The Humanistic Basis of Second Language Learning

Author(s): Winfred P. Lehmann and Randall L. Jones

Source: The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science , Mar., 1987,
Vol. 490, Foreign Language Instruction: A National Agenda (Mar., 1987), pp. 186-193
Published by: Sage Publications, Inc. in association with the American Academy of
Political and Social Science

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1045244

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 ANNALS, AAPSS, 490, March 1987

The Humanistic Basis of

Second Language Learning

By WINFRED P. LEHMANN and RANDALL L. JONES

ABSTRACT: A humanistic approach to language study recognizes the

necessity of learning a language in its social and cultural contexts,
encompassing the ecology and the material, social, religious, and linguistic
cultures of the language studied. The need to teach language in relation to
social and cultural values affects educational choices with respect to
curriculum, materials, and approaches and should be central to national
planning and programs for professional development and the improvement
of teaching.

Winfred P. Lehmann is director of the Linguistics Research Center at the University of

Texas, Austin, and 1987 president of the Modern Language Association.
Randall L. Jones is director of the Humanities Research Center at Brigham Young
University.

186

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HUMANISTIC BASIS OF SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNING 187

HIS article treats language in the Language, however, is a complex phenom-

context of the humanities, a per-enon, and its proper use requires much
spective shared by the Modern Language more than the linguistic abilities asso-
Association in its concern for improving
ciated with speaking and understanding.
the teaching and learning of language.One cannot properly learn another
Language in the context of the humanities
language without learning something
about the cultural and social contexts in
means language in its social and cultural
contexts. While language has many vari-which it is used and the values of those
eties including special sublanguages for who speak it, nor can one communicate
technology, the physical sciences, and accurately with a speaker of another
the social sciences, its basis is the human
language if one filters the information
communication that is central to the received through one's own mono-
formation and interaction of all social
cultural experience.
groups, from family to community to The intimate relation between lan-
nation.
guage and culture becomes especially
During the past several years theclear when representatives of Western
language teaching profession in the culture come into contact with indi-
United States has directed its attention viduals in other cultures. Graphic illustra-
to practical language instruction. Oral tions of the fundamental importance of
proficiency has become the primary a humanistic approach are provided by
goal, and virtually all activities in andlinguists like the long-time secretary and
out of the classroom are directed toward linguistic adviser to the American Bible
it. The desired outcome is simply to learnSociety, Eugene A. Nida, who has worked
to speak the language sufficiently well toextensively in other cultures on matters
use it to accomplish specific tasks. of communication and translation.
While the idea that students in a Nida classifies problems in equiva-
language program should learn how to lence among languages under five ru-
speak the language is certainly not new,
brics: (1) ecology; (2) material culture;
some recent theories, methods, and move-
(3) social culture; (4) religious culture;
ments within the profession have had and (5) linguistic culture.' For each of
dramatic impact on almost every aspectthese he provides numerous examples
of our teaching. Chief among these arethat any traveler could extend. The five
notional-functional theories, the com-
categories may serve to illustrate basic
municative competence movement, the uses of language that are fundamental
natural method of language instruc-for its mastery. Contacts with exotic
tion-based in turn on Krashen's theoriescultures highlight those uses, which
of second language acquisition-and the involve more subtle differences between
proficiency-based language curriculum. languages relatively similar to one an-
While recognizing that some language other, such as the languages of Western
programs may wish to offer instruction civilization. For control of these lan-
primarily directed toward reading skills guages as well, whether the English of
for specific groups of students, we believe
Britain or the widely studied languages
that oral proficiency should be the
of the European continent-French, Ger-
principal goal for the majority of lan-
guage programs in the United States. 1. Eugene A. Nida, Exploring Semantic Struc-
ture (Munich: Fink, 1975), p. 68.

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188 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY

man, Portuguese, and Spanish, in their Unfortunately, many handbooks for

several varieties-users must be awarelanguage study fail to make allowance
of the cultural viewpoints of native for cultural differences. It may seem
speakers, and they must set out to invidious to cite examples from such
master these viewpoints. books, yet they are widely accessible
and, worse, they are often the only
ECOLOGY AND LANGUAGE available instructional materials for
learning the elements of certain lan-
To illustrate problems related to guages. Among such handbooks are the
ecology, we may take Nida's example of Teach Yourself Books published by
finding equivalents for expressing topo- English Universities Press Ltd. of London.
graphical features in languages of peoples
We quote from Teach Yourself Samoan
located where those features are not
by C. C. Marsack,2 who cannot be held
found. For example, inhabitants of some completely responsible for the short-
islands of the Pacific and of the Yucatan
comings of this handbook, since the
peninsula have no mountains around publisher advertises a set of texts from
them, scarcely even hills. To represent
Afrikaans to Welsh as "uniform with
the ecology of other cultures to such
this volume and in the same series."
peoples, special words and phrases have The Samoan handbook consists of 20
to be constructed. For "mountain" Nida
lessons. In the ninth, the final exercise
suggests the phrase "large hill." But in requires translation into Samoan of the
communicating with inhabitants of some following eight sentences:
of the smaller Pacific islands Nida had
-"There is no food on the table in
difficulty finding equivalents for items
the dining room."
like river or lake; with inhabitants of
inland areas, similar problems arise -"I do not know how to dance."
describing the operation of a boat. Nida -"The orator made a very good
came to face many such problems and to speech."
propose sensible solutions to them.
-"The man from Lepa is hungry."
Numerous such ecological differences
exist among cultures, many even more -"John does not want to go to
subtle. Especially when receiving informa- Apia."
tion about a culture that is not exotic -"The boy is fed up and is not
but closely related to one's own, it is easy working well."
to fall into the habit of imposing a
-"Don't go to church because it is
familiar background upon the data
raining."
received and thus overlook subtle differ-
ences. For example, Americans hearing -"There are no dresses in Mary's
about life in a typical German com- box."
munity may hear words like "child," Nowhere is there information on
"family,""house,""street," and "church" Samoan geography or topography. We
and may picture them in their minds may well believe that there are a place
according to American models. In such like Lepa and a man from there who is
a process, basic social and psychological hungry, but we are not given any informa-
differences are overlooked, and the result-
2. C. C. Marsack, Teach Yourself Samoan
ing image may be seriously distorted. (London: English Universities Press, 1962).

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HUMANISTIC BASIS OF SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNING 189

tion on Lepa's whereabouts or thosebooks

of such as Spoken Norwegian by
Einar Haugen,4 in the generally ad-
Apia. Sadly, this type of language instruc-
tion is widespread, even in academic
mirable series produced during World
handbooks. War II under the auspices of the American
Lesson 9 is entitled "The Negative: Council of Learned Societies. These
Some Useful Phrases." There is no handbooks also observe a set format,
Samoan text, only individual sentences but it is based on cultural, rather than
illustrating the grammatical structure grammatical, topics. The first unit of the
under consideration. The first of these series is labeled "Getting Around"; the
reads, in translation, "There is no chair second, "Meeting People"; the fifth,
in the room"; the second, "There is no"Seeing the Sights"; and so on. After
money in the box." The handbook oncompleting Haugen's handbook, one
Icelandic treats the negative in lesson 6, knows the general geography of Norway
where the final exercise includes eightand the location of its major cities as
sentences, none of them involving a well as the principal grammatical features
negative.3 We quote only the first two: of the language, which are presented in
highly useful patterns for daily use. It
-"Now the clergyman has come to should be noted that the basic cultural
find father."
format found in Haugen's book was
-"She clapped her hands together."used, with modifications, for many other

It may be unnecessary to add thatlanguages.

nowhere in the handbook is there any
MATERIAL CULTURE
information on Icelandic geography.
With a few substitutions, such as Lepa
Nida's four further requirements nee
for Reykjavik, the exercises could be used
less discussion. Material culture, fo
for Samoan as well-or for Afrikaans
example, may be the most prominen
through Welsh. There seems to be a tacit
topic in language handbooks today, and
assumption that language consists of
indeed attention to some aspects of
positives and negatives, that cultural
could well be reduced. Virtually ever
figures like members of the clergy and
handbook for the Western language
orators are alike everywhere, and that
treats the topic of telling time, usin
there is no need to present language as
both straightforward patterns and rel
used by its speakers.
atively complex ones that involve prep
The prevalence of such handbooks
sitions or sequences like the Germa
may seem to indicate that an intro-
Wie spat ist es? (literally, "How late
ductory text cannot deal with more than
it?'). Yet these days-when nearly every
the fundamental grammatical patterns one wears a watch or carries other
of a language, that it cannot present devices
a that give the time, and when
language as an element of an individual
every conference room, railway station,
culture spoken in specific surroundings
and so on has a large clock in a promi-
by speakers with a distinctive back-
nent place-asking locals for the time
ground. Such a view is totally wrong. It
may be among the least used patterns in
is readily disproved by excellent hand-
the language. Moreover, the handbooks
3. P. T. Glendening, Teach Yourself Icelandic 4. Haugen, Spoken Norwegian (New York:
(London: English Universities Press, 1961). American Council of Learned Societies, 1946).

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 190 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY

include the stock terms for meals, but men's room from language to language.
travelers to foreign countries soon dis- In Turkey, any nonnative who used
cover that meals, especially breakfast, aptesthane, the textbook term for bath-
often have totally different names. room, would be greeted with laughter.
Perhaps a realistic presentation of At least a few years ago, the common
material culture would be of some bene- name for this important section of a
fit, at least to many adults with firm, if building was yuz numera ("the number
not preconceived, opinions. It is inter- 100"). In other areas of the Mediter-
esting to compare the comments of the ranean as well, including Europe, one
columnist George Will concerning food still finds such rooms in hotels labeled
in Moscow with the opinions on Ameri- with the two ciphers 00. This labeling
can food of Katya, the young Soviet girl convention has enjoyed virtually as much
who visited the United States in March success as have the two letters WC.
1986. Will returned complaining about
the lack of variety and the absence of RELIGIOUS AND LINGUISTIC
CULTURE
some of his favorite foods in Moscow
restaurants; Katya found that American We will not dwell on Nida's last two
food had a chemical taste, as anyone topics, religious cultures and linguistic
who likes tomatoes could have informed
cultures. These, however, are intimately
her.
related to language and its use. The
token references to the clergy or to
SOCIAL CULTURE churches in the handbooks previously
cited are scarcely of much benefit to the
The topic of social culture is so
language learner. By contrast, the authors
complex that the handbooks may of be brief handbooks for military person-
excused from attempting even an elemen-
nel going to Ireland during World War
tary presentation. We do not needIIto were perceptive in warning against
look at Nida's exotic examples, though
asking natives about their religion, ad-
one or two may illustrate how much vice that is not obsolete today. Similarly,
simpler some problems are in such lan-
one does well to know that conversation
guages. Typically, handbooks solemnly
becomes somewhat chilled in Norway
inform their users that "man" and "men"
when one brings up the topic of language,
refer to human beings of male gender,
regardless of whether the group concerned
"woman" and "women" to those of favors
the riksmaal or landsmaal. Linguistic
female gender. Yet nonnatives probably
culture clearly involves much more, as
see the plural form most frequently George
on Bernard Shaw informed us in
certain doors in public buildings. With-
his Pygmalion or Gilbert and Sullivan in
out a bit of social instruction, a nonna-
The Mikado. The intricate relationships
tive might be open to embarrassmentbetween
if language and culture in Japanese
he or she entered one of those doors and
in the languages of Southeast Asia are
search of a person of the opposite practically
sex legendary, requiring little
whom he or she had been exhorted supporting
to data. We may recall briefly
find.
that Ambassador Reischauer, virtually
If there were further need to demon- a native speaker of Japanese and also
strate the complexity of instructing non- the husband of a Japanese woman,
natives in social culture, one might refrained from speaking the language on
pursue the terms for ladies' room and official occasions.

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HUMANISTIC BASIS OF SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNING 191

TEACHING LANGUAGE IN A
semination of video materials. Once
CULTURAL CONTEXT
established, a national center could se-
An obvious question at this point is,the telecasts, whether from Germany,
cure
How does one teach language inIceland, the Samoa, or elsewhere, and pre-
pare
context of culture? First, it is important the requisite scripts. These then
that all material used in a language could be transmitted to language teach-
course be authentic and typical of theing facilities-colleges, high schools, or
culture. Contrived sentences may servebusiness establishments-throughout
well to illustrate points of grammar,the
butcountry.
they may actually be counterproductive The proposal has had adequate prep-
aration. James Pusack, at the University
in the student's efforts to achieve profi-
ciency in the language. Dialogues of and
Iowa, has developed a project for the
example sentences can and should procurement
con- and use of video material
tain a considerable amount of readily in language programs. The project has
usable cultural material. Literature can received significant funding and now
also provide a way of imparting infor- includes four other institutions. At
mation about the culture of the lan- Middlebury College, Kimberly Sparks
guage, and properly selected texts can has succeeded in obtaining telecasts from
German and Austrian television net-
help motivate students to learn the lan-
works. He estimates that every half-
guage. For most languages, short simple
stories by well-known writers canhour be telecast requires 24 hours of atten-
found that are suitable even for the tion before it can be presented to an
beginning levels. elementary class. This requirement alone
illustrates the necessity of a national
Visual material, especially video re-
cordings, can be extremely importantcenter
in concerned with language teaching.
teaching the language in the context We
of need similar telecasts for all the
its culture. Skilled and innovative lan- commonly taught languages-not only
guage instructors have begun to use German, but also French and Spanish-
news broadcasts and other video ma- and for Arabic, Chinese, Italian, Jap-
terial from foreign countries in their anese, Portuguese, and Russian. The
instructional programs, but preparing telecasts must be current, not reruns
such material for first- and even second-from the previous year or semester.
year students is no small matter. There Clearly, the considerations here cited
are also numerous problems associated are sufficient to justify the commission's
recommendation of a national center,
with obtaining copies of foreign telecasts.
but the center has other aims, and there
To make such facilities available, coopera-
tion within the language teaching profes-
are more implications for the steps that
sion is essential. The Modern Languageit may initiate.
Association's Commission on Foreign Given the development of modern
Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics
computer networks, with the ability to
has recommended the creation of a transmit not only data, but voice and
national center as a permanent structure
video images, it may not be long until
individuals could subscribe to the center's
or institution that would have language
education as its central concern. One of facilities. Technology is already available
the projects proposed for the initial to provide adequate language teaching
phase of the center's activity would bematerials to individuals in their homes
directed toward the acquisition and dis- and businesses as well as in classes. We

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192 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY

simply need the administrative arrange-

critical facts that should not be separated
ments to pursue and expand currentfrom the language. These should be
possibilities. In the words of a recent
taught directly if it is not possible for
report on the work of the National Task to learn them through the litera-
students
Force on Education and Technology,ture, from the texts in the handbook, or
from video material.
organized by former Secretary of Educa-
tion Terrel Bell, "Better teaching tech-
We have been largely concerned with
stressing the humanistic basis of lan-
nology will require wider cooperation."5
It should be clear that the proposed
guage learning and language teaching,
citing only occasional implications for
activities will involve language training
based on a humanistic approach.national
Stu- planning. In meeting the problems
dents making use of the current possibili-
we will need to vary our priorities. But it
ties will observe members of other cultures
is essential that we take action. We can
pursuing their daily activities, whether
no longer shortchange students, or the
with friends, at work, or in their country,
intel- by providing obsolete or inade-
lectual and cultural pursuits. Whenquate
newlanguage instruction. The control
forms of access to language acquisition
of language necessary in the modern
are made generally available, it will berequires well-trained teachers who
world
possible for students from Des Moines,
have the opportunity to renew and main-
Denver, or Detroit to step off a plane
tain in
their acquaintance with their lan-
Delhi with some knowledge of the people
guages as those languages change and as
they will encounter. That knowledge
they are currently used. That control
will include, but will by no means
also be
requires adequate facilities, such as
limited to, the ecology of the those
area.that a national center would
Preparation may well be specialized, as
provide.
in the University of Pennsylvania's One must realize the complexity of
Lauder Institute program, but it will and the difficulty associated
language
certainly include information on the
with learning and using it properly. One
literature and other cultural activities of most remarkable linguists of
of the
the country or countries concerned. recent
The times was the Yorkshireman and
individuals one meets in international first professor of linguistics in Britain,
business contacts, in governmental re-John Rupert Firth. Firth wrote little,
lations, and in academic circles are thought deeply about language, and
scarcely impressed if addressed in pidgin spoke about it with great common sense,
English adequate to buy coconuts or sell based on experience with the use of
computers. language among African villagers, Indian
Finally, formal teaching about culture fishermen, and the British upper class.
may still be necessary in many cases. In his little book The Tongues of Men
While it is impossible to provide complete and Speech, he identified speech as
historical, sociological, cultural, and an- social "magic" and went on to say, "You
thropological information about the learn your languages in stages as condi-
speakers of a language, there are certain tions of gradual incorporation into
your social organization, which ministers
5. Howard LaFranchi, "Better Teaching Tech- to your needs and gives you most of
nology Will Require Wider Cooperation," Christian what you want. A whole hierarchy of
Science Monitor, 7 Aug. 1985. values attaches to various forms of

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HUMANISTIC BASIS OF SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNING 193

language behavior."6 Successful lan-excellent tapes, although they

produced
had lan-
guage teaching involves presenting never before seen even a television
guage in relation to those values receiver.
as they Pondering this example, even
are determined by the society in the most pessimistic among us c,ay
question
and by individuals at all levels conclude
of that that there is hope for the high
society. school and college students of today.
The Christian Science Monitor re- Language teachers must be allowed
cently reported on the use of videotapes
to select the values they will present and
for giving "people in many isolated the level of language they consider of
villages ... the opportunity to sharegreatest
in benefit to their students. To
problem solving."7 The problems thesehave this possibility, they must be in-
formed. It is one of the aims of the
people face are how to improve ag-
Modern Language Association, through
riculture and health. What surprised the
efforts like those of its Commission on
sponsors was that "illiterates can learn
Foreign Languages, Literatures, and
to use very sophisticated technologies
Linguistics, to make that information
very effectively."8 The illiterate villagers
available. We look forward to cooper-
not only benefited from the tapes, but
ating with other individuals and organi-
6. Firth, The Tongues of Men and Speech
zations who share our high goals for
(London: Oxford University Press, 1964), pp.
135-36. language teaching and our students'
desire to achieve a mastery rooted in the
7. Kristin Helmore,"Sharing Wisdom," Chris-
tian Science Monitor, 3 Apr. 1986. knowledge of both societies and their
8. Ibid. individuals.

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