1. Language and Language
Acquisition
Directions: Navigate through the
presentation. Answer embedded questions
and tasks in your notebook. Respond to final
questions in Blackboard forum.

2. Language is…
An arbitrary set of
sounds and signs
that have meaning in
social settings
Define each of the highlighted words. What is the significance of each to
the definition of language?

3. Characteristics of Language
Languages are…
 Systematic
 Complex & Social
 Equal
 Evolutionary
 Creative
 Human
 Means of Communication
See module readings for deeper explanations. Click on links for more info.

4. Languages are systematic.
 Rule governed structure
 Sounds form words; words together make meaning
 Grammatical structure
– Learned through immersion
– Tacit knowledge
– Descriptive (describing) vs. prescriptive (right and wrong)
– Context meaning supersedes grammatical structure
Try a Mad Lib here: http://www.madglibs.com/
How do Mad Libs demonstrate that languages are
systematic?
Back to Characteristics

5. Languages are social.
 Changes depending on situation
 Dialect (marks who we are)
 Register (marks where and when we are)
 Convergence (attempting to speak like others)
 Divergence (attempting to show difference in
speech from others)
 Inadequacy felt when exposure to an
environment is limited
Additional Reading 1 List some of your different languages.
When have you tried to converge?
Back to Characteristics Diverge?

6. Language is a means of
communication.
 Speech (oral and aural)
 Writing
The Great Divide Theory (orality vs. literacy)
– Continuum
– Additional Reading 2
How does the Great Divide Theory play out in school? What implicit
beliefs must teachers realize in order to value the literacy that all
students bring to the classroom?
Continue

7. Orality to Literacy
Orality Literacy
 Fleeting  Lasting
 Illogical  Logical
 Narrative, myth,  Analytic
poetry  Skill stratification
 Situated in social  Writing as a tool for
settings advancement
Back to the Great Divide Theory

8. What do you think?
 “Spoken language is the real language,
and writing is merely a representation of
it” (Thomas & Tchudi, 1999, p. 45).
 “If speaking makes us human, writing
makes us civilized” (Pyles & Alger, 1994,
p. 9).
Select one quotation and respond to it.

9. Linguistics: The structure of
language
 Phonetics
 Phonology
 Semantics
 Syntax
 Morphology
 Pragmatics
See module readings for deeper explanations. Click on links for more info.

10. Phonetics
 The study of speech sounds
– Considers where sounds are produced in the
body
– Considers the property of sounds (intensity,
frequency, duration)
– Uses phonetic symbols
Make the “s” sound. Now make
the “z” sound. What is different in
your body? Your mouth stays the
same; the “z” requires you to
activate your vocal chords.
Back to Linguistics

11. Phonology
 The study of use of sounds in a language
– Phoneme: basic unit of sound in a language
– How and where sounds occur
– Looks at patterns
– Phonemic awareness – ability to distinguish and
produce sounds and to combine them to form words
Put your hand in front of your mouth. Say the word
“spin.” Now say the word “pop.” What do you
notice about the pronunciation of “p?” In English
the aspirated and non-aspirated “p” does not differ
in meaning. In some languages aspiration changes
Back to Linguistics the meaning.

12. Semantics
 The study of meaning in language
 Relationships and schema important
Have you ever said, “It’s just semantics.”
Semantics might be more important than we make
it out to be!
Back to Linguistics

13. Syntax (Grammar)
 The study of how words are arranged to
form meaningful utterances (word order)
S --- V --- O
In English sentence order follows subject-
verb-object patterns. Do you speak
another language? What is the sentence
Back to Linguistics pattern for that language?

14. Morphology
 The study of how words are structured
– Focus is on meaning
– Smallest unit is morpheme
 Free morpheme - can stand on its own
 Bound morpheme – must be attached to a free
morpheme
S = plural
CAT

15. Test Yourself
NOUNS VERBS
 Morphology
– Add “s” to make plural
 Syntax
– Modified by adjectives
 Semantics
– Person, place, thing,
or idea

16. Learning Language
 Emergent Literacy
 Early Literacy
 Primary and Secondary Discourses

17. Emergent Literacy
 Acquisition of language is oral,
transactional, and cultural.
 Print is situated in contexts of meaning –
homes and communities.
 Understandings about print are developed
at a young age.
Features of Emergent Literacy

18. Features of Emergent Literacy
You are developing it if you have…
 Awareness that print symbolizes objects and represents
speech
 Appreciation for functional uses of print
 Recognition of word boundaries
 Letter recognition that comes with understanding the
alphabet
 Emerging phonemic awareness, or how words “sound”
 Facilitated by a rich print culture
 Understanding of who gets to participate and how
Back to Language Learning

19. Early Literacy
 Presumes emergent literacy has developed prior to
formal schooling
 Move to formal instruction
 Focuses on decoding of more complicated sounds,
combinations, and structures
 Fundamental disagreements on the nature of instruction
(phonics vs. whole language)
What was your formal literacy instruction like?
Back to Language Learning

20. Features of Early Literacy
 PHONICS
– Direct instruction
– Reading begins with mastery of component
skills (sounds, syntax, semantics)
– Emphasis on phonemic awareness and sound-
letter correspondence
– Learning to read precedes reading to learn
– Reading precedes writing
Back to Early Literacy

21. Features of Early Literacy
 WHOLE LANGUAGE
– Reading situated in functional literacy events
– Emphasis on engagement with whole texts
and plot prediction
– Learning to read and reading to learn occur
simultaneously
– Reading and writing are integrated strategies
Back to Early Literacy

22. What is Discourse?
 Additional Reading 3 and 4
– “Big D” discourse
– Primary and Secondary Discourse
 How do we help students acquire an
academic Discourse?

23. Questions to ponder:
Post responses to Blackboard
 What consequences exist in severing
literacy from orality in the classroom?
 How does a student’s primary
Discourse/discourse affect his/her
classroom experience? Consider the
various aspects of linguistics as you
respond.