ENGLISH LANGUAGE FOR COMMUNICATION

ELCK1101K

1.0

INTRODUCTION
There are many different languages in the world, and there are simply

none more impactful than the English language. The English language is an amazing language, and it is beautiful. The shear amounts of people who speak it are breath-taking, and there are many countries that teach the global language of communication in primary schools.

With about 400 million people who speak it as their primary language, and the total of English speakers at nearly 2 billion people around the world, it is no wonder why this language is the global language of communication.

1.1

Background and Origins

Historically, the language that is language is one of West Germanic descent, with origins in Anglo-Saxon England. The language is a culmination of many words from many pre-existing languages around the world, but specifically influenced by the Old Norse language of the Vikings. After the Normans conquered, where we had Old English, it transformed into what we called Middle language, which was borrowed mostly from their language, as far as spelling and vocabulary are concerned.

Shortly thereafter, Modern English was developed, coming along with what was called the Great Vowel Shift, which happened in 15th century English, where they incorporated words from a great score of different languages and dialects. In this, it is where we started using more and more words that were rooted in Greek and Latin, especially in the use of technical words.

1.2

The Significance of English

English is considered something called the lingua franca, the world's first. This basically means that the language of English is something that is basically an international language of people not speaking a mother tongue.
Page | 1

ENGLISH LANGUAGE FOR COMMUNICATION

ELCK1101K

So, it's not uncommon around the world for people to speak English if they want to communicate with someone not from their country. It is also the dominant language in many fields, such as business, science, entertainment, radio, and diplomacy.

The use of the English language is something that is considered a requirement in many fields of business, especially in the higher echelons. Even in countries where English is not the country's primary language, a basic knowledge of English is generally required. This fact is definitely true in the fields of medicine and computing, where one is bound to have to communicate with someone that was not born in the same country that you were. And in these fields, having a Lingua Franca is something that definitely something that can come in handy.

English is something of a beautiful language, and people around the world have been studying it for a number of years for them to learn it as best as they possibly can. In learning English, there can be many things that can be achieved than if not. Chances there will more than likely be a time where a person would need to communicate with someone from another country, and if it's the global language, a person definitely could be benefit from learning it! And with this global language of communication, it will definitely not be an effort in vain.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/2673754

Page | 2

ENGLISH LANGUAGE FOR COMMUNICATION

ELCK1101K

2.0

PRONUNCIATION
Pronunciation refers to the ability to use the correct stress, rhythm and

intonation of a word in a spoken language. A word can be spoken in different ways by various individuals or groups, depending on many factors, such as: the area in which they grew up, the area in which they now live, if they have a speech or voice disorder, their ethnic group, their social class, or their education.

ARTICLE 1

A GUIDE TO ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION

A lot of words are pronounced differently in British English and in American English. you have to choose the kind pf pronuncation you like most and stick to it.

Whenever you learn new word, learn its pronuncation, too.

Learn the phonetic alphabet

Learn the pronuncation of all the words you use

The spelling of words that English borrowed from your language can be similar pronuncation is almost certainly different.

Change the habits that come from your native language

English pronunciation pitfalls

Homographs Homophones Word commonly mispronounced

Page | 3

ENGLISH LANGUAGE FOR COMMUNICATION

ELCK1101K

ARTICLE 1 ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION PITFALLS HOMOGRAPHS

Homographs are words which are spelled the same but have different meanings and pronunciation

Examples:
I cant read / ri: d / your writing. She picked up the letter and read / red / it. I always use /ju:z/ the same shampoo Try to make good use /ju:s/ of your time. Plants cant live /liv/ without water U2 is singing live / laiv/ on TV tonight. A sudden gust of wind /wind/ blew the paper out of his hand. I hate watches that you have to wind /waind/

HOMOPHONES
Homophones are words that sound the same, but have different meanings and spellings. For example when your hear /pein/ you dont know if its a flat piece of glass (a pane) or an unpleasant sensation (pain). Examples: Aloud/allowed = /..laud/ Youre not allowed to talk during the test. Read this passage aloud Faze/phase = /feiz/ Mark was embarrassed, but it didt faze Steve a bit. The project is only in the initial phase as yet, but its looking quite promising. Flu/flew = /flu:/ She couldnt go because she had flu. The window suddenly flew open. Meat/meet = /mi:t/ I dont eat meat. Lets meet for dinner.

Page | 4

ENGLISH LANGUAGE FOR COMMUNICATION

ELCK1101K

WORD COMMONLY MISPRONOUNCED These words cause trouble to many learners.

apostrophe

/..postr..fi/

comb

/k..um/

comfortable

/k^mft..b..l/

hiccough

/hik^p/

knowledge

/nolidz/

pseudonym

/sju:d..nim/

psychology

/saikol..dzi/

whistle

/wis..l/

Page | 5

ENGLISH LANGUAGE FOR COMMUNICATION

ELCK1101K

ARTICLE 2 LEARNING ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION

Learn to recognize all the sounds. Recognition is important because it lets you learn pronunciation from spoken English. In order to learn the correct pronunciation of a word, you need to know what sounds you hear for example, whether you just heard /dk/ or /dk/. You have to be able to tell the difference. Learn about phonetic transcription and word stress. pronunciation model: American or British.

Get in the habit of checking the pronunciations of words in a dictionary.

o

When youre speaking and youre not 100% sure how to pronounce something, dont guess if possible, check the correct pronunciation before you say it. If not, then at least check it soon afterwards.

While youre reading in English, keep asking yourself: Do I know how this word is pronounced? Can I transcribe it with phonetic symbols?. If youre not sure, look it up in a dictionary. This should happen very frequently when youre a pronunciation beginner.

Listen and notice. Get some spoken input: TV, podcasts, movies, audiobooks, recordings in dictionaries, etc. When listening, pay attention to how sounds and words are pronounced. Think about what sounds you hear. When you listen to non-native speakers, notice their mistakes.

Page | 6

ENGLISH LANGUAGE FOR COMMUNICATION

ELCK1101K

Practice pronouncing English words and phrases from time to time.

The important thing is to do it regularly that way, you will make steady progress.

Learning the pronunciations of most common English words in a systematic way.

You could get a list of most frequent words and look up their pronunciations. Or you could use our English pronunciation software that teaches you the pronunciations of the most frequently used English words and makes you remember them.

Page | 7

ENGLISH LANGUAGE FOR COMMUNICATION

ELCK1101K

3.0

STRESS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Stress, as a sound phenomenon, can be studied from two points of view: production and perception. The production of stressed syllables is said to imply a greater muscular energy than the production of unstressed syllables. From the perceptive point of view, stressed syllables are prominent. Prominence is the sum of different factors such as loudness, length, pitch and quality. There are three possibilities of stress in a word: a primary stress, characterized by prominence and, basically, by a rise-fall tone; a secondary stress, weaker than the primary stress but stronger than that of the unstressed syllables (photo graphic); and unstressed syllables, defined by the absence of any prominence, becoming then the background against the prominent stressed syllables appear. Unstressed syllables normally have the short closed vowels /i/ or /u/ and the schwa. From the teaching perspective, there are two ideas to be marked: first, incorrect stress placement is the major cause of intelligibility problems for foreign learners, and is therefore a subject that needs to be treated very seriously. (Roach, 1991:91). Second, the rules for word stress from the phonological point of view are too complex to use in the language classroom, so implicit ways of teaching are required. Dictionaries with phonemic transcriptions can be helpful. Another important aspect related to stress is that of the weak forms. There is a number of words in English (almost all of which belong to the category called function or grammatical words) which can be pronounced in two different ways, a strong and a weak form. There are about forty such words and it is important to be aware of their existence as they can provoke misunderstandings. English-speaking people find the strong forms unnatural and learners of English can misunderstand English speakers, who will surely use weak forms. There are some rules to learn. The strong form will be used when: a) they occur at the end of a sentence, as in Chips are what Im fond of. b) A weak-form word is being contrasted with another word, as in The letter is from him, not to him. c) A weak-form word is given stress for the purpose of emphasis, as in You must give me more money. d) A weak-form is being cited or quoted, as in You shouldnt put and at the end of a sentence.

Page | 8

ENGLISH LANGUAGE FOR COMMUNICATION

ELCK1101K

All words of more than one syllable have what is called word stress. This means that at least one of the syllables is longer and louder than the other syllables.

In the following examples, stressed syllables are in capital letters: Column A Column B Column C

PHOtograph phoTOgraphy photoGRAphi PENcil comMITtee volunteer

In many cases, word stress must simply be learned as new vocabulary is acquired.

However, there are several rules for word stress which can make it easier to deal with. I. Compound Nouns II. Noun+Noun Compounds (2-word compound nouns) III. Phrasal Verbs versus Compound Nouns derived from phrasal IV. Homographs

Page | 9

ENGLISH LANGUAGE FOR COMMUNICATION

ELCK1101K

II. Noun+Noun Compounds (2-word compound nouns) I. Compound Nouns: bluebird blackboard notebook bookstore In each of these examples, the first part of the compound gets the stress. Air conditioner computer programmer Nail polish French fry doctors office Similar to the rule for compound nouns, the first part of the compound--here, the first word--gets the stress. (Note: If the "unstressed" part of the noun + noun compound is more than one syllable, it will have some word stress. However, the first part of the compound will get even more stress.)

III. Phrasal Verbs versus Compound Nouns derived from phrasal Phrasal verbs (a.k.a. two-word or two-part verbs) are generally made up of a verb and preposition. For many of these, correct word stress is especially important as they have compound noun counterparts. In the following examples, the words on the left are phrasal verbs. The words on the right are nouns.

IV. Homographs Homographs are words which are written the same way but which have different pronunciation. In English, there are many words which have the same spelling, but whose part of speech changes with the word stress. If you listen carefully, you will hear that the vowel sounds change depending on whether they are stressed or unstressed.

let down | let down shut out | shutout print out |printout In phrasal verbs, the preposition gets the word stress. If they have a noun counterpart, however, it gets the stress on the first part.

VERB NOUN record record progress progress present present permit permit

Page | 10

ENGLISH LANGUAGE FOR COMMUNICATION

ELCK1101K

about how to stress whole words in sentence.

Content words are nouns, principle verbs, adjectives, adverbs, possessive pronouns, and interrogatives.

Function words are articles, determiners (the, a, a few, some), auxiliary verbs (am, can, were), prepositions, conjunctions, and pronouns.

Function words are articles, determiners (the, a, a few, some), auxiliary verbs (am, can, were), prepositions, conjunctions, and pronouns.

when content words in a sentence are stressed and function words are unstressed, the meaning of the sentence can change.

Page | 11

ENGLISH LANGUAGE FOR COMMUNICATION

ELCK1101K

4.0

RHYTHM IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

As you know, spoken English words with two or more syllables have

different stress and length patterns. Some syllables are stressed more than others and some syllables are pronounced longer than others.

The same is true of phrases and sentences. Different words in a sentence have stronger stress and are pronounced longer and other words are weaker and shorter. This pattern of strong and weak stress and short and long pronunciation gives English its rhythm.

It is important for non-native speakers to understand and master the rhythm of English. If the wrong words are stressed in a sentence or if all words are pronounced with the same length or loudness, the speech will be difficult to understand.

Words that have the most stress in English are called content words. Content words are usually the nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and pronouns (demonstrative, possessive, reflexive, and interrogative). These words are important to express the main meaning of the sentence.
Nouns: Terry, car, dinner Verbs: eat, study, drive Adjectives: blue, large, oval Adverbs: quietly, smoothly, equally Pronouns: that, theirs, himself, what Function words are those words that are weaker and shorter. They include auxiliary verbs, prepositions, conjunctions, determiners, and possessive adjectives. These words are less important in expressing the meaning of the sentence. Auxiliary verbs: may, do, have (if not the main verb) Prepositions: under, around, near Conjunctions: but, not, Determiners: the, some, each Possessive adjectives: my, your, our

Page | 12

ENGLISH LANGUAGE FOR COMMUNICATION

ELCK1101K

1. In American-English, more time is taken to pronounce stressed content words

when we stress content words and unstress functions words is that the rhythm of the sentence changes

ARTICLE 1

Un-stressed function words are pronounced together more quickly. Sometimes the function words are spoken together so quickly that they sound like one big word.

Most languages are syllabic languages. Each syllable in each word gets its proper stress. Nothing is reduced. In syllabic languages the rhythm comes from the number of syllables. In a stress language like American-English, the rhythm comes from keeping the beat between the content words the same

In American-English, the time taken to pronounce function words is reduced. Time is reduced by using less pronunciation energy and taking away many of the syllable stresses and by making the vowel sounds shorter. Lets look at the sentence I have to go to work. An American will pronounce the un-stressed function words have and to together so quickly that they sound like one word. I hafta go to work.

Page | 13

ENGLISH LANGUAGE FOR COMMUNICATION

ELCK1101K

ARTICLE 2
2. Different words in a sentence have stronger stress and are pronounced longer and other words are weaker and shorter. 1. Spoken English words with two or more syllables have different stress and length patterns. Some syllables are stressed more than others and some syllables are pronounced longer than others. This pattern of strong and weak stress and short and long pronunciation gives English its rhythm.

3.It is important for non-native speakers to understand and master the rhythm of English. If the wrong words are stressed in a sentence or if all words are pronounced with the same length or loudness, the speech will be difficult to understand.

5. Function words are those words that are weaker and shorter. They include auxiliary verbs, prepositions, conjunctions, determiners, and possessive adjectives. These words are less important in expressing the meaning of the sentence. Auxiliary verbs: may, do, have (if not the main verb) Prepositions: under, around, near Conjunctions: but, not, Determiners: the, some, each Possessive adjectives: my, your, our

4. Words that have the most stress in English are called content words. Content words are usually the nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and pronouns (demonstrative, possessive, reflexive, and interrogative). These words are important to express the main meaning of the sentence. Nouns: Terry, car, dinner Verbs: eat, study, drive Adjectives: blue, large, oval Adverbs: quietly, smoothly, equally Pronouns: that, theirs, himself, what 6. Note that the content words (in bold) are stressed more (pronounced louder and longer) than the functions words. When are you coming to dinner? I have never liked the color red. Motorcycles can be dangerous to drive or ride on. Last month Carol got a new job in San Francisco. Not everyone likes chocolate ice cream, but I do. Christmas is my absolute favorite holiday.

Page | 14

ENGLISH LANGUAGE FOR COMMUNICATION

ELCK1101K

5.0

INTONATION
Phonetic pronunciation pronunciation. is physical

Intonation is the change in pitch in a persons voice as they pronounce syllables, words , and phrases.

To improve your phonetic pronunciation you need new muscle learning (your muscle control your articulators).

Intonation can go up (rising intonation), go down (falling intonation ), or stay flat.

Intonation is cultural pronunciation. To improve your intonation you need new cultural learning.

Intonation gives a spoken language its music. When intonation patterns are used repeated by a large group of people (cultural habit), then intonation becomes a melody that everyone is familiar with and accepts (dialect).

There are two parts to conversation. Speaking is one part. The other part is listening. You have to be able hear and recognize the intonation of other speaker, if you want to understand what they are trying to say. For example, American have cultural habit of using intonation to change the literal meaning (dictionary definition) of the words and phrases that they are pronouncing. Americans will use intonation to add emotion or attitude to what they say instead of using different words. If you want to understand what an American is saying then sometimes you have to look past to dictionary definition of the words that they are using and instead listen to their intonation.

You will have to decide if your accent is getting in the way of your spoken communications.

Page | 15

ENGLISH LANGUAGE FOR COMMUNICATION

ELCK1101K

Intonation Patterns.
There are three basic pitches in English normal, high, and low. There are also very high pitch, which is used to express strong emotion such as surprise , anger, or fear. The normal pitch is where the voice usually is. High is where the voice rises to indicate information focus. Low is where the voice falls, usually at the end of sentences. In most conversation the voice is normal at the beginning of the sentences, rises at the information focus word (or syllable), then falls back to normal, and drops to low at the end the sentences. The intonation pattern for statement, commands, and HW questions is basically the same- the voice starts as normal pitch, rises at the intonation focus word, falls back to normal after the intonation focus word, and falls to low at the end of the sentences. With yes/no questions and requests, the pitch starts at normal and rises at the end of the sentences.

Page | 16

ENGLISH LANGUAGE FOR COMMUNICATION

ELCK1101K

6.0

PUBLIC SPEAKING BY NUMBERS

The number means to have one clear theme throughout the presentation. Sometimes called the thesis, it is the essence of your speech in one sentence. If the main idea is not clear to the speaker, then neither will the theme be clear to listeners.

The use of contrasts. With contrast you are showing differences to dramatize a point. In a presentation, especially a persuasive one, the salesperson is seeking to show how his or her product is less costly than the competition.

The number of pieces of evidence you need to prove a point or help an audience understand how something works. It has held great power an intrigue for humans through the centuries. We think about time as past, present, and future. We divide our meals into breakfast, lunch, and dinner. A speaker should have three specific instance, or three statistics, or three examples in proving points. This makes sense to the human mind.

4. The sound of the first part of a word important in your preparation: forethought. You want to give forethought before you start writing ideas down on paper. Writing main points or evidence you want to include may limit your thinking. The more forethought, the more your mind will be stretched in looking for ideas.
Page | 17

ENGLISH LANGUAGE FOR COMMUNICATION

ELCK1101K

Eight is the maximum number of times you want to give the same material without rearranging or seriously revising the content of your presentation. If you dont, the material on the day you give the speech for the ninth time will be boring to you, and certainly to the audience. Use different stories, or rearrange your points. After eight times the speaker may have better ideas. You might add a new attention device or deliver with a different style. The presentation should be complete with evidence and structure. Everything should make sense. To be complete, the introduction should have an attention device and a preview. The body of the speech should have two or three main points with corresponding evidence for each of the points. The conclusion should include a summary and a move to action step. All three parts of the presentation should be tied together with smooth transitions. A presentation after SIX oclock p.m. should have humour in it. People have worked all day and they want to enjoy themselves with good food, fellowship, and humour. You dont have to be a comedian, but you can include an embarrassing personal experience, show a cartoon (with permission), tell a short joke, or give a one liner. You want people to smile and be in a festive frame of mind.

The last five minutes of your talk.

These may be the most important part of your speech because here is where you want the strongest evidence and clearest explanations. Dont forget: The audience remembers best what you say last. Those last five minutes should clarify understanding and move people to action.

Page | 18

ENGLISH LANGUAGE FOR COMMUNICATION

ELCK1101K

We may anticipate change, or reaching a goal, or accomplishing a great feat. Anticipation is an important method of holding the attention of the audience. We want to know how the story will end or the solution to a problem or new research that holds much promise for a new drug or cure.

In a successful presentation, know when to stop. We have all heard speakers we enjoy listening to, but our pleasure is diluted if the speaker speaks five minutes too long or begins to repeat material. That is why having a clear conclusion is so important. When you follow earlier advice and have a specific summary and a thought-provoking ending sentence, you are more likely to stop at the right time.

Page | 19

ENGLISH LANGUAGE FOR COMMUNICATION

ELCK1101K

7.ATYPICAL A good speaker don't have to fit a mold that seems right for most other presenters. As Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote "To be great is to be a nonconformist"

1.AUTHORITATIVE Top-caliber speakers have to consider their expert, credibility and intellegent.

2.ATTITUDE A good speaker avoid saying they are going to deliver a speech, making it short and spesific.

6.APPEARANCE The way a speaker dress was a trend that can indicate respect from the audience, as casual as society has become, good grooming still matters.

CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD SPEAKER (7A)

3.AUDIENCE The audience becomes the centerpiece of attention, confidence level is very important in speak at a normal, slow rate. Don't rush.

5.ANECDOTES It's use support to illustrate and clarify dificult point, for example as we talk and think back to the childhood days.

4.ANIMATION Start your presentation with a smile, a speakers have to demands your total commitment.Gesture freely, naturally, without rehearsed motions.
Page | 20

ENGLISH LANGUAGE FOR COMMUNICATION

ELCK1101K

REFLECTION
First of all, I feel thankful to God for His mercy and I can finally complete this task successfully. This is the first course in English Language (BI331D1) in Semester Three. I do for this subject. This is a new experience for me. While achieving the course, I had to face many obstacles, obstacles really challenging but I got a happy heart and think this is a new challenge in my life. When I got the job of a lecturer, I do not understand single things about the job. I'm confused about how to start doing this course. Fortunately, when we are given clarification from the lecturer, I was clear about what I would do. In addition, I also go to working with my colleagues to add other information. After our lecturer briefed on this assignment, I continue to take an action to find information on any given topic. I am very short in solving this task because of overlap with other tasks. Therefore, I tried to solve this problem by visiting the campus library to find reference material on descriptive writing. In this task, my classmates that Nurhidayah Binti Ramli, Mohd. Latif Bin Latif and Noralifah Binti Parmin was getting material that article and information over the Internet. We work in the completion of the course work. In addition, I have collected all the relevant materials from the internet and certain parts of some of the books written. From what I have gathered, I print all of them and then started to highlight key points and important points and present in the form of graphic organizers. Many things and new knowledge I've learned through this course. Before this, I never worry about how to write a descriptive essay, tips for writing a descriptive essay and also feature a good descriptive essay. I just do my essay without thinking much about it. Through this job, I am aware and recognize that it is very important to me and hope that I can write better after this. Many things and new knowledge I learnt through this coursework. Before this, I never concern about the aspects of language such as pronunciation, rhythm, stress and so on. But, after I had done the task which asked us to find the
Page | 21

ENGLISH LANGUAGE FOR COMMUNICATION

ELCK1101K

information about it, make me even more understand and feel easier to do it. This task also helps me to improve my speaking skills. As a teacher, it is very important for us to speak confidently in front of public. We are able to master the tips for great public speaking, how to conquer fear speak in front of public, characteristics of a good speaker and many else. I try to apply this knowledge in my real life. After this, I will be more confident giving a speech in front of the audience. Through this assignment, I was able to understand how to use pronunciation in our daily communication. Finally, once again I thank the lecturers Mr. Gordian Pius are very helpful in proceeding for a description of English Language and eventually I was Able to complete and submit this task at the specified time. There are many moral values that I got through this task. This experience has taught me the meaning of independence, appreciate our most precious time, and cooperate with the group members and so on. Thank you.

Page | 22

ENGLISH LANGUAGE FOR COMMUNICATION

ELCK1101K

BIBLIOGRAFY

BOOK: Roach, Peter. 1991. English Phonetics and Phonology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Greenbaum, Sidney and Quirk, Randolph : A Student's Grammar of the English Language . [Longman, Hong Kong 1991] Quirk, Randolph et. al. : A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language . [Longman, London, 1983]

INTERNET:
Intonation | TeachingEnglish | British Council | BBC www.teachingenglish.org.uk Articles http://www.english.hb.pl/articles/pronunciations

http://www.antimoon.com/how/pronunc.htm http://www.soundsofenglish.org/pronunciation/suprasegmentals/index.. http://aeasp.com/stress2.html http://www.pronunciation .com/rhythm.html http://aeasp.com/intonation.html Top 7 Characteristics of Great Speakers. Refer to attachment

Page | 23