Sociolinguistics of English Language

This assignment delves into the field of sociolinguistics, focusing on the relationship between language and society. Students will analyze provided resources from books and online sources, covering topics such as gender differences in language, varieties of English, heritage language education, and multilingualism. The assignment encourages critical thinking about how language is used and perceived within social contexts.

English In Schools

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8
.........................................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Linguistic refers to a study of language which includes formation of English words,
meaning of the word used and for which context it has been used (Brinton, Kagan and Bauckus,
2017). It is analysed through focusing on the reader speech and tone of it while speaking. On the
other side, Sociolinguistic refers to a study of language by relating with the society person is
living. In this report, various benefits of sociolinguistic for teachers will be explained with
understanding of the variety of English in the classroom. Importance of the national curriculum
for English will be elaborated. At last effectiveness of strategies used to promote language and
literacy learning will be demonstrate.
MAIN BODY
ESSAY TITLE: “English is a key subject in the curriculum and is the language of teaching and
learning in all school subjects in the UK”
Language is one of the essential way through which behaviour and sociological factor of
the individual would be find out. While using language to communicate with others, sender
provides various messages to the receiver like from where we come from, whom we associated
with, Origin of the birth etc. For instance, individual who is from United States of America can
be easily identified as they use slang words while talking on the other side, Indian has different
accent as it they have vast variety of it. For instance, most of the people in Indian has their
different accent of vowels and pronunciation of it which makes easier for receiver to find out the
origin of them.
So it can be seen in the above information that it becomes hard for listener to clearly
understand the language they are using as then only it would be possible for them to understand
the meaning of it. That's why it is essential for teacher to teach linguistic as a subject as it would
enhance the understanding of English language by enriching vocabulary of the student.
Linguistics is the study of language which examine the structure of the language and principles
used behind it. If Language of the individual studies related with the society where they are
living then it is known as Sociolinguistic (Definition and Examples of Linguists, 2019). For
instance, two individual are sitting beside each other and person would speaks to his friend that
“pass me the salt”. But on the other side, if same thing is used with the older people, the person
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would speak”Sir/mam would be please pass me the salt”. Both the sentence has same meaning in
every context but usage of words are according to the society they are leaving.
Linguistic as well as sociolinguistic have a direct impact on the language teaching to
students as it assist them to select vocabulary and grammar according to the situations and
society where individual is living (Bunce and et. al., 2016). There are various sub areas which
comes under the sociolinguistic like usage of phonetics and phonology. Phonetics would help
teacher to teach their children regarding the the sound which generates while speaking to others.
For instance, it must be essential for students to pronounce word correctly as then only it would
be easier for the listener to understand the sentence and respond it accordingly. Other aspect of it
is correct usage of grammar as it is the base of the effective communication ((McKay and
Bokhorst-Heng, 2017)). For instance, improper telephonic wire affects the phone conversation in
a negative way, likewise bad grammar would make the sentence unclear due to which it becomes
hard for the children to communicate with their friends and family. Moreover grammar assist
children to develop the skills of fluency as if children is well aware about the grammar and its
rules then it would easier for the children to form and organise the word accordingly. Role of
teacher is to teach the students related to semantics as it would assist them in the English
language like listening, writing etc. For instance, a child is also known as kid, girl, daughter etc.
Sociolinguistic is a study of languages which provides a great profitability to the
language teachers such as it helps them in communicating the origin of words and enhancing the
vocabulary of their students. It also increase the knowledge of teachers about the historical
applications of the words and its importance in present time. In addition to this, it is a combined
approach of teaching language which also assist the students in gaining better and in-depth
understanding of the words so that their knowledge about the wordings or vocabulary can be
enhanced in easy manner (Coates, 2015). It can enhance the growth and professional
development of teachers because it is not only helps teachers but also it assists the students in
their future development. So that it can be said that social linguistic is not only a study but also it
is an evolution of historical context of language, memory development. It also includes structure
and origin of words through which teachers and students can easily understand the use of certain
words in a good accent. There are some more benefits of social linguistic to the teachers and
students. Like, when instructing a foreign language, sociolinguistic is very important for the
teachers to provide proper historical context of word origins so that vocabulary and knowledge
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of students can be enhanced in easy manner. It is also very important for the teachers to use
proper vocabulary in their discussion or instructions while educating the students foreign
languages so that they can easily make difference between English or other languages. It will
indirectly helps the teachers in acquiring more words for adding in their vocabulary (Dimova,
Hultgren and Jensen, 2015).
English is one of the widely spoken language in the world as billions of individual are
communicating in the same also. But there is different accent of people living in different
countries as UK individual prefers to complete the word at the time of speaking but on the other
side, American loves to use slang words as it is common in their society (Holmes, J. and Wilson,
N., 2017). Various varieties of English is explained below,
British English is more formal in nature as individual from there prefers to give respect to
other person while having a conversation with them. English is similar to the west German
language which originated form the Anglo Frisian dialects. Moreover British people uses
different vocabulary while communication as compare to American. For instance, British citizen
call front of a car bonnet but on the other side American address it as a hood. Other variety of
English is Australian English which is there official language as most of the people speaks in
Australia. It comes in the existence after development of the new south Wales as people with
same dialects were moving into other places thus new variety of English has been produced from
this.
Canadian English is one of the complex language to understand as it is made up of
different origins like people who were living their, people from new york, Pennsylvania,
Washington etc who came as a immigrants etc. According to research, Canadian English was
derived from northern American English (Varieties of English in current English language
teaching, 2019) At last, Indian English which is famous for their different accent as compare to
other countries who speaks English. It was first introduced by Lord Macaulay by eliminating
various local languages used by the localities. Most importantly Persian language has been
removed from the school as more priority is given to the English only.
There are various strategies which could be opted by school and English teacher to
enhance and promote language and literacy learning like try to expand the length of the speaking
so that they would be able to use their vocabulary to its extent (Godley, Reaser and Moore,
2015). For instance, if children is only saying “I want to wash hands” then its the duty of teacher
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and their parents to force them to say “ I wants to wash my hands with soap so that my hands
would get cleaner”. Main idea behind using this strategy is to assist children to speaker for a
longer period of time so that communication skills and usage of vocabulary would get enhanced,
thus making communication effective and efficient. This strategy is effective in nature and
consistent insist by them would force the children to speak more which is a positive sign of
effective communication. Other strategy which could be productive for literacy learning and
English language is regularly enhance vocabulary in English (Demiroz and Yesilyurt, 2015). For
instance, if any children is saying that “this picture is beautiful” then is the duty of parents and
teacher to replace the word “beautiful” with “mesmerising”. Main aim of this strategy is to teach
more vocabulary to their kids so that they wont faced any difficulties while communicating
with other people. As higher vocabulary leads to better communication and makes the
conversation more interesting and effective. By this approach, children communication skills
becomes more fluent and faster as then children does not have to construct words before
speaking. So it can be said that it is an effective way enhancing vocabulary and quality of
communications. Apart from this, phonological awareness is also important in the English
language as it assist students at the time of reading and writing spelling. For instance, kid who
can not differentiate between the sounds of a word then it would be hard for them to ready
properly and fluently. To cope up with it, teacher needs to provide reading comprehension to
their children so that they can learn by committing mistakes. Role of teacher and parents is to
rectify the pronunciation of children so that same mistake wont be repeat in the future.
Differential achievement in English in relation to diversity characteristics
Differential achievement theory could also presume that person who attends a private
school as compare to public city school, or some that get additional tuition and attends a school
that have a better resources and services has a biggest prospect achieving well in future. Mainly
in terms of differential achievement, different grounds why middle-class citizens seem to
accomplish more domain than working class citizens may be because: Enhanced living
conditions, Cultural capital e.g. extra tuition and more educational resources, Higher level of
aspiration, peer pressure from other peers , higher level of ambition, Solid family background
e.g. not from a broken family. Along with this, Dissimilarities in educational accomplishment
level in our civilization can be provided in details in terms of 3 essential categories such as
Social background differences, Natural differences in intellect, Hidden curriculum etc. All these
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ate highly impacted on student in classroom. The common problem which children faces in their
age is they find difficulty while writing essay or letter which ends up in affecting interpersonal
skills of them. To tackle this, teacher must insist them to to write about the day or what kid has
done since the morning. It will enhance the writing skills of the children, along with this, their
ability to use their vocabulary to make words would also improve to a certain level (Wright,
Boun and García, 2015).
When I was in school it was very hard for me to study in a school because I finds lot of
difficulties in speaking, reading, speaking skills, writing etc. For instance, it was very hard for
me to ready from a reading comprehension as there are different words which could not possible
for me to pronounce it. So my English teacher assist me to correct my pronunciation of words
due to which it would be easier for me to speaking fluently and perfectly. Apart from this,
vocabulary always affects my fluency in English in a negative way which also affected my word
formation speed. So to tackle it, I regularly learn new words from dictionary or novels and then
implement it by using it in a sentence on a regular basis (Gorter, Zenotz and Cenoz, 2016). It has
two positive impact on my English knowledge, first, I don't have to cram the words as this
approach always failed miserably. Other is, I attain highest fluency in English as I don't want
wait for word formation before speaking in front of others. Moreover, it also improve my
spelling skills as difference in spelling has direct impact on the meaning of it. For instance,
pronunciation of bare and bear is same but bare refers to naked and bear is a animal so it can be
said that improving vocabulary helps my English skills in various aspects (Canagarajah, 2017).
Apart from it, at the time of school, my writing skills was not up to level of other children as it
makes my brain drain when writing about anything because I took longer period of time while
making words sentence for a essay or letter. This is one of the issue which I face it for a longer
period of time but my teacher has suggested me to write a diary on a daily basis so that vision of
mind while writing in English would enhance. I have to regularly write five pages in my diary
which includes daily routines, day at school and home etc. It challenges my ability of writing in
the starting after some times, it becomes my habit to write on a daily basis. So overall ways
through which I work on my English language is, writing of diary on a daily basis, regular
discussion with the English tutor so that new and innovative techniques would be used by me to
enhance my speaking. Self monitoring plays an effective role in school as I was accurately aware
about the problem which I was facing and how it could be removed in future. It can be concluded
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in the last that, teacher and environment helps me to learn English in the starting which still
assist me while doing job in a corporate.
English national curriculum is a set of instructions made by the local authorities and
school to ensure that proper knowledge related to English language would be inculcate within
children. Various aspects which national curriculum of English is made up of like different
principles of English language which must be taught by teacher to children (Leeman and
Serafini, 2016). Aim of national curriculum in English is to train the children in English
language so that they can easily read, speak fluency with good understanding of it. It indirectly
has a positive impact on the children as it would develop the reading habit in them which ends up
in enhancing knowledge and information. Besides this, other goal of this curriculum is to make
the children well versed with English language so that they wont face any problem in the future
while writing, speaking, reading, listening etc.
Apart from this, whole curriculum is based on two stages i.e., word reading and
comprehension. Main vision of this is to make the pupils skilled so that they can read the
comprehension with skilled and able to pronounced words which are unfamiliar for them. If both
these things are attain at the same time by children then it can be said that teacher has been able
to inculcate all the principles of English which is essential in nature. Along with this, students
must be able to understand fiction and non fictional books and novel. Other than this, their
different motto is to make the students writing experts which includes correct usage of
punctuations, tone according to the conversation, usage of tenses and verbs etc. For instance, if
children is able to write down in English without wasting time in construction of sentences or
making mistakes related to rules of English then it can be said that children has knowledge about
everything which is been discussed above (Nunan and Richards, 2015).
In UK, there are various rules and regulations are formed as per the nation curriculum for
English for different age group which must be followed by teachers in order to educating the
children that how to spoke a language with using proper vocabulary and grammatical words.
There are some principles that should be followed by teachers in order to educate the children of
different age group, are given as under: For educating English language to the different age
group Teachers have duty to listen carefully and respond in appropriate manner. Ask relevant
questions with the students as per their understanding and knowledge so that they would not
dissatisfied with the behaviour of teachers. Utilise effective strategies so that strong vocabulary
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would be build in a short time period Speak all the complex words in easy manner so that it
would be understand by the students in easy manner. Encourage the students to make
participation in discussion, presentation or debates so that their skills would be developed. It is
the main duty of teachers to provide valid reasons to the students if they are arguing with them
on a specific topic. Consider reliable informations and sources while taking classes or providing
historical context of a specific word. Maintain proper decorum in the class so that effective
collaboration would be received by the students in easy manner (Matsuda, 2017).
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CONCLUSION
From the above report, it can be summarised that linguistic assist students and teachers as
well to understand and decode the message provided by the sender. There must be close
collaboration with the teachers and students as then only teacher would be able to identified the
problem kid is facing and then make the strategies to remove it accordingly. There are various
challenges which must be removed by teacher to make their kids understand the topic in the
English classes i.e., resistance to change, unhealthy environment in the classroom etc.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Brinton, D.M., Kagan, O. and Bauckus, S. eds., 2017. Heritage language education: A new field
emerging. Routledge.
Bunce and et. al., 2016. Why English?: Confronting the Hydra. Multilingual Matters
Canagarajah, S. ed., 2017. The Routledge handbook of migration and language. Taylor &
Francis.
Coates, J., 2015. Women, men and language: A sociolinguistic account of gender differences in
language. Routledge.
Demiroz, H. and Yesilyurt, S., 2015. Effective foreign language teaching: Perceptions of
prospective English language teachers. Universal Journal of Educational Research.
3(11). pp.862-870.
Dimova, S., Hultgren, A.K. and Jensen, C. eds., 2015. English-medium instruction in European
higher education (Vol. 4). Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG.
Godley, A. J., Reaser, J. and Moore, K.G., 2015. Pre-service English language arts teachers’
development of critical language awareness for teaching. Linguistics and Education. 32.
pp.41-54.
Gorter, D., Zenotz, V. and Cenoz, J., 2016. Minority languages and multilingual education.
Springer.
Holmes, J. and Wilson, N., 2017. An introduction to sociolinguistics. Routledge.
Jenkins, J., Baker, W. and Dewey, M. eds., 2017. The Routledge handbook of English as a lingua
franca. Routledge.
Leeman, J. and Serafini, E.J., 2016. Sociolinguistics for Heritage Language Educators and
Students. Innovative strategies for heritage language teaching: A practical guide for the
classroom, p.56.
Matsuda, A. ed., 2017. Preparing teachers to teach English as an international language.
Multilingual Matters.
McKay, S.L. and Bokhorst-Heng, W.D., 2017. International English in its sociolinguistic
contexts: Towards a socially sensitive EIL pedagogy. Routledge.
Nunan, D. and Richards, J.C. Eds., 2015. Language learning beyond the classroom. Routledge.
Wright, W.E., Boun, S. and García, O. eds., 2015. The handbook of bilingual and multilingual
education. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
Online
Definition and Examples of Linguists. 2019. [Online]. Available Through:
<https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-a-linguist-1691239>
Varieties of English in current English language teaching. 2019. [Online]. Available Through:
<https://blog.cudoo.com/different-varieties-of-english-language>
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