Language from Text: Words Phrases and Patterns TBLT Workshop Davis, California August 2011

How many words do my learners need? And what words do they need?

Key frequency figures for English: 100  50% of all text 300  65% (grammatical coverage) 700  70% 3000  85% (basic competence) 6000  90% (to read unsimplified text)  95% (to read independently) How do I find these words?

…. Communicative competence is not a matter of knowing rules for the composition of sentences... It is much more a matter of knowing a stock of partially pre-assembled patterns, formulaic frameworks, and a kit of rules, so to speak, and being able to apply the rules to make whatever adjustments are necessary according to contextual demands. Communicative competence in this view is essentially a matter of adaptation, and rules are not generative but regulative and subservient. (Widdowson 1989: 135)

...(communicative competence) ( is not a matter of knowing) (rules for) (the composition of) sentences... (It is much more a matter of knowing) (a stock of) partially pre-assembled patterns, formulaic frameworks, and (a kit of) rules, (so to speak), and (being able to) (apply the rules) to (make (whatever adjustments) are necessary) (according to) contextual demands. (Communicative competence) (in this view) (is essentially a matter of) adaptation, and rules are not generative but regulative and subservient. (Widdowson 1989: 135)

Time: in the morning; up to now; the day after tomorrow Place: at home; in the corner; from … to Quantity: a lot of; plenty of; as many as possible Discourse: at the end of the day; the thing is; as a matter of fact Vague language: and so on; things like that; or so; you know; more or less

Phrasal verbs: get + about, above, across, around, along, at, between, by, down, in, into, off, off with, on, on with, over, round, through, up. Delexical verbs: give, take, have, make, do … a smile, a shout, a kick, a talk, a warning

Metaphors with verbs of motion: Life is a journey: We go through life, reach the age of …, reach adolescence; get to seventy Discourse is a journey: I’ll come to that soon; I’ll go on to my next point; Let’s go back over that

Metaphor and collocation Make learners aware of the importance of collocation and set exercises which make them think about collocation In English we talk about: a strong personality; a strong leader; strong wind/current; a strong supporter/opponent; strong words; strong coffee; strong language; a strong case ; strong evidence; a strong possibility; a strong point; a strong team; a strong currency; a strong taste.

Think carefully about the meanings of frequent words and find out why they are so frequent. Why is point among the most frequent nouns in English? The Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary lists the following phrases with point: The point is …; to miss the point; that’s a good point; that’s not the point; do you see my point; beside the point; make a point of; up to a point; what’s the point?

The boy who came in from the cold A schoolboy who spent the night in a butchers cold store after being locked in accidentally…. Guardian Newspaper What questions come to mind? Write three questions you think will be answered in the full news report. Compare yours with a neighbour’s questions. Are any the same?

FORM FOCUS EXERCISES. Look for: 1 a word … 2 …. or part of a word. 3 words and phrases relating to a concept. 4 expressions of time, place and quantity. 5 discourse markers and vague language

FORM FOCUS EXERCISES: 1.Pick out all the phrases to do with cold. 2.How many time expressions can you find? 3.Pick out all the phrases with –ing. 4.How many phrases can you find with the word with?

the cold; cold store; freezing point; bitterly cold; purple with cold; still freezing after being locked in; spent the night; for ten hours; for 14 hours; yesterday morning; immediately. after being locked in; freezing point; Staff arriving for work; with his teeth chattering ; Still freezing; reported him missing with his teeth chattering; with the temperature around freezing point; purple with cold;

There are strict limits on how much we can do in class. How can learners build up to the 6000 words they need for unsimplified text and the they need for independent reading? extensive reading at an appropriate level topic research project work

How can I help them? recognise that time, particularly class time, is valuable distinguish between high frequency words, useful topic words and low frequency words provide a reason for learning vocabulary integrate vocabulary learning with other activities in the classroom

How can I help them? explain to them the importance of vocabulary encourage independence – inferencing skills, dictionary use, online translation encourage text/context related learning encourage them to support learning with cards and lists stress the value of rote learning encourage them to experiment with different techniques to see what works for them

What about the grammar?

(academic lists with concordances and concordance exercises) (top 3000 words in American English) (top 3000 British English) Willis and Willis 2007 Appendix 6 p. 259 Google: word frequency lists; Paul Nation; Paul Meara; Tom Cobb