Language Analysis

2010 University of Wisconsin Eau Claire

Tym Hanson

ES 608

Dr. Kate Reynolds

[INSTRUCTIONAL LANGUAGE ANALYSIS] The language analysis conducted was based on the language used by a teacher in a high school math class in Eau Claire, Wisconsin during the 2010 fall academic year. The part’s of speech, tenses, grammatical structures, figurative language, and the vocabulary used by the teacher were all included within the analysis. A mini grammar work shop on a common grammatical structure present in the language analysis data will follow the analysis.

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Language Analysis

Demonstratives “This Fraction is equal to the value of the fraction on the other side” (pronoun) “This equation is much better suited….” (Pronoun) “This line of regression is much better” (determiner)

Commands (“if” clause commands) “Let me know if you graph does not look like this by raising your hand” “Raise your hand if after plugging in the correct window…”

Comparisons “Do the graphs on your calculator look the same on both sides?

“Do both graphs have an equal number of concavity points?”

“How is the cross-­‐graphing method different from the plot-­‐check method?”

Contractions “Who’s”, “I’m”, “We’re”, “They’ve”, “We’ve”

Idiomatic Expressions “In a nutshell…”

“Keep an eye out…”

“If you find the cross graph formula escapes you, remember...”

“Just” as tricky Adverbial Modifier “it’s just something you’ll need to remember.” “just make sure to do it always do it to both sides.”

Adjectival clauses “The sample data that we took from…”

Comprehension Checks “How are we here?

“Yeah?” “everyone okay with these?”

Good?

Clarification Requests “You multiply what by what?”

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“What’s that?”

Does it mean what?

“Alright?”

Signal Cues for Repeating Information “Once Again,…”

“You’ll, again…”

Pronouns “Itself” (Number) “It” (Answer, formula, graph, line, calculator, )

Present Progressive Tense What I’m saying is that…”

“Why I’m spending so much time “I’m showing you this so you will know what not to do later”

Future Tense “So, we’ll recap” “How will you go about this?

“Will you see the correct regression plot if you plug in the data set A for B?”

Subordinate Phrases/Clauses “…in any case…” “...on the one hand…”

“Before I can do this, I need to…” “…while still maintaining that idea…”

“After you add it on the right side…”

Conditional Clauses (if+ simple present, future) “It’s possible and also likely that the data points will not match up exactly” (if + Simple Past, Conditional I) “If I found that it was the same, I would plug in the formula on the other side”

Chart Constant Congruent

Instructional Vocabulary Used

Continuous function Data points

Regression line Linear Linear equality

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Linear inequality y-­‐intercept Summarize Identity X-­‐intercept Findings Identify Slope Analyze Concave Mean Indicates Concavity Median Phenomenon Plot Inconsistent Erroneous Factor Fluctuating Bundles Expression Gender Wage Gap Reflect Formula Predict

Index: The ______________________ above indicates a break from math to non-­‐math terms present in the language of instruction

Mini-­‐workshop on subordinate clauses

I. Give students a written transcript of a piece of authentic speech that incorporates an appropriate number of the grammatical structure we are identifying and has relevance to the unit this mini workshop is a part of, (this can be modified based upon the audience of the mini workshop).

1. Give students a written passage (of a piece of the most authentic material you can get) that incorporates an appropriate number of the grammatical structure we are identifying and that has relevance to the unit this mini workshop is a part of, (this can be modified based upon the audience of the mini workshop).

2. Have students read the transcript individually and take notes.

3. Bring students together in group, and collect feedback from what the students gathered from the transcript. “Was easy or difficult to figure out meaning? What were the main ideas?

4. Now, give students a revised dialogue having taken out all of the subordinate clauses.

5. Suggest to students they do the same reading technique with this passage, and try to reflect on the difference between the two.

6. After reading of the second passage, have students get into groups of 3 to quickly talk about what they thought was the difference between the two.

Ask, were they able to deuce the same meaning, was one easier than other, were you able to know what was going on more in one than the other, was one incomplete and did it leave you hanging? Was one more enjoyable to read than the other?

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7. Bring students back to large group workshop discussion and give them a list of common subordinate conjunctions: (picking and choosing to expound on the primary examples based upon the content of instruction)

after once until although provided that when as rather than whenever because since where before so that whereas even if than wherever even though that whether if though while in order that unless why

8. Now take a look at some examples pre-­‐constructed on a keynote presentation or created and placed on the dot-­‐cam:

After Tym sneezed all over the nachos After = subordinate conjunction; Amy =subject; sneezed = verb.

Once Marco smashed an ugly spider Once = subordinate conjunction; Adam =subject; smashed = verb.

Until Choua has her first bowl of oatmeal Until = subordinate conjunction; Choua= subject; has = verb.

• These clauses (or string of words) cannot stand alone as a sentence, but why?

Is it because they do not provide a complete thought? The reader is left wondering, "So what happened?" Do we know what happened in these statements? Are they complete thoughts with everything a sentence needs in them?

§ Review what a sentence needs if necessary.

• No, we don’t know what happened, we are missing stuff right?

In the statement, “after Tym sneezed all over the nachos,” we don’t know what happened? Did Kou throw it in the garbage? Or did they wipe off the nachos and continued eating them? We don’t know, so it not a complete thought, and its a fragment.

• Once Marco smashed the spider What happens? Did Asha cheer him on for his bravery or did she explain to him the cruelty in what he did? We don’t know, do we? So, it is….? A not complete thought or sentence, right—it is a fragment.

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•

“Until Choua has her first bowl of oatmeal”, this is not complete either, right?

We don’t know what happens? Is she too sleepy to go to school, or is she grumpy?

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So, when we hear or read these types of phrases, we know that something else is to come, right? Something we will need to listen for to have the thought make sense and be complete?

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Attaching these phrases to the main phrase or clause When you attach these phrases or subordinate clauses (emphasizing they need not memorize this, but instead, the ideas behind it) in front of a main part of the sentence that this phrase leads up to, we use a comma to make sure we let the reader know the relationships between what we are saying like this:

•

Even though the broccoli was covered in cheddar cheese, Emily refused to eat it.

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Unless Christine finishes her algebra homework before the game, she will have to stay at home with her aunt and listen to the game on the radio.

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The bold part is the leading up part, and the un-­‐bolded part is the part of the sentence that we need to know in order for the whole sentence to make sense. In this sense, the un-­‐bolded sections acts as the parts that informs us in the “what happened” part of the sentence. The part that was omitted in the sentences we practiced earlier that made the sentence incomplete, we didn’t know what happened, and thus, the sentence were incorrect.

9. As the students to think about what they learned about using and understanding subordinate clauses (the phrases in a sentence that start with those words we looked that alert the reader there is something else to come) and bring them back to the passage they thought was a more interesting read, etc. and why might using and understanding this grammatical construct (in different words) be important to us?

10. (option and/or extension based upon student work) Read a new passage and have students try to take down the most important notes, looking closely for the attention to subordinate conjunctions from their list as signal words for the subordinate clauses.

11. Listen for feedback and oral explanation of their findings, but also digitally collect their work to ensure comprehension