Function Words or, the dark matter of English

1. Function Wordsor, the dark matter of English Cynthia Elmas: IEP Professional Development Friday, April 12

2. I first saw this in a pronunciation textbook. Sue F. Miller, Targeting Pronunciation. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2000.

3. Function words are like dark matter because They areEVERYWHERE in ENGLISH, but LEARNERS HAVE a HARD TIME NOTICingand MASTERing them.

4. The opposite of function words are content words: easily heard; always stressed.

5. For example, “Apple has beautiful glass stores.” [all content words]

6. These are function words

7. For example, We will have been at the table in the middle of the room for about two hours. [white words are function words]

8. Their ‘dark matter’ characteristics: • Unstressed in speaking • Unsalient for listening • visually small,which doesn’t help in regards to reading and writing

9. So, why bother using them as teaching tool? • Listening comprehension • Necessary for the natural rhythm and sentence stress of spoken English • Good for explaining ‘chunking’ and contractions for listening and speaking

10. Why bother, cont’d • Markers of proficiency in writing and speaking • Vulnerable to L1 interference in listening, speaking, and writing • Just plain confusing, often with idiosyncratic or highly conceptual grammar meanings

11. Let’s notice them… • Visually, in reading • Aurally, in listening

12. Visual noticing in reading • Introduce function words. • Have Ss circle all the function words in a few sentences of a reading. • Have them read aloud.

13. Aural noticing in listening • Have Ss do a listening transcription. • Introduce function words. • Give them a copy of your perfect transcription • Have Ss compare theirs with yours. They will see what they missed: new vocabulary, and function words.

14. Let’s use them… • in speaking • In writing

15. Speaking • 2 STUDENT RECORDINGS: first the wrong way; second, the right way. Model both for them first. • MIMIC SENTENCE STRESS of a recording of a native speaker. • WRITING THEIR OWN TEXTS, and MARKING THE UNSTRESSED WORDS.

16. Writing and Grammar • LOW ER LEVEL: Simple but evil cloze exercises where the blanks are function words. Based of a previously-read text. Limited to grammar that they know.

17. Writing and Grammar, cont’d HIGHER LEVEL: use function words as a template • Grab some writing, published or student writing. • Take out content words, and students fill in with other content words. • Then have Ss write something, and create their own function word ‘shell’ to fill in with content words. ..or vice versa!

18. Other related lessons • How to hear and say ‘can’ [helping verb, function word] and ‘can’t’ [negative, content word] • Chunking of words in speaking [Give it to him], with linking • The unstressed schwa –the ‘dark matter’ of vowel sounds • The stress difference between • phrasal verbs [come out/carry on/give up]. The particle is necessary for the meaning of the phrasal verb>>content>>stressed. • Verb + preposition combinations [come for/go to/ think of] The preposition does not affect the meaning of the verb>>function>>unstressed

19. Thank you!