Language across the Curriculum

TNTEU · B.Ed · BD1LC · Visual Summary

Language across the Curriculum — Visual Cheatsheet

The whole paper at a glance — the four skills, the reading types, the writing process, the key thinkers and the numbers, all as pictures. Every teacher is a teacher of language.

The Four Language Skills — LSRW receptive vs productive

Two skills take language in (receptive / input); two put language out (productive / output). Natural order of development: Listening → Speaking → Reading → Writing. Integrating all four builds overall proficiency.

Receptive · input
Listening
Receiving & understanding spoken language.
Productive · output
Speaking
Producing spoken language to express meaning.
Receptive · input
Reading
Decoding print & constructing meaning.
Productive · output
Writing
Encoding thought into written symbols.

The Four Types of Reading know which is which

Match the purpose to the technique. Also remember loud (aloud) vs silent reading as a further pair.

For speedquick coverage of the text

Skimming Gist · fast

Fast reading for the main idea / overall sense of a text.

Scanning Specific info

Searching quickly for a particular piece of information.

For depthquality of engagement

Intensive Close · detailed

Careful, detailed reading of a short text for full understanding.

Extensive Wide · pleasure

Wide reading of longer texts for fluency & pleasure.

Comprehensionreading in the content areas

Schema Prior knowledge

Meaning = text interacting with the reader's background knowledge (schemata).

4 levels Depth of meaning

Literal → interpretive/inferential → critical/evaluative → creative.

Process Approach to Writing 5 stages · recursive

Writing is a recursive process, not a one-shot product. The five connected stages, in order.

1
Pre-writing
Planning & generating ideas.
2
Drafting
Writing the first version.
3
Revising
Reworking content & ideas.
4
Editing
Fixing grammar, spelling & mechanics.
5
Publishing
Sharing the finished piece.

Key Thinkers & Landmarks who said what

Name the person, attach the idea. These are the attributions examiners look for across all five units.

Nature & acquisitionUnits I

Sapir Definition of language

"A purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas, emotions and desires by means of voluntarily produced symbols."

Halliday 7 functions of language

Instrumental, Regulatory, Interactional, Personal, Heuristic, Imaginative, Representational.

Chomsky LAD · nativist

Innate Language Acquisition Device & Universal Grammar; language is inborn.

Learning & languageUnits I–II

Krashen Acquisition vs learning

Acquisition = subconscious & natural; learning = conscious study of rules.

Cummins BICS & CALP

Basic Interpersonal Communicative Skills vs Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency.

Bullock Report 1975 Language across the curriculum

UK "A Language for Life" — popularised the LAC principle.

Discourse & readingUnits III–IV

Sinclair & Coulthard IRF discourse

Initiation–Response–Feedback/Evaluation — the dominant classroom talk pattern.

Bartlett Schema theory

Readers understand new text by relating it to prior knowledge structures (schemata).

Key Numbers & Lists memorise these

The figures examiners love — the ones that turn a good answer into a full-mark answer.

4
LSRW — the four language skills
7
Halliday's functions of language
4
types of reading (skim / scan / intensive / extensive)
5
stages of the process approach to writing
3
three-language formula (regional + Hindi + English)
2
receptive vs productive skill pairs