22

Linguistics and Language Teaching

The aim of this unit

• To make you think about what is a language

• To reflect upon what is actually taught and learnt as a language

• To analyze language theories that are used in language teaching

What do you have to do in this unit?

A Input reading

B Self-assessment questions (SAQ)

C Exploratory tasks

D Materials analysis task

E Integrated task

Warming up discussion 0

Agree or disagree with the following statements by marking T (true), F (false) and D (debatable)

Statements	T F D
Human language grew out of the animals’ “call” system to mean “Danger!”, “Food!”, “Follow me!” etc
Human language is independent of the animals’ cry system and can’t have arisen from the animals’ language
Language grammar is getting more and more complex with the evolution
Higher animals such as apes can acquire primitive human language
Language is a specific human faculty that has a unique biological basis
Language is a system of arbitrary signs with rules
Human language has a non-random organisation

Input reading 1

Pre-communicative language theories

One of the first language theories was classical normative grammar. It put the emphasis on the studies of correct written language and succeeded in analysing it into the definitive number of forms and rules. Traditional grammar labelled words in sentences as grammatical categories of “Subject”, “Predicate”, “Object”, “Attribute” etc. It dealt with traditional categories of “agreement”, “number”, “person”, “tense”, “voice”, and “gender”. Classical normative grammar was consistent with grammar-translation method (Olendorf) aiming at contrastive analysis of the written samples in the native and foreign/second language (L1 and L2). Grammar-translation instruction was based on deducing the language from the rules. In this instruction setting the learners acquired mostly deductive grammar. Within the framework of classical normative grammar developed direct method of second/foreign language instruction (Berlitz). These were naive and amateur attempts to apply the ideas enlightened by the first insights into the child language learning. Within this method the learners acquired inductive grammar, which was based on the language examples.

SAQ 1.1

Match the concepts in the left-hand column with the features of language teaching in the right-hand column. Two features of teaching are extra. Why?

Concepts	Features
Classical normative grammar	Fluency
Grammar-translation method	Accuracy
Deductive grammar	Cross-language analysis
Inductive grammar	Exposure to whole language
Direct method	Communication
	Rules
	Examples

Prescriptive approach to grammar set out rules for the “proper” use of the language. The claim was that the English sentences should be like those in Latin. Some familiar examples of prescriptive rules for the English sentences are: “You must not split the infinitive and therefor you can’t say “to quickly do”, “You must not end a sentence with a preposition”, “You must not begin a sentence with “and” or “but”. Sentences such as “Who did you see?” was corrected by the teachers to “Whom did you see?”.

Exploratory task 1.1

Write in the correct elements in the space provided for the erroneous sentences.

Phrases	Correct element
Top sportsmen are not smoking
The team didn’t play as good as I had expected
The news were depressing
They asked him where was the railway station
Children start the school when they are five
They have four children which are very smart indeed
I am living here all my life
I try my best not to do mistakes
We have had such a terrible weather
Are you interesting to learn this?
I have been living in China since two years

Descriptive approach was more lenient to the conversational style. It consisted in collecting samples of the living English language and describing the structures, which were regularly used in communication. A type of descriptive approach is structural linguistics. The goal was to describe the inventory of essential English structures. The focus of attention in learners shifted to the acquisition of speech patterns. Structuralism was also applied in audio-lingual approach to language instruction (R. Lado). The idea was to provide intensive practice of speech patterns through continuous reinforcement in dialogues and drills. (Adapted from Yule, G. 1996. The Study of Language. CUP).

Exploratory task 1.2

Descriptive approach studies the ways language is used in the real world situations. Match the following conjunctions and sentences, in which they are best used

Sentences	Conjunctions
… hard he tried, he still couldn’t open the door Even … he was reluctant at first, he joined in the fun. … her illness, she decided to go to the concert … he wasn’t keen on the idea, he agreed to go I arrived on time … of the chaos on the roads	Although Despite However in spite though

(Flower, J. 1996. First Certificate Organiser. Language Teaching Publications. P. 100)

A mighty wave of pre-communicative linguistics was sent by the ideas of mentalism (Chomsky, N. 1986. Knowledge of Language: Its Nature, Origin and Use. N.Y.) This approach to language drew interest to the rules of the “universal grammar” in the speaker's mind. One of the moor fruitful of all the ideas put forward by linguistic mentalism was that of linguistic competence and performance (compare this dichotomy to “langue” and “parole” by F.de Saussure). “Competence” was understood as the knowledge of language grammar. “Performance” was interpreted as the use of language for communicative purposes. It came to be understood increasingly clearly by linguists that the language as an "inventory of items and rules" is not the same as the language in the process of communication. Language competence and performance have become the two distinctive aspects of language studies. This brought language studies very close to communicative linguistic theory.

Exploratory task 1.3

Listen to the following language performance and turn this conversational piece into a well organised written text, which is based on your knowledge of English grammar

Spoken performance

Competence based written text

and where did you go to school? George Watson’s College for primary and secondary? For primary and secondary, yeah Right… em could you describe how got from your home to the school … if you remember? The exact route? If you remember it Good grief what a funny question … yeah … yes I can …em … perfectly … I mean absolutely perfectly ‘cause I used to do it every day twice …used to walk it …I used to walk along Grange Loan … up Lauder Road …no no … I didn’t use to go that way I used to walk … because I used to walk a different way from I used to go I used to have this … well it’s perfectly it’s perfectly possible that one way cam … exert less energy that another … in opposite directions because you know hills … you choose not to go up hills … (Adapted from Brown, G. and G.Yule. 1983. Teaching the Spoken Language. CUP. P. 93-94)