Lecture notes
A-level English Language Modes Notes
Some online lecture notes about the different modes which feature in English Language.
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Lesson 4: Looking at Mode – Written V Speaking (Two conventional modes ofcommunication)
Written Texts
A-level English Language textbook
Shopping list
Letter from Bank
Spoken Texts
A teacher giving instructions
A patient talking with a doctor
A radio presenter introducing a song
Blended Mode Texts
A text message
A speech delivered by Boris Johnson
Lyrics in a song e.g. Ed Sheeran
In Paper 1 Section A, you will get 2 different modes!
Spoken Data:
Informal, loosely structured, ephemeral, spontaneous, deictical (context dependent),
grammatically simple, audience co-present, interactional, interactive, non-standard English,
meanings depend on context, receiver present, time-bound, space-bound, unclear sentence
boundaries, paralinguistic features, prosodic features.
Conventional Written Data:
Planned, structured, permanent, context-independent, grammatically complex, formal,
audience elsewhere, transactional (business behind it), standard English, receiver elsewhere
(it can be received by anybody in the anywhere in the world), meanings independent of
context, sentence breaks easily to identify, graphological features are important.
Mean length utterance (MLU) = counting the number of words a participant says and divide
it by the number of turns they take in that speech. Could indicate dominance and useful to
see power dynamics. DYADIC conversation!
Comparing Modal Features
Spoken:
Interrogatives keep the text interactive / interactional – building relationships
A lot of it seems to be phatic!
Non-standard = efficient use of language
Highly deictical – through use of pronouns
Don’t hear the prosodic/paralinguistic features in a transcript
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