Language and Literacy Levels Module 1 2 C

Language and Literacy Levels Module 1. 2 C: Nominalisation

Instructions • If after reading the glossary, indicators and examples about this language item in the Levels you still need to learn more, it is anticipated that you will work through this Power. Point at your own pace and without the need to be supported by a trainer. However, depending upon your school's implementation plan, you may be able to email or post any questions to your trainer or discuss them with your Professional Learning Community or similar group. Faculty of Edit this on the Slide Master The University of Adelaide

Nominalisation • Nominalisation are formed by changing words that are not things (nouns) into a certain type of thing (noun). For example: from verbs: reaction from react or departure from depart adjectives: length from long; eagerness from eager conjunctions: cause or reason from because; in addition from and Faculty of Edit this on the Slide Master The University of Adelaide

Purposes of Nominalisation • Nominalisation helps achieve a higher degree of abstraction and technicality. • Nominalisation is significant in constructing a distant and abstract world that can be reflected on. • Nominalisation is one of the language choices that enables movement towards highly written-like texts. Faculty of Edit this on the Slide Master The University of Adelaide

What is the “thing”? • The clown amused us for a while. What “thing” is this sentence about? • The amusement provided by the clown faded. What “thing” is this sentence about? Is it the clown or the amusement? Faculty of Edit this on the Slide Master The University of Adelaide

What is the “thing”? • The clown amused us for a while. Clown is the “thing”. • The amusement provided by the clown faded. Amusement is the “thing”. Faculty of Edit this on the Slide Master The University of Adelaide

Nominalisation • The circus arrived in town with much noise. What “thing” is this sentence about? • The arrival of the circus was noisy. What “thing” is this sentence about? Faculty of Edit this on the Slide Master The University of Adelaide

Nominalisation • The circus arrived in town with much noise. Circus is the “thing”. • The arrival of the circus was noisy. Arrival is the “thing”. Faculty of Edit this on the Slide Master The University of Adelaide

Checkpoint • If clown, amusement, circus and arrival are all “things”, we can call them nouns (names of things). Faculty of Edit this on the Slide Master The University of Adelaide

Nominalisation • Let’s now consider two of these nouns: clown and circus. • You can detect these nouns with your five senses. Faculty of Edit this on the Slide Master The University of Adelaide

Nominalisation • Reflect for a moment about whether detecting “things” with all your five senses can truly be said about nouns like amusement and arrival. You’ll probably agree that amusement and arrival are a different sort of noun compared to clown and circus. The first two are names of concepts, ideas or phenomenon so there is more to nominalisation than simply changing a non-noun to a noun. • Now let’s look at some nominalisations in school. Faculty of Edit this on the Slide Master The University of Adelaide

Nominalisation in Schooling Nominalisations are only included in the Levels because students are expected to understand them in written and multimodal texts, including teacher talk, from a young age. Students are expected to start using them with ever increasing complexity from about year 3. - Across curriculum (e. g. attention, assessment, co-operation, intelligence, behaviour) - Mathematics (e. g. width, division) - Science (e. g. sight, reproduction) - Society & Environment (e. g. relief, invasion) Faculty of Edit this on the Slide Master The University of Adelaide

Nominalisation in Science • “Steam is coming off the hot water. ” The first sentence might be typical language of a child in year 2 observing some water being heated. • The water is evaporating. The second sentence might be the language produced by a child in year 4 who has begun using the topic words “evaporating” instead everyday words to explain the same phenomenon. • Evaporation is occurring. The third sentence is what a child at year 7/8 would be expected to write. It includes the nominalisation “evaporation” which has come form the verb “evaporating”. Faculty of Edit this on the Slide Master The University of Adelaide

Nominalisation in History • “People coming here set up towns along the coast. ” This is very spoken-like language. • The coast was settled by people migrating to Australia. This sentence uses topic words like “coast”, “settled” and “migrating”. • Migration to Australia resulted in coastal settlement. The verb “migrating” has been changed into the nominalisation “migration” and the verb “settled” changed into “settlement”. This help the text more written-like. Faculty of Edit this on the Slide Master The University of Adelaide

Nominalisation in the Levels • • • Locate ‘Nominalisation’ in the left hand column in Levels 7 -14. Read the examples across the Levels to see how they progress. At higher levels of schooling children are expected to reflect on their own and others’ viewpoints and ideas and may use nominalisations formed from thinking verbs (eg to consider>consideration, to reflect>reflection, to recall>recollection). Faculty of Edit this on the Slide Master The University of Adelaide

Fancy a challenge? • In the first sentence below “settlement” is a nominalisation but not in the second. Why? • Migration to Australia resulted in coastal settlement. • Adelaide is a coastal settlement. . Faculty of Edit this on the Slide Master The University of Adelaide

Fancy a challenge? • In the second sentence it is not the name of a process but the name of a concrete thing. It could be replaced by other nouns like “city” or “site”. Faculty of Edit this on the Slide Master The University of Adelaide

Checkpoint • Nominalisations name concepts, ideas or phenomenon so there is more to nominalisation than simply changing a nonnoun to a noun. • Students are required to comprehend simple nominalisations in R-2 and begin composing them from year 3 across different learning areas. • The use of nominalisations make texts, even spoken ones, more written-like. Faculty of Edit this on the Slide Master The University of Adelaide

Advantages of Nominalisation • Once a verb or other type of word is changed into a nominalisation all sorts of grammatical possibilities open up. • It becomes less cumbersome to discuss or reflect upon the nominalisation. • Compare “It was unfair when the settlers colonised. ” with “The unfair colonisation …” • Nominalisations as well as concrete nouns can start doing things. • Compare “The researchers discovered the cause and then developed a cure” with “The discovery lead to a cure. ” Faculty of Edit this on the Slide Master The University of Adelaide

Purposes of Nominalisation • You saw this slide early in the Power. Point. Hopefully the purposes are even clearer now. • Nominalisation helps achieve a higher degree of abstraction and technicality. • Nominalisation is significant in constructing a distant and abstract world that can be reflected on. • Nominalisation is one of the language choices that enables movement towards highly written-like texts. Faculty of Edit this on the Slide Master The University of Adelaide

Optional Extension Activities The remaining slides extend this module by providing opportunities to change isolated words and words within sentences into nominalisations. Faculty of Edit this on the Slide Master The University of Adelaide

Creating Nominalisations • Nominalisations are most often formed from verbs (e. g. discover > discovery, achieve > achievement, present > presentation, permit > permission) • but they can also be formed from adjectives/ describers (e. g. brave > bravery, wide > width, tense > tension) • and from conjunctions (e. g. because > cause, whereas > difference, if > possibility) • and from prepositions (e. g. during > duration). Faculty of Edit this on the Slide Master The University of Adelaide

Creating Nominalisations • The next few slides allow you to change words that are either verbs or adjectives/describers into nominalisations from a couple of learning areas Faculty of Edit this on the Slide Master The University of Adelaide

Complete the table of some common nominalisations in Maths Word Nominalisation deep addition distance multiply estimation Faculty of Edit this on the Slide Master The University of Adelaide

Some common nominalisations in Maths Word Nominalisation deep depth addition distant distance multiply multiplication estimate estimation Faculty of Edit this on the Slide Master The University of Adelaide

Complete the table of some common nominalisations in the Arts Word Nominalisation perform movement originality exhibition surrealism Faculty of Edit this on the Slide Master The University of Adelaide

Some common nominalisations in the Arts Word Nominalisation performance movement originality exhibition surrealism Faculty of Edit this on the Slide Master The University of Adelaide

Understanding Nominalisation Original Version Nominalised Versions They were She made an impression impressed by how because she was brave she was. They were impressed by her bravery. She made an impression with her bravery. Faculty of Edit this on the Slide Master The University of Adelaide

Write a version of the sentence using nominalisations made from the underlined words Original Version Nominalised Versions Jill placed the flowers perfectly on the table. The coach was amazed by Nina’s brilliant effort. Faculty of Edit this on the Slide Master The University of Adelaide

Some possible versions Original Version Nominalised Versions Jill placed the flowers perfectly on the table. Her placement of the flowers on the table was perfect. Jill’s perfect placement of the flowers on the table delighted everyone. The coach was amazed by Nina’s brilliant effort. Nina’s brilliance amazed the coach. The coach’s amazement was due to Nina’s brilliance. NB It may not be appropriate to nominalise every possibility Faculty of Edit this on the Slide Master The University of Adelaide

Write less. . . Say more! Nominalisation changes verbs and other words into nouns. It makes a text more compact and more specific. e. g. , instead of saying… "When your body reaches an abnormally low temperature, you will need to be taken to hospital", Nomin alisati use nominalisation: on requir es ad Hypothermia requires hospitalisation. suffix to t ding a to cha he verb, nge v erb to noun. Instead of saying: "How farmers protected their livestock from the storm was the topic of the article", use nominalisation: "Livestock protection was the topic of the article. “ Faculty of Edit this on the Slide Master The University of Adelaide

Nominalisation requires adding a suffix to the verb, to change verb to noun. Faculty of Edit this on the Slide Master Verb suffix Noun Explore Supervis e Farm Star Refuse Break Amaze -(a)tion -ing -dom -al -age -ment exploration supervision farming stardom refusal breakage amazement The University of Adelaide