Abstract
This paper discusses the importance of teaching vocabulary in an appropriate context to help ESL learners begin to understand the use of the item. The paper includes a literature review on the subject of language acquisition, an appendix of a lesson plan, another of a revised lesson plan and some examples of teaching aids. The teaching takes place in a school in Hong Kong.

Outline:
Introduction
Literature review ~ Teaching of Vocabulary
Current Research in Teaching Vocabulary
Independent Strategy Development
The Incidental Learning
Explicit Instruction
Instructional context and procedure
Students' background
Description of the unit
Description of the lesson
Stage 2 Presentation Stage
Stage 3 Production Stage
Stage 4 Conclusion / Rounding off
Analysis, discussion and evaluation
Conclusion

From the Paper
''According to the Curriculum Guide (2004), the English Language curriculum in primary school aims to help learners lay a good foundation in learning English, paving the way for effective communication of knowledge, ideas, values, attitudes and experience. In communication, vocabulary is often more important than grammar. According to Schmitt (1998) vocabulary knowledge is the single most important area of second language competence regarding academic achievement. However, L2 learners always find it hard to communicate effectively because they do not know many of the words they need. As an English teacher, helping students to communicate effectively is always one of my top priorities. When designing and implementing our own school based English curriculum, lots of emphasis has been put on teaching of vocabulary. Also, we value the importance of teaching vocabulary in context. An appropriate context helps learners begin to understand the use of the item as well as its basic meaning (Davies, 2000). In this paper, I am going to use one P.4 thematic unit ~Shopping for food to specify this."

Tags:teaching, vocabulary, methodologies

Abstract
This essay provides an outline of what language planning involves - a deliberate attempt to modify and change the linguistic behavior of a society. It looks at the reasons behind it and the organizations and groups involved in it. It then proceeds to illustrate the discussion using cases from Finland and Norway.

From the Paper
"The reasons behind language planning are complex and plentiful, ranging from large-scale modifications to more modest issues. It can be used to provide solutions to complex social problems, to develop national and official languages, and to standardise particular dialects. Language planners can make linguistic modifications so that subgroups of a particular population speaking different varieties of that language are united as a nation. As technology advances, language can be modified in order to address these developments. The reformation of spelling systems, lexical modernisation, and stylistic simplification are examples of language planning. More modest decisions such as which languages are to be used on signposts or which are to be used for educational purposes also involve deliberate modification. However, linguists and others involved in language planning are not always faced with the task of changing a language. There are circumstances in which the revival or preservation of a language involves deliberate attempts to prevent changes from occurring."

Tags:finland, norway, sami

Abstract
This paper attempts to briefly summarise the main points of Breen's paper and evaluate his metaphor of the classroom as an experimental laboratory in the light of the author's recent work with ELT programmes in government primary schools in S.E. Asia.

From the Paper
"Chinese culture deems the schoolteacher as all-important, the fountain of all knowledge & worthy of respect. School children stand when the teacher enters the classroom & bow when greeting them. Everything the teacher says is written down & chanting, drilling and dictation in EFL lessons are the order of the day. Large class sizes, (typically 38 - 45 students per class) conspire against inclusive learning or the teacher taking much notice of learning styles or attitudes."

Tags:efl, elt, psychologist, social, surrogate, teaching, tesol

Abstract
This paper sets out to analyse two sets of exercises in teaching various aspects of English language, from grammar, to vocabulary, to communication. The two texts are "Studying Strategies Students' Book" by B Abbs and I Freebairn and "Cutting Edge Pre-Intermediate" by S Cunningham and P Moor. It looks at how each book approaches the teaching of these areas in different manners, one following a more audio-lingual based method of teaching, and the other focusing more on tasks and communication.

From the Paper
"Looking first at the extract from Studying Strategies, which includes such Audio-linguist teaching tools as drills role-plays, it is apparent that this is a method in which Kuwaiti students would feel comfortable as a result of the entirety of their education being based on rote learning. They would feel comfortable with the tight structure and teacher-led instruction that extract A offers, as the only demands made of them would be to learn and repeat. In general, Kuwaitis are excellent at mimicking languages, thus making them quite proficient in oral work, the area of language learning that they feel most comfortable. In fact, the majority of Kuwaiti students are able to hold a conversation in English quite easily, and yet their accuracy levels fall below par in comparison."

Tags:abbs, audio, classroom, cunningham, cutting, edge, fluency, freebairn, kuwait, language

Abstract
This paper explains that Anglicisms in the German language, which are words and other lexical items borrowed from English and assimilated into another language, dates back to the 5th century, when German settlers arrived in Britain. However, the use of Anglicism in the German language has expanded greatly in the last century with the introduction of new concepts and inventions. The paper specifically describes loanwords, loanblends and loanshifts, which are types of Anglicisms, and reviews the application of these Anglicisms into German in various fields. The paper also assesses the validity of several theories for this lexical borrowing.

From the Paper
"A loanblend is a partial substitution to create a hybrid word or phrase consisting of an English loanword and a German word. Examples include Rechenpower, Benimmtrainer, Scwimm-Star, Fein-Scan, Billigjobs, Selfmade-Architekt, and Wow-Effekt. We can see that nouns can be combined with other nouns, adjectives and verbs, and the position of the 'English' word varies as a determinant and determinatum. Phrasal compounds include terms such as Coming-of-age Geschichte, Happy-End-Roman, No-Risk-Garantiene, Small is Beautiful-Prinzip, Morning-After-Pille (which works well as a euphemism by being anglicized)."

Tags:nativization colloquial technical prestige, morphological changes

Abstract
This paper compares and contrasts the accounts of German plural marking and theories of child language acquisition. The paper concludes that there is no one uniform theory concerning plural marking, and more broadly, no single theory can fully explain child language acquisition in general without being met by limitations and counter arguments.

From the Paper
"To summarise, whilst we have seen that Clahsen's theory seems to point to elements of behaviourism and nativism and Szagun's theory suggests similarities to connectionism and social interactionism. Both theories are well-founded and backed up by evidence, yet both theories also have their limitations, as we have seen. Although empirical data are provided, the conclusions that both linguists reach by means of this data can be seen as somewhat subjective and debateable. We have seen this to be the case with the overregulisation of the -s plural form - for Clahsen it suggested that the -s suffix was the regular plural form with all other forms being irregular, whereas Szagun claimed that this showed that there was no one regular form and all forms were governed by more and less frequently occurring regulations. Both linguists used similar evidence to reach very different opposing conclusions."

Tags:grammar, nativism, behaviorism, interactionism

Abstract
This essay looks at how literature speaks to us and why certain types of communication are called ?literature?. The essay takes its sources from modernist writers such as Ezra Pound, Virginia Woolf as well as the novels "Waterland" and "Beloved".

Tags:modernity, morrison, pound

Abstract
This paper focuses on how the English tongue was derived from Germanic by examining the similarities between the structure and vocabulary of Old and Middle English and German. It looks at how Anglo-Saxon was an inflected language with a structure that is still retained by modern German speakers, coupled with word gender, past participle formation and the process of compounding. It explores through a literature review of works such as "Beowulf" and the Anglo-Saxon poem "The Seafarer" how the English that we speak today essentially evolved under the influence of many languages and how the Germanic tongue was perhaps one of the most instrumental in its formation.

From the Paper
"On perusal of an Anglo-Saxon text such as Beowulf it would seem that the modern English translation uses far more words. The Germanic influence on Old English meant that it was a synthetic language structured on the inflection of nouns and adjectives for four cases in the singular and four in the plural. Through the inflection of Old English one could distinguish the job a word did in a sentence by its ending, regardless of its position. For example, the difference between the Modern English sentences, (i) the woman saw the man, and (ii) the man saw the woman is a matter of word order."

Tags:beowulf, seafarer, anglo, saxon

Abstract
In this article, the writer analyzes two pupils and looks at their different learning needs. Through a series of questions, the writer looks in depth at the learner's background and learning needs and styles of the respective individuals. The writer notes that when looking at language as a social instrument it is necessary to consider the different social groups and what a person's speech can reveal about their circumstances and individuality and the way that communicative events accomplish their objectives. The writer concludes that assessing learners' styles is central to ensuring individuals may learn quickly and efficiently. The paper is written from a personal point of view.

Outline:
How Information is Gathered, Equal Opportunities and Potential Disabilities
Impact of Literacy and Numeracy on Learners
Methods used to Obtain the Information
What are we trying to achieve?
What do you find easy?
What do you find difficult?
Do you have any learning difficulties that you are aware of?
How the Information is used to Develop the Group's Learning

From the Paper
"There are a number of common misconceptions related to number associated difficulties. Family attitudes and peer group pressure can be negative simply because some see it as socially acceptable to have low numeracy skills. Being that numeracy is also often viewed as difficult or boring; it may be assumed that those with difficulties are simply being lazy or idle."
"Limited number attainment can however, seriously restrict individuals within the community. They may experience difficulties such as telling the time, calculating prices and handling change and estimating and measuring such things as car speeds.Those with limited number attainment may also find it hard to remember telephone numbers or use telephone books for example."

Tags:language, skills, tasks, pupil

Abstract
This paper studies the critical period hypothesis which suggests that languages cannot be learned after the age of twelve. However, an evaluation of evidence from many different sources suggests that this is not accurate. It examines sources such as: Studies of second language learning methods, wild children studies and the theories of Noam Chomsky and Stephen Krashen. Factors which make it easier for children to learn language, such as parentheses, are also discussed.

From the Paper
"The "critical period" hypothesis cites a commonly observable phenomenon, the fact that children find language learning much easier than adults, and learn language remarkably quickly, to claim that language learning is more difficult, or impossible after puberty. The concept of "critical periods" was initially introduced in the study of animal behavior, where it was noticed that certain behavioral responses only emerged when stimulus was given within a particular time frame. This concept has been applied to many species, including humans, with regard to the development of specific emotional responses such as stress. In 1967 Lenneberg proposed that this concept also applied to human linguistic development, seeing language as a response, and exposure to language as the stimulus. There are two versions of this hypothesis: the "strong" version, which claims that no language acquisition is possible after puberty, and the "weak" version, which maintains that language learning will be much more difficult. A distinction is often made between "language acquisition", the way in which children unconsciously learn their native tongue, and "language learning" which implies formal instruction, and Lenneberg maintains this distinction himself."

Tags:chomsky, immersion, krashen, language, learning, linguistics, pinker, second, teaching