Nominalisation Literacy Secretariat Literacy is everyone’s business

Purpose of Nominalisation Nominalisation helps achieve a higher degree of abstraction and technicality. Nominalisation is significant in constructing a distant and abstract world that can be reflected on. Nominalisation is one of the language choices that enables movement towards highly written texts. Literacy Secretariat Literacy is everyone’s business

Creating nominalisations Nominalisations are nouns often formed from verbs (e.g. discover > discovery, achieve > achievement, present > presentation, permit > permission). describers (e.g. brave > bravery, wide > width, tense > tension), conjunctions (e.g. because > cause, whereas > difference, if > possibility) preposition (e.g. during > duration). Literacy Secretariat Literacy is everyone’s business

Creating nominalisations From Verbs Many verbs can be changed into nominalisations by changing the end of the verb eg. divide > division, pay > payment, sing > my singing Some do not need change eg. his diet, the struggle Literacy Secretariat Literacy is everyone’s business

Nominalisation in Schooling Nominalisations are used in written and multimodal texts and in teacher talk across all learning areas and in each band. - Across curriculum (e.g. attention, assessment, co-operation, intelligence, behaviour) - Mathematics (e.g. length, division) - Science (e.g. sight, reproduction) - Society and Environment (e.g. relief, invasion) Literacy Secretariat Literacy is everyone’s business

Some common nominalisations in Maths Word Verb/describer Nominalisation deep describer verb addition distance multiply estimation Literacy Secretariat Literacy is everyone’s business

Some common nominalisations in Maths Word Verb/describer Nominalisation deep describer depth add verb addition distant distance multiply multiplication estimate estimation Literacy Secretariat Literacy is everyone’s business

Some common nominalisations in the Arts Word Verb/describer Nominalisation perform verb movement describer originality exhibition surrealism Literacy Secretariat Literacy is everyone’s business

Some common nominalisations in the Arts Word Verb/describer Nominalisation perform verb performance move movement original describer originality exhibit exhibition surreal surrealism Literacy Secretariat Literacy is everyone’s business

Understanding Nominalisation Original Version Nominalised Versions They were impressed by how brave she was. She made an impression because she was brave. It may not be appropriate to nominalise every possibility They were impressed by her bravery. She made an impression by her bravery. Literacy Secretariat Literacy is everyone’s business

Understanding Nominalisation Original Version Nominalised Versions Jill placed the flowers perfectly on the table. The coach was amazed by Nina’s brilliant effort. Literacy Secretariat Literacy is everyone’s business

Understanding Nominalisation Original Version Nominalised Versions Jill placed the flowers perfectly on the table. Her placement of the flowers on the table was perfect. The table looked perfect due to Jill’s placement of the flowers. The coach was amazed by Nina’s brilliant effort. Nina’s brilliance amazed the coach. The coach’s amazement was caused by Nina’s brilliance. Literacy Secretariat Literacy is everyone’s business

Rewriting an example Step 1 Identify the verbs Students who complete what the school requires can graduate. When they receive their certificate, they can apply for work. Literacy Secretariat Literacy is everyone’s business

Rewriting an example Step 1 Identify the verbs Students who complete what the school requires can graduate. When they receive their certificate, they can apply for work. Literacy Secretariat Literacy is everyone’s business

Rewriting an example Step 2 Nominalise these verbs Complete > Require > Graduate > Receive > Apply > Literacy Secretariat Literacy is everyone’s business

Rewriting an example Step 2 Nominalise these verbs Complete > Completion Require > Requirement Graduate > Graduation Receive > Receipt Apply > Application Literacy Secretariat Literacy is everyone’s business

Rewriting an example Step 3 Try to rewrite the text using all nominalisations Literacy Secretariat Literacy is everyone’s business

Rewritten example Completion of the school’s requirements can lead to graduation. Upon receipt of their certificate, students can make an application for work. What other steps were required to rewrite the text? Literacy Secretariat Literacy is everyone’s business

Other changes Change of verb > can lead to Change of foregrounding > Completion of the school’s requirements Longer noun groups > receipt of their certificate Literacy Secretariat Literacy is everyone’s business

Some considerations The syntax of the sentence need to change to accommodate the nominalisations (eg. new verb) and as a result the meaning of the sentence may change It is sometimes necessary to build student’s synonyms for common verbs and describers before they can nominalise them Not all verbs/describers need to be nominalised The appropriate level of nominalisation for the job Literacy Secretariat Literacy is everyone’s business

Building vocabulary prior to nominalisation She did well in the play. She performed well in the play. Her performance in the play was excellent. Her excellence was shown in her performance. Her excellence was evident in her performance. Evidence of her excellence was seen in her performance. (At what point does nominalisation become cumbersome and inappropriate?) Literacy Secretariat Literacy is everyone’s business

Building vocabulary prior to nominalisation He took away the rubbish, because it had to be done. He took away the rubbish, because it needed to be done. He removed the rubbish, because it was necessary. The removal of the rubbish was a necessity. Literacy Secretariat Literacy is everyone’s business

Understanding Nominalisation Text A (Spoken comments at a committee meeting) Hazel: I reckon we can replant the trees along the side of the oval nearest to the main road. It is very noisy on that side and the trees will make it better. I’ll ask the council to see if we can borrow some of their gear to use on the day. Vy: My husband said we can use his truck if we want to. I can see if my uncle can also lend us some tools. Text B (Written minutes of the meeting including some of the possible nominalisations) A proposal was made by Hazel that the revegetation occur along the side of the school’s oval nearest to the main road so that there is a reduction in noise. Hazel will make a request to borrow equipment from the council. Vy made the offer to use her husband’s truck and will investigate the possibility of borrowing equipment from her uncle. Literacy Secretariat Literacy is everyone’s business

Text B on the Register Continuum Field Everyday Technical Tenor Informal Formal Mode Most spoken Most written Text B Text B Text B Literacy Secretariat Literacy is everyone’s business

Nominalisation changes “packaging’ of information Texts with lots of nominalisation appear dense and difficult to read because: Abstractions are named Noun groups are complex Relating verbs are used (e.g. contains, are, involves) “Actors” are removed Literacy Secretariat Literacy is everyone’s business

Unpacking nominalisations It is important to be able to “unpack” noun groups containing nominalisations How could you explain the information below without using nominalisation? How many sentences does it take? The dramatic increase of illegal logging in rainforests is of international significance. The reduction of suitable habitat is causing the extinction of some species and a general reduction of biodiversity. Literacy Secretariat Literacy is everyone’s business

Nominalisation and genres Nominalisation is an important resource for successful development of factual genres Used to introduce technical terms in explanations or reports eg. Heat from the sun causes liquid water to become water vapour. This process is called evaporation. Literacy Secretariat Literacy is everyone’s business

Nominalisation and genres Used to foreground the theme of the sentence/clause eg. When the sun heats the water, it evaporates into steam. Evaporation causes the steam to rise, cool and condense. Condensation into clouds makes the water droplets heavy and they fall to the ground. This is precipitation. Precipitation can be rain, snow or hail. Literacy Secretariat Literacy is everyone’s business

Nominalisation and genres Used to organise research and writing Report eg. Location, Population, Economy Explanation eg. Causes, Effects, Consequences Exposition eg. Arguments, Reasons, Factors, Issues Literacy Secretariat Literacy is everyone’s business

Nominalisation across the ESL Scales 8 10 12 14 Understands a range of common nominalisations and uses a limited examples: – understands: movement, your turn, a good chance – uses: height, happiness range and uses a small range of common nominalisations: – adjective: possible - possibility, able - ability – verb: allow - allowance, permit - permission Uses a small range of technical with varying degrees of grammatical accuracy: – adjective: high - height – verb: evaporate - evaporation; expand - expansion – conjunction: if - possibility range of increasingly abstract and technical with increasing confidence: capable - capability, risky - risk – verb: grow - growth Uses confidently a wide range of nominalisations, informal - informality, regular - regularity – verb: believe - beliefs, assume - assumption – preposition: during - duration Literacy Secretariat Literacy is everyone’s business

Professional Learning The Teaching ESL Students in Mainstream Classrooms (TESMC) course and the How Language Works course both raise teacher awareness of the importance of nominalisation in schooling and build their capacity to explicitly teach it ESL Regional Consultants also offer training Literacy Secretariat Literacy is everyone’s business

Literacy Secretariat Literacy is everyone’s business