Free English Language Dissertations - Context, Purpose, And Appropriacy In Language Introduction This Paper Will
Context, Purpose, and Appropriacy in Language
Introduction
This paper will examine the student writing sample, ‘Carols view of Julia’. We will do this by closely analysing the words and structure used in composition in terms of context, purpose, and appropriacy. Next we will identify the issues that this student needs to address in order to increase both her oral and written language facility. Finally, we will examine the need for appropriacy in language as part of a larger cultural framework.
The student writing sample, ‘Carols view of Julia’, has clear structural problems which are not uncommon to in student writing, especially students who have been acquiring English as a second language. It has been suggested that students who attempt to concentrate too much on meaning as opposed to form, will often be totally inaccurate with form unless they have reached the appropriate stage of learning (Ellis 1993). It seems possible that this student needs to focus more on form at this stage.
Regarding the writer’s self-assessment that ‘she speaks bad’: this statement in itself yields significant information about the writer. Negative tone notwithstanding, it is difficult to agree or disagree with it without discussing what is meant by ‘bad’. Who are the arbiters of language? Who decides what is ‘good English’, and what is ‘bad’?
Purpose and Context
If one purpose of language is to convey information, then the eighty-three words of student writing that comprise ‘Carols [sic] view of Julia’ have succeeded on some level. At least two assumptions are involved here. The first assumption being made is that the first line of the text‘Carols view of Julia’is a working title, or a portion of an introductory sentence (since, lacking a verb, it is not a complete sentence).
This assumption is made because of the line’s position at the top of the text, which is where we may expect to find a title or introduction. The assumption is also based on the way it is written, which is not unlike a title. In addition, it also seems significant that this initial line contains two proper nouns, and they are the only proper nouns that appear on the page.
Finally, there is the fact that it is set off from what follows beneath by a period. Although this is not a generally accepted indicator of a title, the absence of regular punctuation makes this initial usage seem significant. Since there are a handful of periods placed sporadically throughout the piece, it is possible that this is a crude way of separating this initial introductory line or ‘title’ from what is to come.
The second assumption is that this view belongs to Carol. Lacking the requisite apostrophe that would mark ‘Carols’ as clearly possessive, we are pulled in this direction for two reasons. First, plurals of proper nouns tend to be relatively rare in English. In this case, at any rate, ‘Carols’ does not make sense.
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