RESUMEN TEMA 2
COMMUNICATION IN THE FOREIGN LANGUAGE CLASSROOM:
COMMUNICATION THEORIES AND APPROACHES
To start with, we need to answer the question: "what is language?”. According Sapir (1921),
“language is a purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas, emotions and
desires with symbols”. On the other hand, Trager (1949) confirmed that “a language is a vocal
symbols system with whom the members of a society interact”.
The term communication comes from the Latin root communis (putting something in common
with others), which means the exchange of information between, at least, two individuals using
verbal and non-verbal symbols. According to Wolton (2006), "all communication processes should
always be an intent to interact, to share with others". According to Mario Kaplun (1998), the term
communication means fellowship, community, something to share and something to live together.
Now let's look at the different educational theories (5):
MATHEMATICAL THEORY (Shannon and Weaver model)
This is a vertical, authoritarian, traditional, rigid, unidirectional communicative model. The sender
present information to a passive receiver without feedback.
FUNCTIONALIST THEORY (Laswell)
Laswell is the maximum referent and he started the study of communication from this question:
“Who says what, through which channel, to whom and with what effect?” The sender controls the
message but no the reception.
SEMIOTIC THEORY (Eco)
This is a bidirectional communicative model. The sender transmits a message through a channel to
a receiver, who gives “negative feedback”.
According to Kaplun (1998), the main objective is to persuade and manipulate, that is why Aparici
(2010) calls this model “false democracy”.
For example, if your best friend asks you “what do you think about my new hair style?”, your
answer will be “Great!” because you don’t want to be impolite even though is not 100% honest.
EDUCOMMUNICATION THEORY (Media Literacy / Media Education)
This is based on the EMIREC-EMIREC (feed-feed) model with horizontal and multidirectional
communication. Educommunication sees communication as an essential element in the teaching-
learning process, understanding all the education and communication dimensions as a whole.
According to Kaplun (1998) “knowing is communicating”, so, when we can express an idea is when
this idea is truly learned by us.
CONNECTIVIST THEORY (George Siemens, 2010)
This is based on the Digital Communication Society, where learning is not any more an internal and
individual activity, but rather as activity that interacts with the help of the digital media.
The main objective here is not to create digital experts, but students that use technology to
construct knowledge.
verbal and non-verbal means of communication
In the past, Traditional Foreign Language Teaching was based on teaching elements of the language in an isolated
way with the objective of reading texts. But, nowadays, we teach English using the Communicative Approach with
the objective to develop the communicative competence of the students.
We will start talking about verbal communication through symbols known as "words". Its objective is that people
produce utterances with spoken, written and sign language.
Related with speech, it has been the only means of everyday and vital communication during thousands of years.
The aim of phonetics is to describe and classify sounds into: articulatory phonetics (production of sounds), acoustic
phonetics (transmission of sounds) and auditory phonetics (reception of sounds).
Let’s go now to have a look at the main characteristics of speech (9):
 Speech is time-bound (dynamic) and multidirectional.
 Regarding vocabulary, speech is generalized; and concerning grammar, speech is simpler, looser and
repetitive.
 In speech, we normally interact face-to-face with verbal and non-verbal means of communication.
 The features of speech are stress, rhythm and intonation.
 Speech has social or phatic functions.
 The production of errors in speech cannot be erased once spoken.
 Finally, while in speech maybe we do not have enough time to assimilate all the information.
After this, it is important to say that communication is not only verbal, because the 90% are non-linguistic elements
(gestures, body movements, etc.) Finch defined the notion of non-verbal communication as “the communication
that occur without words”.
In the English class, we can use non-verbal elements such as: gestures and body language; physical movements
based on the Total Physical Response of James Asher, which says that we learn a language by listening and acting;
rhythm, stress and intonation; visual aids (flashcards) and auditory aids.
EXTRALINGUISTIC STRATEGIES: non-verbal reactions to messages in different contexts
Teachers should teach students that language changes according to the context. In the case of learning a second
language, it is even more important to use extralinguistic strategies.
There are a lot of methods but the most known method is the Total Physical Response, developed by James Asher to
teach oral competence through physical activity. The characteristics, when we learn a language, are:
Comprehension goes before production; understanding must come first and then oral expression is taught; we give
importance to the meaning rather than the form; and this should reduce stress.
We can see what students are learning through non-verbal reactions, such as: Responding physically to directions
(how many children are there?) / Pointing to objects / Putting things in order / Drawing what they hear or read.
In this sense, teachers should provide many opportunities and interactive situations, where students can develop
non-verbal communication, and design Total Physical Response activities such as "Simon says" is a good option.