Day 26: Evaluative Language Finish// Start Academic Language

Lesson Objectives:(This lesson is sandwiched between two lessons)
Students will...

• Gain practice in applying critique language learned from last lecture.
• Identify common informal verbs (e.g. prepositional verbs) and practice converting to appropriate formal verbs.
• Identify common informal nouns and adjectives (e.g. stuff, things, a lot) and consider alternatives that may work dependent upon context.

[5 min] Part I: Read to recognize evaluative Language in context

Slides 14-21. Let’s take a look at some sample critique writing in context. (SKIP the introduction). Read the conclusion. What is the author trying to do in these two parts? In what ways can this conclusion be made stronger?  

[20 min] Part II: Evaluative Language Practice

In this last part of today’s class I will have your work in pairs to practice using this vocabulary. Using the vocabulary covered today in class, complete the last two sections of the Evaluative Language Practice. Be prepared to show your sentences with the class. Please click on this GOOGLE DOC for this activity

*transition to new topic....

[10 min] Part III: Warm Up Small Group Discussion

We know that some language is more academic than others, but making that distinction can be difficult. In small groups, discuss the following questions:

1.  How do you decide which word or grammatical structure is more appropriate to write in your paper?
2. Can you think of any major difference between spoken and writing academic language? (e.g.  presentation vs. paper)
3. Are there any words that you have learned are "nonacademic" based on teacher feedback? Share with the group/class.

I would like to show you some common vocabulary problems that I have seen with your work. Please look to this student list of NONACADEMIC WORDS as we discuss some strategies below to check for formality and appropriateness of language. (This is not a science; it is simply to get you thinking about your vocabulary choices!)

Strategies for learning Academic words/phrases:

• Coxhead's Academic Word List.
• COCA
• Scholar.google.com Use " " for searches of exact phrases. Use an * before an exact phrase to see common words and phrases that come before it.
• Can you think of others?   

[15 min] Part IV: Converting Informal to Formal: Verbs

Phrasal verbs, while extremely common in spoken English, are significantly rarer in academic texts. Let’s take a look at some sample writing that demonstrates this. Complete TASK EIGHT in the handout INFORMAL/FORMAL LANGUAGE HANDOUT

May not begin this next part until Friday's class...

[35 min] Part III: Practice Informal/Formal Language

Learning to recognize informal language is the first step. Open up the document INFORMAL/FORMAL LANGUAGE WORKSHEET .You will be working in pairs to complete Part I of this worksheet. Read all the sample texts given. Then, complete the entire second column by identifying why each sentence has an “informal tone”.  Write your reasoning in the column. Finally, time permitting, you will work together to try and provide a more academic alternative sentence in the third column. We will go over possible answers together.

Homework:

Continue to work on your Critiques. Look to syllabus to see when first drafts are due.

Lesson Materials:

EVALUATIVE LANGUAGE PPT

SUMMARY CRITIQUE SAMPLE OUTLINE

EVALUATIVE LANGUAGE HANDOUT

SHARED GOOGLE DOC

Nonacademic Words

Informal/Formal language Handout

Informal/Formal Language Worksheet  [Teacher KEY]

Shared Google Doc