Transcript Slide 1

Nominalisation
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Purpose of Nominalisation
• Nominalisation helps achieve a higher
degree of abstraction and technicality.
• Nominalisation is significant in
constructing a distant and abstract world
that can be reflected on.
• Nominalisation is one of the language
choices that enables movement towards
highly written texts.
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Creating nominalisations
• Nominalisations are nouns often formed
from verbs (e.g. discover > discovery,
achieve > achievement, present >
presentation, permit > permission).
• describers (e.g. brave > bravery, wide >
width, tense > tension),
• conjunctions (e.g. because > cause,
whereas > difference, if > possibility)
• preposition (e.g. during > duration).
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Creating nominalisations
From Verbs
• Many verbs can be changed into
nominalisations by changing the end of
the verb
• eg. divide > division, pay > payment,
sing > my singing
• Some do not need change
• eg. his diet, the struggle
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Nominalisation in Schooling
• Nominalisations are used in written and
multimodal texts and in teacher talk across all
learning areas and in each band.
- Across curriculum (e.g. attention,
assessment, co-operation, intelligence,
behaviour)
- Mathematics (e.g. length, division)
- Science (e.g. sight, reproduction)
- Society and Environment (e.g. relief,
invasion)
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Some common nominalisations in
Maths
Word
deep
Verb/describer Nominalisation
describer
verb
addition
describer
distance
multiply
estimation
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Some common nominalisations in
Maths
Word
Verb/describer Nominalisation
deep
describer
depth
add
verb
addition
distant
describer
distance
multiply
verb
multiplication
estimate
verb
estimation
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Some common nominalisations in
the Arts
Word
perform
Verb/describer Nominalisation
verb
verb
movement
describer
originality
exhibition
surrealism
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Some common nominalisations in
the Arts
Word
Verb/describer Nominalisation
perform
verb
performance
move
verb
movement
original
describer
originality
exhibit
verb
exhibition
surreal
describer
surrealism
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Understanding Nominalisation
Original Version
Nominalised Versions
They were impressed She made an
by how brave she was. impression because
she was brave.
It may not be
They were impressed
appropriate to
by her bravery.
nominalise every
possibility
She made an
impression by her
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bravery.
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Understanding Nominalisation
Original Version
Jill placed the flowers
perfectly on the table.
The coach was
amazed by Nina’s
brilliant effort.
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Nominalised Versions
Understanding Nominalisation
Original Version
Jill placed the flowers
perfectly on the table.
Nominalised Versions
Her placement of the
flowers on the table was
perfect.
The table looked perfect
due to Jill’s placement of
the flowers.
The coach was amazed by Nina’s brilliance amazed
Nina’s brilliant effort.
the coach.
The coach’s amazement
was caused by Nina’s
brilliance.
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Rewriting an example
Step 1 Identify the verbs
• Students who complete what the school
requires can graduate. When they
receive their certificate, they can apply
for work.
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Rewriting an example
Step 1 Identify the verbs
• Students who complete what the school
requires can graduate. When they
receive their certificate, they can apply
for work.
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Rewriting an example
Step 2 Nominalise these verbs
• Complete >
• Require >
• Graduate >
• Receive >
• Apply >
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Rewriting an example
Step 2 Nominalise these verbs
• Complete > Completion
• Require > Requirement
• Graduate > Graduation
• Receive > Receipt
• Apply > Application
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Rewriting an example
Step 3
• Try to rewrite the text using all
nominalisations
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Rewritten example
• Completion of the school’s requirements can
lead to graduation. Upon receipt of their
certificate, students can make an application
for work.
• What other steps were required to rewrite the
text?
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Other changes
• Change of verb > can lead to
• Change of foregrounding > Completion
of the school’s requirements
• Longer noun groups > receipt of their
certificate
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Some considerations
• The syntax of the sentence need to change to
accommodate the nominalisations (eg. new
verb) and as a result the meaning of the
sentence may change
• It is sometimes necessary to build student’s
synonyms for common verbs and describers
before they can nominalise them
• Not all verbs/describers need to be
nominalised
• The appropriate level of nominalisation for the
job
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Building vocabulary prior to
nominalisation
•
•
•
•
She did well in the play.
She performed well in the play.
Her performance in the play was excellent.
Her excellence was shown in her
performance.
• Her excellence was evident in her
performance.
• Evidence of her excellence was seen in her
performance.
(At what point does nominalisation become
cumbersome and inappropriate?)
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Building vocabulary prior to
nominalisation
• He took away the rubbish, because it
had to be done.
• He took away the rubbish, because it
needed to be done.
• He removed the rubbish, because it was
necessary.
• The removal of the rubbish was a
necessity.
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Understanding Nominalisation
•
Text A (Spoken comments at a
committee meeting)
Hazel: I reckon we can replant the trees
along the side of the oval nearest to
the main road. It is very noisy on that
side and the trees will make it better.
I’ll ask the council to see if we can
borrow some of their gear to use on
the day.
Vy: My husband said we can use his
truck if we want to. I can see if my
uncle can also lend us some tools.
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•
Text B (Written minutes of the
meeting including some of the
possible nominalisations)
A proposal was made by Hazel that the
revegetation occur along the side of
the school’s oval nearest to the main
road so that there is a reduction in
noise.
Hazel will make a request to borrow
equipment from the council.
Vy made the offer to use her husband’s
truck and will investigate the
possibility of borrowing equipment
from her uncle.
Text B on the Register Continuum
R
E
G
I
S
T
E
R
Field
Everyday
Technical
Text
B
Tenor Informal
Formal
Text
B
Mode Most spoken
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Most written
Text
B
Nominalisation changes
“packaging’ of information
Texts with lots of nominalisation appear
dense and difficult to read because:
• Abstractions are named
• Noun groups are complex
• Relating verbs are used (e.g. contains,
are, involves)
• “Actors” are removed
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Unpacking nominalisations
• It is important to be able to “unpack” noun
groups containing nominalisations
• How could you explain the information below
without using nominalisation?
• How many sentences does it take?
• The dramatic increase of illegal logging in
rainforests is of international significance. The
reduction of suitable habitat is causing the
extinction of some species and a general
reduction of biodiversity.
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Nominalisation and genres
• Nominalisation is an important resource
for successful development of factual
genres
• Used to introduce technical terms in
explanations or reports
• eg. Heat from the sun causes liquid
water to become water vapour. This
process is called evaporation.
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Nominalisation and genres
• Used to foreground the theme of the
sentence/clause
• eg. When the sun heats the water, it
evaporates into steam. Evaporation causes
the steam to rise, cool and condense.
Condensation into clouds makes the water
droplets heavy and they fall to the ground.
This is precipitation. Precipitation can be rain,
snow or hail.
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Nominalisation and genres
• Used to organise research and writing
• Report eg. Location, Population,
Economy
• Explanation eg. Causes, Effects,
Consequences
• Exposition eg. Arguments, Reasons,
Factors, Issues
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Nominalisation across the ESL
Scales
Scale 6
Understands a
range of common
nominalisations
and uses a limited
range of common
examples:
– understands:
movement, your
turn, a good
chance
– uses: height,
happiness
8
Understands a
range and uses
a small range
of common
nominalisations:
– adjective:
possible possibility, able
- ability
– verb: allow allowance,
permit permission
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10
Uses a small
range of technical
nominalisations
with varying
degrees of
grammatical
accuracy:
– adjective: high height
– verb: evaporate
- evaporation;
expand expansion
– conjunction: if possibility
12
Uses a small
range of
increasingly
abstract and
technical
nominalisations
with increasing
confidence:
– adjective:
capable capability, risky
- risk
– verb: grow growth
14
Uses confidently
a wide range of
abstract and
technical
nominalisations,
– adjective:
informal informality,
regular regularity
– verb: believe beliefs, assume
- assumption
– preposition:
during - duration
Professional Learning
• The Teaching ESL Students in
Mainstream Classrooms (TESMC)
course and the How Language Works
course both raise teacher awareness of
the importance of nominalisation in
schooling and build their capacity to
explicitly teach it
• ESL Regional Consultants also offer
training
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