What Should Classroom Teachers Know About Linguistics and Language?
It is important for classroom teachers to have a working knowledge of both oral and written language. In particular, teachers should be able to answer the following 10 questions proposed by Wong-Fillmore and Snow (2000) regarding linguistic issues and their relevance to the classroom.
Oral Language
1. What are the basic units of language?
Language is composed of different sized units-phonemes, morphemes, words, sentences, and discourses. Language is arbitrary. Sounds sequences themselves have no meaning. Meaning is socially and culturally constructed. Therefore, a sequence of sounds that is meaningful in English may have no meaning or a different meaning in another language.
2. What is regular and what isn't? How do forms relate to each other?
Can a speaker use dived and dove? Why do we say shyness and not shyment or shyhood? The answers lie in the understanding of the principles of word formation. Being able to parse new words into their component parts aids in vocabulary acquisition.
3. How is vocabulary acquired and structured?
It takes multiple encounters with a word in meaningful contexts for students to acquire that word. Knowing a word involves not only defining it, but understanding how it relates to similar forms, using it grammatically, and relating it to other words/concepts. Exposure to vocabulary in a vivid relevant way is most valuable, as well as grouping new vocabulary items with other words related to the same topic.
4. Are vernacular dialects different from "bad English" and if so, how?
English has many dialects associated with geographical regions or social classes. They are distinguished by their sound system, grammar, and vocabulary. Standard dialects are often considered more desirable, but this is a matter of social convention. Vernacular dialects are just as regular and as useful as standard ones. This normal language variation is often misunderstood in school systems.
5. What is academic English?
Academic English involves a broad range of language proficiency. It is cognitively demanding and relatively decontextualized. It entails a broad knowledge of words, phrases, grammar, and pragmatic conventions. For example, students are often asked to summarize and/or analyze texts. This involves using linguistic clues to interpret the author's messages combined with assessing his use of language to express perspective and mood. In addition, they may need to extract precise information from a text and implement an appropriate problem solving strategy based on this information. Therefore, explicit teaching of language structure is crucial to all classroom teachers.
6. Why has the acquisition of English by non-English-Speaking children not been more universally successful?
In order to acquire English, students must interact directly and often with people who know the language well enough to be models of good communication. Additionally, direct instruction aids in their progress. When these two conditions are not met, ELLs will learn English from one another-"Learnerese." This variety of English allows students to speak fluently and with confidence, but may not help them to meet the demands of academic English.
Written Language
1. Why is English spelling so complicated?
Unlike other languages, English has never had a language academy charged with regular review and reform of orthography as to eliminate inconsistencies and reflect change. Furthermore, English retains the spelling of morphological units, even when the rules of pronunciation mean that phonemes within these units vary (i.e. compete, competitive, competition). Thus, in English Orthography the match of sound and spelling that has developed is complex and depends on many factors such as knowledge of alphabet, pattern, and meaning. .
2. Why do students have trouble with structuring narrative and expository writing?
Students may include culturally based text structures that contrast with those expected in schools. Mainstream English stories focus on clear, ordered events. Stories from other cultures may value personal relationships more than plot or author's message more that description. Similarly, argument structures vary across cultures. There are different ways to make a point. English writing typically focuses on topic sentences, five point paragraphs, compare/contrast essays, etc. These concepts may be absent in literacy traditions associated with other languages.
3. How should one judge the quality and correctness of a piece of writing?
In order to judge the quality of students writing, teachers need to understand the intricacies of English structure and give students direct instruction in the features of written language. They must explicitly teach them how to write and give informative feedback in order for them to become more effective writers.
4. What makes a sentence or text easy or difficult to understand?
Educators need to develop a sense about what is appropriate text in order to make smart instructional decisions. Simplified texts are often unnatural and do not serve as models of academic English. Well-written, grade appropriate text give students access to the kind of writing necessary to enhance their vocabulary, grammar, and rhetorical skills. Teachers can support language development by incorporating a variety of text structures and showing students how language is used in each.