《变化中的英语》课程教学一体化设计

安徽电大责任教师：徐先涛

一、课程说明：

该课程重点介绍了英语语言的形成、发展及变化。全书共分八章，内容涉及英语语言在不同时代、不同地域、及不同社会背景下的发展变化。从语言学的角度解释了我们在学习中遇到的许多难题。通过本课程的学习，学生能够更好的了解这一语言，更好地掌握并使用好英语。本课程为统设必修课，占4.5 学分。

二、教学媒体：

· 文字材料：《变化中的英语》 主编：顾曰国 外语教学与研究出版社

· 录音磁带：4盒

· 电视/录像课：8讲（每讲25分钟）

· VCD光盘 内容同电视/录像课

· 中央电大直播课堂

· 中央电大和省电大网上辅导

三、具体教学安排：

1、自主学习

学习前首先要了解该课程的基本概况。教学大纲、实施细则、媒体资源、求助渠道、作业要求等,制定一个切实可行的个人学习计划并在学习小组中进行交流讨论，也可以征求辅导老师的意见。其次，学习要得法。鉴于该课程内容多、难度大，学习过程中能够充分利用手头资源、注重利用学校资源以及网上资源。另外，学习过程中注意每个单元中列出的主要思想观点，并按要求完成体现主要思想观点的学习任务（tasks）。最后，要求坚持不懈地做好自主学习记录，保证学习效果。自主学习记录是平时形成性考核成绩的重要依据。（自主学习记录表见附件一）

2、面授辅导

面授辅导要针对教学中的重点难点进行适量的讲解，帮助学生了解并掌握英语语言的发展变化以及英语语言应用方面的知识，为说明一些观点，辅导老师可以从英、汉两种语言中选取例证加以阐述。除讲解与答疑以外，还要了解学生在自主学习过程中所遇到的困难，分析其原因并提出解决问题的办法。为了提供学生运用英语进行交流的机会并深刻领会课文中的内容观点，辅导课可以适当安排以学生为中心的活动，如就课程中列出的观点及语言应用状况组织学生运用英语进行辩论交流。（面授辅导课的主要内容安排见附件二）

3、支持服务

在教学过程中，要有效利用面授辅导这一环节传播课程学习的方法和途径。通过网上答疑、电子邮件、电话服务、语言信箱、视听阅览室、语言实验室、多媒体学习中心、英语角、学习小组等形式组织学习。为学生解决在自学中碰到的共性问题的同时，也要注意针对具体情况提供个别化辅导。还应给予心理和精神方面的支持。

· 中央电大直播课堂: 主持教师：崔松

· 安徽电大责任教师： 徐先涛 E-mail: xuxt@mail.ahtvu.ah.cn

· 安徽电大电话答疑： 每周二上午8:00----11:30 Tel: 0551-3638362

· 安徽电大网上答疑咨询：每周四上午8:00----11:30 www.ahtvu.ah.cn

教学服务 留言簿

· 安徽电大在线课程讨论区： www.openedu.ah.cn

· 电子教案 （第一次辅导课---简介 见附件三）

· 及时答复信函

4、作业安排

为了监督并检测学生平时的学习、该课程要安排不少于四次的书面作业，并要求对平时作业进行评改。评改的形式可以多种多样，可以由教师评改，也可以让学生自评或互评，但最终要由辅导教师给出成绩，并给出对学生今后学习有指导性的评语。每次书面作业的成绩要备案，作为评定平时成绩的依据，以保证平时成绩的科学性、可靠性。教师的批改也要作为评价其工作的依据。作业内容与形式及测评方式由省级电大结合中央电大指定的教材内容确定，并报中央电大备案。作业的平均成绩和平时学习表现（其中自主学习记录占6%）各占学期总成绩的10%。各地电大要认真指导学生完成作业，并严格掌握评价标准。中央电大和省电大将不定期地抽查学生的作业，检查作业的完成情况。（三四单元作业参见附件四）

5、学时分配与自主学习

A．计划内课时分配及学习方式（共计81学时）：

组织内容	面授辅导	音像教材	网上辅导	学习方法指导	作业讲评	问题讨论	复习指导
课时分配	48	8	4	3	8	8	3
学习形式	多媒体教室	自选	学校或自选地点	面授或其他多种现代化手段	集中指导及个别	集中话题讨论与分组讨论	多媒体室

B．自主学习时间及学习方式：（供参考)

自学方法	直播课堂	预 习	自学文字教材	媒体自学	网上自学	网上自测	平时作业	学习小组讨论	调查研究
课时	6	16	48	20	12	6	20	10	4

四、自主学习注意事项：

1. 准备好学习所需用品：录音机一台，空白磁带二盒，学习笔记一本，作文本二本。

2. 制定本学期自学计划及每周作息时间表。

3. 记录自学中的难点，通过信函、上网、电话等方式及时解决，或在辅导课上提出。

4. 保证每周至少10小时自学时间，平均每天至少完成5个TASKS。

5. 自觉监控自学全过程。

五.重点难点:

Unit One Changing English in a Changing World: An Overview

Key Points:

◆Explain why languages change as people change

◆ Recognize and describe examples of change

◆ Understand some of the special English vocabulary used in talking about language

◆ Explain what is meant by varieties of English

Difficult Points:

● Differences among languages, dialects, and accents

Unit Two English in the Past

Key Points:

◆ Identify the place of English among other related languages

◆Identify Standard English among other varieties

◆ Understand and explain what is meant by structural differences among languages

◆Understand and explain how users of English as a second language can use knowledge abut English

Difficult Points:

● English differs at different times

● Language families

● Bi-dialectal

Unit Three The Spread of English Beyond Britain

Key Points:

◆ Give examples of national and international languages

◆ Explain how it happened that English came to be widely used as a second language and some of the different ways in which it is used

◆ Understand the advantages of invented languages for international use and some of the reasons for their failure

◆ Explain the uses of this information to teachers and students of English

Difficult Points:

● The international role of standard English

● English and education in India

●The beginnings of Australia as a penal

● English as a global language for an information age

Unit Four Social varieties of English

Key Points:

◆ Recognize what are statements about language, and what are statements about personal tastes or judgments about society and social differences

◆ Know what is meant by social or educational variation in English accents

◆ Recognize what different varieties you and other users control; how you increase their number and range, and how the fact that users can do this drives change

Difficult Points:

● Understanding the differences in use between initial and later stages of learning

●Contrasting spoken and written accounts of the some event

●English variations in formality

Unit Five Trade within and Across Language Barriers

Key Points:

◆Define what is meant by Pidgin, Creole, and Lingua franca and give examples

◆ Understand what is meant by creativity or inventiveness in language

◆Recognize the importance of faxed English to international trade proceedings

◆ Use this information in discussions of the present position of English as the major language of international business

Difficult Points:

●Differences among varieties, pidgins, creoles

● How English is used in some areas of international trade

● Differences between the practice and the teaching of business English

Unit Six Changing English since the Second World War

Key Points:

◆ Explain what is meant by saying that English is currently the language of science-even though much science is done using other languages (Chinese, German, and Russian, for example)

◆ Recognize and describe a range of styles of English that are used for the purposes outlined above

Difficult Points:

● How English serves the purposes of science

● How TV promotes the global use of English

● Discovering the dominant role of English in information storage, retrieval, and exchange

Unit Seven Emerging “New Englishes”: A Focus for Debate

Key Points:

◆ Understand the current, and at present unresolved, debate about whether local standards are varieties, requiring recognition, or are essentially, inter-languages

◆ Know how this debate bears on a number of questions about:

1. the purposes which learners have for an additional or auxiliary language

2. the practicalities of teaching an auxiliary language to very large numbers of learners

3. the role of Standard English a norm, and as a target

◆ understand why the position of Standard English is controversial, complicated, important and, almost certainly, important to you

Difficult Points:

● exam the significance of New Standards

● Find out about international literature in English

● Contrast roles of English feedback in mono-lingual and in multi-lingual societies

Unit Eight English in a Shrinking World

Key Points:

◆ Summarize, in English, what you have gained from studying this course

◆ Frame what seem to you the most interesting questions about the present and immediate future role of English

◆ Suggest some probable directions of development and some areas where the importance of English shows signs of diminishing

◆ Appreciate views on these topics differing from your own

Difficult Points:

● English is a beautiful language

附件一：自主学习记录表

ECW Performance Sheet

Date:	Day:		Unit:		Activity:		Task:
Time Spent _________ hrs/mins	Time Intended to Spend _________ hrs/mins		Location for Learning ____________		Learning Mode ___________		Objectives ________________
Self-evaluation and Conclusion
Problems
Aids Sources	Telephone □	Email □		Internet Retrieval □		Group Discussion□
	Tutorial □	e-friend□		School BBS □		Learning Partner □
Memo

附件二

教学活动安排（供参考）

时间	单元进度	内 容	方 式
第1周	survey	A BRIEF INTRODUCTION AND HOW-TO	课程学习简介
第2周	Unit 1	CHANGING ENGLISH IN A CHANGING WORLD:AN OVERVIEW	面授、录像
第3周	Unit 1	CHANGING ENGLISH IN A CHANGING WORLD:AN OVERVIEW	答疑、作业
第4周	Unit 2	ENGLISH IN THE PAST	面授、讨论
第5周	Unit 2	ENGLISH IN THE PAST	答疑、录像
第6周	Unit 3	THE SPREAD OF ENGLISH BEYOND BRITAIN	面授、录像
第7周	Unit 3	THE SPREAD OF ENGLISH BEYOND BRITAIN	答疑、作业
第8周	Unit 4	SOCIAL VARIETIES OF ENGLISH	面授、录像
第9周	Unit 4	SOCIAL VARIETIES OF ENGLISH	期中测试
第10周	Unit 5	TRADE WITHIN AND ACROSS LANGUAGE BARRIES	面授、讨论
第11周	Unit 5	TRADE WITHIN AND ACROSS LANGUAGE BARRIES	答疑、录像
第12周	Unit 6	CHANGING ENGLISH SINCE THE SECOND WORLD WAR	面授、录像
第13周	Unit 6	CHANGING ENGLISH SINCE THE SECOND WORLD WAR	答疑、作业
第14周	Unit 7	EMERGING “NEW ENGLISHES”: A FORCUS FOR DEBATE	面授、录像
第15周	Unit 7	EMERGING “NEW ENGLISHES”: A FORCUS FOR DEBATE	答疑、讨论
第16周	Unit 8	ENGLISH IN A SHRINKING WORLD	面授、录像
第17周	Unit 8	ENGLISH IN A SHRINKING WORLD	答疑、作业
第18周	Revision	QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS / PREPARATION FOR TERMINAL EXAMINATION	综述、答疑

附件三 第一次辅导课---简介

Warm up

Exchange with students what we know about languages and especially about English language. Ask the following questions.

1. How many living languages are there in the world? (about 5000)

2. Which language is most used internationally?

3. Who brought English language to British Isles?

4. Why is English Language so popular?

5. What purposes does the English language serve?

6. What does the term Englishes mean?

About Britain

The full name of Britain is The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. It is made up of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. London is the capital city. English is the official language and mother tongue of majority of people. However, English is not the only language used there. Welsh is still spoken and taught in schools in Wales. Immigrants from other countries bring with them their mother tongues like Polish, languages of Indian Subcontinent.

About Language Family and Language Group

It has been difficult for linguists to give the exact number of languages families since the relationship among languages is so complicated and researches done are not enough to clarify the category. Indo-European(印欧语系), Uralic（乌拉尔语系）, Sino-Tibetan（汉藏语系）and Altaic（阿尔泰语系） are the major language families. In each language family there are language groups. English language is included in Germanic group(日尔曼语族) which falls into Indo-European language family. English is a member of the Indo-European family of languages. This broad family includes most of the European languages spoken today. The Indo-European family includes several major branches:

The following chart is a description of Indo-European language family.

Indo-European Family Tree

About History of English Language

Chronology of Events in the History of English

pre-600 A.D.	THE PRE-ENGLISH PERIOD
ca. 3000 B.C.(or 6000 B.C?)	Proto-Indo-European spoken in Baltic area. (or Anatolia?)
ca. 1000 B.C.	After many migrations, the various branches of Indo-European have become distinct. Celtic becomes most widespread branch of I.E. in Europe; Celtic peoples inhabit what is now Spain, France, Germany and England.
55 B.C.	Beginning of Roman raids on British Isles.
43 A.D.	Roman occupation of Britain. Roman colony of "Britannia" established. Eventually, many Celtic Britons become Romanized. (Others continually rebel).
200 B.C.-200 A.D.	Germanic peoples move down from Scandinavia and spread over Central Europe in successive waves. Supplant Celts. Come into contact (at times antagonistic, at times commercial) with northward-expanding empire of Romans.
Early 5th century.	Roman Empire collapses. Romans pull out of Britain and other colonies, attempting to shore up defense on the home front; but it's useless. Rome sacked by Goths.
	Germanic tribes on the continent continue migrations west and south; consolidate into ever larger units. Those taking over in Rome call themselves "Roman emperors."
ca. 410 A.D.	First Germanic tribes arrive in England.
410-600	Settlement of most of Britain by Germanic peoples (Angles, Saxons, Jutes, some Frisians) speaking West Germanic dialects descended from Proto-Germanic. These dialects are distantly related to Latin, but also have a sprinkling of Latin borrowings due to earlier cultural contact with the Romans on the continent.
	Celtic peoples, most of whom are Christianized, are pushed increasingly (despite occasional violent uprisings) into the marginal areas of Britain: Ireland, Scotland, Wales. Anglo-Saxons, originally sea-farers, settle down as farmers, exploiting rich English farmland.
	By 600 A.D., the Germanic speech of England comprises dialects of a language distinct from the continental Germanic languages.
ca. 600-1100	THE OLD ENGLISH, OR ANGLO-SAXON PERIOD
600-800	Rise of three great kingdoms politically unifying large areas: Northumbria, Mercia, Wessex. Supremacy passes from one kingdom to another in that order.
ca. 600	Christianity introduced among Anglo-Saxons by St. Augustine, missionary from Rome. Irish missionaries also spread Celtic form of Christianity to mainland Britain.
793	First serious Viking incursions. Lindisfarne monastery sacked.
800	Charlemagne, king of the Franks, crowned Holy Roman Emperor; height of Frankish power in Europe. Wessex kings aspire to similar glory; want to unite all England, and if possible the rest of mainland Britain, under one crown (theirs).
840s-870s	Viking incursions grow worse and worse. Large organized groups set up permanent encampments on English soil. Slay kings of Northumbria and East Anglia, subjugate king of Mercia. Storm York (Anglo-Saxon Eoforwic) and set up a Viking kingdom (Jorvik). Wessex stands alone as the last Anglo-Saxon kingdom in Britain.
871	Vikings move against Wessex. In six pitched battles, the English hold their own, but fail to repel attackers decisively. In the last battle, the English king is mortally wounded. His young brother, Alfred, who had distinguished himself during the battles, is crowned king.
871-876	Alfred builds a navy. The kings of Denmark and Norway have come to view England as ripe for the plucking and begin to prepare an attack.
876	Three Danish kings attack Wessex. Alfred prevails, only to be attacked again a few months later. His cause looks hopeless.
878	Decisive battle at Edington; Alfred and a large contingent of desperate Anglo-Saxons make a last stand (they know what awaits them if they fail). Alfred leads the Anglo-Saxons to decisive victory; blockades a large Viking camp nearby, starving them into submission; and exacts homage from the kings of Denmark and an oath that the Danes will leave Wessex forever.
	Under Alfred's terms of victory, England is partitioned into a part governed by the Anglo-Saxons (under the house of Wessex) and a part governed by the Scandinavians (some of whom become underlords of Alfred), divided by Watling Street. 15 years of peace follow; Alfred reigns over peaceful and prosperous kingdom. First called "Alfred the Great".
925	Athelstan crowned king. Height of Anglo-Saxon power. Athelstan reconquers York from the Vikings, and even conquers Scotland and Wales, heretofore ruled by Celts. Continues Alfred's mission of making improvemen ts in government, education, defense, and other social institutions.
10th century	Danes and English continue to mix peacefully, and ultimately become indistinguishable. Many Scandinavian loanwords enter the language; English even borrows pronouns like them, their they.
978	Aethelred "the Unready" becomes king at 11 years of age.
991	Aethelred has proved to be a weak king, who does not repel minor Viking attacks. Vikings experiment with a major incursion at Maldon in Essex. After losing battle, Aethelred bribes them to depart with 10,000 pounds of silver. Mistake. Sveinn, king of Denmark, takes note.
994-1014	After 20 years of continuous battles and bribings, and incompetent and cowardly military leadership and governance, the English capitulate to king Sveinn of Denmark (later also of Norway). Aethelred flees to Normandy, across the channel.
1014	Sveinn's young son Cnut (or Canute) crowned king of England. Cnut decides to follow in Alfred's footsteps, aiming for a peaceful and prosperous kingdom. Encourages Anglo-Saxon culture and literature. Even marries Aethelred's widow Emma, brought over from Normandy.
	After Cnut's death his sons bicker over the kingdom. When they die without issue, the kingdom passes back to the house of Wessex, to young Edward, son of Aethelred and Emma, who had been raised in exile in Normandy. Edward is a pious, monkish man called "The Confessor".
	Edward has strong partiality for his birthplace, Normandy, a duchy populated by the descendents of Romanized Vikings. Especially fond of young Duke William of Normandy. Edward is dominated by his Anglo-Saxon earls, especially powerful earl Godwin. Godwin's son, Harold Godwinson, becomes de facto ruler as Edward takes less and less interest in governing.
1066	January. Edward dies childless, apparently recommending Harold Godwinson as successor. Harold duly chosen by Wessex earls, as nearest of kin to the crown is only an infant. Mercian and Northumbrian earls are hesitant to go along with choice of Harold.
	William of Normandy claims that Harold once promised to support HIM as successor to Edward. Harold denies it. William prepares to mount an invasion. Ready by summer, but the winds are unfavorable for sailing.
	September. Harald Hardradi of Norway decides this is a good time to attack England. Harold Godwinson rushes north and crushes Hardradi's army at Stamford Bridge.
	The winds change, and William puts to sea. Harold rushes back down to the south coast to try to repel William's attack. Mercians and Northumbrians are supposed to march down to help him, but never do. They don't realize what's in store for them. October. Harold is defeated and killed at the battle of Hastings. December. William of Normandy crowned king of England in Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day.
ca. 1100-1500	THE MIDDLE ENGLISH PERIOD
1066-1075	William crushes uprisings of Anglo-Saxon earls and peasants with a brutal hand; in Mercia and Northumberland, uses (literal) scorched earth policy, decimating population and laying waste the countryside. Anglo-Saxon earls and freemen deprived of property; many enslaved. William distributes property and titles to Normans (and some English) who supported him. Many of the English hereditary titles of nobility date from this period.
	English becomes the language of the lower classes (peasants and slaves). Norman French becomes the language of the court and propertied classes. The legal system is redrawn along Norman lines and conducted in French. Churches, monasteries gradually filled with French-speaking functionaries, who use French for record-keeping. After a while, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is no longer kept up. Authors write literature in French, not English. For all practical purposes English is no longer a written language.
	Bilingualism gradually becomes more common, especially among those who deal with both upper and lower classes. Growth of London as a commercial center draws many from the countryside who can fill this socially intermediate role.
1204	The English kings lose the duchy of Normandy to French kings. England is now the only home of the Norman English.
1205	First book in English appears since the conquest.
1258	First royal proclamation issued in English since the conquest.
ca. 1300	Increasing feeling on the part of even noblemen that they are English, not French. Nobility begin to educate their children in English. French is taught to children as a foreign language rather than used as a medium of instruction.
1337	Start of the Hundred Years' War between England and France.
1362	English becomes official language of the law courts. More and more authors are writing in English.
ca. 1380	Chaucer writes the Canterbury tales in Middle English. the language shows French influence in thousands of French borrowings. The London dialect, for the first time, begins to be recognized as the "Standard", or variety of English taken as the norm, for all England. Other dialects are relegated to a less prestigious position, even those that earlier served as standards (e.g. the Wessex dialect of southwest England).
1474	William Caxton brings a printing press to England from Germany. Publishes the first printed book in England. Beginning of the long process of standardization of spelling.
1500-present	THE MODERN ENGLISH PERIOD
1500-1650	Early Modern English develops. The Great Vowel Shift gradually takes place. There is a large influx of Latin and Greek borrowings and neologisms.
1611	King James Bible published, which has influenced English writing down to the present day.
1616	Shakespeare dies. Recognized even then as a genius of the English language. Wove native and borrowed words together in amazing and pleasing combinations.
1700s	Classical period of English literature. The fashion for borrowing Latin and Greek words, and coining new words with Latin and Greek morphemes, rages unabated. Elaborate syntax matches elaborate vocabulary (e.g. writings of Samuel Johnson).
	The rise of English purists, e.g. Jonathan Swift, who decried the 'degeneration' of English and sought to 'purify' it and fix it forever in unchanging form.
17th-19th centuries	British imperialism. Borrowings from languages around the world.
	Development of American English. By 19th century, a standard variety of American English develops, based on the dialect of the Mid-Atlantic states.
	Establishment of English in Australia, South Africa, and India, among other British colonial outposts.
19th century	Recognition (and acceptance) by linguistic scholars of the ever-changing nature of language. Discovery of the Indo-European language family. Late in century: Recognition that all languages are fundamentally the same in nature; no "primitive" or "advanced" languages.
19th-20th centuries	Scientific and Industrial Revolutions. Development of technical vocabularies. Within a few centuries, English has gone from an island tongue to a world language, following the fortunes of those who speak it.
20th century	Communications revolution. Spread of a few languages at the expense of many. Languages of the world begin to die out on a large scale as mastery of certain world languages becomes necessary for survival. Classification and description of non-Indo-European languages by linguists continues, in many cases in a race against the clock.
1945-?	American political, economic, military supremacy. Borrowing patterns continue. English has greater impact than ever on other languages, even those with more native speakers. Becomes most widely studied second language, and a scientific lingua franca.
	By the 1990s, preferences begin to shift in many places from British to American English as the selected standard for second language acquisition. The twin influences of British and American broadcasting media make the language accessible to more and more people. Hollywood and the pop music industry help make English an irresistible medium for the transmission of popular culture. Even long-established European cultures begin to feel linguistically and culturally threatened, as English comes into use in more and more spheres and large numbers of English borrowings enter their languages.
	New waves of immigrants to the U.S. Linguistic diversity increases where the newcomers settle, but immigrants repeat the pattern of earlier settlers and lose their language within a generation or two. The culture at large remains resolutely monolingual (despite the fears of cultural purists). But as ever, the language continues to absorb loanwords, continually enriched by the many tongues of the newcomers to these shores.

© 1998 Suzanne Kemmer

About Language Change

Is the English language changing? 

Yes, and so is every other human language. Language is always changing, evolving, and adapting to the needs of its users. This isn't a bad thing; if English hadn't changed since, say, 1950, we wouldn't have words to refer to modems, fax machines, or cable TV. As long as the needs of language users continue to change, so will the language. The change is so slow that from year to year we hardly notice it (except to grumble every so often about the 'poor English' being used by the younger generation!). But reading Shakespeare's writings from the sixteenth century can be difficult. If you go back a couple more centuries, Chaucer's Canterbury Tales are very tough sledding, and if you went back another 500 years to try to read Beowulf, it would be like reading a different language. 

Why does language change? 

Language changes for several reasons. First, it changes because the needs of its speakers change. New technologies, new products, and new experiences require new words to refer to them clearly and efficiently. Consider the fax machine: Originally it was called a facsimile machine, because it allowed one person to send another a copy, or facsimile, of a document. As the machines became more common, people began using the shorter form fax to refer to both the machine and the document; from there, it was just a short step to using the word fax as a verb (as in I'll fax this over to Sylvia). 

Another reason for change is that no two people have had exactly the same language experience. We all know a slightly different set of words and constructions, depending on our age, job, education level, region of the country, and so on. We pick up new words and phrases from all the different people we talk with, and these combine to make something new and unlike any other person's particular way of speaking. At the same time, various groups in society use language as a way of marking their group identity - showing who is and isn't a member of the group. Many of the changes that occur in language begin with teens and young adults: As young people interact with others their own age, their language grows to include words, phrases, and constructions that are different from those of the older generation. Some have a short life span (heard groovy lately?), but others stick around to affect the language as a whole. 

We get new words from many different places. We borrow them from other languages (sushi, chutzpah), we create them by shortening longer words (gym from gymnasium) or by combining words (brunch from breakfast and lunch), and we make them out of proper names (Levis, fahrenheit). Sometimes we even create a new word by being wrong about the analysis of an existing word. That's how the word pea was created: Four hundred years ago, the word pease was used to refer to either a single pea or a bunch of them. But over time, people assumed that pease was a plural form, for which pea must be the singular, and a new word - pea - was born. (The same thing would happen if people began to think of the word cheese as referring to more than one chee.) 

Word order also changes, though this process is much slower. Old English word order was much more 'free' than that of Modern English, and even comparing the Early Modern English of the King James Bible with today's English shows differences in word order. For example, the King James Bible translates Matthew 6:28 as "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not." In a more recent translation, the last phrase is translated as "they do not toil". English no longer places not after the verb in a sentence. 

Finally, the sounds of a language change over time, too. About 500 years ago English began to undergo a major change in the way its vowels were pronounced. Before that, geese would have rhymed with today's pronunciation of face, while mice would have rhymed with today's peace. But then a 'Great Vowel Shift' began to occur, during which the ay sound (as in pay) changed to ee (as in fee) in all the words containing it, while the ee sound changed to i (as in pie). In all, seven different vowel sounds were affected. If you've ever wondered why most other European languages spell the sound ay with an e (as in fiancé) and the sound ee with an i (as in aria), it's because those languages didn't undergo the Great Vowel Shift. Only English did. 

Wasn't English more elegant in Shakespeare's day?

People tend to think that older forms of language are more elegant, logical, or correct than modern Forms, but it's just not true. The Fact that language is always changing doesn't mean it's getting worse; it's just becoming different. 

In Old English, a small winged creature with Feathers was known as a brid. Over time, the pronunciation changed to bird. Although it's not hard to imagine children in the 1400's being scolded For 'slurring' brid into bird, it's clear that bird won out. Nobody today would suggest that bird is an incorrect word or a sloppy pronunciation. 

The speech patterns of young people tend to grate on the ears of adults because they're unfamiliar. Also, new words and phrases are used in spoken or informal language sooner than in Formal, written language, so it's true that the phrases you hear teenagers using may not yet be appropriate For business letters. But that doesn't mean they're worse - just newer. For years English teachers and newspaper editors argued that the word hopefully shouldn't be used to mean 'I hope', as in Hopefully it won't rain today, even though people frequently used it that way in informal speech. (And, of course nobody complained about other 'sentence adverbs' such as frankly and actually.) Now the battle against hopefully is all but lost, and it appears at the beginnings of sentences even in formal documents. 

If you listen carefully, you can hear language change in progress. For example, anymore used to occur only in negative sentences: I don't eat pizza anymore. But now, in many areas of the country, it's being used in positive sentences: I've been eating a lot of pizza anymore. In this use, anymore means something like 'lately'. If that sounds odd to you now, keep listening; you may be hearing it in your neighborhood before long. 

Why can't people just use correct English?

By 'correct English', people usually mean Standard English. Most languages have a standard Form; it's the Form of the language used in government, education, and other Formal contexts. But Standard English is just one dialect of English. 

What's important to realize is that there's no such thing as a 'sloppy' or 'lazy' dialect. Every dialect of every language has rules - not 'schoolroom' rules like 'don't split your infinitives', but rather the sorts of rules that tell us that the cat slept is a sentence of English, but slept cat the isn't. These rules tell us what language is like rather than what it should be like. 

Different dialects have different rules. For example: 

(l) I didn't eat any dinner. 

(2) I didn't eat no dinner.

Sentence (l) follows the rules of Standard English; sentence (2) follows a set of rules present in several other dialects. But neither is sloppier than the other; they just differ in the rule For making a negative sentence. In (l), dinner is marked as negative with any; in (2), it's marked as negative with no. The rules are different, but neither is more logical or elegant than the other. In Fact, Old English regularly used 'double negatives', parallel to what we see in (2), and many modern languages, including Italian and Spanish, either allow or require more than one negative word in a sentence. Sentences like (2) only sound 'bad' if you didn't happen to grow up speaking a dialect that uses them. 

You may have been taught to avoid 'split infinitives', as in (3): 

(3) 1 was asked to thoroughly water the garden.

This is said to be 'ungrammatical' because thoroughly splits' the infinitive to water. Why are split infinitives so bad? Here's why: Seventeenth-century grammarians believed Latin was the ideal language, so they thought English should be as much like Latin as possible. In Latin, an infinitive like to water is a single word; it's impossible to split it up. So today, 300 years later, we're still being taught that sentences like (3) are wrong, all because someone in the 1600's thought English should be more like Latin. 

Here's one last example. Over the past few decades, three new ways of reporting speech have appeared: 

(4) So Karen goes, "Wow - I wish I'd been there!" 

(5) So Karen is like, "Wow - I wish I'd been there!" 

(6) So Karen is all, "Wow - I wish I'd been there!"

In (4), goes means pretty much the same thing as said; it's used for reporting Karen's actual words. In (5), is like means the speaker is telling us more or less what Karen said. If Karen had used different words for the same basic idea, (5) would be appropriate, but (4) would not. Finally, is all in (6) is a fairly new construction. In most of the areas where it's used, it means something similar to is like, but with extra emotion. If Karen had simply been reporting the time, it would be okay to say She's like, "It's five o'clock", but odd to say She's all, "It's five o'clock" - unless there was something exciting about it being five o'clock. 

A lazy way of talking? Not at all; the younger generation has made a useful three-way distinction where we previously only had the word said. Language will never stop changing; it will continue to respond to the needs of the people who use it. So the next time you hear a new phrase that grates on your ears, remember that, like everything else in nature, the English language is a work in progress. 

附件四 三四单元作业

Unit 3

I. Choose the best one to fill in the blank.

1. National language is used within national boundaries. English in this century has a become a ___________ .

A. national language B. international language

C. regional language D. global language

2. Several reasons can explain the why English has become an international language or global language--- Britain Empire was once very large, it is the dominant language of USA and it is the language of _________ .

A. literature and history B. government and authority

C. law and military D. science and technology

3. Languages are bound with feelings of loyalty and patriotism to their speakers’ country. It is called ___________ .

A. language barrier B. language attitude

C. language use D. language skills

4. The English used by these Black slaves is what we termed as Black English, or ________ . (Ebonic)

A. American slang B. argot

C. pidgin D. Ebonic

5. The English language had a special role in making a large_______, from different parts of the world, into a single nation.( population)

A. country B. community

C. population D. racial group

6. Speakers of British English and American English understand each other without difficulty. A more formal way of saying this is to say that British English & American English are mutually _________ . (intelligible)

A. intelligible B. independent

C. incompatible D. invisible

7. By the discovery of the New World is meant discovery and settlement in ___________.

A. Australia B. India

C. North America D. South Africa

8. Since the decline of British imperial power, the English language has __________ .

A. become less important

B. become more important

C. remained important, but in a different way

D. declined sharply in importance

9.The total number of users of varieties of English is ___________ the total number of users of varieties of Chinese.

A. still much smaller than B. much larger than

C. the same as D. almost as much as

10. The label ________ is often given to the end of 20^th century since much more information is available than ever before and it can be stored and transferred in ways never possible before.

A. Information Age B. Computer mania

C. Globlizaion D. Internet Popularity

II. Translate the following into Chinese

Braj Kachru who is from Indian sub-continent, uses 3 circles to show his audience how English is used. There are 3 circles that overlap (p.147). They are the Inner Circle (which represents native speakers-users who use English as their mother tongue); the Outer Circle (which represents places where English is used for purposes of international business and sometimes for official business within the country. Most of these places were once part of the British Empire); and the Expanding Circle (where English is not an official language but the number of English users are still increasing who don’t think English belongs to Britain or North America. Instead, they think the language is one of theirs.)

III. Read the following and then answer the questions.

One thing we have to point out is that the number of English users has always been increasing. The world is changing, so is the number of English learners. Because of technical reasons, the change is more rapid today.

We are living in so-called Information Age. Information spreads very rapidly and is taken advantage of by more people and in more fields. The invention and the use of computer is a good case in point. And as an international language, the function of English has helped the spread and transfer of information. The side use of English has strengthened its position worldwide in return. Though there are some other languages which can be called international languages, English is obviously more important and should be termed as global language. It has gone beyond any boundaries.

English learning, therefore, has a lot to do with the advancement of science and the application of technology as well. Students are learning it at school and working adults are learning it for various purposes. At present, there is no sign of declining in the learning and using of English.

The role English plays in the modern world is evident. But, people might ask if it has disadvantages too? Or can it be replaced by some other languages?

People have complaints about English. For instance, one needs a large vocabulary to read well; some sounds are hard to pronounce, and it’s not easy to handle the use of countable nouns and uncountable nouns, etc.

To solve the problem, some people put forward a solution, namely, using a language that has nothing to do with anybody’s mother tongue to take the place of English as an international language. Hence, people don’t have to be bothered by the change of time, place and audience.

It is not practical to use Latin or Greek for the purpose. So, in 19th to early 20th century, people created a few languages to fulfill the task. The most famous and successful man-made language is Esperanto. Yet, it has never been successful in competing with English even though there are some people using the language all the time.

Some people suggested that a natural language be simplified, for example English. In fact, Noah Webster already did the job long before by simplifying the English spelling in order that American children can learn it more easily. And in 1930, a person named Ogden already published his simplified English version. During the 2nd World War, the basic English words people made were only 850 and they could not meet people’s writing needs.

As we all know, there are many languages in the world. In the eyes of the linguists all languages are equal and there is no good one or bad (in other words: developed or primitive) one, just like we say all humans are equal and should be respected.

Can we say that English is widely used because t it better fits in the international circumstances than other languages? It seems irrational to conclude so. The spread of it, as we covered before, was absolutely caused by political, economic and cultural factors instead of linguistic reasons.

The idea of equality or parity among languages is important, and it needs to be carefully understood. No languages that we know about are underdeveloped or primitive. Languages change with time, as the needs of their users change, but change does not mean evolutionary progress. Languages and dialects are valued differently and used differently for historical, political, economic and cultural reasons.

1. Has the number of English users always been increasing or decreasing?

2. The number of English learners change more rapidly, why?

3. As an international language, has English helped the spread and transfer of information?

4. What is the result of the side use of English?

5. Give examples to show what do people complaint about English language.

6. People have practiced two things to solve the problem. What are they?

7. What do linguists regard languages in the way of equality?

8. What are the factors leading to the spread of English language?

9. Is it true that English is widely used because t it better fits in the international circumstances than other languages?

10. Is it true that if a language community is primitive, then its language must be undeveloped?

Unit 4

I. Choose the best one to fill in the blank

1.The idea of equality or ________ among languages is important and needs to be carefully understood.

A. parity B. quality C. unity D. antiquity

2. No languages that we know about are undeveloped or ________.

A. primitive B. native C. authentic D. artificial

3. Languages and dialects are valued_________ and used differently for historical, political, economic and cultural reasons.

A. independently B. differently

C. rarely D. indifferently

4. It is _____ to learn to read the English of a past time. The further back in the past the more difficult it is and the longer it takes.

A. impossible B. possible

C. easy D. linguists’ job

5. A ________is the sort of English use which is associated with a part of society, that is with rich or poor, well or poorly educated.

A. regional variety B. historical variety

C. social variety D. RP variety

6. There are 2 distinct stages in the study of a language. The 1st stage is the study of sound system and grammar system of a language; while the 2nd is ____________.

A. using English in a variety of ways

B. through revision, going over the same groundwork again

C. practicing English conversation

D. focusing on grammar rules

7. English differs with the user, and also with the different________ that speakers have for English.

A. uses B. lexicons C. grammar D. formality

8. English is used in different circumstances with different degrees of ___________.

A. formality B. stability C. reality D. equality

9. The written account is for readers who __________the experience, so it has to be more complete than the spoken version.

A. did share B. did not share

C. heard of D. lived through

10. Style has to be consistent---not uneven. Competent writers and speakers avoid mixing some words suitable for serious contexts with those that are not.

A. try B. enjoy C. avoid D. like

II. list the differences between spoken & written English:

Spoken

Written

Spoken:

1. The work between 2 or more people who are both speakers & listeners.

2. There is reminding, interrupting, hesitation, asking and answering questions in the process.

3. Not keep to a single point and things known to the speakers may be left out.

4. Slang or words known to people involved in the talk may be used

Written:

1. The work of one person for many readers.

2. May be read a long time after it is written.

3. No interruption between the writer & the readers.

4. About what the writer thinks the readers need to know and say all about it.

5. Arranged in best order for readers to comprehend.

6. Is put clearly to avoid confusion or puzzlement on the readers side.

7. Is changing as in other respects, and generally nearer speech than it was before