Use of nominalization in History

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Use of nominalization in History

• Miss Lee Chun Fa
• SKH Tang Shiu Kin Secondary School

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• Level F.2
• Topic The French Revolution
• Prior knowledge
• - background of absolutism
• - underlying causes of the French Revolution

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Objectives

• Students master the skills of nominalization and
  learn how to use written language to express
  their opinions in History.
• To enhance students critical thinking ability
  via group discussion they form groups and
  discuss which underlying cause is the most
  important in causing the French Revolution.

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Work schedule

• Three workshops were held in May
• First workshop identify the differences between
  spoken and written language and practise
  nominalization
• Second workshop use of linking devices

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• First workshop Identify differences between
  spoken and written language

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Compare Text A to D

• Text A
• Faced with this economic situation where prices
  were rising and unemployment was growing, the
  government responded with a number of economic
  measures all of which proved ineffectual. They
  raised interest rates, which only served to make
  consumers demand more, leading to prices going up
  even further.

• Text B
• S 1 So what do you think we can do about
  that?
• S 2 Well all I'm hearing from the Treasury lot
  is to increase interest rates.
• S l Can't be done! They'll slaughter us at the
  polls.
• S 2 They'11 slaughter us if we don't.

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Compare Text A to D

• Text D
• The finance minister reporting to cabinet
• 'Well, we've now had advice from all quarters.
  I've spoken at length to Treasury who are of the
  view that we must raise interest rates or the
  economy will continue to struggle. Others, and
  this includes Tony and me, are of the view that
  increasing the interest rates will be politically
  damaging in the short term. But, having said
  that, we feel that we have no choice but to make
  some adjustment in the going rate, suffer the
  short term fallout and benefit in the long term.
  What do people think?

• Text C
• Faced with rising prices and growing
  unemployment, the government undertook a number
  of economic measures all of which proved
  ineffectual. An early response to the situation
  was to raise interest rates which only served to
  drive up consumer demand, leading to further
  increases in prices.

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Answer

• Most spoken ????? Most Written
• Text B ? D ? A ? C

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Nominalization

• Nominalization is a process whereby a number of
  words (usually verbs and adjectives but they can
  also be conjunctions and prepositions) or a
  process of events are turned into nouns

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Spoken language ? written language

• Many people are unemployed because recently many
  small companies have closed.

• The reason for high unemployment can be traced
  to the recent closure of many small companies.

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Spoken language ? written language

• The Greeks were not happy because the Turks ruled
  them badly.

• The bad Turkish rule led to the unhappiness among
  the Greeks.

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Nominalization

• Original form Nominalized form
• Because ? reason / leads to / causes /
  results in
• Unemployed ? unemployment
• Have closed ? closure
• Not happy ? unhappiness
• Ruled ? rule

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Activities Nominalizing

• Because of the Industrial Revolution, the German
  society changed dramatically.
• Because the Earths crust moves, we have
  earthquakes.
• As human technology grows, humans have led a more
  comfortable life.
• When the pressure of the air changes, the point
  at which water boils changes as well.
• Many people opposed Martin Luthers ideas, but
  there were more who were growing to accept and
  support equal rights for all Americans.

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The use of sequencing words and linking devices

• First of all
• Secondly
• Thirdly
• Last but not least
• Finally
• In short
• To summarize

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The use of sequencing words and linking devices

• Furthermore
• Meanwhile
• Also
• In addition
• Moreover
• Besides

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• Teacher first demonstrates the skills of
  nominalization
• Students are asked to write the economic cause
  of the French Revolution in written language
• Sharing of students work

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Discontent with the king

• In 1774, Louis XVI became the French king.
  Because he ruled very badly and his government
  was inefficient, many French people were
  discontented.

• In 1774, Louis XVI became the French king. His
  bad rule and inefficiency of his government led
  to the discontent among the French people.

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Economic problem

• The French government had a serious financial
  problem because
• 1) Louis XVIs court lived too luxuriously
• 2) Louis XIV and Louis XV fought too many wars
• 3) His tax system was not fair. Only the
  commoners paid heavy taxes, but the rich people
  paid very few taxes.
• Result ? the state treasury became empty
• ?The commoners were more and more
  discontented with the king.

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Economic problem

• There were several reasons that caused serious
  financial problems in France.
• The first reason was the luxurious life of Louis
  XVIs court

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Group discussion

• What is the most important factor in causing the
  French Revolution in 1789?

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Group discussion

• Please put a ? next to your option. Explain
  your answer.

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Assignment
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Reminder

• Remember to use written language and linking
  devices in your own work

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Students feedback

• Have a better understanding about the differences
  between spoken and written language
• Helps to enhance their language proficiency
• Not only useful for essay writing in history, but
  also good for writing composition in English
  Language

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Teachers evaluation

• Most of our students nowadays are influenced by
  the language used in msn, icq or sms ? write
  with casual language
• Essay writing / long questions
• Not time consuming but effective
• Start in junior form (F.2-F.3)
• ? easier to shape when they are young ?
  scaffold our students into better writing ?
  beneficial to their further studies

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• Thank you