Class 2-19-09

Yesterday's class went well for me yesterday. We started out in small groups analyzing the lexical parts of speech of a sentence that Dr. Smidt provided. I thought it was a great activity because i understood it rather well. The problem area I see with this class is the technichal difficulties associated with it. It is extremely frustrating for me to sit there and listen to the class because I get bored very easily because I am a kinisthetic learner. However, one plus was using the whiteboard to draw the chinese characters. These broke up some of the monotony of the class for me. It was great to see and hear how a logographic writing system has developed of thousands of years.

Finegan Chapter 2

In Chapter 2 of Finegan lexicon and morphology are discussed. This chapter begins by explaining the different lexical categories. Then moves on to discuss different types of morphemes and what they are. Next, Finnegan explains how languages increase their vocabulary by using compound words, suffixes, prefixes.

The first part of the chapter was a refreshing grammar lesson for me. Relearning what lexical parts of speech there are and what their function in the sentence is was rather easy. It did help me brush up on a few things like interrogative and demonstrative pronouns.

What are morphemes? Morphemes are the meaningful elements in words. Free morphemes are morphemes that can stand alone. Bound morphemes are morphemes that can not an example of this would be prefixes un or re. Derivational morphemes produces words in two ways either from changing a words lexical category or by changing the meaning of a word. Inflectional morphemes change the form of a word but not lexical category. For example by signifying a plural noun from a singular noun.

According to Finnegan languages increase their vocabulary in three ways. By creating new words from existing words or morphemes. Words are borrowed from other languages. Lastly, new words are made up. Words can use suffixes like ly, ed, and ment to create new words. This form is very common. The last common is developing new words from scratch.

Class 2-12-09

This class was a relief. Being able to go through some activities was beneficial to me because I am the type of learner who likes to have feedback so I know that I am doing something correctly. Otherwise, I will sit and ponder whether I did an activity correctly and then get nothing accomplished. I like meeting in the small group to discuss the seperate parts of the chapter. It is always good to think pair share. Hopefully, I can continue seeing more positives in this class instead of getting frustrated with the content and activities. I think i can achieve this being analyzing how this will apply to my classroom. If I look at linguistics in this perspective, I think it will make it more enjoyable for me.

Class 2/5/09

Class was very difficult today. We started out in small groups and were to decode a transcription using the IPA code. The decoding in groups was not good. My group started working on it and we never really discussed what everyone was going to do. So i really feel like I did not get the chance to practice working with the decoding. Otherwise it would have been a good activity for me.

When we went back to the large group. My affective filter was pretty high because I didn't feel like I learned anything from the group activity, and I thought it would be a good chance for me to practice it because I am having trouble understanding the material. So when lecture started and I started hearing all of those terms, my affective filter skyrocketed. I did try to stay focus and key in on what seemed familiar, but it was so difficult. I felt like the lecture was in Hindu. Not a productive class at all in my personal opinion.

Freeman & Freeman 3-4

Two theories, word recognition and sociopsycholinguistic try to explain how students develop phonemic awareness or the ability to identify phonemes in a word and changing them.

The word recognition theory asserts that phonemic awareness is conscious. Students use metalinguistic knowledge or knowledge about language. Where as, the sociopsycholinguistic view, would assert that phonemic awareness is subconscious. They would view oral langauge as a continuous stream which has no segments, and for students to understand oral language they must be able to percieve the sounds that are being produced and the parts that accompany the sounds. Students acquire this ability rather than learn it.

I agree with the sociopsycholinguistic view. I believe that phonemic awareness is subconsciously acquired. Being able to differentiate between different segments in speech is the actual goal of being phonemically aware. Meaning you are acquired this ability. I believe the best way to help students develop phonemic awareness is to have them read or read aloud to them. Not soley for their phonemic awareness, reading also increases vocabulary, and metalinguistic skills. Just to name a few of its advantages when learning a language.

Week 3 of class

This weeks class was very frustrating but also relieving. Given the breadth of the content in this class it is good for me to know that I am not the only one barely swimming to understand. It is a very comforting feeling. I was frustrated however with my headphone set. Breaking into groups is still going good. The discussion was great we were able to work together as a team and come up with definitions of the terms from Finegan 3-4. It is so relieving to work with the material. It gives me an opportunity to let it sink in. Phonetics, Phonology, Allophones, Africates, Stops. When I first read the two chapters for today, it was like I was driving too fast on the road and couldn't read the signs.