Study Guidelines and Materials for MA Applicants

(Applied Linguistics)

Prepared by: Marwa Mustafa Alkawash

MA student – Zawia University
EFL teacher
Contact: [email protected]

Content is collected, paraphrased and designed through self-study’s experience

“The secret of getting ahead is getting started.” – Mark Twain

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 Content

1. Difference between ‘langue’ and ‘parole’

2. Difference between 'Language' and 'a language'
3. Language properties
4. Nature of language
5. Approaches to Language Acquision
1. Behaviorism
2. nativism ( mentalism )
3. Cognitivism
4. Social-interactionism
6. Branches of linguistics
7. Levels of language
a) Phonetics
b) Phonology
c) Morphology
d) Semantics
e) Syntax
8. English Grammar
9. Terms of language
10.Language skills – subskills
a) Reading
b) listening
c) speaking
d) writing
11.motivation
12.Language learning vs. language acquisition
a) First language acquisition
b) Second language acquisition
13.Common Teaching Methods
a) Grammar Translation Method
b) Direct Method
c) Audio Lingual Method
d) Suggestopedia
e) Communicative Language Teaching
f) Task-based-learning
14.Definitions related to language acquisition, linguistics
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 Difference between ‘langue’ and ‘parole’

The difference between "langue" and "parole" according to Ferdinand de

Saussure is that langue refers to the rules behind the way the language is arranged
and used, while parole refers to the actual utterances of language, both written
and spoken.

Difference between 'Language' and 'a language'

Language refers to a system of communication unique to human beings that

makes use of written and vocal symbols. A language, on the other hand is a
subcategory of this type of communication peculiar to a particular people, region,
geographical region or socio-political background.  In other words, Language
refers to the system of human communication and is a more general term than a
language which is a given variety spoken by a given speech community.
Language properties

1. Displacement: talking about things that happened in the past, happens now or
will happen in the future.
2. Arbitrariness: the word and object are not related to each other. e.g. dog. Cat
3. Productivity: (Creativity) Language users create new words as they need them. It
is an aspect of language which is linked to the fact that the potential number of
utterances in any human language is infinite.
4. cultural Transmission: Language passes from one generation to another. Cultural
transmission is only crucial in the human acquisition process.
5. Discreteness: Individual sounds can change the meaning. e.g. pack – back , bin –
pin.
6. Duality: to use some sounds in different places. e.g. cat – act . Sounds are the
same but the meanings are different. There is no duality in animal
communication.

The nature of language

1- Languages are systematic. They consist of recurrent elements which occur in
regular patterns of relationships. All languages have an infinite number of
possible sentences, and the vast majority of all sentences which are used have
not been memorized. They are created according to rules or principles which
speakers are usually unconscious of using – or even of knowing – if they
acquired the language(s) as a young child.
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2- Languages are symbolic. Sequences of sounds or letters do not inherently
possess meaning. The meanings of symbols in a language come through the tacit
agreement of a group of speakers.
3- Languages are social. Each language reflects the social requirements of the
society that uses it, and there is no standard for judging whether one language is
more effective for communication than another, other
than to estimate the success its users may have in achieving the social tasks that
are demanded of them.

Approaches to Language Acquisition

1. Behavioural (learning) Approach 

Behaviourism, as an approach to language acquisition, found its theoretical

background in psychology and linguistics. It owes its psychological background
to B.F. Skinner. The linguistic foundations of behaviourism were provided by
structuralism of the 1960s.
Major claim: language is acquired according to the general laws of learning and
is similar to any other learnt behaviour. Learning was viewed as process of habit
formation. This process consists of three steps: 
• Stimulus (a signal from the environment that evokes a reaction)
 • Response (the learner’s reaction to the stimulus)
 • Reinforcement (a reward for an appropriate response: reinforced behavior gets
internalized, a behavior that is not reinforced is extinguished) 
Language errors were considered by behaviorists to be the main danger in the
process of the L2 learning as they could lead to the development of bad language
habits. This approach to error led to the development of Contrastive Analysis,
which analyzed languages to find the potential sources of errors and help the FL
teachers to prevent their occurrence in their learners’ language production.
 Contrastive Analysis - Robert Lado 1957

It is an approach to the study of SLA which involves predicting and explaining

learner problems based on a comparison of L1 and L2 to determine similarities and
differences. It was heavily influenced by theories which were dominant in
linguistics and psychology within the USA through the 1940s and 1950s,
Structuralism and Behaviorism.

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 The goal of CA was primarily pedagogical in nature: to increase efficiency in L2
teaching and testing. The focus of CA is on the surface forms of both L1 and L2
systems, and on describing and comparing the languages one level at a time.
Early proponents of CA assumed that language acquisition essentially involves
habit formation in a process of Stimulus–Response–Reinforcement (S-R-R).
Learners respond to the stimulus (linguistic input), and reinforcement strengthens
the response; they imitate and repeat the language that they hear, and when they are
reinforced for that response, learning occurs. The implication is that “practice
makes perfect.” Another assumption is that there will be transfer in learning. The
transfer is called positive (facilitating) when the same structure is appropriate in
both languages. The transfer is called negative (or interference) when the L1
structure is used inappropriately in the L2.

 Error Analysis
It is the first approach to the study of SLA which includes an internal focus on
learners’ creative ability to construct language. It is based on the description and
analysis of actual learner errors in L2. EA largely augmented or replaced CA by
the early 1970s because of the following developments:
• Predictions made by CA did not always materialize in actual learner Errors.
•The exclusive focus on surface-level forms and patterns by structural linguists
shifted to concern for underlying rules.
• The behaviorist assumption that habit formation accounts for language
Acquisition was seriously questioned by many linguists and psychologists. There
was a shift to Mentalism in explanations of language acquisition, with emphasis on
the innate capacity of the language learner rather than on external influences. The
procedure for analyzing learner errors includes the following steps (Ellis 2008 ):
 Collection of a sample of learner language
 Identification of errors
Corder (1967) distinguishes between systematic errors (which result from learners’ lack of
L2 knowledge) and mistakes (the results from some kind of processing failure such as a
lapse in memory).
 Description of errors
 Explanation of errors
Two of the most likely causes of L2 errors are interlingual (“between languages”) factors,
resulting from negative transfer or interference from L1 and intralingual (“within
language”) factors, not attributable to cross-linguistic influence. Intralingual errors are also
considered developmental errors and often represent incomplete learning of L2 rules or
overgeneralization of them.
 Evaluation of errors.

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 2. Nativist (Innatist/Mentalist/Linguistic) Approach 

Major claims: 
 language is a human-specific faculty
  the principles of language are inborn and not learnt 
 the process of language acquisition itself is independent of cognitive
development, individual differences, form of language input, etc. 
 Language learning is viewed as a process of hypotheses-testing leading to
rule formation 
 input data is required to trigger the process of rule formation (but the
mental processes are given priority over the role of environment) 
Evidence supporting the claim (Cook 1988): 
1. A language learner is exposed to both correct and incorrect language; however,
the language system that is developed consists of correct language rules. 
2. A language learner can produce and understand sentences that he/she has never
encountered in his/her learning environment. 
3. Ability to acquire language is independent of intelligence, personality, etc. 
4. The pattern of acquisition is comparable for different individuals, languages,
and cultures. 
 Universal Grammar – Noam Chomsky 1960

What needs to be accounted for in language acquisition is linguistic Competence

(speaker’ underlying knowledge of language).This is distinguished from linguistic
performance (speaker’s actual use of language in specific instances). Chomsky and
his followers have claimed since the 1950s that the nature of speaker/hearers’
competence in their native language can be accounted for only by innate knowledge
that the human species is genetically endowed with. They argue that children (at least)
come to the task of acquiring a specific language already possessing general
knowledge of what all languages have in common, including constraints on how any
natural language can be structured. This innate knowledge is in what Chomsky calls
the language faculty, which is “a component of the human mind, physically
represented in the brain and part of the biological endowment of the species”
(Chomsky 2002:1). What all languages have in common is Universal Grammar. While
UG has been the dominant linguistic approach to SLA for many years, many
researchers have rather chosen to take an external focus on language learning. The
more influential of these approaches are based on the framework of Functionalism.

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  Monitor Model - Stephen Krashen (1978 )

It explicitly and essentially adopts the notion of a Language Acquisition Device (or LAD)
which is a metaphor Chomsky used for children’s innate knowledge of language. Krashen’s
approach is a collection of five hypotheses which constitute major claims and assumptions
about how the L2 code is acquired. The hypotheses forming the model are the following:
 Acquisition-Learning Hypothesis
There is a distinction to be made between acquisition and learning. Acquisition is
subconscious, and involves the innate Language Acquisition Device which accounts for
children’s L1. Learning is conscious and is exemplified by the L2 learning which takes place
in many classroom contexts.
 Monitor Hypothesis
What is “learned” is available only as a monitor, for purposes of editing or making changes
in what has already been produced.
 Natural Order Hypothesis
We acquire the rules of language in a predictable order.
 Input Hypothesis
Language acquisition takes place because there is comprehensible input . If input is
understood, and if there is enough of it, the necessary grammar is automatically provided.
 Affective Filter Hypothesis
Input may not be processed if the affective filter is “up” (e.g. if conscious learning is taking
place and/or individuals are inhibited).

3. Cognitive Approach 

The nativist view on language as a special, inborn property of human mind found its
opposite in cognitivism, which considers language to be one of many mental processes
or even a subordinate part of mental development.
Major claim: language is a part of cognitive development. To be able to learn a new
word a learner has to understand a concept the word represents. Small children, not
being cognitively able to comprehend abstract terms, are not able to learn and correctly
use abstract vocabulary. Language learning is viewed as a mental process.
It is disputable whether linguistic development depends on cognitive development;
however, it is undisputable that there is a strong correlation between the two processes.
It is also logical that “before a child can converse about something, she needs to know
what it is.” (Ratner 1997: 384)
Piaget (Child 1981) believed that language is just one aspect of human cognition.
Cognitive development (and consequently linguistic development) means
experimenting with the environment and constructing one’s personal meaning of it.
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Cognitivists consider error as a necessary condition of learning. Forming a new
language rule the learner makes hypotheses about it and experiments with it. This,
consequently, leads to some incorrect uses of language, but does not lead to the
internalization of incorrect language system. 
4. Social Interactionist Approach 

Social interactionism ascribes the central role. In the process of language acquisition to
the environment. The focus of attention of social interactionists is the way interaction
leads to the development of language competence.
Major claim: Language, according to social interactionists, develops through
interaction with other human beings, which leads to input modification i.e. adjusting it
to the capacity of the learner.
Additionally, interactionists claim that no ‘critical period’ for language acquisition
exists as the process of interaction is not dependent on biological or cognitive
development.
Social interactionists do not deny the existence of neuropsychological factors affecting
language acquisition; however, they claim that biological factors are not sufficient.
They also do not accept placing language as just one more element of cognitive
development.

Branches of Linguistics

FIRST DISTICTION

a- General Linguistics
 Studying language in general
 Supplies the concepts and categories in terms of which Particular languages are to
be analyzed
b- Descriptive Linguistics
 Studying particular languages
 Provides the data which confirm or refute the propositions and theories put
forward in general linguistics

SECOND DISTINCTION

a- Diachronic (Historical) Linguistics:

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 It traces the historical development of the language and records the changes that
have taken place in it between successive points in time: ‘diachronic’ is equivalent
to historical.

b- Synchronic Linguistics, Non- historical:

It presents an account of the language as it is at some particular point in time

THIRD DISTINCTION
a- Theoretical Linguistics
It studies language and languages with a view to constructing a theory of their
structure and functions and without regard to any practical applications that the
investigation of language and languages might have.
b- Applied Linguistics
Application of the concepts and findings of linguistics to a variety of practical
tasks , including language teaching. It is concerned with both the general and
descriptive branches of the subject.

1) FOURTH DISTINCTION
a- Micro linguistics
 Adopts the narrower view
 Concerned solely with the structures of the language system in itself and for itself
Micro linguistics include: Phonetics, Phonology, Morphology, Syntax, Semantics &
Pragmatics.

b- Macro linguistics
 Adopts the broader view
 Concerned with the way languages are acquired, stored in the brain and used for
various functions; interdependence of language and culture; physiological and
psychological mechanisms involved in language behavior.
Macro linguistics include: Psycholinguistics, Sociolinguistics, Neurolinguistics,
Discourse Analysis & Applied Linguistics.

Terms of Micro Linguistics:

• Phonetics is the scientific study of speech sounds. It studies how speech sounds are
articulated, transmitted, and received.
• Phonology is the study of how speech sounds function in a language, it studies the
ways speech sounds are organized.

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• Morphology is the study of the formation of words. It is a branch of linguistics which
breaks words into morphemes. It can be considered as the grammar of words as syntax is
the grammar of sentences.
• Syntax deals with the combination of words into phrases, clauses and sentences. It is
the grammar of sentence construction.
• Semantics is a branch of linguistics which is concerned with the study of meaning in
all its formal aspects. Words have several types of meaning
• Pragmatics can be defined as the study of language in use in context.

Terms of Macro Linguistics:

• Sociolinguistics studies the relations between language and society: how social
factors influence the structure and use of language.
• Psycholinguistics is the study of language and mind: the mental structures and
processes which are involved in the acquisition, comprehension and production of
language.
• Neurolinguistics is the study of language processing and language representation
in the brain.
• Discourse analysis is the study of the relationship between language and the
contexts in which language is used. It deals with how sentences in spoken and
written language form larger meaningful units.
• Applied linguistics is primarily concerned with the application of linguistic
theories, methods and findings to the elucidation of language problems which have
arisen in other areas of experience.

Levels of language
1. Phonetics

 consonants
Consonants are produced by pushing air up from the lungs and out through the
mouth and/or nose. Airflow is disrupted by obstructions made by various
combinations of vocal articulator movements, so that audible friction is
produced. They are described in terms of:

 Voicing
Voicing refers to the presence or absence of vocal vibration during speech sound
production. In a voiced sound, there is vocal fold vibration and an audible 'buzzing'
sound. In an unvoiced sound, there is no vocal fold vibration. 

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  Place of articulation
The place of articulation is the physical location in the vocal tract that a phoneme is
produced in, and the kinds of articulatory movements that are involved in producing
a sound. Here is a diagram of the vocal tract:

1. Bilabial consonants are produced at the lips (e.g. /b/).

2. Labio-dental consonants are produced with the lower lip and the upper teeth
(e.g. /f/).
3. Dental consonants are produced when the tongue is placed between the teeth (e.g.
/θ/, /ð/).
4. Alveolar consonants are produced with the tip of the tongue and the alveolar
ridge (the hard, bony ridge behind the teeth) (e.g. /s/).
5. Post-alveolar sounds are produced with the tip of the tongue and the roof of the
mouth (specifically, the area in between the alveolar ridge and the soft palate).
(e.g. /ʃ/, /ʒ/).
6. Palatal sounds are produced between the tongue and the hard palate (e.g. /j/).
7. Velar sounds are produced between the back of the tongue and the velum (e.g.
/k/, /g/).

 Manner of articulation
This is related to the degree of closure (complete closure → close approximation →
open approximation). 
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 Plosives involve a complete closure, where the vocal articulators fully meet and air
flow is stopped. This creates the 'explosion' of sound when the closure is released,
hence the name 'plosive'.
 The plosive sounds in English are: /p b t d k g/.
 Fricatives involve a close approximation, where the vocal articulators do not fully meet
and air flow is forced through a narrow passage. This creates the friction sound, hence
the name 'fricative'. The fricative sounds in English are: /f v s z θ ð ʃ ʒ/.
 Approximants involve an open approximation, where the vocal articulators are still
close but not enough to create friction. The approximant sounds in English are: /j r w/. 
 Nasal sounds are produced by air coming out through the nose and mouth. The nasal
sounds in English are /m n ŋ/.

  Bilabial Labio- Dental Alveola Post- Palata Velar

dental r alveolar l
Plosive p        b     t       d    k       g
Fricative   f       v θ        ð s       z ʃ       ʒ    
Approximan       r   j w
t
Nasal     m     n     ŋ
Affricate       ʧ              ʤ    
 
The columns show the place of articulation and the rows show the manner of
articulation. So, we can use the table and work out that /s/ is a voiceless alveolar
fricative!

 Vowels
A vowel sound is one in which the air flow is unobstructed when the sound is made. The
vowel sounds are the music, or movement, of our language. They are all typically voiced. To
describe vowel sounds, we consider the way in which the tongue influences the ‘shape’
through which the airflow must pass. To talk about a place of articulation, we think of the
space inside the mouth as having a front versus a back and a high versus a low area. Thus, in
the pronunciation of heat and hit, we talk about ‘high, front’ vowels because the sound is
made with the front part of the tongue in a raised position.

The vowel chart is a diagram to understand vowel sounds. It tries to represent where the
tongue lies in relation to the openness of the mouth when you produce a vowel. So the front
closed vowel /i:/ means that your tongue is in a forward position in the mouth, which is in a
relatively closed position. Try saying it to yourself and then contrast it with the open back
sound in the diagram.
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Short Vowels:

IPA Symbol Word examples

e Went, intend, send, letter.

æ Cat, hand, nap, flat, have.

ʌ Fun, love, money, one, London, come.

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Long Vowels:

IPA Symbol Word examples

ʊ Put, look, should, cook, book, look.

i: Need, beat, team.

ɒ Rob, top, watch, squat, sausage.

ɜ: Nurse, heard, third, turn.

ə Alive, again, mother.

ɔ: Talk, law, bored, yawn, jaw.

u: Few, boot, lose, gloomy, fruit, chew.

ɑ: Fast, car, hard, bath.

Diphthongs:
A diphthong is a sound made by combining two vowels, specifically when it
starts as one vowel sound and goes to another, like the oy sound in oil.

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IPA Symbol Word examples

ɪə Near, ear, clear, tear, beer, fear

eə Hair, there, care, stairs, pear

eɪ Face, space, rain , case, eight

ɔɪ Joy, employ, toy, coil, oyster.

aɪ My, sight, pride, kind, flight

əʊ No, don’t, stones, alone, hole

aʊ Mouth, house, brown, cow, out

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  Phonology
What’s phonology?
Phonology is the study of the patterns of sounds in a language and across languages
Phonology vs. Phonetics – the key differences
Phonology is concerned with the abstract, whereas phonetics is concerned with the
physical properties of sounds.

Phonemes V. Allophones
Phonemes are the smallest units of sound. For example, ‘pat’ and ‘bat’ differ in their
first phoneme: the “p” and “b”. Vowels are also phonemes, so “pat” and “pet” differ
by a phoneme, too (But phonemes don’t always match up with spelling!). When two
words differ by a single phoneme they are known as a minimal pair.
Allophones are different ways to pronounce a phoneme based on its environment in a
word. For example, the two allophones of /l/ in “little” are actually produced slightly
differently, and the second one sounds slightly deeper. These different “l”s always
occur in different environments in words, which is known as “complementary
distribution”.

Syllable: The number of syllables in a word is easier to discover directly than to have
explained. The process of discovery most easily begins with a physical movement of
some sort, such as tapping a finger on the table. Tap the table for each syllable in the
words below.
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Parts of syllable:

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 Stress
In linguistics, and particularly phonology, stress is relative emphasis or prominence given to
a certain syllable in a word, or to a certain word in a phrase or sentence. That emphasis is
typically caused by such properties as increased loudness and vowel length.
Levels of stress
 Primary stress: Primary stress usually is very strong and can occur in every
word, very striking in monosyllabic words, e.g. ‘window, sta’tistics.
 Secondary stress: In polysyllabic words sometimes a secondary stress can
be found, which is placed on the second strongest stressed syllable (mostly the
first) within the word, e.g. ,inter’ference.
 Unstressed syllables: The third and last category (at least the last category
important to us) is the unstressed syllable, e.g. ,inter’ference.

Strong and weak forms

Stressed words are considered content words such as: Nouns, most main verbs,
adjectives, adverbs. Unstressed words such as: determiners, auxiliary verbs,
prepositions, conjunctions and pronouns
Exercise: Count the number of syllables in each of these words.

House jacket glasses encyclopedia employer Information troublemaker

Aspects of connected speech

 Assimilation

When two sound segments occur in sequence and some aspect of one segment is
taken or ‘copied’ by the other, the process is known as assimilation. It is what
happens to a sound when it is influenced by one of its neighbors"
 What are the common types of Assimilation?
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 Assimilation is classified in terms of the direction in which the assimilation works.
There are three possibilities:
a) Regressive (or anticipatory) assimilation: the sound changes because of the
influence of the following sound. The most familiar case of regressive assimilation
in English is that of alveolar consonants, such as t, d, s, z, n, which are followed by
non-alveolar consonants.
For example, the word ‘this’ has the sound / s / at the end if it is pronounced on its
own, but when followed by / ʃ / in a word such as ‘shop’ it often changes in rapid
speech (through assimilation)
to / ʃ /, giving the pronunciation / ðiʃ ʃɒp /.

b) Progressive assimilation: the sound changes because of the influence of the

preceding sound, e.g. lunch score articulated with the s- becoming /a/, under the
influence of the preceding -ch; but these assimilations are less common.
Progressive assimilation is exemplified by the behaviour of the ‘s’ plural ending
in English, which is pronounced with a voiced z after a voiced consonant (e.g.
‘dogs’ dɒgz) but with a voiceless s after a voiceless consonant (e.g. ‘cats’ kæts)

c) Coalescent (or reciprocal) assimilation: there is mutual influence, or

fusion, of the sounds upon each other. In English coalescence occurs when a
morpheme final alveolar plosive or fricative /t, d/ or /s, z/ is followed by [j]. A
typical example is televise + ion. In the interaction between /s/ and /ɪ/, that occurs
while turning the verb to the noun form, results in /ʒ/, which gives /tɛlɪvɪʒn/.

Elision

Elision is the omission of sounds, syllables or words in speech. This is done to make
the language easier to say, and faster. 'I don't know' /I duno/ , /kamra/ for camera, and
'fish 'n' chips' are all examples of elision.

Both consonants and vowels may be affected, and sometimes whole syllables may be
elided. Unstressed grammatical words, such as and, the a and d are dropped in boys
’n’ girls. Within compound words, the vowels and consonants in unstressed syllables
regularly elide in conversational speech of normal speed, e.g. camera, probably,
February. Complex consonant clusters are also often reduced, e.g. twelfths
becoming /twelθs/ or /twelfs/.

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 Linking

Linking is a way of joining the pronunciation of two words so that they are easy to
say and flow together smoothly.
Morphology

 What’s Morphology?
Morphology is the study of word formation, of the structure of words

 What’s Morpheme?
The meaningful parts into which words can be divided—e.g., boldest can be
divided into bold+est--are called the morphemes of the language. These are
considered the basic units of meaning in a particular language

Types of Morpheme:
we can make a broad distinction between two types of morphemes.
1- free morphemes: morphemes that can stand by themselves as single words, for
example, open and tour. Free morphemes can be divided into:
a) Lexical morphemes: Words that have meaning by themselves—boy, food, door
—are called lexical. Nouns, verbs, adjectives ({boy}, {buy}, {big}) are typical
lexical morphemes.
b) Functional ( Grammatical ) morphemes: Those words that function to specify
the relationship between one lexical morpheme and another—words like at, in,
on, -ed, -s. Prepositions, articles, conjunctions ({of}, {the}, {but}) are
grammatical
morphemes.

2- Bound morphemes: they’re forms which cannot normally stand alone and are
typically attached to another form, exemplified as re-, -ist, -ed, -s. they were
identified as affixes. So, we can say that all affixes (prefixes and suffixes) in
English are bound morphemes.
Bound grammatical morphemes can be further divided into two types:

a) Inflectional morphemes (e.g., -s, -est, -ing)

b) Derivational morphemes (e.g., -ful, -like, -ly, un-, dis-).

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 Inflectional Affixes: English has only eight inflectional affixes:
{PLU} = plural Noun -s boys
{POSS} = possessive Noun -’s boy’s
{COMP} = comparative Adj -er older
{SUP} = superlative Adj -est oldest
{PRES} = present Verb -s walks
{PAST} past Verb -ed walked
{PAST PART} = past participle Verb -en driven
{PRES PART} = present participle Verb -ing driving

Derivational affixes: There are an indefinite number of derivational morphemes.

Word formation processes

-The study of the origin and history of a word is known as its etymology

- Coinage: One of the least common processes of word formation in English is

coinage, that is, the invention of totally new terms. The most typical sources are
invented trade names for commercial products that become general terms (usually
without capital letters) for any version of that product. Older examples are aspirin,
nylon, vaseline and zipper; more recent examples are kleenex, Teflon
- Eponyms: New words based on the name of a person or a place. When we talked
about a hoover (or even a spangler), we were using an eponym.
- Borrowing: the taking over of words from other languages. croissant (French),
dope (Dutch), lilac (Persian), piano (Italian), sofa (Arabic).
- Compounding is a joining of two separate words to produce a single form.
- Blending: is typically accomplished by taking only the beginning of one word
and joining it to the end of the other word. e.g. gasoline, which is made from alcohol,
the ‘blended’ word is gasohol.
- Clipping: This occurs when a word of more than one syllable (facsimile) is
reduced to a shorter form(fax), usually beginning in casual speech. The term gasoline
is still used, but most people talk about gas, using the clipped form. Other common
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 examples are ad (advertisement), cab (cabriolet), condo (condominium), fan (fanatic),
flu (influenza),
- Backformation: a word of one type (usually a noun) is reduced to form a word
of another type (usually a verb). A good example of backformation is the process
whereby the noun television first came into use and then the verb televise was created
from it
- Conversion: A change in the function of a word, as for example when a noun
comes to be used as a verb (without any reduction), is generally known as conversion.
Other labels for this very common process are ‘category change’ and ‘functional shift’.
A number of nouns such as bottle, butter, chair and vacation have come to be used,
through conversion, as verbs
- Acronyms: are new words formed from the initial letters of a set of other words.
These can be forms such as CD (‘compact disk’) or VCR (‘video cassette recorder’)
where the pronunciation consists of saying each separate letter
- Derivation: it is accomplished by means of a large number of small ‘bits’ of the
English language which are not usually given separate listings in dictionaries. These
small ‘bits’ are generally described as affixes
- prefixes: affixes added to the beginning of the word (e.g. un-).
- suffixes: affixes have to be added to the end of the word (e.g. -ish)
All English words formed by this derivational process have either prefixes or
suffixes, or both.
- Infix: it is an affix that is incorporated inside another word.

 Semantics

• Synonymy: Two or more words with very closely related meanings.

• Antonymy: Two forms with opposite meanings are called antonyms. Some
common examples are the pairs: alive/dead, big/small,fast/slow.
• Hyponymy: When the meaning of one form is included in the meaning of another,
the relationship is described as hyponymy. Example, animal/dog
• Homophones: When two or more different (written) forms have the same
pronunciation, Common examples are bare/bear, meat/meet, flour/flower, pail/pale,
right/write, sew/so and to/too/two.
• Homonyms: when one form (written or spoken) has two or more unrelated
meanings, as in these examples: bank (of a river) – bank (financial institution)
• Polysemy: can be defined as one form (written or spoken) having multiple
meanings that are all related by extension. Examples are the word head, used to

23
 refer to the object on top of your body, on top of a glass of beer, person at the top of
a company or department.
• Metonymy: The relatedness of meaning found in polysemy is essentially based on
similarity.

 Syntax
Syntax is the arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a
language. It’s the part of linguistics that studies sentence structure:
• word order: I want these books. *want these I books.
• agreement – subject and verb, determiner and noun, . . . often must agree:
• How many complements, which prepositions and forms (cases):
I give Mary a book. *I see Mary a book.
Syntax is not about meaning! Sentences can have no sense and still be grammatically
correct: Colorless green ideas sleep furiously. – nonsense, but grammatically
correct
Parts of Speech
• Words in a language behave differently from each other.
• But not each word is entirely different from all other words in that language.
⇒ Words can be categorized into parts of speech (lexical categories, word classes)
based on their morphological, syntactic and semantic properties.
• Open class – new and new items are added to the class over the time – nouns, verbs,
adjectives, and adverbs.

• Closed class – contains small number of words, new items are added very rarely –
determiners, pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions.
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 Phrases, Constituents & Phrase Structure Rules
 Describing Noun Phrases
In English, a noun phrase a determiner followed by a noun, or determiner followed
by an adjective followed by a noun, or a single noun, or . . .
To save words, we can use the so called Phrase Structure Rules capture this:
(1) NP → Det N the cat
(2) NP → Det A N those noisy cats
(3) NP → N cats
(4) NP → A N noisy cats
A phrase structure rule tell us two things:
• Which smaller phrases (Det, A, N) use to build a bigger phrase (NP).
• How to order the smaller phrases.
In addition, a pronoun can be a noun phrase: NP → Pron she, you, . . .
 Describing Prepositional phrases
In English, preposition is usually followed by a noun phrase (let’s ignore the
prepositions at the end of the sentence).
PP → P NP about those noisy cats
Now we can put that together and say things like:

Describing Sentences
In English, a sentence consists of a subject (usually a noun phrase) followed by a verb
which is sometimes followed by an object (another noun phrase), prepositional phrases
etc.
S → NP V – Alphons slept

25
S → NP V NP – Alphons saw his dog
S → NP V PP – Alphons asked for a beer
S → NP V NP PP – Alphons asked his dog for a beer

Ambiguity
1. Syntactical – more than one possible structure for the same string of words.
I saw a man with a telescope. (Who has the telescope, me or the man?)
We need more intelligent leaders. (need more or more intelligent?)
2. Morphological – a form has more than one morphological interpretations
Lexical – a word has more than one meaning.
Did you see the bat?
Where is the bank?
Transitive and intransitive verbs
• Intransitive verb – a verb with a subject and no objects: sleep, snore
• Transitive verb – a verb with a subject and an object: buy, brush, write.
Some verbs are both intransitive and transitive:
dance – John dances × John dances samba.
• Ditransitive verbs – a subclass of transitive verbs, take two objects (direct & indirect).
a. John give a book to his friend.
b. John gives his friend a nice book.
c. A nice book is given to Mary by John.
d. Mary is given a nice book by John.
Complement and adjunct
Complement is a word, phrase or clause that is necessary to complete the meaning of a
given sentence. They can complete the meaning of a subject, object or verb.

(1) Subject Complement

26
 A subject complement is usually a noun or an adjective that renames or defines the
subject in some way. Subject complements always follow a linking verb. For example,
Your sister is cute. Slippery roads are dangerous.

(2) Object Complement

An object complement modifies or refers to the direct object. It always follows the object
of a sentence. An object complement is always a noun or an adjective. You
made him lazy. They call my brother Fatty

(3) Verb Complement : A verb complement is a noun or a noun phrase that occurs after
the verb. Direct and indirect objects can also act as a verb complement. The meaning of
the verb and the sentence will be incomplete without the complement. 
He wiped his face. He wanted a new car.

Note: The complements in the above examples are underlined. If you try to remove the
underline words and phrases from the above examples, you’ll notice that none of these
sentences have any sense without their complements.

Adjunct is an optional and structurally dispensable part of a sentence, clause or phrase. It

is not necessary to the structure of the clause and removing it does not have a major
effect on the rest of the sentence. Thus, an adjunct only adds extra information to a
sentence. Adjunct always functions as an adverbial.
He laughed at her mistake. I met him in the park.
Yesterday, she gave me a letter. I’ll come after I have had my breakfast.
Diane will leave tomorrow.  She wanted a new car for her birthday.

Note: The underlined sections in the above sentences can be defined as adjuncts. If we
remove these sentences, the overall meaning of the sentences would still be complete.

Difference between Adjunct and Complement

27
1. Definition
Adjunct is an optional and structurally dispensable part of a sentence, clause or phrase.
Complement is a word, phrase or clause that is necessary to complete the meaning of a
given sentence.
2. Completion of a Sentence
Adjuncts are not necessary to complete the meaning of a sentence.
Complements complete the meaning of a sentence.
3. Structure
Adjuncts are structurally dispensable.
Complements are structurally indispensable.
4. Role
Adjuncts are adverbials . Complements can be nouns or adverbs.

English Grammar
 Parts of speech
A category to which a word is assigned in accordance with its syntactic functions. In
English the main parts of speech are noun, pronoun, adjective, determiner, verb,
adverb, preposition, conjunction, and interjection.

1. NOUN
A noun is the name of a person, place, thing, or idea. Nouns are often used with an
article (the, a, an), but not always. Proper nouns always start with a capital letter;
common nouns do not. Nouns can be singular or plural, concrete or abstract. Nouns
show possession by adding 's. 

2. PRONOUN
A pronoun is usually substituted for a specific noun, which is called its antecedent. 
Pronouns are further defined by type: personal pronouns refer to specific persons or
things; possessive pronouns indicate ownership; reflexive pronouns are used to
emphasize another noun or pronoun; relative pronouns introduce a subordinate
clause; and demonstrative pronouns identify, point to, or refer to nouns.
3. VERB
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 The verb in a sentence expresses action or being. There is a main verb and
sometimes one or more helping verbs. ("She can sing." Sing is the main verb; can is
the helping verb.) A verb must agree with its subject in number (both are singular or
both are plural). Verbs also take different forms to express tense.
4. ADJECTIVE
An adjective is a word used to modify or describe a noun or a pronoun. It usually
answers the question of which one, what kind, or how many. 
5. ADVERB
An adverb describes or modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb, but never a
noun. It usually answers the questions of when, where, how, why, under what
conditions, or to what degree. Adverbs often end in -ly.
6. PREPOSITION
A preposition is a word placed before a noun or pronoun to form a phrase modifying
another word in the sentence. Therefore a preposition is always part of a prepositional
phrase. 
7. CONJUNCTION
A conjunction joins words, phrases, or clauses, and indicates the relationship between
the elements joined. Coordinating conjunctions connect grammatically equal elements:
and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet. Subordinating conjunctions connect clauses that are not
equal: because, although, while, since, etc. There are other types of conjunctions as well.
8. INTERJECTION
An interjection is a word used to express emotion. It is often followed by an
exclamation point. Oh!... Wow!... Oops!

BASIC SENTENCE STRUCTURE

The two most basic parts of a sentence are the subject and predicate.
SUBJECT
The subject of a sentence is the person, place, or thing that is performing the action
of the sentence. The subject represents what or whom the sentence is about. The

29
simple subject usually contains a noun or pronoun and can include modifying words,
phrases, or clauses. e.g. The man . . .
PREDICATE
The predicate expresses action or being within the sentence. The simple predicate
contains the verb and can also contain modifying words, phrases, or clauses. e.g. The
man /  builds a house.
The subject and predicate make up the two basic structural parts of any complete
sentence. In addition, there are other elements, contained within the subject or
predicate, that add meaning or detail. These elements include the direct object,
indirect object, and subject complement.
DIRECT OBJECT
The direct object receives the action of the sentence. The direct object is usually a
noun or pronoun. e.g. The man builds a house. 
INDIRECT OBJECT
The indirect object indicates to whom or for whom the action of the sentence is
being done. The indirect object is usually a noun or pronoun.
e.g. The man builds his family a house. 

SENTENCE TYPE AND PURPOSE

Every sentence is one of the following types.

 Simple
 Compound
 Complex
 Compound/Complex

The simple sentence: it is simple because it contains only one independent clause:
Justin dropped his Agricultural Economics class. A simple sentence is not
necessarily short or simple. It can be long and involved, with many parts and
compound elements. But if there is only one independent clause, it is, nevertheless, a
simple sentence.
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 The compound sentence: When joining two simple sentences properly, we get a
compound sentence. Conversely, a compound sentence can be broken into two
complete sentences, each with its own subject and its own verb. we can join simple
sentences to create compound sentences either of two ways:
 With a semicolon
 With a comma and coordinating conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so)
 
The complex sentence: it contains both a dependent and an independent clause. In the
following example, both clauses contain a subject and a verb, but the dependent
clause has, in addition, the dependent-making words even though. If you start the
sentence with the dependent-making words (or subordinating conjunction), place a
comma between the clauses. On the other hand, if you start with the independent
clause and place the dependent-making words in the middle of the sentence, do not
use a comma:
Even though Eva took Turf Management just to fill out her schedule, she found it
unexpectedly interesting.
Eva found Turf Management unexpectedly interesting even though she took it just to
fill out her schedule.
 The compound-complex sentence: it combines at least two independent clauses and
at least one dependent clause. The punctuation rules remain the same: the two simple
sentences are joined by one of the two methods described above, and the dependent
clause is punctuated (or not) depending on whether it precedes or follows an
independent clause. In the following example, the dependent-making word signaling
the beginning of the dependent clause is while:
Homer was already in class, and Eva was in the lab while Justin was sleeping off his
headache.
While Justin was sleeping off his headache, Homer was already in class, and Eva
was in the lab.
Homer was already in class while Justin slept off his headache; Eva was in the lab.
Sentence Purpose
- Declarative sentences make statements and end with periods:
I am planning to drop Agricultural Economics.
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 - Interrogative sentences ask questions and end with question marks:
Have you taken any Agricultural Engineering classes?
- Imperative sentences give commands or make demands or requests. They usually
end with a period. it often has as its subject an unstated "you" (giving to beginners in
English grammar the appearance of lacking a subject altogether). The subject of each
of the following four sentences is "you:"
Hand in your homework assignments, please.
Stop. Drop. Roll.
- Exclamatory sentences convey strong emotion and end with exclamation marks;
use them sparingly: Watch out for the rattlesnake!

Terms of language

 Mother Tongue is more intimate. It is the language of our family, the language of our
people. In most contexts, "mother tongue" also implies that the language is particularly
important to a person's or group's identity and culture. For example, a person in Puerto
Rico may grow up speaking both Spanish and English with equal fluency, and so we
would consider that person a native speaker of both languages, with both as a native
language or a first language. But if that person's family identifies more strongly with
Spanish-language culture, then the person may consider only Spanish to be either
"mother language."
  "native language" or "first language" are generally used to refer to the language(s)
that a person has spoken since infancy or early childhood. To put this into context- if
however someone uses these two words together "Arabic is my mother tongue but
French is my native/first language" then here native/first carries the impression of being
educated in that language and being fluent whereas in a mother tongue isn't necessarily
completely fluent so much as "this is what we speak in my house"
 Primary language is the language in which we feel the most comfortable expressing
ourselves. This can change throughout our life: if we stop using our primary language in
favor of another one, eventually the new one may become our primary language. Note
that a language can be our primary language even if we are not fully (native-like)
proficient in it.
 The additional language is called a second language (L2)

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 target language (TL) , which refers to any language that is the aim or goal of
learning.
 A second language is typically an official or societally dominant language needed for
education, employment, and other basic purposes. it is often acquired by minority group
members or immigrants who speak another language natively. In this more restricted
sense, the term is contrasted with other terms in this list.
 A foreign language is one not widely used in the learners’ immediate social context
which might be used for future travel or other cross cultural communication situations,
or studied as a curricular requirement or elective in school, but with no immediate or
necessary
 practical application.
 A library language is one which functions primarily as a tool for further learning
through reading, especially when books or journals in a desired field of study are not
commonly published in the learners’ native tongue.
 An auxiliary language is one which learners need to know for some official functions
in their immediate political setting, or will need for purposes of wider communication,
although their first language serves most other needs in their lives.
 Multilingualism refers to the ability to use two or more languages. (Some
 linguists and psychologists use bilingualism for the ability to use two
 languages and multilingualism for more than two, but we will not make
 that distinction here.) Monolingualism refers to the ability to use only one.
 the concept of multilingual competence to refer to “the compound state of a mind
with two [or more] grammars”, monolingual competence which refers to knowledge of
only one language.
 Innate capacity a part of language structure which is genetically “given” to every
human child.
 the term Interlanguage (IL) to refer to the intermediate states (or interim grammars)
of a learner’s language as it moves toward the target L2.
 Second Language Acquisition (SLA) refers both to the study of individuals and
groups who are learning a language subsequent to learning their first one as young
children, and to the process of learning that language.
 The term language community refers to a group of people who share knowledge of a
common language to at least some extent.
 Dialect is a variety of a language that is characteristic of a particular area, community
or social group, often differing from other varieties of the same language in minor ways

33
 as regards vocabulary, style, pronunciation, and orthographic conventions; either
standard or nonstandard (vernacular).Cockney is a dialect of English."
 Vernacular is the native language or native dialect in a specific population. Different
to a language of wider communication that is a second language or foreign language to
the population, such as a national language or standard language. - It is a type of dialect.
 Accent refers to how people pronounce words;  how someone speaks another
language
 Language variety: is a general term for any distinctive form of a language or
linguistic expression. Linguists commonly use language variety (or simply variety) as a
cover term for any of the overlapping subcategories of a language,
including dialect, register, jargon, and idiolect
 Jargon refers to the specialized language of a professional or occupational group; for
example, lawyers use legalese, while academics use academese.
  Idiolect is the distinctive speech of an individual, a linguistic pattern regarded as
unique among speakers of a person's language or dialect. In linguistics, idiolects fall
under the study of linguistic variation, such as dialects and accents.
  Lingua franca: is a language used as a medium of communication by people
whose native languages are different. And also known as a trade language, contact
language, international language, and global language.
 Creole is a pidgin which became a native language: the children of the pidgin
speakers start using it as their first language. It is an independent linguistic system with
expanded vocabulary and structures. Creole performs all the referential and affective
functions of a language.
 Pidgin is a language which is grammatically, lexically and phonologically simplified,
containing some elements of a native language (usually structures and pronunciation)
and some elements of a second language (usually vocabulary). It is a fossilized
interlanguage performing only a narrow range of functions (e.g. trade, basic
communication).
 Corpus linguistics: The study of which words occur together and their frequency of
co-occurrence has received a lot more attention in corpus linguistics. A corpus is a
large collection of texts, spoken or written, typically stored as a database in a
computer.


Language skills:
•  Receptive VS productive:

34
 Languages are generally taught and assessed in terms of the ‘four skills’:
listening, speaking, reading, and writing.  Listening and reading are known as
‘receptive’ skills while speaking and writing are known as ‘productive’ skills.

 Reading
Reading is a subskill, which is a section of a main skill, that we use. If we read a text to
find a particular piece of information in that text, we use reading for specific
information which is also a subskill. Another word for this is scanning. We do not read
the entire text when we are scanning. We rush over the most part of it till we find what
we were looking for. For example, we do this when we are searching for a telephone
number in the directory or a specific item on a list.
Reading for gist is another subskill also known as  skimming. This means when we are
reading something quickly to obtain an idea of what the entire text is about, e.g. when
we look quickly through a book in a library to decide whether or not we want to borrow
it.
Another reading subskill is reading for detail. This means reading every detail carefully
and extracting the meaning out of every single word. For example, we would do this
when we receive a card from someone we care about .
Extensive reading is  another way of reading which involves reading long segments of
text, e.g. a novel, article, story. Our attention and interest changes as we read. We may
skim through what might seem boring or read in detail what may seem interesting and
catches our attention.
Sometimes, we use texts and study aids to learn language, e.g. if we ask our students to
search for particular words in a text related to a certain topic or ask them to study the
grammar of a specific sentence. This is called intensive reading  and helps to make
students understand how the language is used. They are not reading skills but activities
to learn language.   
 Listening
Listening also requires good understanding of different types of spoken text. For
example, conversations, announcements, songs, instructions, lectures, advertisements
and stories. They consist of separate ways of organizing language, separate and various
language features and some are spoken by just one voice whereas others are spoken by
more.

35
It is also important to understand different speeds that people speak in. Some individuals
speak very slowly and pause more often. Some speak really fast, pausing only once in a
while. It is difficult to understand those who speak like that. We must also be able to
understand different accents too. Some accents that are more difficult to understand are
Irish or Australian English. Some are much easier to understand because they are
clearer, e.g. British English. However, it all depends on why we listen. We need to have
a reason for listening. Some reasons might be listening for gist, particular
information, detail, attitude (listening what kind of attitude is being conveyed by the
speaker) or extensive listening. To understand exactly what these terms mean, refer to
the terms in the reading section in this book.
Obviously, listening requires a lot of things such as dealing with the characteristics of
the spoken language, using context and our knowledge of the real world, understanding
all the different text types, speeds of speech and accents and using dissimilar
listening subskills.
 Writing
There are two common reasons why people write any text. They are:
• To communicate a specific message
• To communicate to someone.
Writing is a task that uses more than one subskill and some are connected to
accuracy. Accuracy is the proper use of the right forms of language. When
writing, there are a number of stages to go through. Here are the stages we go
through when we write out of the classroom.
• Brainstorming (thinking very carefully of every possible thing we can think about
the topic of what we are writing.
• Making notes
• Planning (thinking our ideas through and organising them carefully)
• Writing a draft (an incomplete piece of writing which is left to be altered later, or
to have more added to it)
• Editing (reading through, making corrections and improvements to the text)
• Producing another draft

36
 • Proof-reading (reading through carefully and looking for mistakes in accuracy)
or editing it once more
 Speaking
Speaking is a productive skill which requires using speech to convey messages to
others.
Interaction: Two-way communication requires using language and body language to
keep the person who is listening to us interested in what we are saying and to see
that they have full understanding of what we mean. Examples of interactive
strategies: making eye contact, use of facial expressions, asking questions (for
example, to see whether the listener understands clarifying what we mean and
confirming understanding.
Normally when we speak, we do it with fluency. Fluency means speaking smoothly
at a normal speed with confidence, without any hesitation or pauses and also
without having to repeat anything or correct ourselves. We also speak with accuracy
which is the use of correct forms of grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation.
 Motivation:
Motivation is the reason or reasons we have for acting or behaving in a certain
way. It effects why someone makes a decision to do something, for how long the
person wants to do it and how hard they are ready to work in order to get what
they want. Motivation is essential in language learning as it aids in successful
learning.

The two main types of motivation are intrinsic and extrinsic.

 Intrinsically motivated behaviors trigger “internally rewarding consequences” such as

the “feeling of competence and self-determination”
 Extrinsically motivated activities lead to certain rewards such as diplomas, prizes and
good marks.

Two other important motivation types in language learning: Integrative motivation refers to

students who wish to integrate into the target culture.
 If a student is instrumentally motivated, his/her goals are to achieve a certain reward
such as promotion or good grades.

37
 Language learning vs. language acquisition

 A simultaneous bilingual is an individual who is exposed to their first and

second languages at the same time.
 A sequential bilingual develops their second language after their first.
Typically, if a child is exposed to their second language past the age of three, they will
generally become a sequential bilingual
First Language Acquisition
When children develop their first language, the process is an automatic, subconscious
one. Children typically do not require explicit instruction for their first language to
develop. Here, the process of “language acquisition” is occurring. This can also be the
case for bilingual or multilingual children who learn more than language from birth.

Second Language Acquisition

In contrast, if a child is a sequential bilingual, they will require explicit teaching to
support their second language’s development. This process is known as “language
learning”.

Common Teaching methods

1. Grammar Translation Method

The Grammar Translation Method is not new, It has had different names. At one
time it was called Classical Method since it was first used in the teaching of the
classical languages, such as Latin & Greek. Earlier this century, this method was
used for the purpose of helping students read and appreciate foreign language
literature. It was also hoped that, through the study of the grammar of the target
language, students would become more familiar with the grammar of their native
language and that this familiarity would help them speak and write their native
language better. Finally it was thought that foreign language learning would help
them grow intellectually; it was recognized that students would probably never
use the target language, but the mental exercise of learning it would be beneficial
anyway.

38
 Students are taught to recognize cognates by learning the spelling or sound
patterns that correspond between the languages. Students are also asked to
memorize words that look like cognates but have meanings in the target language
that are different from those in the native language. It seems that Grammar
Translation Method needs a big effort from the teachers in order to make
Grammar and Vocabulary become interesting for the students. The
strength points of GTM are students will be able to master the appropriate
structures of a language and mistakes made by them in applying speaking ability
will not be that much. The weakness points of GTM tends to be boring to the
students in their learning activity. For students who early get bored, they will not
be able to master grammar well.

2. The Direct Method

Since the Grammar Translation Method was not very effective in preparing
students to use the target language communicatively, the Direct Method became
popular. The Direct Method has one very basic rule: No translation is allowed. In
fact, the DM receive its name from the fact that meaning is to be concerned
directly with the target language, without going through the process of translating
into students’ native language.
Students take turns reading sections of a passage, play, or dialog out loud at the
end of each students’ turn the teacher uses gestures, pictures, realias, examples or
other means to make the meaning of the section clear. The exercises are
conducted only in the target language. Students are asked question and answer in
full sentences so that they practice with new words and grammatical structures.
They have opportunity to ask question as well as answer them. In brief, The DM
pushes the students to be able to understand the language directly without
translating it. In this case of course, students have to use monolingual dictionary.
This method is good enough to encourage the students to be brave in using a
foreign language they learn. The good point of DM is this method pushes the
students to be able to absorb materials well and they will also have an
opportunity to express themselves in a proper use of a language. On the contrary,
in some cases Direct Method tends to be an ineffective way to deepen students’
capability of grammar.

3. The Audio-Lingual method

The Audio-Lingual method of teaching had its origins during World War II when it
became known as the Army Method.  It is also called the Aural oral approach. It is based
on the structural view of  language and the behaviorist theory of language learning. The
39
 Audiolingual Approach to language teaching  has a lot of similarities with the Direct
Method. Both were considered as a reaction against the shortcomings of the Grammar
Translation method, both reject the use of the mother tongue and both stress that speaking
and listening competences preceded reading and writing competences. But there are also
some differences. The direct method highlighted the teaching of vocabulary while the
audiolingual approach focus on grammar drills.

The objective of the audiolingual method is accurate pronunciation and grammar, the
ability to respond quickly and accurately in speech situations and knowledge of sufficient
vocabulary to use with grammar patterns. Here are some characteristics of the method:

- language learning is habit-formation,

- mistakes are bad and should be avoided, as they are considered bad habits,
- language skills are learned more effectively if they are presented orally first, then in
written form,

Advantages of ALM :

 It aims at developing listening and speaking skills which is a step away from
the Grammar translation method
 The use of visual aids has proven its effectiveness in vocabulary teaching.

Disadvantages of ALM :
 The method is based on false assumptions about language.
 The behaviorist approach to learning is now discredited. Many scholars have
proven its weakness. Noam Chomsky ( “Chomsky, Noam (1959). “A Review of B. F.
Skinner’s Verbal behavior”) has written a strong criticism of the principles of the theory.

4. Suggestopedia
Suggestopedia is a teaching method which is based on a modern understanding of
how the human brain works and how we learn most effectively. It was originally
developed in the 1970s by the Bulgarian educator Georgi Lozanov. The approach
was based on the power of suggestion in learning, the notion being that positive
suggestion would make the learner more receptive and, in turn, stimulate
learning. Lozanov holds that a relaxed but focused state is the ideal state for
learning. In order to create this relaxed state in the learner and to promote

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 positive suggestion, suggestopedia makes use of music, a comfortable and
relaxing environment.
The main features of suggestopedia are:

 The use of music to relax learners.

 The furniture, decoration and the arrangement of the classroom.
 Teacher’s authority. The teacher plays a central role and he/she is the
source of all information.

5. Communicative Language Teaching

Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) is an approach to the teaching of
second and foreign languages. It emphasizes interaction as both the means and
the ultimate goal of learning a language. It is also referred to as the
“Communicative Approach”. Historically, CLT has been seen as a response to
the Audio-Lingual Method (ALM).
Learning theory
According to the communicative approach, in order for learning to take place,
emphasis must be put on the importance of these variables:

 Communication: activities that involve real communication promote

learning.
 Tasks: activities in which language is used to carry out meaningful tasks
supports the learning process.
 Meaning: language that is meaningful and authentic to the learner boosts
learning.

There are many advantages in teaching according to the communicative

approach:

 CLT doesn’t focus only on the traditional structural syllabus. It takes into
consideration communicative dimension of language.
 CLT provides vitality and motivation within the classroom.
 CLT is a learner centered approach. It capitalizes on the interests and needs
of the learner.
Criticism
The various categories of language functions are overlapping and not systematically
graded like the structures of the language. The communicative approach focuses on the
use of language in everyday situations, or the functional aspects of language, and less on
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the formal structures. There must be a certain balance between the two. It gives priority
to meanings and rules of use rather than to grammar and rules of structure.  Such
concentration on language behavior may result in negative consequences in the sense that
important structures and rules would be left out. The approach relies extensively on the
functional-notational syllabus which places heavy demands on the learners. A major
principle underlying this approach is its emphasis on learners’ needs and interests. This
implies that every teacher should modify the syllabus to fit the needs of the learners. The
requirements are difficult. Not all classrooms can allow for group work activities and for
teaching aids and materials.

6. Task-based language teaching

Task-based language teaching (TBLT) is a type of instruction that relies on the

use of authentic target language to do meaningful tasks. TBLT can be considered
a branch of communicative language teaching (CLT). The notion of tasks is
central to this type of instruction. The assessment of learning is mainly based on
task outcome and not only on the accurate use of the target language. For this
reason, TBLT is believed to be effective in learning target language fluency and
developing student confidence.
What is a task?
“An activity which required learners to arrive at an outcome from given
information through some process of thought and which allowed teachers to
control and regulate that process was regarded as a task.” (Prabhu, 1987:24)

- Pre-task : At this stage, the topic is introduced through activities.

- Task activity (cycle) : The teacher gives clear instructions about the task.
- Post-task : This stage provides an opportunity for learners to compare their products
with a similar product by a native/ fluent speaker.
Advantages: Implicit learning, Incidental learning, Meaningful learning
Disadvantages: Some teachers criticize TBLT for focusing mainly on fluency at
the expense of accuracy. TBLT requires a high level of creativity and initiative
on the part of the teacher.
 Terms related to language acquisition & linguistics
Accuracy is the ability to produce language which is phonologically,
grammatically and lexically correct.

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Fluency is the ability to produce language in a natural way, with the rate,
hesitations, fillers, etc. Typical for a native speaker.
Approach is a general philosophy or a set of beliefs on the nature of language,
language acquisition and language teaching.
Method is a set of principles on how teaching should be conducted, which
teaching strategies/procedures/techniques should be used for
presenting/practicing/testing particular language skills or for facilitating
particular aspects of learning. Method answers the most basic question in
teaching methodology: how to teach?
Technique is a practical realization of a method. Technique is any action taken
by the teacher in the classroom, directly or indirectly affecting the learning
process.

A curriculum is the combination of instructional practices, learning experiences,

and students' performance assessment that are designed to bring out and evaluate
the target learning outcomes of a particular course.

Syllabus describes the contents of teaching. It enlists the points/ problems to be

taught, focusing on various aspects: grammar, vocabulary, phonology (structural
syllabus); notions, functions, situations (communicative syllabus); task (task-
based syllabus); and a mixture of all the aspects (multi-dimensional syllabus).
Input is language the learner is exposed to in both formal and informal context,
in a written or spoken form
Output is the language produced by the learner, in a written or spoken form.
Intake is a fraction of input that has been internalized by the learner. The input-
intake ratio depends on many factors accompanying the learning process:
psychological, environmental, methodological, etc.
Fossilization is a process in which SLA is stopped, usually as a result of
affective factors (e.g lack of motivation or negative attitude) It leads to the
internalization of the incorrect language forms by the learner.
Language Competence is a system of language rules internalized by the
language learner. A learner’s communicative competence, ie. His/her ability to
communicate, is usually referred to as a set of competences:

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 - Linguistic competence (the ability to use the language accurately in terms
of phonological, grammatical, and lexical accuracy)
- Sociolinguistic competence (the ability to understand and produce
utterances appropriately in various social contexts)
- Discourse competence (the ability to behave in the process of discourse
development, the ability to organize sentences in cohesive, ie.
Grammatically linked, and coherent, ie pragmatically linked, utterances)
- Strategic competence (the ability to use various linguistic and non-
linguistic devices to overcome limitations in linguistic knowledge)
Language Performance is the practical realization of language competence. In other
words, it is language production, usually accompanied by unintentional repetitions,
hesitations, mistakes.
Communicative competence it’s what a speaker needs to know to communicate
appropriately within a particular language community.
Coherence is defined as the quality of being logical, consistent and able to be understood.
Imagine coherence as a building (It’s an analogy, go with it).
Cohesion on the other hand refers to the act of forming a whole unit. It is effectively a
subset of coherence
English grammar is the way in which meanings are encoded into wordings in the English
language. This includes the structure of words, phrases, clauses, sentences, and the
structure of whole texts.
Mistakes are usually accidental. They are performance based, and can be self-
corrected. Mistake is less formal than error, and is usually used in daily speech.
Errors are usually made due to the lack of knowledge. So, the action was wrong because
it was different from the rules, model or specific code. Error is a more formal word than
mistake.

Best of Luck and success!

Ins. Marwa Mustafa Alkawash

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 References
 Littlewood, 2004. ‘The task–based approach: some questions and suggestions‘.
ELT Journal. Volume 58.
 Richards, J.C. & Rodgers, T.S 2001. Approaches and Methods in Language
Teaching, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
 Prabhu, N.S. (1987). Second Language Pedagogy. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
 H. Douglas Brown (1987). Principles of language learning and teaching.
Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, Prentice Hall.
 Brown, H. D. (2000). Principles of language learning and teaching. New York,
NY: Longman.
 Deci, E. L. (1975). Intrinsic motivation. New York, NY: Plenum Press.
 Gardner, R. C., & Lambert, W. E. (1972). Attitudes and motivation in second
language learning. Rowley, MA: Newbury House.
 Trawiński M. (2005). An Outline of Second Language Acquisition Theories
 Saville-Troike M. (2012). Introducing Second Language Acquisition. 2nd edition.
United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
 Larsen-Freeman, D. (2000). Techniques and principles in language teaching.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
 Yule, George (2006). The study of language. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge
University Press.
 Lenneberg, E. H. (1967). The biological foundations of language: 154-155
 Butte College. Tip sheets. Grammar. available at:
http://www.butte.edu/departments/cas/tipsheets/grammar/

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