Culmination Report
- Type of paperOther
- SubjectLinguistics
- Number of pages3
- Writer qualityStandard
- Format of citationMLA
- Number of cited resources3
My topic is the CLO #1. This word document is my old draft with another topic, but I found that topic really hard to write about. I was half way through the CL0 #1, but I didn′t save the document to my USB on the laptop that I borrowed from the school library, and the laptop ended up crashing and I don′t have time to do it all over again. The PDF instruction is very clear and the professor suggests me to incorporate both personal opinions and cite examples of the wider and/or professional implications.
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Culmination Report
DESCRIPTION
Defining Course Learning Objectives (CLO) can take a wide variety of terms considering the fact that the large number of educators in language have different views. Although educators have different views towards Course Leaning Objectives, we can describe the concept as a purposeful sequencing of academic expectations a course. The sequencing involves the learning progressions through the different stages, ages or grade levels of a learner throughout a course. CLO involves a series of instructions that ensure that students and tutors work towards the achievement of learning expectations (Carnegie Mellon University).
STATEMENT
CLO #1; the difference between a prescriptive versus descriptive approach to language, and how both are useful.
The field of language has taken two main ways. Language has assumed the shape of either descriptive or prescriptive disciplines of grammar that mainly focus on how to use language. Understanding the two approaches ensures that grammar users readily possess all aspects of linguistics. Educators and learners have been considerate on maximizing time and effort in distinguishing these language aspects. Most importantly, understanding the two aspects has been of great effort towards the social and professional development of individuals specializing in grammar and language. As this report depicts, there exists a variety of reason and impact of language users applying the two forms of grammar in their day to day communications.
Distinguishing the two concepts: Differences and relevance
Prescriptive grammar concept specializes on highlighting how language should be used. Prescriptive approach is of great help to the language users who believe that there is an idealized form of language that everybody should apply. The concept is very keen in noting how language users are meant to express their thoughts in a grammatical correct way. Prescriptive language approach focuses on offering a guide to the users on how they should speak and the kind of language they should avoid. The approach is widely applied in English and other languages classes whereby the aim is to teach the learners how to use the language in particular (Panagiotou).
In most cases, the approach is mainly applied by the language users with less professional training but rather they dwell more on the social impact. The approach which has been in application from the eighteenth century has great impact on the social relations in describing how language should be used. The approach leads the way in enforcing cultural cohesion through the application of language by the variety of users in the society. The approach has a great impact of helping maintain written language and ensuring that language users are influential towards maintaining the grammatical rules in language.
On the other hand, descriptive language approach focuses on handling language as it is used. This approach views language as a phenomenon that can be scientifically studied and one that majorly relates to the human character. The descriptive approach has less interest on how language should be used but rather imposing rules on the language use. In most cases, those who mainly rely on the descriptive approach blame the prescriptive rules for the existence of faulty in grammar. This approach is not interested on language rules that users need to apply to be regarded as grammatically correct. The descriptive grammarians are focused on coming up with new patterns behind the pre-stated rules and comparing languages with dialects.
Although the two approaches tend to circulate around the concept of language use, the two concepts differ in a major way. One of the key differences between the two language approaches lie on their definition of “grammatical”. The descriptive approach views a sentence as “grammatical “if a speaker correctly expresses it by speaking. Additionally, the descriptive approach is able to defend its definition by dissecting the sentence and give a description through theories about the mental activities leading towards its construction. In contrast, the prescriptive language approach describes a sentence as “grammatical” only when it conforms to a set of rules that the grammarian believes should be used under a certain language style. As the descriptive grammarian focuses on describing the mental processes behind the use of language, the prescriptive grammarian is concerned with giving any form of language expression a shape that fully conforms to the pre-stated rules.
CONCLUSION
As described above, the two language patterns aims at providing a perfect language platform that favors both the professional and social sectors. Despite their difference, the two approaches are important in the agreement towards effective language. However, the differences between the two language patterns can be traced back to the concept of Standard English. The concept is very keen to highlight the reason for the divergent application of languages by users. The concept offers a reason why some language users feel one approach to be correct while the other is wrong. It is important to note that Linguistics aim at providing a descriptive approach of language to the users (Saad). Although an idea by a prescriptive grammarian might provoke a descriptive grammarian, both approaches require equal attention when highlighting the Course Learning Objectives (CLO).
Works Cited
Carnegie Mellon University. “Articulate Your Learning Objectives.” Design and Learning centre (2012).
Panagiotou, George. “Conjoining prescriptive and descriptive approaches: Towards an integrative framework of decision making. A conceptual note.” Management Decision, (2008).
Saad, Germaine H. “Strategic performance evaluation: descriptive and prescriptive analysis.” Industrial Management & Data Systems, (2011).