1.3.1. Study Your Notes 6.

uses abbreviations and acronyms (ad for

A. How do people communicate? advertisement; lab for laboratory, etc; asap for as
People communicate in various ways: soon as possible; GO for go out; atm for automated
1. Verbal - using utterances (words, phrases, and teller machine, etc.)
sentences) 7. uses the first person pronouns (e.g., I, we)
2. Non-verbal - using body language, facial expression, 8. uses simple and general words (e.g., nice, good, okay,
and eye contact, among others fine, thing, stuff, etc.)
3. Visual - using graphics and images 9. uses short and incomplete sentences (e.g., Been there;
B. What are some of the basic principles that allow go and see him, etc.)
speakers and listeners to communicate and understand Informal Communication Settings
each other? 1. conversations/talks (e.g., friends, family members,
1. They know their purpose/s. classmates)
2. They know their audience/s. 2. personal writings (reflections, diaries, journals,
3. They know their topic/s. friendly letters, blogs, vlogs, memes)
4. They adjust the message and speech to the context of FORMAL LANGUAGE
the situation. What are the features of formal language?
5. They are sensitive to feedback. 1. is serious, objective, and impersonal (e.g., tone
C. What constitute basic protocol for effective and topic)
communication and relationship? 2. uses specific vocabulary (research for
1. Knowing when to establish a value system that thing; hardworking for ‘what you can do’; a
promotes integrity of persons majority of for lots of students, etc.)
2. Knowing when to provide complete and accurate 3. has long and complex sentences
information 4. uses third-person pronouns (e.g., s/he, they)
3. Knowing when to disclose vital information 5. consists of (full) single words (e.g., absorb for pick
adequately and properly up; review for go over; occur/happen for take place,
Formal Communication Settings
2.3.1. Read Your Notes 1. academic and professional writings and oral
What does it take to be a communicatively presentations (e.g., research, technical and scientific
competent user of a language? A competent user of a paper, conference, lecture, seminar, forum,
language must have the following: symposium, debate, homily)
1. Language Competence - knowing the appropriate 2. (formal) interview
and correct language forms, vocabulary, and 3. business writings and presentations
grammar
2. Discourse Competence - knowing the application of 3.3.1. Read Your Notes
language conventions and organizations to make a As you may recall, an effective communicator or a
text coherent and cohesive competent language user must possess an array of skills
3. Sociolinguistic Competence - knowing the speaker’s to speak or write well. What is a (academic) genre?
cultural context by adjusting to the communicative “A genre comprises a class of communicative events, the
situations members of which share some set of communicative
4. Strategic Competence - knowing a variety of purposes…which are recognized by the members of
communicative strategies, whether in speech or a discourse community” (Swales, 1990).
writing, in expressing one’s idea Examples of Academic Genres
1. concept paper
Using Formal and Informal Language 2. reaction paper
One's language competence can be gauged in the use of 3. review (book, article)
language in varied situations. In fact, people can 4. critique
communicate in different settings using different 5. thesis (undergraduate and master’s degree)
language forms. In terms of language usage, there are two 6. dissertation (doctorate)
general levels: 7. research (library or field)

INFORMAL LANGUAGE Characteristics of Academic Writing

What are the characteristics of informal language? 1. formality – absence of colloquial or casual
1. is casual, spontaneous, and personal expressions, academic-sounding tone
2. uses contractions (e.g., can’t, ain’t, wouldn’t, etc.) 2. complex and long sentences – embedded phrases and
3. uses slang (e.g., dude, hippie, frenemy, clauses
bromance, etc.) 3. sophisticated and precise vocabulary – technical,
4. uses colloquialisms (e.g., mob for crowd; go nuts for academic, or scholarly expressions used in a specific
go insane; wanna for want to; be blue for be sad, discipline
buzz off for go away, etc.) 4. objectivity – factual and impersonal
5. uses phrasal verbs and idiomatic phrases (e.g., blow 5. explicitness – clear and specific details, as well as
up for inflate; get over for recover; find out for logically related ideas (using transitions in a series of
determine; put up with for tolerate; mix up for paragraphs)
confuse; raining cats and dogs for raining heavily; 6. organization – sequential and predictable flow of ideas
apple of my eyes for favorite, etc. 7. convention – using citation and referencing style
Conventions and Language Features of Academic Writing Knowing the Writer’s Communicative Intention
In-Text Citations (Parenthetical Documentations) Analyze the given statements from an ABSTRACT of a
*In-text citations are used to acknowledge the source/s study. What does each statement indicate? How are they
in the text to avoid plagiarism. related to each other?
1. Integral (author prominent) - is always part of or 1. Relatively little research has been conducted on the
found within the text or sentence. professional satisfaction of principals who recently hired
Examples: beginning teachers. (GIVING AN OVERVIEW)
*Bain (2003) claims that… 2. This study surveyed principals to learn their
*As stated by Reid (1999), the idea is… perspectives on the new teachers. (STATING THE
2. Non-integral (topic prominent) - is generally found at AIM/PURPOSE)
the end of the text and is commonly placed inside the 3. Data were gathered using an online survey of 423
parentheses. principals throughout the city and analyzed using
Examples: descriptive statistics. (DESCRIBING THE METHOD)
*There is an attempt “to connect two knowledge 4. Results indicated that principals were satisfied with
categories to the concept of preparedness” the affective and attitudinal approaches of new
(Woollacott, 2009, p. 25). teachers. (STATING THE FINDING/RESULT)
*Contemporary engineering students approach 5. Results suggested that principals were less satisfied
learning through contrasting learning profiles overall with five important areas of teaching. (MAKING
(Briggs, 1999; Jones, 2002). A CONCLUSION)
Hedging Devices are expressions used to 6. Implications for practice and future research are
indicate uncertainty, hesitation, politeness, or described. (STATING AN IMPLICATION)
indirectness.
Examples: How to Write a Response/Reaction Paper
1. Data appears that the participants are frequently aware
of the code of ethics as stipulated in the manual. In the INTRODUCTION (first paragraph)...
2. It seems that the relationship between sex and age is *Identify the title of the talk and the speaker's identity
directly proportional. (if it is known/given).
3. The results tend to favor only Group A because of *Write an overview or an informative summary of the
external conditions. talk so that the reader gets a general sense of the entire
4. Findings of the study may/could/would contribute to material. However, keep the summary objective and
the development of a new program. factual.
5. Based on the preliminary data, there is no relationship
between economic progress and personal status. In the BODY (second paragraph)...
*Cite/Quote a significant statement or two (or a string
Reporting verbs or communication verbs are used to of sentences) mentioned by the speaker. Such evidence
indicate that the discourse is being quoted, paraphrased, will form part of your subjective
or summarized. reactions/responses/impressions supported by your
observations, readings, discussions, and/or insights.
TO SUPPORT/AGREE *Try to relate your specific response/reaction to your
e.g., Ramos (1999) adds... general understanding of language and
Akira (1976) confirms... communication for various purposes and contexts.
Kim (1995) agrees... *Evaluate the merit of the talk in terms of its
Wright (1997) supports... relevance, accuracy, completeness, and appeal, among
Twain (1988) maintains... others.
Mahara (1980) upholds...
Gandhi (1995) endorses... In the CONCLUSION (third paragraph)...
TO CONTRADICT *Consider any one or a combination of these
e.g., Brown (1998) refutes... rhetorical strategies: recapitulating the main points,
Park (1986) opposes... using a striking statement or a famous quote, calling or
Valdez (1995) denies... challenging the reader to action, and/or sharing a brief
Sakai (1989) disagrees... anecdote to bring home a point, among others.
Young (1996) challenges...
Skeene (1992) rebuts...
Nelson (1990) disclaims...
Del (1985) counters...
TO EXEMPLIFY
e.g., Tan (1989) illustrates...
Santoy (1993) describes...
Aquino (1990) demonstrates...
Mohammed (1987) explains...
Sato (1994) elucidates...
Eliot (1981) characterizes...
Murphy (1996) displays...
Lewis (1993) defines...