CSCL Activity - Academic Language

Contents

• Contents

• Understanding root words

• Building a Root Word Glossary

• Analyzing Academic Terms

• Deciphering terms – Taxonomy and classification

• Etymology, Cognates; Foreign Roots

Understanding root words

• Understanding Root Words.

• Biology Roots

• Chemistry Roots

• Dictionary or Root Words

• Physics Roots

Building a Root Word Glossary

• Choose a difficult term in your discipline and enter it in the appropriate column in the Root Word Glossary. Identify the prefixes, suffixes, and roots and place them in the appropriate columns

  • Identify the meanings of these terms. You may use the Dictionary of Word Roots to accomplish this.

  • Provide additional examples of the use of each prefix, suffix or root word. You may use OneLook to accomplish this.

Analyzing Academic Terms

• • Analyze the roots and determine its meaning

  • Your task will be to decipher the meaning of the following word: pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis

  • To do this you will need to break the word up into parts. Highlight each word part using the tools above and give the meaning of each word part using the same color. Finally write a definition for the whole word using black type.

  • Review this visualization of this word when you have completed the task

  • Build a slide show to illustrate analyses of academic terms.

    • 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. Example 1 - Scientific terms

                     2. Example 2 - Variety of terms

                     3. Template

Deciphering terms – Taxonomy and classification

Once you know basic root words for a science, you can determine the meanings of new terms. Table 1.2 has a list of animal classifications, many of which you may find unfamiliar or even unpronounceable. Analyze the roots (using table 1.3) and match each phylum, class or order to a likely definition. Do not use a dictionary or glossary, but rather draw conclusions based on an analysis of the root words.

• Deciphering biology (taxonomy) and chemistry terms

Etymology, Cognates; Foreign Roots

• History of the English Language

• Geography of adopted words - Develop a map showing the flow of terms into the English language by connecting arrows between the place of origin and London, England, using a Padlet file

• What uses might you have for wall Padlet

• What uses for a flow chart Padlet

• Mind Map of adopted words - Create a Mind Map using Coggle.it to show how English borrows words from many languages.

• Mind Map - Coggle file

• Cognate activity - Understand the similarity between English words and those in other languages