Microsoft Word Lesson plans Year doc

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©British Council 2013

Lesson Plans Year 2

Materials: Handout 1
Procedure:

• 
  Introduce the topic of the lesson by saying pronouns along with other devices such as articles, substitution are used for referencing to make the discourse coherent.
  
• 
  Distribute Handout 1 and ask students to read the text about types of references.
  
• 
  Write down the terms Anaphoric reference, Cataphoric Reference and Exophoric Reference on the board. Check their understanding by eliciting definitions for the given terms.
  

Activity 2 Identifying reference devices in a discourse
Objective: to let students explore use of reference in a discourse
Time: 25 minutes
Materials: Handout 2
Procedure:

• 
  Move to Activity 2 by saying: now you are going to explore the use of reference in a discourse.
  
• 
  Distribute Handout 2 and ask students to do tasks 1 and 2 individually.
  
• 
  Ask students to share their answers in pairs.
  
• 
  Invite volunteers to share their answers with the whole class.
  

Suggested Answers:

1. 
   How many schoolmasters were there in the village? How do you know?
   

There is one schoolmaster in the village which is proved by the use of definite article the, used as exophora. If it was A schoolmaster then we could suggest that there might be more than one schoolmaster.

2. 
   Does the reader already know which village is meant here?
   

The use of definite article suggests that the reader already know the village. The village might have been mentioned earlier in the text (then it would be anaphora), if not, it can be classified as exophora and assumes the village under consideration.

3. 
   Who does this refer to?
   

Everybody assumes villagers (including the miller). Exophora.

4. 
   How many millers were there at Cresscombie? How do you know?
   

One miller as it is used with definite article.

5. 
   Who does this refer to?
   

Him is a anaphoric reference to the schoolmaster.

6. 
   A vehicle like what?
   

Anaphoric reference to a cart and a horse.

7. 
   Which of these references are anaphoric and which are exophoric?
   

See answers above.


Task 2 Answers:


Exophoric references are culture specific, the reader needs extralinguistic knowledge to understand the text. They are not mentioned anywhere in the text; the reader is assumed to know what it is, making it exophoric. The use of exophoric the, indicating that only one example of this item exists in the time and place mentioned and that the


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©British Council 2013

Lesson Plans Year 2

reader most likely knows about it.
the Dickens brand - refers to activities promoting Charles Dickens yet more skyscraper-shaped piles of cash - refers to the fact that Dickens’ novels were very popular bringing lucrative revenue. There is also reference to a cartoon of Charles Dickens of 1968 where he is shown with his manager, George Dolby, dissatisfied as he counts the skyscraper-high piles of dollar bills on the table, and regretting the fact he has not earned more during American book tour.
The Olympics refers to the Olympic Games held in London 2012.
The Queen refers to the Queen Elyzabeth II and the Queen’s jubilee refers to the celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of the accession of Queen Elizabeth II on 6 February 1952.
The British Library refers to the national library of the UK, that is the second largest library in the world.
The British Council refers to a British organisation specialising in international educational and cultural opportunities.


Activity 3 Exploring reasons for using reference devices
Objective: to let students explore reasons for using reference devices in a discourse Time: 25 minutes Materials: Handout 3
Procedure:

• 
  Distribute handout 3 and ask students to explain reasons why specific reference devices are used in each case.
  
• 
  Ask students to share their answers in pairs.
  
• 
  Invite volunteers to share their answers with the whole class.
  

Suggested Answers:

1. 
   Tom was tired. He was going home.
   

He is anaphoric reference to Tom mentioned in the previous sentence. Anaphoric reference is used to avoid repetition (compare: Tom was tired. Tom was going home) and hold the text together.

2. 
   I couldn’t believe it - the house had been destroyed!
   

It is a cataphoric reference to the fact that the house had been destroyed. It is used to make the speech more expressive, here it is used as opening to breaking the news.

3. 
   A large grey cat was lying on the stairs, and I had to step over it.
   

It is anaphoric reference to a large grey cat mentioned in the text earlier. It is used to avoid repetition, to make the sentence coherent. Also it is also used to avoid potential misunderstanding because we know that they are not introducing new characters.
For example, consider the effect of repeating a large grey cat:
A large grey cat was lying on the stairs, and I had to step over a large grey cat.
Is this sentence referring to one cat or two? The sentence is not just clumsy and long-winded, but the extra words are actually counterproductive because they make it less clear than it would have been with a pronoun as the second link:
A large grey cat was lying on the stairs, and I had to step over it.
Here we can be sure that there is only one cat.

4. 
   It creeps slowly up the stairs, in the dead of night. It slowly pushes the door open. Do these beady eyes belong to a prowler? No, they belong to the family dog.
   

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Lesson Plans Year 2

Cataphoric reference it referring to the dog mentioned later in the text is used to create dramatic effect, to build suspense and keep the reader waiting. Cataphora is commonly used in literary prose.

5. 
   Well in my heart you are my darling,
   

At my gate you're welcome in,
At my gate I'll meet you darling,
If your love I could only win.
Use of personal pronouns (I, my, you, your) is a exophoric reference as they do not reveal who is I and who is you in the text. This is a song, and I apparently refers to the singer, and you is her/his lover. Most frequently, the receiver projects herself into the persona of the addresser and hears the song as though it is her own words to her own lover. Alternatively, the listener may project herself into the persona of the singer's lover and hear the singer addressing her.

6. 
   Have a look at this.
   

Here, this refers to something that the speaker and listener can see and understand, but which has no meaning outside the context- we don't know what this is- exophora. It is used to save efforts, avoid repetition, or sometimes when the speaker can not find words to describe the object or phenomenon. It is also used to arouse the listener’s interest, to draw someone’s attention to something.

• 
  Summarise the lesson by stating that pronouns and other language items in discourse can be used as reference devices (cataphora, anaphora, exophora). It is important to understand not only their type, but also the functions they play in a discourse.
  

©British Council 2013