Linguistic, Sociolinguistic, and Pragmatic Competence in Language Learning

Posted on Jan 23, 2025 in Primary Education

Linguistic, Sociolinguistic, and Pragmatic Competence

Yiyi: Introduction to Text

1. Linguistic Competence:

  • Vocabulary (themes as numbers: 1, 2, 3, etc.)
  • Grammar (tenses as present; word classes as verbs, nouns, prepositions – as, by, of -, relatives – what, who -, adjectives, determiners)
  • Spelling (contractions as it’s; double letters as foot; special spelling as enjoyable)
  • Pronunciation (may not be used)

2. Sociolinguistic Competence:

  • Register (formal/informal)
  • Dialect/Accent
  • Markers of social relations (greetings as hi, bye)
  • Politeness conventions (requests/offers as questions)

3. Pragmatic Competence:

  • Types of text (daily conversation, academic text, dialogue)
  • Functions (questions, try, decisions)
  • Communicative situations (who, to whom, how, where/when)
  • Structure (follow or not a rigid structure, title, introduction, theme, description, problem, conclusion)
  • Type conventions (pictures, type of letter, colors)

Maca: Introduction

Types of activities: receptive/productive, Year, lesson 45 minutes

Steps to Work On:

Before (5-10 minutes)
  • Introduce the topic, get students engaged (show pictures and ask questions (Listening/Reading/Writing), play a recording (Speaking)).
  • Check prior knowledge (open questions to see if they have the vocabulary, flashcards for difficult words).
  • Pre-teach any necessary language they might need (Listening/Reading) (list vocabulary and fill-in-the-gaps activities).
  • Activate students’ predicting skills (Listening/Reading) (provide pictures and ask about them).
  • Teach vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar necessary to do the speaking (Speaking) (teacher shows/says vocabulary in flashcards and students repeat and make sentences with those words).
  • Work on discourse using a model: content, type, structure, conventions (guided speaking) (Speaking/Writing). In order to teach the informal register, I will perform it with a student and explain the structure, vocabulary (Speaking) and show pictures of the theme and ask questions to students (Writing).
  • Introduce the grammar point by working on a model (Writing) (teacher gives incomplete sentences of the activity and students guess if they’re correct/incorrect).
  • Drilling grammar (Writing) (give incomplete sentences about the topic, they have to complete sentences with nouns, verbs, adjectives given in Yiyi activity).
While (30 minutes)
  • Listening/Skimming: reading for gist (Listening/Reading) (students write the main idea of each paragraph (Reading), teacher asks general questions about the first listening, “What happened here?” (Listening)).
  • Work on discourse (Reading) (Explain register, etc., ask students to identify parts of the text).
  • Listening/Scanning: reading for specific information (recognition) (Listening/Reading) (teacher provides students a test with questions about the listening).
  • Listening/Scanning: reading for specific information (reproduction) (Listening/Reading) (fill in the gaps).
  • Freer speaking: set the task clearly (Speaking/Writing) (explain what it is about and in pairs/groups represent (Speaking), teacher tells students to write an essay about something related to the activity following the structure given (Writing)).
  • Brainstorming for ideas (Speaking/Writing) (what they could do, reject/select ideas and write them on the blackboard (Speaking), select/reject ideas about what to write in the essay (Writing)).
  • Plan the text and rehearse/write the first draft (Speaking/Writing) (they can take notes, when they practice the teacher will tell them if it’s incorrect (Speaking), students write a text and the teacher gives feedback (Writing)).
  • Edit the text and do the task/write the final text (Speaking/Writing) (represent in class, teacher gives feedback about pronunciation, vocabulary, and performance, if we have time do it with another partner (Speaking), write the final text with corrections from the teacher (Writing)).
After (10 minutes)
  • Extension activity (role-play, write an essay, students write on a paper something related to the activity and the teacher takes all of them, mixing and giving it to each student to perform in pairs what they have).
  • Cool-down (ask them questions about what they have liked the most, and questions related to the activity we have done).