Michele Robb EDUC 31218 July 29, 2013 In selecting a project, I immediately fell in love with the idea

of discussing Amelia Bedelias difficulty with interpretation of language in the series of books titled Amelia Bedelia by Herman Parish. On a personal level, I live with two Amelias and am constantly readdressing phrases so my children can understand them. At home, we can laugh when something is misunderstood as one of my children says, That was an idiom, wasnt it. Unfortunately, it is less humorous for the student in the classroom setting. Understanding a students level of both expressive and reception language in terms of a new language is vital when teaching lessons. Brown discusses communicative competence as the knowledge that enables a person to communicate functionally and interactively (219). In Amelias case, her level of competence as it applies to function is adequate. She is able to convey her wants and needs to any listener. If we review Amelias abilities through the communicative competence model, we can ascertain the level of functioning she is at. The first phase, grammatical competence, we can see that Amelia is able to use grammar, vocabulary, sentence structure and syntax correctly. She pronounces words correctly and is understood by the listeners. The second phase, discourse, should give Amelia the ability to move from vocabulary and sentences into the world of conversation. Again, Amelia has adequate functioning in the discourse competence. In both books reviewed, Amelia is able to have a conversation and develop meaning from them (if a bit simply for the benefit of the reader). The third competence, sociolinguistic, seems to begin the breakdown of Amelias ability. In this competence, the individual would be able to have an

understanding within the social context of the situation. Decoding the message, full of idioms, based on the context and moment the message is given, would have helped Amelia from having the scenarios in the books. Amelia is unable to glean an appropriate understanding due to her literal thinking, making her ability to communicate at the sociolinguistic level difficult. As this is the beginning of the breakdown in communication for Amelia, it is no wonder that in the fourth area, strategic competence, Amelia fails miserably. In this phase, Amelia would need to compensate when the communication breaks down, correcting and rephrasing so the listener can understand. As she is still in the late stages of the discourse competence, she is unable to do this. Examples are shown in the table below. Phrase Would you give me a hand until she gets back? Amelias Interpretation No. Both my hands are attached to me. (Amelia believes she needs to give one of her hands to the nurse.) It would be terrible if her heart were down in her foot. (Amelia interprets this as a persons heart is not located in the correct position in the body.) I hope you let it go. Bugs can bite. (Amelia thinks the person has caught an insect.) I tried my best, but he was too big for me to pick up. (Amelia believes she needs to physically lift the conductor.) A bee couldnt get any flatter. (Amelia was squashing a bee and thought man was describing the physical trait of the bee.) I play every day. (Amelia is thinking of the physical act of play- as in games.) Conventional Interpretation Would you help me?

her heart is in the right place.

She means well.

Ive caught some kind of bug. I told you to pick up the conductor.

I am sick.

Go to the conductor and bring him back to me.

We were playing a B-flat. Would you call that B-flat?

We are playing the musical tone of B-flat.

Do you play?

Can you make music with a musical instrument?

If we take this informal assessment into the classroom, we can now evaluate Amelias ability within the classroom and playground using Cumminss model of Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS) and Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP). I defined Amelias experiences into two categories: her interaction with children and her interaction with adults. Interaction with children could be parallel to the school setting social interactions on the playground. At the BICS level, Amelia would need to use language in social context. While she obviously has errors at this level, it is not critical to her communication. She has the fluency to converse, engage and participate in the group. Amelias breakdown occurs at the CALP level. In this level, Amelia would need to use her communication at a high cognitive level to complete more academic tasks. If we use Amelias communication with adults in the book, we can see that she is not able to function adequately in terms of job performance (i.e. following simple instructions and carry out duties not within her regular routine). This is a good example of the abilities within the academic classroom. Performance is related to the level of understanding at the BICS level. Relating this exercise back to English Learners, I can see the need for assessing quickly what competence the student is working at as well as the level of functioning. This will assist my abilities in assisting the student with a program of learning towards proficiency, as well as develop lessons within the program that are meaningful and engaging but also attainable for the level of the student. With that, lots of experiences to comfortably play with the language (like the idioms in Amelia Bedelia), will give the student a richer vocabulary, fluency understanding and proficiency without the frustration of attempting to tie the academic instruction in with the basics of language learning. Remembering Amelia when working with an English Learner will

also assist me in being flexible with the students capabilities for different situations so I can maximize the students learning during his/her time with me.

Bibliography Brown, H.D. Principle of Language and Learning. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Regents.1994. Chapter 8, informational packet, EDUCATION 31218. Prof. July 2013. "Language and Language Acquisition". Informational packet, EDUC 31218. July 2013. Parish, Herman. Bravo, Amelia Bedelia. New York, NY: Greenwillow Books. 1997. Parish, Herman. Calling Doctor Amelia Bedelia. New York, NY: Greenwillow Books. 2002.

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