Start: Lecture on Language Varieties

As an introduction to this part of your course in English C I gave a brief lecture on language varieties from the perspectives of accent, regional and social dialects, as well as idiolect. I then moved on to talk about variation of language that is determined by the situation of use, and style-shifting. My notes are all based on chapters in George Yule's brilliant introductory book The Study of Language (Cambridge University Press 1985) and you find them written down here. In this project we will look at the language of some ads/commercials as well as teenage language (with a humorous twist), and as an individual task you will get to shift contexts in your language use - your work will be posted on the blog so that you can learn & get new ideas from each other! A series of ads from British Rail is what started us off on the first group task, and next lesson you will get to deliver a sales pitch. I am looking forward to the results; enjoy the work!

English C goals connected with this project:

Pupils should:

* understand different types of clear authentic speech in a variety of contexts
* be able in different contexts to introduce and actively participate in oral communication of varying types, and be able to use English flexibly and purposefully, in both formal and informal contexts
* be able to review, describe and analyse their needs in English from long-term study and vocational perspectives.

/Åsa