Jeasel D. G.

Moloboco
Master of Arts in English Language Teaching
TESL 620 - ASSESSMENT 4
Assessment and Reflection on Group 3’s Presentation

The third group discussed Linguistic variation, which consists of three (3) topics:

nativeness, world Englishes, and unequal Englishes. I was the first discussant and

presented the introduction to Linguistic Variation.

The term Linguistic Variation (or simply variation) refers to regional, social, or

contextual differences in the ways that a particular language is used. Between the

speakers of any language, there is variation in the way they use their language.

Speakers may vary pronunciation (accent), word choice (lexicon), morphology, and

syntax. These aspects vary between the speech of men and women, social class, and

age groups.

As I remember, this was discussed during my undergrad, but it was not as

detailed as it was discussed during our report. During my undergrad, we only discussed

linguistic variation as dialect or the variation of a language, as simple as that. Hence, I

am glad that I was able to learn the deeper meaning of it, its sub-components, types,

and aspects.

Accordingly, there are types of variation that affect and change aspects of

language. These are regional, social, and contextual variations. Regional variation

affects the speaker’s pronunciation, grammar, and lexicon, depending on which part of

the language area a speaker is from. Social variation, on the other hand, is a variation in
language due to social factors. People from different regions clearly speak differently,

but even within the same small community people might speak differently according to

their age, gender, ethnicity, and social or educational background. Meanwhile,

contextual variation is when a speaker is exposed to the same concept in two different

contexts. When building in contextual variation the concept remains the same, but the

context is changed, making the original concept more salient.

While researching and discussing the types of variation, I was able to learn how

language is affected by different factors and how I was able to understand the roots of

why and how a speaker changes his or her tone, accent, words, and grammar

depending on the contextual situation.

Thus, for us language teachers, being able to comprehend variation will help us

provide our learners with the appropriate rules of speaking and writing and raise their

sociolinguistic awareness—the awareness of the socio-cultural differences across

languages.

The subsequent presenters were Ms. Salvador and Ms. Pangilinan, who

discussed nativeness and its two types: genetic and functional. "Nativeness" in

language variation refers to the idea that a person's linguistic abilities are influenced by

their early exposure to language, and their place of origin or birth. It suggests that an

individual's native language, the language they learned first and most proficiently,

shapes the way they use and understand language.

Nativeness can play a role in language variation because individuals who are

native speakers of a particular language will have a different level of proficiency and
understanding of that language compared to non-native speakers. This can lead to

differences in the way they use and understand language, and can also result in

variations in pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary.