Tema 1.

- LA LENGUA COMO COMUNICACIÓN: LENGUAJE ORAL Y LENGUAJE

ESCRITO.
2.0 LANGUAGE AS COMMUNICATION.
2.1 INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION.
2.2 THE CONCEPT OF LANGUAGE.
2.3 COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE
3. ORAL AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE
3.1 THE ORAL PRE-EMINENCE.
3.2 DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE ORAL AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE.
4. FACTORS DEFINING A LINGUISTIC SITUATION.
4.1 ELEMENTS THAT TAKE PART IN A LINGUISTIC SITUATION
4.2 FUNCTIONS AND CONTEXT OF LANGUAGE

1.0 INTRODUCTION
Have you ever imagined a world without communication? a world where people
could not communicate each other? The whole world is in contact with
communication, when you turn on the tv, when you go to the supermarket to buy
some bread, when you are explaining an activity to a kid, whatever, all of these
actions have in common the communication. Through the education, and
specially to the English subject, teachers can improve the communication in
English.
Nowadays, our society gives a great importance to the children’s education,
because it is the main way to build their personality, develop their abilities and
encourage their autonomy. For the last two decades, our society has been
changing the way of the education till today, we have had several laws of
education, the most recent one, is the Organic Law 8/2013 of 9th of December
for the Educative Quality Improvement. We have to take into account, that
this year has been the first one that LOMCE has regulated all of the courses in
Primary Education. In fact, the new law of Education, has changed the English
language subject, because, today, English is a core subject in primary
education. That is perfect, English is a core subject in Primary but...if our
pupils are not motivated, it is useless, so, what can we do to create in our pupils
the curiosity to learn English? What can we do to create a splendid climate in
our class? If our pupils do not respect to their classmates, we cannot do group
activities, or role-plays, definitely they cannot learn how to communicate in
English. According to the objective F of the Royal Decree 126/2014, the
students have to achieve, in at least one foreign language, the communicative
competence. As Nelson Mandela says, tell me something, and I will forget it,
show me and I will remember, but involve me and I will learn, that is the main
objective of teachers, involve to our students in their own learning to achieve
the communicative competence.
2. LANGUAGE AS COMMUNICATION.
2.1 INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION.

It is important to give a precise definition of these two concepts, both of

which are basic in the development of this theme. We can consider
communication as any act of diffusion or exchange of information. And
according to the Organic Law 8/2013 of 9th December, for the improvement
of the educational quality (lomce) Communication is the basis of
understanding among human beings. But how can we define information?

As Josep Burcet says in his book ‘’Ingeniería de intangibles’’’, written in 1997

and published by Germania, information is ‘’any understandable and new
knowledge that reaches the receiver’’. This means that any piece of
information must have a certain degree of novelty for the receiver, otherwise
they will not learn anything; but some degree of confirmation is also
necessary, so that the receivers can understand the message, relating it to
their previous knowledge (as the constructivist theorists have explained),
which means that the web of concepts we had before the arrival of the new
information will be modified and adapted, in order to receive it. (figure1)

Therefore, as you can see in the figure, communication takes place when the
message transmitted can be located in the medium zone left in the space
between novelty and confirmation, which correspond to the right and left
extremes of the horizontal axis of figure 1.
That means that when we teach .

2.2 THE CONCEPT OF LANGUAGE.

The word language has prompted many different definitions, which vary
depending on the linguistic approach that inspires each author and, on the
importance they give to structural or functional aspects.
Some authors like Trager and Bloch (1942) said that Language can be
defined as a “system of arbitrary symbols by means of which the members of
a society interact in terms of their total culture”.
Sapir (1921) defined that language as ‘’ a purely human and non-instinctive
method of communicating ideas, emotions and desires
Somehow all definitions are inadequate if considered isolated, but most
definitions of language consider it as a system of symbols designed for
communication, which constitutes its main function. Finally, I can conclude by
 saying that the concept of language includes both, the activity and the ability
to communicate using a system of verbal signs

2.3 COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE.

Once the definition of language has been presented, I am going to develop the
concept of Communicative Competence which is related to the concept of
communication. As Dell Hymes says in his book ‘’On Communicative
Competence’’, written in 1971 and published by Penguin, in order to learn a
language, a native speaker does not only need to utter grammatically correct
forms (as Chomsky thought), he also have to know the rules of use, that is,
where and when to use a sentence, and to whom. Thus, Hymes replaced
Chomsky´s notion of Linguistic Competence by his own concept of
Communicative Competence.
The D108/2014, 4th July, which establishes the teaching requirements for
primary education in the Valencian Government, bases the development of the
students’ communicative competence in the foreign language on the Canale
and Swain’s classification of the communicative sub-competences. Then, we
can constitute just a different way of explaining Hyme’s sub-competences
that implies:

 Grammar competence: It refers to the ability to put into practice the

linguistic units according to the rules of use established in the linguistic
system, for instance, the mastery of grammatical structures and vocabulary.
 Discourse competence: The ability to use different types of discourse and
organise them according to the communicative situation and the speakers
involved in it, using cohesion and coherence.
 Sociolinguistic competence: The ability to adequate the utterances to the
specific context according to the accepted usage of a particular linguistic
community.
 Strategic competence: The ability to define or make adjustments in the
course of the communicative situation, and the capacity to use verbal and
non-verbal strategies in order to make communication effective.
 Sociocultural competence: that implies certain knowledge of the social and
cultural context in which the Foreign Language is used.

3. ORAL AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE

3.1 THE ORAL PRE-EMINENCE.
 Before explaining the differences between oral and written language, it is
important to consider the concept of the oral pre-eminence.
According to Jeremy Harmer in his book ‘’The Practice of English Language
Teaching’’ written in 1991 and published by Longman, the oral language always
precedes its written form. This is the historical pre-eminence. A child always
learns the oral form first and the written form later.
Secondly, if we think about structural aspects, written language tries to
imitate the oral. Written texts were conceived to transmit messages when the
receiver was not present, but their messages were originally designed to be as
similar as possible to the oral form.
The biological nature is a third reason. Humans are genetically prepared for
oral language: since our birth we are ready to acquire a language, to produce
and recognise the sounds of speech, but nothing indicates the same with
respect to writing.

The functional aspects of oral language constitute a fourth reason for its pre-
eminence: we use oral language for a much wider range of tasks, and the
written language is usually used in substitution for the oral form, due to
different reasons, (such as that the receiver is not physically present).

3.2 DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ORAL AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE.

Let us go on distinguishing the main differences between oral and written

language:
The main distinction depends on their physical form: oral uses phonic
substance, whilst writing’s support is graphic.
However, many other differences can be pointed out, regarding the
communicative situation.
(Firstly…)
1. As David Crystal says in his book ‘’The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of
Language.’’ written in 1987 and published by CUP’’ Speech is time-bound,
speakers do not have too much time to think what to say next, and that is
why oral language is full of hesitations. Writing is space-bound, time is not a
limit for written language, as the writer has all the time to think about what
is going to say and how to do it, and the reader can go back in the text as
many times as wished to re-read a passage
2. The spontaneity and speed of oral language favours, simpler sentences,
repetition and comments, such as “you know”, “mind you”, etc. Writing
favours careful organisation and complexity in sentence structure.
3. Moreover, participants are typically involved in face to face interaction, they
can use extralinguistic clues such as facial expression and gestures to aid
meaning. Lack of visual contact in writing, means that participants cannot rely
on context to make their meaning clear.
4. In addition, oral language has unique features like intonations, loudness,
rhythm, provide highly efficient tips. And unique features of writing include
pages, lines, capitalisation, spatial organisation and several aspects of
punctuation.

Despite these differences, there are many aspects in which the written and
spoken language have mutually interacted and nowadays, their dependence
has been proved to be reciprocal.

4. FACTORS DEFINING A LINGUISTIC SITUATION.

4.1 ELEMENTS THAT TAKE PART IN A LINGUISTIC SITUATION
Now that we have examined the main differences between oral and written
language, we shall concentrate on the communication theory.
Real life is full of communicative acts and their nature depends on several
factors: the participants (a relative, a stranger), the context (at home, in a
restaurant) and the type of activity (a phone conversation, a conference).
The choice of the words used will vary according to the factors of each
situation.

Traditionally, communication has been defined as the exchange of

meanings through a common system of symbols. One of the most popular
communication theories is the Information Model, which was developed by
Claude Shannon and Warren Weaver in his book ‘’The Mathematical Theory
of Communication.’’ written in 1963 and published by University of Illinois
Press). They defined a model of communication that gave the first
framework. Their model consisted of six elements:

1. An information source, which produces a message.

2. A transmitter, the device used to send the message.
3. A channel, the means through which the message travels, for instance, the
telephone, face to face, a letter…
4. A receiver, the device used to receive the message.
5. A destination, where the message arrives.
6. And, a sixth element, noise, was added later. In the process of transmission,
certain unwanted additions to the signal may occur which are not part of the
message and theses are referred to as noise or entropy.
 These factors affect any communicative interaction. In the English classroom
we must try to vary the interactions, so that the communicative act is as
genuine as possible.
In my year planning, I organize the session around the 45 minutes taking into
account the RC 7/2014 of 15th of July which establishes the guidelines of the
beginning of the academic year, and I work with different activities creating
different contexts with different elements of a linguistic situation. I do it through
different games and in this way the students learn playing

Also I adapt the activities depending on the students’ needs following the
order of 16th July of 2001 by which the education to students with special need
is regulated in Infant and Primary Education. In this regard, the Communicative
Approach fosters the creation of varied interactions: teacher-student(s),
student-teacher, student-student(s).

To illustrate a communicative situation in class, I have adapted an activity from

Carol Read’s book ‘’ 500 activities for the Primary Classroom’’ published in
2007 by Macmillan Education in which all students have a paper with a name and
information about the age and the country they live. They must find the
classmate with the same information doing questions like… what’s your name?
How old are you? Where are you from? In this way I create a communicative
situation with information, transmitter, channel, receiver, destination and
noise. They learn playing and it is motivating. Moreover, they play in pairs
developing their social and civic competence Following the Recommendation
2006/962 of the European Parliament and the Council of 18 December 2006 on
key competences for lifelong learning
They also can use the ELP which is a project launched in 2001 by the Council of
Europe in an effort to support learner autonomy and plurilingualism, recording
their interactions and including them in the Dossier, which is a collection of
samples of their work where they record their learning achievements.

4.2 FUNCTIONS AND CONTEXT OF LANGUAGE.

Language can be characterised as a complex human activity that allows two

basic functions: Communication and Representation..

Also, we can communicate for different purposes, and they have been called
language functions. According to Roman Jackobson, the main functions of
language are:
 1) Referential function: Language is used to communicate ideas or facts. E.g.
Water boils at one hundred degrees.
2) Expressive function: Language is also used to express emotions, such as
expressions of fear or affection. E.g. Oh, my God!
3) Phatic function: It refers to the social function of language, for instance,
saying Hello, we keep the channel open
4) Poetic function: It´s based on the phonetic function of language, for
instance, the persuasive rhythm of political´s speech.
5) Conative function: Occurs when the sender tries to attract the receiver’s
attention to get a certain reaction. E.g. a baby cries because he is hungry.
6) Metalinguistic function: is developed when we use language to talk about
language itself. E.g. What does language mean?
7) Representational function: when language is used to refer to reality, to
transmit contents.
But it is important to highlight that the different functions do not occur
independently. Several functions can appear at the same time and in the
same message.
Regarding context, not everybody who comes from the same place speak in
the same way. Every individual employs a linguistic variety, which is marked
by geographical or social factors. In this sense, the characteristics of the
communicative context determine the level of language employed.
For instance, we can show our pupils how people from a country use language
in a different ways depending on the context, For instance, people do not
speak in the same way in Scotland than in Wales, and in Wales, people also
use different ways of speaking, depending on the place. In this way ss
develop as well the intercultural education as it is established in the cross-
curricular contents established by the Order of 20 th of December 1994 of
Conselleria of education of the Valencian Government. Realising, for instance,
that there are different ways of using the language in the different English
speaking countries

Conclusion

To conclude, I would like to remark that, as I have proven in this topic,

communication is a key word for us as English teachers. Not only it is the essence
of human interaction, it is the centre of language learning, where both oral and
written communication is included.

In this topic, I have studied the definition and the main properties of language
as well as the concept of Communicative Competence. Then I have compared
spoken and written language, dealing first with the historical attitudes and then
outstanding the main differences between writing and speech. Finally I have dealt
with the communication theory, the key factors that affect any communicative
interaction and the main functions of language according to Jackobson.

In order to develop this topic, the following bibliography has been used:
 Burcet, Josep (1997): Ingeniería de intangibles. Germania
 ’Shannon, Claude &Weaver, Warren (1963): The Mathematical Theory of
Communication. Univ. Of Illinois Press.
 Harmer,J (1991): ‘’The Practice of English Language’’. Longman
 Hymes, Dell (1971): On Communicative Competence. Penguin
 Read Carol (2007): 500 Activities for the Primary Classroom. Macmillan
Education.
 Crystal, David (1987). The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of Language. CUP

LEGAL FRAMEWORK.
 Organic law 8/2013, 9th December, for the improvement of educational
quality (LOMCE)
 RD 126/2014 of 28th February.
 D 108/2014 of 4th July
 Order of 20th of December of 1994 about Cross Curricular Contents.
 Order 16th July of 2001, about educative attention to the students with
special educative needs
 Recommendation 2006/962 of the European Parliament and the Council of
18 December 2006 on key competences for lifelong learning.
 RC 7/2014 of 15th of July which implies the instructions for the
organization of the schools of Primary Education during the 2014-2015
school year.
 ELP which is a project launched in 2001 by the Council of Europe in an
effort to support learner autonomy and plurilingualism

MAIN CONCEPTS
Other main concepts