ESC 757 Homework #4
Name Kim Kerr
Topic: Semantic Concepts
1. Provide four examples of each of these semantic relationships:
Homonym pairs
Homophone pairs
Homograph pairs
(with definitions)
(with definitions)
Same sound
Same sound
Same spelling
Different meaning
Different meaning
Different meaning
<(may differ sound)>
Usually same spelling (may differ spelling)
stalk (noun, of a
wood/would
bow (of a ship)
plant) vs.
bow (and arrow)
stalk (verb, to follow)
1. Address- location/
1. Knew/New
1. bass – voice, fish
verb
2. batter – strike/
1.Do – Verb, noun
(Music note)
2. Mail/ Male
cake
3. check – test/ bank
Heteronyms/phones
(with definitions)
Same spelling
Different meaning
<Different sound
desert (to abandon)
vs. desert (arid
region)
2. right – correct,
2. wind – noun/ verb
- direction
3. Ate/ Eight;
3. bright – light
to(preposition)
3. minute – time/tiny
- smart
/two(#)/too(also)
4. colon –
4. Pear/ Pair;
punctuation, body
- Here/ Hear;
4. save – rescue
- preserve
- Dyed/died
Synonym pairs
warm/tepid
1. afraid/ scared
Antonyms pairs
hot/cold
1. good/ bad
(red/blue?)
4.record – verb/ noun;
- Drawer – wardrobe/
artist
Polysemes
mouth (of a river)
Capitonyms
polish (verb)
mouth (of a cave)
Polish (adj.)
1. pupil – eye,
1.Cancer – constellation
student;
Cancer – disease
police – verb/noun
2. smart/ intelligent
2. big/ small
2. arm – body,
weapon
2. March – month
March - verb
Ring – jewelry, boxing
3. tired/ sleepy
3. sweet/ bitter
3.Play – activities, a
drama show
4. beautiful/ gorgeous
4. huge/ tiny
4. light – sun, weight
3. Turkey – Country
turkey – dinner
4.Job – Hebrew name
job - work
2. Choose one of the semantic concepts from the top row (homonyms, homophones,
homograph, or heteronyms) and discuss one idea for teaching it to a group of ELLs. (one
paragraph).
I would like to teach homophones which particularly stand out to ELLs. Although Homophones may
include homonyms, depending on the level I may divide the topics by definition and do two
separate lessons. To start off easy, I’d go with same sound, different spelling and different
meaning.
For deductive learning and student discovery, I would first start with
two visuals of each word that has the same sound such as mail/male,
pair/pear and ate/eight without the writing. I would let the students
know which letter the words start with
for focus and when the students figure
out the word I would have them spell it
in groups, depending on the level.
I would ask what the difference in
meaning, spelling and sound is. This should lead to a discussion of
why the words sound the same but have different spellings and
meanings.
Then I can follow with more
examples and the definition of
homophones.
I can also ask the students to
make some up for assessment.
Other activities include Homophone matching cards.
For a follow up lesson, if I plan to do homonyms, I will use homonym bingo
(<- which I actually own -_-) and fill in the blank or circle the right one
worksheets, where students complete the sentence with the proper
homonym.
3. Design an activity for ELLs using one of the pedagogical strategies below:
1. Semantic mapping
2. Word hierarchies (ordering sets of words from least to greatest)
e.g. hut > house > mansion
3. Semantic feature analysis
Describe your activity briefly in about a page. 1. State for which level and age your activity is for, 2.
State the learning objective(s), 3. Have students create something visual (e.g. drawings, diagrams,
etc.) as part of the activity, and 4. Include some way for students to interact with the words in
context by reading and writing them in full sentences.
7th grade intermediate ELLs
Semantic Features Analysis
Objectives
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


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Students will learn about and understand classification of semantics through features
Students will create group diagrams of given topics
Students will create their own semantic feature diagram of the topic of their choice
Students will learn to apply this to other topics
Students will use and learn English words
Following a mini-lesson on the definition of semantics/ word meanings, I would introduce semantic
feature diagrams as a way to display understanding, among semantic mapping and word
hierarchies.
When introducing semantic features, I would give examples to students from topics they already
know such as shapes in math. I will also give different diagram types as visuals for students to
better grasp the concept;
Given such examples, I would model a diagram with help of the whole class with something
student-centered such as videogames or music. For example, we can put the word videogame on
top and ask what it includes. Then all the key words that students say will be listed on a board and
then we can try to organize it. The final organization may look like:
Videogames
Syste
ms
Microsoft
PC
SONY
Game
genre's
Nintedo
Xbox portable
Series
Xbox
Xbox
360
Xbox one
Fanta
sy
Wii
Series RPG
Wii
Gameboy
DS
Series
Wii U
Sports
soccer Skate
Action
BBall
PES20 Tony
15
Hawk
FIFA1
4
2k15
Shooter
Halo
C.O.D
When doing group work I would stress that students follow the top- down model. I would assign
them broad and interesting topics like music, art, animals, food etc..
For the individual part however, I would let them choose different models such as right – left .
I would also have them draft their topic and order, also stressing that the feature choices are
completely up to them with the exception that their organization follows their individual rules or
logic. This should illustrate the subjectivity of semantics.
Students are also able to follow this model with their own language and cultural views. I may even
let students form bilingual diagrams for support. After the drafts are reviewed students would then
make them on poster board with drawings or magazine cut outs and decorations- to present to the
class. To have students interact more with the new vocabulary, I would have them write a short
report on why they chose that grouping or organization and what they concepts were behind it,
4. Metaphors in popular culture
Read NY Times Learning Network article with ideas for teaching metaphors:
http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/14/figuratively-speaking-exploring-howmetaphors-make-meaning/
Briefly discuss an idea for teaching metaphors that you got from reading the article or
from the lecture and discuss how you might adapt it for ELLs. (circa 2 paragraphs).
I like the do–now activity to list a noun. It forces students to shy away from definitions and allows
others to see what the word means to them conceptually. Also the word Love is broad enough for
everyone to relate to. I also like the use of songs and poems to find examples of metaphors. I think
an interesting activity would be “where else can one find metaphors?”
I liked the question – what do we use metaphors for? It also made me think beyond the definition
of metaphors. I usually use metaphors to relate things by degree (as an analogy) or to better
express how I feel about something, in an artsy way.
Therefore the guiding questions are quite useful.


Why are metaphors so common in love songs? Can you think of any songs that talk about love directly, without using
metaphors or similes?
What kinds of metaphors do we use to talk about love – in songs and otherwise? What does this tell us about how love is
perceived in our culture?
Some students are shy to talk about emotional topics but metaphors can also help ELLs express
their diverse cultural understandings.
One activity I would want to do is have students choose a song or a few (raps included) and
underline the metaphors, explaining what they refer to and what their use in that context is. (Some
can cheat on the rap songs by looking up meanings on rapgenius.com) Interested students can
also write their own songs or poems and complete improv metaphor exercises.
5. Fieldwork: Prototype Analysis
Do a prototypical analysis of the word read. Although all of the examples below are examples with
the word read, some are better examples than others of what people think of first when they think
of the work read.
As an example, take the word “green”. Close your eyes and imagine a true green. Now imagine
an bluish green…imagine a yellowish green. Although you might still call all of these “green”, they
are not as good examples of green…as the “true” green. In short, some greens are more
prototypically green than others. The same is true for other categories, i.e., dogs. Some dogs are
thought of as more typical dogs than others. The retriever is more typical than the Pekinese.
Use the worksheet below to survey 10 native speakers of English to get their ratings of the
sentences. Summarize and explain your results in 1 page (typed and double-spaced): Which
sentences received the highest rating? The lowest?
Why do you think your respondents organize the definitions in the ways that they did?
Explain what features seem to characterize the most prototypical examples.
I was able to get just 8 surveys done, mostly by Native English speakers or highly advanced ELLs.
The surveys were ultimately similar in that the people
There was obviously rating differences. Some people percieve the degree of difference, differently
so a 5 to someone could be equivalent to the 3 of another, when I feel like I knew they think
similarly.
What the survey does tell us however is that the closeness to “true” meaning is quite subjective
and does vary in degree per individual. Most of the acceptances of read were close to the verb
form and dictionary’s definition.
The features that characterize the prototypical meaning are therefore; the verb to read, the actions
including literature (novel, newspaper, book, story) and the common uses like read music/ lips/
fortune/degree etc.. By survey, the least great examples of the word read were read law, read him
like a book respectively.
These interpretations are also related to the individual’s exposure to the terms use in that context.
Those familiar with law and such jargon wouldn’t find the use of read out of place, but would
realize its specific use and different semantic function there.
Therefore it’s fair to say that nearly every English speaker include ELLs would understand the
easier/definite meaning of words like read, but would require more exposure and specialization to
grasp the other quite distant meanings. To that extent, there is some sort of hierarchy of meaning
for words with multiple uses and meanings.
1. He read the story to his kids.
1 2 3 4 5
2. Joes’ wife could read him like a book.
1 2 3 4 5
3. He read the music on the stand.
1 2 3 4 5
4. He read the newspaper while eating breakfast.
1 2 3 4 5
5. He read law at the University.
1 2 3 4 5
6. The deaf woman read the lips of her friend.
1 2 3 4 5
7. Tom had his fortune read yesterday.
1 2 3 4 5
8. He read the degrees on the thermometer.
1 2 3 4 5
9. He read the “stop” sign just before it was too late.
1 2 3 4 5
10. He read the novel War and Peace in four days.
1 2 3 4 5