Spelling Jesus Borjas Syntax, Phonology, Morphology, Pragmatics & Semantics • To have the ability to speak a language there must be skills implemented to do it successfully. • • • Appropriately articulation of sounds Grammatical structures Interpreting context • Speaking cannot be separated from listening • Activities such as the following helps assess ELLs speaking skills • • • • • Role playing Skits Retelling a story Presentations Interviews with guided questions and topics Continued • Syntax – Arrangement of words and phrases to create a well-formed sentence • • • • Phonology – A system that brings a relationship to speech sounds Morphology – The study of the forms of words Pragmatics – Language in use and the context of the language Semantics – The meaning of a word, phrase, sentence, or text Integrating the skills of listening and speaking • There are different ways to incorporate these skills in the classroom. • A way to include listening and speaking skills can be done through an oral medium. An example can be an activity like Telephone. Students can play talking to one another over the “phone” and have students repeat what they heard. It can then be compared from the first sentence to the last. Integrating the skills of reading and writing • To integrate skills such as reading and writing by doing a group story writing. • This activity can be done by setting up students into groups. Once they are in groups, each receives a piece of paper in which each student writes a sentence and gets hidden by the next student but adds another sentence. Each student receives a new piece of paper with cues. Students will then read their stories at the end of the turns. A challenge can be placed where students can read the story then try to retell the story without looking. Functions and Registers of Language • There are 5 different functions to language • These include • • • • • Frozen Formal Consultative Casual Intimate • Each of these language registers are used depending on the situation. They will go from most formal to most informal • Having students understand when to change register is important. Students get to understand when to use academic language and when to use conversational. This can help student come up with sentences that use academic vocabulary and have them use conversational language appropriately. Works Cited • Li, Nan. Teaching Ells across Content Areas: Issues and Strategies. Information Age Publishing, Inc, 2016.
