1.3.1. Study Your Notes
uses abbreviations and acronyms (ad for
A. How do people communicate?
People communicate in various ways:
1. Verbal - using utterances (words, phrases, and
sentences)
2. Non-verbal - using body language, facial expression,
and eye contact, among others
3. Visual - using graphics and images
B. What are some of the basic principles that allow
speakers and listeners to communicate and understand
each other?
1. They know their purpose/s.
2. They know their audience/s.
3. They know their topic/s.
4. They adjust the message and speech to the context of
the situation.
5. They are sensitive to feedback.
C. What constitute basic protocol for effective
communication and relationship?
1. Knowing when to establish a value system that
promotes integrity of persons
2. Knowing when to provide complete and accurate
information
3. Knowing when to disclose vital information
adequately and properly
2.3.1. Read Your Notes
What does it take to be a communicatively
competent user of a language? A competent user of a
language must have the following:
1. Language Competence - knowing the appropriate
and correct language forms, vocabulary, and
grammar
2. Discourse Competence - knowing the application of
language conventions and organizations to make a
text coherent and cohesive
3. Sociolinguistic Competence - knowing the speaker’s
cultural context by adjusting to the communicative
situations
4. Strategic Competence - knowing a variety of
communicative strategies, whether in speech or
writing, in expressing one’s idea
Using Formal and Informal Language
One's language competence can be gauged in the use of
language in varied situations. In fact, people can
communicate in different settings using different
language forms. In terms of language usage, there are two
general levels:
INFORMAL LANGUAGE
What are the characteristics of informal language?
1. is casual, spontaneous, and personal
2. uses contractions (e.g., can’t, ain’t, wouldn’t, etc.)
3. uses slang (e.g., dude, hippie, frenemy,
bromance, etc.)
4. uses colloquialisms (e.g., mob for crowd; go nuts for
go insane; wanna for want to; be blue for be sad,
buzz off for go away, etc.)
5. uses phrasal verbs and idiomatic phrases (e.g., blow
up for inflate; get over for recover; find out for
determine; put up with for tolerate; mix up for
confuse; raining cats and dogs for raining heavily;
apple of my eyes for favorite, etc.
6.
advertisement; lab for laboratory, etc; asap for as
soon as possible; GO for go out; atm for automated
teller machine, etc.)
7. uses the first person pronouns (e.g., I, we)
8. uses simple and general words (e.g., nice, good, okay,
fine, thing, stuff, etc.)
9. uses short and incomplete sentences (e.g., Been there;
go and see him, etc.)
Informal Communication Settings
1. conversations/talks (e.g., friends, family members,
classmates)
2. personal writings (reflections, diaries, journals,
friendly letters, blogs, vlogs, memes)
FORMAL LANGUAGE
What are the features of formal language?
1. is serious, objective, and impersonal (e.g., tone
and topic)
2. uses specific vocabulary (research for
thing; hardworking for ‘what you can do’; a
majority of for lots of students, etc.)
3. has long and complex sentences
4. uses third-person pronouns (e.g., s/he, they)
5. consists of (full) single words (e.g., absorb for pick
up; review for go over; occur/happen for take place,
Formal Communication Settings
1. academic and professional writings and oral
presentations (e.g., research, technical and scientific
paper, conference, lecture, seminar, forum,
symposium, debate, homily)
2. (formal) interview
3. business writings and presentations
3.3.1. Read Your Notes
As you may recall, an effective communicator or a
competent language user must possess an array of skills
to speak or write well. What is a (academic) genre?
“A genre comprises a class of communicative events, the
members of which share some set of communicative
purposes…which are recognized by the members of
a discourse community” (Swales, 1990).
Examples of Academic Genres
1. concept paper
2. reaction paper
3. review (book, article)
4. critique
5. thesis (undergraduate and master’s degree)
6. dissertation (doctorate)
7. research (library or field)
Characteristics of Academic Writing
1. formality – absence of colloquial or casual
expressions, academic-sounding tone
2. complex and long sentences – embedded phrases and
clauses
3. sophisticated and precise vocabulary – technical,
academic, or scholarly expressions used in a specific
discipline
4. objectivity – factual and impersonal
5. explicitness – clear and specific details, as well as
logically related ideas (using transitions in a series of
paragraphs)
6. organization – sequential and predictable flow of ideas
7. convention – using citation and referencing style
Conventions and Language Features of Academic Writing Knowing the Writer’s Communicative Intention
In-Text Citations (Parenthetical Documentations) Analyze the given statements from an ABSTRACT of a
*In-text citations are used to acknowledge the source/s study. What does each statement indicate? How are they
in the text to avoid plagiarism. related to each other?
1. Integral (author prominent) - is always part of or 1. Relatively little research has been conducted on the
found within the text or sentence. professional satisfaction of principals who recently hired
Examples: beginning teachers. (GIVING AN OVERVIEW)
*Bain (2003) claims that… 2. This study surveyed principals to learn their
*As stated by Reid (1999), the idea is… perspectives on the new teachers. (STATING THE
2. Non-integral (topic prominent) - is generally found at AIM/PURPOSE)
the end of the text and is commonly placed inside the 3. Data were gathered using an online survey of 423
parentheses. principals throughout the city and analyzed using
Examples: descriptive statistics. (DESCRIBING THE METHOD)
*There is an attempt “to connect two knowledge 4. Results indicated that principals were satisfied with
categories to the concept of preparedness” the affective and attitudinal approaches of new
(Woollacott, 2009, p. 25). teachers. (STATING THE FINDING/RESULT)
*Contemporary engineering students approach 5. Results suggested that principals were less satisfied
learning through contrasting learning profiles overall with five important areas of teaching. (MAKING
(Briggs, 1999; Jones, 2002). A CONCLUSION)
Hedging Devices are expressions used to 6. Implications for practice and future research are
indicate uncertainty, hesitation, politeness, or described. (STATING AN IMPLICATION)
indirectness.
Examples: How to Write a Response/Reaction Paper
1. Data appears that the participants are frequently aware
of the code of ethics as stipulated in the manual. In the INTRODUCTION (first paragraph)...
2. It seems that the relationship between sex and age is *Identify the title of the talk and the speaker's identity
directly proportional. (if it is known/given).
3. The results tend to favor only Group A because of *Write an overview or an informative summary of the
external conditions. talk so that the reader gets a general sense of the entire
4. Findings of the study may/could/would contribute to material. However, keep the summary objective and
the development of a new program. factual.
5. Based on the preliminary data, there is no relationship
between economic progress and personal status. In the BODY (second paragraph)...
*Cite/Quote a significant statement or two (or a string
Reporting verbs or communication verbs are used to of sentences) mentioned by the speaker. Such evidence
indicate that the discourse is being quoted, paraphrased, will form part of your subjective
or summarized. reactions/responses/impressions supported by your
observations, readings, discussions, and/or insights.
TO SUPPORT/AGREE *Try to relate your specific response/reaction to your
e.g., Ramos (1999) adds... general understanding of language and
Akira (1976) confirms... communication for various purposes and contexts.
Kim (1995) agrees... *Evaluate the merit of the talk in terms of its
Wright (1997) supports... relevance, accuracy, completeness, and appeal, among
Twain (1988) maintains... others.
Mahara (1980) upholds...
Gandhi (1995) endorses... In the CONCLUSION (third paragraph)...
TO CONTRADICT *Consider any one or a combination of these
e.g., Brown (1998) refutes... rhetorical strategies: recapitulating the main points,
Park (1986) opposes... using a striking statement or a famous quote, calling or
Valdez (1995) denies... challenging the reader to action, and/or sharing a brief
Sakai (1989) disagrees... anecdote to bring home a point, among others.
Young (1996) challenges...
Skeene (1992) rebuts...
Nelson (1990) disclaims...
Del (1985) counters...
TO EXEMPLIFY
e.g., Tan (1989) illustrates...
Santoy (1993) describes...
Aquino (1990) demonstrates...
Mohammed (1987) explains...
Sato (1994) elucidates...
Eliot (1981) characterizes...
Murphy (1996) displays...
Lewis (1993) defines...