The Importance of Linguistics to EFL Teachers

By
Hedyan Putra (NIM. 06012681418024) (2015)
Student of Graduate Program of Sriwijaya University
ABSTRACT
This paper was intended to explore the importance of linguistics to
EFL teachers. To achieve the objective, this paper presented a brief
theoretical overview for answering the inquiry question; What do
EFL Teachers need to know about the role of linguistics in teaching
English as a foreign language?. Based on the purpose and inquiry
question of this paper, there are two key topics will be discussed;
(1) teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL), and (2) the
contribution of linguistics in language teaching. Hopefully, this
paper can appropriately encourage EFL teachers to navigate the
endless work in an effort to integrate knowledge of linguistics into
the classrooms for guiding students to have meaningful English
learning.
Key Words: Linguistics, EFL Teachers.
A. Introduction
Language plays important roles in daily life for human beings. Dalilan
(2010:1) said that in our daily communication with other people, we use a
language. Even, some people probably use more than one language in their
communication. People use language as communication tool to share ideas,
expressions, and information each other. By using language people can express
their ideas and feelings, and share it with others orally or written communication
which enables people all over the world to interact and connect with one to
another.
Linguistics is often called the scientific study of language. According to
Lado (1964:18), Linguistics is the science that describes and classifies
languages. Language teachers have begun to feel that linguistics provided them
with the help for improving both content and methodology in their teaching
process. The real fact is that linguistics is a science, it seeks to study how
language works. Though, linguistics study is surely not concerned with providing
evidence about the most effective procedures for language teaching. As it is stated

that linguistics ... , while not directly concerned with skill development and
learning theories, have formulated some assumptions and principles related to
languauge acquisition which warrant serious consideration (Finocchiaro and
Bonomo, 1973: 12).
Linguistics is a required college course for many students in learning the
target languages, especially in learning English as foreign language. Explaining to
them precisely what linguists do when they do linguistics is not easy, and showing
them is not much easier. The best way for students to learn what linguistics is all
about is by doing it themselves, by working with real language data and
discovering for themselves regularities of the kind that linguists have come to
expect. Thus, linguistics is a rather esoteric discipline in which students to find it
hard to come to grips with. As a matter of fact, linguistics is regarded very useful
in learning a language, especially English.
In fact, it may curious to characterize language as linguistics, or that the
term linguistics is being used in a rather special way. In a word, EFL teachers
should have knowledge of linguistics so that they can make themselves more
aware of linguistic facts of the language of their students in order to understand
the particular problems they will have in learning the target language (English). In
order to understand language more fully and to reflect understanding in teaching,
the teachers of English might familiarize himself or herself with linguistics, which
English language has undergone in its teaching and learning process. In fact, that
linguistics serves as one of the pillars which supports the concept teaching English
as a foreign language (TEFL).
B. Contents
1.

Teaching English as Foreign Language (TEFL)

Teaching is defined as an activity of transferring knowledge and skill from

the teacher to the students. It means that teaching is a process that is done by the
teacher to make the students understand the lesson. It is line with what Pica
(1992:4) as cited in Saleh (1997:19) says, teaching is an interactive process
between the teacher and students and among students themselves. In addition,
Brown (2000:8) in his Principles of language Learning and Teaching argues that

teaching is guiding and facilitating learning, enabling the learner to learn, setting
the condition for learning. Based on this statement, teaching is to guide and
facilitate students in learning process to accomplish the goal in an efficient way.
Moreover, Arends (2009:16) said that the ultimate of teaching is assist students to
become independent and self-regulated learners. In line with this, Teaching has
been recognized as a profession because it is an occupation that requires advanced
education and special training.
The Instruction of English as a foreign language may occur in any country
whether English speaking or not. Learners of EFL study English with different
purposes; passing the examination, career developmen, pursuing their education,
etc. In most countries, English as a Foreign Language (EFL) is part of the
educational curriculum, particularly in schools. In some countries like Indonesia,
Vietnam and China, English is regarded as a foreign language. Therefore, it is
common to consider the context of English learning in these places as EFL
(English as a Foreign Language) context. People do not use it as lingua franca or
the means of communication in several formal situations such as educational
activity, governmental activity and law.
Moreover, as a foreign language teaching English is meant to increase ease
of contact with foreign language speakers in or outside the country and to provide
a means of accessing to the world information. Teaching English as a foreign
language (TEFL) is sometimes called teaching English to speakers of other
languages (TESOL) too, it involves teaching English to those whose first
language is not English, either in the UK or overseas in different types of
organizations such as language schools, further education institutions or
universities. In line with this, Crystal (2003:5) stated that English can be made a
priority in a countrys foreign-language teaching. It becomes the language which
children or adults are most likely to be taught in school. Thereby, teaching
English as a foreign language (TEFL) usually describes English being taught to
non-native English students in their home countries.
In terms of teaching English as a Foreign Language, a teacher plays a
crucial role in building the students awareness in learning English as a foreign

language. According to Harmer (2007:200), the role of the teachers depends on

large extent on the function he or she performs in different activities. In addition,
Luis (2004:2) commented that the students need to be taught and mastered a
foreign language as an essential tool for establishing meaningful communication
and working in todays global context. It was caused by the effect of economic
and political demands in almost all trades and professions around the world that
require the students to have a good command of a foreign language, especially
English.
Moreover, it is the main concern that teachers hold the great responsibility
in teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL). The teachers should have a
clear perception of the aims, broad objectives, and the essential nature of the
content of each curriculum area, and of course the knowledge of linguistics which
will enable them to provide relevant and effective teaching and learning
experiences for the students in the use of the target language.
2.

The Contributions of Linguistics in Language Teaching

An overr-all view of language based on linguistics, as well as in the

teaching and learning languages. This view is independent of any particular

science, since language existed with its structure units and patterns. Thus,
language teachers shall look at linguistics as of the description of language.
As the scientific study of language, and many topic are studied under
linguistics. It investigates the search for the unconsious knowledge that human
have about language and how it is that children acqiure it, an understanding how
language influences the way in which we interact with one to another.
By learning linguistics, it can give us as EFL teachers insight into aspects
of human knowledge and behaviour. As an EFL teacher, he or she will learn about
many aspects of human language, including phonetics/phonology (for the study of
human speech sounds), morphology (for the patterns and parts of words), syntax
(for the arrangement and the form of phrases and sentences), and semantics (for
the study of language meaning). Besides, It can involve (1) how language varies
from situation to situation, group to group, and place to place, for the study of
relationship between language and society (sociolinguistics), (2) how people use

language in context (pragmatics), (3) how people acquire or learn language

(language acquisition), and (4) how people process language, for the study of
relationship between language and the mind (psycholinguistics).
The use of linguistics theory to describe language is not itself counted as
an application of linguistics. If a language, or a text, is described with the sole aim
of finding out more about language, or that particular, this is a use of linguistics
theory, but this is not an application of linguistics. It is supported by what
Halliday, et. al. (1964:138) said that linguistics starts when a description has been
made, or an existing description used, for further purpose which lies outside the
linguistics sciences.
The application of the teaching of descriptions of a language in a
pedagogical context called applied linguistics. This means that the teachers use
linguistics for something, not just ponder it. He or she tries to make a language
accessible to students by teaching them its lingustic structures, so that the learners
can generate the correct sounds, forms and sentences of a language as accurately
as possible, using, of course, information and research on the language already
extant.
In 1970s, a group of scholars including Oller (1970) and Widdowson
(1978), who were linguists in their own right but at the same time closely in touch
with teaching practice, gave language teaching and language pedagogy the
linguistic direction they regarded as necessary. Since they were in a good position
to create a link between linguistic theory and language teaching practice, they
placed emphasis on real language use. As an example. Oller (1970:507) claimed
that pragmatics has implications for language teaching; it defines the goal of
teaching a language as prompting the students not merely to manipulate
meaningless sound sequences, but to send and receive messages in the language
context.
In our field of English language teaching (ELT), we obligated to master
EFL (English as a Goreign Language). Therefore, for it requires the teacher of
English to be fully quallified in EFL. Thus, we believe that linguistics cannot be
separated from language teaching, for a linguistics is essential for language

awarness in the language teacher. But once again, we should highlight the fact
that having a good linguistics basis helps the teacher, whether native or nonnative, to better understand the workings of the language and how to explain the
language to the students.
In every language teaching and language planning situation, language
teachers set up certain objectives in terms of what they decided in which the skills
(active/passive) are to be given the highest priority. The relevance of linguistics
information and training for the English as foreign language (EFL) teachers
should be self-evident from the fact that linguistics provides the description of the
sounds, words, and sentences that the teachers must teach and help the students in
understanding the linguistics problems.
Summing up, linguistic knowledge, that is knowledge about languages in
general and about a specific language, and consequently the ability to talk about
it, has always been fundamental to language teaching. Linguistics is engaged
developing techniques to provide a scheme of description which goes beneath the
surface form of language and enables us (teachers) to gain an insight into what a
person must know in order to speak a language.
C. Conclusion
A background in linguistics is very important to English as foreign
language (EFL) teachers. It can help the teachers of English to know how to use
language well in English language teaching (ELT) and it can help them to be
better and good teacher as well. The teachers awaereness in linguistics should not
only understand how language works, but also how the student struggles with
language so that he or she can be sensitive to errors and other features of the
learners foreign language development. Thus, it is important for linguistics
training to also include knowledge about how languages are learned. Of course,
English as foreign language (EFL) teachers should not only possess a
sophisticated knowledge of language but also the ability to make this knowledge
accessible and comprehensible to the learner.

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