AccuracyandAppropriate:FormalandInformalWordsUnit8Thescenarioofinstructionprovidedasfollowsisdesignedjustforreference.Theteacherissupposedtocombineillustratingthefocusedpointswithdoingthegivenexercisesintheunit.Unit8Classroomteachingiscompletelypresupposedonpre-readingthetextoutsideclassroom.I.Lead-inDoyouseethedifferencebetweenTextAandTextBintermsofstyle?Whatmarksaninformalstyle?Whatmarksaformalstyle?Toanswertheabovequestions,atfirst,weshouldunderstandwhatawritingstyleis.Thewritingstyleisthewaythewriterchooseswordstosuitaspecificpurposeofhisorherwriting,ortoachieveacommunicativeeffectthroughwriting.Lookatthewordsandexpressionstakenfromthetexts–essential,analogous,priorities,party,bloodyawful,thanksto,andanswerthefollowingquestions:Canwetelltheformalwordsorexpressionseasilyfromtheinformalones?Whyorwhynot?Whatmethoddoyouthinkweusuallyusetotelltheformalfromtheinformal?Styleisapatternoflinguisticfeaturesdistinguishingonepieceofwritingfromanother,oronecategoryofwritingfromanother.Itisamatterofdegree.So,thebestwaywecanusetotellonefromanotheristomakecomparisonsbetweendifferentauthors’choicesconcerningmattersofdiction,organization,sentencestructure,punctuation,andsoon.Inthisunit,wewilllearnhowtouseformalandinformalwordsaccuratelyandappropriatelyinwriting.

I.Lead-inActivatingknowledgemeansmakingwordknowledge

lyinginthemindsofstudentsstartworking.II.ActivatingKnowledgeEnglishwordscanbeclassifiedbylevelsofformality,butitisamatterofdegreeforwordstobecategorizedasformalandinformal,andwecanonlymakethedistinctionthroughcomparisonandcontrast.Examples?Cf.thelistofexamplesofinformalwords/expressionsandtheirformalequivalentsonpage162,textbook.CommonandplainEnglishwordsservealmostallourpurposesinwriting,butweneedtobewellawareof

someknowledgeaboutthedistinctionbetweenformalandinformalwordsandexpressionstowritebetter.Weshouldkeepinmindandputintopracticesomefundamentalprincipleswithregardtoourchoiceofformalorinformalwordsandexpressions.Herearesomepointsforemphasis:Dictioniscontext-specific.Thereader-writer

relationshipandsubjectmatteraffectourwordchoices.Dictionvarieswithsubjectsandpurposes.Differentwordsandexpressionsareappropriatefordifferentsubjectsandservedifferentpurposes.Dictionvarieswithdifferenttypesofwriting,andweshouldlearntoassociatewordsandexpressionsofdifferentlevelsofformalitywithdifferenttypesofwriting.II.ActivatingKnowledgeII.ActivatingKnowledgeAlwaysadaptourdictiontothecommunicativesetting,andwhenwearenotsureaboutourpurposeandaudience,itissafertomaintainagenerallevelofformalityinourchoiceofwords.Formalandinformalwordsarenotmutuallyexclusive,butvariationofdictioninatextusuallygoeswithaspecialpurposeandconveysspecialimplications.Avoidtwocommonpitfallsinwriting:theuseofextremelyformalorinformalwordsorexpressions.WritenaturallywithcommonandplainEnglish.Applyingknowledgemeansdoingyourwritingpracticebasedontheknowledgeyouhaveacquired.TasksOne,TwoandThree

Theseexercisesaredesignedtocultivateaconsciousnessthatformalandinformalexpressionscanbothbeusedforthesameideabuttheyproducedifferenteffectsonourwritingandservedifferentpurposes.III.ApplyingKnowledgeTaskFourThisexerciseisdesignedforstudentstorecognizedifferentcommunicativesettingsandlearntoassociatedictionwithdifferentsituationsanddifferentstyles.III.ApplyingKnowledgeTaskFiveandWritingTheseexercisesaredesignedforthestudentstogetanideaaboutthepowerofcommonandplainEnglishwhichservesmostofourpurposesinwritingandtohelpthemstayawayfromextremelyinformalexpressions,andthustolearntowritenaturallyandclearly.III.ApplyingKnowledgeIV.WritingThroughExperiencingandReadingWritingthroughexperiencingandreadingmeansinvolvingstudentsinwritingpracticebasedontheirpersonalexperienceandwhattheyhavelearnedfromthetext.Writingafterreading(TextB)involvesstudentsinrewritingTextBintoaninterview,aimingtohelpthemrecognizethatspokenEnglishtendstobemoreinformal,andhelpthemtolearntoadaptdictiontothecontextorthecommunicativ