Linguistic theory for teachers in second language reading programmes

Abstract

Problems exist in the sound script relationship which affect teachers of reading, but the problem being tackled is that of the efficient comprehension of the grammar and semantics of a foreign language during the reading process. In Australia the project ENEC (English for Migrant Education Curriculum, 1974 - 1977) endeavoured to describe in grammatical and semantic terms the English of major textbooks used from year seven to year ten in mathematics, science, history, geography, and two minor subjects. The corpus analyzed was 700,000 words long. Analysis was manual, but a concordance was provided by computer. The grammar analysis was systemic and the semantic analysis done in a form of case grammar, using fourteen cases. Data sheets provided profiles for each sentence in both kinds of analysis. The semantic profiles proved to. be .more significant. Comparison of structures' in two languages, beyond such generalizations as subject-verb-object versus subject-object-verb, appear to be of little use to teachers. The investigators were at a loss to know exactly what was being compared, and soon· became involved in semantic criteria. Furthermore, the S-V-0 - S-0-V type differences are so basic that learners acquire them well before reading secondary educational material.