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Linguistics at school

Linguistics at school. Dick Hudson Sheffield, May 2006. My main message . Linguistics can and should be taught in primary and secondary schools. In fact, it is already being taught there under other names: Knowledge About Language Language Awareness

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Linguistics at school

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  1. Linguistics at school Dick Hudson Sheffield, May 2006

  2. My main message • Linguistics can and should be taught in primary and secondary schools. • In fact, it is already being taught there under other names: Knowledge About Language Language Awareness • Linguists should be working hard to build bridges to education.

  3. Recent developments in England • National Curriculum for England: English (1988, 1995, 1999) • The National Literacy Strategy (1999) • The Primary National Strategy (2003) • The Secondary National Strategy (2005) • National Curriculum for England: Modern Foreign Languages (1999) • Languages for All: Languages for Life – a strategy for England (2002)

  4. Some terminology • Primary • Key Stage 1 = Reception + Year 1-2, age 5-7 • KS 2 = Year 3-6, age 8-11 • Secondary • KS 3 = Year 7-9, age 12-14 • KS 4 = Year 10-11, age 15-16 • Advanced Level = Year 12-13, age 17-18

  5. A sample page of the National Curriculum for England: English

  6. Language variation “Language variation Pupils should be taught about how speech varies: a. in different circumstances (example: to reflect on how their speech changes in more formal situations) b. to take account of different listeners (example: adapting what they say when speaking to people they do not know).”

  7. Language structure • Pupils learn to pay attention to structure: • In reading • In writing • In speaking and listening • Structure is divided into three parts: • Word level – morphology, spelling, vocabulary • Sentence level - syntax • Text level – cohesion, genre

  8. Reading at KS2 “Knowledge, skills and understanding Reading strategies To read with fluency, accuracy and understanding, pupils should be taught to use: • phonemic awareness and phonic knowledge • word recognition and graphic knowledge • knowledge of grammatical structures • contextual understanding.”

  9. Writing at KS2 “Language structure Pupils should be taught: • word classes and the grammatical functions of words, including nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, … • the features of different types of sentence, including statements, questions and commands, and how to use them (example, imperatives in commands) • the grammar of complex sentences, including clauses, phrases and connectives”

  10. Spelling at KS3 and 4 “Pupils should be taught to: • increase their knowledge of regular patterns of spelling, word families, roots of words and derivations, including stem, prefix, suffix, inflection • apply their knowledge of word formation”

  11. More precisely • The National Curriculum for English is supported by ‘frameworks’ for • ‘Literacy’ at KS1 and 2 • ‘English’ at KS3 • These define details of the • content • method

  12. Overview of primary literacy

  13. E.g. Year 3, Term 1:

  14. For example “Pupils should be taught: • the function of verbs in sentences through: • noticing that sentences cannot make sense without them; • collecting and classifying examples of verbs from reading and own knowledge, e.g. run, chase, sprint; eat, consume, gobble; said, whispered, shrieked; • experimenting with changing simple verbs in sentences and discussing their impact on meaning;”

  15. Method • Noticing patterns • Collecting examples • Classifying examples • Experimenting with new combinations • For example, in Year 3, Term 3, they might study conjunctions. • See “Grammar for Writing”:

  16. Is it linguistics? • It’s the study of language. • It’s explicit, using technical terms. • Even determiner and phoneme! • It aims at understanding, not rote learning. • Children discover and explore patterns. • The facts are integrated into a simple model of language. • It’s descriptive, not prescriptive. So yes, it is linguistics.

  17. Did it come from linguists? • Ultimately, yes: • Randolph Quirk and Michael Halliday (1960-1970+) sowed the seeds in schools. • A few linguists watered them in schools and committees during the 1980s. • A few linguists harvested the crop recently. • But the seeds grew in the minds of school teachers, some of whom are now leaders.

  18. KAL outside primary literacy • Literacy at KS3 (and KS4) continues KS2. • Foreign language teaching at KS2 and KS3 now builds on English. • Advanced-level English Language • Since 1975 • Linguistic approaches to language • 25,000 students per year! • Advanced-level linguistics is being considered.

  19. KS3 English

  20. Foreign Languages • Are in crisis. Declining uptake at A-level and BA But increasingly popular in University Language Centres and Adult education • Why? The Universal English Myth: everyone else speaks English, so why bother? Or boring syllabuses?

  21. The TES view (11/6/04)

  22. The diagnosis • “Boring GCSE courses are to blame for putting pupils off languages …” • “Some high-flying children find it a bit trivial to order ice cream in French when in chemistry or history they are doing so much more sophisticated work” (Nat Assn of Lang Advisers)

  23. The solution: KS3 MFL

  24. The aim “… not merely to inform the teaching of languages but also to create language learners. Pupils … should develop an understanding of what it means to learn a foreign language … They should thus be well placed to learn other languages later.”

  25. How to achieve it? • Focus the teaching. • Provide challenge. • Make concepts and conventions explicit. • [Make learning structured, active, etc.] • Build reflection.

  26. The role of grammar. • “… grammar is to be presented not as a separate issue but rather as a system or set of underlying operational principlesthat support learning about words, sentences, texts and communication.” • But: “The Framework should not be seen as a dry menu of linguistics. Imaginative and creative work …”

  27. Linguistics has an image problem…

  28. Some principles to be learned • About words: “Often small words/concepts (me, that, for, to, of) are more difficult to transfer to the foreign language than ‘bigger’ words (September, station) but are more important to master.” • About sentences: “Words in a foreign language may well be in a different order from the English equivalent, but there will be a system behind the order of words: learning that system is to learn the grammar of a language.”

  29. For example, sentences: • Year 7: “How to recognise and apply typical word order in short phrases and sentences” (+ 8 more) • Year 8: “How the main elements of simple and complex sentences are usually sequenced.” • Year 9: “That emphasis in a sentence can be changed by positioning words, phrases and clauses.”

  30. A revolution in FL teaching • The five language strands “challenge teachers to pay fresh and urgent attention to language at every level. A foreign language is more than a huge vocabulary, a phrase book, an elaborate guessing game or a dry academic discipline …” • “For some departments, the emphasis on words and sentences may represent a shift of focus …” • “… pupils themselves have identified the need for such work.” (KS3 Framework)

  31. Building on the Literacy revolution • “The Framework [for FL] is deliberately similar to the National Literacy Strategy and the KS3 English Framework and attempts to build on the linguistic skills which pupils bring with them to the study of a modern language.” (Baroness Ashton)

  32. Primary FL teaching • MFL is now optional at KS4 • But obligatory at KS2 (from 2010) • Even more ‘linguistic’ than KS3 Framework • Great stress on Knowledge About Language

  33. KS2 MFL “The Objectives comprise three clearly progressive core strands of teaching and learning,over the four years of KS2: • Oracy • Literacy • Intercultural understanding. In addition, two cross-cutting strands are included: • Knowledge about Language (KAL) • Language Learning Strategies (LLS)”

  34. L1 meets FL • L1 English (KS1-3) • the Literacy Strategy • FL (KS2-3) • Linked explicitly to the Literacy Strategy • For the first time we have “language” in the school curriculum!!! • This link builds on linguistics

  35. A-level English Language • In 2003 English Language or Lang and Lit were taken: At A-level (A2) by 25K candidates At AS by 36K • QCA’s requirements: • AS and A level specifications in English Language should encourage students to develop their interest and enjoyment in the use of English, through learning more about the structures and functions of English, drawing on their experience and knowledge of language change and variation. …

  36. A-level Linguistics • Why not? • Consolidates KAL from: English/literacy MFL • Good education: • Relevant to language skills and personal development • Develops analytical thinking • A working group is developing a syllabus.

  37. Possible topics for Linguistics A-level • IPA • sound systems • writing systems • comparison of languages • foreign languages • community languages • data-sets, e.g. ...

  38. Lithuanian diminutives 3 syllables 2 syllables juostelé ??? Task 1. Fill the gaps. Task 2. What can you say about the pronunciation of uo in Lithuanian? Explain.

  39. Linguistic brain-teasers

  40. The Linguistics Olympiads • Started in Russia for school children. • Now international, hosted in: • Russia, Bulgaria, The Netherlands, Estonia • Based on grammar puzzles • including word formation • e.g. Lithuanian diminutives

  41. A career for linguistics graduates? • Primary teacher • general, including literacy • FL specialists are being recruited • Secondary teacher • English teachers are becoming specialists in language or literature (or media or drama) • Route in via PGCE English • Linguistics is a good basis for either

  42. How can linguists help? • This is the topic for a discussion at the next LAGB meeting • Newcastle, August 31 or September 1 • A-level English Language (Julie Blake) • Phonics (Sue Barry) • The rest of English (? Janet White) • Foreign Languages (James Burch)

  43. Thank you • This slide show: www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/dick/talks.htm • Educational links: www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/dick/lagb-las.htm • Papers about linguistics in education: www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/dick/papers.htm

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