1.

- Language as communication 2016

1.- Language as communication: oral and written language. Factors

defining a communicative situation: listener, code, functionality
and context

0.- INTRODUCTION
1.- LANGUAGE AS COMMUNICATION
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
4.- Functionality
5.- THE COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH TO FOREIGN LANGUAGE
TEACHING
5.1.- Backgground
5.2.- Communicative competence
5.3.- Communicate activities
6.- Conclusion

0.- INTRODUCTION
Communication is a fundamental part of human being, with many variables all around
the world. The participants, context, purpose and channel are key factors to choose
and understand the language used.
Since the 1970s, some theoreticians turned to communication as a main aim of
language, developing a new approach in English language teaching: the
Communicative Approach. This is based on providing the students with communicative
activities that will develop their oral and written skills, so they can use the language
with accuracy and appropriateness. The significance and relevance of these situations
will determine the engagement of the students.

1.- LANGUAGE AS COMMUNICATION

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 1.- Language as communication 2016

1.1.- What is language?

It can broadly be defined as a system of signs that are combined, with the help of
conventional rules, to transmit a message. There are many definitions of language, like
the following:
Language is a purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas,
emotions and desires by means of voluntarily- produced symbols. (E. Sapir, 1921).
. A language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols by means of which the members
of a society interact in terms of their total culture. (G. Trager, 1949).
. A language is a set (finite or infinite) of sentences, each finite in length and
constructed out of a finite set of elements. (N. Chomsky, 1957).
. Language is the institution whereby humans communicate and interact with each
other by means of habitually used oral-auditory arbitrary symbols. (R.A. Hall.1964).
The American linguist Charles F. Hocket made a set of 13 design features of
communication using spoken language, and studied whether these features could be
found in animal communication. Most of the features are unique to human language:
1. Auditory-vocal channel.
2. Broadcast transmission and directional reception
3. Rapid fading
4. Interchangeability
5. Total feedback
6. Specitalization
7. Semanticity
8. Arbitrariness
9. Discreteness
10. Productivity
11. Traditional transmission.
12. Duality of pottering
13. Displacement.
These features are easily observed in our day-to-day spoken language, so they can
guide us to analyze and improve the creation of communicative situations when
learning a foreign language.
1.2.- Communication theories
Communication process is usually determined by the choice of grammatical structures,
vocabulary and intonation that the speaker make, regulated as well by the feedback
they receive. Pragmatics is the branch of linguistics that studies these choices of
language and how we are influenced by the social interaction.

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We will now explain three influential approaches on communication theory: the

cooperative principle, the speech act theory and discourse analysis.
Cooperative principle.
Paul Grice, sometimes regarded as the father of pragmatics, emphasized the
cooperation as the natural way to produce a rational and efficient exhange in
conversations and avoid misunderstanding, applying four cooperative principles:
Maxim of Quantity - speakers should give the right amount of information.
Maxim of Quality - a speakers contribution to a conversation ought to be true.
Maxim of Relevance - contributions should clearly relate to the purpose of
exchange.
Maxim of Manner - contributions should be clear, perspicuous.
These maxims are best regarded 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.
Speech act 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.
Austin called these utterances performatives. He has found three types of
performative acts:
Locutionary act. This refers to the literal meaning conveyed by the words and
structures contained in the utterance: Its cold today (a statement about the
weather).
Illocutionary act. This refers to the act which is performed as a result of the
speaker making an utterance, such as requesting, promising, warning,
welcoming, betting, and so on: Whats the time? (requesting the time).
Perlocutionary act. This refers to the effect the speakers utterance has on the
listener, such as persuading, commanding, convincing, etc.: Go to bed!
(commanding).
One of the most widely-used taxonomies of speech acts is that proposed by J.R. Searl:
1. Representative. Description of states and events with an assertion: Today is
Monday.
2. Directive. Suggestions, commands, requesting, etc: Please, be quiet.
3. Commissives. Threats, promises, etc.: If you pass the exams, youll get a prize.
4. Expressive. Expressions of feelings and attitudes: The film was horrible.
5. Declarative. Marrying, christening, declaring in institutional frameworks: I
declare you the natural successor.
Discourse analysis.

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Discourse is the branch of linguistics that focusses on the communicative dynamics of

languages. It refers to any sequence of language larger than a sentence, and its
present both in oral and written language. Discourse analysis studies all agents within
the communicative act: context, relationship between speaker(s) and listener(s), mode
of discourse, etc.
Conversation has been one of the most studied communicative act. Conversation
analysis, also known as ethno-methodology, studies the strategies (often formulaic
exchanges) to begin and end a conversation, change topics, or the use of adjacency
pairs: greeting-greeting, question-answer, apology-acceptance, etc.

2 ORAL AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE

2.1. Historical background
Oral language is believed to be one of the vehicle for human evolution, and its the
most extended form of language. Nevertheless written language has been widely
studied while spoken language remained behind. There are many factors for this
supremacy, as the existence of literature, but since 19 th century some experts claimed
attention for speech. It was in the 20th century when a new approach regarded oral
language more important than writing, because of the age of use, the natural way to
be developed and the fact that written language is a transcription of the sounds of
speech.
Nowadays both oral and written language are studied with their own characteristics
and uses, as two sides of one coin that is communication.
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.
Listening is, therefore, completely different from reading, and so is speaking from
writing. Speech is immediate, dynamic, transitory and interactive. Writing is static and
permanent. However, we can appreciate some connections between these forms, and
listen to a prepared speech or read a written conversation.
The unique features of each form of language result in different skills to work on: oral
skills (listening and speaking) and writing skills (reading and writing).
2.3. Characteristics of oral language
Expressive possibilities
Use of gestures and body language
Simple constructions
Pause, repetitions or rephrasing
Errors
2.4 Characteristics of written language

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Precision
Clarity
Unique graphic features.
Formal.
2.5 Pedagogical implications
Teaching strategies for effective communication implies both oral and written skills, so
activities must be programmed in order to develop each one of them.
Oral language should be introduced earlier. Listening is the first skill to work on, using
a big amount of input for a little output (speaking). Some written words can be shown
to start linking sounds and graphic. During the first key stages written language will be
less important than oral language, gaining relevance year by year through all primary
education. Errors in oral language are seen more natural so the learning process
doesnt get affected by the lack of motivation.
Written language requires more structure and correction. The use of grammar and
spell are complex processes that will be learned after the oral expression has been
settled in the student. Its also a slower skill to acquire, and the input needed is again
bigger than the output expected. Multiple styles and written forms must be shown and
analyzed before exposing the learner to the very simple and guided creation of texts.

3.- FACTORS THAT DEFINE A COMMUNICATIVE SITUATION

The communication process is a complex and dynamic phenomenon, in which several
factors interact. As human beings we may be unaware of these features of our daily
conversations, but when learning a foreign language is essential to be able to
distinguish between colloquial and formal language, with different grades and
functions within each one.
Small communicative acts and the use of role-play during English lessons will help
students to understand different communicative situations and practice the use of
appropriate words and body language in real-life based activities.
Addresser and addressee interaction
Context (lingual/situational)
Purpose
Topic
Medium/ Channel
Code
Register

4.- Functionality

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Both oral and written languages are used to express or communicate ideas and
feelings, but this is just one of the functions that language is for. We can relate the
functions with the factors involved in a communicative situation, following the model
of Jacobson. Each function means that language is referred to certain factor:

Emotive >> Adresser

Conative >> Adressee
Referential >> Context
Poetic >> Message
Phatic >> Channel
Metalingual >> Code

Hallidays model highlights the social interaction as the essence of language. He

distinguishes between three functions:
Ideational: to conceptualize the world
Interpersonal: to maintain relatioships
Textual: to form spoken or written texts

All of these functions must be considered when programming activities so as the

children can experience a natural and diverse use of language. The social component
of language is the base to create the need for communication, and teachers must help
children to participate in real-life contexts linked to their interests and views of the
world.

5.- THE COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH TO FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHING

5.1.- Backgground
The Communicative Approach appeared as a result of the lack of effectiveness of
Audiolingual methods. These methods, used during the first half of 20 th century, were
related to behaviourist theories such as Skinners reinforcement, making the
acquisition of a foreign language a set of repetitions on imaginary based situations. It
was difficult for the learner to engage with the purpose of communication and
therefore learning a foreign language was an intrapersonal activity, memorizing more
than experiencing.
Noam Chomsky was one of the first applied linguists that stressed the importance of
creativity in language, giving to the learner the opportunities to improve their innate
ability to communicate, that is, to develop their communciative competence.
Nunan (1991) established five principles to bring Communicative Language Teaching
into the classroom:

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Interaction in the target language

Introduction of authentic texts
Importance of the own learning management process
Contribution of learners personal experiences
Pair and group work benefit from the social context of the classroom, requiring
negotiation and cooperation between learners. Activities must encourage learners to
participate and allow the development of self- confidence. Role-play activities help
students to practice different language functions and social games are very useful to
create a friendly atmosphere, so as language-based games to practice grammar,
spelling, vocabulary, etc.
Since 1980 the Communicative Approach is reflected on the European Councils
Threshold Level for all european languages.
5.2.- Communicative competence
Hymes coined this term in 1966 as a reaction to Chomskys dinstinction between
linguistic competence and performance, introducing an ethnographic exploration of
language.
Social factors and culture were therefore introduced in the foreign language lesson.
Canale and Swan extended Hymes studies by diferentiating four subcompetences or
dimensions from the communciative competence:
Grammatical competence (correctness) equivalent to Chomskys linguistic
competence-
Discoursive competence (coherence)
Sociolinguistic competence (appropriateness)
Strategic competence (effectiveness)
These four skills are complemented by the socio-cultural competence, as a natural
background which influence the message in many ways, and allow us to understand
completely messages from all kind of cultures.
Communication involves conscious and subsconcious learning. Edge grouped
classroom activities for students to practice with the accuracy, fluency and
appropriateness of language. This means a real-life based situations, to meet the
needs for an effective communicative competence development.
5.3.- Communicative activities
Real communication facilitates subsconscious processes that accelerate the acquisition
of a foreign language.
As in real life, communication acts must be:
Interactive
Unpredictable
Within a context

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Authentic
Some examples of communication activities are:
Information-gap
Role-play
Problem solving
Following instructions
Describing personal experiences
Social games, quizzes
Debates
Projects
Note that all the activities require pair or group work for the communication to be
present the majority of time during the lesson.

6.- CONCLUSION
The knowledge of how human beign acquire the first language or mother tongue allow
us to study the best way to recreate the natural context where language develops, to
help the brain to activate all the conscious and subconscious mechanisms that play a
role in the language acquisition.
Language is a social activity, and all the functions and structures develop through
interaction. Once they have settled in our mental scheme we can reflect on them and
try to get a deeper knowledge about language itself and how do we use it. But in
primary education these features are mainly unnoticed, in benefit of communication.
Its through games and group work that students feel the need of using the target
language. The teachers role involves taking into account all these features of language
and communication so they can guide the process to develop the communicative
competence in real and purposeful contexts.
Social factor plays a motivating role as well, promoting participation and sense of team
between the students.