Author: Santiago

The present essay deals with children’s acquisition of literacy (alfabetismo) through the development of two language skills, reading and writing. In children’s mother language, these two skills are intertwined in early learning. For example, the physical act of writing...

It is important to distinguish two concepts: phonetics and phonology. PHONETICS is the science that studies the language sounds; how sounds are produced in general. PHONOLOGY is the study of the sound system of a particular language. It includes stress, rhythm...

The orthography of a language is the set of rules of how to write correctly in the language. The term is derived from Greek ortho- ("correct") and graphos ("writing"). In this topic we shall deal with the relationship between phonemes and graphemes. A phoneme...

In this essay we will deal with how vocabulary can be classified into lexical and semantic fields, and we will also analyse the vocabulary needed to express some of the most common communicative functions as regards socializing, expressing information and attitude...

As regards morphology and syntax, they are the two basic branches of grammar. Morphology deals with the study of the forms of words, while syntax is concerned with the way words combine to form sentences. In other words, syntax is grammar at the word...

A number of years ago, our methods experienced a sweeping change. Up to then, more grammatical approaches had been used, with word-lists and translation, and an emphasis on written language and skills. The critique against this approach started in the sixties...

Methodology in language teaching is a notion that links theory and practice. The term “methodology” can be used in both an abstract and a concrete sense: we can talk about communicative methodology, as well as about the methodology used by a particular...