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    chapter 1 - Second Language Acquisition

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    linguistic and communicative competence

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    chapter 1 - Second Language Acquisition

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    Download as pdf
    19 views5 pages

    Linguistic and Communicative Competence

    Uploaded by

    Francis Smith
    chapter 1 - Second Language Acquisition

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    Download as pdf
    of 5
    AALS OS PABO SS eseES PP ARS Hy ween: 5 Language and communication Knowing a language ‘What doce it mean to know a language well and wo use it suecesfll? Answers to tis quenon ery consdeaby, both soneally and curly, and berreen nia, Thy, abo, [Swe are beginning to ten, depend onthe perspective af the peson who te being asked the qutsdon: for example, an Teademic linguist language ws or a language learner, Doce Knowing «language imply natvespeaker insight and Butney? ‘An ality to produce sentences with no ramnatcal errors? The ‘Capacity fo wie ceganty and expreavely? Beng ele co ge oar meanings across and do what you need todo? Or i fea Lombineon ofthese? Which answer we choose wl profoundly Scr how we adders any problem in which language i Iraplicated "Tndisonalgrammartransation language teaching, which we considered in Chapt 4, assumed that knowing theres of « Tnpuage and being able to use them were one and the same {itty ex there se many casee where someone knows the ules Stavlanguape but is ll nots success communicator. They tra, forexampe, noc use the language fast enough. Or they may tndrtand: what ie being sald and have something (0 say {emocles, but sil somehow fal to jin in. Or pechaps their language cems sited and old-fashioned for example, they may fay things ike "Whom do you wan?” or Tes caining cats and dogs OF they may send the cong kinds of signal with their | tone of voice, shaking dei hea instead of nodding it sounding bored or uniiendly when chey do not imend to. OF they may understand the literal meaning of what sid, But not why ii said. Thy fil to realize that something i a joke, for cxample, and ake offence. Tn other words, knowing the grammar and vocabulary of the language, although esentil is one thing. Being able to put them touse invalves other types of knowledge and ability s+ wel, Lingulatle competence Despite this eather obvious point, tolating he formal systems of language (ts pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary) ether for learning or for analysis, i a useful frst step. Howeve, the adoption of traditional language-teaching methods need” aot itnply hae thsi all chat learning a language involves, but only thar 4 sound knowledge of the rules and an accurate, i slow, feployment of them i the basis for further development. nother ‘words an emphasis on formal correctness can be seen aba matter of pedagogic procedure, a statepe staging of information, of the kind which i familiar in any kind of ordered learning. You do not learn ro drive by going straight into highspeed tac for ‘xample, but by fest practising isolated operations and listening to somedae explain what todo, A more fundamental, and rather different, argument for separating the formal systems ofa language from other Kinds of knowledge and sills has come from theoretical linguistics, and In particular the work of Noam Chomsky, described in Chapter. ‘We need to take further account of his ideas because they have been so extordinarily influential inal reas of language scudy ‘good deal of applied linguistic work has either followed on from them, or defined itself in opposition to them. ‘Chomsky’s idea is tha the human capacity for language, as iusteated by a chiles acquisition ofthe language around them, isnot the product of general intelligence or learing abil, but an innate, genetically determined feature of the human species. ‘We are born with coasiderable pre-programmed knowledge of| hhow language works, and require only minimal exposure to ‘Scanned with CamScanner scivate our connection to the particular language around wy Father ban bird earring fy adapts o the environment outside thereat inthis view, the newborn infant bean aleedy contains a Univeral Grammar (U0) which forms the bax of competence in the particular language the child goes on to spenk This gua fompetence i seen as modula, shat ito may separae from other mental abilities. TH we accept Chomaky’s view, language, as an object of academic enquiry, becomes xomething, mote biological than focial and sinulariies between languages cutweighdiferences Tnaddition, language is separated from ether factors invlved in its use suchas body language or cultural knowledge. While this ‘view may be valid for certain purposes in ingusis i also means that Chomsky’ theories, when invoked in applied linguiticn sm hhave a reductive and constaining effec, excluding. trom comseration those ey ator wich which he dine met ‘Communicative competence Eee ee ag Tee as eece ce Eee LY cette a eet hs ae esata Te re ee oat lat Haneda gr iiters ome ae es een eater Becieen eomele Dl se cM a coe seinety coe a te peice pean Thre te ek ee ioe ees tener pe ae sl Se Si rar peng perere re ite es pe fm a sa scene eg Te Ce oot San sty al anny See na te igi a roe See eet aie Se eg er omnis going to alep now" may be grammatical, meaningful, an Correctly pronounced, but tis not ncessariy the righ th fy, whereas Me go see wrong meaningful and appeo ‘communicatively ‘competent speaker may know the rules, be capable of following, them, but neverthelws break them deliberately. This a often the ‘ese when people want to be witty, of erative, o intimate, orto tall about something for which the language has no exiting terms, Thuy, for example, the Beatle Ringo Stare, after working long hours on a fim st, remarked “That was ahaed day's ight, tnd the phrave was taken up as the ctl ofa song and a film, ‘Though ie breaks semantic rules, it expresses am idea very ffectively ‘Secondly, a communicatively competent person knows what is feasible: This isa poychological concepe concerned with intations to whae ean be processed by the mind, and is best illustrated by tn example. The roles of English grammae make it possible 0 fxpand 4 noun phease, and make it more specie, by adding a felaive laut Thus "the cheete’ can become ‘the cheese the rat ste. Likewise, the at" can become the rat the cat chase’ In this should allow us to expand a senence infinitely a ‘The cheese was green, The chese the ratate was green, “The cheese the eat the et chased at was green ‘Thecheese the rat the et the dog saw chased ae was geen ‘The cheese the atthe eat che dog the man beat saw chased ate was green. “These last wo sentences, however, are hardy ones that would work in communication. IFanyehing, they seem clamser than an imposible’ example like “Me go sleep now. They may be posible nother word, bus they arent faible, They donot sea bce runt br bce eye ‘The notion of feasibility may seem a rather academic one, and of lie selevance to the practical applications of knowledge bout language. Processing the convoluted sentence about the cheese and the avis more like a game than a real-world problem. ‘Scanned with CamScanner, 7555903 9933359959899509s08e00055008 Feasibility docs nevertheless have some important consequences for applied linguistics. Ie bears upon the important issue of taking informacion easily accesible, which in the moder ‘World, with its overload of information, is paricularly important. ‘Consider, for example, the Following legal sentence: fa premium remains in default after the end of its grace period. any cash surrender value of the Policy will be used 0 Contin che Policy i force as paid wp insurance or as extended erm insurance, in an amount as determined below, and 00 further premiums will be due. ‘We might want co cricize it not on the grounds that ii snmavcl, but rather on the grounds diate nt 7 {Guile and this annecessnlyobscares impor inforaon- ‘Ristsatopicto whieh weshalsetmm Chop M hird componen of communicate comptencs knowledge ot onpsitenns, Ths concems the retonshp of ngage or Teeeeiotr to. conien, andar such covers a wide range of area ai mportance i es if we consider opp ae cnea, Some igh befor example napropeite retin caioniy aig 4 poze ofc ar ot 2s yee eon rar inal sin eso wore in oral ees) pce (esi ao ee a mobile phone cll daring » funeral oF Satin (meropmate to 4 para care (2t showing Boe he ee calcein, Se concerns conform 10 sci convention SP gen conroverny Pethape hs eases a a ee unica, Take fr exalt of Senn te for women moving beeen Wen and FRG a point few ithaca te norms ara ean is appropriate i the other, Thus Faroe ot aig te Gu Sn evil to wn en rr eee i avid giving offence. Moslem women, vi tne ‘the West, may feel under pressure to son ot ox Ting in he ean ths may be a mace for ini thei ead Vo ropere are cesion when spl ov! ect omni a sce eke impo Own NM Peabietel very strongly sour sch sna on both sides. lnportane factor are the dg to which some Salis are perceived to be absoie rather than cate spec, {ox example elgious freedom, female mode, aod women fighoy the degree to which socety shoudl epec edie ‘tference among i rombers and he dogre fo witch vss Should confor tothe cigoes of thes bore Such isms, altvough exsist ace i noo-rerbl bebrviou, als arae i lnguage tse. Should leaner of = MEE lop the way a whch ts wed? Can opus {Speaker for eeampe, maintain the deferenal pines of Eerown culture, even when speaking English Should Abe Speaker drop all efreoce to God inthe Engin aking ‘Repproprne’ for example co sy" God i wing in answer to anenury about wheter someting ikl obappen? Sach Shiu sates can occn even betwen speakers of the same iBoguses: Many speakers of Desh English fod phrases eed in Usleenceencouaters effusive sed fale, for example, "Have + tice day and ‘Your call maters to ts. Conversely, many Speaker of American Engi nd the language any—osed in ‘SEcRencouners in Britain coreand untied For applied lingua there so avoiding such issues Language creates our identies and allows us to communicate ‘tote satay must be concerned with who poses upon ‘Show, sa wid helms of soil coercion and sen. Many Teves, for example, schooling, workpiece communication, ‘Stgusge therapy, language texng, and language pans, are fcrenaly concerned wich nepeeiting) the parameters of Sitference snd conformity. And in the modern word, where formerly distinc ways of ving are brought incesig!y into ‘arp contact, and people from diferene cues have o share thesame spac, these ses are coming Wee ‘Hymes fourth component of commonicaswe competence Is Asowledge of state, ie. "wheter something done’ ‘Arist lance, ti seems eather pursing Surely eccurcence can be accounted for by the ther three pears? This 10% oweres, necestanly the ease. Take, fr example, che phise ‘Sips and Sat From one pot of view this posible doce not break any gramnar rule easble es easly proceed and Feadly understandable), end spproprate i doe ot contravene ‘Scanned with CamScanner, any sense scl conven), Never, dors not osu ep SSeeady a: Eahand cap inthe 1970s, when tyme eas EeESRSEA deention, hee was ao eay ory fo 54 Wht ses Estey occur ote than by laborious cheng of texts and ecSipo! Move recent, corpun teues ce Chapter 8), paces echniqus fo sexing age databanks, TiStade avaluble mach more information abou probably ‘The Influence of communicative competence Direc or indir the notion of communicative competence fan toca very wally drawn upon fa all sens of apped Ingucs. In Brwlanguage edocston—ehe area which Homes framin fac adesing—it wae invoked t jury a she sway om deeloping only mechanical language sil wards more rounded capaci o communicate «rend which has now gly eprevened:ninformation design, for example the dating of [lice] dovament and forms ie suppomed the ew ha eg fine is tox enough they alo need to be eayacoomble In ‘ech Gerapy i jailed an increased emphasis 08 cal Rowledge ard sisi addttn to deficiencies in grammar and fromuncation In erenslation i sengtheed the abe fr sen Erequivalene eller eather than only formal and lteral Sl teat _ "The biggest single infloence however, st often the casein applied guise, hasbeen pen the teaching of Engh os a {Breen Innguage. Inspired by Hymne the communicate prose, whic we looked atin Chapet 4, sed Yo develop IEimes capac to sae the language ettvely. Given he ortowness ef the methods which preceded i with thir reove emphasis upon grammatical acuray his approach Should have ben bene allowing teachers and Fares © ichevea more balanced view of what sicefalcomamaricetion involves Yer despite he careful adic of thse applied lings ‘to intoduced pre idens tothe languageeacting profesin, the iden quickly became ditred and misiwerprete. The four ramet of Hyer model were not taken a tegral pores ofa ones model of communication but aera ice areas f0 i dbvloped separately They were even et againt each ates, 46 sunvay with a fcus on appropriateness, in patculs, being sen as Teplcement for on on poo Nox wa shre npn Srdadjustment to diferen contr and for diferent ltmersn thctadte to exploit the concep commercial, the croc pid lips process by wich theory reinterpreted fox, ed by, practice, were neglected “There wera number of contributor factors Some advocates of tne communicative approach found common ease with te ovale natural aprowch sd theses, described in Chap, ‘facie fori lags leer can repartee’ aque Sf langunge troup ase snd exons lon. ln his version of Eur ecmphonidd ot realy shay fom pra sth Sol yrds of success; there was unt 4 dient route to Siting hated. Inaddion, CLT ofen overreacted against the pat. The new ceaphasin, mentioned above, war almost excescly upon Sppropetenay, while the other elements of communicate ‘Simptence eve lie sention Focus upon what pone sri seted as lfeshioneds whl the nsoa of enya etednes, Being more dificule to goasp hed ie ot no inp th many materials, moreover, the notion of apeopriatenes ‘came darted. There was an spice ssumpbin ha some ‘caning English should abandon thes own ways of behaving sed the English inguag: became a vehicle for poomoring cet. foes of Bish and US culture For empl, the Spal inne leer war pesca av an afucn youl oot so wad nothing more than so fin wih she ight way of ing cigs in Britain or the USA as quickly a pose. A ‘ypc omimcnicave’ acy might sane dmulng the ‘sect ordering of «meal ina revtaurann London or New York orknowinghow toiake ple requ an peop st “While his uted pushers courses fran afte flobal matey i ofen dempowered Sean ss of ane The poten for other culture eo have an pact on English of {or arerodeelp separate ese within wes eee Lid eed was ken for example of the neds of nigra and ‘members of enc minoies who might wu, gute lepine, LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATION 47 ‘Scanned with CamScanner 00000888800 d03d00dd0050000020250008 ‘both ro belong their new society and to maintain hei gal deny “This last development is ironic. One ofthe strengths ofthe concep of commonicative competence that does no esse {hie Knowledge nesesarly leader conformity. Knowing whats Spproprite to. patcler stuaion, relationship, gente of ‘dle, does not mean that you necessarily dose There are many Stutanets where peopl depare rom the ner. They may wish 0

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