doing things with language

In this chapter we focus on understanding that :language is more than communication Language serves a number of functions in our society Language is the means by which we make and sha

Presented by :

 Nguyen Thi Thanh Nga

 Vu Thi Hoai Van

 My Phuong, Chuong,Thanh

I Focus

II.Functions of language

1 Language is more than communication

2 Making sense of our environment

3 Language as social interaction

4 Language and social values

5 Language to exchange information

6 Learning language functions

7 Language for structuring reality

I Focus

III.Language and Communication

1 What is communication?

2 Factors influencing communication

3 Improving our communication skills

IV Implications for the classroom

In this chapter we focus on understanding that :

language is more than communication

Language serves a number of functions in our society

Language is the means by which we make and share meaning with

ourselves and with others

We take up and allocate social roles through languages

We use language to establish group identity

A major function of language is to structure reality, to make sense of our world

We all possess different realities/ worlds

Communication is a transactive process and effective communication is very important for teaching

 Language is more than communication Ex The ants are communicating with each other by stopping to touch antennae

Language is more than communication

Ex 2:

Mary: It’s a lovely day, isn’t it?

John : Sure is

We use language and construct a list

of the different things that we see being done by language users as they use

language in their daily lives

Language is more than communication

• The use of language when we speak or write

involve action that can be seen Our action are less obvious when we read or listen to someone else speaking.

• Meaning and shared meaning are at the heart of what we do with language

• One distinction that can be drawn is the one

between language as action- language directed

to others- and language as reflection, as thinking

Making sense of our environment

Please find herewith the following utterances of three boys:

• Simon spoke first “Like candles Candle bushes Candle buds”

• Ralph said “You couldn’t fight them, they just look like candles”

• Jack said contemptuously “Green candles, we can’t eat them”

How are the boys using language?

for what functions

is language being used?

Making sense of our environment

Language is used for a range of purposes

LANGUAGE

Explain or instruct

Question

Praise and encourage

…etc.

Promote social

interaction

Control or direct behaviour

Language as social interaction

• Language gives us ways of addressing each other

Ex: parents are called by their first name However, sometimes this is regarded as outright impertinence

Therefore, we create a range of titles to identify or address others whose rank of authority needs to be acknowledged

• Differences in the social position of women by providing

“Mister” as the one respectful title for adult males

Miss unmarried woman

Mrs married woman

Finally, Ms was proposed as a general term of respectful address for all women regardless of their marital status

Language as social interaction

• Distinguish the difference between two French person pronouns

ex: Où est-ce que tu vas? Or Où est-ce que vous allez?

Tu and Vous number, tu singular form

Vous the plural form

Moreover, the two words serve another purpose by indicating the

difference in status and intimacy between the speaker and the

listener.

Vous => respectful while tu => intimate

• The another example of the way we use language to negotiate social interaction

Ex: How are you ?

Language and social values

• Gossip is the means by which people keep in touch with the

values of their associates and community

• When we participate in such a discussion we confirm or

modify our own values and we place them into a context of other people’s values

• We gossip to discover what others think and to find ways of

positioning our own thinking on the same issues

• To some extent, jokes and stories do the same thing as gossip

• Telling and listening to jokes is not just an amusing way of

passing time : it is an important way by which groups can

maintain a shared set of values

Stories the sets of values => a group culture

• Changes in literary taste are not merely changes in fashion

but are born reflections of and shapes of the values and attitudes of the culture from which they grow.

Assert propositions

Deny propositions

Be relevant Try to say what

is true - Be clear - Be brief

- Don’t say things you don’t have supporting evidence for

- Avoid obscurity

- Avoid ambiguity

Language for structuring reality

• Through language we learn to make meaning,

to make sense of experiences

• Language used in the process of labeling our experiences enables us to simplify and generalize our experiences to facilitate communication

Language to exchange

information

• Lisa & Jenny are in the restaurant:

Lisa : Wow, your dress looks fashionable.Jenny: What would you like for the dessert?

RelaRelationtion

Learning language

functions

Halliday (1973) classified the speech

functions into seven.

Smith (1983) expended the functions to

ten.

Purposes of writing & their forms

LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATION

LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATION

Communication can be defined as the

use of language where more than one

person is involved in constructing

meaning

System of signs

signs

ICON

INDEX

A sign which resembles the

object it signifies

A sign that is causally connected

to the object it signifies

A sign that arbitrarily and conventionally related to it referent

or object

Factors influencing communication:

Factors influencing communication:

Nested hierarchy of language-communication determinant

by M.H.Cameron and M.T.Saweders

Factors influencing communication:

- Level 1: Personal ( Its interaction with the

environment represented by the remaining four levels)

- Level 2: Familial (Its interaction with the

individual in terms of qualitative and quantitative physical and psychological factors )

- Level 3: Social (social are physical factors

which appear to be directly related to the family’

s wealth and psychological factors which appear

to be strongly influenced by social groups )

Factors influencing communication:

- Level 4 : Regional ( It includes the broader factors of environmental, ethnic and political

variables)

- Level 5: National ( the national level

incorporates factors which unite regions having similar political structures, religious philosophies, cultural heritage and culture characteristics)

Communication process

A model of communication process

by E Andersch

stimulus The message is then received and evaluated

by the receiver, who then becomes a source or

sender of more information.

Communication process

In the communication process, all

participants have the roles of receiver and sender and have responsibility for sharing and negotiating meanings

How to improve our communication

communicators can observe some

following factors: warmth, empathy,

respect, genuineness and listening