Tutorial Orientation for Language and Linguistics

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Tutorial Orientation for Language and Linguistics

• Presented by Tang Jinlan
• BeiwaiOnline, BFSU

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Outline

• Course objectives
• Course contents and structure
• Course focus
• You-must-know resources10 types
• Tutorial essentials
• Course assessment
• Your responsibilities

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1. Objectives
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Three questions

• To put it simply, at the end of the course,
  students should be able to answer three
  questions
• --- What is language?
• --- What are the functions language fulfills in
  the social world?
• --- What are the functions language fulfills in
  the human mind?

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Objectives

• To explore the nature of language
• To examine the various functions of language and
  its role in society
• To analyze how language is used
• To develop students abilities to apply
  linguistic theory to practical problems (such as
  learning a foreign language)
• To help students become a more effective speaker
  and communicator

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2. Course contents and structure
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Three main parts

• Part 1 What is language?
• Part 2 What are the functions language fulfills
  in the social world?
• Part 3 What are the functions language fulfills
  in the human mind?

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Part 1 What is Language?

• Unit 1 Awareness of Our Language
• Learn to appreciate and understand language.
• Unit 2 Physical Aspects of Language
• How language is represented through speech
  sounds.
• Unit 3 The Symbolic Nature of Language
• How language is represented through written
  symbols.

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Part 2 Functions of Language in the Social World

• Unit 4 Language Function 1 Organizing Our
  Experiences
• A consideration of the functional aspects of
  language.
• Unit 5 Language Function 2 Doing Things with
  Language
• How speech acts help us to accomplish goals.
• Unit 6 Language Function 3 Managing
  Interpersonal Relations
• Adapting language to people and situations

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Part 2 Functions of Language in the Social World

• Unit 7 Language Function 4 Talk, Talk and Talk
• Analyzing conversation/discourse.
• Unit 8 Language in Society
• Language from a social and political perspective

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Part 3 Functions of Language in the Human Mind

• Unit 9 Language, Brain and Mind
• How the organization of the brain and aspects
  such as memory affect our learning.
• Unit 10 Review
• Help students check their awareness,
  understanding and ability to analyze

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3. Course Focus
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Course Focus

• Please remember that this is a CONCEPT course
  and that the emphasis is on understanding IDEAS
  and not on memorizing pages of text!

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What do we mean by ideas?

• Heres an example from the textbook pages 11-19
  on the evolution of humans and language.
• Do you think students need to remember every
  detail such as species names and migration
  paths?
• What is most important is that students remember
  that languages evolved as human societies spread
  around the earth.

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What do we mean by concepts?

• Students do not need to memorize examples, but
  they should understand why they were included.
  Learn the concepts.
• A concept is an underlying idea or principle that
  can be applied in various cases.

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Examples about concepts

• An example of a concept from U1 is that language
  and civilization are linked.
• An example of a concept from U5 is that we learn
  language in order to perform speech acts.

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4. You-must-know resources 10 types
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You-must-know resources(1)

• Course introduction(????-????)
• Course orientation (????-??????)
• Tutorial plan for each unit(????-??????)
• Exam orientation(????-??????)

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You-must-know resources(2)

• Self-assessment (????-?????)
• Progress report (????-?????)
• Assignment (????-??)
• Assessment guidelines and sample exam paper
  (????-????)
• FAQs (??-??-???????-?????)
• Unit-based Focal Points (????-?????)

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Most important resource?

• Focal points is the key resource.
• It summarizes all the key points in a unit.
• All the assessment exercises are built upon Focal
  Points.

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5. Tutorial Essentials
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Preparation stage

• Preparation stage
• Read through the unit, understanding the nature
  of each activity (pp.xviii-xxi) awareness tasks,
  understanding tasks, and application tasks
• Refer to the relevant resources focal points,
  course orientation, tutorial plan, FAQs
• Draw up a tutorial plan with the purpose of
  helping students review and consolidate what they
  have learned in the unit

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What we do in the tutorials?

• Get the main points out of the book.
• Discuss ideas using examples from the text and
  from our own experience.
• Reinforce concepts by applying them in new ways.

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A three-step procedure

• A tutorial activity design
• Key terms explanation (tutor-led)
• Key concepts elaboration (tutor-led)
• Discussion (group)

Rationale This is a concept course. Students
have difficulties in understanding ideas in
course materials. Tutorial activities are mainly
based on course materials, summarizing the key
linguistic terms, elaborating key concepts, where
possible, organizing discussions on some concepts.
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Key Terms
An example Unit 2 --- Activity 1 Language
in Speech and Written Communication(from
www.beiwaionline.com)

• vocalize, articulate
• phonetics
• convert
• handicapped
• Braille
• sign language
• manual
• barrier

• ...make a speech sound
• ...study of speech sounds
• ...change into new form
• ...disabled (e.g. blind)
• ...written language (blind)
• ...language for the deaf
• ...using the hands
• ...preventing passage

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Mediums of Communication

• When animals use mating calls, there is only one
  meaning.
• Aiyo!, Ha! and Ouch! are simple
  expressions.
• Speech (including sign language) and writing
  (including Braille) are more complex mediums.

A1 T1 P45-47
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Steps Involved in a Speech Act(concepts
elaboration)
Step 2 Articulate. Vocalize the phonetic sounds.
Step 1 Idea. Plan what you will say.
Which step will we focus on in this unit?
Step 3 Travel. Sounds travel through the air
acoustically.
Step 4 Receive. Eardrums convert signal and
message is processed.
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Steps Involved in Writing (concepts elaboration)
Step 2 Compose. Develop your writing into
coherent discourse.
What differences do you see between speaking and
writing?
Step 1 Idea. Plan what you will write.
Step 3 Send. Printed form is delivered to reader.
Step 4 Read. Eyes transmit sensory information
for processing.
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Questions for Discussion(discussion)
A1 T2 P50
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6. Assessment
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Assessment
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Progress Records (5)

• Test how well students read the material in the
  unit.
• Students must do it in order to pass the course.
• Can be found on the e-learning platform at
  http\\www.beiwaionline.com.
• Online delivery, submission and automatic-
  marking.
• The e-learning platform provides details and
  submission deadlines.

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Assignments (15)

• Each assignment is worth 100 marks.
• Covers material from 3 units.
• Assignment I (Units 1-3)
• Assignment II (Units 4-6)
• Assignment III (Units 7-9)
• Online delivery, submission, tutor-marked
• Can be found on the e-learning platform at
  http\\www.beiwaionline.com. Check for details
  and deadlines.

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Final Exam (80)

• Test students knowledge of the features of
  language and basic linguistic terminology
  (although vocabulary is not the main focus).
• Analysis and evaluation of linguistic theories
  applied to language phenomena.
• Application of theory to the analysis of language
  materials.
• To be completed within 2 hours.

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Exam Contents
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Sample exam questions(1)

• Section 1 course content awareness
• 2. Two of the most common ways of representing
  language are ______
• Reading and listening
• Reading and writing
• Listening and speaking
• Speech and writing

(correct answer D. Unit 2)
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Sample exam questions(2)

• Section 2 General principles
• In Chinese, we often say ??????This statement
  implies a connection between ____________

Answer Language and power
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7. Responsibilities
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Your main responsibility

• Tutor provides tutorials for your own students

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Your other responsibilities(1)

• Resource guide
• At the beginning course introduction, course
  orientation, course assessment
• During the learning process unit-based
  tutorials, Focal points,self-assessments, FAQS,
  course-based forums
• At the end exam orientation

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Your other responsibilities(2)

• Learning progress monitor mark assignments
  before the due date, and remind students to
  finish assignments and progress reports before
  the due date
• Consultant make your office phone number and
  e-mail address known to your students at the
  beginning of the term, so students can approach
  you when they met difficulties in learning.

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Outline

• Course objectives
• Course contents and structure
• Course focus
• You-must-know resources10 types
• Tutorial essentials
• Course assessment
• Your responsibilities

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Thank you all for your attention!