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Muestra Tema 1
Muestra Tema 1
Muestra Tema 1
ENGLISH FOREIGN
LANGUAGE
INDEX
1. LANGUAGEASCOMMUNICATION
1.1. WHAT IS LANGUAGE?
1.2. COMMUNICATION THEORIES
2. ORAL AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE
2.1. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
2.2. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ORAL AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE
2.3. CHARACTERISTICS OF ORAL LANGUAGE
2.4. 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
4.1. JAXOBSONS MODEL
4.2. HALLIDAYS MODEL
5. THE COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH TO FIT
5.1. BACKGROUND
5.2. COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE
5.3. COMMUNICATIVE ACTIVITIES
INTRODUCTION
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 pattern. 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.
the
factors
that
are
present
in
communicative
inspired
new
approach
English
language
teaching:
the
the
language
with
accuracy
and
appropriateness.
This
communicative
potential
of
language
in
its
objectives
and
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 analyse, on the one hand, the
differences of the two means we use to communicate, speech and
writing, as 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.
1. LANGUAGE AS COMMUNICATION
Language
is
purely
human
and
non-instinctive
method
of
communicating ideas, emotions and desires by means of voluntarilyproduced symbols; (E. Sapir, 1921).
-
sounds (birds, dolphins, monkeys and other species). However, most of the
features are unique to human language.
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 arid the animal it represents.
Structure
dependence.
Language
operations
depend
on
an
their mother language, but conscious and difficult when learning a foreign one.
Cooperative principle.
This is a term derived from the American philosopher Paul Grice, who is
sometimes regarded as the father of pragmatics. Grice emphasized that people
cooperate
in
the
process
of
communication
in
order
to
reduce
Maxim of Quantity states that speakers should give the right amount of
Information. A speaker should say neither too little nor too much.
They
should
also
be
clear
arid
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.
The British philosopher J.L. 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 sentences you to five years imprisonment,
he/she is not merely saying a string of words: his/her utterance has the same
effect as if the judge performed the action of locking the person up. Austin
called these utterances performatives. He has found three types of performative
acts:
-
Perlocutionary act. This refers to the effect the speakers utterance has
on the listener, such as persuading, commanding, convincing, etc.: Go to
bed! (commanding).
Discourse analysis.
Examples:
Greeting: Hello, Tom.
Greeting: Hi, Bill.
Offer: Would you like a cup of tea?
Acceptance: Yes please.
Once we have studied these approaches, we can conclude that they have
a common concern: 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 analyse the main features of oral and written language.
The supremacy of written language over oral language remained until the
19th century, in which there was sporadic Criticism of this viewpoint. It wasnt
until the 20th century, however, that a new approach appeared. This new
approach pointed out that speech was more important than writing, for three
reasons.
1. Because speech is much more ancient than writing.
2. Because it is developed naturally in children, while writing is artificially
taught.
3. And because writing is a transcription of the sounds of speech.
2.2.
DIFFERENCES
BETWEEN
ORAL
AND
WRITTEN
LANGUAGE.
The most obvious difference between oral and written language is the
physical form: speech uses the form of air-pressure movements and the written
language uses graphs that are marks on a surface.
The knowledge of the differences between speech and writing will allow
the teacher to design activities depending on the difficulty of the skills that must
be developed: speaking and listening are oral skills; reading and writing are
written skills. We must not forget that in the English language there is a great
difference between the oral and written form, which usually leads students to
having problems when writing, making mistakes such as:
Its a teibol, instead of its a table.
Or pronouncing words as if they were reading in Spanish:
Saying /ouse/ instead of /haus/.
Lets look at the differences between oral and written language, and try to
understand the specific features of each medium.