TEMA 1

COMMUNICATION

1. The process of communication.

A wink, a shout, a whistle, an applause are signs by which we express or

communicate. A doorbell, the ring of a bell are external signs that communicate
something to us. Communication is understood as the exchange and negotiation of
information between at least two individuals through the use of verbal and non-verbal
symbols and production and comprehension processes.

It is true that communication is not a phenomenon which is exclusively human.

Animals also comunicate. Compare the basic differences between animal and human:

animal communication is based on gestures, shouts, movements, etc, whereas human

communication is based on signs which refer to a wide whole of situations.
animal communication is based on instinct while humans is based on abstract thought.
animal communication is essentially unchangeable whereas humans is changeable.
human language is the basis of social life since it answers basic needs.

* Factors which play an essential role in communication:

sender: person who sends the message.

addressee: person or group who receives the message.
message: the structural patterns that identify the communication.
channel: medium chosen for the communication (speaking, writing) and how it is used.
code: formal system of communication shared by the participants (English, Spanish).
the setting: time and place in which a communicative act occurs,

In addition, we could into account:

the activity: activity in which the participants are engaged (conversation, debating)
the subject matter: the content of communication both explicit and implicit.

2. The passive voice.

1. When is the passive voice used?

a) when the person doing the action (agent) is not known, or when it is unnecessary
to mention the agent.
My cars been stolen!
Milk is often sold in tetra bricks.

b) to emphasise the action or event rather than the agent.

Letters are collected from the boxes, taken to the sorting office, sorted and then
sent to the correct part of the country.
c) to avoid using you or one when making an impersonal statement.
Taking photographs in the museum is forbidden.
Children are not allowed in the bar.
2. What is the form of the passive voice?

New Subject + Passive Form (My car has been stolen).

When we use the passive voice, who or what causes the action is often unknown or
unimportant; however, if we want to say who does or what causes the action, we use by
at the end of the sentence.
This house was built by my grandmother.
My car has been stolen by a young man.

- The passive voice is formed.

3. Human communication.

1. Communication.
- Communication is the activity of conveying meaningful information.
- Requires a sender, a message, and an intended recipient (even not present)
- Can occur across vast distances in time and space.
- Requires that the communicating parties share an area.
- Process is complete once the receiver has understood the sender.
2. Human communication.

Human spoken and picture languages can be described as a system of symbols and the
grammars by which the symbols are manipulated. The word language also refers to
common properties of languages. Most of the thousands of human languages use
patterns of sound or gesture for symbols which enable communication with others
around them

3. Types of Human Communication.

- Nonverbal communication: non-word messages. The majority of our communication is

non verbal, known as body language, gesture, body posture, facial expression and eye
contact, lothing, hairstyles, architecture, and tone of voice.
Non-verbal communication is also called silent language.
Non-verbal has elements known as paralanguage: include voice quality, emotion and
speaking style, rhythm, intonation, and stress.
Likewise, written texts include nonverbal elements such as handwriting style, spatial
arrangement of words and the use of emoticons to convey emotional expressions in
pictorial form.
- Visual communication: is the information through creation of visual representations:
signs, typography, drawing, graphic design, illustration, colours, and electronic resources,
video and TV, web design...
- Oral communication: referring to spoken verbal communication (words, visual aids and
non-verbal elements to support the conveyance of the meaning) Oral communication
includes: discussion, speeches, presentations, interpersonal communication...
In face to face, the body language and voice tonality plays a significant role and may
have a greater impact on the listener than the intended content of the spoken words.
- Written communication: first emerged through the use of pictographs: stone, paper,
papyrus, clay, wax, etc.

4. ed/-ing ending.

- adjectives ending in ed refer to someones feelings/interests:

Jane is interested in going surfing.
- adjectives ending in ing refer to things:
That novel is so interesting. I recommend it to you.
5. Bringing people togehter.

I love the cover of this issue. Its the first image Ive seen that truly conveys the
feeling that social media evoke for me. Its about people. People influencing each other in
some way. Thats nothing new, of course, people have always gathered together to talk.
But now, its the rapid-fire frequency and the sheer number of people coming together
that are propelling our world forward in exciting, startling and sometimes scary ways.

In their best forms, social media bring us together, help us share our thoughts,
challenge our thinking and facilitate the support of important causes. That people living
worlds apart, facing different cultural realities, have the ability to connect is truly
incredible. At no time in history have we had such a tremendous opportunity to be closer
to each other, and to understand and appreciate our differences. In business terms it offers
organizations an opportunity to connect to their audiences in real and engaging ways.

But then theres the other side. At its worst, the anonymity of social media can
(and often does) bring out our mean streak. Its easy to throw a jab when you dont have
to stand up to the consequences of what you just said. Its fear of this behavior that
keeps some organizations from taking the full leap into social media. But, as
organizations are beginning to understand, lack of participation does not provide
protection. In fact, not participating in the dialogue, particularly if you are the victim of
an attack, just makes you look worse. The inference is that your organization is
insensitive. It doesnt care. Its an unfeeling, faceless entity just looking to come out
ahead.

This issue talks about measurement, but it really focuses on understanding social
media and those who use it. Its about developing a level of comfort with these tools, to
dispel fear and to help you learn whether what youre doing is working. Remember that
social media are about people, their likes, dislikes and resulting behavior. Are people
hearing you and responding in the way you intended? What can you learn about your
audience in social media that will help you serve them better?

The dynamics of social measurement can be complex, but not because of the
tools. Its the complexity of the human response that will determine whether the reaction
you get when you use social media will bring out the best or the worst in your audience.
As you bravely forge through the changing world of social media, your most effective
approach may simply be to understand human nature. At the end of the day, its still
about people.
 TEMA 2
CLASSROOM COMMUNICATION

1. Comminicative strategies.

Language use is also characterized by communicative strategies which operate when the
learner needs to compensate for some lack in the linguistic system or when they focuses
on exploring alternate ways.

- problem-oriented: its employed by the learner when he lacks or cannot reach the
linguistic resources required to express an intended meaning.
- potentially conscious: they are when the speakers use it to face a production problem.
- in real communication situations: bridge the gap between the linguistic knowledge of
the second language and the linguistic knowledge of the target language.
- two key concepts figure in most discussions:
- they are conscious.
- they are problem-oriented.
- native speakers use communicative strategies.
- what distinguishes learners and native speakers is the frequency with which the same
strategies are called upon. Learners manifest more strategy tokens. A further distinction is
the fact that in native language interactions such as communicative strategies are used
primarily with lexical items or perhaps to clarify references for pronouns.
- in inter-language they normally occur with syntactic, morphological or eve
phonological structures.

2. The imperative form.

- use: its used to express a command or a request, or to givean instruction. It doesnt

have a subject but the subject you is implied in the instruction given.

- form: it can have a positive or a negative form which takes the infinitive form of the
verb. To make the imperative sentence negative, do not (formal) or dont,
(informal), can precede the verb.

- Sue, stand up, please. (Request)

- Open the book on page 25 and make sure to complete exercises 3 and 4. (Instructions)
- Do not speak during the exam. (Command)
- Stop eating sweets, Michael and be quiet! (Command)
- Dont be silly. You can call me any time. (Request)
3. Communication in the classroom.

Communication is the driving force in any relationship or situation and it has also
become one of our most disturbing, yet intimate forms of connecting with others. It is
vitally important to know when communication should take place, where it should take
place, and why one should communicate.

The paper contends that educators are doing an inferior job educating poor
children. According to the paper, when a child does not speak Standard English, the
teacher must be able to reach the child on his level of understanding and transfer him to
the standard level of understanding; effective classroom communication requires the
teacher and students to be able to send and receive messages accurately. The paper states
that the classroom should: provide a variety of stimuli; provide a secure, comfortable
feeling; be adapted to fit the activity; and give some privacy and individuality.

4. IN an EFL class (English as Forteing Language)

1. Classroom communication for teachers Examples

- Greetings
Hello, good morning/afternoon/evening
(class/everyone),
Thats all for today, goodbye, see you tomorrow/next
week/ on Wednesday.
- Instructions
Stand up, sit down, open your textbooks on page --,turn to page ---, look at exercise ---
on page ---, listen carefully, read page---/exercise--- aloud, please, repeat again, please,
work in pairs/in groups (of 3, 4...), check your answers with your partner, discuss with
your partner + PLEASE.
- Transitions
First (of all), next, then, for example, now, lets, after that, finally, to conclude, to sum
up, to summarise the main ideas studied today.
- Questions
Do you have any questions? Is this clear? Whats the answer? Who would like to read
explain in your words...? Any volunteer for reading?

2. Classroom communication for students.

- Examples
Excuse me, --- could you/I? Sorry, I didn't hear you. Could you repeat that again, please?
I don't understand / I don't know / Im not sure. How do you say/pronounce this word?
What does --- mean? What's --- in English? What's --- in L1? I think/believe --- / In my
opinion. That's easy/difficult/strange. Could I have some help, please?
5. Multimodal communication in the classroom.

Experimentation has shown that in-class educational technologies, by permitting

anonymous, authored participation, can dramatically alter student communications in the
classroom. Now, the appearance of dual pen-and-keyboard computing devices in the
university classroom, notably Tablet PCs, motivates thinking critically about how
different expressive modalities could improve in-class student problem solving and
communication.

The large classroom setting is fraught with challenges for both instructor and
student. Educational technology provides unique means for addressing many of these
problems. A critical challenge is engendering substantive student participation and
instructor feedback, for example with active learning exercises and follow-up discussion.
Large class sizes and shyness can discourage volunteerism. If significant participation
does occur, it can create data management problems for the instructor.

Shyness is diminished, and students can think through and edit their work before
committing their answers when in-class education technologies are used. Aggregation,
filtering, and partitioning can help with data management. Learning improvements are
difficult to measure, yet students and instructors alike cite personal benefits to such
technologies.

Advances in computing technology offer the opportunity to conduct more

substantive active learning exercises in large classes. This exploratory study reveals that
the modality of student communication in the classroom does affect the style of
expression and sometimes the approach to the problem. Across a range of activity types,
students showed both creativeness and resourcefulness in answering with either ink or
text modalities, although the need for resourcefulness often comes at the expense of
elaboration in ones answers.

Stated positively, multimodality increases the elaboration in student problem

solving, aiding one of the common objectives of active learning. This work also
indicates that providing new modes of communication in the classroom can help students
side-step concerns that currently lead them not to participate. For example, ink answers
encourage expression of less polished, more speculative work.

Student reactions indicate that providing choice of modality is a way of showing

respect broadening acceptance of learning styles, expression styles, and individuality, as
well as, we hope, the range and amount of communication in the classroom.
More generally, students have preferences for a given modality for a given problem, and
can justify them. The justifications and the corroborating facts of observation range
widely across several categories, including physical (e.g., switching between pen and
keyboard is cumbersome), software features (ease of erasing, the expected placement of
text), social (envy, pens promote intimate collaboration), and personal (a desire for
informality versus elaboration in coding problems).
 TEMA 3
PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION

1. English for professional purposes.

1. English for specific purposes (Esp)

The teaching of English for science and technology is part of what is more widely
known as English for Specific Purposes (ESP). If we are to teach English for a special
purpose, we have to consider the way in which we hope to achieve our ends. In other
words, we have to design a syllabus that will meet the needs of the student and adapt our
methodology in order to teach the necessary skills.

2. Kinds of ESP

- social english: estrategies to COPE with the language: be able to go shopping, to have
conversations with other, etc...

- a student: needs the English related to his field of studies: to write reports and essays,
take notes, and function in a seminar situation. This kind of social English is known as
English for Academic Purposes (EAP).

- a businessman, waiter, postman... will need English for Social Purposes and English for
Occupational Purposes (EOP).

- a student of medicine may need to be able to read articles and textbooks about that
subject in English. This is often referred to as EST (English for Science and
Technology)

What is interesting about all these examples is that the English the students may
want to learn is different. Whereas the waiter might want to speak, the medical student
might only want to read in English. In both cases we are saying that the student does not
necessarily need to cover the four major skills reading, listening, speaking and writing
or at least not in the same depth.

3. Identifying the students needs

It may be done through preliminary conversations with the students concerned, through
interviews, questionnaires, or simply through the teachers intuition.

4. English for science and technology: an example

- In the early stages should be related directly to concrete laboratory situations and
workshop practices, and will be used to describe what is going on there.
- At more advanced stages, is concerned with statements of general truth, descriptions of
processes, properties or functions, with deductions, etc. Specific linguistic structures can
be identified with these different concepts.

The following are suggestions for this support material:

- a short introductory text containing words and phrases on the recording/ main text
which are likely to be unfamiliar to the student. These should be underlined.
- a list of about ten headings representing the main point of the talk. Gaps are left
between the headings to facilitate note-taking.
- some comprehension questions and true/false statements.
- some lexical/ grammatical items are deleted from a text which summarises the
recording. The student has to fill in the gaps.

2. Phrasal verbs.

- They can have a literal or metaphorical meaning.

a) Sue takes off hers sweater. (Literal = remove)
b) With that voice he can esily take off his fahter (Metaphorical = mock)

- Form of phrasal verbs:

1. verb + adverb (no object): - He went out.
2. verb + Adverb. + object (separable): - I put up the picture / I put the picture up / I put it
up (nunca I put up it)
3. verb + prep. + object (inseparable): - She came across the street.
4 verb + adverb + prep. + object (usually has a metaphorical meaning):
- Come on! Get on with your work.

3. Professional communication.

- professional: having great skills or experience in a particular field or activity or having

an assured competence in a particular field or occupation, and behaving in a way that
helps make money.
- communication: to make known, impact, to transmit, to be connected or form a
connecting thought, exchange of thoughts, messages, as by speech, signals or writing.
- business runs smoothly when everyone is using professional communication skills.
Without them, business becomes less efficient, less productive and less profitable.
- enhancing the professional communications of yourself, your managers or other staff
will instantly give you the ROI (Return of Investment).

Communications can be broken down to two parts:

1. OUTPUT: is about sending, speaking, using words, tone, tempo, etc. to deliver the
meaning. Body language is presented as well: e.g. posture, smiles, controls. Remember
the 3Ps of communication be polite, professional and positive!
2. INPUT: is about receiving, listening, observing body language. Remember to
actively listen, use empathy and intuition, and predict responses.
What do we mean by 3V communications?
Communication is:
- 7% Verbal (our words and phrases) - 38% Vocal (our stress, intonation, rhythm,
delivery, etc.) - 55% Visual (body language).
So 93% of our communication is non-verbal!

4. Your CV and covering setter.

1. Writing your CV.

- when writing a CV, you should at least include your personal information, your
education, your working experience and two referees.
- you should present your CV together with a covering letter that introduces yourself
and especially explains details about your application to a particular company.

2. Format for a CV.

- always type your CV on good quality white paper (A4)
- you should not attach a photograph.
- leave wide margins.
- use font size 12 (or 10 if you want to put more information on your CV).
- use only one font style, for example, Times New Roman.
- use bold (Bold) or italics (Italics) to emphasise important words.
- only underline section titles (or do not underline any words)
- if you make a list, consider using bullet points.
- keep your sentences short and simple.
- a common section order to organise your CV is:
Name
Address and Contact Details
Employment in chronological order (from most to least recent)
Education in chronological order (from most to least recent)
Other skills

3. What to include in a Covering Letter?

- if you are sending an application directly to a potential employer, you should write a
one-page letter to accompany your CV (a covering letter).
- the covering letter should be typed and written in a formal style.
- if you know the name of the person, you can start the letter with Dear Mr Smith
- if you do not know the name of the person, you should start the letter with Dear Sir
- to end the letter, you should finish with Yours sincerely or Yours faithfully.
- write which job you are applying for (including a reference number if there is one) and
where you saw the advertisement.
- briefly, describe why you think you are suitable for the job; mention any relevant work
experience or qualifications which you have.
- on some occasions, especially if you are applying for a position abroad, you should:
- state what type of visa you have.
- mention the level of your English ability.
- explain how you can be contacted either on your mobile telephone or by e-mail.
5. An oral presentation.

1. Your audience.
There are some basic questions to ask about an audience:
- who will I be speaking to?
- what do they know about my topic already?
- what will they want to know about my topic?
- what do I want them to know by the end of my talk?

2. Structure of a presentation.
In an effective presentation:
- the content and structure are adjusted to the medium of speech.
- listeners cannot go back over a difficult point to understand it or absorb long arguments.
- it can be ruined if the content is too difficult to follow or structure too complicated.
- expect to cover much less content than you would in a written report.
- make difficult points easier to understand using plenty of examples.
- leave time for questions within the presentation.
- give your presentation a simple and logical structure.
- include an introduction with the points to cover and a conclusion.

3. Delivering your presentation

Techniques:
- the main points is the quality of your voice: involves attention to volume, speed and
fluency, clarity and pronunciation.
- your rapport with the audience: involves attention to eye contact, sensitivity to how
the audience is responding to your talk, how you look like from (point view audience)
- use of notes and use of visual aids.

4. Effective notes.
- speakers:
- some do not use notes at all and some write out their talk in great detail.
- if you are not an experienced speaker use notes or youll soon lose your thread.
- dont read a prepared text aloud or memorising your speech as this will be boring.
- the best solution is to use notes with headings and points to be covered.
- you may write down key sentences (on paper or cards)
- the trick in using notes is to avoid shifting your attention from the audience for
too long, so use large notes that you can see without moving your head too much.

5. Visual Aids.
- visual aids help to make a presentation livelier.
- help the audience to follow your presentation.
- help you to present information that would be difficult to follow through speech alone.
The two most common forms of visual aid are:
- overhead transparencies (OHTs)
- computer slide shows.
- some speakers give printed handouts to the audience to follow as they speak.
- others prefer to give their handouts at the end of the talk (can distract the audience)
 TEMA 4
COMMUNICATION IN PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS

1. Communicative competence.

1. Communication.

Have the following characteristics:

- is a form of social interaction.
- involves a high degree of unpredictability and creativity.
- takes place in circumstances which provide limitations and clues about appropriate
language use.
- is carried out under limiting psychological and other conditions such as memory
constraints, fatigue and distractions.
- always has a purpose.
- involves authentic language.
- is judged as successful or not on the basis of actual outcomes.

Communication can be regarded as the exchange and negotiation of information between

at least two individuals through the use of verbal and no verbal symbols and production
and comprehension processes.

2. Communicative competence versus actual communication.

Communicative Competence is:

- knowledge: refers to what one knows about the language and about language use.
- skill: refers to how well one can perform this knowledge in actual communication.

3. Components of Communicative Competence.

Includes four areas of knowledge and skill (Canale and Swain):

1. Linguistic competence: deals with the use of grammar, syntax, and vocabulary in a
language. It refers to the mastery of the language code itself. The linguistic competence
plays an essential role in any second language syllabus.
2. Sociolinguistic competence: understands how to use and respond to language
appropriately, given the setting, the topic, and the relationships among the people
communicating. It includes both sociocultural rules of use and rules of discourse. It refers
to the extent to which utterances are produced and understood appropriately in different
sociolinguistic contexts.
a) Appropriateness of meaning: for a waiter to command a customer to order no matter
how the utterance is expressed grammatically.
b) Appropriateness of form: for a waiter to take an order politely by saying Ok,
chump, what are you and this broad gonna eat? There is a tendency in many second
language syllabuses to regard sociolinguistic competence as less important than
grammatical competence.
3. Discourse competence: enables speakers to interpret the larger context and to
construct longer stretches of language so that the parts make up a coherent whole. It
refers to the mastery of how to combine grammatical forms and meanings to get a
unified spoken or written text. Unity is attained through cohesion in form and coherence
in meaning.
Discourse competence enables the speaker to identify the following dialogue as coherent:
A: Thats the phone.
B: Im in the bath.
A: Ok.
4. Strategic competence: allows recognizing and repairing communication breakdowns,
working around gaps in ones knowledge of the language, and learning more about the
language and the context.
It refers to the mastery of verbal and non verbal communication strategies that may be
resorted to:
a) compensate for breakdowns in communication.
b) compensate for insufficient competence in one or more of the other areas of comptnc.
c) make communication more effective (highlighting effect)

2. Formal vs Informal language.

- Formal English is usually the language chosen for polite and formal contexts and it is
especially important when writing essays or any text that is not informal.
- Informal English is linked to the conversational language that is appropriate for
colloquial and relaxed situations.
If formal English is more objective, informal English is more personal and natural in the
sense that the words and expressions are spontaneous.

Some differences between formal and informal English.

English Formal register: Informal register:

Planned, objective, literary, academic Spontaneous, personal and relaxed

Sentences Complex and longer: Shorter and simpler:

It is thought that most teenagers Ok. Ill think about it.

Contractions Not used Common in informal speech:

It is quite interesting to see that film. Its quite nice in here.

Phrasal verbs Some are used in formal register More common in informal speech

Modal verbs Common Not common

passive voice
Abbreviations Not common unless they are Common
acronyms of English
Vocabulary Full form expressions and formal Colloquial language and slang words:
words: Goodbye, Mother, Bye, cheerio, Mum, But, Brekkie
Nevertheless, Breakfast
3. Good public sector communication.

Good communication is an essential part of any successful organisational strategy

and a fundamental component of how the general public and the people using public
services judge how well those services are being delivered.
This means that open, honest, two-way communication is the only viable option for
organisations wishing to build their reputation and strengthen relationships with their
communities. Communication should not start with the crafting of a message and end
with its delivery. Effective communication is a circular process; listen, learn, let people
know.

Listen, learn and let people know

- Public sector organisations must learn to listen; listen to their customers.
- what are their needs? How do they want them to be met?
- They must also learn to learn; learn from their customers, their experiences.
- were their needs met? How could services be improved?
- They need to share the outcomes of their learning.
- show their customers how they are responding to their needs, improving services.
- It is essential to keep listening, learning and letting people know.
- Trust is important because it is how successful relationship is built. And with trust
comes credibility.

4. Public institutions.

Public institutions are large organisations that have an important role in the
community of a place being a city or a country (banks, universities, hospitals...)
The function of public institutions is to serve society by keeping a dialogue with
its community and by finding a solution to their problems. They develop administrative
and human tasks that aim to be responsive and in constant change to the public demand.

Complete the gaps.

1. Governments have different ministries that support different areas of the community.
2. The person who represents the government of a country is elected and named
president or prime minister.
3. The people that have the rights to be attended by public sector are called citizens.
4. Public sectors are funded by means of taxes.
5. The employee working for the government and that has a permanent contract is called
a civil servant.

4. Complete the following acronyms/abbreviations with the correct words they stand for.
a) NATO: North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
b) EU: European Union.
c) MP: Member of Parlament.
d) PSC: Public Service Comission.
e) NGO: Non Goverment Organization.
f) NPO: Non Profit Organization.
g) CVO: Civil Society Organization.
 TEMA 5
COMMUNICATION AND THE MEDIA

1. English language and the media.

- Social observers call our society a media state, that is, a society in which access to
power is through the media.
- By media we mean any channel of information through which information can pass.
- The print and broadcasting media not only convey information to the public, but also,
influence public opinion (politicians to influence voters, businessmen to consumption)
- Newspapers and magazines have long been major lines of communication.
- To cope with radio, television and the Internet, newpapers includes life-style and home-
living sections to make them more like magazines.

British Press
- British newspapers did not receive government subsidy.
- Six different categories of contents we may expect to find in any British newspaper.
1. a section Foreign News dealing with news from other countries and Britons abroad.
2. a section Home News concerned with political and other events which take place
inside Britain and affect the nation as a whole.
3. Human Interest Stories, stories about individuals and events that affect people.
4. section features, articles which give background information on a country, personality
or development of current interest.
5. Notices, that is, small advertisements, job advertisements, personal announcements
6. to Gossip, to rumours about the private lives of prominent people.

Among the quality papers, we include:

1. Daily Telegraph: strongly conservative which sells more than twice as many copies as
any of the others. Its cheaper and its reporting of events is very deep.
The Financial Times: has a narrower appeal but this does not mean that it is only
concerned with business news.
The Guardian: Liberal tradition, and is a paper of the left.
The Times: which has no link with any party but, from the eighties, it has been
sympathetic to the Conservative Government.
The Independent: (1986) The Timess rival, is closer to the centre.

- Quality papers are also known as Broad-Sheets (3960 cm)

- Tabloid: all the popular papers (they are like pills compressing the news) They are
essentially mass entertainment. They are distinguished by large illustrations and
enormous headlines for the leading items of each day, which are one day political, one
day to do with crime, one day sport, one day some odd happening.
- Tabloids: the emphasis is on gossip, emotion and scandal.
- Quality papers or broadsheets: emphasize news coverage, political, economy, culture
2. Discourse markers.
What are discourse makers?
- They are a word or a phase used in a conversation.
- Also relative syntax independent of a sentence.
- examples: you know, well, okay

What is the function of discourse markers?

1. To signal the speakers intention to mark a limit.
2. To mark parts of the speakers discourse.
3. To express agreement, acknowledgment or involvement.
4. They can also be used to express: continuity, dis/agreement, to persuade, to change the
topic, to correct

Examples in contexts:
1. So you are an engineer? Well, Ill finish my degree in a year or so.
Well: as a response of whats coming before
2. Ok, I see. Anyway, are you coming to visit us this summer?
Ok: as agreement to a previous sentence (engineer)
Anyway: as contrast.
3. Thanks for your opinin, Chris, but Chicago its not like New York, you know.
You know: adknowledges and connects to the listener.
4. Thats a bad party. Still, the music was pretty good!
Still: as a contrast.

3. Media and communication.

Origin
The invention of the printing gave rise of the first forms of mass communication.
In communications, media (singular medium) are the storage and transmission channels
used to store and deliver information or data (synonymous: mass media, news media)
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies, including the Internet, cinema,
television, newspapers and the radio

Media Communication Today

Modern communication media:
- many-to-many communication: long-distance between larger numbers of people: via e-
mail, Internet forums, and teleportation
- one-to-many communication: television, cinema, radio, papers, magazines, facebook

Today, children are encouraged to use media tools in school and are expected to have a
general understanding of the various technologies available.
The Internet is one of the most effective tools in media for communication.
Some may argue that certain types of media can hinder face-to-face communication and
therefore can result in complications like identity fraud.
Television and print media are important for distributing advertisement media.
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ONLINE COMMUNICATION

1. Online vs Face-to-face deliberation.

The development of new communication technologies provides new ways of

conducting deliberation, including deliberation in CMC (Computer Mediated
Communication) settings. Whereas many people acknowledge the importance and
benefits of deliberation in face-to-face settings, they are less certain about the effects of
deliberation conducted in CMC settings. This is partly because there has been little
empirical research investigating the effects of online deliberation on public opinion. An
increasing number of studies deal with so-called e-democracy, but they do not directly
concern online deliberation and mostly discuss citizens Internet usage and political
participation patterns by analyzing secondary survey data. To the knowledge of this
author, very few studies so far have compared the effect of online deliberation with that
of face-to-face deliberation in experimental settings.

In one such study, Luskin, Fishkin, & Iyengar (2004) argue that online deliberation
can generate a positive effect on public opinion that is comparable to face-to-face
deliberation. In that study, however, the experimental settings for face-to-face and online
deliberation groups were not identical. Because different expert panelists, moderators,
and survey questionnaires were used to gauge the effect of deliberation in the two
settings, it would have been difficult to compare the effects of the two types of
deliberation directly. Furthermore, online deliberation in Luskin et al.s study was
conducted not by text but by voice. Given that most CMC is done by text, it can be said
that the studys design did not accurately address the reality of online deliberation. Thus,
it is worth investigating the effects of online deliberation further. The current project
probes the effects of textual online deliberation on opinin formation in an experimental
setting and compares the effects of online deliberation with those of face-to-face
deliberation.

Turning to a theoretical discussion of CMC, many theorists are skeptical of the

power of online deliberation. With the exception of Walthers (1992) social information
processing theory, most other communication theories suggest that online discussion will
be less effective than face-to-face discussion. Traditional social presence theory (Short,
Williams, & Christie, 1976) asserts that communication is most effective when nonverbal
cues are present. Thus, given the lack of social context cues in online settings, online
deliberation among participants will not be effective, according to the theory. Similarly,
media richness theory (Daft & Lengel, 1984) suggests that lean media such as text-
based CMC would not be efficient for exchanging emotionally complex messages.

As Walther (1992) claims, verbal cues are sufficient for information processing.
Online verbal communication may even be superior to face-to-face communication in
terms of rationality, because online deliberation, which is solely dependent on text
exchanges, is emotionally more detached and perhaps more cognitively-oriented. Online
communication, in principle, is considered more democratic because in online
communication one can observe reduced patterns of individual dominance and increased
contributions by low-status participants (Rice, 1993).

If online deliberation has similar formal settings to face-to-face deliberation, as

practiced currently in such organizations as the National Issue Forums and
AmericaSpeaks, then there is no reason to believe that online deliberation is necessarily
inferior to face-to-face deliberation. As Luskin et al.s finding suggests, Balanced
deliberation with the sole purpose of helping the participants clarify their own thinking
does not seem to produce any strong polarization (2004, p. 20). After all, what is
important for deliberation whether it is online or face-to-face is to create an
environment and processes that are conducive to effective deliberation. Setting up an
ideal speech situation can be done by considering the norms of deliberation described in
the first section. To reiterate, participation in deliberation needs to be open to all and
governed by rules of equality, symmetry, and civility; participants need to be informed
of deliberation issues; and deliberation needs to be reflexive and rational, meaning that
everyone who deliberates agrees to advance positions either by appealing to the common
interest or by making arguments of a sort that all participants could accept (Cohen, 1997;
Shane, 2004). If we approximate such an ideal deliberation environment, both online and
face-to-face deliberation should produce similar effects. An important part of this
research is to create such ideal speech situations both for online and face-to-face
deliberation groups.

2. American (AmE) vs British english (BrE).

- Both are totally correct but students should select one and be coherent not only at the
time of using an AmE pronunciation but also when using an AmE spelling.
- It is not a good idea to mix them up.
- Differences between the two include not only pronunciation and spelling but also
vocabulary, grammar, punctuation and idiomatic expressions.

- Some differences between British and American English with regard to vocabulary.

* Vocabulary
AmE BrE
Cookie Biscuit
Elevator Lift
Soccer Football
Period Full stop
Parking lot Car park
Down town City centre
Teller Cashier
Cellular (Phone) Mobile (phone)
Program Programme
* BrE expressions for the AmE words.
Resum CV.
Truck LORRY.
Chips CRISPS.
Apartment FLAT.
Check (restaurant) BILL.
Backpack RUCKSACK.
Semester TERM.
French fries CHIPS.
Vacation HOLIDAY.
Restroom TOILETS / WC.
Mom MUM.
Zip code POST CODE.
Fall (a season) AUTUMN.
Highway MOTORWAY.

* BrE or AmE.
Center AmE.
Programme BrE.
Color AmE.
Organise BrE.
Behaviour BrE.
Gas station AmE.
Travelling BrE.
Practise BrE.
Theatre BrE.
Analyze AmE

3. Online communication.

1. Introduction.
- The term refers to reading, writing, and communication via networked computers.
- It encompasses:
a) synchronous computer-mediated communication: people communicate in real
time via chat or discussion software, with all participants at the same time.
b) asynchronous computer-mediated communication: people communicate in a
delayed fashion by computer, using programs such as e-mail.
c) reading and writing of online documents via the World Wide Web.

- Two overlapping issues related to online communication:

a) how do the processes which occur in online communication assist language
learning in a general sense (i.e., online communication for language learning)
b) what kinds of language learning need to occur so that people can communicate
effectively in the online realm (i.e., language learning for online communication).
2. Background.
- Starts at 1960s in U.S.
- In the 1980s became possible in educational realms.
- They can be divided into two distinct periods:
a) 1980s, marked by the introduction of computer communication in education.
b) 1990s, the emergence of the World Wide Web in the mid-1990s.

3. Computer-Mediated Communication.
- The integration of computer-mediated communication in the classroom divided into:
a) some educators began to use e-mail to set up long-distance exchanges,
b) other educators began to use synchronous software programs (Daedalus) to
allow computer-assisted conversation in a single classroom.

4. The World Wide Web.

- Its an online database that allows the sharing of linked multimedia documents.
- They can be authored in a non-linear, layered and linked format (hypertext/hypermedia)
- Web allows additional modes of computermediated communication through:
a) Web-based
b) chat rooms,
c) bulletin boards,
d) discussion forums,
- Web allows students to find online documents and publish documents to share.

4. Online language and discourse.

- Terms which people have used to describe language in cyberspace (Weblish, netlingo,
e-talk, techspeak, wired-style, geek-speak and netspeak)
- They assume that internet language is so different from other kinds of language that it
warrants a new, special label.
- New technologies have also been radically affecting language, destroying proper
language.
- Language is a symbolic system for creating meaning and is made up of sounds, letters
and words. These are in turn combined to form grammatical structures like sentences
according to the rules agreed by any particular community of speakers.
- Meaning is negotiation between speakers, and we have to make judgements about
context in order to decide what someone means.
- Scholars are more interested in what people actually do with language in their everyday
encounters, the ways they use language to form relationships and to communicate their
identities. This is why scholars talk about language-in-use or discourse.
- The term discourse is used by many different scholars in many different ways.
Although it is used here in the particular sense of language-in-use, in actual fact
discourse and communication mean pretty much the same thing: both terms are
concerned with social interaction and everyday encounters.