1. Function Words or, the dark matter of English Cynthia Elmas: IEP Professional Development Friday, April 12

2. I first saw this in a pronunciation textbook. Sue F. Miller, Targeting Pronunciation. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2000.

3. Function words are like dark matter because They are EVERYWHERE in ENGLISH, but LEARNERS HAVE a HARD TIME NOTICing and MASTERing them.

4. The opposite of function words are content words: easily heard; always stressed. Nouns Main verbs Adjectives AdverbsNumbersNegatives* Question words

5. For example, “Apple has beautiful glass stores.” [all content words]

6. These are function words Helping verbs articlespronouns conjunctionsprepositionsForms of ‘be’ Word endings

7. For example, We will have been at the table in the middle of the room for about two hours. [white words are function words]

8. Their ‘dark matter’ characteristics: Unstressed in speaking Unsalient for listening Unsalient for listening visually small, which doesn’t help in regards to reading and writing visually small, which doesn’t help in regards to reading and writing

9. So, why bother using them as teaching tool? Listening comprehension Necessary for the natural rhythm and sentence stress of spoken English Good for explaining ‘chunking’ and contractions for listening and speaking

10. Why bother, cont’d Markers of proficiency in writing and speaking Vulnerable to L1 interference in listening, speaking, and writing Just plain confusing, often with idiosyncratic or highly conceptual grammar meanings

11. Let’s notice them… Visually, in reading Aurally, in listening

12. Visual noticing in reading Introduce function words. Have Ss circle all the function words in a few sentences of a reading. Have them read aloud.

13. Aural noticing in listening Have Ss do a listening transcription. Introduce function words. Give them a copy of your perfect transcription Have Ss compare theirs with yours. They will see what they missed: new vocabulary, and function words.

14. Let’s use them… in speaking In writing

15. Speaking 2 STUDENT RECORDINGS: first the wrong way; second, the right way. Model both for them first. 2 STUDENT RECORDINGS: first the wrong way; second, the right way. Model both for them first. MIMIC SENTENCE STRESS of a recording of a native speaker. WRITING THEIR OWN TEXTS, and MARKING THE UNSTRESSED WORDS.

16. Writing and Grammar LOW ER LEVEL: Simple but evil cloze exercises where the blanks are function words. Based of a previously-read text. Limited to grammar that they know.

17. Writing and Grammar, cont’d HIGHER LEVEL: use function words as a template Grab some writing, published or student writing. Take out content words, and students fill in with other content words. Then have Ss write something, and create their own function word ‘shell’ to fill in with content words...or vice versa!

18. Other related lessons How to hear and say ‘can’ [helping verb, function word] and ‘can’t’ [negative, content word] Chunking of words in speaking [Give it to him], with linking The unstressed schwa –the ‘dark matter’ of vowel sounds The stress difference between phrasal verbs [come out/carry on/give up]. The particle is necessary for the meaning of the phrasal verb>>content>>stressed. Verb + preposition combinations [come for/go to/ think of] The preposition does not affect the meaning of the verb>>function>>unstressed

19. Thank you!