By Betty Ding (25A01B) and Cayla Goh (25A01B)
If you take English Language and Linguistics (ELL), you will never read this article the same again.
No, it’s not Literature. It’s not the English you’re used to from Secondary School either. It’s using English to break down English, and then building it up again. Instead of referring to various literary texts or comprehension passages, we refer to our best resource: the world around us. (And our lecture notes of course.)
Our texts for Paper 1 include different forms of spoken and written text, for example audio transcripts of office arguments and various advertisements about food and articles about parenting advice. When working on Paper 1, we feel like detectives, piecing together clues to infer the purpose, audience, culture, and context of each text. It’s all about solving riddles embedded in language.
Let’s say you come across a random blog excerpt:
Hey y’all 😍 Recently dyed my hair to a new color and I think it’s so #gorg. Now that it’s the summer break y’all might wanna go for a fresh new lewkk 💖 Yall can use my code PRESS50 for $50 off this VeryNice Hair Dye or you can just use the link here 🥰
The riddle solving starts as our eyes glide across the words. The purpose of the text? To advertise the VeryNice Hair Dye (spot the hyperlink!). The audience? Those who are following this influencer. The culture and context? The blogger is probably not based in Singapore since we typically use the phrase “June Hols” and not “Summer Break”. The final piece of the puzzle lies in the word “color”—the US spelling tells us that this influencer is likely blogging from the United States.
We support these assertions through the text. The use of y’all, #gorg, and the emojis is how the influencer makes themselves more personable to her audience.
We are not just limited to the texts we see during practices or exams. The fun thing about ELL is that evidence is everywhere, and we often use our own observations as examples, mainly for Paper 2. Here’s an example: ‘Skibidi.’ ‘Sussy Baka.’ ‘Shashubi shashubi.’ These words are connected by the same thread. All of them have appeared in an ELL student’s essay, that and with a tick too. Slang is a very prominent part of what we learn—we understand that the kind of language that you speak not only reflects who you are, but can also give a hint on who you want to be.
Perhaps future readers will look at the words ‘Skibidi, Sussy Baka, shashubi shashubi’ questioning if the writers were in the right state of mind writing this, or whether these words actually exist. Even if these words don’t make sense in the future, that’s an integral part of language. It changes—ebbs and flows—with the varying needs and preferences of the people using it, or the new internet references that seem to appear non-stop. Change is the only constant, more prominently in language, and we ELL students are happy to catch up to speed.
In class, you may find students staring at condominium advertisements, trying to figure out how they can describe a condo with such grandeur. (Even if the condo is nothing like the idyllic Greek Paradise they so speak of.) You can find students shouting out new slang words they found on TikTok and explaining it to a confused but enthusiastic teacher.
ELL classes are small. They range from 10 to 15 people, which means that lessons feel like a tight-knit community uncovering language together. Despite being a new subject, discussions are still lively because of our shared interest in language. Usually, what we discuss during lessons isn’t part of a textbook but rather our observations from social media or language use amongst friends.
We talk extensively about Singlish too. Ever thought that Singlish was an inferior form of English? In ELL, that thought is shunned. Instead, different types of Englishes—from Indian English to Australian English—are celebrated and recognised for their unique features. Many of the things that we find natural in Singlish, like the use of lah, lor and meh, have undergone rigorous research by linguists. It’s something we’ve learnt to appreciate in ELL!
However, this isn’t to say that there isn’t technical knowledge we need to learn. We learn about the intricacies of grammar too. Remember verbs? Get ready for adverbials, sentence moods and comment clauses. We use these tools to break down and analyse texts. There are connections to be made in the body of text. The deeper meaning of why and how writers and speakers use language is just waiting to be discovered. We also learn about different linguistic studies and use them to prove our points during essays.
The study of language is not just confined to our classrooms, it’s the way the world works. It’s the foundation of relationships—all lovers and friends create their own language between each other every other day. It’s the foundation of the economy, from the first few tradesmen from foreign lands that needed a common language to the advertisements that dominate the media we watch now. It’s the basis of how we share scientific knowledge. Language is innate and also an invention—something that we’ve been inventing together from the dawn of humanity till now, something so innate that we don’t realise it.
Boiling down language into its parts, it’s nothing more than sounds and scribbles. Despite this and because of it, it has the power to shape almost everything. Think of that one text you’ve tried rereading several times because you could not decipher the meaning, only to find out your friend just missed a comma or made a minor typo. Other than personal experiences, one example would be the news, where language is key to maintaining a neutral and objective tone while ensuring that all the key information is delivered.
After taking ELL, the change to my life is a little like language itself – subtle yet great. I’ve just started to notice. I’ve started to notice the unique way that my friends and family speak and appreciate it more. I’ve started to look at advertisements, social media posts and even scam emails, wondering why they used certain words.
It adds a new lens to the way I see the world, and even how I will read this very article. It makes you a better observer—of people, conversations, media, and even the smallest quirks in how we express ourselves.
Language shapes our world, and studying it makes you a part of that process. It’s intimidating, yes, but also exhilarating. And if you’re reading this article again, perhaps you’ve already started seeing it through an ELL lens—questioning, appreciating, and, most importantly, noticing.
You can refer to this article to know more about the ELL syllabus and other information.
