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Crafting meaning Academic Communication for Advanced Secondary Schools

Chapter One: Crafting meaning
Chapter One

Crafting meaning

FOR ONLINE READING ONLY

Introduction
Crafting meaning involves the process of forming, using and interpreting words
in order to understand the meaning they are conveying. In this chapter you will
learn how to form words, how to pronounce words correctly, the importance of
stress and intonation in oral communication and how to interpret literal meanings
of words and sentences in various contexts. The competences developed in this
chapter will enable you to use different processes to form new words, pronounce
words correctly and interpret literal meaning of English words effectively to meet
various communicative needs. You will also be able to add vocabulary and express
ideas both orally and in writing.

Think
How communication would be without proper formation, pronunciation
and interpretation of words.

Word formation

Word formation is referred to as the process of creating new words. It involves simple
and complex processes. New words are always created to address communicative needs.
Sometimes, a new concept may be brought about by technology, or there may be a situation
where a word for a new concept or item may not exist in a given language. Certain
ideas could be lengthy and require time to express. Thus, human beings can simplify
them by creating acronyms. A new understanding, or a more focused understanding of
a concept, can also be formed by certain words. Mastering word formation is crucial
in academic communication because it facilitates vocabulary expansion, expression of
ideas in writing and oral communication contexts and easy understanding. People with
word formation skills can easily infer the meanings of texts. There are several types of
word formation processes.

Activity 1�1
Use online/offline sources to read about affixation, compounding, blending, clipping,
coining, acronym and borrowing types of word formation processes. Then, write
short notes about each type.

1
Student’s Book Form Five

30-Jun-24 11:02:01 AM
Academic Communication.indd 1
Academic Communication.indd 1 30-Jun-24 11:02:01 AM