WRITING

=**Written or Spoken Language**=




 * Look at this example of language. Is it written or spoken, do you think? How do you know?**


 * Extract One:**

Well, I, ehm, I work in the language centre…you know, at the university…. We, ehm, we..eh..teach languages, different languages..in the centre ehm..and in the faculty, actually, I’m doing a lot of exams at the moment… Oh, exams..really? Yes, .I suppose .., well, yes, ….because most students need B1 these days.


 * Make a list below of the features that characterize this type of language:**

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 * Now look at this version:**
 * What differences do you notice?**

My work is largely carried out at the university language centre, where several languages are taught both in the centre itself and in the faculties too. Most of the work being done currently, however, tends to be examining work, as there is a great demand for most undergraduate students to prove their linguistic competence in English at a B1 level, which they have to demonstrate to the faculties they are studying in.

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 * Now look back at a piece of written work you have done in English and analyse the features you have used.**

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 * What are your conclusions?**

You will probably have thought about some of these areas:
number of participants in discourse, developing the ideas, lexical choice and register, hesitation, repetition, simple clauses, more complex clauses, thematic choice, contractions, incomplete phrases, linking ideas logically with connectors, discourse markers, back-channelling.

Now it's your turn: click on this link to see some examples of spoken and written language which for various reasons are not too successful
!


 * Now look at these examples of ways in which some"written examples" from the worksheet above could have been changed.**

Look at number 2: "Crime", and see how it has been adapted then do the exercise:

Here is some useful language work you might want to do. Some learners have realised that they are writing in language that is too informal and that they don't always manage to emphasise the points they want to.
 * Language work**

Look now at the version of numer 3 below. What features do you notice here?

//"Saturday", the enjoyable, thought-provoking piece of writing by Ian McEwan, was published this summer in a new version. The book, which was set in London, and tells an agonising story of one man's struggle through the choices thrown at him by everyday life, is a chilling portrait of the way in which our psychology conditions our every action. It is well worth a read!//

For more work on successful or unsuccessful language choices look at the page below: LANGUAGE CHOICES


 * Now look at an example of spoken language which you can transform into a written review of a book:**

In class we looked at various useful text-referring words, mainly nouns, and now you can use them to practise writing yourself: Depending on your area of expertise (what you are specialising in) choose one of the following:
 * USING TEXT REFERRING NOUNS**

The dilemma in modern tourist resort development is often......................................... Many of the issues touched on by Shakespeare/the dramatists of the Theatre of the Absurd are.......... Crises all over the world affect markets...... Our choice of lexis many linguists claim is linked to......