​Unit 3 - Area of Study 1: Informal language

Outcome 1

Identify and analyse distinctive features of informal language in written and spoken texts.

Examples of learning activities

• List a range of synonyms for a particular word, for example inebriated, using a thesaurus to help; arrange the synonyms along a continuum from most informal to most formal; discuss the connotations of each expression; in which context is each word more likely to be heard or used?
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  Consider spoken, written and digital texts from within a given domain, for example sport; arrange the texts from least formal to most formal; discuss how the structure and content of these texts is influenced by the situational and cultural context of each.
• Record and transcribe a short segment of a television program and examine the features of spontaneous spoken language and, in multimodal texts, examine the importance of body language and paralinguistic cues.
• Examine a transcript of a telephone conversation or a segment of talkback radio and discuss the significance of back channelling and other strategies in spoken discourse.
• Use YouTube to listen to the stand-up routines of comedians, for example at the annual Melbourne International Comedy Festival; discuss why most comedians use informal language features in their prepared routines; what effect does this have on their audience and the success of their routine?
• Consider when, how and why we ‘play’ with language when interacting with small children, friends, family members, partners; examine the language in St Valentine’s Day notices; what innovative words or catchphrases are unique to students’ families or friendship groups?
• Write a list of expressions that are particular to a workplace or other professions which would not be considered Standard English; discuss when and why these words are used.
• Examine the Classification website and discuss the issue of swearing; consider how words can lose their intensifying effect over time.
• Print off samples of informal language from the internet, such as an email or a blog or a chat exchange; analyse the lexical choice and the syntactic and morphological structure evident in each text; consider its similarity to speech; examine how cohesion and coherence is achieved within each text.
• Consider examples of informal language in social media or electronic communication (for example. Twitter, SMS) and compare with the language in the more traditional form of handwriting (a ‘to-do’ list, a reminder on the fridge, a letter exchanged between friends in class); in a table, list the various features of the language used in each of these texts.
• Read some of Danny Katz’s writing in The Age newspaper; in groups, discuss the language features and structures which contribute to the informal register which is characteristic of Katz’s writing.
• Role-play the different ways in which people can ask for things to be done, for example, when asking someone to close a door; classify these requests into sentence types: is the request imperative, interrogative, declarative or exclamative? Discuss which sentence types are more or less appropriate in certain situations and the impact on participants’ face needs.
• Brainstorm and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of speech and writing; have a class debate about which mode is the most prestigious in our society.
• Select two students to discuss an interesting event which occurred recently, for example a party or school formal, and record this conversation; have one student write down an account of the same event; use the account and the recording to examine the syntactic and discourse features of the two texts, noting the differences between speech and writing; students could then accurately transcribe the conversation, using accepted notation.
• Role-play everyday conversations between friends or family members in which one speaker deliberately uses formal language; what effect does this have on the flow and outcome of the conversation, and the impact on participants’ face needs?

 

​​Detailed example

Types and features of informal texts

1. As a class, list written, spoken and digital texts from within the domain of sport, such as Australian Rules football. Consider, for example, the range of texts on an official footy club website.
2. In pairs, plot these texts along a continuum from most informal to most formal, and be prepared to justify your selection when presenting to the class.
3. Discuss how the situational and cultural context of each text influences its structure and language.
4. Listen to a recording of an informal spoken text from the domain of sport, such as radio commentary of a football game.
5. Transcribe a section and annotate, identifying the features of spoken language referred to in the study design.
6. Discuss the link between the spoken language features and the context of the transcript.
7. Write up notes into an extended analytical commentary.