V, Cenoposiciones cenoposiciones.com Temario LENGUA EXTRANJERA INGLES La lengua como comunicacion: 1 lenguaje oral y lenguaje escrito. Factores que definen una situacién ‘comunicativa: emisor, receptor, funcionalidad ycontexto.unit 1 inglés 1, LANGUAGE AS COMMUNICATION, 14. WHAT IS LANGUAGE? 1.2. COMMUNICATION THEORIES: 2. ORAL AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE 241, HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 2.2. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ORAL AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE 2.3. CHARACTERISTICS OF ORAL LANGUAGE 2.6, CHARACTERISTICS OF WRITTEN LANGUAGE 2.5, PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS 3. FACTORS THAT DEFINE A COMMUNICATIVE SITUATION 3.1. ADDRESSER, ADDRESSEE 3.2, THE CONTEXT 3.3. PURPOSE 3.4, TOPIC 3.5, MEDIUM/CHANNEL 3.6. CODE 3.7, REGISTER 4, FUNCTIONALITY Sal, JAKOBSON’S MODEL 4.2. HALLIDAY’S MODEL. 5, THE COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH TO FLT 5.1. BACKGROUND 5.2. COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE 5.3. COMMUNICATIVE ACTIVITIES Ccenoposicionesbite Language is an essential and characteristic part of being human. We spend an immense amount of time speaking, listening, reading and writing. Children all over the world begin to speak roughly at the same age and follow the same learning pattem. All languages have a similar basic structure and they are used to transmit our ideas, thoughts and feelings. The ability we have to understand each other and the society we live in is what differentiates us from animals. Communication between humans is an extremely complex phenomenon, with many variables - the participants, context, purpose and channel are some of the factors that are present in a communicative act. Whenever communication takes place, there is a speaker (or writer) and a listener (or reader) who has a communicative purpose: having a conversation, giving information, greeting someone, etc; and they will use a medium (channel) for doing so: a letter, face to face, telephone, and soon, Leaming a second language is complicated, too. Second language students have to learn a new system of signs to transmit a message. Since the 1970s, the belief that language is a means of communication has inspired a new approach in English language teaching: the Communicative Approach. This is based on providing the students with communicative activities that will develop their oral and written skills, so they can use the language with accuracy and appropriateness. This, view focuses on communicative proficiency rather than on the mastery of structures and vocabulary. Our current Educational System has incorporated this functional and communicative potential of language in its objectives and methodology. The ultimate goal is the development of the students’ communicative competence. The communicative competence not only refers to the ability to use the language, but also to aspects related ‘to the communicative context. The social dimension of language is also taken into consideration. This chapter on oral and written language and the communicative act is the starting point with which we shall analyze, on the one hand, the differences of the two means we use to communicate, speech and writing, 2s well as the pedagogical implications in the development of these two abilities. On the other hand, we will study the factors that, intervene in a communicative act, and see in which way they relate to each other when transmitting a message. Finally, we will study the main ideas of the Communicative Approach to foreign language teaching, Its principles have been incorporated into our current syllabus design. (Cenoposiciones inglés unit 1unit 1 inglés ‘| LANGUAGE AS COMMUNICATION 4.1. WHAT IS LANGUAGE? Language is the main means by which people communicate. It can broadly be defined as a system of signs that are combined, with the help of conventional rules, to transmit a message. However, a recognized problem with the concept of language is the wide range of its application: some scholars focus on the general concept of language; some on the formal aspects of language (phonology, grammar and semantics); some emphasize the range of functions that language performs, and some stress the differences between language and other forms of communication. The following set of definitions exemplifies the way different writers have attempted to tackle the problem: = cLanguage isa purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas, emotions and desires by means of voluntarily- produced symbols. (E. Sapir, 1921). ® language isa system of arbitrary vocal symbols by means of which the members ofa society interact in terms of their total culture. (G. Trager, 1949) = cA language is a set (finite or infinite) of sentences, each finite in length and constructed out ofa finite set of elements.» (N. Chomsky, 1957). = «Languages the institution whereby humans communicate and interact with each other by means of habitually used oral-auditory arbitrary symbols». (R.A. Hal.1964). A useful approach to language, and one used by most current linguists, is to identify its essential defining features. The aim is to establish what counts as a human language, as opposed to other systems of communication. The most Widely recognized comparative approach was proposed by the American linguist Charles F. Hocket. He made a set of 13 design features of communication using spoken language, and studied whether these features could be found in animal communication. He concluded that some animals shared some of these characteristics when communicating, such as the use of sounds (birds, dolphins, monkeys and other species). However, most of the features are unique to human language, ‘This unit iselated to units 2, 4 and 12 since deals with the theme of communication. Ccenoposiionesunit 1 inglés ‘We will discuss some portant ones: = Auditory-vocal channel, Human language is a systern of sound signals used between mouth and ear, as opposed to visual, tactile or other means of communication. = Total feedback. Speakers hear and can reflect upon everything they say. ® Arbitrariness. There is no link between the signal and the nature of the reality to which it refers. There is no intrinsic connection, for example, between the word dog and the animal it represents. ® Traditional transmission, Human language Is acquited by a long learning process, which is transmitted from one generation to the next. Human language is by no means totally conditioned by the environment, and there is some type of innate predisposition towards learning it. = Duality. The sounds of a language or its phonemes mean nothing separately, but they become meaningful when they are combined with other phonemes to form words. This organization of language in two layers is known as duality or double articulation. = Displacement. Speakers can talk about events remote in time and space. ® Productivity. Human language is essentially creative (or productive). Humans can understand and produce new sentences, that's to say, sentences that they have not heard or said before. ® Structure dependence. Language operations depend on an understanding of the intemal structure of a sentence, rather than on the number of elements involved. A person cannot lear a language by mechanical means such as counting the elements of a sentence. He/she must know how the elements of the structure are related to each other, To summarize, language is a patterned system of arbitrary sound signals characterized by displacement, duality, creativity, cultural transmission and structure dependence. All these features show that acquiring a language is a complicated process which is unconscious and effortless when children learn their mother language, but conscious and difficult when learning a foreign one. 1.2. COMMUNICATION THEORIES: Nowadays language is considered a means of communication, not simply a system of structures and words. Language is an interactive event occurring between participants. The branch of linguistics that studies the factors that govern our choice of language in social interaction is called pragmatics. The field of pragmatics is fairly new and sometimes overlaps with other areas, such as semantics, sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics or stylistics, Pragmatic factors always influence our selection of grammatical structures, vocabulary and intonation, Ccenoposiionesunit 1 inglés Language constraints, such as expressions of politeness, conventions of greeting, leave-taking and so on, vary from one language to another, and some of them are taught to us ata very early stage (for instance, in British English, the importance of using pleaseand thank you) We will now explain three influential approaches on communication theory: the cooperative principle, the speech act theory and discourse analysis, > Cooperative principle. Thisisa term derived from the American philosopher Paul Grice, who is sometimes regardedas the «father of pragmatics». Grice emphasized that people cooperate in the process of communication in order toreduce misunderstanding. He attempted tospecity the principles which underline this cooperative behaviour, and proposed four maxims or rules of conversation: = Maxim of Quantity - states that speakers should give the right amount of information. A speaker should say neither too little nor too much. = Maxim of Quality - states that a speakers contribution to a conversation ought to be true. They should not say what they believe to be false, nor should they say something about which they lack evidence. = Maxim of Relevance - states that contributions should clearly relate to the purpose of exchange. Speakers should be relevant. = Maxim of Manner - states that the contributions should be clear, perspicuous. More specifically: speakers should avoid obscurity and ambiguity. They should also be clear and orderly. ‘These maxims are best regarded not as rules but as implicit principles on which successful communication is built, Other maxims have also been proposed: the politeness principle, suggested by G. Leech, and the relevance theory. > Speech act theory. ‘The British philosopher JL Austin was the first to draw attention to the fact that, many utterances do not communicate information but are equivalent to actions. When a judge says: «l sentence you to five years’ imprisonments, he/she is not merely saying a string of words: his/her utterance has the same effectas ifthe judge performed the action of locking the person up. Austin called these utterances performatives. He has found three types of performative acts: ® Locutionary act. This refers to the literal meaning conveyed by the words and structures contained in the utterance: it’s cold today (a statement about the weather). = Ilocutionary act. This refers to the act which is performed as a result of the speaker making an utterance, such as requesting, promising, warning, welcoming, betting, and so on: Whats the time? (requesting the time). = Perlocutionary act. This refers to the effect the speaker’ utterance has on the listener, such as persuading, commanding, convincing, etc: Go to bed! (commanding). Ccenoposiionesunit 1 inglés One ofthe most widely-used taxonomies of speech acts is that proposed by JR. Sear 1. Representative, Description of states and events with an assertion: Today is Monday, 2, Directive. Suggestions, commands, requesting, etc: Please, be quiet. 3. Com 2. Threats, promises, etc. Ifyou pass the exams, you'll get a prize. 4, Expressive. Expressions of feelings and attitudes: The flm was horrible. 5. Declarative. Marrying, christening, declaring in institutional frameworks: | declare you the natural successor. > Discourse analysis. Discourses quite an elastic term in linguistics Itis often used to mean any sequence of language in written or spoken form larger than a sentence. The distinctive feature of discourse is that it stresses the communicative dynamics of language. In this sense, discourse analysis means studying all those features which are part of the communicative act: the context of the utterance, the tenor of relationships, the mode of discourse, and so on. Of the many types of communicative acts, most study has been devoted to conversation. Conversation analysis (also known as ethno methodology) studies aspects such as strategies for beginning and ending a conversation, changing topics, and the use of adjacency pairs. These are formulaic exchanges: greeting-greeting, question- answer, apology-acceptance, etc. Examples Greeting: Hello, Tom. Greeting: Hi Bill, Offer: Would you lke a cup of tea? Acceptance: Yes please. Once we have studied these approaches, we can conclude that they have @ common cancer: they see language as a dynamic, social and interactive phenomenon, whether between the speaker and listener or the writer and reader. Meaning is conveyed not by single sentences but by more complex exchanges, in which the participants, the purpose and the situation play a crucial part. We will see these factors in more detail further on in this chapter. But first let us analyze the main features of oral and written language ? How can we recognise a language? Does it have specal or speci features that «istinguish it from other forms of communication? What are they? ‘What kind of factors are involved in communication? Do they influence the way people communicate with each other? ‘Can we say that communication theories cover all he questions anyone could have about language adits communicative processes? What else could be missing? ‘cenoposiciones —_—unit 1 10 inglés 2 24, 2.2. ORAL AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND For centuries, written language held a more pre-eminent place than oral language. It was the medium of literature, and thus the standard of linguistic excellence. Grammatical rules were always illustrated from written texts Oral language, on the contrary, was an object unworthy of study, because it was considered to be lacking in care and organization. In fact, it was said that oral language had no rules and in order to speak properly it was necessary to follow ‘the structure of the written form. ‘The supremacy of written language over oral language remained until the 19th century, in which there was sporadic criticism of this viewpoint. It wasn't until the 20th century, however, that a new approach appeared. This new approach pointed ut that speech was more important than writing, for three reasons: 1. Because speech is much more ancient than writing. 2. Because itis developed naturally in children, while writing is artificially taught. 3. And because writing is a transcription of the sounds of speech. The American linguist Leonard Bloomfield said: «Writing is not language, but merely a way of recording language by means of visible marks. Because of the emphasis given to the spoken language, it was now the turn of writing to fall into disrepute. Many linguists considered the written language a useful tool for 4 minority: writers and scientists. For the rest, written language was considered a mere reflection of spoken language, being excluded from scientific study. Nowadays, the vision of both means is changing, Linguists no longer consider one means better than the other, or one of them to be the reflection of the other. Speech and writing are different systems of communication, with their own characteristics and uses. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ORAL AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE. The most obvious difference between oral and written language is the physical form: speech uses the form of alr-pressure movements and the written language uses graphs that are marks on a surface, Agreat consequence follows this physical difference:listeningis differentto reading. Listening to an informal conversation differs from reading a written text. Speech is immediate, dynamic, transitory and interactive, Writing is static and permanent, and there is no interaction, in general, between the addresser and addressee. The knowledge of the differences between speech and writing will allow the teacher to design activities depending on the difficulty of the skis that must be developed: speaking and listening are oral skill; reading and writing are written skis. We must not forget that in the English language there is a great difference Ccenoposiionesunit 1 inglés between the oral and written form, which usually leads students to having problems when writing, making mistakes such as It ateiboy instead of Isa table. Or pronouncing words as if they were reading Spanish: saying /ause / instead of /haus / Let's look at the differences between oral and written language, and try to Understand the specific features of each medium. 2.3. CHARACTERISTICS OF ORAL LANGUAGE > Expressive possibilities. The immediacy of oral language makes it more expressive than writing. When speaking, we can vary the tone, the accent and the speed of our words to underline the most important word in our speech, or to show our attitude towards what we'e saying, We can show our interest, apathy, irony or scom: Really? Great! Awful! > Use of gestures and body language. They are important because they reinforce the transmission of the message. Gestures and words go together in the speech act. > Simple constructions. The spontaneity and speed of oral language makes a person build simpler sentences when speaking than when writing, because he/she has less time to select more complicated forms. > Pause, repetitions or rephrasing. ‘These are frequent, according to the degree of the speaker's understanding (feedback) > Errors. I's normal to make mistakes when uttering words, to hesitate when speaking or say incomplete sentences. 2.4. CHARACTERISTICS OF WRITTEN LANGUAGE > Precision. The fact that writing is permanent allows more time for its preparation, promoting the development of careful organization and more structured expression than in Ccenoposiiones uunit 1 inglés oral language. Sentences should be complete, paragraphs should have internal cohesion and words should be correctly writen. A text which is full of errors or incomplete sentences would be considered an illiterate text, > Clarity. The participants ina written interaction are not usually present. Therefore, there is an absence of immediate answer immediate feedback) for possible explanations of the message. Ambiguity should be limited to the maximum. > Unique graphic features. Writing displays several unique features such as punctuation, spelling, space organization, capitalization and calligraphy which oral language does not have; al this makes the learning of this skill more difficult, > Formal. Written language tends to be more formal than spoken language and it provides a standard valued by society. 2.5. PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS The knowledge of the characteristics of oral and written language allows the teacher to programme activities which will develop each one of them in an appropriate way. We can draw several conclusions: ® Oral language is easier to acquire than written language, so it should be introduced earlier. It is more natural for a person to start listening and speaking first and later to read and write, especially at the beginning of the learning process. = Written language is characterized by a bigger demand in the correction of its structure than oral language, Sentences should be complete and grammatically correct, and words should be spelt correctly. ® Errors in oral language should be considered as more normal within the learning process, due to time constraints when uttering a message. ® Spelling exercises are important: students find the writing of words in English difficult,Joecause ofthe difference between the oral and writtenforms,Dictations, copies and rules help the student pay more attention to English spelling, = The understanding of oral expressions should be encouraged, asin: Well? Really? Isee, Oh, that’s nice! 1 The graphic features of writing make the learning of this skill the slowest to acquire. The preparation of texts, letters and written work should be very simple and quided in the second cycle, and more complex and freer in the third cycle. 2 ceneposiconesunit 1 inglés Reading and writing in the first cycle should remain at word or basic structures level = To be able to write Is not only a necessary linguistic competence. It is also necessary to learn how to organize ideas in a written text. The teacher should give notions of style to help the students to organize their discourse logically and cohesively. In the case of a letter, for example, the teacher should explain what it would contain in an English-speaking country. ‘cenoposiciones © Istherealinkbetween a word we se written on a page and how this word sounds? Ist right to say that oral language is richer than written language? Why? In what sense? If we had the oportunity to teach someone a new language how should we begin? Teaching him/her how to read fst To write? To speak? 13unit 1 4 inglés 3 3.41. FACTORS THAT DEFINE A COMMUNICATIVE SITUATION ‘As we saw in part one, communication between humans is a complex and dynamic phenomenon. Our daily life is full of communicative acts, and their nature depends on several factors: the participants (a relative, a stranger, our boss), the context (in the morning at home, at night in a restaurant) and the type of activity we're engaged in (phone conversation, conference). In fact, the choice of the words that we use will vaty according to the factors of each situation, Language appropriateness will depend on the knowledge of language use. An informal greeting to a member of your family is not the same as the greeting you would Use with a person you've just met. In the English classroom it is necessary to keep these factors in mind, since itis through small communicative acts that we will introduce language structures and vocabulary. The communicative approach is based not only on creating communicative situations in the classroom as models for learning the language, but also on developing appropriateness, We are going to analyze the factors that take part in a communicative act and the pedagogical implications derived from them, ADDRESSER, ADDRESSEE ‘They are the participants in the communicative act. The addresser is the author of the message and the addressee is the person or people to whom its directed. In an oral communicative act, the participants can see each other, ike ina face to face conversation, or not, as in the case ofa telephone conversation. Gestures and body language will be more usual in a face to face conversation, while a conversation on the phone will be full of expressions, which indicate that the addressee has no problem in following the message. Inwritten lenguage,theaddresserand theaddresseecan be twopeopleexchanging letters, the writer/novelist and his/her readers, a company and the people that read the advertisements of a product ‘The relationship between the participants in a communicative act is called the tenor. ‘This is one of the factors that affect the style of language we adopt, and itis particularly relevant in situations which call for more or less formality. A father and a son will naturally use a different language style to an employee talking to his/her boss. There willbe differences in the syntactic structure, choice of words and intonation, In dally life, we are continuously changing roles as addressers and addressees, In an English classroom we should also try to vary the interactions, so that the communicative act is as genuine as possible, The communicative approach, in fact, rejects the traditional pattern: teacher-student, and advocates the creation of Vatied interactions: teacher student or students, student-teacher, student-student, student-students Ccenoposiionesunit 1 inglés 3.2. THE CONTEXT Linguists distinguish between linguistic context and situational context. The former refets to the context provided by the linguistic system itself; itis the text (ie. the words, phrases, sounds etc) that accompanies the particularsentence or utterance. The latter refers to the place and the moment in which the communicative act is developed. The situational context will influence the language type that is used in a communicative act. A family context, where the language is colloquial, and a formal context, such as a conference, where the grammatical constructions are complex and the vocabulary is ample and erudite, are obviously not the same thing. Inthe English class the student should not only be able to communicatea message; he or she should also learn how to select the language form to use in a certain context Students should lear that the imperative is more informal, and that courtesy formulas are used in more formal situations. Here's an example in which the formality of the structure increases: Informal = Pass me the salt. = Can you pass me the salt, please? = Could you pass me the salt, please? More format: = Would you be so kind as to pass me the salt, please? In the English class, role-plays are very useful to recreate a situation, Students imagine that they are in a certain place and time, and they have to communicate in that context in an appropriate way (appropriateness). For example, they should know how to greet, how to say goodbye, how to thank, etc, in a family context, or ina shop, or with a stranger. Many linguists make a distinction between micro-context and macro-context. The micro-context is the immediate one in which a communicative act occurs, and it includes two features: the setting, which is the place where the act occurs (@ school, a shop) and the occasion, which is the particular set of circumstances (during a lesson, asking for an iter), The macro-context refers to more remote environments. It includes sociocultural aspects, such as shared values, beliefs, traditions and knowledge of the world, That’s why sociocultural aspects must be present when teaching a foreign language. Cenoposiiones —unit 1 16 inglés 3.3. 3.4. 3.5. PURPOSE The purpose is the intention of a message. Addressers in a communicative act want something to happen as a result of what they say or write. They may want to give some information; they may want to express pleasure or they may want to apologize. The purpose will vary the election of the words of the addresser. If the fention is to apologize, the addresser can choose among a vatlety of apologizing forms = Sony = imsory. ®lm affraid this cup seems to have broken. When learning English, the students should have a purpose or desire to communicate. In other words, they should be using language in some way to achieve an objective. The concepts of purpose and desire have an important methodological implication: ifthe students have a communicative purpose then ‘communication will be effective, and they will earn the language. TOPIC ‘The topic is the matter about which the interaction develops. Topics can be varied: health, transport, clothes, sports, etc. There is usually a set of terms particular to each topic or field which we interpret in relation to the field. If we hear the phrase «a heatwaver, for instance, we know that we are listening to a conversation about the weather, In order to have successful communicative activities in the English class it is essential for the topics to be based on the students’ interests. f young students are taught structures and vocabulary based on politics, we are sure they will be unmotivated and, therefore, they'll have serious difficulties learning them. I, on the contrary, we use topics oftheir interest, such as animals, sports or the family, about which students can express ideas and feelings, the communicative act will be successful MEDIUM/ CHANNEL. ‘The medium is the means by which a message is transmitted. As far as language is concerned, there are two types of media: speech (phonic medium) and writing (graphic medium). The channel is the technical means of transmission: telephone, television, radio, etc. The form of the message will change depending on the medium and channel we choose. The words chosen by the addresser in a declaration of love will vary, depending on whether they're done by telephone, letter, face to face, fax, etc. As we have already seen in part two, writing involves a different attitude towards language and a different relationship between participants. Ccenoposiionesunit 1 inglés A foreign language student should know the formulas and rules of use in each means, For example, the sequence to answer a telephone differs in English and in Spanish, In English, the formula Digame does not exist. British people answer the telephone by saying his/her telephone number: 1. (The telephone rings) 2. 622001, Hello? 3. Hello. Is Mary in? ‘These cultural differences in the use of the medium and channel are important, because their ignorance cannot only cause an inadequate use of the language, but also misunderstandings. 3.6. CODE The code is the communication system shared by addresser and addressee. Language is the most frequent code used, But there are also other extralinguistic codes, such as the facial expressions, body language or intonation that we use to make our message come through easly Non-verbal communication is very importantin the fist year of learning the spoken language, because students still have very little communicative competence. Facial expressions help the message to be transmitted and understood. Itis also convenient for students to know the existence of common body language in most cultures (consent or negation with the head, expressions of fatigue or hunger, etc). Its worth noting that there can be expressions which lack meaning in another culture, or can even be offensive. 3.7. REGISTER In linguistics, register refers to a defined style of language and has to do with more (orless) formality in the use of language The register relates all the factors entering into a communication act the topic, the channel, the medium, the tenor and the context, The way we ask a boy to do something has a very different linguistic approach to the way we ask our boss, Although the intention is the same in both cases, the context and addressee change and, in consequence, the grammatical structure, the vocabulary and the degree of formality of the language also change. According to Aitchison (1999), register could be defined as the rules of the game that must be leamt to be able to express ourselves correctly (in our case, linguistic rules). In any game, lke football or chess, itis necessary to know the aims of the game, the principles of interaction and the moves that are permitted. The aims oflanguage involve the intention of the addresser (conveyinginformation, expressing emotions..). The rules are given by social and cultural conventions (speaking in turns, responding to greetings, thanking... The permitted moves Cenoposiiones meunit 1 18 inglés are related to grammatical and spelling rules. All these aspects of the game are important. And we must know them to be able to play well Martin Joos (1962), mentioned by Geoffrey Finch in Linguistic Terms and Concepts, describes the following register: Formal. Used by judges, lecturers and preachers it features: = Complex structures. = Ample vocabulary. = Meticulous pronunciation and no contractions. Consultative. Used for conversing with a stranger or for small group discussion. It features: = Complete grammatical forrns. = Absence of elaborated terms and slang, ® Clear and friendly pronunciation, Casual. Used to converse among friends. It features: = Sentence fillers («you knows, «l means). = Semantically empty words (ewhatsit»), slang, ® Not always clear pronunciation and varied intonation. Intimate. Used among members of a family or people who know each other very well. It features: = Non-verbal communication. = Nonsense words, reduced vocabulary. = Exaggerated intonation. Frozen, Used in literature, religion, legal works, funeral services, weddings, etc. It features: = Ceremonial language. ® Archaic and latinized vocabulary. ® Meticulous pronuntiation, neutral intonation, Ccenoposiionesunit 1 inglés In the English classroom, the registers used correspond to informal or intimate situations, since the context will always be friendly. In the third cycle the teacher could introduce @ more formal language, or at least let the students know of its existence, giving them situations in which they have to meet unknown people (a gentleman in the street, an authority), and so on. 5 sit iffcalt to define a communicative situation? Are all actors always involved? ‘Which of them are the most important? [Mt the time of teaching a second language how can we improve our act of ‘communication between our student and us? What kind factors we should be most aware of? Ccenoposiciones 13unit 1 20 inglés 4 FUNCTIONALITY What do we use language for, in its oral or written form? The mast immediate answer would be «to communicate our ideas and feelings But it would be wrong to think of it as the only function of language. Linguists have identified many other functions of language and they consider that the communication of ideas is only one of many functions. Greetings, for example, do not communicate any idea; they are only courtesy expressions that human beings use to maintain social relationships. FACTORS ‘CORRESPONDING FUNCTIONS Addresser Emotive Addressee Conative Context Referencial Message Poetic Channel Phatic Code Metalingual Firstly, let us see the main functions of language, followed by the pedagogical implications. 4.1. JAKOBSON’S MODEL One of the most influential models has been that of the Swedish linguist Roman Jakobson, who has found six general functions. These functions can be paired with the factors that define the communicative situation (point three of this chapter): > Emotive function. ‘This is the expression of feelings and attitudes. The most common expressions are usually: «Oh, my Gods or interjections such as «Wowlo, It is directed to the addresser. > Conative function. This is used to draw the addressee’ attention. For example, the expression to get the waite’s attention «Excuse mely is directed to the addressee. > Referential function. This is the function we mentioned at the beginning of this section. It is the communication of ideas or facts: for example, the explanation of a lesson or the narration of what has been done during a holiday. itis directed towards the context. Ccenoposiionesunit 1 inglés > Poetic function. This is the language used for aesthetic purposes (poetry) or as verbal play (crosswords, jokes, riddles, tongue twisters). Itis directed towards the message. > Phatic function. Thisis based on the human being’s need for showing signs of friendship. Sentences like: “Good morningl>, «Nice to meet youl» are used as courtesy formulas or as ice- breakers itis directed towards the channel > Metalingual function. This is used when explanations are requested for clarification, for example: «| don't understands, «| can't read this». Its directed towards the code, These functions of language have the following pedagogical implications: the English language teacher should not only teach the language for students to communicate their ideas (referential function), but he/she should also teach expressions, phrases or interjections to help them maintain relationships (phatic function), enjoy the language (poetic function) or to understand the language better (metalingual function). 4.2. HALLIDAY’S MODEL The British linguist Michael Halliday believes language exists to fulfll certain human needs, such as the need to make sense of the world orto relate to others. His model of language is called functional or systemic grammar. The development of this grammar was a reaction to more abstract approaches associated with Chomsky’s generative grammar. Halliday sees language as a social and cultural phenomenon, whereas Chomsky sees it asa biological one. Halliday identifies three principal fuctions of language: ® The ideational function. This function emphasizes language as an instrument of thought with which we represent the world to ourselves. We use the language to conceptualize the world: language refers to real or imagined objects, persons, events, etc. = The interpersonal function. This function emphasizes language as an instrument, of transaction by which we represent ourselves to other people Weuse language a5 a personal medium: to establish or maintain social relationships. = The textual function. This function emphasizes language as an instrument of ‘communication with which we construct sentences cohesively and coherently. We use language to form texts, whether spoken or written. Ccenoposiciones 21unit 1 2 inglés Today, FLT has incorporated the functional and communicative potential of language into teaching. Language teaching now focuses on communicative proficiency rather than on mastery of structures. Several pedagogical implications can be derived from this view of language: 1. The language presented to students must be contextualized in realistic and natural situations; 2. Students are expected to interact with one another through pair and group work in order to experience communication, 3. Syllabuses should be organized around the notions and functions that learners may need in order to communicate successfully, such as expressing likes and dislikes, asking, identifying, accepting /declining invitations, etc. Ccenoposiionesunit 1 inglés 5 THE COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH TO FLT 5.1. BACKGROUND The Communicative Approach appeared in the 1970s as a reaction to the Audiolingual Method, which paid more attention to structure than to its function. The attack on audiolingual beliefs resulted from changes in the American linguistic theories in the 1960s. The changes became a revolution in applied linguistics, that is,the teaching of a language. The person responsible for these changes was Noam Chomsky. Noam Chomsky rejected the structuralist approach to language description and ‘the behaviourist ideas on language learning: «Language is not a habit structure. Ordinary linguistic behaviour characteristically involves innovation, formation of new sentences and pattems in accordance with rules of great abstractness and intricacy», ‘What struck Chomsky about language was its creativity, that is, the capacity to generate completely novel sentences, endlessly He proposed an alternative theory of language learning to that of behaviourism. Chomsky argued that sentences are not leaned by imitation and repetition but are generated from the learners’ competence. Learners, then, should be encouraged to use their innate and creative abilities. British applied linguists emphasized another fundamental dimension of language: its functional and communicative potential. They saw language learning as the leaming of communicative proficiency rather than the mastery of structures Scholars who advocated this view of language drew on the work of British functional linguists (e.g. Halliday), American sociolinguists (eg. Hymes and Labov), a well as work in philosophy (eg. Austin and Sear!). The work of these scholars had a significant impact on the development of a Communicative Approach to language teaching. The Council of Europe incorporated this communicative view into a set of specifications for a first-level communicative language syllabus called «Threshold Level English» in the 1980s. These specifications have had a strong influence on the design of communicative or functional language programmes and textbooks in Europe. The Communicative Approach is also called Communicative Language Teaching and Functional Approach. 5.2. COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE The American sociolinguist Dell Hymes established 2 new concept in language theory which complemented Halliday’s functional view: the communicative competence. It is defined as what a speaker needs to know in order to be communicatively competent in a speech community. Hymes coined this term in contrast to Chomsky’s theory of competence. For Chomsky, competence simply implied the knowledge of the language system. Hymes maintained Ccenoposiciones eeunit 1 24 inglés 5.3. that Chomsky’s theory was incomplete, and that a communicative and cultural dimension should be incorporated. A speaker does not only need the ability to use grammatical structures, but also to learn how to use those structures in a community (appropriateness). Canale and Swain (1980) were two linguists who expanded the previous description of Hymes, establishing four dimensions of the communicative competence (subcompetences) 1. Grammatical competence. This refers to the correct use of the linguistic code, ie. the mastery of grammatical structures, vocabulary and pronunciation. Chomsky called this «linguistic competences. 2. Discursive competence. The ability to relate and combine grammatical forms, in order to achieve coherent texts 3. Sociolinguistic competence. The ability to produce and understand messages relating to social context, participants and purpose; in other words, the appropriate use of language. 4, Strategic competence. It refers to participants’ verbal and non-verbal strategies: beginning, maintaining oF finishing a chunk of communication, avoiding ruptures in the transmission of the message. These are the procedures which are necessary for communication to be effective. These four skills are complemented by socio-cultural competence, which implies the knowledge of certain cultural facts which are of key importance for us to understand a message completely The communicative strand relates to conscious and subconscious learning, and to accuracy as well as to fluency and appropriatness. Julian Edge describes the students’ tasks as jugaling with three clubs: TJaccuracy:conferming tothelanguage itself; 2) fluency: using the system quickly and easily, and 3) appropriateness: relating successfully to other people through language. COMMUNICATIVE ACTIVITIES Communicative activities refer to the tasks and exercises that the student carries out for real communication, These activities focus more on the message than on the linguistic features of the language. Children learn how to speak without knowing what verbs, adjectives or verbal tenses are The communicative approach believes that the practice of communicative activities will produce the unconscious learning of the structures of the language ‘A.communicative activity must be: ® Interactive. Two or more people are involved in the communicative interaction, = Unpredictable. & student has to seek the information his/her partner has, This will create the necessity and the desire to communicate. Ccenoposiiones= Within a context. This refers to the situational context (place, circumstances, time, channel used.) a5 well as the linguistic context (cohesion in linguistic forms and in vocabulary). ® Authentic. The language used should be genuine, that s to say, similar to that of an English-speaking person. Examples of oral communicatives activities: ® Information-gap activities. In these activities there is missing information the student must discover. For example, asking for the number of brothers and sisters that a partner has. ® Role-play. Students pretend they are someone else in an imaginary situation. For example, buying a T-shirt in a clothes shop. The most common sequence for role-playing is: — Setting the context and situation. — Describing the roles that the students will perform and the purpose of the conversation. — Presenting linguistic options that leamers may choose from: vocabulary, structures. — Demonstrating role-play so that students get familiar with the use of the different options, — Role-playing, The performance of roles and use of language. ® Problem-solving. This activity can be carried out in pairs or in groups, and it Consists of solving a problem-for instance, discovering the differences in similar ures ® Following instructions, Students should follow instructions which they're given. For example, a cooking recipe or instructions for using a device. = Describing personal experiences, Describing leamer’s own experiences of his/ her ife isa highly motivating activity. For example: describing a member of their family, telling about a typical day, etc = Communicative games. Games are also motivating and real for children. For example: Snakes and Ladders, Battleships, Hangman. ® «Reaching a consensus» activities, The students must agree with each other on a topic. For example, they have to choose ten objects they would take with them if they had to go camping Examples of written communicative activities: ® Writing instructions, Students write instructions which other students, or the teacher, have to carry out = Writing short messages. This is the most basic form of letter-writing, very appropriate for beginner levels. Examples: writing invitations, writing personal questions, instructions, etc. Ccenoposiciones inglés unit 1 5unit 1 2% inglés Writing short letters. Writing to penftiends. This is one of the most motivating and genuine communicative activities, since students use their English for a real purpose in a real situation Writing questionnaires, quizzes, puzzles, TV programmes, Writing imaginary diaries. Filing in forms. The students give their personal data, This is a useful activity, since filing in forms s very frequent in real life Communicative games: The Hangman, finding mistakes. Project work. This isa very useful activity for integrating skills. It usually involves some research (interviewing, reading), and some group discussion about the topic to write about, There are, therefore, two stages: the process of carrying out the project and the final product. We can also integrate the skills oflistening and speaking if the students explain their work orally. At a basic level, topics will be about students’interests: food, animals, descriptions, the family, etc 2 Isit always necessary to use a functional approach? Isitinconvinient? What are the ros and cons of wing a communicative approach? Inhat ways could communicative activities help us atthe time of teaching a second language? What kindof activities are mare convenient orl or written ones? CcenoposiioneseRe sT Learning a foreign language today implies knowing how to use the language just as a native does: knowing the structures and the vocabulary, at oral and written levels, in a variety of circumstances and situations. Right now the teaching of English is more complex than it used to be. The English teacher can't just teach structures, vocabulary and pronunciation. He/she should add a new element: the social one. The teacher should keep in mind that the structures that he/she will teach (the code) are transmitted within a certain context, through a channel, and orientated to an addressee whowill interpret it. In short, the function of the message and the factors that intervene in a communication act are aspects which must be included in the methodology of the foreign language. Ccenoposiciones inglés unit 1 2runit 1 28 inglés eee AITCHISON, J: Linguistics: An Introduction, London: Hodder Headline. 1999, BREWSTER, J. & ELLIS, G: The Primary English Teacher's Guide, Suffolk: Penguin. 1992. CCRYSTAL, D: The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997, FINCH, G: Linguistic Terms and Concepts. London: Macmillan Press Ltd. 2000. HARMER, J: The Practice of English Language Teaching. Longman. 4" edition. 2007. LEWIS, M. & HILL, J: Practical Techniques for Language Teaching. Hove: Language Teaching Publications, 1992. MCDONOUGH, J. & SHAW, C: Materials and Methods in ELT. Wiley-Blackwell. 2003. Ccenoposiionesunit 1 tal ais LANGUAGE AS COMMUNICATION. ORAL AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE. FACTORS THAT DEFINE A COMMUNICATIVE SITUATION, FUNCTIONALITY. THE COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH TO FLT. 1. LANGUAGE AS COMMUNICATION ® Definition of language: This is a system of signs that combine by means of conventional rules to transmit a message. It is characterized by arbitrariness, displacement, duality, Creativity, cultural transmission and structure dependence = Nowadays, language is considered as a means of communication, not simply a system of structures and words. ® The discipline that studies the factors that govern our choice of language in social Interaction is called pragmatics. = Communication theories: cooperative principle, speech act theory, discourse analysis ORAL AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE = Today, speech and vatiting are considered different systems of communication with characteristics and uses of their own, ® Characteristics of oral language: expressive possibilties, use of gesture; simple constructions; pauses and repetitions; errors = Characteristics of written language: precision; clarity; unique graphic Features; more formal FACTORS THAT DEFINE A COMMUNICATIVE SITUATION & Participants: addresser (author of the message) and addressee (the person to whom itis directed), The relationship between the participants is the tenor. = Context. Two types of contexts: linguistic context (provided by the linguistic system and the situational context (the place and the moment in which the communicative act takes place) ® Purpose: the intention of the message. ® Topic: the subject matter. = Mediurn/channel: The medium is the means by which the message is transmitted; the channel is the technical means of transmission ® Code: The communication system. Itcan be verbal or non-verbal ® Register: This relates all the factors entering into a communicative act. It refers to more, or less, formality Ccenoposiciones inglés aunit 1 30 inglés FUNCTIONALITY = Human beings use language mainly to communicate ideas or feelings, but this is not the only reason, There are some other functions: emotive, conative, referential, poetic, phatic, metalingual THE COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH ® Today, FLT has incorporated an important dimension of language: its functional and communicative potential = Communicative competence: Hyme’s theory of communicative competence considers several subcompetences: grammatical, sociolinguistic, discourse, strategic and socio- cultural ® Communicative activities: Tasks the students carry out for real communication. They ‘must be interactive, unpredictable, within a context and authentic LANGUAGE ! | on WRITTEN LANGUAGE LANGUAGE COMMUNICATION Factors Functions Addresser <> = Emotive Addressee > = Conative Context > = Referential Pedagogical Message <> © Poetic implication Channel <= © Phatic Code ~ > = Metalingual ‘COMMUNICATIVE ‘APPROACHTO LANGUAGE TEACHING Ccenoposiiones