~ UNIT 1: LANGUAGE AS COMMUNICATION

Unit 1: Language as communication: oral and written language. Factors that define a communicative situation: sender, receiver, functionality and context.

1- Introduction

4- Oral vs written language

3- Language as a means of communication

2- Origins of language and communication

Index

8- Bibliography

5- Factors that define a linguistic situation

7- Conclusions

6- Didactic applications

INTRODUCTION

• Language analyzed in oral and written form (components and elements to understand its nature and functions)

• Language as a human instrument to communicate (speech and writing)

• Communication needs a linguistic component.

• Objective f, art. 7 of RD 157/2022

• Related to unit 2 about verbal and non-verbal communication.

• Legal framework:

• LOE 2/2006, 3rd May now modified by LOMLOE 3/2020, 29th December
• RD 157/2022, 1st March
• D 106/2022, 5th August
• CEFRL 2001

ORIGINS OF LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATION

• Before the 18th century: language considered a gift from God

• Plato: language given but what was the principle of the first words?

• Kant: language occurs because of gradual evolution and natural causes

• Darwin: all animals have a communication system

• Noam Chomsky: The most influential theory of language evolution (universal grammar and language blueprint)

LANGUAGE AS A MEANS OF COMMUNICATION

• Communication: exchange of information between at least 2 individuals + objective f, art. 7 RD 157/2022
• Language: main function is communication. Tool of communication always transforming.
• Saussure: signifier and signified + arbitrary, conventional and differential
• Robert Langs: Communicative language teaching approach (real life situations in the classroom)
• Chomsky (gramatical competence)
• Hymes (communicative competence)
• Canale and Swain: 5 subcompetences
• Linguistic Competence
• Discourse Competence
• Sociolinguistic Competence
• Strategic Competence
• Sociocultural Competence

ORAL WRITTEN LANGUAGE

vs

WRITTEN

• Learned later
• It needs formal teaching
• The reader can read over and remove mistake
• More precise + rewrite and reread
• It is permanent
• Richer vocabulary and formal
• Writing lacks non-verbal communication
• Not necessary to share spatial and time

• Acquired first

• It occurs without formal teaching

• The speaker cannot change what he/she has said
• Redundant information
• Affected by personal characteristics of speaker and listener

• It is not permanent

• It is produced quickly and automatically

• Sentences are shorter
• Feedback by observing listener
• Share spatial and time

ORAL

ORAL AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE SIMILARITIES

• Oral and written are related (use of productive and receptive skills)
• One form as a result of the other (taking notes or reading a book)
• Interrelated oral and written language (write a description, read and guess)

FACTORS THAT DEFINE A LINGUISTIC SITUATION

• Aristotle: speaker, subject and hearer.
• Laswells: added the effect of communication.
• Shannon and Weaver: semantic noise as major barrier.
• Reileys: social aspect

FACTORS THAT DEFINE A LINGUISTIC SITUATION

• Barriers:
• cultural differences, environmental conditions...
• assumptions, attitudes and sensitivity issues

Functions: referential, expressive, phatic, aesthetic, conative and metalinguistic.

Code

Natural Approach (Krashen and Tarrell): situations, functions and topics.

Context

DIDACTIC APPLICATIONS

PPP method (J. Harmer)

• WARM UP: Brainstorming through miming game
• PRESENTATION: Present the vocabulary with the help of the class' puppet
• PRACTICE: Matching worksheets, ordering the letters, playing a memory game, etc.
• PRODUCTION: Communicative activities such as: role plays, dramatizations, oral games, etc.

CONCLUSIONS

• Languages open minds and hearts, take us to other worlds, feed our souls and imagination.
• The most important reason for learning a new language is the ability to communicate
• Cicero: "Once the students have the skills to communicate, then the world will be at their feet"
• Goethe: "Who does not know foreign languages, does not know his own"

REFERENCES

• Bibliography:
• Richards & Schmidt (1983): Language and communication
• Saussure (1959): A course in Linguistics
• Ellis and Girard (2002): The primary English teacher's guide

• Legal framework:
• LOE 2/2006, 3rd May now modified by LOMLOE 3/2020, 29th December
• RD 157/2022, 1st March
• D 106/2022, 5th August
• CEFRL 2001

• Websites:
• www.bussyteacher.ord
• www.creducation.org

THANK YOU!