Sociolinguistics Essays (Examples)

Sociolinguistics - How gender influences the way people speak?

Definition of keywords

Sociolinguistics: This is a study of language in respect of social, class, regional, gender and occupational factors.

Gender: It is the condition of being a female or a male and is mostly used in relation to cultural and social differences.

Gender Equality: A condition in which the opportunities and rights are not affected by the change of gender.

Speak: To say in order to express or convey feelings or conversation (oxforddictionaries.com)

Within the study of discourse, comparative analysis of the way women and men use language has been a topic of interest for quite some time. However, to date no coherent framework for gender differences in language and its use has been established empirically, despite relatively extensive theorizing. One reason for this lack of framework lies in the absence of a consensus in how language, whether written or…

Bibliography

Bridges of Madison County.(2010). Daily Motion.com. (Video) Retrieved from:  http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xehubk_the-bridges-of-madison-county-1995_music 

Cameron, D., 2007. The Guardian. [Online] Available at:  http://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/oct/01/gender.books  [Accessed 29 November 2014].

Carli, L.L. (1999). Gender, interpersonal power, and social influence. Journal of Social Issues, 55, 81-99.

Freilino, J.P., Caswell, A. & Laasko, E., 2012. The Gendering of Language: A Comparison of Gender Equality in Countries with Gendered, Natural Gender, and Genderless Languages. Springer, pp. 268-281

Also, student's vocabulary and formality of speech can and will differ in different social contexts, from school to home to the playground, as indeed does all human speech, as even teachers adopt a greater degree of formality speaking to the principal, to students, and also in their own homes.

hy teach standard speech at all? hat to do when certain patterns of speech, such as Black English, have different grammatical variations than standard written English? One approach is to stress contextual aspects of speech in education. (Chaika, 1994, p.299) It cannot be denied that job applicants and people are validated and valued differently, depending on how their speech coheres to Standard ritten English. Even dialect speakers are evaluated on a valuation gradient, as speakers with certain desirable accents, like a British accent for example, might be esteemed more than speakers with a traditionally Black or Spanish accent, unfairly. (Chaika, 1994,…

Works Cited

Adger, Carolyn Temple. (Mar 1997) "Dialect Education: Not only for Oakland." Vol. 20. No. 2. ERIC Database. Retrieved 2 Oct 2005 http://www.cal.org/ericcll/news/199703/9703Dialect.html

Chaika, Elaine. (1994) Language -- The Social Mirror: Teaching Methods. Third Edition. New York: Heinle & Heinle Publishers.

Wolfram, W., Christian, D., & Adger, C. (1996) Dialects in schools and communities. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

appended meaning according to the outledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics.

Sociolinguistics

Scientific discipline developed from the cooperation of linguistics and sociology that investigates the social meaning of the language system and of language use, and the common set of conditions of linguistic and social structure. Several areas of sociolinguistic investigation are differentiated.

(a) A primarily sociologically oriented approach concerned predominantly with the norms of language use. (When and for what purpose does somebody speak what kind of language or what variety with whom?) Here language use and language attitudes as well as larger and smaller social networks are in the foreground. These facets are studied mainly by using quantitative methods; connections between socioeconomics, history, culture, ethnic differentiation, social class structure, and language varieties are included in the investigation (diglossia, code theory).

(b) A primarily linguistically oriented approach that presumes linguistic systems to be in principle heterogeneous, though structured, when…

Reference

Bussmann H., (1996). Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics. New York: Routledge.

Interviews can certainly be shaped by culture-specific nuances, but, at the same time misunderstandings may accrue due to other factors in other words, cultural differences may not be the only or accurate attribution to communicative difficulties in interview situations. There are too many other complexities that may be responsible for initiating miscommunication. Gomperz and Cook-Gomperz (2008) distinguish between socio-linguistics and linguistic anthropology but arangi concludes that: "A selective characterization of a communicative situation on the basis of different cultural attributes of the-participants can only serve to reify cultural differences in an essentialist way." (424). Rather what is needed is the application of discourse analysis to speech since discourse analysis functions as a two-pronged approach: on the one hand it traces individual communication to cultural background, and, on the other hand, it sources that same communication to societal and institutional role-relationships. 'Culture' may be a concept that has become exaggerated in…

Sources

Chan, B. (2004). Beyond" Contextualization:" Code-Switching as a" Textualization Cue" Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 23, 7-27

* Gumperz, J. Contextualization conventions

Gumperz, John & Cook-Gumperz, J (2008) Studying language, culture, and society: Sociolinguistics or linguistic anthropology, Journal of Sociolinguistics, 4, 532-545

Halliday, M.A.K. (2005). On matter and meaning: the two realms of human experience. Linguistics and the Human Sciences, 1, 1.

e. cursing, swearing) and not using discriminatory language or language that is "racist, sexist, ageist" (Caldwell, 2004) or so forth. The concept of 'communicative competence" (Caldwell, 2004) is described as grammar that "relates to the nature of language teaching" in an approach." (Caldwell, 2004) that is fairly universally advocated in L2 teaching." (Caldwell, 2004) the mistakes that are made may either be in "form" due to lack of knowledge or through use of irregular past tense forms implying that grammar should be descriptive or mistakes in 'use" or knowing when the present perfect or the simple past tense should be used implying that grammar should be descriptive.

It is suggested by Tomlin (1994, pp. 141-42) that teaching communicative language in inclusive of (1) systematic attention to functional and structural aspects; (2) Situational and contextualized use of language in class; (3) Teaching and Learning being made transparent through representational support; (4)…

References

DeRolf, Judith D. (1995) English Communication Through Practical Experiences Kanto Gakuin Univeristy, Yokohama Japan 1995 March No. 24.

Brotoluzzi, Maria (2005) Blurring the Boundary Between Spoken and Written Language in EFL. Online available at http://iteslj.org/Lessons/Bortoluzzi-Boundary.htm.

Chou, Yen-Lin (nd) Promoting Learner's Speaking Ability by Socioaffective Strategies. Online available at  http://iteslj.org/Articles/Chou-Socioaffective.html .

Greenbaum, S. (1996) the Oxford English Grammar, Oxford, Oxford University Press.

Language and Sexuality from a Desire-Based Perspective

Anthropology -- Language & Sexuality

The broader theoretical treatment of the study of sexuality has long been recognized in the fields of linguistic anthropology and sociolinguistics. Historically, sexuality has been discussed in sociocultural studies of language over the long-term. In fact, this work and the research it generated make up the emergent history and the scope of research on language and sexuality. This analytical discourse on the topic of sexuality and language is socially oriented, to be certain, but the it has followed a path of convenience, resulting in piecemeal treatment and an underlying fragmentation of the body of work.

Discussion of the desire-oriented approach to sexuality and language, theorizing the motivation and development of the approach from a poststructuralist position.

Outline

Sexist language

Women and men's talk: single/mixed sex; private/public

Gender and politeness

Peer and classroom talk

5. Public and workplace talk…

Morrish, L., Morrish, E., and Sauntson, H. (2007, November 15). New perspectives on language and sexual identity. Palgrave Publishing.

Motschenbacher, H. ( 2011, November 11). Language, gender, and sexual identity: Poststructuralist perspectives. John Benjamins Publishing.

Sauntson, H. And Kyratzis, S. (Eds.) (2007). Language, sexualities, & desires: Cross-cultural perspectives. Basingstoke, Hampshire, UK: Macmillan.

Yiddish as a first language in Ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities, compared to the use of local vernacular (for example, Hebrew in Israeli-ased Jews, or English in London and New York-ased Jews): in Hasidic Jews, the use of Yiddish is widespread, whereas in other Jewish groups, the local vernacular is more common.

This paper discusses the reasons behind these differences, and looks at the functions that Yiddish serves in these Hasidic Jew communities. The paper also looks at the effects of outside pressures has on the use of Yiddish, and on issues of identity in general.

The paper also looks at the religious issues related to the use of Yiddish, and at heritage issues in general. The paper also looks in detail at the use of Yiddish as a cultural isolating mechanism, as a way to create barriers between Hasidic Jews and non-Hasidic Jews, and also Hasidic Jews and non-Jews (gentiles).

The…

Bibliography

Abraham, J.E. (1985). Perceptions of English Learning in a Hasidic Jewish Sect.

Abrams, D. And Hogg, M.A. (2000). Social Identity: Constructive and Critical.

Belcove-Shalin, J. (1995). New World Hasidim: Ethnographic Studies of Hasidic Jews in America.

Ben-Rafael, E. Language and Social Division -The Case of Israel.

All of the chapters in the book relate to various events in Levi's life, as well as to his passion for chemistry. Surprisingly (when considering the suffering he went through in Auschwitz) Levi only associates a small chapter in the book with his experiences in the death camp. The story is nonetheless sad, and can be regarded as being the most impressive account in the book. All in all, "The Periodic Table" is more of an autobiography than a nonfiction account involving the Holocaust.

In "Vanadium," Levi shortly depicts a series of occurrences speaking about Auschwitz. The author apparently wants to go over the topic as fast as possible, only to return to the beautiful world of chemistry. He does not succeed in doing that however, since the subject slowly but surely grabs hold of him and forces him to go deeper and depict one of the most influential chapters…

Works cited:

1. Levi, Primo. The Periodic Table. Michael Joseph Ltd., 1985.

It outlines those programs and benefits to be offered on campuses to help service international students more effectively. Japanese students are here identified. Since they speak English as second language, they have more stress, requiring more time to read their textbooks, receiving the abuse from students that are enrolled with them in classes or who are being taught by them when they serve as graduate assistants. This causes miscommunication and a loss of learning comprehension. The fact is that the native born student may feel resentment about being passed over for assignment to the teaching assistantship when it is given to the foreign born student. A series of programs is suggested to provide cultural sensitivity for the foreign student and then a staged program series to help the foreign student adapt (Lin, & Yi, 1997, 473-80).

Finally, the needs of students with special needs can not be ignored. Unfortunately, many…

References

Asherman, Ira, Bing, John W., & Laroche, Lionel. 2000. Building trust across cultural boundaries . [Obtained from]  http://www.itapintl.com/facultyandresources/articlelibrarymain/ 

Culture communication and language. [Obtained from] 11 August 2010 from  http://www.maec.org/cross/4.html 

Edmundson, Andrea. 2007. Globalized e-learning cultural challenges. Hershey:

Informaiton Science Publishing.

The cultural values can be handled through the implementation of the of new methodologies for the execution of the task, the values as per the company's approval should be reinforced, no single action is expected to deliver necessary reforms to modify aspects and considerations that are highly ingrained and extremely valued, therefore it is important that the company adopt comprehensive and coordinated methodologies, for the management of the cultural changes. The multinational companies should understand that the quality of the product, and its services contributes significantly towards the success of the organization, and this has to be achieved only if the quality of the product does not only comply by the international standards, but should fulfill the aspirations of the local population, whereas the aspirations of the local population is based on cultural hegemony, therefore the cultural values should be respected during the entire course. Such organizations should introduce diverse…

References

Nancy M. Desjardins. A case study in organizational value communication: understanding value/behavior relationship. Central Connecticut State University. April, 2002.

Fengru Li. Sociolinguistic Evaluation of Toyota's 2003 Controversial Ad Campaign in Beijing. The University of Montana, Missoula. 2003

Stephen Robbins, Mary Coulter. Management. Prentice Hall. 2001. pp. 510

E.E. Adams, R.J. Ebert. Production and Operations Management. Prentice Hall. 1982. pp. 129

Language defines identity, and creates boundaries between self and other. In Borderlands: The New Mestiza, Gloria Anzaldua refers to the "broken" and "forked" tongues that represented the boundaries and intersections of social, cultural, racial, ethnic, and gender identities. The roots of sociolinguistic hypotheses of language suggest that at the very least, language impacts the social construction of reality, as well as psychic self-perception. According to Noam Chomsky, language use is a type of "organized behavior" that is both a cause and effect of reality (2). The study of language structure and function "can contribute to an understanding of human intelligence," (Chomsky xiv). Chomsky goes so far as to suggest that language precedes cognition in some cases, by stating that, "the study of language structure reveals properties of mind that underlie the exercise of human mental capacities in normal activities," including the use of language as a creative mechanism, form, and…

Works Cited

Anzaldua, Gloria. Borderlands: The New Mestiza -- La Frontera. Aunt Lute, 1999.

Chomsky, Noam. Language and Mind. Cambridge University Press, 2006.

Hudson, Richard A. Sociolinguistics. Cambridge University Press, 1996.

Sapir, Edward. Language: An Introduction to the Study of Speech. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1921.

Using Additive Bilingualism to Address Subtractive Educational Challenge among Hispanic-American LearnersIntroductionLatin Americans largest color population will account for about half of student growth over the next decade. Latin Americans are also the least educated of any ethnic group (Nuez, amalho & Cuero, 2010). Promoting the success of Latino Americans and other colored students is a major concern of educational systems that serve more diverse student organizations and become increasingly accountable to external institutions. Conversely, the population of teachers does not reflect this demography, as the majority of teachers/lecturers in American learning institutions are white. This divergence means that most teachers are unaware of their students daily experiences such as cultural background, dialect, family, home, and community. Because teachers tend to draw educational examples from their own experiences, these connections are not made for students.Moreover, Hispanics in the United States have historically suffered from ridicule and abuse from mainstream cultures due…

ReferencesAlfaro, C., & Bartolom, L. (2017). Preparing ideologically clear bilingual teachers: Honoring working-class non-standard language use in the bilingual education classroom.Issues in Teacher Education,26(2), 11-34.Enstice, E. M. (2017). Latino Parent Perspectives: How to Promote and Implement Additive Bilingualism.Journal for Leadership and Instruction,16(1), 33-36.Garate, M. (2012). ASL/English bilingual education: Models, methodologies and strategies.Vis. Lang. Vis. Learn. Res. Brief,2(8), 1-8.Gonzlez, J. F. E. (2018). Analyzing Morans dimensions of culture in an English conversational course at UCR.Revista de Lenguas Modernas, (28).Moran, P. R. (2001).Teaching culture: Perspectives in practice. Boston: Heinle & Heinle.Nuez, A. M., Ramalho, E. M., & Cuero, K. K. (2010). Pedagogy for equity: Teaching in a Hispanic-serving institution.Innovative Higher Education,35(3), 177-190.Ochoa, A. M., & Cadiero-Kaplan, K. (2004). Towards promoting biliteracy and academic achievement: Educational programs for high school Latino English language learners.The High School Journal,87(3), 27-43.Padrn, Y.N., Waxman, H.C. & Rivera, H.H. (2002). Educating Hispanic students: Effective instructional practices. Center for Research on Education, Diversity & Excellence, University of California.Schmitt, E. C. (1985). The 3 teaching methods in bilingual classes. The New York Times.Seelye, N. (1984). Teaching Culture Strategies for Intercultural Communication. Lincolnwood: National Textbook Company.Sheets, R. H. (2005).Diversity Pedagogy: Examining the role of culture in the teaching-learning process. Pearson College Division.Spolsky, B. (1998).Sociolinguistics(Vol. 1). Oxford university press.Valenzuela, A. (1999).Subtractive schooling: US-Mexican youth and the politics of caring. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

The area is of interest because it allows linguists to look into the variants of Middle English that influenced the current dialect.

3. The North Carolina Language and Life Project's study of Harkers sland, North Carolina is extraordinarily interesting, as it allows researchers to study a dialect that was formed independently of surrounding areas for nearly two centuries. Because the island was separated from the mainland until a bridge was built in 1941, the dialect spoken there is quite different to other areas, and actually has many features of an older English. By studying this dialect, researchers will be able to determine important conclusions regarding time and language development, as well as dialect. n Johnstown, Ohio, another project is peering closely at sociolinguistics, peering at the relationship between cliques and phonetics, as well as age and language sounds. The researchers aim to determine if differences exist by examining groups of…

In Robeson County, North Carolina, a situation that is of interest to many linguists exists. An ethnically diverse community made up of primarily African-Americans, Native Americans, and Anglo-Americans, the community has remained relatively segregated since its founding. Linguists are interested in this situation because it allows them to study how the English of a Native American community compared with the English of surroundings.

The dialect of Oracoke Island, North Carolina was shaped by those who migrated from different locations in England. According to the North Carolina Language and Life Project, most of those who settled in the South in the United States were actually from the South of England as well, although some from the East of England also settled in this area. Because the current dialect of the area is based on Middle English, it is true that these different varieties of Middle English influenced the development of the linguistic situation in the area. The Scots-Irish dialect greatly influenced the area, as many Scots-Irish helped found it. The area is of interest because it allows linguists to look into the variants of Middle English that influenced the current dialect.

3. The North Carolina Language and Life Project's study of Harkers Island, North Carolina is extraordinarily interesting, as it allows researchers to study a dialect that was formed independently of surrounding areas for nearly two centuries. Because the island was separated from the mainland until a bridge was built in 1941, the dialect spoken there is quite different to other areas, and actually has many features of an older English. By studying this dialect, researchers will be able to determine important conclusions regarding time and language development, as well as dialect. In Johnstown, Ohio, another project is peering closely at sociolinguistics, peering at the relationship between cliques and phonetics, as well as age and language sounds. The researchers aim to determine if differences exist by examining groups of children and adults.

Politeness and Females

Gender and its connection with linguistic behavior has been a major subject of debate and discussion in research circles for last many decades. How men and women differ in the speech is an interesting topic that has been shown to have direct correlation with societal influences and conditioning. Women are conditioned to behave in a submissive manner and research indicates that it is because of this factor than biological construction that is responsible for women being more polite than men. A large body of research on the subject reveals that women generally use more polite language than men because they are expected to behave in a submissive, timid and less aggressive manner. Pierre Bourdieu (1977, p. 662) argued, "Politeness contains a politics, a practical and immediate recognition of social classifications and hierarchies."

Females are more polite because people in any setting are expected to use more polite…

REFERENCES

1. BAILEYR. (1991). Images of English. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

2. BOURDIEU P. (1977). "The economics of linguistic exchanges." Social Science Information, 16, 645-668.

3. Brown, P and Levinson, S (1978) 'Universals in language usage: politeness phenomena', pp.56-311, in ed. Goody, E. Questions and Politeness: Strategies in Social Interaction, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

4. Holmes, J. (1995) Women, Men and Politeness, London, Longman.

Such results of studies clearly show a paradox: similarities yet differences between language use by gender. Far from one coming from Mars and the other from Venus, men and women seem to come from different states in the same country. It is obvious that they grew up in different groups, which have subtle style differences. Yet, although subtle, the language differences have judgmental consequences. Observers perceive the female and male speakers differently based on their language use. For example, female speakers are rated higher on Socio-Intellectual Status (high social status and literate) and Aesthetic Quality (nice and beautiful), while males are rated higher on Dynamism (strong and aggressive). Major language differences may not occur between genders, but they are recognized as such anyway.

eferences

Adams, P. et. al. (1995). "Dominance and entitlement: the rhetoric men use to discuss t heir violence towards women." Discourse and Society. 6(3): 387-406.

Canary, D.J.,…

References

Adams, P. et. al. (1995). "Dominance and entitlement: the rhetoric men use to discuss t heir violence towards women." Discourse and Society. 6(3): 387-406.

Canary, D.J., & Dindia, K. (eds.). (1997). Sex differences and similarities in communication. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum

Lakoff, R. (1975) Language and Woman's Place. New York: Harper and Row.

Eckert, P. & McConnell-Ginet, S. (1992) "Communities of practice: where language, gender, and power all live" in Kira Hall, Mary Bucholtz and Birch Moonwomon (eds), Locating Power: proceedings of the second Berkeley Women and Language Conference. Berkeley, CA: Berkeley Woman and Language Group, University of California-Berkeley, pp. 89-99.

For instance, "some speakers may engage in overlap, speaking while someone else is taking a turn-at-talk. For some linguistic groups, this discourse behavior can be interpreted as a signal of engagement and involvement; however, other speakers may view it as an interruption and imposition on their speaking rights. Teachers can use the Record-View-Transcribe-Analyze technique to study cross-cultural interactions in their classrooms, helping students identify different communication strategies and their potential for miscommunication." (Demo, 2001)

According to the work "Vernacular Dialects in U.S. Schools," "Children from different backgrounds come to school speaking a wide variety of dialects." (Christian, 1997) the problem according to Christian (1997) is in the fact that, "One central issue in this controversy is whether mastery and use of a standard dialect should be required in schools. Some people consider such a requirement to be discriminatory, because it places an extra burden on certain students. Others argue that…

Works Cited

Literacy, Education and Social Development, (1997) Confintea, Hamburg 1997 UNESCO Institute for Education Fifth International Conference on adult Education (CONFINTEA V) held 3in Hamburg, 1997. 3c Social Development

Park, Eunjin and King, Kendall CAL Digest: Cultural Diversity and Language Socialization in the Early Years (2003) December EDO-FL-03-13

Demo, Douglas a. (2001) Discourse Analysis for Language Teachers CAL Journal September 2001

Schiffrin, D. (1994). Approaches to discourse. Oxford: Blackwell.

Characteristics CoPs

A community of practice in the procurement department

The procurement of materials and equipment such as schoolbooks and construction materials by government officials for the construction of public services and infrastructure involves contracting agencies that provide such services. These processes are often plagued with wastage of public resources, mismanagement, corruption, and graft. In this regard, Community-Led Procurement (CLP) allows local communities to control and implements the procurement process. They achieve this by creating groups that lead to accountability and openness, improved value of money, reduced wastage, and corruption, better quality of services and works and increased use of local contractors and workers. CLP also assists local community members to develop according to their vision (Alvesson & Karreman, 2007).

All government procurement programs have been plagued by waste and inefficiencies. The local communities have been lacking knowledge in terms of actors, processes, and costs involved. Cumbersome and slow systems…

References

Abrahamson, E. (2006). Management fashion. New York: ProQuest.

Alvesson, M. & Karreman, D. (2007). Odd couple: making sense of the curious concept of Knowledge Management: Journal of Management Studies, 38(7), 995-1018

Baym, N. (2005). Tune in, log on: soaps, fandom and online community. Thousand Oaks, CA:

Sage Publications

Communication Analysis

During the process of conducting an interview there is are selected approaches that are utilized to set the tone of the conversation. Depending upon the style, this can have an effect on the kind of questions and the answers that are provided. In the case of the interview between Michael Parkinson and Meg yan, his style had an effect on what was learned in the process. To fully understand what is taking place requires looking at how the interview was conducted. This will be accomplished by focusing on: the style, seating arrangement, questioning approach, purpose and how this could be improved. Together, these different elements will provide specific insights about how to conduct an effective interview. (Mestherie, 1999, pp. 93- 100) ("Meg yan on Parkinson," 2011)

Discussion

The interview Parkinson and Meg yan is taking a very confrontational style. This occurred when Parkinson began to have condescending responses…

References

Meg Ryan on Parkinson. (2011). You Tube. Retrieved from:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VF6l6k-3ods 

Andrews, P. (2005). Sports Journalism. London: Sage.

Ansell, G. (2005). Introduction to Journalism. Johannesburg: Jacana.

Eadie, W. (2009). 21st Century Communication. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publishing.

Media as the Linguistic Discourse Analysis Object

esearch in Discourse Analysis - Linguistics

Discourse analysis' focus is noteworthy semiotic events. Discourse analysis aims to understand not only the nature of the semiotic event, but also the socio-psychological traits of the participants of the event. The proposed subject of research is media discourse analysis or media as the linguistic discourse analysis object. Media is highly relevant and almost fundamental to life in the 21st century. There is no doubt that there are social, perceptual, psychological, linguistic, and behavioral affects of technology and media upon users and communities. Objects of discourse analysis vary in their definition of articulated sequences of communication events, speech acts, etc. Media is nothing but a series of coordinated sequences of various communications events operating semiotically. Therefore, media discourse analysis is a worthwhile linguistic research endeavor. The hypothesis of the research contends that media discourse analysis, as part…

References:

Chen, L. (2004) Evaluation in Media Texts: A Cross-Cultural Linguistic Investigation. Language in Society, 33(5), 673 -- 702.

Chigana, A., & Chigana, W. (2008) Mxit It Up in the Media: Media Discourse Analysis on a Mobile Instant Messaging System. The South African Journal of Information and Communication, 9, 42 -- 57.

Constantinou, O. (2005) Multimodal Discourse Analysis: Media, modes and technologies. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 9(4), 602 -- 618.

Gamson, W.A., Croteau, D., Hoynes, W., & Sasson, T. (1992) Media Images and the Social Construction of Reality. Annual Review of Sociology, 18, 373 -- 393.

Maps to increase comprehension for ESL's

English as a Second Language Learner

The academic achievement gap between linguistic minority groups and other students is a persistent problem for the American public school system (Thernstrom and Thernstrom, 2003). The pattern of underachievement and a high school dropout rate for Hispanic/Latino students among immigrant groups is particularly pronounced (Wong Fillmore & Meyer, 1992) Of the school-aged English Language Learner (ELL) population, 73% come from Spanish language backgrounds (U.S. Census Bureau, 2002), and their test results in reading are of particular concern as literacy skills are the building blocks for academic achievement. The gap between the test scores of Hispanic/Latino students and white students is a well documented phenomenon, existing throughout grades K-12 in both reading and mathematics (National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), 2003). According to the NCES (2000), 44% of foreign-born Hispanics fail to complete high school. A much lower percentage…

References

Alper, L. & Hyerle, D (2006). Thinking Maps: A language for leadership. Cary, NC: Thinking Maps.Inc.

Anderson, S., Yilmaz, D., & Washburn-Moses, L. (2004). Middle and high school students with learning disabilities: Practical academic interventions for general education teachers -- A review of the literature. American Secondary Education, 32(2), 19-38.

Ausubel, D.P. (1960). The use of advances organizers in the learning and retention of meaningful behavior. Journal of Educational Psychology, 51, 267-272

Bahr, G.S. & Dansereau, D.F (2005). Bilingual knowledge maps as a presentation format: Delayed recall and training effects. Journal of Experimental Education 73(2), 101-118

Language change refers to the process in which a particular language varies in its linguistic levels of analysis by developing or assimilating new forms and/or eliminating and/or totally modifying some of the existing forms (Schukla & Conner-Linton, 2014). Every natural language is subject to change over time even if these changes and alterations do not receive recognition by the individuals that use them. The process of change can be a slow and sure process or certain catch phrases may be incorporated very quickly (Kroch, 1989). Thus, the changes may not always be obvious but by comparing different the same language at different times, comparing different dialects, or how different languages interact, it becomes clear that languages change in all of their qualities including their grammar, syntax, semantics, lexicon, morphology, and phonology (Algeo & Butcher, 2013).

The process of language change is studied both by historical linguists and sociolinguists.

Historical linguists…

References

Algeo, J., & Butcher, C. (2013). The origins and development of the English language. Boston:

MA: Cengage Learning.

Beckner, C., Blythe, R., Bybee, J., Christiansen, M. H., Croft, W., Ellis, N. C., ... & Schoenemann, T. (2009). Language is a complex adaptive system: Position paper. Language Learning, 59(s1), 1-26.

Hock, H. H., & Joseph, B. D. (2009). Language history, language change, and language relationship: An introduction to historical and comparative linguistics (Vol. 218). Berlin,

Education today has become more interesting and challenging than it has ever been before. This is particularly the case with the teaching and learning of English as a second language. Immigrants to the United States and other English speaking countries, for example, are faced with the challenge of not only learning a new language sufficiently to be able to communicate in their new environment, but also of fitting in with a lifestyle and culture that is more often than not completely foreign to them. These challenges can have both a motivating and demotivating effect on EFL and ESL learners. Teachers who are aware of these effects can then more effectively plan their lessons and work with such students to help them obtain optimal results. Hence, a myriad of research articles have seen the light regarding the challenges faced by this sector of learners. "EFL learners moving to an ESL context:…

References

Adriaensens, D. (2011). Further Destruction of Iraq's Higher Education: Blazing Fires, Forged Degrees And Silencer Guns. Countercurrents.org. Retrieved from:  http://www.countercurrents.org/adriaensens021211.htm 

Bao, D., Abdilah, H., and Chowdhury, R. (2012, Jan.). EFL learners moving to an ESL context: Motivating and demotivating factors in English language learning among Iraqis. The New English Teacher, Vol. 6.1

Griffiths, M. (2010). A Situational Analysis of Girls Education in Iraq. UNICEF. Retrieved from:  http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/A3F345FEB60FD713C12577AD00341F90-Full_report.pdf 

McTaggart, R. (1996). 'Appraising reports of enquiry', in Social Science Methodology for Educational Inquiry: A Conceptual Overview, eds D. Caulley. H. Moore & J. Orton. Beijing Teachers College Press. Beijing.

Of these, twenty were of different first languages learning Hungarian and thirteen were of Hungarian as first language learning English." (P 8).

Based on this argument, age is not only the intrinsic factor that influences language acquisition. Typically, educational and maturational factors contribute to the language acquisition. With this claim, there could be a new hypothesis that reveal young= better and adult =better. Singleton (2005) conclusion on CPH is that

"Critical Period Hypothesis is misleading, since there is a vast amount of variation in the way in which the critical period for language acquisition is understood -- affecting all the parameters deemed to be theoretically significant and indeed also relating to the ways in which the purported critical period is interpreted in terms of its implications for L2 instruction."(P 269).

Conclusion

The study summarizes a research paper titled "The Critical Period Hypothesis: A coat of many colors" (Singleton, 2005). The…

References

Hyltenstam, K & Abrahamsson, N. (2003). Maturational constraints in SLA. In the

Handbook of Second Language Acquisition, Catherine Doughty and Michael H. Long (eds.),

539 -- 588. Malden, MA: Blackwell.

Johnston, R. (2002). Addressing the age factor: Some Implication for Language policy: University of Stirling, Scotland

The confidence of non-native speaker teachers is expected to be strengthened by better, more direct, access to the way native speakers use the language. ut an option not on offer so far (and, of course, a task impossible for a corpus called the ritish National Corpus) is to give these non-native speaker teachers access to a corpus capturing the successful use of English among non-native speakers, as a lingua franca, thus offering supremely relevant models for many learners wishing to use the language for similar purposes. So when Aston and urnard refer to ?the political implications of changing the basis on which assessments of correctness or appropriateness of usage are made? what has changed about the "basis" is how it can be accessed, not how it is defined. There is also another problem that operates at a deeper and unrecognized level: the language attitudes of those who, paradoxically, are themselves…

Bibliography

Aston, Guy, & Lou Burnard 1998, the BNC Handbook: Exploring the British National Corpus with SARA Edinburgh: Edinburgh UP.

Ayo Banjo & Andrew Thomas, ed. 1995,. New Englishes: A West African Perspective Ibadan: Mosuro and the British Council.

Graddol, David 1997, the Future of English London: British Council.

Greenbaum, Sidney, ed. 1996, Comparing English Worldwide: The International Corpus of English Oxford: Clarendon.