Analysis

The video entitled “Teachers talk about covid 19 pandemic” is

spoken in formal language. It details the struggles of teachers
in Jamaica, who is trying to adjust to the new norm of
teaching during the pandemic. These struggles were physical
and psychological this lead to the theme: effects of covid 19
on teacher. Throughout the video, many negative factors
influence the effects of covid 19 on teacher, as the teacher
couldn’t adjust properly to the online teaching setting. In
exploring these aspects, the speaker employs various
linguistic features such as: registers, attitudes to language
dialectal variation, and communicative behavior. The use of
registers and attitude to language will be assessed further.
Formal, Casual, Intimate are utilized by various characters in
the story. For example, the informal register is utilized by
Mrs. Brown when she said “we’re not use to having them
under our feet for so long”. She makes the conscious decision
to use informal register even though she uses casual register in
a formal setting when she expound on the meaning of the
register used; she said “ We’re not use to having them around
for 24hrs”. This conveys the meaning of her informal
registered used.
Secondly, attitudes to Language are also a feature that is used,
but not widely used in the narrative. For example, when Mr.
Lawrence said “Even big people have problem sitting in front
a screen too long” He uses informality when he conveys the
point ‘big people’ in a formal setting he is referring to adults.
The informality help emphasize his point about that
everybody has challenges sitting behind a screen for long
period of time.
In conclusion, the use of these various linguistic features serve
to engage the intended audience, as well as highlight the
effects of covid 19 on teachers in Jamaica.