these speaking
characteristics may involve accent, fluency, gender, and standard or non-standard
usage
4. Listener- the learner himself/herself may be a problem; her language proficiency,
gender, memory, interest, purpose, prior knowledge, & attention would play a
vital role in the full understanding of the message presented orally.
5. Process- the strategy that the learner usually uses, whether the listener uses top-
down or bottom-up, would also affect the way he would understand a message

Listening Tasks for Communicative outcomes

Communicative Outcomes Examples
Lists Similarities/ differences/ errors
Sequenced information Picture sequences, lyrics
Matched items Pictures with texts, themes with texts
Restored texts Complete the gaps in a text
Diagrams or pictures Floor plans, sketches of people
Notes Short notes during presentations
One Way Listening Tasks (transactional)
It involves listening and responding through different ways to achieve outcomes. They do
not have to interact with the speaker while listening. It is mainly concerned with
obtaining information and knowledge.

Task Response
Restoration Include omitted words or phrases
Create original message with words heard
Reconstruction
or noted down
Sorting Sequence, rank, categorize items
Identify inconsistencies
Evaluation
and contradictions
Match information from listening to
Matching
pictures or written texts
Jigsaw Create a whole from different parts

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Two-Way Listening Tasks (interactional)
The listener has to interact with the speaker by asking questions offering information and
expressing opinions
Task Response
Creative dictation Dictate to each other to complete a text
Sequence/reproduce/complete pictures or
Description
diagrams
Listen and express opinion in simulated
Simulation
situations
Listen and respond to formal and informal
Presentation
presentations
Stages in a Listening Lesson

Pre-listening stage (activating schema and allowing them to use words which they will
shortly hear in the text)
• “tuning-in” to the topic or given text
• Expressing their views about the text to be listened to
• Predicting content from the title
• Answering a set of questions
• Studying and examining pictures
• Singing a song or chant

While-listening stage-
• Tasks should be enjoyable and meaningful to students;
• should be simple and easy to handle;
• should provide opportunities for students to succeed

Post-listening stage
• “off-shoots” or extension of the work done at the pre-and while stages
• Students have time to think, reflect, discuss, and to write B. The Teaching

of Speaking

ORAL COMMUNICATION SKILLS IN PEDAGOGICAL RESEARCH

1. Conversational Discourse Carrying on a conversation

2. Teaching Pronunciation
The role of pronunciation work in a communicative, interactive course of study

3. Accuracy and fluency

Accuracy – clear, articulate, grammatically and phonologically correct language

Fluency – flowing and natural language

The Goal of Teaching Speaking is to produce students who can competently express
themselves and avoiding confusion in the message due to faulty pronunciation, grammar,
or vocabulary. Moreover, learners should also learn how to observe the social and
cultural rules that apply in each communication situation.

The Nature of Speaking

• Two-way process between speaker and hearer
• “encoding” the message a speaker wishes to convey in appropriate language

Different views of speaking in language teaching

1. Conversational Discourse- “conversation” classes should provide activities for
“transactional” (opening a bank account, ordering food in a restaurant, offering
services, etc.) and “interactional” (open dialogue, social discussions, etc.)
conversation

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 2. Accuracy & Fluency- Accuracy (ability to use correct, clear, articulate, and
phonologically correct rules of language) and Fluency (natural, smooth, and
flowing) should be both prioritized; however, current approaches to language
teaching lean strongly towards message oriented techniques (teaching language
use) rather than language oriented techniques (teaching language usage)
3. Affective factors- anxiety generated over risks of blurting out things that are
wrong, stupid, or incomprehensible; teachers and teaching environment should
then be warm and embracing no matter how halting or broken their attempts may
be.
4. Interaction effect- one learner’s performance is always colored by that of the
person (interlocutor) he or she is talking with; thus, teachers should not create a
‘god-like’ characteristic during interactions with students
5. Teaching Pronunciation- in the advent of communicative language teaching
approaches, issues on whether phonological details of the language should be
taught or not have been debated upon. Since some learners, specifically adults,
will never acquire an accent-free command of language, some teachers find
pronunciation as unimportant

TYPES OF SPOKEN LANGUAGE

Interactional
Transactional

CHARACTERISTICS OF SPOKEN LANGUAGE THAT MAKE SPEAKING

EASY AS WELL AS DIFFICULT
1. Clustering – fluent speech is phrasal, not word by word
2. Redundancy – the opportunity to male meaning clearer through redundancy of
language
3. Reduced forms – contractions, elisions, reduced vowels may create problem (learn
colloquial contractions)
4. Performance variables –the process of thinking as your speak Thinking time –
insert fillers
5. Colloquial language – make user that your students are reasonably well
acquainted with the words, idioms, and phrases of colloquial language
6. Rate of delivery – speed
Our task as teachers is to develop in a student the acceptable speed along with
other attributes of fluency
7. Stress, rhythm, and intonation
This is the most important characteristics of pronunciation. The stress timed
rhythm of spoken English and its intonation patterns convey important messages
8. Interaction
Learning to produce waves of language in a vacuum, without interlocutors –
would rob speaking skills of its richest component; the creativity of
conversational negotiation.

PRINCIPLES FOR DESIGNING SPEAKING TECHNIQUES

• Use techniques that cover the spectrum of learners needs, from language – based
focus on accuracy to message –based focus on interaction, meaning, and fluency
• Provide intrinsically motivating techniques – try at all times to appeal to students’
ultimate goals and interests, to their need for knowledge, for status, for achieving
competence and autonomy, and for “being a;; that they can be”
• Encourage the use of authentic language in meaningful contexts Remember – it is
not easy to keep come up with meaningful interaction
• Provide appropriate feedback and correction – it is important that you take
advantage of your knowledge of English to inject the kinds of corrective feedback
that are appropriate for the moment.
• Capitalize on the natural link between speaking and listening

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 Don’t lose out on opportunities to integrate these two skills. Skills in
producing language are often initiated through comprehension and that
these two skills can reinforce each other.
• Give students opportunities to initiate oral communication
Part of oral communication competence is the ability to initiate
conversations, to nominate topics, to ask questions, to control
conversations and to change the subject
• Encourage the development of speaking strategies Strategies such as:
- Asking for clarification (what)
- Asking someone to repeat something (huh, excuse me?)
- Using fillers (uh, I mean, well) in order to gain time to process
- Using conversational maintenance cues (uh huh, right, yeah, okay,
hmmm)
- Getting someone’s attention (hey, say, so)
- Using paraphrases for structures one can’t produce.
- Appealing for assistance from the interlocutor (to get a word or
phrase, for example)
- Using formulaic expressions at the survival stage) How much
does___cost? How do you get to the ____?
- sing mime and nonverbal; expressions to convey meaning.

TEACHING CONVERSATION
1. Conversation – indirect (strategy conscious –raising)
2. Conversation – direct (gambits)
3. Conversation – transactional (ordering from a catalog)
4. Meaningful oral; grammar practice (modal auxiliary would)
5. Individual practice ; oral dialog journals

Other interactive techniques

• Interviews
• Guessing games
• Jigsaw tasks
• Ranking exercises  Discussions
• values clarification
• Problem solving activities
• Role –play
• Simulations
TEACHING PRONUNCIATION
Rather than attempting to build a learners articulatory competence from the bottom –up,
and simply as the mastery of a list of phonemes and allophones, atop down approach is
taken in which the most relevant features of pronunciation – stress, rhythm, and
intonation – are given high ;priority.

Instead of teaching only the role of articulation within words, or at best, phrases, we teach
its role in a whole stream of discourse.

FACTORS AFFECTING LEARNERS PRONUNCIATION

1. Native language – the most influential factor affecting a learner’s pronunciation
2. Age – children under the age of puberty stand an excellent chance of sounding
like a native is they have continued exposure in authentic contexts
Beyond the age of puberty, there is no particular advantage attributed to age
The younger the better is a myth
3. Exposure – quality and intensity of exposure are more important than mere length
of time
4. Innate phonetic ability – “ear” for language

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 If a person as had early exposure to language – he would have a knack on the
language whether he remembers the language or not
SBI (strat based In)s – has proven that some elements of learning are a matter of
fact are an awareness of your own limitations combined with a conscious focus
on doing something to compensate for those limitations
5. Identity and language ego- one’s attitude toward speakers of the target language
and the extent to which the language ego identifies with those speakers Positive
attitudes

6. Motivation and concerns for good pronunciation

The intrinsic motivation is the strongest factor that would affect the learners

Problems that Language Learners Face during Speaking

1. Clustering- some learners don’t know when to pause; they should be trained that
speaking have thought units or “breath groups”
2. Reduced forms- some learners do not know how to make contractions, reduced
vowels, shortened statements, etc.
3. Performance variables- some learners find it difficult to avoid using “fillers” such
as uhm, ahh, well, you know, I mean, like, etc. especially during formal speech
presentations
4. Colloquial language- some learners find it difficult to look and use correct words,
idioms, and phrases that are appropriate for a particular speech act
5. Rate of delivery- some learners are either too slow or too fast; they should be
trained on how to deliver at an “acceptable speed”
6. Stress, Rhythm, and Intonation- learners find it difficult to follow the prosodic
rules of a target language, usually because of mismatches or differences between
the native language and the target language (e.g. Filipino is syllable-timed while
English is stress-timed)
7. Interaction- if learners would not have any avenue to interact, then learning how
to speak would be difficult, if not impossible

Factors that influence learners’ speaking

1. Native Language- mother Language affects the learning of the target language
2. Age- learners within the critical period (i.e. between age 5 and puberty)
3. Exposure- quality and intensity of exposure is better than duration/length of time
4. Innate phonetic ability- some people manifest ‘better’ phonetic coding ability than
others
5. Identity and Language Ego- attitude towards speakers of the target language
Language ego – you are what you speak

Wrong notion on Mark Twain’s

“It’s better to keep your mouth closed and have others think you are ignorant than
to open it and remove all doubt.”

Teachers must encourage students to speak no matter how broken and halting
their attempts may be

6. Motivation and concern for good pronunciation- high motivation leads to

extended effort to improve and learn

Affective factors
Obstacles to learners – causing anxiety – the anxiety generated over the risks of
blurting things out wrong, stupid, or incomprehensible

Speaking Tasks for Communicative outcomes

Type of Performance Task/ Response
Imitative Speaking • Student simply parrots back (imitate) a word or phrase or

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 sentence
• Task: word repetition; pronunciation drills
• One step beyond imitative speaking to include any
speaking performance that is designed to practice some
phonological and grammatical aspect of language
Intensive speaking • Tasks: directed response; read-aloud; sentence/dialogue
completion tasks; oral
questionnaires; picture-cues tasks

• Short replies to teacher or student initiated questions or

comments (a good deal of student speech in the
classroom is responsive); replies do not extend into
Responsive speaking dialogues; such speech can be meaningful and authentic
• Tasks: question and answer; eliciting instructions and
directions; paraphrasing a story or a dialogue

• Transactional- carried out for the purpose of conveying or

exchanging specific information; involves relatively long
stretches of interactive discourse
Interactive Speaking • Interpersonal- carried out for the purpose of maintaining
• Transactional social relationships
• Interpersonal • Tasks: interviews; role play; discussions
(problemsolving); games; conversations; information gap
activity; telling longer stories; extended explanations

Extensive Speaking  Usually for intermediate to advanced levels; tasks involve

(monologue) complex, relatively, lengthy stretches of discourse;
extended monologues can be planned
or impromptu
 Tasks: oral reports; summaries; short speeches; picture-
cued storytelling; retelling a story or a news event

Stages in a Speaking Lesson

Presentation stage (a.k.a. “pre-activity stage”)

• Teacher’s task is to serve as informant
• Students listen and try to understand
• Activities should be minimal so as to allow students to participate and perform
later

Practice stage
• Students do most of the talking
• Teacher is facilitator and monitor
Production stage
• Stage where students use the language for themselves
• Free use of language (free expression is more important than mistakes)
• Opportunities to use language as they wish make students become more aware the
they have learned something; thus, they become encouraged to go on

4. TEACHING READING AND WRITING

A. The Teaching of Reading What is
Reading?
Various authorities in the field of Reading Instruction have varying definitions of reading,
some of them are as follows:

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  “Reading is the act of constructing meaning while transacting with text.” – Martha
R. Ruddell
* The reader makes meaning through the combination of prior knowledge and
previous experience.
• “…both the mind of the reader and the language on the page are what enable
people to read and understand.” (Wood, 2000)
• “Reading is thinking. It’s more than moving one’s eyes across the lines of print,
more than recognizing words.” (Mc Whorter, 2001)
• “Reading is not merely the transfer of information from an author to a reader.”
(Mc Cormick & Waller, 1987)

What are the Reading Processes?

A. Bottom-up Reading- assumes that reading begins with print (letters  words 
phrases  sentences  meaning). However, problems arise because in some
instances, knowing the linguistic features of a text would not necessarily bring a
reader to its meaning. Consider this passage from Lewis Caroll’s Through the
Looking-Glass:

`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: All
mimsy were the borogoves, And the
mome raths outgrabe.

Does it make sense? No, it does not, but a linguistic analysis can tell you that for
example, “slithy” is an adjective, and “gyre” and “gimble” are verbs.

B. Top-down Reading- assumes that reading begins with knowledge and hypotheses
in the mind of the reader. Similarly, this presents some situational problems,
because readers would have different schema because of different experiences.
Hence, conclusions might mislead a learner. For example, at first glance, a reader
might fill the blanks below with “ship or boat” and “sea or ocean”

THE _________WENT SAILING ACROSS THE _____________.

However, if you would further read it, the blanks may have the following words
to fill them.
JERRY SWUNG THE RACKET, AND THE BALL WENT SAILING
ACROSS THE NET.

C. Interactive reading- is an interactive reading model is a reading model that

recognizes the interaction of bottom-up and top-down processes simultaneously
throughout the reading process. A popular Chinese proverb may summarize the
idea espoused by interactive reading.

“Tell me and I’ll forget. Show me, and I may remember. But involve me and I’ll
understand.” –Chinese proverb

The Goals of Teaching Reading- similar with listening and speaking, teaching reading
of course entails certain goals. The following are just some of them.

1. Schema Activation- For learners to understand a “new” text, he/she should be able
to connect this to previous knowledge or schemata. Hence, to teach reading
successfully, a reading lesson should provide opportunities for learners to make
necessary connections with what they know and what the text offers. Some of the
many strategies for schema activation are: Brainstorming, Previewing, and
Showing Graphic Organizers or Visual Aids.
2. Vocabulary Development- Logically speaking, the more words learners know, the
easier it is for them to connect with the text and understand it. Although learners

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 must be encouraged to continue reading even in the presence of new words, a
reading lesson should inevitably develop vocabulary strategies or what some
writers call “word-attack skills”. Some of the words should be taken into
consideration are:
a. High frequency words or words that are usually encountered, or repeated
in the text
b. Academic Words or words that are used with the content area
c. Technical words or words that may have a different meaning in a certain
discipline
d. Literary words or those words which are commonly used in literature
3. Comprehension Development- Reading is the process of constructing meaning
from print. Hence, it is the ultimate objective of reading instruction to help
learners understand a text, and develop strategies in understanding a text.
4. Understanding Text Organization- Understanding the content goes hand in hand
with understanding how it is organized. Hence, students need to learn how to
relate the following to the text:
a. Text type (narrative or expository)
b. Genre
c. Hierarchy of ideas in exposition
d. Significant Details in narrative and expository texts
e. Use of graphic organizers
5. Application- Reading instruction should also develop the learners’ ability to relate
their learning to real-life situations. Reading instruction can end by:
a. Valuing
b. Appreciating
c. Relating lessons to own life
d. Linking lesson to explain real-life contexts
e. Responding creatively using multiple intelligences

Phases in a Reading Lesson- There would be different ways in presenting a reading

lesson. However, generally speaking, the following are the parts and contents of a
Reading Lesson:
a. Pre-Reading- This part of the lesson opens the lessons by previewing the new
reading lesson. During the pre-reading, teachers may pose a stimulating question,
picture, video clip, title, etc. to capture the interest of the learners and prepare
them to the main activity or lesson.
b. While Reading- This is where the main activity or lesson or text is presented.
While the “While Reading” presents the text to be read, the instruction should not
be plainly reading.
c. Post-Reading- This is the phase which may aptly be called “closure”. Here, the
learners’ understanding of the text may be evaluated or linked to other language
activities and lessons through the creation of certain outputs or presentations.

Principles for Designing Effective and Interesting Reading Lessons (Farell,

T.S.C., 2002)
1. Reading materials should be interesting for the target learners.
2. Reading instruction should prioritize students reading the text.
3. Activities and exercises in a reading lesson should reflect the purposeful, task-
based, and interactive nature of real reading (predicting, hypothesizing, and
revising ideas about what was read).
4. Activities and exercises in a reading instruction should allow learners to bring
their knowledge and experiences to the text being read.
5. Reading lessons should focus on teaching and not on testing.
6. There should be a variety of reading activities in each lesson to maintain the
interest and motivation of learners.
7. Reading lessons should be divided into pre-reading, during or while reading, and
post reading phases.

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Some strategies in Teaching Reading

A. Vocabulary Development
1. Structural Analysis- is largely focused on the unfamiliar word itself. In this
strategy, the meaning of a word is derived by looking at the root word.
“Structural analysis includes attention to root words, affixes and inflections. It
may also include attention to plural forms, tenses, comparisons, contractions, and
compound words” (Arias & Acuña, 2002). Hence, learners should be exposed to
the different meanings of the affixes in order to use structural analysis. The table
below shows some of the most commonly used affixes.
Prefix Meaning Examples
a- also an- not, without atheist, anemic
a- to, towards aside, aback
ab- also abs- away, from abdicate, abstract
ad- also a-, ac-, movement to, change advance, adulterate,
af-, ag- al-, into, addition or adjunct, ascend, affiliate,
an-, ap-, increase affirm, aggravate,
at- as-, at- alleviate, annotate,
apprehend, arrive,
assemble, attend
Suffix Meaning Examples
-able capable, can do usable, notable,
comfortable
-ad group triad, monad
-arch ruler, leader monarch, tetrarch
2. Contextual Analysis- is the strategy that we use in attempting to obtain the
meaning of an unfamiliar word by examining the context in which it appears. This
strategy encourages you to look for “contextual clues,” i.e., related information
that would provide the meaning of the unfamiliar word. Simply put, contextual
analysis involves your analysis of other words that surround the unknown word.
Some of the most common context clues are the following:
a. Synonyms- e.g. The newcomer looks dubious, his credentials are
questionable.
b. Antonyms- e.g. Doña Mariana’s boisterous laughter distracted the calm
classroom.
c. Examples- e.g. It’s amazing how Joe maintains his citrus fruit trees; you
can see oranges, ponkans, mandarins, and even lemons in his backyard.
d. Comparison and Contrast- The tuk-tuk of Thailand, like that of our
tricycles, amazes most tourists.

B. Comprehension Development
1. Anticipation Guide- consists of a list of statements that are related to the topic of
the text your students will be reading. While some of the statements may be
clearly true or false, a good anticipation guide includes statements that provoke
disagreement and challenge students’ beliefs about the topic. Before reading the
text, students indicate for each statement whether they agree or disagree with it.
2. ReQuest- is designed to encourage students to: a) formulate their own questions
about the material they are reading and develop questioning behavior; b) adopt an
active, inquiring attitude to reading; c) acquire reasonable purposes for reading;
and, d) improve their independent reading comprehension skills. (Readence, nd)
3. K-W-L (Know-Want to know-Learned)- K-W-L is the creation of Donna
Ogle and is a 3-column chart that helps capture the Before, During, and After
components of reading a text selection. In this strategy, learners are encouraged to
fill-out column K with what they already know about the topic. Then, they will
fill out column W with what they want to learn or know about the topic. After
reading the selection, they will be filling out column L to list down what they

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 have learned from reading the text. In this strategy, learners monitor their own
learning.
4. Mapping- provides a visual guide for students to clarify textual information such
as characters, problems, settings, reactions, and outcomes.
5. PLAN- a graphic organizer in which students create a map to visually organize
and better understand the information. It includes: P-rediction of the content; L-
ocating the known and unknown information; A-dding words or phrases to the
unknown as students locate information; and N-oting new understanding or
information about the text.

B. The Teaching of Writing

The Goal of Teaching Speaking is to produce students who can competently express
themselves and avoiding confusion in the message due to faulty pronunciation, grammar,
or vocabulary. Moreover, learners should also learn how to observe the social and
cultural rules that apply in each communication situation.

The Nature of Speaking (Brown, 1994)

• Permanence- unlike oral language, written language is permanent and can be
read and reread as often as one likes
• Production time- writers have more time to plan, review and revise, unlike
speakers who need to plan, formulate, and deliver in a very short span of time
• Distance- the writer and the reader are usually away from each other in both time
and space,
• Orthography- written texts have limited amount of information, unlike oral
speech (e.g. intonation, stress, pitch, volume, junctures, etc.)
• Complexity- written language is usually composed of longer clauses and
subordinators, while spoken language is usually short
• Formality- writing is more formal and more binding than spoken language

What writers (learners) need to know (Tribble, 1996)

1. Content knowledge- knowledge of concepts in the subject area
2. Context knowledge- knowledge of the context in which the text will be read
3. Language system knowledge- knowledge of those aspects of the languagesystem
necessary for the completion of the task
4. Writing Process Knowledge- knowledge of the most appropriate way ofpreparing
for a specific writing task.

Writing Theories
Writing as a social and cultural phenomenon- writing is not merely a product of an
individual but of society and culture. Writing takes place within a context, with a
particular purpose and an intended audience.

Writing as a cognitive activity- writing is viewed by some authorities (Hayes &

Flower, 1980; Hayes, 1996) as a cognitive process which consists of two main parts:
the task environment and the individual. Individual aspects of writing involve
interactions among the working memory, motivation and affect, cognitive processes,
and long-term memory.

Approaches in Teaching Writing

1. Controlled-to-Free Approach- This aims to reinforce grammar patterns, use
correct syntax, and reinforce punctuation, orthography, etc. At first, writing activities
are controlled, and usually, learners start with sentence level. Emphasis is on accuracy
so learners do not have room for mistakes.
2. Free Writing Approach- Unlike the first approach, free writing is not that
concerned about accuracy. The focus is on the quantity of writing rather than quality,
so students have more time to write subjects that are of interest to them.

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 3. Paragraph-Pattern Approach- This approach focuses on the analysis of the
different paragraph patterns, and later on the imitation of these patterns to form
paragraphs. This is based on the principle that in different cultures, people construct
and organize their communication with each other in different ways.
4. Process Approach- In this approach, the emphasis is on the writing process.
Learners are engaged in different activities that concern how writers craft their
outputs. Hence, learners do different activities prior to writing. This will help them
understand the writing process.
5. Product Approach- Unlike Process, Product approach is more concerned with
the end result of the learning process. This approach views writing as a linear process.
Hence, learners must develop language mastery first before creating a written
product.
REFERENCES

Books:

Celce-Murcia, M., & Larsen-Freeman, D. (1999). The grammar book: An ESL/EFL

teacher's course (2nd ed.). Stamford, CT: Heinle & Heinle.

Huddleston, R., & Pullum, G. K. (2002). The Cambridge grammar of the English
language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Quirk, R., Greenbaum, R., Leech, G., & Svartvik, J. (1985). A comprehensive grammar
of the English language. London: Longman.

Internet:

https://ltl.lincoln.ac.nz/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/01/Sentencestructure.pdf
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/
https://www.dlsweb.rmit.edu.au/lsu/content/4_WritingSkills/06sentences.htm

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