English for Academic Skills
Independence
[EASI]
Session 2
Vocabulary
A quick review
From Session 1: Vocabulary learning strategies
• Share with a partner:
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Which strategy/strategies have you tried?
Were they useful?
Why/why not?
Which strategy/strategies will you try next?
Read a lot
Guess meaning from context
Advanced Learner’s Dictionary
Record (flashcards)
Repeat and review
Associations/connections
Mnemonics
Use it or lose it
By the end of this session you will be able to …
• give examples of seven features of informal
language
• use appropriate formal language to replace informal
language
Formal vs informal
Are you doing anything this weekend?
Compare:
Yeah no, I’m gonna chillax with my bros.
Yes, I shall relax and engage in some enjoyable activities with my friends.
Compare:
Facebook’s become like so globally epic.
Facebook has become enormously popular throughout the world.
Formal English at university
Formal English is expected in academic writing and
speaking contexts.
What do we mean by formal English?
Types of informal language
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Informal/slang words
Contractions
Personal pronouns
Generalisations
Vague language
Phrasal verbs
Incomplete sentences (fragments)
Informal/slang words
Heaps of students already use Facebook for socialising.
Many students already use Facebook for socialising.
Contractions
It’s clear that social networking sites can be fertile
creative spaces.
It is clear that social networking sites can be fertile
creative spaces.
Personal pronouns
Being engaged in your learning is a crucial ingredient in
your chances of success.
Being engaged in (their) learning is a crucial ingredient
in a student’s chances of success.
Generalisations
Websites can enable students to collaborate.
Social networking websites can enable tertiary students
to collaborate on group assignments and projects.
Vague language
The tertiary education sector is taking some interest in
how things such as Facebook can be used in stuff.
The tertiary education sector is taking considerable
interest in how websites such as Facebook can be used
in learning and teaching.
Phrasal verbs
Social networking websites offer rich opportunities for
students to hook up on creative projects.
Social networking websites offer rich opportunities for
students to collaborate on creative projects.
List of phrasal verbs and academic equivalents
Incomplete sentences
Although Facebook offers some exciting opportunities
for learning and teaching. Lecturers have concerns
about its potentially negative impact on academic
performance and privacy.
Although Facebook offers some exciting opportunities
for learning and teaching, lecturers have concerns
about its potentially negative impact on academic
performance and privacy.
Activity
• Work with a partner
• Look at the samples of informal language in the
left-hand column
• Choose words from the right-hand column to make
the language more formal
Activity
Informal sentences
Formal language
Vague language
At some time or other, there were some
people using Facebook a few times.
Phrasal verbs
For students to get on with each other in
the ways mapped out in the previous
paragraphs requires the development of
their digital and academic literacies.
described
on a monthly basis
as of June 2012
engage
955 million
1. Identify the vague language and the phrasal verbs.
2. Choose some formal language from the right-hand column to replace the informal
language.
Answers
Formal sentences
Vague language
As of June 2012, there were 955 million
people using Facebook on a monthly
basis.
Informal language
at some time or other
Phrasal verbs
For students to engage with each other in
the ways described in the previous
paragraphs requires the development of
their digital and academic literacies.
For more practice, visit the EASI webpage:
- scroll down the page to ‘Learning resources’
- scroll to Session 2: Vocabulary
some
a few times
get on
mapped out
Homework
Start making lists of informal and formal language pairs:
Formal
Full forms
Informal [avoid this usage!]
Abbreviations
New Zealand, cannot, did not, for
example
NZ, can’t, didn’t, e.g.
Precise terms
Colloquial language
children, infants, the vast majority, kids, loads of, got
78%, have
Useful links
Helpful advice and practice for spoken English from the BBC:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/worksheet/en37spea-l1-wformal-or-not
Writing style and advice from Edinburgh Napier University:
http://www2.napier.ac.uk/gus/writing_presenting/style.html