ASSIGNMENT 509
Task B
AIM
• Analyse how individual speakers and writers choose varieties, registers and
styles according to personal, social, political and cultural factors
• How language is used in the formation, maintenance and transformation of
power relations
• Personal, social and cultural factors influencing ESOL learners; language
acquisition, learning and use
• The impact of a range of learning difficulties and disabilities on literacy and
language teaching and learning
VARIETIES, REGISTERS AND STYLES
ACCORDING TO PERSONAL AND
SOCIAL FACTORS
• How an individual chooses varieties,
registers and styles depends on his/her
personality:
• How an individual chooses varieties,
registers and styles also depends on:
• The topic being discussed
• The setting, i.e.: school for example
• The format of the interaction: job
interview for ex.
• Another example of a formal register is
Medical discourse: Doctor-patient
communication
• The audience: a mother will adopt a
different style and register with her
baby as opposed to having a
conversation with her boss for example
Different language varieties are
associated with social meaning.
Language conveys information about an
individual. However, language varieties
can also represent different aspects of
an individuals' identity or to balance
competing identities.
Codeswitching:
Alternating between two or more
languages, or language varieties, in the
context of a single conversation
• Accommodation theory
This theory suggests that speakers will
converge towards their interlocutor when
they wish to reduce social distance, or
get on with one another. They will diverge
when they wish to emphasise their
differences or increase social distance.
• Audience design
A theory developed by Allan Bell. It
suggests that the person or people an
individual is speaking to will have the
greatest effect on the type of language
s/he uses.
Graddol, Leith, Swann, Rhys, Gillen, 'Changing English', 1996, London, Routledge/Milton Keynes, The Open University
VARIETIES, REGISTERS AND STYLES
ACCORDING TO PERSONAL AND
SOCIAL FACTORS
Deborah Tannen states that women tend to focus
more on interactional and interpersonal aspects
of the conversation. Men tend to focus much
more on the content and are more direct.
http://faculty.georgetown.edu/tannend/TANNEN%20AR
TICLES/PDFs%20of%20Tannen%20Articles/2003/gender%2
0and%20family%20interaction.pdf
VARIETIES, REGISTERS AND STYLES
ACCORDING TO POLITICAL AND
CULTURAL FACTORS
VARIETIES, REGISTERS AND STYLES
ACCORDING TO POLITICAL AND
CULTURAL FACTORS
English is used by approx. 1
billion people. Less than half of
those are native speakers.
English can be spoken as:
a ‘foreign’ language
a ‘second’
language
There are different
varieties of
English:
Multi cultural London
English
Cockney English
Standard English
British English
Patois
Indian English
Irish English
The perception of RP has
changed dramatically and it is
now the accent of ‘evil’
Hollywood casts villains with RP,
which is demonstrated in the
video below:
VARIETIES, REGISTERS AND STYLES
ACCORDING TO POLITICAL AND
CULTURAL FACTORS
Received Pronunciation (RP): the
standard accent of Standard
English
RP used to be the ‘educated accent’. Regional accent
used to be unflavoured in the media. The ‘broadcast’
voice used to be exclusively ‘RP’
BBC was founded in 1922. The precise nature of the voices
heard on the airwaves was a subject of urgent discussion
from the outset. The presenters were initially required to
eradicate all traces of regionality from their speech. The
voice of authority, RP, was largely disseminated. Swann
1996
VARIETIES, REGISTERS AND STYLES
ACCORDING TO POLITICAL AND
CULTURAL FACTORS
Depending on the targeted audience, the viewpoint or a political conviction, different
registers or styles will be used in the press. Some articles may contain emotive language,
others may be inciting hatred towards specific groups. An example may include referring
to the unemployed as ‘spongers’ or referring to migrants as ‘cockroaches’. Another
example is illustrated below:
Here's an interesting and
provocative initiative - an exercise
aimed at illustrating the racism
suffered by gypsies (and Roma, and
Travellers) by substituting the word
Jew (or Jewish) in headlines that
mention those groups in a
pejorative way.
"We have got to change the behaviour and the
culture of…the Roma community, because there's
going to be an explosion otherwise. We all know
that." – David Blunkett.
http://pipopotamus.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/genocide-by-another-nameblunkett.html?m=1
http://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2011/apr/27/roma-gypsies-and-travellers-dailymail
• FORMATION OF POWER
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuB6n5b-p9E&feature=youtu.be
11.20 – 12.30
• The above video is an excerpt of a speech of
Louis Farrakhan Muhammad, the leader of the religious group Nation
of Islam. He is attempting to form power by using language for
persuasion. Farrakhan portrays himself as a passionate, righteously
angry man. This is apparent through his tone of voice, rising intonation
and body language, i.e. hitting the table with his hand. He also pauses
between his statements, alternating between righteously angry and
sophisticated persona for a greater impact. His rhetoric shares
similarities with political discourse. Farrakhan makes a great use of
personal pronouns by addressing his listeners as ‘you’, hence making
a direct connection with his audience. He uses the first person plural
‘we’ on some occasions. This suggests that Farrakhan is willing to share
some responsibility for success with his followers. He however makes it
clear that is it him who is in a position to give orders.
TRANSFORMING POWER
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCCBeqLZEVw&feature=youtu.be
• 35.40-38.40 mins (3min)
• The above video is an excerpt from a BBC 3 Drama ‘Killed by my boyfriend’,
based on a true story. The clip shows the main protagonist Ashley,
confronting her boyfriend Reece whom she suspects of cheating. Reece
uses the technique of deflection to transform the situation and win the
argument.
TRANSFORMING POWER
• In addition to using non-verbal language, Reece responds to Ashley’s
confrontation of his actions by changing the focus onto her behavior. He
brings up a counter complaint and consequently shifts the power dynamics.
Reece also reframes ‘parenting’ by misusing the word ‘babysitting.’ The
definite shift in power occurs when he raises his voice and his tone becomes
aggressive. In order to further confuse his interlocutor Ashley, Reece then
changes his tone of voice once again to a soft, almost patronizing tone. He
repeatedly states that he loves her and further tries to discredit her by
focusing on her insecurities. The interlocutor Ashley loses her power entirely.
She ends up very frustrated, scared and confused, gradually losing the
legitimacy of her initial complaint. As a result, she apologizes and Reece wins
the argument. It is a clear example of transforming and abusing power.
MAINTAINING POWER
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_I_GYgGjxFM&sns=em
• 7-7.08 (8sec)
• The above video depicts a judge repeatedly shouting ‘order, order!’ to
maintain her power of a temporarily disordered courtroom. It is a clear
example of how language is used to maintain power.
FACTORS INFLUENCING ESOL
LEARNERS
Affective Filter hypothesis, embodies Krashen's view that a
number of 'affective variables' play a facilitative, but noncausal, role in second language acquisition. These
variables include: motivation, self-confidence and anxiety.
Krashen claims that learners with high motivation, selfconfidence, a good self-image, and a low level of anxiety
are better equipped for success in second language
acquisition. Low motivation, low self-esteem, and
debilitating anxiety can combine to 'raise' the affective
filter and form a 'mental block' that prevents
comprehensible input from being used for acquisition. In
other words, when the filter is 'up' it impedes language
acquisition. On the other hand, positive affect is necessary,
but not sufficient on its own, for acquisition to take place.
http://www.sk.com.br/sk-krash.html
FACTORS INFLUENCING ESOL
LEARNERS
• Factors influencing ESOL learners can be divided into 4 main groups:
• Cultural. Some examples may include:
• Cultural expectations about the position of women in the society
• Educational: ESOL learners can be divided into 3 main groups. The first group of
ESOL learners are highly educated in their first language and use the Roman
script; the second group is highly educated in L1 but use a different alphabet;
the third group is illiterate in L1 and received little or no formal education
• Dispositional: ESOL learners are individuals hence have different values and
views regarding the role of education; some may have negative attitude
towards E&D. Learners also have different ambitions, expectations as well as
levels of confidence.
• Circumstantial: lack of childcare, the travel costs to an organisation may not be
affordable, learners may be unsettled, homeless or live in overcrowded housing.
Some Ls may have irregular work patterns which makes attending an
organisation very difficult, others may have personal or family problems.
THE SAPIR-WHORF HYPOTHESIS
• Many thinkers have urged that large differences in
language lead to large differences in experience and
thought. They hold that each language embodies a
worldview, with quite different languages embodying quite
different views, so that speakers of different languages think
about the world in quite different ways. This view is
sometimes called the Whorf-hypothesis or the Whorf-Sapir
hypothesis
• http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/relativism/supplement2.html
IMPACT OF LEARNING DIFFICULTIES AND
DISABILITIES ON LITERACY AND LANGUAGE
TEACHING AND LEARNING
• The report of the Disability Rights Task Force (December 1999), From Exclusion to
Inclusion estimates that at least 8.5 million people currently meet the Disability
Discrimination Act definition.
http://rwp.excellencegateway.org.uk/resource/Access+for+All/pdf/
• People with disabilities are more likely to be unemployed, live in poverty and have
health problems. Learning difficulties and disabilities result in poor literacy skills
(difficulty or lateness in acquiring reading and writing skills.) Some learners may be
functionally illiterate. Others may have problems such as:
• erratic spelling
• Text comprehension or inference difficulties
• an inability to scan or skim text.
• Illegible handwriting
LEARNING DIFFICULTIES
• The term learning difficulties or disabilities is used to include learners with:
• clearly identified learning difficulties;
• physical and sensory impairments – for example those with mobility
difficulties or hearing or visual impairments;
• unseen disabilities such as health conditions, mental health difficulties and
dyslexia;
• those whose disrupted learning experiences (for example those in offender
establishments) and difficulties with learning have led them to work at a
significantly lower level than the majority of their peers.
http://rwp.excellencegateway.org.uk/resource/ESOL+Access+for+All+-+Part+1/pdf/
SPECIFIC LEARNING DIFFICULTIES
• Dyslexia is a hidden disability thought to affect around 10% of the population, 4%
severely. It is the most common of the Specific Learning Difficulties, a family of
related conditions with considerable overlap or co-occurrence. Together these are
believed to affect around 15% of people to a lesser or greater extent.
•
• Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLDs) affect the way information is learned and
processed. They are neurological (rather than psychological), usually hereditary
and occur independently of intelligence. They include:
• Dyslexia
• Dyspraxia or Development Co-ordination Disorder
• Dyscalculia
• Attention Deficit Disorder
http://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/dyslexic/dyslexia-and-specific-learning-difficulties-in-adults
LITERACY
•Literacy covers the ability to:
• speak, listen and respond
• read and comprehend
• write to communicate.
http://rwp.excellencegateway.org.uk/resource/Access+for+
All/pdf/
AUDITORY PROCESSING DISORDER
• An "auditory processing disorder" is a hearing or listening
problem which makes processing sounds more difficult. A
learner with this disorder may have difficulties with
phonological and phonemic awareness as well as reading
and spelling.
• Learners often find it difficult to pay attention, listen to, and
remember information presented verbally.
Dyslexia
The image below is an example of visual stress which can be experienced by dyslexic readers.
Text can appear blurred or distorted.
Characteristic features of dyslexia are:
• difficulties in phonological awareness,
verbal memory and verbal processing
speed.
• Accompanying weaknesses may be
identified in areas of speed of
processing, short-term memory,
organization, sequencing, spoken
language and motor skills. There may
also be difficulties with auditory and /or
visual perception.
http://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/dyslexic/definitions
ACCESS FOR ALL
• Access for All and ESOL Access for All were
developed to support teachers using the adult
core curricula in literacy, numeracy and ESOL
who had learners with learning difficulties or
disabilities in their classes.
• http://rwp.excellencegateway.org.uk/Access%20for
%20All/
BIBLIOGRAPHY
• British Dyslexia Association
• http://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/dyslexic/dyslexia-and-specific-learningdifficulties-in-adults
• interview with Diana Eades and Janet Holmes, U211 CD4, The Open
University
• http://rwp.excellencegateway.org.uk/Access%20for%20All/
• Graddol, Leith, Swann, Rhys, Gillen, 'Changing English', 1996, London,
Routledge/Milton Keynes, The Open University
• http://cultinformation.org.uk/