ASSIGNMENT 509 Task B AIM Analyse how individual

ASSIGNMENT 509 Task B

AIM • Analyse how individual speakers and writers choose varieties, registers and styles according to personal, social, political and cultural factors • How language is used in the formation, maintenance and transformation of power relations • Personal, social and cultural factors influencing ESOL learners; language acquisition, learning and use • The impact of a range of learning difficulties and disabilities on literacy and language teaching and learning

VARIETIES, REGISTERS AND STYLES ACCORDING TO PERSONAL AND SOCIAL FACTORS • How an individual chooses varieties, registers and styles depends on his/her personality: • How an individual chooses varieties, registers and styles also depends on: • The topic being discussed • The setting, i. e. : school for example • The format of the interaction: job interview for ex. • Another example of a formal register is Medical discourse: Doctor-patient communication • The audience: a mother will adopt a different style and register with her baby as opposed to having a conversation with her boss for example

THEORIES WHICH EXPLAIN SOME OF THE CHOICES OF VARIETIES, REGISTERS AND STYLES BASED ON PERSONAL AND SOCIAL FACTORS Different language varieties are associated with social meaning. Language conveys information about an individual. However, language varieties can also represent different aspects of an individuals' identity or to balance competing identities. Codeswitching: Alternating between two or more languages, or language varieties, in the context of a single conversation • Accommodation theory This theory suggests that speakers will converge towards their interlocutor when they wish to reduce social distance, or get on with one another. They will diverge when they wish to emphasise their differences or increase social distance. • Audience design A theory developed by Allan Bell. It suggests that the person or people an individual is speaking to will have the greatest effect on the type of language s/he uses. Graddol, Leith, Swann, Rhys, Gillen, 'Changing English', 1996, London, Routledge/Milton Keynes, The Open University

VARIETIES, REGISTERS AND STYLES ACCORDING TO PERSONAL AND SOCIAL FACTORS Deborah Tannen states that women tend to focus more on interactional and interpersonal aspects of the conversation. Men tend to focus much more on the content and are more direct. http: //faculty. georgetown. edu/tannend/TANNEN%20 ARTICL ES/PDFs%20 of%20 Tannen%20 Articles/2003/gender%20 and %20 family%20 interaction. pdf

VARIETIES, REGISTERS AND STYLES ACCORDING TO POLITICAL AND CULTURAL FACTORS

VARIETIES, REGISTERS AND STYLES ACCORDING TO POLITICAL AND CULTURAL FACTORS English is used by approx. 1 billion people. Less than half of those are native speakers. English can be spoken as: a ‘foreign’ language a ‘second’ language There are different varieties of English: Multi cultural London English Cockney English Standard English British English Patois Indian English Irish English

VARIETIES, REGISTERS AND STYLES ACCORDING TO POLITICAL AND The perception of RP has CULTURAL FACTORS changed dramatically and it is now the accent of ‘evil’ Hollywood casts villains with RP, which is demonstrated in the video below: Received Pronunciation (RP): the standard accent of Standard English RP used to be the ‘educated accent’. Regional accent used to be unflavoured in the media. The ‘broadcast’ voice used to be exclusively ‘RP’ BBC was founded in 1922. The precise nature of the voices heard on the airwaves was a subject of urgent discussion from the outset. The presenters were initially required to eradicate all traces of regionality from their speech. The voice of authority, RP, was largely disseminated. Swann 1996

VARIETIES, REGISTERS AND STYLES ACCORDING TO POLITICAL AND CULTURAL FACTORS Depending on the targeted audience, the viewpoint or a political conviction, different registers or styles will be used in the press. Some articles may contain emotive language, others may be inciting hatred towards specific groups. An example may include referring to the unemployed as ‘spongers’ or referring to migrants as ‘cockroaches’. Another example is illustrated below: Here's an interesting and provocative initiative - an exercise aimed at illustrating the racism suffered by gypsies (and Roma, and Travellers) by substituting the word Jew (or Jewish) in headlines that mention those groups in a pejorative way. "We have got to change the behaviour and the culture of…the Roma community, because there's going to be an explosion otherwise. We all know that. " – David Blunkett. http: //pipopotamus. blogspot. co. uk/2013/11/genocide-by-another-nameblunkett. html? m=1 http: //www. theguardian. com/media/greenslade/2011/apr/27/roma-gypsies-and-travellers-dailymail

• FORMATION OF POWER https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=Ju. B 6 n 5 b-p 9 E&feature=youtu. be 11. 20 – 12. 30 • The above video is an excerpt of a speech of Louis Farrakhan Muhammad, the leader of the religious group Nation of Islam. He is attempting to form power by using language for persuasion. Farrakhan portrays himself as a passionate, righteously angry man. This is apparent through his tone of voice, rising intonation and body language, i. e. hitting the table with his hand. He also pauses between his statements, alternating between righteously angry and sophisticated persona for a greater impact. His rhetoric shares similarities with political discourse. Farrakhan makes a great use of personal pronouns by addressing his listeners as ‘you’, hence making a direct connection with his audience. He uses the first person plural ‘we’ on some occasions. This suggests that Farrakhan is willing to share some responsibility for success with his followers. He however makes it clear that is it him who is in a position to give orders.

TRANSFORMING POWER • https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=x. CCBeq. LZEVw&feature=youtu. be • 35. 40 -38. 40 mins (3 min) • The above video is an excerpt from a BBC 3 Drama ‘Killed by my boyfriend’, based on a true story. The clip shows the main protagonist Ashley, confronting her boyfriend Reece whom she suspects of cheating. Reece uses the technique of deflection to transform the situation and win the argument.

TRANSFORMING POWER • In addition to using non-verbal language, Reece responds to Ashley’s confrontation of his actions by changing the focus onto her behavior. He brings up a counter complaint and consequently shifts the power dynamics. Reece also reframes ‘parenting’ by misusing the word ‘babysitting. ’ The definite shift in power occurs when he raises his voice and his tone becomes aggressive. In order to further confuse his interlocutor Ashley, Reece then changes his tone of voice once again to a soft, almost patronizing tone. He repeatedly states that he loves her and further tries to discredit her by focusing on her insecurities. The interlocutor Ashley loses her power entirely. She ends up very frustrated, scared and confused, gradually losing the legitimacy of her initial complaint. As a result, she apologizes and Reece wins the argument. It is a clear example of transforming and abusing power.

MAINTAINING POWER • https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=_I_GYg. Gjx. FM&sns=em • 7 -7. 08 (8 sec) • The above video depicts a judge repeatedly shouting ‘order, order!’ to maintain her power of a temporarily disordered courtroom. It is a clear example of how language is used to maintain power.

FACTORS INFLUENCING ESOL LEARNERS Affective Filter hypothesis, embodies Krashen's view that a number of 'affective variables' play a facilitative, but noncausal, role in second language acquisition. These variables include: motivation, self-confidence and anxiety. Krashen claims that learners with high motivation, self-confidence, a good self-image, and a low level of anxiety are better equipped for success in second language acquisition. Low motivation, low self-esteem, and debilitating anxiety can combine to 'raise' the affective filter and form a 'mental block' that prevents comprehensible input from being used for acquisition. In other words, when the filter is 'up' it impedes language acquisition. On the other hand, positive affect is necessary, but not sufficient on its own, for acquisition to take place. http: //www. sk. com. br/sk-krash. html

FACTORS INFLUENCING ESOL LEARNERS • Factors influencing ESOL learners can be divided into 4 main groups: • Cultural. Some examples may include: • Cultural expectations about the position of women in the society • Educational: ESOL learners can be divided into 3 main groups. The first group of ESOL learners are highly educated in their first language and use the Roman script; the second group is highly educated in L 1 but use a different alphabet; the third group is illiterate in L 1 and received little or no formal education • Dispositional: ESOL learners are individuals hence have different values and views regarding the role of education; some may have negative attitude towards E&D. Learners also have different ambitions, expectations as well as levels of confidence. • Circumstantial: lack of childcare, the travel costs to an organisation may not be affordable, learners may be unsettled, homeless or live in overcrowded housing. Some Ls may have irregular work patterns which makes attending an organisation very difficult, others may have personal or family problems.

THE SAPIR-WHORF HYPOTHESIS • Many thinkers have urged that large differences in language lead to large differences in experience and thought. They hold that each language embodies a worldview, with quite different languages embodying quite different views, so that speakers of different languages think about the world in quite different ways. This view is sometimes called the Whorfhypothesis or the Whorf-Sapir hypothesis • http: //plato. stanford. edu/entries/relativism/supplement 2. html

IMPACT OF LEARNING DIFFICULTIES AND DISABILITIES ON LITERACY AND LANGUAGE TEACHING AND LEARNING • The report of the Disability Rights Task Force (December 1999), From Exclusion to Inclusion estimates that at least 8. 5 million people currently meet the Disability Discrimination Act definition. http: //rwp. excellencegateway. org. uk/resource/Access+for+All/pdf/ • People with disabilities are more likely to be unemployed, live in poverty and have health problems. Learning difficulties and disabilities result in poor literacy skills (difficulty or lateness in acquiring reading and writing skills. ) Some learners may be functionally illiterate. Others may have problems such as: • erratic spelling • Text comprehension or inference difficulties • an inability to scan or skim text. • Illegible handwriting

LEARNING DIFFICULTIES • The term learning difficulties or disabilities is used to include learners with: • clearly identified learning difficulties; • physical and sensory impairments – for example those with mobility difficulties or hearing or visual impairments; • unseen disabilities such as health conditions, mental health difficulties and dyslexia; • those whose disrupted learning experiences (for example those in offender establishments) and difficulties with learning have led them to work at a significantly lower level than the majority of their peers. http: //rwp. excellencegateway. org. uk/resource/ESOL+Access+for+All+-+Part+1/pdf/

SPECIFIC LEARNING DIFFICULTIES • Dyslexia is a hidden disability thought to affect around 10% of the population, 4% severely. It is the most common of the Specific Learning Difficulties, a family of related conditions with considerable overlap or co-occurrence. Together these are believed to affect around 15% of people to a lesser or greater extent. • • Specific Learning Difficulties (Sp. LDs) affect the way information is learned and processed. They are neurological (rather than psychological), usually hereditary and occur independently of intelligence. They include: • Dyslexia • Dyspraxia or Development Co-ordination Disorder • Dyscalculia • Attention Deficit Disorder http: //www. bdadyslexia. org. uk/dyslexic/dyslexia-and-specific-learning-difficulties-in-adults

LITERACY • Literacy covers the ability to: • speak, listen and respond • read and comprehend • write to communicate. http: //rwp. excellencegateway. org. uk/resource/Access+for+All/pdf/

AUDITORY PROCESSING DISORDER • An "auditory processing disorder" is a hearing or listening problem which makes processing sounds more difficult. A learner with this disorder may have difficulties with phonological and phonemic awareness as well as reading and spelling. • Learners often find it difficult to pay attention, listen to, and remember information presented verbally.

Dyslexia The image below is an example of visual stress which can be experienced by dyslexic readers. Text can appear blurred or distorted. Characteristic features of dyslexia are: • difficulties in phonological awareness, verbal memory and verbal processing speed. • Accompanying weaknesses may be identified in areas of speed of processing, short-term memory, organization, sequencing, spoken language and motor skills. There may also be difficulties with auditory and /or visual perception. http: //www. bdadyslexia. org. uk/dyslexic/definitions

ACCESS FOR ALL • Access for All and ESOL Access for All were developed to support teachers using the adult core curricula in literacy, numeracy and ESOL who had learners with learning difficulties or disabilities in their classes. • http: //rwp. excellencegateway. org. uk/Access%20 for% 20 All/

BIBLIOGRAPHY • British Dyslexia Association • http: //www. bdadyslexia. org. uk/dyslexic/dyslexia-and-specific-learning-difficulties-inadults • interview with Diana Eades and Janet Holmes, U 211 CD 4, The Open University • http: //rwp. excellencegateway. org. uk/Access%20 for%20 All/ • Graddol, Leith, Swann, Rhys, Gillen, 'Changing English', 1996, London, Routledge/Milton Keynes, The Open University • http: //cultinformation. org. uk/