English Mom by Achmad Rizal Fauzi

My Happy Moment - Achmad Rizal

2013-06-27T05:41:00.001-07:00

Achmad Rizal Here,...
Hi Readers ,..
In this chance i would like to share my experience about " My Happy Moment ". ^_^

It happened when i sat in high school. When i was young ,I entered in training center of Pencak Silat selection from my school.So i have to prepare the best increase my ability body and mentality.every single day training and training more.
This is my first Tournament , feel like nervous very much.hoho

approximately a month later i following training centre ,the time is coming.The Tournament is begin as time as opening ceremony starting in a while. Many participants following this tournament of Pencak Silat.Before fight i start to warming my body and meditation for prepare my mentality in order to i can keep calm when i face to face with my enemy.

Suddenly, my name is called by red corner.and time by time i fighting my enemy ,the end i won my tournament.and this is become my first winning from the Pencak SIlat Tournament. ^_^

I think enough from me if i have mistakes from my writing apologize me........

Sleep Paralysis | My Frightened Moment

2013-06-25T22:44:00.000-07:00

Hello, My name is Achmad . In this chance i would like to tell my frightened moment when i got sleep paralysis.

"I first experienced sleep paralysis when I was 16'".

"I remember it vividly. I went to bed one night as usual, but at some point I woke up and was unable to move a muscle. I was conscious and aware that I was in my bed, but my entire body was paralysed.

"It may have only lasted a matter of seconds, but the experience was terrifying. There was a ringing noise in my ears that seemed to get louder, and no matter how hard I struggled, I couldn't move. I had a feeling of immense panic, and an urgent need to move my arms and legs.

"Then suddenly I could move again. While this was a great relief, I was still scared as I had no idea what had just happened.

"The same thing happened again a few nights later, and then it began to happen regularly. Often, it would happen a couple of times in the same night.

"I became nervous about going to sleep – worried that every time I went to bed I’d wake up and be unable to move. Even though the paralysis was only temporary, it was very frightening.

"Often, I would wake up suddenly after having a vivid dream. Sometimes this was an unpleasant dream, which made the experience even scarier.

"I didn’t tell anybody about it at first. This was partly because I began to doubt that it was really happening. I thought perhaps I was dreaming it, and although it seemed very real at the time, perhaps it was just a nightmare in which I couldn’t move.

"Also, it happened as I was falling asleep early in the night. By the time I'd woken up in the morning, it didn't seem to matter so much and I tried to forget it had happened.

"Then one day at school, I overheard a friend talking about a documentary he'd seen about this very phenomenon. It was the first time I'd heard the term 'sleep paralysis', and it perfectly described what happened to me – although my friend mentioned that the people on TV had also felt a presence in the room and a pressure on their chest when they woke up, which I hadn't had.

"Knowing that it had a name was a relief. I told my parents about it, and my dad said it happened to him once when he was younger. My mum has since said it once happened to her too.

"My mum then told our GP, who said it was nothing to worry about and that little was really known about it. The GP did say she thought it may be linked to stress.

"The sleep paralysis kept happening, but I no longer felt so panicked by it. It was still very unpleasant and I had a desperate need to move every time I woke up, but I just told myself that it was nothing sinister and I’d be able to move in a few seconds.

"And then it stopped happening, almost overnight, when I went to university. It's odd, but it seemed to happen only when I was in my bed at home. After I left, it virtually disappeared.

"It does happen now, but only extremely rarely. It can still be frightening, mainly because of the disorientation you feel when you suddenly wake up and can't move. But knowing what's happening and that it's nothing to worry about makes it bearable, and I'm usually able to relax and get back to sleep quickly."

What Is SPEAKING by Dr.Hymes [Sociolinguistics]

2013-06-11T08:23:00.000-07:00

What Is SPEAKING by Dr.Hymes in Sociolinguistics contexts. Dr.Hymes as sociolinguist he was developed the following model to promote the analysis of discourse as a series of speech events and speech acts within a cultural context.

It uses the first letters of terms for speech components; the categories are so productive and powerful in analysis that you can use this model to analyze many different kinds of discourse. Mr. McGowan patricularly enjoys applying this model to storytelling.

The SPEAKING Model

[S] Setting and Scene
"Setting refers to the time and place of a speech act and, in general, to the physical circumstances" (Hymes 55).The living room in the grandparents' home might be a setting for a family story.
Scene is the "psychological setting" or "cultural definition" of a scene, including characteristics such as range of formality and sense of play or seriousness (Hymes 55-56). The family story may be told at a reunion celebrating the grandparents' anniversary. At times, the family would be festive and playful; at other times, serious and commemorative.

[P] Participants
Speaker and audience. Linguists will make distinctions within these categories; for example, the audience can be distinguished as addressees and other hearers (Hymes 54 & 56). At the family reunion, an aunt might tell a story to the young female relatives, but males, although not addressed, might also hear the narrative.

[E] Ends
Purposes, goals, and outcomes (Hymes 56-57). The aunt may tell a story about the grandmother to entertain the audience, teach the young women, and honor the grandmother.

[A] Act Sequence
Form and order of the event. The aunt's story might begin as a response to a toast to the grandmother. The story's plot and development would have a sequence structured by the aunt. Possibly there would be a collaborative interruption during the telling. Finally, the group might applaud the tale and move onto another subject or activity.

[K] Key
Cues that establish the "tone, manner, or spirit" of the speech act (Hymes 57). The aunt might imitate the grandmother's voice and gestures in a playful way, or she might address the group in a serious voice emphasing the sincerity and respect of the praise the story expresses.

[I] Instrumentalities
Forms and styles of speech (Hymes 58-60). The aunt might speak in a casual register with many dialect features or might use a more formal register and careful grammatical "standard" forms.

[N] Norms
Social rules governing the event and the participants' actions and reaction. In a playful story by the aunt, the norms might allow many audience interruptions and collaboration, or possibly those interruptions might be limited to participation by older females. A serious, formal story by the aunt might call for attention to her and no interruptions as norms.

[G] Genre
The kind of speech act or event; for our course, the kind of story. The aunt might tell a character anecdote about the grandmother for entertainment, but an exemplum as moral instruction. Different disciplines develop terms for kinds of speech acts, and speech communities sometimes have their own terms for types.

These terms SPEAKING by Dr.Hymes can be applied to many kinds of discourse. Sometimes in a written discussion you might emphasize only two or three of the letters of the mnemonic. It provides a structure for you to perceive components.

Free TOEFL Test Online For TOEFL Preparation [Tips]

2013-01-17T00:35:00.000-08:00

Free TOEFL test online is one of the most useful tool for your TOEFL preparation in IBT, LIA, Paper Based, and all kind of TOEFL in 2011. You can use it for train your English skill for better result. For new beginner who want to pass the TOEFL test, i suggest you to try Free TOEFL test online first before you faced the real TEST.

I hope this is helpful for you..:). Good luck and be success on your TOEFL TEST.

Tips and Trick TOEFL iBT Test, Increase Your TOEFL Score Radically

2011-01-18T08:56:00.000-08:00

Tips and Trick iBT TOEFL Test, Increase Your TOEFL Score Radically. Common problem of people who failed in TOEFL test unconsciously caused by less in preparation and practice. So, in this opportunity i would like to share a view trick and tips to faced TOEFL test especially iBT TOEFL test. I hope with this tips you can pass your TOEFL test with high score. Check this out

TOEFL iBT Tips and Trick:

Build your vocabulary base.
Read everyday at least 45 minutes everyday nonstop.
Do not read TOEFL type topics. Read a 300 page book every week.
Learn reading strategies.
Take a look at the actual title.
ID the thesis . Last line of the 1^st paragraph on the essay is a normal place to find this.
Skim for a word that is being repeated over and over.
TOEFL score of 560 on the paper test is about the same score as 81 on the Internet test.
A typical American university student has a command of about 20,000 English words when entering university.
Try to practice Free TOEFL Test Online

TOEFL Writing Tips – most common mistakes

‘singular/plural’ – He had been here for six months.
‘word form’ – I saw a beauty picture.
‘word choice’ – She got on the taxi.
‘verb tense’ – He is here since June. – He has been here since June.
Try to avoid run-on sentences. Keep it down to 2-3 dependent clauses.
Word order. ‘I work late never’. Place the adverb between the subject and the verb.
Incomplete sentences. ‘I went to university’. ‘Because I want to get my degree’.
Do not put a comma before because when connecting the clauses. That is a major no-no.
You can however use a comma when 'because' starts a sentence.

TOEFL Essay Tips - There are 5 essay topics.

‘agree/disagree’- Parents are the best teachers. Only people who earn a lot of money are successful.
‘preference’ –
Some people prefer to study alone while others prefer to study in groups. What do you prefer?
Some people prefer to spend time indoors, while other prefer to spend time outdoors. What do you prefer?
‘if/imaginary’
If you could visit any country in the world, which one would you prefer?
If you could meet any person in the world, who would you prefer to meet?
‘description/explanation’
What are the characteristics of a good neighbor?
‘Comparison and contrast’ – A specific essay pattern with 5 paragraphs including the introduction and conclusion. An example might be what the advantages or disadvantages of living on or off campus are. Reason 1 might be on campus. Reason 2 off. Reason 3 your analysis.
Paragraph bodies:
2^st paragraph – Reason 1
3^nd paragraph – Reason 2
4^rd paragraph – Reason 3

What Is Natural Approach Method | Definition of Natural Approach

2010-12-25T02:55:00.000-08:00

What Is Natural Approach Method ?. Definition of The Natural approach is one of the communicative approaches to language teaching of the present time. It is based on the work of Tracy Terrell and Stephen Krashen who published their book The Natural Approach in 1983. The book contains theoretical parts with regard to second language acquisition theory prepared by Krashen, as well as sections on classroom implementations prepared by Terrell.

Characteristics

The natural approach is one of the, "language teaching methods based on observation and interpretation of how learners acquire both first and second languages in nonformal settings." (Richards & Rodgers 2001: 190) Krashen and Terrell saw the approach as a, "traditional approach to language teaching [because it is] based on the use of language in communicative situations without recourse to the native language." (Richards & Rodgers 2001: 178)

The approach focuses on input, comprehension, and meaningful communication and puts less emphasis on grammar, teacher monologues, direct repetition and accuracy.

Theory

With regard to language, Krashen and Terrell place emphasis on the primacy of meaning and communication. In contrast to grammar, which does not require special attention or analysis, vocabulary plays a paramount role.

The theory as well as the design and procedures in The Natural Approach are based on Krashen's language acquisition theory. The basic principles of Krashen's theory are outlined in his Monitor Model (1982), a model of second language acquisition consisting of five hypotheses:

1. The acquisition-learning hypothesis makes a distinction between acquisition and learning. Krashen defines acquisition as, "unconscious process that involves the naturalistic development of language proficiency through understanding language and through using language for meaningful communication." (Richards & Rodgers 2001: 181) Learning, on the other hand, is a conscious process in which rules of a language are developed; this process only occurs through formal teaching, and cannot lead to acquisition.

2. According to the monitor hypothesis, "the acquired system initiates a speaker's utterances and is responsible for spontaneous language use." (Lightbown & Spada 2006: 37) The learned system, by contrast, has the function of a, "monitor or editor that checks and repairs the output of the acquired system." (Richards & Rodgers 2001: 181) This monitor can, "either operate post-hoc in the form of self-correction or as a last minute change of plan just before production." (Gramley & Gramley 2008: 97) Moreover there are three conditions which have a limited effect on the success of the monitor: time, focus on form and correctness, and knowledge of rules.

3. The natural order hypothesis says that, "the acquisition of grammatical structures proceeds in a predictable order." (Richards & Rodgers 2001: 182) This natural order can be found in first language acquisition as well as in second language acquisition.

4. According to the input hypothesis, "acquisition occurs when one is exposed to language that is comprehensible and that contains i+1." (Lightbown & Spada 2006: 37) The "i" stands for the acquirer's current level of proficiency. He is able to move to a higher stage by understanding language containing "i+1" (where "+1" stands for language which is slightly beyond the acquirer's current level of competence).

5. The affective filter hypothesis states that there is an "affective filter" which can act as a, "barrier that prevents learners from acquiring language even when appropriate input is available." (Lightbown & Spada 2006: 37) With regard to second language acquisition affective variables can be attitudes or emotions like motivation, self-confidence and anxiety. A low affective filter is always desirable because a high affective filter, which can be found for example with anxious learners, "prevents acquisition from taking place." (Richards & Rodgers 2001: 183) Krashen also tried to explain variations in success in language acquisition with this hypothesis; in particular he used it to explain the advantages of children over adults regarding language acquisition.

With regard to language teaching Krashen's hypotheses imply:

"as much comprehensible input as possible" (Richards & Rodgers 2001: 182)

materials and aids that foster comprehension

focus on reading and listening

meaningful communication and interesting input to keep the affective filter low

Activities and materials

Within a natural approach, emphasis is placed on comprehensible input, meaningful communication and a relaxed classroom atmosphere. "To minimize stress, learners are not required to say anything until they feel ready, but they are expected to respond to teacher commands and questions." (Richards & Rodgers 2001: 185) There is a gradual progression from "Yes/No" and simple display questions, to more complex and open questions.

"There is nothing novel about the procedures and techniques advocated for use with the Natural Approach." (Richards & Rodgers 2001: 185); familiar activities like command-based activities, situation-based activities, and group-work activities focus on, "providing comprehensible input and a classroom environment that cues comprehension of input, minimizes learner anxiety, and maximizes learner self-confidence." (Richards & Rodgers 2001: 185)

Materials used in a natural approach classroom aim at making activities and tasks as meaningful as possible -- they foster comprehension and communication. Authentic materials, like brochures or maps, as well as visual aids and games are used to facilitate acquisition and to promote comprehension and real communication.

Learner and teacher roles

The learner’s role changes and develops during a natural approach course because there are various stages the learner has to go through. The first stage is the pre-production stage where the learner is not forced to respond orally and is allowed to decide on his/her own when to start to speak. The next stage, the early-production stage, fosters short answers and the student has to respond to simple questions and to use fixed conversational patterns. In the speech-emergent stage the use of complex utterances emerges, for example in role plays or games. Another important role of the language acquirer is the role of, "a processor of comprehensible input [who] is challenged by input that is slightly beyond his or her current level of competence and is able to assign meaning to this input through active use of context and extralinguistic information." (Richards & Rodgers 2001: 186)

The natural approach classroom allocates a central role for the teacher; he has several important roles. First, the teacher provides a constant flow of comprehensible input in the target language and provides non-linguistic clues. Second, the teacher has to create a harmonious classroom atmosphere that fosters a low affective filter. Third, the teacher decides on the classroom activities and tasks regarding group sizes, content, contexts, and materials. Finally, the teacher is responsible to, "communicate clearly and compellingly to students the assumptions, organizations, and expectations of the method." (Richards & Rodgers 2001: 188) Krashen and Terrell point out the importance of explaining to learners what they can expect and what not of the language course.

Source:

-Gramley, S. & Gramley, V. (eds.) (2008). Bielefeld Introduction to Applied Linguistics. Bielefeld: Aisthesis.

-Lightbown, P. M. & Spada, N. (2006). How Languages are Learned (third edition). Oxford: OUP.
-Richards, J.C. & Rodgers, T. S. (2001). Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching (second edition). Cambridge: CUP.

What is Total Physical Response (TPR)

2010-12-12T06:54:00.000-08:00

What is Total Physical Response (TPR) - The method was designed primarily for students in the early stages of language acquisition. Since commands can be made comprehensible to students with very limited language, Asher used commands as the basis for TPR (Total Physical Response). The teacher or a more proficient student gives a command, demonstrates the command, and then students respond physically to the command. Because students are actively involved and not expected to repeat the command, anxiety is low, and student focus is on comprehension rather than production. Hence, they demonstrate comprehension before their speaking skills emerge.

Total Physical Response was developed in order to reduce the stress people feel when studying foreign languages. one of the primary ways is to allow learners to speak when they are ready. forcing them to speak before then will only create anxiety.
the emphasis of this method is on students' developing basic communication skills and vocabulary through their receiving meaningful exposure to the target language.
the teacher dominates the class and always use imperative sentence to give commands. teacher should be tolerant of students' errors.
techniques of this method are :

- using commands to direct behavior
- role reversal
- action sequence

After an introduction to key vocabulary, students watch a demonstration of the command and then follow the command. For example, “paper (teacher shows a stack of paper) a piece of paper (teacher holds up one piece), take out (teacher does action with different objects) Take out a piece of paper.” New vocabulary is introduced and previous vocabulary reviewed in a series of related commands. New commands are added until students can respond to variations of several. Summary of the steps follows:

1. Students watch demonstration of key words and then a command using them.

2. Students listen again and watch as the teacher performs the action.
3. The teacher gives the command and models the action again, this time having students perform the actions simultaneously.
4. The teacher gives the command to the group without modeling the action.
5. The teacher gives the command to an individual without modeling the action.
6. The teacher models variations & combinations for the groups.
7. Students perform variations & combinations.
8. If some students are ready, they give commands to classmates.

TPR is a well-known beginning ESL method, but (Total Physical Response) TPR-based activities can be adapted and incorporated into mainstream or multi-level classes, particularly in areas where visible directions can be given. It is very helpful to ESL students when mainstream teachers incorporate TPR into their instruction. This is particularly easy to do in physical education, art, and other classes where directions are commonly used for visual acts. Even in science and math students can gain a great deal of comprehensible input through the use of TPR. For example, any science experiment can be an opportunity to involve beginners through TPR. Total Physical Response also provides a base for literacy development in the second language as students learn to read the commands they followed.

The Factors That Influence a Second Language Learning

2010-12-09T08:14:00.000-08:00

The Factors That Influence a Second Language Learning

Introduction

Some students learn a new language more quickly and easily than others. This simple fact is known by all who have themselves learned a second language or taught those who are using their second language in school. Clearly, some language learners are successful by virtue of their sheer determination, hard work and persistence. However there are other crucial factors influencing success that are largely beyond the control of the learner. These factors can be broadly categorized as internal and external. It is their complex interplay that determines the speed and facility with which the new language is learned.

Internal factors

Internal factors are those that the individual language learner brings with him or her to the particular learning situation.

Age: Second language acquisition is influenced by the age of the learner. Children, who already have solid literacy skills in their own language, seem to be in the best position to acquire a new language efficiently. Motivated, older learners can be very successful too, but usually struggle to achieve native-speaker-equivalent pronunciation and intonation.

Personality: Introverted or anxious learners usually make slower progress, particularly in the development of oral skills. They are less likely to take advantage of opportunities to speak, or to seek out such opportunities. More outgoing students will not worry about the inevitability of making mistakes. They will take risks, and thus will give themselves much more practice.

Motivation: Intrinsic motivation has been found to correlate strongly with educational achievement. Clearly, students who enjoy language learning and take pride in their progress will do better than those who don't.
Extrinsic motivation is also a significant factor. ESL students, for example, who need to learn English in order to take a place at an American university or to communicate with a new English boy/girlfriend are likely to make greater efforts and thus greater progress.

Experiences: Learners who have acquired general knowledge and experience are in a stronger position to develop a new language than those who haven't. The student, for example, who has already lived in 3 different countries and been exposed to various languages and cultures has a stronger base for learning a further language than the student who hasn't had such experiences.

Cognition: In general, it seems that students with greater cognitive abilities will make the faster progress. Some linguists believe that there is a specific, innate language learning ability that is stronger in some students than in others.

Native language: Students who are learning a second language which is from the same language family as their first language have, in general, a much easier task than those who aren't. So, for example, a Dutch child will learn English more quickly than a Japanese child.

External factors

External factors are those that characterize the particular language learning situation.

Curriculum: For ESL students in particular it is important that the totality of their educational experience is appropriate for their needs. Language learning is less likely to place if students are fully submersed into the mainstream program without any extra assistance or, conversely, not allowed to be part of the mainstream until they have reached a certain level of language proficiency.

Instruction: Clearly, some language teachers are better than others at providing appropriate and effective learning experiences for the students in their classrooms. These students will make faster progress.
The same applies to mainstream teachers in second language situations. The science teacher, for example, who is aware that she too is responsible for the students' English language development, and makes certain accommodations, will contribute to their linguistic development.
Culture and status: There is some evidence that students in situations where their own culture has a lower status than that of the culture in which they are learning the language make slower progress.

Motivation: Students who are given continuing, appropriate encouragement to learn by their teachers and parents will generally fare better than those who aren't. For example, students from families that place little importance on language learning are likely to progress less quickly.

Access to native speakers: The opportunity to interact with native speakers both within and outside of the classroom is a significant advantage. Native speakers are linguistic models and can provide appropriate feedback. Clearly, second-language learners who have no extensive access to native speakers are likely to make slower progress, particularly in the oral/aural aspects of language acquisition.

Pronunciation Exercise For Children

2010-12-08T07:26:00.000-08:00

Pronunciation Exercise

Some of the exercises used in standard textbooks in giving pronunciation practice for stress and intonation are listed below.

1. Pronunciation exercises may be needed to develop contrast between voiced and voiceless consonant sounds in English.

2. Exercises may be needed to develop correct pronunciation of -ed added to regular English verbs to form the past tense and past participle. In wished the -ed is pronounced as /t/, in failed the -ed is pronounced as /d/, and in needed it is pronounced as /Id/.

3. Exercises may be needed to develop a correct pronunciation of -s which is added to make a noun plural or possessive, or to put a verb in the third person singular form of the present tense. “This ending is spelled in several different ways: -s (two hours, he says), -es (several churches, she kisses), -’s (a moment’s time), or -s’ (grocers’ prices).” However, the pronunciation is governed by certain principles. These need to be taught to the second/foreign language learner of English.

4. It may be necessary to have exercises to teach the aspiration of initial stop consonants in English. “Voiceless stop consonants are aspirated at the beginning of a word. In many other languages, initial voiceless stop consonants are not regularly aspirated, and people who learned one of these languages first usually find it hard to aspirate properly in English.” It may be necessary to teach the lengthening of vowels before final consonants in English. Voiced consonants are confused with their voiceless counterparts at the end of words: Who was /was/ instead of Who /waz/. This type of error is seen to occur more frequently than other types with the exception of the failure to give unstressed vowels their normal sound of / ∂ / or /I/. Before a final voiced consonant, stressed vowels are lengthened: /e/ in bed is lengthened than /e/ in bet, /i/ in rib is longer than the i in rip, a in bag is longer than a in back.

5. Training may be necessary to encourage students to make forceful articulation of consonants. A “difference between final /s/ and /z/, as in bus and buzz, is that /s/ is pronounced with a great deal of force, the /z/ with very little. In other words, at the end of bus a listener can hear very clearly the sound of air escaping through the teeth; at the end of buzz there is much less sound of escaping air. At the end of a word, only voiceless continuants are pronounced with a great deal of force.

6. It may be necessary to give some special training in the pronunciation of /l/ and /r/ in words and phrases to help the second language learner to pronounce these like the native speakers of English. (Prator Jr., and Robinett 1972: 98).

7. Syllabic consonants require some focused attention. Most second or foreign language learners of English have difficulty in correctly pronouncing words such as little, sudden, wouldn’t saddle, cotton, idle.

8. Substitution of one vowel for another in the stressed syllable of a word is very common. The pronunciation of leaving sounds like living because of this substitution. “The speaker gives the letters which represent vowels the sounds these letters would have in his native language . . . The speaker is deceived by the inconsistencies of English spelling . . . The speaker cannot hear, and consequently cannot reproduce, the difference between two sounds, either because the two do not exist in his own language, or because they never serve to distinguish between words in it” (Prator, Jr., and Robinett 1972:106).

Contrast in vowels:
peak - pick - peck
dean - din - den
least - list - lest
heed - hid - head
feel - fill - fell
bait - bet - bat
pain - pen - pan
bake - beck - back
laid - led - lad
lace - less - lass
shale - shell - shall
not - nut - naught
cod - cud - cawed
Don - done - dawn
cot - cut - caught
are - err - or
barn - burn - born
flaw - flow - flew
Shaw - show - shoe
bought - boat - boot
call - coal - cool
Paul - pole - pool
lawn - loan - loon
luck - look - Luke
cud - could - cooed
buck - book
should - shoed
putt - put
pull - pool

> Exercises may be needed for the following consonant substitutions frequently noticed in the speech of the second or foreign language learner of English: /t/ / θ / and / ð /. Use words such as the following: though, thank, theft, think, third; thank, these, this, thus, breathe, leather. / j / and /y/: Jew, you, juice, use, jet, yet, jarred, yard, joke yoke, jail and Yale. For the confusion between / š / and / c / use the following words: sheep, cheap, ship, chip, shatter, chatter, mush, much, mashing, matching washer and watcher. For confusion between /b/, /v/, /w/,and /hw/ use the following words: berry, very, wine, vine, west, vest, witch, which. For confusion between /n/, / η / and / nk/, use the following words: ran, rang, sin, sing, singer, finger, rang, rank, sing, sink. To overcome the omission of /h/, use the following words: Remember that /h/ is omitted in several words such as heir, honor, hour, homage, humble, he, him, his, her, have, has and had, when these words are in an unstressed position in the sentence. However, except in the above cases, all initial h’s are sounded. Give practice with the following words: home, house, how, heat, hold, horse, hate, ahead, heart, hurt.

> Second/foreign language learners of English have several problems with the consonant clusters used in English. Speakers of Spanish, Persian and Hindi produce an initial consonant cluster like /sp-/ in English with an initial vowel: speak becomes ispeak in Hindi. Chinese speakers add a vowel between the sounds that constitute the cluster: street becomes stareet.

> Use of vowels in stressed and unstressed syllables poses a lot of problems for the second/foreign language learners of English. Ask your students to remember that when a vowel is unstressed it is almost always pronounced either as a schwa / /∂ or /I/. The stressed vowel may either be pronounced as a long or short sound.

> Each vowel is pronounced with its long sound (1) if it is final in the syllable: paper, she, final, no, duty, and (2) if it is followed by an unpronounced e, or a consonant plus an unpronounced e: make, eve, die, Poe, use.

> Each vowel is pronounced with its short sound, if it is followed in the same syllable by a consonant: matter, went, river, doctor, cut.

> Note, however, that these rules are incomplete. Moreover, learners may have great difficulty in applying these rules appropriately.

> The best way is to give them practice through modeling for each and every word they come across in their lessons. By focusing upon the pronunciation of words in this manner and by giving them some sort of generalized statements now and then, learners may be able to internalize the rules for lengthening or shortening the vowels appropriately.

Free Download Video Learning; English for Children Playhouse

2010-12-08T06:53:00.000-08:00

Download English video learning for children ( Transportation, House, and Family). This is a video for children for learning resource.

Download it with IDM or Flash Video Download

English Language Skill For Engineering Student

2010-12-06T23:57:00.000-08:00

English Language Skill For Engineering Student

This article mentions:

1-the language needs of the Engineering students the authors teach

2-understanding of the nature of ESP

3-the expectations regarding the students' teachers of English

4-specific set of competencies for teachers of English at Engineering colleges in the state, based on the needs survey

Since we are going to be working in an ESP project like this next semester it would be great that you know about these aspects that can help you to conduct a good needs analysis for your project.

To see the article you can click in the following address:
http://www.esp-world.info/Articles_16/Skills.htm

Learn English Engineering With Dictionary Of Engineering

2010-12-06T23:42:00.000-08:00

Written in clear, simple language understandable to the general reader, yet in-depth enough for scientists, educators, and advanced students, The McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Engineering, Second Edition:
* Has been extensively revised, with 17,500 entries encompassing the language of engineering
* Includes synonyms, acronyms, and abbreviations
* Provides pronunciations for all terms
* Covers such topics as building construction, chemical engineering, civil engineering, control systems, design engineering, engineering acoustics, industrial engineering, information technology and computing, mechanical engineering, systems engineering, telecommunications, and thermodynamics

* Includes an appendix containing tables of useful data and information
* Is based on the McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms – for more than a quarter-of-a-century THE standard international reference
Carefully reviewed for clarity, completeness, and accuracy, the McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Engineering, Second Edition, offers a standard of excellence unmatched by any similar publication.

Size : 5.2Mb

Download Here

English Grammer In Use With Audiobook

2010-12-05T17:29:00.000-08:00

English Grammar In Use with Answers and CD ROM: A Self-study Reference and Practice Book for Intermediate Students of English | A fully updated version of the world's bestselling grammar title - extra practice is also available on the interactive CD-ROM that accompanies the book.

Now in full colour, with new units, more exercises and a new CD-ROM. This edition retains all the clarity and ease-of-use that have made the book so popular with students and teachers. This exciting and substantial new CD-ROM offers a wealth of extra practice material covering all the language in English Grammar in Use Third Edition.

It provides interactive grammar practice exercises which link with each unit in the book. Ideal for self study with or without the book. A network version for use in a classroom environment or self-access lab is also available. Software by Clarity Language Consultants Ltd.
For free audiobook Click here;

Free Download English Conversation Audio Book

2010-12-05T17:23:00.000-08:00

Download English Conversation Material - Free Download English Conversation Audio Book. Skill Of Conversation by Jim Rohn (Audio Book) | Are you one of those who consider it an ordeal to orally present reports, preside in meetings with new clients, coordinate activities that require making arrangements with your counterparts in your sister companies? Would you rather read than go to parties? Do you find it difficult to start a conversation with anyone you meet for the first time?

Good conversation could promote friendships because sharing some things about you will make other people feel close and trust you. Another positive effect of being a good conversationalist is popularity and being liked because people have the impression that you are approachable. Other people will feel at ease in your company such that you shall be invited in many of their activities and this could widen your network of friends and business associates. Good conversation also gives one an image of being witty, intelligent, and self confident.

For free Audiobook, Click here

The Relation between Reading and Speeling

2010-12-02T06:21:00.000-08:00

The Relation between Reading and Speeling - Reading and spelling are closely related. Reading does help spelling. However, it cannot be asserted that one leads to the other. In the past, there had been great insistence on mastering spelling, with the assumption that if one mastered spelling, reading automatically followed. In recent times, the trend has been to assume that if children are taught to read, spelling would automatically follow. Neither position seems to be wholly true.

While reading and spelling are somewhat connected with one another, research indicates that one does not necessarily entail the other. For example, “there are many people who have no difficulty in reading, but who have a major persistent handicap in spelling…. It is commonplace to find children who can read far better than they can spell” (Crystal 1987:213). However, in the early stages of learning, children tend to spell more correctly than they read correctly.

There are several reasons as to why the spelling in English seems to be nearly chaotic. There are more letter alternatives for a sound than there are sound alternatives for a letter in English. “For example, sheep has really only one possible pronunciation . . . ; whereas the form could be written in at lest three different ways – sheep, sheap, shepe (Crystal 1987:213). Researchers have suggested that in English there are 13.7 spellings per sound, but only 3.5 sounds per letter (Dewey 1971).

There are other reasons as well why spelling and pronunciation appear to be so divergent from each other in English. The history of the language, and the history of borrowing and printing provide many reasons for this divergence.

It is easy to teach the letters of the English alphabet, but very difficult to teach the association between letters and sound, mainly because a letter may represent many sounds, and a sound may be represented by more than one letter. I learned all the 26 letters, their sequence, and pronunciation within a few days when I was in my fifth grade, and I also concluded that by this act I had completely mastered the English language! Soon I recognized how foolish and hasty I was in coming to such a conclusion! Even today I wonder how children all over the world are able to succeed in learning spelling in any language!

More often than not, the letters of the English alphabet are taught associating with a word in which the sound (or one of the sounds) represented by the letter is prominent. Ultimately, however, the students need to associate a primary sound with the letter, and to master the order in which the letters are presented in the alphabet.

Mastering the alphabetical order of letters is of practical importance. Without the knowledge of this order, students will not be able to use the dictionaries.

Language and Brain - How Childdren Learn Language

2010-12-02T06:17:00.000-08:00

Emil Cohen complained of low expectations and little field time. He was suspended for two days.
Catholic school board... Radio station apologizes... Africentric school... Peel scales back full-day...

Most Read Educators encourage parents...
Facebook fraught with peril...
Excessive texting linked to...
School warned earlier about...
Africentric school...
Did you know?

On parentcentral.ca you can check out EQAO test results for your child's school
Click now to search

Mikhaiel Barnes is watching SpongeBob SquarePants as two University of Toronto psychology grads set up a mesh of 33 sensors on top of his buzz-cut head.

Almost oblivious to the unusual gear that Marissa Malkowskie and Kaja Jasinska are affixing to his cranium, the 8-year-old stares resolutely at a computer screen, where the absorbent and yellow cartoon character is wreaking his usual havoc on the seabed town of Bikini Bottom.

But soon, the screen will begin flashing simple word sequences — paid, ring, hog, market — which the boy will be asked to read aloud into a microphone.

And as he reads, the “near-infrared spectroscopy” sensors will shine their harmless light through his skull, 2.5 centimetres into his cerebral cortex, to the places where human language lives.

Today’s experiment, conducted in the comparatively opulent labs of Laura-Ann Petitto, a cognitive neuroscientist at the U of T’s Scarborough campus, is part of a groundbreaking research project that is comparing key brain activities of bilingual children and unilingual ones like Mikhaiel.

But over her career, Petitto has made startling discoveries into childhood language development as it unfolds over months and years.

Petitto is the first researcher to actually witness the fact that specific parts of children’s brains correspond directly with dusty categories of linguistics, like syntax and phonetics. She has shown that, as theorists such as Noam Chomsky were postulating more than 50 years ago without empirical support, these brain areas are innately wired to recognize and process different parts of language.

From the moment the first breath bathes it with oxygen to the time when adolescent hormones begin to bombard it, a child’s brain is a growing, transforming, miraculous learning machine.

“The most amazing and awestruck processes occur during these years,” Petitto says. “That doesn’t mean that the rest of life isn’t fascinating as well; (neural) development across the lifespan is amazing.

“But the remarkable forces that thrust us into being a human being are really blossoming during this period of human life. This is it. This is where the action is in human development.”

And the most amazing, the most human of these actions, Petitto argues, are the physiological processes of language acquisition.

“It’s the most powerful way we, as humans, can travel the universe without leaving our seats.”

It was long held, even into the 20th century, that we were born with the brains we would live with, that the physiological organ was a fait accompli upon delivery.

But in the first few years after birth, it’s now certain, the brain can double in size, says Margot Taylor, director of functional neuroimaging at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children.

“The period of childhood sees the most growth of the brain, and there’s a tremendous increase in the first years of life . . . with all the complexity of the brain structures increasing.”

It’s during childhood that the vast majority of our neural pathways are laid down and cemented in a process known as myelination, Taylor says.

Myelin, the brain’s white matter, coats the newly laid axons — the organ’s wiring — that carry the memories, knowledge and skills accumulated during childhood, ensuring the electrical flow that encodes them runs as smoothly and rapidly as possible.

As well, she says, the synapses and dendrites that transmit and receive those electrical signals via the axons sprout up at tremendous rates until age 10.

Much of this growth is directed by experience, with the brain changing and expanding to accommodate the new ideas and demands that the world imposes.

“Every time you learn something, if you remember something, your brain’s changed,” Taylor says. “And as you’re learning a huge amount of stuff over childhood, your brain is changing rapidly.”

Learning a musical instrument, for example would actually produce changes in the auditory and motor cortices of the brain, expanding those regions beyond their normal growth.

But it’s the language-linked parts of this brain development that interest Petitto.

Petitto’s seminal breakthrough in her pursuit of language development may well have been a technological one. She pioneered the use of functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) in the search for language’s neural nursery.

Actually, the technology is old, as imaging equipment goes. Dating back to 1979, it is used extensively in cardiology and breast cancer clinics and in premature baby wards, where it monitors blood flow inside infants’ delicate heads.

But Petitto saw the potential to use fNIRS to study the brains of young children and the physiology of language.

The technology sends infrared signals into the outermost layer of the organ, its undulating cortex, where higher thought occurs. It then captures that light as it bounces back. And if the original signals have encountered the rush of oxygenated blood that feeds electrical activity in the cortex, the colour of the signals’ echo is altered in a detectable way.

By correlating specific language activities of subject children with the neural tissues that are drawing the most blood at the time, Petitto can map those linguistic functions to specific parts of the brain.

What is the nature of consciousness? How do we reason, think and plan? What is the essentially human experience?

The scientific answers to all these questions lie in a tangle of synaptic pathways that flash and fire like whispers of lightning through the cerebral cortex.

But for Petitto, the key question, the paramount piece of our humanity to pursue and explain, is the profound mystery of language.

How do we learn language? And where, in the brain, does it reside?

The fNIRS are allowing Pettito to pursue her inquiry into what happens in the brain during language acquisition, and how “that miracle get(s) accomplished by the time a child is 3-years-old.”

Petitto’s research follows the framework of academic linguistics, and such categories as phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, discourse and pragmatics.

“The really cool thing is that each one of these parts of (linguistics) has discreet brain tissue that’s associated with doing that job,” Petitto says.

“The parts of human language that the linguistic scientists had discovered and identified are indeed, amazingly, the way the human brain carves out its tissue. It’s psychologically real, not just linguistic gymnastics.”

And with her fNIRS, Petitto can track each linguistic piece as it comes online in baby and toddler brains. The pieces come online in a predictable order, and at defined times, she says.

“We see it, and we sit there like a theatre or a musical concert,” Petitto says. “We watch the bass come in and the second fiddle come in, we watch all the parts of the orchestra come in to produce this miracle we call language.”

This overture to language is staged largely within three segments of brain just above and in front of the left ear.

The first to spring to life, the left superior temporal gyrus, recognizes the phonemes that an infant begins to babble a few months into life.

A finger-like wedge of neural tissue, the LSTG takes the “mush” of sound that streams into a baby’s ears each moment and plucks out the phonological bites that make up a native tongue.

Those chunks are then shunted forward to the left inferior frontal gyrus, which comes on line next. The LIFG is itself segmented into different tissues, with specific linguistic roles.

One segment assembles the sound bites into words, while another, called Broca’s area, looks up their meaning and figures out things like verb tense — a process known as morphology.

“Is this an ‘ed’ that is past tense meaning ‘I skipped,’ or is this an ‘ed’ meaning Ed, my friend’s name?” Petitto explains.

A third LIFG segment looks up the patterns in which the words are strung together, or syntax.

And these linguistic milestones follow a fairly rigid timetable, Petitto says.

“At six months babbling comes on in speech, 12 months the first word comes on, 18 months the first two word (couplings) appear, 24 months the first morphological markings.

“By 30 months syntax is there, the kid is basically done. The rest is refinement.”

The physical reality of linguistics in the brain was supported by one of Petitto’s earliest experiments, which showed that even profoundly deaf babies pick up languages in the same ordered manner.

At that time, the prevailing view had been that it was speech that imposed language on to children externally, and that the baby’s babblings and first words simply corresponded to the growing physical capacity of the mouth to utter them.

“The reason you see babbling come first,” Petitto says of the traditional view, “is that’s when the vocal tract first attaches to the back of the larynx and the jaw can drop, allowing the air to be pushed out and you have ‘ba, ba, ba.’ ”

But by this reckoning, children with no speech to guide them — those born profoundly deaf — should learn language differently, Petitto says.

In a 1991 study published on the cover of the journal Science, however, she showed that children learning sign language and those exposed to speech hit every language milestone at precisely the same times.

Children learning to sign even did the equivalent of babbling with their hands as they picked up the phonemes of their visual tongue.

“The fact that you have sign language and the fact that you have speech coming in exactly the same time . . . meant ‘Oh my god, something in your genetic makeup is governing it,’ ” Petitto says.

Hearing children face an environmental problem that deaf children don’t, namely, how to pluck language out of the cacophony of noise that often accompanies it.

“They pop out of the womb, there’s a whole bunch of stimuli, it’s bombarding them, and all of a sudden, the baby has to find the (human sound) chunk.”

But infants are wired to recognize the bite-sized phonemes, the pas and bas, that make up words.

And, in another research advance, Petitto found that babies can pick out these sounds as long as they are delivered by humans speaking in sound frequencies of 1.5 hertz.

“This stuff comes in and for free, it chunks the information for the baby like a sausage machine —– chunk, chunk, chunk, link, link, link,” she says.

Located in the left superior temporal gyrus, the phoneme-capturing tissue lights up on Petitto’s scans each time sounds in that 1.5 hertz frequency range are played.

“We’re a gorgeous, fine-tuned social unit,” Petitto says.

“The world gives us the (human) nugget, and we have brain tissue that’s there to receive our nugget. It’s like a lock and a key.”

Petitto’s discovery debunked more than 125 years of anatomical thinking, which held that the LSTG tissue had sound-capturing capacity alone. She showed it also lit up in deaf people when hand-generated pieces of sign language were delivered at 1.5 hertz frequency.

The filtered-out phonemes, of which there are about 44 across all languages, are then forwarded from the superior to the frontal gyrus, which reassembles them back into words and gives them meaning as the child learns.

In the smallest infants, the ability to pluck out these finely tuned human sounds works across all the world’s languages, each of which has unique phoneme cadences and pronunciations, Petitto says.

“No fetus knows if it’s going to grow up in New Jersey or grow up in Tokyo. So a human child from birth to six months has a universal capacity to discriminate any of the speech sounds in any of the world languages that it could have been exposed to.”

Between six months and a year, however, this capacity is diminished in one of the few aspects of human brain development where a child goes from better to worse, Petitto says.

Instead, the capacity to distinguish the tiny variations in phonetics that are specific to the child’s own language skyrockets.

“It’s a beautiful dance between nature and nurture,” she says. “You lose the universal capacity, but the flip side is you gain an increased capacity in your native language.”

However, for children being raised in bilingual settings, the focus of Petitto’s research these days, this capacity to capture universal phoneme variants does not close, she has found.

And babies learning two languages at once actually develop better vocabularies than their unilingual peers in either down the line.

Thus, rather than being a detrimental assault on an infant brain, as was long held by many in the field, early bilingualism gives children distinct advantages later in life, especially in reading, where an ability to recognize phonology is actually crucial.

Indeed, Petitto says studies she conducted of bilingual children from some of the poorest neighborhoods in the United States showed that their reading capacity was the equal of unilingual kids from the country’s wealthiest enclaves.

Aside from its obvious scientific interest, Petitto’s work holds the potential to help diagnose and treat language problems in very young children, before they can even speak.

For example, Petitto says her scans might be used to look for abnormalities in the functioning of the LSTG during infancy, which could signal that the child could have phonological problems when it begins to speak or read.

By that time, it might be too late to fix things, she says, with myelination of critical speech pathways having already been laid down.

“But with this knowledge, we can develop more targeted therapies,” Petitto says. “You know exactly the nature of the language problem, which brain tissue is doing it.”

Definition of Direct Method - What is it?

2010-12-01T03:49:00.000-08:00

What is Direct Method? What is Definition of Direct Method? Towards the end of the late 1800s, a revolution in language teaching philosophy took place that is seen by many as the dawn of modern foreign language teaching. Teachers, frustrated by the limits of the Grammar Translation Method in terms of its inability to create communicative competence in students, began to experiment with new ways of teaching language.

Basically, teachers began attempting to teach foreign languages in a way that was more similar to first language acquisition. It incorporated techniques designed to address all the areas that the Grammar Translation did not - namely oral communication, more spontaneous use of the language, and developing the ability to think in the target language. Perhaps in an almost reflexive action, the method also moved as far away as possible from various techniques typical of the Grammar Translation Method - for instance using L1 as the language of instruction, memorizing grammatical rules and lots of translation between L1 and the target language.

The appearance of the "Direct Method" thus coincided with a new school of thinking that dictated that all foreign language teaching should occur in the target language only, with no translation and an emphasis on linking meaning to the language being learned. The method became very popular during the first quarter of the 20th century, especially in private language schools in Europe where highly motivated students could study new languages and not need to travel far in order to try them out and apply them communicatively. One of the most famous advocates of the Direct Method was the German Charles Berlitz, whose schools and Berlitz Method are now world-renowned.

The Direct Method, also called the Natural Approach, developed towards the end of the 19th century. It represents are critical reaction to the teaching methods of the ancient Grammar Translation Method which produced knowledge about language rather than knowledge of language. The general goal of the Direct Method is to provide learners with a practically useful knowledge of language. They should learn to speak and understand the target language in everyday situations.

The Direct Method was the outcome of a reaction against the Grammar Translation Method. It was based on the assumption that the learner of a foreign language should think directly in the target language. According to this method, English is taught through English. The learner learns the target language through discussion, conversation and reading in the second language. It does not take recourse to translation and foreign grammar. The first verses are taught while pointing to objects or pictures or by performing actions. According to H.G. Palmer, The Direct Method has the following:
1. Translation in every shape or form is banished from the classroom including the use of the mother tongue and that of the bilingual dictionary.
2. Grammar, when it is taught, is taught inductively.
3. Oral teaching precedes any form of reading and writing.
4. The use of disconnected sentences is replaced by the use of connected texts.
5. Pronunciation is taught systematically in accordance with the principles of phonetics and phonology of the target language.
6. The meanings of words and forms are taught by means of object or natural context.
7. The vocabulary and structure of the language are inculcated to a large extent by the teacher and answered by students.

Aims:
The Direct Method aims at establishing the direct bond between thought and expressions and between experience and language. It is based on the assumption that the learner should experience the new language in the same way as he experienced his mother tongue. In the Grammar Translation Method, the foreign concept or idea is first translated into the mother tongue and then understood. But in the Direct Method the intervention of the mother tongue is done away with the learner understands what he reads or hears in the second or foreign language without thinking of the mother tongue equivalence. Likewise, he speaks or writes the foreign language without the need of translating his thought or idea from the mother tongue into the second/foreign language. He acquires, what Champion calls that instinctive, unerring language sense which we all possess in variant degree in the mother tongue, and which superseding all rules, grammar and dictionaries, resting at bottom on the direct association between experience and expression, is the only sure guide in the use of language.

Principles:
1. Oral Training
The direct Method emphasizes the value of oral training in learning a foreign language. The pupil is given sufficient practice in listening to the language and then speaking it. It also lays emphasis on the knowledge of phonetics so that the learner may be able to acquire intelligible pronunciation. Oral training helps in establishing direct association between the words of the foreign language and the ideas for which they stand.

2. Inhibition of the Mother TongueAnother way of securing bond between experience and expression is to inhibit the use of the mother tongue. Pupils are taught new words by actually showing them the objects for which they stand or performing actions or by suitable illustration in context. This enables them to think in English and respond directly in English.

3. Sentence is the Unit of SpeechTherefore, the teaching of a language starts with the teaching of sentence patterns rather than individual words. This enables the learner to internalize the structure of the target language. New vocabulary items are introduced gradually based on the principle of selection and gradation. They are taught through material association, explanation or use in suitable context.

4. Inductive Teaching of Grammar
In the direct method, grammar of the target language is not taught for its own sake. It is a means to an end. Its aim is to enable the learner to correct errors in his speech and writing. Grammar is taught inductively. It may be pertinent to point out here that in the Direct Method also lessons are prepared by the teacher or the author of textbooks according to some grammatical plan. The quantum of exposure to the language enables the learner to form his own hypothesis and rules of the language.

Advantages:
1. It is a natural method.It teaches the second/foreign language in the same way as one learns one’s mother tongue. The language is taught through demonstration and conversation in context. Pupils, therefore, acquire fluency in speech. They are quick at understanding spoken English. They can converse in English with felicity and ease.

2. No gap between active and passive vocabulary.
This method does not differentiate between active and passive vocabularies. According to this method whatever is required for understanding through English is also required for expressing through it. If English is taught through the mother tongue, the gulf between the active and passive vocabularies is widened. The learner acquires more of passive vocabulary because he concentrates on understanding English rather than expressing through it.

3. This method is based on sound principles of education.
It believes in introducing the particular before general, concrete before abstract and practice before theory.

Defects:

1. There are educationists, who hold the view that the Direct Method does not take into account all aspects of language teaching. Dr. Michael West considers that the best thing about this method is that it links the foreign word with idea that it represents. Hence, instead of being called a Direct Method it should be called a Direct Principle.
2. Not Comprehensive
Language learning involves acquisition of skills – listening, speaking, reading and writing. The Direct Method concentrates on listening and speaking but not reading and writing. That is why many of those who have learned English through the Direct Method feel that they do not get adequate command over written language.

A comparison between the Direct Method and the Grammar Translation Method must take into account the following points:

i. The Direct Method:
1. avoids close association between the second or foreign language and the mother tongue.
2. lays emphasis on speech.
3. follows the child’s natural way of learning a language.
4. teaches the language by ‘use’ and not by ‘rule’.
5. does not favour the teaching of formal grammar at the early stage.

ii. The Grammar Translation Method:
1. maintains close association between the foreign language and the mother tongue.
2. lays emphasis on speech.
3. follows the adult’s natural way of learning a language.
4. teaches the language by ‘rule’ and not by ‘use.
5. teaches formal grammar from the very beginning.

Place of Articulation Phonetics

2010-11-23T06:38:00.000-08:00

Place of articulation - Once the air has passed through the larynx, it comes up and out through the mouth and/or the nose. Most consonant sounds are produced by using the tongue and other parts of the mouth to constrict, in some way, the shape of the oral cavity through which the air is passing. The terms used to describe many sounds are those which denote the place of articulation of the sound: that is, the location inside the mouth at which the constriction takes place.

What we need is a slice of head. If you crack a head right down the middle, you will be able to see which parts of the oral cavity are crucially involved in speech production. To describe the place of articulation of most consonant sounds, we can start at the front of the mouth and work back.

We can also keep the voiced–voiceless distinction in mind and begin using the symbols of the phonetic alphabet for specific sounds. These symbols will be enclosed within square brackets

What Is Voiced and Voiceless Sounds

2010-11-23T06:26:00.000-08:00

What Is Voiced and Voiceless Sounds - In articulatory phonetics, we investigate how speech sounds are produced using
the fairly complex oral equipment we have. We start with the air pushed out by
the lungs up through the trachea (or ‘windpipe’) to the larynx. Inside the larynx
are your vocal cords, which take two basic positions.

When the vocal cords are spread apart, the air from the lungs passes between them unimpeded. Sounds produced in this way are described as voiceless.
When the vocal cords are drawn together, the air from the lungs repeatedly pushes them apart as it passes through, creating a vibration effect. Sounds produced in this way are described as voiced.

The distinction can be felt physically if you place a fingertip gently on the top
of your ‘Adam’s apple’ (i.e. that part of your larynx you can feel in your neck
below your chin), then produce sounds such as Z-Z-Z-Z or V-V-V-V. Because
these are voiced sounds, you should be able to feel some vibration. Keeping
your fingertip in the same position, now make the sounds S-S-S-S or F-F-F-F.
Because these are voiceless sounds, there should be no vibration.

Another trick is to put a finger in each ear, not too far, and produce the voiced sounds (e.g.
Z-Z-Z-Z) to hear and feel some vibration, whereas no vibration will be heard
or felt if you make voiceless sounds (e.g. S-S-S-S) in the same way.

What is Phonetics - Definition?

2010-11-23T06:19:00.000-08:00

What is Phonetics? Definition of Phonetics? The general study of the characteristics of speech sounds is called phonetics.
Our main interest will be in articulatory phonetics, which is the study of how
speech sounds are made, or ‘articulated’. Other areas of study are acoustic
phonetics, which deals with the physical properties of speech as sound waves
in the air, and auditory phonetics (or perceptual phonetics) which deals with
the perception, via the ear, of speech sounds.

Source : The Study Of Language 3rd (30,George Yule)

English Morphology By Laurie Bauer

2010-11-19T03:51:00.000-08:00

Morphology is concerned with the relationship between the form of a word and its meaning. For example, if we consider the words manage, manages, managed, managing, management, manager, and managerial we find that there is a common core of meaning corresponding to the meaning of manage, and if we consider the words managing, obliging, refusing, seeking, and teaching, there is also a common element of meaning (even if it may be quite difficult to specify that meaning precisely) that is reflected in the recurrent -ing.

Etymologically, the term morphology seems to indicate the study of forms, though it can be seen from the preceding that form alone does not provide an object of study within morphology. Morphologists are not interested in the fact the word notable might be considered to contain the orthographic forms no and table because neither no nor table as a unit provides any meaning that can be found in notable. It is where form and meaning reflect each other directly, either because a certain formal sequence can be seen as being regularly correlated with a particular meaning (as in the examples above) or because there is a regular patterning of semantic relationships, and a particular form can be seen as filling a cell in the pattern. Thus, Worse is taken to be in the same relationship to bad that bigger is to big or frailer is to frail, not because of any regularity of form but because of the equivalence of the cells in the pattern or paradigm.

Since morphology is concerned with form, it is related to the study of phonology and since it is concerned with meaning, it is related to the study of semantics. It is also related to the study of syntax in that many of the meanings that find expression in morphology are related to syntactic function: for example, the comparative, past tense and present participles illustrated above. Morphology is also related to lexis in that morphological pat- terns can be used in the creation of new lexical items, as illustrated by manager and management above. This ‘cross-road’ nature of morphology means that it has been open to influence from phonological and syntactic theories, as well as to changing ideas about the nature of the lexicon. All this is reflected in morphological theorizing.

Morphology is often viewed in terms of the operations that apply to simpler units (like manage) to create more complex ones (like manager and managerial). This view of morphology is reflected in the articles in this encyclopedia on affixation, back- formation, neoclassical compounding, conversion, incorporation, internal modification, morph tactics, and reduplication. It can also be viewed through the notion of related sets of words like go, went, going, etc. This is reflected in the article on paradigm.

There are also various problems inherent in morphological study, which are discussed in the articles for inflection and derivation, lexicalization, morpheme, productivity, suppletion, and syncretism. Theoretical approaches to morphology are discussed in amorphous morphology, auto segmental phonology, declarative morphology, distributed morphology, lexeme-morpheme based morphology, lexical-phonology and morphology, onomasiological theory of word formation, optimality theory in morphology, paradigm function morphology, seamless morphology, sign-based morphology, syntax of words, and template morphology.

Other aspects of morphology are discussed in acquisition of morphological knowledge during the school years, critics, dictionaries and inflectional morphology, folk etymology, history of morphology, metathesis in morphology, morphology and language processing, morphology and word formation in corpus linguistics, morphology in pidgins and creoles, splinters, subtraction, and word.

Irregular Verb

2010-05-23T11:28:00.000-07:00

Irregular Verb

irregular verbs are those verbs that fall outside the standard patterns of conjugation in the languages in which they occur. The idea of an irregular verb is important in second language acquisition, where the verb paradigms of a foreign language are learned systematically, and exceptions listed and carefully noted. Thus for example a school French textbook may have a section at the back listing the French irregular verbs in tables. Irregular verbs are often the most commonly used verbs in the language.

In linguistic analysis, the concept of an irregular verb is most likely to be used in psycholinguistics, and in first-language acquisition studies, where the aim is to establish how the human brain processes its native language. One debate among 20th-century linguists revolved around the question of whether small children learn all verb forms as separate pieces of vocabulary or whether they deduce forms by the application of rules. Since a child can hear a verb for the first time and immediately reuse it correctly in a different tense which he or she has never heard, it is clear that the brain does work with rules, but irregular verbs must be processed differently.

Historical linguists rarely use the category irregular verb. Since most irregularities can be explained historically, these verbs are only irregular when viewed synchronically, not when seen in their historical context.

When languages are being compared informally, one of the few quantitative statistics which are sometimes cited is the number of irregular verbs. These counts are not particularly accurate for a wide variety of reasons, and academic linguists are reluctant to cite them. But it does seem that some languages have a greater tolerance for paradigm irregularity than others.

Infinitive	Simple Past	Past Participle
A
arise	arose	arisen
awake	awakened / awoke	awakened / awoken
B
backslide	backslid	backslidden / backslid
be	was, were	been
bear	bore	born / borne
beat	beat	beaten / beat
become	became	become
begin	began	begun
bend	bent	bent
bet	bet / betted	bet / betted
bid	bid / bade	bidden
bid	bid	bid
bind	bound	bound
bite	bit	bitten
bleed	bled	bled
blow	blew	blown
break	broke	broken
breed	bred	bred
bring	brought	brought
broadcast	broadcast / broadcasted	broadcast / broadcasted
build	built	built
burn	burned / burnt	burned / burnt
burst	burst	burst
bust	busted / bust	busted / bust
buy	bought	bought
C
cast	cast	cast
catch	caught	caught
choose	chose	chosen
cling	clung	clung
clothe	clothed / clad	clothed / clad
come	came	come
cost	cost	cost
creep	crept	crept
cut	cut	cut
D
daydream	daydreamed / daydreamt	daydreamed / daydreamt
deal	dealt	dealt
dig	dug	dug
disprove	disproved	disproved / disproven
dive	dove / dived	dived
dive	dived / dove	dived
do	did	done
draw	drew	drawn
dream	dreamed / dreamt	dreamed / dreamt
drink	drank	drunk
drive	drove	driven
dwell	dwelt / dwelled	dwelt / dwelled
E
eat	ate	eaten
F
fall	fell	fallen
feed	fed	fed
feel	felt	felt
fight	fought	fought
find	found	found
fit (tailor, change size)	fitted / fit	fitted / fit
fit (be right size)	fit / fitted	fit / fitted
flee	fled	fled
fling	flung	flung
fly	flew	flown
forbid	forbade	forbidden
forecast	forecast	forecast
forego	forewent	foregone
foresee	foresaw	foreseen
foretell	foretold	foretold
forget	forgot	forgotten / forgot
forgive	forgave	forgiven
forsake	forsook	forsaken
freeze	froze	frozen
G
get	got	gotten / got
give	gave	given
go	went	gone
grind	ground	ground
grow	grew	grown
H
hang	hung	hung
have	had	had
hear	heard	heard
hew	hewed	hewn / hewed
hide	hid	hidden
hit	hit	hit
hold	held	held
hurt	hurt	hurt
K
keep	kept	kept
kneel	knelt / kneeled	knelt / kneeled
knit	knitted / knit	knitted / knit
know	knew	known
L
lay	laid	laid
lead	led	led
lean	leaned / leant	leaned / leant
leap	leaped / leapt	leaped / leapt
learn	learned / learnt	learned / learnt
leave	left	left
lend	lent	lent
let	let	let
lie	lay	lain
lie (not tell truth)	lied	lied
light	lit / lighted	lit / lighted
lose	lost	lost
M
make	made	made
mean	meant	meant
meet	met	met
misunderstand	misunderstood	misunderstood
mow	mowed	mowed / mown
P
partake	partook	partaken
pay	paid	paid
plead	pleaded / pled	pleaded / pled
proofread	proofread	proofread
prove	proved	proven / proved
put	put	put
Q
quick-freeze	quick-froze	quick-frozen
quit	quit / quitted	quit / quitted
R
read	read (sounds like "red")	read (sounds like "red")
rid	rid	rid
ride	rode	ridden
ring	rang	rung
rise	rose	risen
run	ran	run
S
saw	sawed	sawed / sawn
say	said	said
see	saw	seen
seek	sought	sought
sell	sold	sold
send	sent	sent
set	set	set
sew	sewed	sewn / sewed
shake	shook	shaken
shave	shaved	shaved / shaven
shear	sheared	sheared / shorn
shed	shed	shed
shine	shined / shone	shined / shone
shit	shit / shat / shitted	shit/ shat / shitted
shoot	shot	shot
show	showed	shown / showed
shrink	shrank / shrunk	shrunk
shut	shut	shut
sing	sang	sung
sink	sank / sunk	sunk
sit	sat	sat
slay (kill)	slew / slayed	slain / slayed
slay (amuse)	slayed	slayed
sleep	slept	slept
slide	slid	slid
sling	slung	slung
slink	slinked / slunk	slinked / slunk
slit	slit	slit
smell	smelled / smelt	smelled / smelt
sneak	sneaked / snuck	sneaked / snuck
sow	sowed	sown / sowed
speak	spoke	spoken
speed	sped / speeded	sped / speeded
spell	spelled / spelt	spelled / spelt
spend	spent	spent
spill	spilled / spilt	spilled / spilt
spin	spun	spun
spit	spit / spat	spit / spat
split	split	split
spoil	spoiled / spoilt	spoiled / spoilt
spread	spread	spread
spring	sprang / sprung	sprung
stand	stood	stood
steal	stole	stolen
stick	stuck	stuck
sting	stung	stung
stink	stunk / stank	stunk
strew	strewed	strewn / strewed
stride	strode	stridden
strike (delete)	struck	stricken
strike (hit)	struck	struck / stricken
string	strung	strung
strive	strove / strived	striven / strived
sublet	sublet	sublet
sunburn	sunburned / sunburnt	sunburned / sunburnt
swear	swore	sworn
sweat	sweat / sweated	sweat / sweated
sweep	swept	swept
swell	swelled	swollen / swelled
swim	swam	swum
swing	swung	swung
T
take	took	taken
teach	taught	taught
tear	tore	torn
telecast	telecast	telecast
tell	told	told
test-drive	test-drove	test-driven
test-fly	test-flew	test-flown
think	thought	thought
throw	threw	thrown
thrust	thrust	thrust
tread	trod	trodden / trod
U
understand	understood	understood
undertake	undertook	undertaken
undo	undid	undone
W
wake	woke / waked	woken / waked
waylay	waylaid	waylaid
wear	wore	worn
weave	wove / weaved	woven / weaved
wed	wed / wedded	wed / wedded
weep	wept	wept
wet	wet / wetted	wet / wetted
whet	whetted	whetted
win	won	won
wind	wound	wound
withdraw	withdrew	withdrawn
withhold	withheld	withheld
withstand	withstood	withstood
wring	wrung	wrung
write	wrote	written

Regular Verbs

2010-05-22T11:26:00.000-07:00

Regular Verbs

A regular verb is any verb whose conjugation follows the typical grammatical inflections of the language it belongs to. A verb that cannot be conjugated like this is called an irregular verb. All natural languages, to different extents, have a number of irregular verbs. Auxiliary languages usually have a single regular pattern for all verbs (as well as other parts of speech) as a matter of design. Other constructed languages need not show such regularity, especially if they are designed to look similar to natural ones.

The most simple form of regularity involves a single class of verbs, a single principal part (the root or a conjugated form in a given person, number, tense, aspect, mood, etc.), and a set of unique rules to produce each form in the verb paradigm. More complex regular patterns may have several verb classes (e. g. distinguished by their infinitive ending), more than one principal part (e. g. the infinitive and the first person singular, present tense, indicative mood), and more than one type of rule (e. g. rules that add suffixes and other rules that change the vowel in the root).

Sometimes it is highly subjective to state whether a verb is regular or not. For example, if a language has ten different conjugation patterns and two of them only comprise five or six verbs each while the rest are much more populated, it is a matter of choice to call the verbs in the smaller groups "irregular".

The concept of regular and irregular verbs belongs mainly in the context of second language acquisition, where the defining of rules and listing of exceptions is an important part of foreign language learning. The concepts can also be useful in psycholinguistics, where the ways in which the human mind processes irregularities may be of interest. However, most other branches of linguistics do not use these categories; historical/comparative linguistics is more interested in categories such as strong and weak.

(see Complete list of Irregular Verbs)

base	-s form	past	past participle	-ing form	notes

call	calls	called	called	calling
clean	cleans	cleaned	cleaned	cleaning

look	looks	looked	looked	looking	1
talk	talks	talked	talked	talking	1

end	ends	ended	ended	ending	2
wait	waits	waited	waited	waiting	2

kiss	kisses	kissed	kissed	kissing	3
wash	washes	washed	washed	washing	3

live	lives	lived	lived	living	4
love	loves	loved	loved	loving	4

beg	begs	begged	begged	begging	5
sin	sins	sinned	sinned	sinning	5

play	plays	played	played	playing
stay	stays	stayed	stayed	staying

cry	cries	cried	cried	crying	6
study	studies	studied	studied	studying	6

die	dies	died	died	dying
tie	ties	tied	tied	tying

Notes:

1. Pronunciation differences in past/past participle after /p, s, k, f/ sounds

2. Pronunciation differences in past/past participle after /t, d/ sounds

3. Spelling and pronunciation differences in –s form after /s, sh, ch, z/ sounds

4. Dropping of “silent e” with –ing endings

5. Doubled consonants after “short” vowel sounds

6. Spelling differences when “y” is preceded by a consonant

Future Perfect | Tenses: Active Form

2010-05-22T11:24:00.000-07:00

Future Perfect

The future perfect tense is not commonly used in English. It indicates that an action will be completed in the future (usually before some other action or event).

I will finish my Russian course in June. In July, I will begin studying Chinese.

By the time I begin studying Chinese, I will have finished my Russian course.

When I finish this race, I will have run a total of five miles.

Before they leave for Miami, they will have visited Houston and New Orleans.

The important thing to remember is the time of completion. (Beginning time may vary.)

I started studying last year. I will have passed my exams when I graduate next June.

I am studying right now. I will have passed my exams when I graduate next June.

I will start studying next month. I will have passed my exams when I graduate next June.

Future Progressive | Tenses : Active Form

2010-05-21T11:22:00.000-07:00

Future Progressive

Future progressive tense is used to indicate action which will be taking place at some time in the future.

For example,

I will be singing at Symphony Hall next month.

We’ll be leaving next Monday.

When you arrive, I’ll be cooking dinner.

The future progressive tense is formed by adding will be to the –ing form of the main verb.

She will be coming around the mountain in a few minutes.

She’ll be riding a white horse into town.

The future progressive tense is not as common as other tenses, and it can some-times be replaced by simple future, present progressive or even simple present.

I’ll be leaving in a few minutes.

I’ll leave in a few minutes.

I’m going to leave in a few minutes.

I’m leaving in a few minutes.

I leave in a few minutes.