The Six Strands of Language-Explained!

Next up on the Curriculum Map is The Six Strands of Language.  It is these six strands which form the base of the Story Grammar Marker: Pragmatics, Phonology, Semantics, Syntax & Morphology, Discourse, and Metalinguistics.   Here is how they are defined by SGM:

• Pragmatics - the social uses of language
• Phonology - the sound system tapped for oral language production, decoding, and spelling.
• Semantics - the meanings of words and their relationship to each other within and across sentence boundaries.
• Syntax & Morphology - the word order and complexity of clausal structures as well as the addition/omission of endings such as -ed and -ing.
• Discourse - the level of oral language or print that is beyond the level of the single sentence.
• Metalinguistics - the acquired process of manipulating language as an object rather than a means of communication.

These strands are then described further and given sub-categories.  I am using the six strands themselves as my annual goals and the sub-categories as guidelines for my short-term objectives.

• Pragmatics
• eye contact
• noise
• space
• body language
• tone of voice
• feedback
• turn taking
• topic maintenance
• comments
• clarification

• Phonology
• spelling
• articulation
• phonemic awareness
• sound symbol relationships

• Semantics
• words
• multiple meanings
• experiential scripts/schema or content
• word relationships within a sentence
• cohesive devices
• figurative language

• Syntax & Morphology
• word order
• cohesive ties
• verb tense
• morphology

• Discourse
• conversation
• narrative
• exposition

• Metalinguistics
• rhyme
• perspective
• self-monitoring
• figurative language
• segmentation
• manipulation

I introduce each of these strands by reading a book or watching a video that demonstrates each one or at least an aspect of it and then facilitate a discussion.  I created these simple little yarn tools to give kids a visual aid to help internalize these concepts.  All I did was assign a color to each of the 6 strands, bought yarn in those colors, cut it up into 6 inch pieces and tied the 6 colors together.  Super simple but really helped the kids associate a color to each of the areas.  I also decorated the big bulletin board behind my desk with these strands and definitions.

This has been just a brief overview of the Six Strands of Language as described in the Story Grammar Marker manual.  I will do a post very soon reflecting on my week introducing all the strands.  There were things that worked very well and things that I definitely would have done differently!