TV Discourse, Grammaticality, and Language Awareness

Autor/in	Werner, Valentin
Titel	TV Discourse, Grammaticality, and Language Awareness
Quelle	In: TESL-EJ, 24 (2020) 3, (23 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1072-4303
Schlagwörter	Discourse Analysis; Television; Programming (Broadcast); Second Language Learning; Second Language Instruction; English (Second Language); Grammar; Nonstandard Dialects; Computational Linguistics; Language Usage; Language Styles; Metalinguistics; Teaching Methods + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Diskursanalyse; Fernsehen; Fernsehtechnik; Programmgestaltung; Zweitsprachenerwerb; Fremdsprachenunterricht; English as second language; English; Second Language; Englisch als Zweitsprache; Grammatik; Linguistics; Computerlinguistik; Sprachgebrauch; Sprachstil; Metalanguage; Metasprache; Teaching method; Lehrmethode; Unterrichtsmethode
Abstract	English-language, and especially US-American TV series have been identified as a major point of contact with the target language for learners of English as a Foreign Language, and the discourse represented there constitutes authentic material that is easily accessible. While the potential of using TV discourse in language education has been widely recognized for aspects such as listening comprehension and vocabulary development, the area of grammar has remained less well investigated. This may be due to the fact that TV discourse, which regularly aims to approximate spoken usage, stereotypically has been associated with "ungrammatical" content in terms of highly informal and non-standard usage. The present study explores sections of the "TV Corpus" to assess the actual presence of such usage (e.g. hedges like "sort of," "ain't" as a negator, double comparatives, etc.). From a language-educational perspective, it is suggested that TV discourse is well suited to illustrate different kinds of grammaticality and appropriateness in specific registers in a contextualized manner, with a particular view on informal spoken usage, a topic commonly considered underrepresented in language-pedagogical practice. It is further argued that grammaticality and appropriateness may differ across varieties of English as represented in TV discourse and that engaging with these issues will help to raise students' language awareness. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	TESL-EJ. e-mail: editor@tesl-ej.org; Web site: http://tesl-ej.org
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01