The Second Language ( L2 ) Learners

“Authority and American Usage” written by David Foster Wallace, poses an argument about the English language, and the different beliefs of its usage. This essay was written in defense of Bryan A. Garner’s, A Dictionary of Modern American Usage. His argument in “Authority and American Usage” is the difference the between prescriptivism perception and the descriptivism perception (Linguistic terms that could easily be made into smaller, more understandable words for people like me). Since the beginning of time, language has evolved. From biblical times, to Shakespearean times, to present day; the English language has been continuously changing since it’s birth and has no intentions on stopping.

Secondly, range of similarities and differences are perceived in the sets of rules constraining the language structure of Auslan and English. In comparison to English, sign languages are visual languages, hence it is distinct in modality and word-ordering structure (Damian, 2011). To illustrate, the words of spoken languages are delivered in a fairly linear pattern, both in time and on paper (Bejan, 2001). This linear sentence structure is observed in English, but the same is not demonstrated in Auslan. However, despite this distinction, the order of signs remains of importance to produce meaningful sentences. This is because Auslan conveys many grammatical features found in the English language at phonological, morphological and syntactic levels (Johnston & Schembri, 2007). An individual’s poor English grammar is attributed for sentence fragments. These poorly formed English sentences occur when a sentence lacks a subject, a verb or do not express a complete thought (Schuster, 2006). In the same manner, the wrong ordering of signs will affect the fluency of the language. For instance, the linear English sentence ‘many black cars have disappeared’ will be signed as MANY-BLACK-CAR-DISAPPEAR (Johnston & Schembri, 2007). In this example, it is important that the determiner (MANY) and adjective (BLACK) are situated before the noun (CAR) (Johnston & Schembri, 2007). This is done for the purpose of identifying the noun within the sentence, which subsequently lead to the formation

The English language is particularly complex in almost all aspects. Many of the words in the English language have different meanings for the same word. This is not unlike the definition of the different levels of usage. McCrimmon defines the three levels, formal, moderate, and colloquial, by their sentence structure, diction, and tone (McCrimmon 193). ¹ Using McCrimmon’s definitions, authors can determine what type of writing is applicable to each of the three levels. For the formal writings, an adequate example of where readers can find it is in a professional journal, and an appropriate place to find an example of the moderate level is in a weekly news magazine. Also, the best place to look for an example of the colloquial level is in certain sections of the newspaper. All of the levels of usage apply to these different types of writings and assist in defining what each level involves.

In order to provide clarity of language and distinguish this ___ from other ___ Saussure comprises a summarization of four characteristics within language. First and foremost, language is a well-defined object in the heterogeneous mass of speech facts. This means ______. Next, Language, unlike speaking, is something that we can study separately. Thirdly, Whereas speech is heterogeneous, language as defined, is homogenous. The last component of language discusses is Language is concrete no less so than speaking; and this is a help in our study of

It was mainly formed depending on the rules that English is made up of a particular subject that explains the presence of the structure and features of the language involved. The analysis that was given in this phase was that the features of the language were the same in the sentence grammar without a tendency to favor particular forms. The theory, however, did not explain any forms that were in existence in simple English. It is precarious to make bias perception concerning the matter, although there existed interest in the nature of the English language theoretically by itself. The most important reason for this urge was to make the available skills more relevant to learners. It was also aimed at providing learners with outline form that gives the priority in science studies and forego other forms that they might not have come across in their lifetime. It further shows that ESP course should give more importance to these

However, she still omitts articles in her speech (e.g: I don’t have boss. / I’m Biologist), and uses “ have” instead of “There is” (e.g.: Have a Science Museum in the city.) , both mistakes are made due to L1 interference. In Portuguese, as in the

My seminar provided an overview of chapter 4- explaining second language learning. During my introduction, key points from each of the 5 perspectives were discussed. The cognitive perspective was given priority as it contained many subcategories within itself. This section also allowed my group mates to connect theory and practice of second language learning. My group mates were able to connect to the noticing hypothesis, processability theory and the three principles of practice through their own personal experiences while learning a second language. The first discussion question asked my group members to evaluate their own understanding of how language learning occurs and compare it with the perspectives we covered. The second discussion question provided them a chance to assess each perspective and think of one weakness and one strength for each. Overall if I were to re-do my seminar, I would like to provide more attention to the other perspectives. I would add more discussion questions in order to stimulate more in-depth discussions. Similarly, adding supplemental information from an outside source to further discussion and connect the theories to pedagogy. Additionally, I would create an activity that focused more on teaching of a second language and how these theories have influenced the current practices used.

He makes an important hypothesis that universal grammar (UG). UG is a characterization of these innate principle of language faculty, I-language. (5) He then postulates some detailed structure of UG. It is a system of conditions on grammars, constraints on the form and interpretation of grammar at all levels, from the deep structures of syntax, through the transformational component, to the rules that interpret syntactic structures semantically and phonetically. The study of linguistic universals, which is classified as formal or substantive, is the study of the properties of UG for a natural language. (6) Substantive universals concern the vocabulary for the description of language and a formal linguistic universal involve the character of the rules that appear in grammars and the ways in which they can be interconnected. Language-acquisition device uses primary linguistic data as the empirical basis for language learning to meet explanatory adequacy that is defined in UG, and to select one of the potential grammars, which is permitted by UG.

In this part of my paper I want to draw your attention to some surprising facts that pertain to the Chinese language. The research shows that the Chinese language has a relatively uncomplicated grammar. Contrary to French, German or English, Chinese has no verb conjugation (in other words tense inflection). Also, this language has no noun declension, including gender and number distinctions. While learning Chinese you do not have to memorize different verb forms of “tell/told/told.” Under such circumstances, all you have to remember is just one word: kan. Also, while learning English a person has to distinguish between “hat” and “hats”. In Chinese we have a totally different situation. The only form that is present in this language is the word mao.

Through this poem we can come to know how every part of speech works. In the English language, words can be considered as the smallest elements that have distinctive meanings. Based on their use and functions, words are categorized into several types or parts of speech. This article will offer definitions and examples for the 8 major parts of speech in English grammar:  noun, pronoun, verb, adverb, adjective, conjunction, preposition, and interjection.

Throughout twenty-centuries ago, writers thought that ordinary language and literary language were two different languages. But this is an analytical assumption. There is only one language, which

Talking about “dialects”, a term often mentioned along is “standard language”. When being brought into comparison with “dialect”, “standard language” usually serves as a legitimate variant with the highest level of excellence (Bex & Watts, 1999). Though positive in nature, standardization - the procedure of standardizing a language – often raises heated controversy because of its consequences on not only linguistics field but also the society. In the second part of the essay, I will focus on the disadvantages of language standardization.

The materials I have selected for my chosen learner is a chapter (64) from Raymond Murphy’s Essential Grammar in Use. This chapter specifically deals with the usage of the definite article “the” and provides exercises for the students to learn and practice from. When using this material i will adapt it to make suitable for my particular student, and i will also shorten its length so it doesn’t become too tedious for my student.

Specialists in descriptive grammar (linguists) examine the principles and patterns that underlie the use of words, phrases, clauses, and sentences. In contrast, prescriptive

The results of the analysis suggest that English native speakers use a greater number of singular self-mention in linguistics research articles than scholars affiliated with Ukrainian universities, who avoid using them completely and rely on plural forms. This confirms the previous findings that primarily plural self-mention is employed in academic writing in Slavic languages (Vassileva, 1998), and that academic texts in English by native speakers show the greatest use of singular forms in comparison to other languages (Flottum, 2005; Molino, 2010; Vassileva, 1998; Wu & Zhu, 2014; Yakhontova, 2002; 2006). It can be assumed that, in American academic culture, scholars tend to establish their presence in the articles and show that research has been carried out exclusively by them and that the method and interpretations of findings are based on their own judgement. This way they might acknowledge the fact that although research should be an objective presentation of reality, it is still subjective because it is interpreted and documented by a researcher. In addition, since Americans are representatives of an individualistic culture, they might be willing to identify their personal contributions to the discourse.