UNIT 1.

LANGUAGE AS COMMUNICATION. ORAL AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE.

FACTORS THAT DEFINE A COMMUNICATIVE SITUATION.
FUNCTIONALITY. THE COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH TO FLT.

1. INTRODUCTION

Many animal and even plant species communicate with each other. Humans are not unique in
this capability. However, human L is unique in being a symbolic communication that is learned
instead of biologically inherited. The symbols that conform our L have been given meaning by
humans in an arbitrary way.
A major advantage of human L is that it’s infinitely flexible.

However, L it’s not just a set of symbols, it’s more than this since L it’s a means of
communication which lets us transmit our ideas, thoughts and feelings. But users of L must
learn HOW to use the L properly according to some variables such as the participants, the
context, the channel, the purpose, etc. Then they will be able to communicate effectively and
with appropriateness in a variety of situation. Therefore, know English is know how to
communicate in English. This is our task to teach as a teachers.

2. LANGUAGE AS COMMUNICATION

2.1. What is language?

Language is a dynamic, social and interactive phenomenon between the speaker and listener or
the writer and reader but we must remark that L is the main means by which people
communicate.
It can be defined as a system of signs that are combined, with the help of conventional rules, to
transmit a message.

Acquiring a language is a complicated process which is

unconscious and effortless when children learn their mother tongue,
but conscious and difficult when learning a foreign language.

Meaning is conveyed not by single sentences but by more complex exchanges, in which
participants, the purpose and the situation play a crucial part.

The aim to learn a L is to communicate with this L. But what is communication?

Communication consists in when someone says or writes something which is heard or read by
someone else who then responds. Successful communication is when the intention of the

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speaker or writer (the person who sends the message) and the interpretation of the hearer,
listener or reader coincides.

3. ORAL AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE

3.1. Historical background

The supremacy of written language over oral language remained until the 19th century. It
was not until the 20th century, with Leonard Bloomfield and other linguists, that a
new approach appeared. This new approach pointed out that speech was more
important than writing. Many linguists considered the written L a useful tool for a
minority: writers and scientists.
Nowadays linguists no longer consider one means better than the other. They agree in
considering speech and writing different systems of communication, with their own
characteristics and uses.

3.2. Differences between oral and written language

Before dealing with the differences I would like to point out that Oral communication,
specifically speech, is the universal material of human language. For many hundreds and
thousands of years, human language was transmitted and developed orally.
Compared to speech, writing is a fairly recent phenomenon.

1. The most obvious difference is the physical form:

while the written language uses graphs that are marks on a surface,
speech uses the form of air-pressure movements.

2. O.L it’s transitory and dynamic while written L is PERMANENT and STATIC ( one
can read a text over and over again) O.L gives the interlocutors the opportunity of
Feed-back: At any point in speech, speakers can rephrase what they are saying, they
can slow down or speed up. This will often be done in response to the feedback they are
getting from the listeners. However, this feature is not possible in written L since it’s
static.

3. Written L is more DIFFICULT to learn than oral language, on one hand, because of
the unique graphic features such as spelling or punctuation, and, on the other
hand, because of the great difference between the oral and written form. This
usually leads students to having problems when writing. The difficulty of the

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 written medium, involves that at basic levels, written L must be introduced later than
oral skills. The writing skills becomes the last and the slowest skill to acquire.

4. O.L is spontaneous and informal as while written L is more FORMAL. This feature
makes written L to need more CORRECTION and ACCURACY. Sentences in
written L should be complete and grammatically correct, and words should be well-
spelt. A piece of writing, with mistakes, unfinished sentences would be judged as a bad
one.

5. In O.L in a face to face interaction the speaker can use a whole range of resources to
reinforce the message Facial expressions, gestures and body language:. A writer can
use other techniques to express feelings and attitudes, such as punctuation marks or
descriptive vocabulary.

3.3. Characteristics of oral language

Oral language tends to be informal and spontaneous. Therefore, speakers feel less pressure for
accuracy and this leads them to
construct simple constructions,
unfinished or ungrammatically sentences,
use more colloquial L
and even give them the opportunity to rephrase some words or sentences and to self-correct
their oral productions, in which usually can be found mistakes

If the speakers in a conversation are face to face they can take advantage of gestures, facial and
body language which reinforce the transmission and understanding of the message. This is
referred to non-verbal communication or contextual support, but it is not the unique as

Speakers have a lot of expressive possibilities. They can vary the intonation, accent, speed and
stress of his/her words to show interest, apathy, irony… all these aspects can help him to show
which word or part is more or less important or to show interest or lack of it..

Oral language is EASIER to acquire than written language, so it should be introduced

earlier. It is more natural for a person to start listening and speaking first and later to
read and write, especially at the beginning of the learning process.

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ERRORS in oral language should be considered as more NORMAL within the
learning process.

3.4. Characteristics of written language

As I have state previously, written L tends to be more formal than O.L, so it needs more
accuracy and precision, that is
A written text should have careful organization and structured expression

Sentences should be complete and grammatically correct

Paragraphs internal cohesion
Words- correctly written/ spelt correctly
When teaching written skill, the teacher must also teach how to organize ideas in a
written text to make it logically and cohesively.

- Clarity : Ideas should be CLEARLY exposed due to the lack of interaction or feedback
between speaker and listener. There is ABSENCE OF IMMEDIATE ANSWER
(immediate feedback) for possible explanations of the message.

-Unique graphic features: Writing displays several U G F such as

Capitalization, Punctuation Calligraphy

Space organization Spelling
The graphic features of writing make the learning of this skill the slowest to acquire.
All this makes the learning of this skill more difficult

There are two different types of writing groups: non-phonological systems that don’t show a
clear relationship between the symbols and the sound of the language (e.g. Chinese) and
phonological system that show a clear relationship between the symbols and the sounds of the
language. (e.g. Spanish)

4. FACTORS THAT DEFINE A COMMUNICATIVE SITUATION

I’ve used the terms distinguished by Jakobson and Hymes:
4.1. Addresser, addressee
The addresser is the person who originates the message, so its author while the addressee is
the person to whom the message is directed. He decodifies or interprets the received
message.The relationship between the participants is the tenor.

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4.2. The context
There are two types of context: linguistic context, which is provided by the linguistic
system, and the situational context, which is the place and the moment in which the
communicative act takes place. The situational context will influence the L type that is used
in the communicative act.

4.3. Purpose
This is the intention of the message. Addressers may want to apologize, to express pleasure
or to give to some information.

4.4. Topic
It is the subject matter about which the interaction develops . Topics can be varied: health,
sports, transport, etc. There’s usually a set of terms particular to each topic or field.

4.5. Medium/channel
It is the means by which the message is transmitted. There is the oral medium and the
written medium. The channel is the technical means of transmission: telephone, TV,
radio..

4.6. Code
It is the communication system shared by the addresser and the addressee. L is the
most frequent code used. It also can be a dialect.
However, we don’t have to forget Non-verbal communication such as Facial
expressions or body L which help the message to be understood.

The message: the contents or the information the addresser sends to he addressee.

5. FUNCTIONALITY

Human beings use language mainly to communicate ideas, thoughts or feeling, but this
is not the only reason. There are some other functions.

5.1. Following the Jackobson’s model, we can find

Emotive: It expresses the inner state of the addresser, his/her attitudes, feelings and
emotions It is directed to the addresser. What a beautiful day!”)

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Conative: This is used to draw the addressee’s attention. For example, in a telephone
conversation to check if the addresse is listening us, the addresser could say: ok? or Are
you here? It’s directed to the addressee( receptor)

Referential: to communicate ideas or facts. E.g the explanation of a lesson or the

narration of what has been done during holidays. It is directed towards the context

Poetic: this is the L used for aesthetic purposes (poetry) or as verbal play (jokes,
riddles, tongue twisters). It is directed towards the message. This function can make the
students enjoy the language

Phatic: to establish and maintain social relationships and to show signs of friendship.
Sentences like: nice to meet you or Good morning
Towards the channel

Metalinguistic: used to understand language better and when explanations are

requested for clarification. E.g I don’t understand. It’s directed towards the CODE.
This is a very important function when teaching a L as students must understand the L
and they must be capable of asking clarifications.

FACTORS CORRESPONDING FUNCTIONS

Addresser Emotive
Addressee Conative
Context Referencial
Message Poetic
Channel Phatic
Code Metalingual

Having defined the functions, It’s important to say that sometimes one piece of language, one
sentence have various functions. For example, in this sentence: “It’s hot here!” we can see more
than one function. May be the speaker is referring to referential function: the thermometer
indicates 30º degree. May be, the emotive functions: for he is hot and for other possible not.
And may be, he is referring to directive function in the sense he is saying, please open the
windows.

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Today, FLT has incorporated the functional and communicative potential of language
into teaching. Language teaching now focuses on communicative proficiency rather
than on mastery of structures.

7. CONCLUSION

we should involve a great variety of communicate activities in class, either written or

oral, as much similar as real life situations so that they learn to communicate effectively
with others and to know how to use the language in different circumstances and
according to several functions and variables . The objective is our children become
competent to communicate in real life situations
We don’t have to forget that activities should relate with our pupils’ need and
interests in order to make our classes more interesting, more enjoyable and more
effective.