Summary

English Grammar and Language Proficiency Summary

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Course
Engels Grammatica En Taalbeheersing

Institution
Universiteit Antwerpen (UA)

English: Grammar and Language Proficiency Summary, given by Anna Gagiano in BA2. Includes all units in the handbook, homework assignments and a glossary with all the vocabulary from the lesson

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Uploaded on December 31, 2022
Number of pages 25
Written in 2022/2023
Type Summary

english
english
grammar
language proficiency
fluency
grammar

Institution
Universiteit Antwerpen (UA)
Education
Toegepaste Taalkunde
Course
Engels Grammatica En Taalbeheersing

MarjoleinVanmaercke

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ENGLISH: GRAMMAR & LP
INTRODUCTION TO LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY

3 APPROACHES
Interpretive communication Reading & listening
Presentational communication Writing & speaking
Interpersonal communication Spontanious interaction skills

TRADE-OFFS

- Fluency: spontaneous & automatic, appropriate pace & pauses
- Accuracy: error-free vocabulary & grammar, correctness
- Complexity: varied & sophisticated vocabulary & grammar, difficulty

HOMEWORK: THE BENEFITS OF THE BILINGUAL

LANGUAGE

 Passive parts: listening & reading
 Active parts: speaking & writing

 balanced bilingual: both parts are equal

Compound bilingual Child learns 2 languages simultaneously (eg. 2 bilingual parents)
Coordinate biligual eg. Learns English at school & speaks Spanish at home
Subordinate bilingual learning 2nd language by filtering it through 1st language

Other bilinguals:

THE BRAIN

 Left hemisphere: analytical & logical processes
 Right hemisphere: emotional & social processes

Critical period hypothesis

 it’s easier for children to learn language: plasticity of the brain

 They use both hemispheres in language acquisition
 Adults: language = lateralized to one hemisphere (left)

 Learning language as adult: less emotional, more rational approach to confronting problems in 2 nd language

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,Advantages multilingual brain

- Higher density of grey matter (contains neurons & synapses)
- More brain activity in certain regions when speaking another language
- Delay of diseases like Alzheimer’s & dementia

ATTITUDE TOWARDS BILINGUALISM

Before 1960s: bilingualism = handicap

 2 languages forces child to spend too much energy distinguishing language 1 & 2
<-> not true: engaging in 2 languages -> strengthens dorsolateral prefrontal cortex

 Executive function (problem solving, focusing, switching
between tasks …)

INTRODUCTION TO GRAMMAR

- Origin: Late Middle English from old French gramaire -> Greek grammatike (art of letters)
- Definition: how sentences and utterances are formed, how words are put together
o Syntax: arrangement of items
o Morphology: structure of items

HOMEWORK: WHAT GRAMMAR IS AND WHAT NOT

GRAMMAR AND ITS ROLE IN LANGUAGE

- Grammatical rules can be followed by native speakers without knowing them consciously
o eg. native speakers automatically say ‘the red big balloon’ (rule: size before colour)
o children learn how to speak without formal tuition by listening to others
- Studying grammar does not improve spelling! (=written representation of sounds)
- Grammar = central part of language relating to sound and meaning
o Meaning  words  put together by grammatical rules  conveyed by sound
o Phonology: system of sounds
o Semantics: system of meaning

 traditionally: grammar was related to writing (Latin) <->written form is secondary to spoken form
 grammar = mechanism for producing speech and writing: conveying in speech ≠ conveying in writing

GOOD AND BAD GRAMMAR

Descriptivism: how ppl actually use language  studying grammar: describing how people do speak
prescriptivism: how language should be used

 Who did you give this to?
o prescriptivist: incorrect: cannot end sentence with preposition  to whom did you give this
o descriptivist: correct

2

, Different ways a sentence can be wrong

Ungrammatical Sentence does not follow a rule that native speakers do use
 eg. ‘to was or not to was, that be the ask’
Bad etiquette Point of view of descriptivism: inappropriate in more formal context
 eg. ‘I ain’t going nowhere tonight’
Bad style No effective communication (meaning is unclear)
 eg. ‘If the baby cannot drink cold milk, it should be boiled’

VARIATION IN LANGUAGE

Many varieties of English: American – British, northeners – southerners, young – old, men – woman
 variation according to characteristics of its user
 variation according to the use speech is put to: eg. talking to friends vs talking to strangers

Informal speech: more regional differences than formal speech!

PARTS OF SPEECH (=WORD CLASSES)

 there is no single correct way of analysing words into word classes!
 you need context to assign a word to a word class: eg. fast (can be a verb, adjective & adverb)

Lexical - Form-class words - Nouns: course, variety, …
- Have a clear meaning: you can - Adjectives: useful, available, clear
describe them - Adverbs: regularly, quickly, …
- Verbs: provides, gets, …
Functional - = grammatical, structure-class words - Pronouns: our, we, their
- Hard to define their meaning -> - Articles: the, a , an
grammatical function - Prepositions: in, of, on, to
- Linking words: and, so that, …
Open - New words can be made
- form-class words
Closed - No introduction of new words
- Structure-class words

ARTICLES

 subcategory of determiners

 Use ‘the’ for specifying or explaining
 Don’t use ‘the’ when generalizing or talking about abstract concepts (eg. celebrities, wealth)

PREPOSITIONS

Grammatical function: show relationship in space or time or logical relationship between ppl, places & things
 single word (at, above, below) or multi-word (along with, according to, in front of
 verb follows preposition: verb must be in -ing form (he insisted on arguing)
 formal English: preposition before relative pronoun (this is the research on which)

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