English Language - Informal Language

[Ahmad_A_1999]

Hey guys, most schools have an informal language SAC coming up soon in the form of short answer questions, does anyone have any transcripts with questions I can use for practice!

Please!

[Joseph41]

Hey guys, most schools have an informal language SAC coming up soon in the form of short answer questions, does anyone have any transcripts with questions I can use for practice!

Please!

Hey Ahmad.

The cool thing with English Language is that you can make your own examples, pretty much at the drop of a hat. I know it's not quite the same and slightly less convenient, but it should do the job.

Basically, print off an extract of any Facebook conversation or spoken conversation transcript, and make up your own questions! The function and register are pretty crucial. And then you can look at more specific linguistic elements as you go through the text.

Something like this might get you started.

EDIT: And if that doesn't do it for it, literally just listen in on random conversations and try to work out why interlocutors are using the language they are. Again, I know it's not quite the same as having an actual example of language and pre-determined questions, but it's definitely better than nothing.

[Ahmad_A_1999]

Hey Ahmad.

The cool thing with English Language is that you can make your own examples, pretty much at the drop of a hat. I know it's not quite the same and slightly less convenient, but it should do the job.

Basically, print off an extract of any Facebook conversation or spoken conversation transcript, and make up your own questions! The function and register are pretty crucial. And then you can look at more specific linguistic elements as you go through the text.

Something like this might get you started.

EDIT: And if that doesn't do it for it, literally just listen in on random conversations and try to work out why interlocutors are using the language they are. Again, I know it's not quite the same as having an actual example of language and pre-determined questions, but it's definitely better than nothing.

Hey Joseph, I did the SAC before reading your reply, I was quite disappointed with my SAC, I pulled an 87, my main issue was not being able to understand what was going on in the text, and hence I didn't really 'engage' so much with the it. 

[cookiedream]

Hey Joseph, I did the SAC before reading your reply, I was quite disappointed with my SAC, I pulled an 87, my main issue was not being able to understand what was going on in the text, and hence I didn't really 'engage' so much with the it. 

Hello! Also doing Eng Lang this year haha. When I'm given a text, if it's spoken I imagine the interlocutor(s) speaking and if written I imagine the writer writing the piece, and when I do this I find it easier to understand what's going on. To engage with the text, you pretty much identify the features and question its existence. Why do the interlocutors use it? Why is it even there? You then link to sociolinguistic variables, particularly the social purpose and function, and include the names of the participants as well as the context.

For informal, a certain feature may (though it depends on the question for Section A):
- Promote solidarity
- Create a casual/intimate/conversational tone (e.g. By using contractions such as "can't" (5), A helps to form a casual tone in his conversation with B, reducing the formality of their discussion about unicorns <<< more relevant to Section B though)
- Help build or maintain rapport
- Decrease social distance
- Reduce formality of an exchange
 etc etc

[exit]

Hey Joseph, I did the SAC before reading your reply, I was quite disappointed with my SAC, I pulled an 87, my main issue was not being able to understand what was going on in the text, and hence I didn't really 'engage' so much with the it. 

Is 87 really a bad score?

[Joseph41]

Hey Joseph, I did the SAC before reading your reply, I was quite disappointed with my SAC, I pulled an 87, my main issue was not being able to understand what was going on in the text, and hence I didn't really 'engage' so much with the it. 

Hey Ahmad,

Sorry to hear you were disappointed with your score! Do you know where exactly you lost your marks?

Hello! Also doing Eng Lang this year haha. When I'm given a text, if it's spoken I imagine the interlocutor(s) speaking and if written I imagine the writer writing the piece, and when I do this I find it easier to understand what's going on. To engage with the text, you pretty much identify the features and question its existence. Why do the interlocutors use it? Why is it even there? You then link to sociolinguistic variables, particularly the social purpose and function, and include the names of the participants as well as the context.

For informal, a certain feature may (though it depends on the question for Section A):
- Promote solidarity
- Create a casual/intimate/conversational tone (e.g. By using contractions such as "can't" (5), A helps to form a casual tone in his conversation with B, reducing the formality of their discussion about unicorns <<< more relevant to Section B though)
- Help build or maintain rapport
- Decrease social distance
- Reduce formality of an exchange
 etc etc

Great post, cookiedream.

Is 87 really a bad score?

Marks are such a subjective thing. If somebody's disappointed with 99%, they're disappointed with 99% - but that definitely doesn't mean that others should be. So I don't think there's an objective cut off of what entails a good score, or a bad score, or whatever else.

[Ahmad_A_1999]

Is 87 really a bad score?

Hi Exit! Well I try to aim for 95 and above for my subjects (chem, bio and methods), English and Spesh being the exceptions of 90 and above because they are hard in my opinion, anything below hurts me 

Hello! Also doing Eng Lang this year haha. When I'm given a text, if it's spoken I imagine the interlocutor(s) speaking and if written I imagine the writer writing the piece, and when I do this I find it easier to understand what's going on. To engage with the text, you pretty much identify the features and question its existence. Why do the interlocutors use it? Why is it even there? You then link to sociolinguistic variables, particularly the social purpose and function, and include the names of the participants as well as the context.

For informal, a certain feature may (though it depends on the question for Section A):
- Promote solidarity
- Create a casual/intimate/conversational tone (e.g. By using contractions such as "can't" (5), A helps to form a casual tone in his conversation with B, reducing the formality of their discussion about unicorns <<< more relevant to Section B though)
- Help build or maintain rapport
- Decrease social distance
- Reduce formality of an exchange
 etc etc

Thanks for the help Cookie! I will keep this in mind for the future!

Hey Ahmad,

Sorry to hear you were disappointed with your score! Do you know where exactly you lost your marks?

Hey Joseph! When I get the SAC I'll probably post it here so others don't make the same mistakes I do and everyone can benefit, but mistakes mostly came from the spoken text, I found the conversation to be very difficult to follow as I didn't really understand a lot of the Australian slang used.

[Joseph41]

Hey Joseph! When I get the SAC I'll probably post it here so others don't make the same mistakes I do and everyone can benefit, but mistakes mostly came from the spoken text, I found the conversation to be very difficult to follow as I didn't really understand a lot of the Australian slang used.

That would be great! Thanks, Ahmad.