6-Academic Language

(2) Editing

• Assignment - Research indicates that students edit and revise more when writing on a computer than when writing by hand. 

1. Use the comment feature to identify all of the mistakes you can find in this  document without the aid of a grammar checker. Provide a link to your document.

2. Use the comment feature to identify all of the mistakes the spelling and grammar checker find in this document.  Provide a link to your document.

3. Do a spelling and grammar check on "Ode to a Spellchecker".   How many of the  127 spelling errors are detected?Provide a link to your document.

4.  After checking all three documents, describe and give examples of the types of errors best caught by the software, versus those best caught by a human editor. 

(3) OCR; Readability

• Video: OCR - turning an image into editable text [2:06]

• Assignment - Readability is a measure of the comprehensibility or understandability of written text. There are many methods and formulas for determining readability and the related reading age. Teachers should be aware of the readability level of their text as well as the reading level of their students. 

1. Use OCR to turn the Gettysburg Address as it appeared in the New York Semi-Weekly Tribune of November 20, 1863 into an editable Google doc.  Make a copy of the jpg, and then, from within your Google Drive, right click and "open with Google docs".  Embed this only known photo of Lincoln at Gettysburg and embed your new editable doc. 

2. Open this pdf of Municipal Hydro-Electric Power (LADWP - description of Owen's River Project and proposed Boulder/Hoover Dam. circa 1921. From the collection of Elizabeth Herr). Open in Google docs, and then reformat the text and insert photos from the original pdf. Embed your reformatted doc. 

3. Take photos of three or more pages from your textbook and then upload the images (jpg, png, or pdf) to Google Drive.  Google Drive will perform optical character recognition (OCR) on the documents if you right click on them and direct Google Drive to "open in Google Docs".  Once you have editable text, obtain a readability estimate and include the results in your portfolio.   

4. According to the computer-generated readability estimates, does this text appear to be appropriate for your students? Explain.

(4) Equations

• Video: Equation Editor [4:52]

• Assignment - Many teachers have the need to incorporate equations into handouts, tests and notes. Equation editors allow you to make equations and then export them as graphics to word processors.  Use the equation editor within Google Docs to re-create these equations. 

(5) Word Relationships

• Assignment - English has an extensive vocabulary and many synonyms and many homonyms.  For example, there are 645 meanings for the word "run". This can cause difficulties for English learners. An electronic thesaurus may be used to help students understand the complex relationship within the English lexicon. 

1. Create a copy of this spreadsheet of homonyms, homophones & synonyms.  Use the comment feature to highlight 5 examples from each tab that you or your students have experienced difficulty with. 

2. Using the dictionary tool, paraphrase the preamble of the Constitution. Include at least ten logical substitutions for the original words such that the meaning has been preserved.

(6) Mastering Content Vocabulary

• slides - History of English Language

• Assignment 

  •  Although modern English has the largest and most complex lexicon of any language in history, the meanings of many words can be determined if one knows the common prefixes, suffixes and root words. Knowledge of such morphemes is particularly useful for English learners who face the formidable challenge of mastering English vocabulary, with all of its many nuances. According to Richard E. Hodges of the University of Puget Sound ("Improving Spelling and Vocabulary in the Secondary School; 1982, p 30) ,“If you were to examine the 20,000 most used English words, you would find that about 5,000 of them contain prefixes and that 82 percent (about 4,100) of those words use one of only fourteen different prefixes out of all the available prefixes in the language.” Thus, if students master these prefixes, they will know clues to the meanings of thousands of words."

ab- (away from);  be- (on all sides, overly);  de- (reversal, undoing, downward);  dis-, dif- (not, reversal);  ex- (out of, former);  pre- (before);  re- (again, restore);  un- (do the opposite of);  ad- (to, toward);  com-, con-, co- (with, together);  en-, em- (in, into, to cover or contain);  in- (into, not);  pro- (in favor of, before);  sub- (under, beneath)

1. Work with a partner to determine the meaning of pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis by analysis with words that you are familiar with. Embed your slides.

2. Identify five words that are commonly used in your subject. Identify one or more prefixes, suffixes or roots from each. Use an online dictionary to identify 5 or more other words in the English language that use these morphemes as per the example. When searching, you will need to use standard wildcards: *=multiple characters; ?=single character.   If necessary, you may wish to use the Dictionary of Word Roots and Combining Forms.

3.  One way to interest students in the significance of words is to have them study the meaning of their own names. Identify the meaning of five common first names of students in your class. Alternatively, you can type your name, followed by the word "etymology" in the Google Search bar.  For example:  Michael etymology