On this page, you will find text reflections made over text that has been a part of the curriculum during my study to become an English teacher. The page is divided into semester sections. You will both find written reflections, reflections done as a podcast and reflections on video. Furthermore, you will find additional material to underline my reflections.

Pre-Doing and Post-reading task: ELF chapter 11

For the task of making a pre- doing-reading task, the group and I decided to make a mindmap. Our thought was to make it more structured and therefore easier to make sense of the text.

In the chapter, there are described six principles that you as an author should go through to make the best possible learning textbook. These principles did we connect to centre (chapter eleven) and from the points, with the principles, there are lines to the new marks that explain the principles in more details. But structure your reading this way gives a complete overview of the chapter.

As post reading task we will ask the class to tells us how their experience was when they used the mind map to structure their reading through the chapter and thereafter create a mind map together with the class (plenum).

First semester

Short teaching sequence about Holi

This is a little teaching sequence about the Indian colour festival Holi that we have to prepare in one hour, for the other students in a class.

First, they had to read a text that was presented in the PowerPoint about the Holi. When they were done, they had to raise their hand to signal they were done.

After all had finished the slideshow showed two pictures – one of the festivals and the other of a Danishism called Colour Run. They had to choose the picture that they thought was the one from Holi and argue why they thought there choose was the correct one.

By presenting the festival this way, the class booth had to read, reflect and orally argue for their thoughts about the subject. They also had to connect a text to a picture and by doing this, they had to understand the whole text.

Whole Brain Teaching and Learning Research

By Angela Macias and Brian Macias

What is Whole Brain Teaching?

Whole Brain Teaching is a set of strategies that combines attributes of Direct Instruction and Cooperative Learning to create opportunities for learning social skills as student roles and procedures are rehearsed. Students know what is expected of them at all times.

Benefits of Whole Brain Teaching

Benefits for teachers

There are three benefits for teachers using Whole Brain Teaching (WBT) methods:

Positive behaviour reinforcement.
Memory retention.
Student Engagement.

These benefits work to reinforce one another as well; as students are surrounded by positive behaviour; they can learn better and students will inevitably behave better when they fell more confident in their learning.

Benefits for students

There are a lot of benefits for students in a WBT classroom. Students can have an overall more empowering experience as they take on the role of a teacher instead of traditional classroom models of taking in and regurgitating information. There are three main reasons students can benefit from WBT:

Motivation.
Student-centered learning.
Application of learning.

Conclusion

WBT exemplifies the philosophy that teachers educate the whole child, not simply teach one subject are at a time. Therefore, classroom discipline and management is equally important to quality lessons, not simply for teachers to have control of the classroom environment, but also for students to build self-efficacy in the process of learning.

Reflection

Whole Brain Teaching takes a lot from the German didactic, which focuses on the student and the person they have to become and not just the learning. But instead of just looking at the end game, WBT use the didactic thinking to make ground for a more healthy environment for the students, so that the learning part will come more easily because they don't have to think so much about have to behave doing the lessons.

It also makes the students take a more active role in the classroom by making them make the rules of the classroom. By doing it this way, the students feel more obliged to uphold the rules.

When you take all into consideration I think WBT is a great way to construct a healthy classroom environment for both students and teachers, because the students have a bigger role/voice in the elaboration of the rules of the classroom. This makes more room for learning.

From Method to Postmethod

By Theresa Summer, Julius-Maximilians-University Würzberg

Defining Method and Related Terms

Method and Approach, Design and Technique

The Oxford Dictionary of Synonyms and Antonyms explains the word method as; How a particular task should be approached and carried out, and in this context - how a foreign language should be taught, depending on the teaching goal, the learning content, and the learners a different method should be used.

If we see the method as a planned way of doing something, the plan that the teacher makes will be crucial for the outcome of the teaching.

If you look at teaching method from a theoretical point of view, there is a three-part distinction between 1) the teacher’s plan, 2) how this plan is put into practice, and 3) which theory of foreign language learning underlies the teacher’s plan.

Richards and Rodgers, who have dealt with and assessed different types of methods and approaches in detail, use the term method not to refer to how plans are put into practice, but very generally in reference to “a specific instructional design or system basked in a particular theory of language and of language learning.”

Richards and Rodgers, also distinguish between method and approach. They mean that approach is a new, more modern way to approach to teaching.

Microstrategy and Microstrategy

In the 1990s, the people who research in effective methods and approaches found out, that there are no such things as a universal method. So Kumaravadivelu introduced the terms macro- and MicroStrategy in an attempt to move away from the current narrow terms.

He divided the macro strategy into the list (see below), where he put the different periods of the method into a system.

Kumaravadivelu defined macro strategy as “general plans derived from theoretical, empirical, and pedagogic knowledge related to L2 learning/teaching”. He points out that macro strategies “are made operational in the classroom through micro strategies”. Microstrategies describes the classroom procedures: how different macro strategies are put into practices.

Vocabulary and Fluency: ELF chapter 4

By Paul Nation

The Vocabulary Teacher has four main principles to live by. They are listed by importance:

Planning
Training students in strategies regarding vocabulary learning,
Testing
Teacher to teach vocabulary.

In a teaching sequence with a focus on vocabulary teaching and fluency, with these four points in mind, I would combine individual reading with one of the exercises described in chapter four.

I would create a reading based task, where each student had a book, they pick themselves and therefore finds interesting.

They have to read in at least 15 minutes every day and write down the words they didn't understand. They had to work with the difficult words in class and discuss the words with a partner.

By the end of each week, the students would have to do the four-three-two activity, where they would be challenged to use these words, in order to improve their vocabulary and fluency.

Heterogeneity and Differentiation: ELF chapter 10

By Maria Eisenmann

Maria Eisenmann writes about the implications of a heterogeneous classroom and the incorrect concept that "homogeneous learner groups" can exist.

Heterogeneity in learner groups is an intelligence level and type. Eisenmann argues that level of intelligence and the different type of intelligence are not the only variables in a heterogeneous learner group, other factors can be age, gender, social- and economic backgrounds, individual development, and more. (see more about this there)

Many schools have attempted to create homogeneous learner groups, fx by dividing classrooms based on age. Eisenmann says that homogeneity never really can be achieved because each individual is motivated by different things and learns best in a specific way.

Teaching Young Language Learners, Chapter One

By Printer

Below you will find an explanation of some of the most important words and definitions in the chapter.

Jean Piaget

Active learning: Children learn actively through their environment.
Constructivism: Children construct their knowledge by actively making sense of the world through assimilation and accommodation.
Assimilation: The child assimilates already acquired knowledge to new knowledge.
Accommodation: A child will later in life accommodate the new knowledge to their assimilation of knowledge.
According to Piaget, learning can't happen without both assimilation and accommodation.

Jean Piaget’s four stages of development:

Sensory-motor (0-2 years): The child learns to interact with the environment by manipulating the objects around itself.
Pre-operational (2-7 years): Egocentrism (Difficult to have empathy and a lack of logical thinking).
Concrete operational (7-11 years): The turning point is in cognitive thinking. Children start to develop logical thinking. Children’s logical thinking is restricted to the area they are working on at that moment. They cannot generalise their understanding just yet.
Formal operational (11- ) Children can now think more abstract.

Lev Vygotsky

Social constructivism: Children learn through social interactions.
Every child is unique learners.
Zone of Proximal Development: The ZPD describes the difference between the child’s current knowledge and the potential knowledge.
Scaffolding: Instructional strategy, that ensures the children can gain confidence or take control of or part of the task ahead. It is important that the child is offered immediate backup, should they get stuck in the process.

Howard Gardner

Linguistic, logic-mathematical, musical, spatial, There are eight bits of intelligence of minds: bodily-kinaesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalist.
Other personality features are the cognitive categories such as analytical and global learners.
- Analytical learners are the people who pay close attention to detail.
- Global learners are those who have a more holistic approach.

Interlanguage Analysis

By Martin, Signe and Emil

An interlanguage analysis of a student text from my internship. The task was done by two of my classmates and I. Below you can see the text and a video of the analysis.

Student text:

Me, Helene and Vega was sitting in the big dining room.

And we were the only ones left.

We just had hot chocolate.

After a little while, I could’nt drink any more. So i poured it in to an empty jug.

When I was going to pour it out, came a teacher with his coffe.

And then before I could do anything, the teacher took the jug with my chocolate.

“Everything tastes good in coffe!” the teacher said.

And he poured my chocolate in his coffe. After the teacher had drinker his coffe, I started laughing.

“What are you laughing at?” Helene asked.

So I told them the storie and we all started laughing.

The end

Teaching Young Language Learners, Chapter 6

By Pinter

Teaching Reading and Writing

One of the first things to take into consideration when teaching reading and writing in L2 is the natural development of L1. Many children are introduced to the skill of reading by observing their parents, and are, therefore already familiar with R/W by the time they start in school.

This can be greatly used in learning to read in L2, since expecting children have an advance when it comes to learning either reading or writing in L2.
When assessing when and how to teach reading and writing, it is important to consider the learner’s level of reading and writing in L1. Pinter explicitly states that “in foreign language contexts, the general consensus is that children should learn to read in their mother tongue first and when they are reasonably competent they can learn to read in a foreign language”.

Approaches to reading activities with younger learners:

When teaching reading to younger learners, it is appropriate for the given activity to be the word- and/or sentence-level only. Working mostly with the introduction of simple words and sentences.

Approaches to reading activities with older learners:

Word- and sentence level activities can be both enjoyable and beneficial for older learners as well. When teaching older learners, there needs to have to With meaning-level activities, the objective is, instead of working with single words or sentences, to work with skimming and scanning texts in order to determine the general meaning of the text gradual shift into meaning-level activities.

Approaches to writing activities with younger learners:

Printer thinks that, focusing on the mechanical basics of writing when teaching writing to younger learners is appropriate depending on the individual learner’s language background and the writing system of the given student’s L1. This can include activities with simple copying and add one or more words. Remember, keep the activities with younger learners at the word- and sentence-level.

Approaches to writing activities with older learners:

Older learners “may be ready for free writing", like a diary or a subject of their own choice.

Learning to Learn

Reflection by Michelle and Martin

In our fast-moving world, it is simply impossible for learners to acquire all the knowledge and skills they need while they are at school. It is the school’s responsibility to teach learners how to learn, i.e. to equip them with strategies that they can use outside of school. This process needs to start as early as possible, preferably at the beginning of schooling.

Is these chapter examples are giving on how learning to learn in different ages but we shouldn’t underestimate the younger once, they are still able to respond well to small steps taken in the direction of “learning to learn”.

Examples of 4 strategies are giving:

Social and effective strategies: Making the learner aware of feelings and emotions that can influence the learning. Activities in the classroom could be a discussion led by the teacher, talking about the social aspects of learning, such as the importance of listening to each other or turn-taking in games.

Strategies related to raising awareness about what language learning is: Talking about what is taken to learn a second language, how long it takes and why we have to learn it.

Metacognitive strategies: To introduce and develop the ongoing process of reflection through planning and awareness on the language learning. Activities in class can include encouraging the children to think about what they did good or why the liked it i.e.

Direct or cognitive strategies: to develop children’s ability to deal with linguistic information – developing strategies. Activities in class could be memorising a list of words, putting words into categories i.e.

The above categories have been listed to illustrate an order in which they can be introduced.

There are a lot of different ways to teach learning to learn and some strategies are better than others, but I think it is very individual, so the teachers really have to know the class before choosing which one to teach.

The expectation for and from the learner. Be positive. Self-esteem. Be a good role model as a teacher.
Planning activities that involve the language you are learning. Authentic communication.
Reflection. Individually or in groups.
Activities for younger children: Finding out which methods they like – better learning. Reflect on the methods.
Ask explicit questions. Evaluation at the end of the week.
Develop strategies on how you learn. Learning the learner cognitive strategies. The pupils are learning the strategies without knowing.

7. Giving space to children’s choice.

A new grammar companion for teachers by Beverly Derewianka - Chapter 1 - Introduction

What is grammar?

Grammar is a way of describing how a language works to make meaning.

Why learn about grammar?

We learn about grammar too?

Be able to reflect on how the English language works
Be able to use language effectively, appropriately and accurately
Understand how different kinds of meaning are created through the use of different grammatical forms so that we can control and shape those meanings more skillfully and effectively ourselves.
Critically analyse texts so we can understand how grammar has been used to achieve certain effects.
Examine patterns of language and word choices so that we can appreciate, interpret and create well-constructed texts.
Have a shared language for teaching and learning about the main features of the English language.

A multi-purpose grammar

The books explain:

“Exploring how language functions to create different types of meaning.
Understanding the structure or formation of various language features.
Anticipating where students might need particular assistance with certain features. “

“A traditional motive for teaching about grammar has been the development of an analytical approach to language - an ability to ‘reason grammatically’ - along with the identification and naming of different grammatical categories, providing students with a language for talking about language. Knowing how language is structured helps us to deal with questions such as:

What does a noun group[1] consist of?
How are different verb tenses formed?
What does a clause look like?
How are messages combined to form sentences?”

These books focus is on:

“What range of meanings do verbs express?
How can my choice of nouns affect the meaning of the text?
How can I use certain types of adjectives to express my opinion about something?
Which grammatical features that are involved in skills such as classifying, defining, describing, generalising, exemplifying?
Which linguistic[2] features can help me produce a text that is coherent[3] and cohesive[4]?
How do grammatical patterns change from text to text? Why and with what effect?
How does the context affect the kinds of grammatical choices made?”

“There are certain linguistic structures that often cause problems, particularly for young students and EAL/ESL[5] learners. In many cases, the problems will sort themselves out over time. Often, however, it is useful for the teacher to be able to identify trouble spots so that the problem can be explained or so that activities can be designed to address the difficulty. ELS learners will need a much greater focus on developing their control over English grammatical structure and meaning.”

A functional perspective

Functional Grammar by Professor Michael Halliday

Language is a dynamic, complex system of resources for making meaning.
Language reflects the culture in which it has evolved. It is not a neutral medium but expresses certain worldviews, values, beliefs and attitudes.
Our language choices change from situation to situation, depending on the social purpose of which language is being used, the subject matter, who is involved, and whether the language is spoken or written.
The emphasis in language study is on how people use authentic language in various contexts in real life to achieve their purpose.
A knowledge of grammar can help us to critically evaluate our own texts and those of others.

The text in context

The field = What is the subject-matter

The tenor = Who is involved in the interaction

The mode = What is the channel of communication?

Terminology

(…)Terms that relate to the grammatical class (eg noun) and terms that relate to the functions
that such a grammatical category can perform.

An adverb, for example, can tell about the circumstances surrounding an activity, or it can express
a particular viewpoint or it can intensify, or it can indicate the strength of commitment, or it can help
to make links within a text, and so on.

Ideally, students should be familiar both with terms that refer to form (eg noun group, verb group)
and terms that refer to their functions (eg participant, process).

Ultimately, it is a matter of what students already know about grammar, or that knowledge can
be extended in ways that are productive, and how the knowledge about language is built over the years,
preferably through whole-school planning for teaching and learning.

Reflection

When reading this chapter, you are considering how important are grammar really, and in some way, my view on how important grammar really is has been moved a little.

I have never thought about that grammar could be anything other than, the correct form of a verb and not in this many ways that this chapter presents. I give a new view of the word grammar, and possibly a way to make it more interesting for the students to learn about grammar, and not like I did where grammar in both English and Danish was the worst.

[1] navneord gruppe

[2] Sproglig

[3] Sammenhængende

[4] Samhørige

[5] Modermåls engelsk/ engelsk som andet sprog

F17en1l

Second semester

Practical English Usage

by Michael Swan

Pages 5-7, explains how to use active verbs.

What are the main points of the text?

Forms in different tenses and time. In the text there are examples about:

Future, present, and past; simple, progressive and perfect.
Verb forms, tenses and time.
Progressive forms
Perfect forms
Table of active verb forms. (see below)

What insights did I gain from this text?

The text gives a clear view of the different verbs and how to use them in different tenses, and the examples it uses are clear and easily understandable.

Was my prior knowledge about the topics of the text confirmed or changed?

The text doesn’t give me a new point of view on the topic because the grammar rules are the same, no matter which book you are looking in.

What group of learner are described in the text (children/young people/adults, beginner/intermediate/advanced level)? How can the knowledge from this text be related to the Danish primary and lower secondary school (Folkeskolen)?

This level of grammar learning would fit the last half year of the eight grade or nine grade in the Danish ‘Folkeskole’ because it is more complex to understand this type of grammar.

In what way can the topics or ideas from this text be related to my experiences from my teaching practice?

In this assignment, I had a focus on this part of grammar, with the best students. summary my first internship in the fall, I went to Højdevangens Skole at Amager where I taught about Harry Potter in the seven grade. One of the objects that the students had to gain was to write a

Connection ideas - Looking at meaning: Making connections

by Derewianka (2012)

“It is through such connections that we are able to reason about our experience - to construct logical relationships.”

The main focus in the text in my own words

The main points in this chapter are to give an overview over how to connect the charts before this together, for example how to combine different clauses together to make more well-structured sentences and also which mistakes that can come from using the clauses wrong.

The text also makes a point that long complex sentences are not always the way to go and gives examples where short sentences are best like in a newspaper. That is something that I had never given much thought when I have to teach in my internships.

The way the author explains where shorter and longer sentences make senses for a writer is something that I will use in the future when I have to explain to my students when and where to use which form of sentences long.

This level of grammar will be best to teach in about 7th grade when the students have a basic knowledge sentences structure from Danish and therefore have the skills to put this new information into context.

The chapter also explains which tendencies/mistakes younger LG2 learns makes and way they do this like “Young children tend to rely more heavily on compound sentences (though they are quite capable of understanding and using more complex sentences, particularly in their oral language).”

Uddrag fra: Beverly Derewianka. “A Grammar Companion - New Edition”. iBooks.

Some important points from the chapter

“Understanding that a simple sentence expresses a single idea, represented grammatically by a single independent clause (for example ‘A kangaroo is a mammal. A mammal suckles its young”

Uddrag fra: Beverly Derewianka. “A Grammar Companion - New Edition”. iBooks.

“Combined clauses:

Many sentences, however, contain more than one clause - sometimes as many as four or five (and more!), eg:

Possum found a safe tree

and climbed to the farthest branches

where he snuggled into a ball,

closed his weary eyes

and fell asleep.

We can combine clauses in different ways to make different types of sentences:

compound sentences
complex sentences, and
compound-complex sentences”

Uddrag fra: Beverly Derewianka. “A Grammar Companion - New Edition”. iBooks.

“Words used to combine independent clauses include:

and; so; but; or; yet; and so; not only ... but also; neither ... nor; either ...or

These are called ‘coordinators’ or ‘coordinating conjunctions’.”

Uddrag fra: Beverly Derewianka. “A Grammar Companion - New Edition”. iBooks.

“Students often have trouble knowing how to punctuate compound sentences. A common error is to join them with a comma instead of a conjunction. This is sometimes called a ‘comma splice’:

Mistake: I was late, I caught a taxi.

Correct: I was late so I caught a taxi.”

Uddrag fra: Beverly Derewianka. “A Grammar Companion - New Edition”. iBooks.

“knowing that the function of complex sentences is to make connections between ideas, such as: to provide a reason (for example ‘He jumped up because the bell rang.’); to state a purpose (for example ‘She raced home in order to confront her brother.’); to express a condition (for example ‘It will break if you push it.’); to make a concession (for example ‘She went to work even though she was not feeling well.’); to link two ideas in terms of various time relations (for example ‘Nero fiddled while Rome burned.’)”

Uddrag fra: Beverly Derewianka. “A Grammar Companion - New Edition”. iBooks.

Feedback

By Susana s. Fernández, Aarhus University

Reflections by Michelle and Martin

There are three major milestones in correction errors

1. "Every mistake has to be corrected"

2. "Error Correction does not work"

3. "Error correction supports the student's hypothesis testing"

Number one reflects a behaviourist mindset when it comes to the art of teaching, where mistakes is an undesirable element in the classroom because it can lead to undesirable habits.

The theoretician Noam Chomsky's says that children are born with the ability to learn a language and create a hypothesis about the system of language by experience language-input. This theory made way for Stephen Krashen who made the theory "Naturally approached" to forend language teaching which is about that a child has to learn a new language the same way the child learns its mother tongue without correcting oral and written mistakes.

Today we have a mix of the two theories above. It is important to help the students finding their way to make a hypothesis about a certain language and a proven way to do this is by correcting errors in a manner that helps the individual student.

Own reflections

I have learned a lot from reading this chapter about how to give feedback to students learning a second language, and how many traps there are for teachers and the impact the different kind of feedback forms can have for the student's interlanguage curve.

The text gives a lot of information that makes ground for thoughts for how to give feedback to the students and how I like to have feedback given to me by a teacher.

I also lay the ground for the thought, "every student is an individual and has to be tried in that way" and how important this is to give feedback to the student.

The development of young writers

By Michelle Nikoline Kristiansen & Martin Andreas Bugtrup

As a teacher, it is important to acknowledge the difficulties when learning to write in a second language. Writing is a learned skill that is shaped through practice, risk taking and constructive feedback. The message that the student wants to communicate is often very complex for the to write down in a second language, but with lots of practice someday the will be able to. A first the students must take small steps and begin with basic level assignments:

Transcription
Copying
Writing with a composing sheet

When children write, they acquire cognitive strategies for attending, monitoring, searching, evaluating, and self-correcting their actions. The motivation for writing comes from a personal need to express a “just right” message and for interacting with your surroundings.

Before presenting any writing task, the teacher has to be aware of what the student already knows and then decide which tasks are appropriate for this specific class. Editing and deleting words or even whole phrases is very complex for a young learner. One must know the importance of the sentence structure and the meaning of every word, before editing or deleting. It is, therefore, the teacher’s job to scaffold the right way and give the right feedback too.

Some different text types are easier for children to write – such as expressive writing – whereas poetic writing is more challenging.

The development of young writers

By Michelle Nikoline Kristiansen & Martin Andreas Bugtrup

As a teacher, it is important to acknowledge the difficulties when learning to write in a second language. Writing is a learned skill that is shaped through practice, risk-taking and constructive feedback. The message that the student wants to communicate is often very complex for them to write down in a second language, but with lots of practice someday the will be able to. A first the students must take small steps and begin with basic level assignments:

Transcription
Copying
Writing with a composing sheet

Some different text types are easier for children to write – such as expressive writing – whereas poetic writing is more challenging.

Chapter 4

by Derewianka (2012)

The main focus of the chapter in my own words

The main points in these pages are to give an overview on how we can develop our language and make it more interesting by using the specific word to spice up our spoken and written language.

When you are speaking or writing you can engage your audience to take part of it or not to – it all depends on the way you are talking. An example could be:

"I’m nervous about the upcoming exam.

To spice it up and to strengthen your message you could say instead

"I’m really nervous about the upcoming exam or I’m a bit nervous about the upcoming exam."

The way students are talking and writing is depending on their age. Younger learners are explicit in expressing themselves whereas older learners are using more diverse ways when interacting with other people.

Later on, when I’m going to teach, I’ll be very aware of teaching these rules of adding words to strength the message. When adding that extra word to your sentence it makes it more interesting and makes your learner aware of how serious you are with your message.

Important points from the chapter

Adjusting strength and focus
Another interpersonal language resource is to boost or lower the strength of our messages. I could, for example, say: I’m worried.
I could raise the intensity by adding an ‘intensifier’: I’m really worried.
Or I could lower the intensity: I’m a bit worried.

In this way, you are grading the strength of your message.

We use this resource to increase, decrease, sharpen or soften the focus of the message.

Force

We can increase or decrease the force of a message by using all kinds of word groups: adverbs, adjectives, nouns or verbs.

We can also boost the force of a message by repeating, listing or it can also be made more or less forceful by quantifying or in terms of extent.

Focus

We can use language to either soften or sharpen the focus of a message.

We sharpen the focus by narrowing the options:

eg It was a genuine mistake.
You’re a real friend!

We soften the focus by broadening and blurring the options:

eg I was kind of relieved.
He did sort of a wild leap.

Opening up spaces

Bare assertion – a straightforward statement. When we make the bare assertion, there is a little sensitivity to other possibilities and perspectives and interaction tends to be restricted to the level of either agreeing or disagreeing. An alternative is to create spaces and this has always been a highly valued aspect of English teaching.

Attribution

One of the most obvious ways of introducing other voices and perspectives is to explicitly refer to what others say or think about the topic under the discussion. Attributions can be found in a variety of registers, from casual conversation through to serious written works.

Attribution makes links to other texts and voices I fairly specific ways.

Intertextuality

When learning about intertextuality we have to acknowledge that no single text is a unique, isolated instance – its meaning is shaped by numerous other texts.

At a fairly local level, intertextual activities in the English class often involve innovating on an existing text, thereby creating an intertextual relationship between the original text and the innovation.

Modality

Another way in which we can open up the discourse to other possibilities is to use modality – the degree to which we are willing to entertain other possibilities.

Tempering statements

‘Modal auxiliary’ (must, have to, will, could, might) Modals give us information about the degree of obligation or certainty involved in the action.

If we feel a bit tentative about something, we can use low modality, eg:

It might rain tomorrow.
He could be angry.

If we want to express a high degree of certainty, we can use high modality, eg:

It must be right.
It has to be the most popular show on television.

Modalities either soften a statement or make it more forceful, but we can also use them with commands.

The role of modality

Rather than simply making ‘single-voiced’ statements or issuing commands, modality allows us to open up or close down the space for negotiation.

An awareness of how modality operates can make the difference between success and failure in our day-to-day interactions in various contexts.

Contracting the interaction space

When we engage in persuasive interaction, we generally seek to align ourselves with the values and interests of our audience.

Negatives: In terms of meaning, the negative often has the function of introducing an interpersonal tone involving a contradiction, disapproval, opposition, denial, absence, and so on.

CHAPTER 6: “Revisiting the functions of language”

Chapter 6, by Derewianka (2012)

By Michelle Nikoline Kristiansen & Martin Andreas Bugtrup

This chapter provides an overview of the major functions of language and those language resources that typically realise those functions. These language resources are those we draw on:

in expressing ideas and representing our experience of the world
to make connections between ideas
when interacting with others
in constructing texts which are coherent and cohesive

When children are writing (and talking too) the outcome is always affected by who the receiver is – is it the teacher, a friend or your mum? The way they are expressing themselves depends on several things such as understanding of the subject, the situation and who is going to read the text. With words, you are able to entertain, describe and create a vivid atmosphere. Emotions are affecting the mood, our thoughts and the outcome too.

The main resources for building up a story world:

“What’s happening?” (the processes)
“Who/what is involved?” (the participants)
“What are the surrounding details?” (the circumstances)

Interlanguage and scaffolding Chapter 6 – Derewianka

Processes

Saying processes: The pigeons cooed and cheered and remarked and inquired, the jackdaw declared and said

Sensing processes: The pigeons did not consider, the lodge folk noticed, admired and lamented, and the statue knew and mused Participants A demon, a lost soul, wild troubled face, the little songster, its tired body, its lonely protector, its nightly shelter Circumstances Circumstances of time: During the day, at evening, every day, on a chilly day Circumstances of place: Onto the cathedral roof, under the shade of a great angel-wing, in the sculptured folds of a kingly robe, into the arms that were waiting for him

Coherence: The overall meaning

The Field (what we talk or write about)

The Tenor (who are we interacting with)

The Mode (the channel of communication)

- How to construct carefully crafted written texts

“Revisiting the functions of language”

This chapter provides an overview of the major functions of language and those language resources that typically realise those functions. These language resources are those we draw on:

in expressing ideas and representing our experience of the world
to make connections between ideas
when interacting with others
in constructing texts which are coherent and cohesive

The main resources for building up a story world:

“What’s happening?” (the processes)
“Who/what is involved?” (the participants)
“What are the surrounding details?” (the circumstances)

Interlanguage and scaffolding

Processes

Saying processes: The pigeons cooed and cheered and remarked and inquired, the jackdaw declared and said

Coherence: The overall meaning

The Field (what we talk or write about)

The Tenor (who are we interacting with)

The Mode (the channel of communication)

- How to construct carefully crafted written texts

Pre-Reading:

Read the headlines and reflect on what you already think you know about each one.

Agenda

Full Stop, Question Mark, Exclamation MarkColon
Semi-Colon
Comma
Dash
Quotation Marks
Apostrophe

Full Stop, Question Mark, Exclamation Mark

Sentence Division -
Abbreviation (ex-names M.N. Kristiansen or jobs Dr Kristiansenforkortelser) –
Indirect questions – I asked him if he liked my new dress

Colon

Explanations -: usually introduces an explanation or further details – I chose not to buy candy: I’m trying to lose weight
Lists – All we need in life is love, laugh and family
Subdivisions
Capitals – unusual for a capital letter to follow a colon – however, if a colon is followed by several complete sentences
Letters – Americans usually put a colon after the opening salutation in a business letter
1. Dear Mr Kristiansen:
2. British prefers a comma or no punctuation mark at all in this case
Direct Speech –

Semi-Colon

Instead of full stops – Some people prefer dogs; others prefer cats
In lists – You are allowed to be a member of the fitness centre if; you are 18; if you are healthy; if you clean up after they have been used

Comma

Co-ordinate clauses – Michelle was sleeping, and Martin was snoring really loud.
Subordinate clauses – If you ever go to Australia, you have to visit Townsville
Grammatically separate sentences: commas not used – The blue dress was warmer; on the other hand…
Unusual word order – My father, however, did not agree
Adjectives – He was nice, caring and good looking
Identifying expressions: commas not used – The girl in the Audi is rich
Long subjects: commas not used – What we need most of all is more time
Lists – I was travelling around Asia. I went to India, Vietnam and Indonesia
Direct speech - “I don’t like you,” said Michelle
Indirect speech: no comma before that etc – She said that she didn’t like me
Numbers – 3,920 not 3.920

Quotation Marks

Direct speech - `Before he left,´ said Michelle `he said “I love you”.’
Special use of words – She was reading `Fifty Shades of Grey

Apostrophe

Missing letters – can’t (cannot) it’s (it is)
Possessives – the girl’s father
Special Plurals – He B's instead of D's

write

During-Reading:

Create an example after each of the main headlines:

Full Stop, Question Mark, Exclamation Mark
Colon
Semi-Colon
Comma
Dash
Quotation Marks
Apostrophe

How can changing the punctuation change the meaning of the sentence completely - try to make your fellow students laugh

Read the headlines and reflect on what you already think you know about each one.

Agenda

Full Stop, Question Mark, Exclamation MarkColon
Semi-Colon
Comma
Dash
Quotation Marks
Apostrophe

Full Stop, Question Mark, Exclamation Mark

Sentence Division -
Abbreviation (forkortelser) – ex-names M.N. Kristiansen or jobs Dr Kristiansen
Indirect questions – I asked him if he liked my new dress

Colon

Explanations -: usually introduces an explanation or further details – I chose not to buy candy: I’m trying to lose weight
Lists – All we need in life is love, laugh and family
Subdivisions
Capitals – unusual for a capital letter to follow a colon – however, if a colon is followed by several complete sentences
Letters – Americans usually put a colon after the opening salutation in a business letter
1. Dear Mr Kristiansen:
2. British prefers a comma or no punctuation mark at all in this case
Direct Speech –

Semi-Colon

Instead of full stops – Some people prefer dogs; others prefer cats
In lists – You are allowed to be a member of the fitness centre if; you are 18; if you are healthy; if you clean up after they have been used

Comma

Co-ordinate clauses – Michelle was sleeping, and Martin was snoring really loud.
Subordinate clauses – If you ever go to Australia, you have to visit Townsville
Grammatically separate sentences: commas not used – The blue dress was warmer; on the other hand…
Unusual word order – My father, however, did not agree
Adjectives – He was nice, caring and good looking
Identifying expressions: commas not used – The girl in the Audi is rich
Long subjects: commas not used – What we need most of all is more time
Lists – I was travelling around Asia. I went to India, Vietnam and Indonesia
Direct speech - “I don’t like you” said Michelle
Indirect speech: no comma before that etc – She said that she didn’t like me
Numbers – 3,920 not 3.920

Quotation Marks

Direct speech - `Before he left,´ said Michelle `he said “I love you”.’
Special use of words – She was reading `Fifty Shades of Grey

Apostrophe

Missing letters – can’t (cannot) it’s (it is)
Possessives – the girl’s father
Special Plurals – He writes B's instead of D's

During-Reading:

Create an example after each of the main headlines:

Full Stop, Question Mark, Exclamation Mark
Colon
Semi-Colon
Comma
Dash
Quotation Marks
Apostrophe

How can changing the punctuation change the meaning of the sentence completely - try to make your fellow students laugh

Chapter 2 - Language for expressing ideas

Page 16-36

Derewianka (2012): A New Grammar Companion

By Michelle Nikoline Kristiansen & Martin Andreas Bugtrup

“A key resource for observing the world is the clause - the basic unit of meaning.”

By asking the student's probe questions, you make them think about chunks of meaning rather than individual words. Probe questions can be like: What is happening?; Who or what is taking part?; What gives us more information about the activity?

Different kinds of verb groups:

What we do (action verbs)
What we say (saying verbs)
What we think, feel and perceive (sensing verbs)
How we create links between bits of information (relating verbs)
How we refer to things that simply ‘exist’ (existing verbs)

Different kinds of Processes

Different kinds of processes can be seen by asking questions such as:

Is the text mostly concerned with actions (as in a recount or procedure)?
Does the text report what people are saying?
Does the text reveal what people are sensing - their feelings, desires, thoughts, memories, hopes, regrets etc.?
Is the text concerned with linking bits of information, using relation verbs to describe, exemplify, classify, or define (as in information reports and many mathematical problems)?

Action Verbs

Action verbs or doing words are words we use to describe the physical activity. Hereunder you will find a list of the most comment actions verbs.

Blow; eat; limp; run; buy; fly; make; shake; come; get; play; slip; do; give; roam; take; drive; live; rub; work.

(Knowing that verbs often represent actions and that the choice of more expressive verbs makes an action more vivid (for example ‘She ate her lunch’ compared to ‘She gobbled up her lunch’)

Saying Verbs

A list of common saying verbs

Ask; deny; plead; respond; stammer; claim; explain; promise; say; suggest; continue; imply; scream; tell; cry; murmur; report; shout; whisper.

After a saying verb there can offend be items such as ‘that’; ‘whether’ or ‘what’:

She promised that she…;

She claimed that it…;

She explained what had been…;

Another way to identify saying verbs are to see if there is a receiver:

She promised him…;

She explained to her mother…;

She asked the teacher…;

Sensing verbs

Sensing verbs reflect processes of our mind. They are normally used only in relation to humans - or non-humans are given human-like qualities.

Examples of sensing verbs

Thinking:

Know; reflect; comprehend; believe; imagine; forget; remember; recollect; realise; decide; consider; recall;

Feeling and wanting

Like; hate; dislike; want; wish; need; fear; enjoy

Perceiving

See; taste; hear; smell; observe; notice; sense

Relating verbs

There are some verbs that do not represent actions, speaking, thoughts or feelings. Their job is to link two pieces of information.

The most common relating verbs are the verbs be and have and variations on these.

Being:

Am; is; are; was

Having:

Have; has; had

Reflection on this chapter

This chapter gives a lot of tools to how you as a teacher can make grammar easy to understand and work with. By 'feeding' the learners these verb forms bit by bit, they will easy have
a deeper understanding of what the different verb groups can do to a sentence and which kind of verbs different genres use the most.

Step-By-Step With Functional Grammar

By Fiona Kettle-Muspratt

Reflection by Michelle Nikoline Kristiansen & Martin Andreas Bugtrup

Functional grammar can help you figure out, how language is build up and how it works. Usually, functional grammar er divided in part fields circumstances, participant and processes. These are normally divided into colours (see underneath).

To see what is what, we can ask some questions:

Circumstance(s):
- “Where, when, how, why?”
Participant(s):
- “Who or what?”
Process(es):
- “What is happening?”

Circumstances

Adverbial group

Participants

Noun group
The people or entities involved
The participants can be:
- Sensing (feeling) or experiencing something
- Receiver of an action
- Saying something
Participants are linked by processes realised by verbs

Processes

Verbal group
Halliday identified 6 process
- Material – doing
- Relational – being and having
- Mental – sensing and feeling
- Verbal – saying
- Behavioural – human behaviour
- Existential – such as there is/there are

Reflection podcast about:

Risager, Karen, Intercultural Learning – Raising Cultural
Byram, Intercultural Competence in Foreign Languages – The Intercultural Speaker and the Pedagogy of Foreign Language Education
Krogsgaard Svarstad, Lone, Teaching Interculturality Developing and Engaging in Pluralistic Discourses in English Language Teaching

E17en3l

Third semester

International Encyclopedia of Language and Social Interaction

- Dervin, Fred, University of Helsinki, Finland

“The other has been a major figure throughout history, defined by different labels: the

Barbarian in Ancient Greece (an onomatopoeia for jabbering), the (Noble) Savage in the

17th Century and, (radical) alterity in the 21st Century. During colonization and conquest

of the Americas in the 16th century, Spain two camps were opposed in the Valladolid debate as

to the position of Amerindians from the New World”. (Dervin, Fred, page 1)

The text is about what the “other” is, or if we all are the other, with “the other” meaning the “unknown” person as the Indians in America and the Nazi thinking about the Jews during WW2.
But as Fred Dervin says, these others are not just the same hurt but there is a hierarchy between them, “In Europe, for example, certain migrants are better treated than others, depending on their origins, economic capitals and languages”. (Dervin, Fred, page 1.). But the other is no just persons from far away, it is also you and me. We all come from different backgrounds and have different sights on politics and so on and so forth.
Both philosophy and especially ontology (The study of being), is concerned with the use of the word ‘otherness’. This concern has grown doing the post-modern globalized world do to the enlightening people and the move of works throughout the world.

There is a destining between other and othering in our society. Othering is very much related to the concept of identity. Othering means to try to turn the other into another, which means someone who fits into our society. But here there are a destining between the other when talking about the point of view of psychology and sociology.
In psychology, the other is something every person experiences, to be able to exist. One most compare itself to others, other groups and so on, to be able to find out who one is, “The Greek philosopher Aristotle affirmed: “The self-sufficing man will require friendship in order to know himself” (Dervin, Fred, page 2.).
In sociology, the other is the one who doesn’t fit into the society they are living in. This sociology discuss is something we see more and more in the Danish society. With refugees and immigrants from Africa, there has been a harsh tone towards these people and what they can do for Denmark, but we would never make the same argument if these people came from for example the USA.

When talking about education, othering is something we as teachers must talk about openly in our classrooms. Like the example I give just before about the immigrants, talking about it can prevent racism, sexism and bigotry.
An example of this is a Youtube video Fred Dervin refutes to, where an American meets some not looking like the stereotype American. I also saw this video at my first semester during an English lesson.

If we as teachers can talk and educate our students not to make the same preconception due to stereotypes, as this particular person does, we have accomplished a lot.

Defining digital Literacy

- What do young people need to know about digital media?

By Buckingham, David

Multiple Literacies

David Buckingham starts explaining the different variety of ways the word “Literacy”. He explains that the word is about written words and therefore a lot of people says that it can only be used when talking about the written word and not anything else, so how can this explicit word being attached to technology, like computer, television etc. David Buckingham makes the point that both the written word and the, for example, a movie can be analyzed and therefore both are a reflection of the same - words.

He argues, therefore, that we teach children how to approach these medias like will teach them how to read and analyze the written word.

Towards Digital Literacy

The arguments for “computer literacy” is not a new therm but before it has been used in a means to something else or been poorly defined.

David Buckingham puts up some reasoned claims;

In 2003, the British government attempted to define and measure the technological skills of the British population as a part of a survey called ‘Skills for life’. This survey showed that half of the adults entering the survey were found to have a level called “entry level or below”.

The European Commission has developed a plan called “Safer Internet Action Plan” which emphasized the need for internet literacy as a means for children to protect themselves against dangers on the internet (See the lesson planned by Samuel and me on ‘Cyberbullying”).

But, the survey made by the British government and the “Safer Internet Action Plan” only gives information about how to use a computer or the internet, it doesn’t look at the cultural aspect of the internet. Today, young people can connect with the entire world in a matter of seconds. Therefore, they are exposed to different cultures all the time as well as you can call the internet at culture in it selves.

He argues that there has been an attempt to make guides on how to conduct yourselves on the internet and with media, but with the main focus on how to use it and not with a culture focus.

“The alternative, as Fabos suggests, recognizes that “bias” is unavailable and the information is inevitably “ couched in ideology”. Rather than seeking to determine the “true fact,” students need to understand “how political, economic, and social context shapes all text, how all texts can be adapted for different social purposes, and how no text is neutral or necessarily of ‘higher quality’ that other” (Fabos, 2004, p. 95) (Buckingham, David, p. 77)

Children need to be able to at media critically, and ask themselves if this information is valid, who are the source and etc. like they would do with a written historical text.

Media literacy Goes Online

David Buckingham gives four broad conceptual aspects that are essential components of media literacy:

Representation
1. Be able to evaluate the material encountered, for example, by looking at the motivation of those who have written it, by comparing it with other sources.
Language
1. Know how language works. Both grammatically and genre. These skills can be obtained in grammar teaching, lyrical teaching and metalanguage teaching. They need to know how rhetorics can be used in information to obtain a certain purpose.
Production
1. Why is a certain advertisement made, why does it come on your personal Facebook-page? When being on the internet, you can see the person tagging you, so you need to understand the mechanism behind these things. This means being aware of your surrounding when surfing the internet and understand the online world functions.
Audience
1. When going on the internet, we as users become audience for others. So we need to understand how media are tagging the audience and who to respond to this.

In this chapter, David Buckingham also takes about gaming literacy, but I have chosen not to go through this, in this reflection because Samuel and I have created a series of lessons about ‘Social Media’, in our internship.

Reflection

When reading David Buckingham's 'Defining Digital Literacy' and have conducted lessons about this subject, I agree that we need to address online media as a literacy like the written word in books. We need to do this because the use of online material, information in and outside school is growing rapidly. We need to know why we as audience are being tracked, be critical of the source when finding information etc. I had a talk with a 9th grade about the using of emojis in a text message, because what you meant when sending an emoji is not always the way the receiver of the emoji will understand it. And in the example, you properly know the receiver of the text. But when going online, in many cases you will not know is contacting you. So by given the students, a chance to understand an navigate in this world is a must.

Teaching Interculturality

- Developing and Engaging in Pluralistic Discourses
in English Language Teaching

By Svarstand, Lone Krogsgaard, PhD.

"Language teachers may be unique teachers in that they have global perspective, a multidimensional subject matter, and a rare opportunity to lead the way in educational reform and new ideas that link subject matter to the non-academic world. Women's studies have become a part of current educational reform that is concerned with providing equal opportunity for all, regardless of sex, race, or economic status. There has been an increased awareness of the need in all areas of curriculum for materials that raise student awareness, provide good role models, and eliminate sex bias in treaching" (Roe, 1981, p. 96).

I have chosen to write a reflection on chapter two (page. 13-25) in Lone's PhD. because it gives some ground information about the history of culture learning in language teaching. I will go through some of the historical aspects, the theories presented on some of the most important terms.

Chapter two. Teaching Interculturality - A Re-interpretation of Knowledge and Skills.

In 1997, Michael Byram published the book "Teaching And Assessing Intercultural Communicative Competence", in which he presented the ICC-model (Intercultural Communicative Competence). This model was made with the purpose to show how cultures of nations related to each other through differences and similarities so that teachers and students could mediate between cultures and between people socialised into them. With this model, the teacher could evaluate students ability to relate and communicate with people, who speak another language.

The ICC-model comprises five dimensions:

Attitudes
- Curiosity and openness, readiness to suspend disbelief about other cultures and belief about one's own
Knowledge
- Of social groups and their products and practices in one's own and in one's interlocutor's country, and of the general processes of societal and individual interaction.
Skills of interpreting and relating
- Ability to interpret a document or event from another culture, to explain it and relate it to documents from one's own.
Skills of discovery and interaction
- Ability to acquire new knowledge of a culture and cultural practices and the ability to operate knowledge, attitudes and skills under the constraints of real-time communication and interaction.
Critical cultural awareness/political education
- An ability to evaluate critically and on the basis of explicit criteria perspectives, practices and products in own's one and other cultures and countries.

The international development of culture pedagogy in language education.

Svarstand writes about Karen Risager's "Language and Culture Pedagogy, From a national to a transnational paradigm". Karen Risager analyses the historical context of the development of intercultural competencies. Lone calls Karen Risager's work some of the most important when coming to analyses the historical development of culture pedagogy in language education.
In the 1970's, scholars in the USA and Europe began arguing it's relevant in teaching. Gradually it became more and more accepted to use authentic texts. non-fiction text about everyday life such as tickets, newspapers etc.

A debate about the theme Landeskunde.

The definition of Landeskunde;

"According to the German educators Manfred Erdmenger and Hans-Wolf Isted (1973), Landeskunde supported communication with fat about the target language's country. Thus, Landeskunde dealt with everyday life in different countries on the level of the state, society and economy i.e. on what makes 'the Other' special, but also on what the Other has in common with the learner. It had two purposes; communication and Völkerverständigung - how peoples understand each other. ( Svarstand, Lone Krogsgaard, p. 18)

Landeskunde served the purpose to educate for example tourist and not for instances the literature a curtain culture created. Svarstand says that Landeskunde "(...) had a broadly applicable cognitive and evaluative use in terms of analysis and understanding of political phenomena, mediation of values and the ability to make a political judgement on the basis of these values." (Svarstand, p. 48)

In 1997, Peter Doyé who at this time worked for the Council of Europe worked continuously on the development of intercultural citizenship education. He did this as a more critical thinking inside the therm Landeskunde. He claimed that language teaching should educate students to be critical and independent citizens because they are living in a democracy and that they what we could call world citizens due to the constant globalization.

European integration and language education.

The continuous development of the European marked open opportunities for more mobility for workers and therefore more immigration. Due to this, the need for intercultural education. Visual aspect e.g. recordings of TV or movies made room for a situational context for language communication in teaching.

Political education in language teaching

One of the Byram key objectives in language teaching is to teach students about politics because it is crucial for a globalized world. If one understands own political background and the others political background, one of the opportunity to understand how the other thinks and how his/hers country works. This puts one in the situation to put oneself in the others shoes and see the world from his/her point of view.

Chapter 5

- Chunks

By Pedersen, Jette Von Holsten

This chapter focuses is ‘chunks’. Chunks are reconstructed phrases, that can be applied to one’s communication.

The chapter is based on research about language- and vocabulary acquisition. George A. Miller argues that a person’s ‘working memory’ is only capable of processing approximately seven bits at once time, even though each bit can both be a single word or whole phrases.

So, according to George A. Miller, people can learn greater amounts of language by learning chunks instead of just single words, that's stands alone.

The chapter explains that the learner needs the factors to learn a new language:

Meaningful input – Input that is meaningful to the learner and he/she can relate to or put into context increases awareness and interest in the language- and vocabulary acquisition process.
Assimilation – Input that is assimilated into already existing cognitive schemes is easier learned and easier applied.
Repetition – Active and regular use of new input makes it easier to remember and utilize when needed.

Petersen conclusion os that, when learning chunks, the learner is given an easier way to participate in authentic communication, and as a teacher, one needs to take advantage of this, instead of just learning students single words.

Fourth semester

Chapter 3

- Chunks

By Svarstad, Lone Krogsgaard