Characteristic differences between written and spoken language and some methods in language teaching

1.Introduction

Generally speaking， written English is the language to write on paper， while spoken English is the language with the mouth say it. Although both of them are used for communication， there are some aspects of difference between them.\"Spoken English\" can be a kind of language generally used by an educated people in the usual talks or letters to friends， family and workmates， and written English are used in books， reviews， newspapers， formal letters or talks （especially to the stranger）. In a word， \"spoken\" and \"written\" English are language forms in different situation.

2. Characteristic differences between written and spoken language

According to Discourse Analysis， there are two different paragraphs describing rainbow：

Paragraph 1：（1）And then， in the blowing clouds， she saw a band of faint iridescence coloring in faint shadows a portion of the hill.（2）And forgetting， startled， she looked for the hovering color and saw a rainbow forming itself.（3）In one place it gleamed fiercely， and， her heart anguished with hope， she sought the shadow of iris where the bow should be.（4）Steadily the color gathered， mysteriously， from nowhere， it took presence upon itself， there was a faint， vast rainbow.

Paragraph 2：Normally after a very heavy rain， when you're driving along the road， you' d see a series of color stripes far away. The stripes formed something like a bow or an arch. There're seven stripes of different colors in it. But it' s just a series of colors. They seem separated but they're not， because colors seem difficult to separate. Do you see what I mean？

These two paragraphs express the same meaning. Paragraph 1 is written English， while paragraph 2 is spoken English. And we can draw characteristics from paragraph 1：（1） Each sentence is a complete sentence with acute grammar; （2） Some words come from different language， such as iridescence， iris， they are Latin or Greek vocabulary; （3） The syntax structure is complex and rigorous， and has more attributive adverbial. But paragraph 2 seems to be easy-understanding and simple：（1）Most sentences are short and with simple structure. Furthermore， there are few prepositions， conjunctions between spoken English; （2） Some interjections can be found in spoken language. So written and spoken language are now seen as alternative， “equal” systems of linguistic expression and their functions complement each other. Both of them come in many varieties. The spoken part includes speech genres of telephone conversation， public conversation， debates， interviews spontaneous speeches， and planned speeches etc. The written part includes even more， such as novels， essays， Poems， notice， even a piece of note. And we can also find features of written language in spoken language， as written texts can reveal aspects of daily conversation.

3. Some methods in our language teaching

Brown（1987：7） is right when he says “teaching can be defined as activities which are intended to bring about learning”. That is to say， language teaching includes not only formal instruction or training in the classroom， but also other factors. Next， I will give some methods from two aspects.

3.1.Methods in teaching spoken English

The ability of spoken language expression is a basic ability， but how to cultivate the students’ ability of spoken language expression has become the key point which all quarters have paid attention to for many years.

3.1.1. Retelling

Teachers can give a written English context， and let students retell main ideas vocally， guide the student to divide long sentences into short sentences. Maybe some students have several pauses in the process of retelling， at this time， teachers should encourage students to continue their retelling. All these phenomena are the characteristics of the colloquial English.

3.1.2. Teaching video and movie

Making the students see something as well as hear the foreign language being used in the communicative circumstances ensures them the real usage of the language deeply， and maximally learn the native English. For example， when reaching the \"greeting and introduction\"， we can use the audio-visual material \"Go through America\".

3.2.Methods in teaching written English

When we mention written English， the purpose of language teaching should not only be to cultivate the students' reading ability， but also aimed to cultivate one’s ability to use it. To achieve this purpose， teachers must guide learners to use proper written English. Next， I will give some examples.

3.2.1. To require students to write some formal letter or compare informal and formal letters

There are three sentences with same meaning：

（1）If l can get this information at the end of this month， that' s to say， before our company' s new projects get started， I'll thank you very much.

（2）It would be appreciated if I could get this information by the end of this month before we start work on these new projects.

So， we can ask a student read these sentence and state their differences. Obviously， Sentence 1 is spoken English and is informal; While Sentence 2 are formal English， are written English. When we write business letters， the former isn’t feasible， and we should use written English， like the second sentence.

3.2.2.To practice various sentence patterns and complex syntactic structure of written English

In written language， sentences are generally structured in subject-predicate form. For example， in spoken language， we can say “The cats， did you let them out？” just to bring out the topic. On the contrary， in written language， we write sentences according to the grammar; therefore， we may write the previous sentences like “Did you let the cats out？” to express our idea correctly and directly. So， learners should have deep knowledge about syntactic structure and sentence patterns in order to distinguish spoken English and written English.

4. Conclusion

Accordingly， spoken English can’t be completely consistent with written English. We need to find their characteristic differences and use some proper teaching methods to guide learners to acquire the second language in order that we can use both spoken and written English properly.