A semantic field (sometimes known as a lexical field) is a group of words related by meaning. In teaching a semantic field could be: animals verbs of perception foodstuffs … In practical terms the definition is quite loose and general. Sometimes a word will belong to just one semantic field […]
Continue ReadingCategory Archives: Linguistics
They look at the inner workings of language. Why language works like it does, in other words. Think of learning about linguistics in the same way you’d learn how an internal combustion engine works. Linguistics is what’s under the hood… you don’t need to know it to drive a car, but it helps understand what’s going on if you ever break down!
So… TEFL teachers should find these useful in providing more of a background to their teaching and students, too, will find them helpful in understanding language at a slightly deeper level.
Second Language
When a student learns English in order to live and work in an English speaking country we say they are learning English as a Second Language. For example, these kinds of people learn English as a second language: an Afghan refugee resettled in Australia a Russian student who is studying […]
Continue ReadingSecond Language Acquisition or SLA
The way in which someone learns a second language is known as Second Language Acquisition or SLA. Overview SLA is often regarded as mimicking the way in which native speakers acquire their first language (or Mother Tongue (MT)) and it is often felt that imitating this methodology in the classroom […]
Continue ReadingPidgin & Creole
These 2 terms are related and often overlap. They’re used to talk about different methods used to communicate. Simply put: Pidgin is a simplified form of language used by two different groups to communicate. Creole is a pidgin which has formed into a full language (and is learnt as a […]
Continue ReadingPhonology
Phonology is the branch of linguistics concerned with the study of the sound system of a language. Contrast this with Phonetics which which studies the sounds of speech and they way in which they are interpreted. Generally speaking it is not necessary to have an academic knowledge of this subject […]
Continue Reading