Statistics in Research

A brief presentation on basic statistical techniques used in research methodology.

Langue/Parole Versus Competence/Performance

These slides cover basic Saussurian dichotomies i.e. Syntagmatic Vs. Paradigmatic Axis (Chain Choice Axis), Synchonic Vs. Diachronic and Langue Vs. Parole. The main part is the comparison of Langue Parole and Chomsky's idea of Competence Performance.

Pragmatics

These slides provide a very brief overview of Pragmatics and its concepts including Invisible Meaning, Inference, Context and Co-text, Presupposition, Reference, Anaphora, Speech Acts, Face, Politeness etc.

RP Versus Pakistani English

RP is the standard accent of British English which is endorsed all over the world in teaching and learning of British English. English is being used in Pakistan since its birth and the way pronunciation of English significantly differs from RP due to influence of Urdu, Punjabi and other local languages. Following slides briefly cover the aspects pronunciation which make the two accents different. The same can be true for Indian English and RP as most of these points are common between Indian and Pakistani English.

L2 or Second Language Acquisition/ Learning

The teaching and learning of L2, the use of research from L1 acquisition domain to make the process of learning more 'natural' and 'easy' is one of the richest areas of applied linguistics. Specially ELT and other language teaching branches of applied linguistics are one of the most publishing areas in linguistics. How to convert L2 learning to acquisition, what are the acquisition barriers, affective factors, the approaches which prefer learning vs the approaches which try to create natural conditions to convert language learning to language acquisition: all these points are very briefly discussed in these slides which are based on a chapter from The Study of Language by George Yule.

L1 or First Language Acquisition

L1 or First Language Acquisition is one of the most researched areas of psycholinguistics. For last forty or so years, researchers have tried to find out how child learns a language, what are the stages in L1 acquisition,  what factor affect child's learning. These slides cover a chapter from The Study of Language by George Yule on L1 Acquisition.

Language and Social Variation (Sociolinguistics)

These slides cover basic topics regarding sociolinguistics e.g. Speech Community, Sociolinguistics, Age and Occupation, Social Dialect or Sociolect, Social Markers, Style and Style Shifting, Slang, Register, Jargon, Speech Accommodation: Convergence and Divergence, Language and Gender, Language and Ethnicity and African American Vernacular English (AAVE).