Unit 4 Conclusion

Question 1

What are the processes involved in understanding written language?

Answer 1

Whether you are reading signs in the street, restaurant menus, newspaper articles or novels, understanding written texts involves a mixture of top-down and bottom-up processes, where you make use of the knowledge available to you (general knowledge, native language knowledge, unfamiliar language knwl., cultural know., syntax, discorse, etc.

Question 2

What are the processes involved in understanding spoken language?

Answer 2

It involves a mixture of top-down and bottom-up processes, where you make use of the knowledge available to you. The initial challenge is recognising individual words within a stream of speech. The clues used can be sounds (phonological), words (lexical), structures within sentences and utterances (syntax) and beyond them(discourse).
At every level, cultural knowledge plays an important role alongside
linguistic knowledge

Question 3

**In summary, what do you need when you learn a new language? page 159

Answer 3

you need to familiarise
yourself with the sounds of the language and learn its vocabulary, syntax, and common discourse patterns as well as developing your cultural knowledge as much as you can.

Question 4

***How are the two major skills of listening and reading know? What about speaking and writing?

Answer 4

Listening and reading - Receptive skills
Speaking and writing- Productive skills