Focal Words and the Recovery of Sentence Meaning

1980 ◽  
Vol 47 ◽  
pp. 15-27
Author(s):  
Dr. Steven Darian

Abstract In listening and reading, the foreign language learner must be able to process a tremendous amount of information in a short time. In order to do this, he must develop a strategy for choosing those items that help in recovering that information. One way of doing this is to concentrate on focal words: words containing key elements of meaning in the sentence. These words may then be used - in speech and writing - to reconstruct the original message. This paper explores the relationship of focel words to other sentence elements and describes various focal word exercises for listening and reading.

Author(s):  
Harold Andrés Peña

While there has been an upsurge of research studying the relationship of gender and second language learning in cross-cultural contexts, far less has been investigated about preschool children’s gender and learner identities in contexts where English is a foreign language. In this paper I describe how gendered discourses are at stake in the classroom and how these discourses are related to the learner identities of a group of Colombian preschoolers. I use a Feminist Poststructuralist Discourse Analysis (FPDA) approach to pin down moments in which the assertion of power is manifested in second language practices like ‘classroom races’ during literacy activities. This assertion of power positions participants differently. Findings suggest the need to understand how children negotiate subject positions discursively in language learning activities. I am suggesting the need to erode discourses of approval that marginalize girls and favour boys.


2021 ◽  
pp. 4-9
Author(s):  
Е.Л. Бархударова

В основе разработки курсов практической фонетики, адресованных иноязычной аудитории, лежит анализ типологического своеобразия фонетической системы изучаемого языка в контексте лингводидактики. К числу важных направлений типологического исследования звукового строя русского языка следует отнести, во-первых, изучение соотношения консонантизма и вокализма в его фонетической системе на иноязычном фоне, во-вторых, – анализ позиционных закономерностей русской фонетической системы в сопоставлении с функционированием звуковых единиц в типологически разных языках. В позиционных закономерностях звукового строя языка наиболее ярко проявляется его идиоматичность: в каждом языке позиционные закономерности носят специфический характер и определяются соотношением парадигматики и синтагматики звуковых единиц. Большое число фонологически значимых отклонений в иностранном акценте обусловлено интерферирующим воздействием позиционных закономерностей родного языка на русскую речь учащихся. The development of practical phonetics courses addressed to a foreign audience is based on the analysis of the typological features of the phonetic system of the target language in the context of linguodidactics. It is necessary to designate two important areas of typological research of the sound structure of the Russian language: the study of the relationship of consonantism and vocalism in its phonetic system against a foreign language background and the analysis of positional rules of the Russian phonetic system in comparison with the functioning of sound units in typologically different languages. Idiomatic character of the language is most clearly manifested in the positional patterns of its sound structure. In each language, positional patterns are specific and are determined by the dominance of paradigmatic or syntagmatic relations of sound units. A large number of phonologically significant deviations in a foreign accent are due to the interfering influence of the positional laws of the native language on the Russian speech of students.


2019 ◽  
pp. 243-255
Author(s):  
Zdzisław Aleksander

When looking at the relationship between substantive education and the pedagogical background of a teacher (foreign language teacher included) there has been an eternal disagreement both in the academia, as well as among prospective employers. The most essential controversy pertains to the degree of expertise a teacher should possess in the field they teach versus how much psycho-pedagogical and educational knowledge they should have and the mutual relationship of the two. Another area of dispute and debate within the teachers’ education specialism seems to occur between two parties: proponents of theoretical research and the narrow circle of practical education advocates. The empirical annex, which points to the level of vocational preparation of a language teacher, focuses on the choice of didactic activities, the quality of their execution, and the working conditions which are under a teacher’s control.


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