Teachers of English Language A Level and GCSE

Have you seen our workshop on Analysing Spoken Language?

Why do young people say innit? (e.g. It's only an hour from Edinburgh and Newcastle, innit?) Or why do so many people use be like? (e.g. I'm like 'I was only joking'). What functions do these features have in spoken language? What is your reaction to these features when they are used? 

The workshop aims at disseminating to English Language teachers the insights obtained from scholarly research into language variation and change, and to provide teachers with an overview of databanks and resources available on-line for use in the classroom. The focus of the workshop is on the use of so-called discourse-pragmatic features, i.e., features such as innit, be like or dead (e.g. It was dead funny.). These features are often wrongly dismissed as mere fillers which contribute nothing to the content or communicative force of an utterance. Even worse, their use is often perceived to be a sign of inarticulateness, laziness or lack of intelligence.

In the first part of the workshop, we aim to break down persisting prejudices against the use and users of these features. We will demonstrate how these features develop, what communicative function they perform in interaction (e.g. to signal tentativeness or assertiveness, to facilitate speaker change, etc.), and how they change over time. We thereby hope to raise participants’ awareness of these features and to demonstrate that they play a vital role in interaction.

In the second part of the workshop, we provide teachers with an overview of currently available resources for working with spoken data in the classroom, focusing in particular on a demonstration of two projects specifically aimed at providing teachers with relevant resources.

Where?

Queen Mary, University of London, Mile End Road, E1 4NS

When?

Wednesday 4th July, 2-7pm

Cost?

£25

What is included?

Workshop led by academics involved in current research on spoken language, lecture by leading sociolinguist Professor Jenny Cheshire, Resource Booklet with classroom materials.

There are only a few spaces left ........for more details of programme click here

Online booking

or contact Dr Sue Fox s.p.fox@qmul.ac.uk