A 10 lesson unit comprising of a 70 slide PowerPoint, 9 different worksheets (including texts for analysis) exploring the topic of Language Change and a summary terminology and theory sheet.
Each lesson includes a starting discussion prompt which acts as a learning objective, detailed notes on the theories and concepts listed below, a worksheet (with the exception of lesson nine) and activities, and a homework task. The following theories and concepts are covered:
- Lexical, Semantic, Phonological, Grammatical and Orthographical processes
- David Crystal – A Sea of Language Change and tidal metaphor (1999)
- Diachronic and Synchronic Linguistic Change
- Origins of Old English and Middle English
- Descriptivism and Prescriptivism
- Samuel Johnson – Dictionary of the English Language (1755)
- Robert Lowth – A Short Introduction to English Grammar (1762)
- Jonathan Swift – ‘A Proposal for Correcting, Improving and Ascertaining the English Tongue’ (1712)
- John Walker – A Critical Pronouncing Dictionary (1791)
- Otto Jespersen – Great Vowel Shift (1909)
- William Caxton – Printing Press (1476)
- John McWhorter – Textspeak (2013)
- Jean Aitchison – Language Change Progress or Decay? (2012)
- Vocal Fry and Uptalk
- Martin Janssen – Lexical gaps (2012)
- Functional view/theory
- Linguistic determinism and the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
- Charles Hockett – Random Fluctuation Theory (1958)
- Peter Trudgill – Language Myths (1990)
- John Humphrys – Prescriptivist grammatical change
- Lynne Truss – Eats, Shoots and Leaves (2003)
- Jean Aitchison – A Web of Worries (1996)
- Guy Deutscher – The Unfolding of Language (2006)
- James Milroy and Lesley Milroy – Complaint tradition (1985)
- Robert Lane Greene – You Are What You Speak (2011)
There are some references to AQA-style A Level specification questions, but you can adapt these if needs be. These can be found on slides 59-67. Lesson 9 is based on an AQA A Level question.
The final lesson is a consolidation activity complete with guided revision cards. Alternatively, you could use an app such as Quizlet so that the students could produce digital revision resources.
