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1 LANGUAGE AS COMUNICIATION: ORAL AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE.

FACTORS DEFINING A COMMUNICATIVE SITUATION: ADDRESSER


ADDRESSEE, FUNCTIONS AND CONTEXT.

Good morning, my names is… and the topic I’ve chosen to develop for this exposition is

topic number one according to the following index:

1. Introduction

2. Language as communication

3. Oral language and written language

4. Factors defining a communicative situation: addresser, addressee, functions and

context.

5. Conclusion

6. Bibliography and websites

7. Legislation

1. INTRODUCTION

Let me start with the introduction…

Language is an essential part of being human. We spend an immense amount of time

speaking, listening, reading and writing. According to the LOMCE 8/2013, December 9th,

and more specifically the Decree 108/2014, July 4th, the main aim of English Language

Teaching is developing students’ communicative competence, which not only refers to

the ability to use the language, but also to aspects related to the communicative context.

According to the communicative approach, learning language successfully comes

through having to communicate real meaning.

Moreover, learning English make our students able to perceive the diversity of our

society, to accept differences as an enriching factor and to develop understanding and

tolerance to other cultural identities.


Along this topic we are going to talk about language as communication. Also, we will

analyse the main characteristics of oral and written language as well as the factors and

functions that define a communicative situation.

2. LANGUAGE AS COMMUNICATION

Firstly, communication and language are two concepts that must be defined.

The definition of communication is the exchange of information through a common

system of verbal and non-verbal symbols. And we could analyse the definition of
language as a complex system of sounds, words and sentences with meaning. So we

could say that language as communication is a form of social interaction with a high

degree of unpredictability and creativity that always has a purpose.

According to Saussure’s theory language is constituted of two parts: langue and parole.

And the linguistic communication is just not possible if these two don’t work together.

The langue represents the abstract system of language having signs, rules, and patterns;

and the parole is the language in use, which varies depending on the region. Saussure

argues that the goal of linguistics should be to identify the elements of a language, to

classify them and finally describe their combination rules in a synchronic structure.

Throughout the centuries three views of language have been distinguished: language-

as-product, language-as-tool and language-as-activity or process.

Regarding the Communicative competence, it consists of the ability to communicate

effectively in a variety of daily-life situations. Hymes coined this term in contrast to

Chomsky’s theory competence. For Chomsky, competence simply implied the knowledge

of the language system. Hymes maintained that Chomsky’s theory was incomplete, and

that a communicative and cultural dimension should be incorporated. A speaker does

not only need the ability to use grammatical structures, but also to learn how to use them

in a community.

The communicative competences consist of five sub-competences: the grammatical

competence, the discursive competence, the sociolinguistic competence, the strategic

competence and socio-cultural competence.


o The grammatical competence is the correct use of the linguistic code.

o The discursive competences is the ability to relate and combine grammatical

forms in order to achieve coherent texts.

o The sociolinguistic competence is the ability to produce and understand

messages relating to the social context, participant and purpose.

o The strategic competence refers to the participants’ verbal and non-verbal

strategies.

o And the socio-cultural competence, which implies the knowledge of certain

cultural facts which are of key importance for us to understand a message

completely.

This communicative competence and its subcompetences seeks to help children to

provide opportunities for gaining real language in real use.

Finally, the concept of communicative competence is also present in our education

system. The LOMCE highlights the importance of developing oral and written skills in

Primary Education; and the Decree 108/2014 establishes four blocks of contents for the

area of foreign language to develop our students’ communicative competence.

3. ORAL AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE

Now, let’s move on into another important aspect of this unit, which deals with the main

differences between oral and written language.

According to Lidfords, oral language is a complex system that relates sound to meaning,

and is made up of three components: the phonological component, the semantic

component and the syntactic component.

o The phonological component involves the rules for combining sounds.

o The semantic component is made of morphemes, the smallest units of meaning

that may be combined to make up words.

o And the syntactic component consist of the rules that enable people to combine

morphemes into sentences.


And what are the main characteristics of the oral language? First, we could say that the

oral language provides expressive possibilities: when speaking we can vary the tone,

the accent, the speed to underline the most important word of our speech or to show an

attitude, our interest, irony or scorn, like when we say great! or grate!

Oral language also let us use gestures and body language, which are an important

reinforcement of the message.

Besides, the spontaneity of oral language make a person build simple constructions and

regarding the degree of speaker’s understanding, we can use pause, repetitions or

rephrasing.

Finally, oral language includes many incomplete sentences, with more frequent active

forms and less subordination.

And what about written language? It consist of communication by means of written

symbols. The fact that writing is permanent allows more time for its preparation,

promoting the development of careful organization and more structured expressions.

The participants in a written interaction are not usually present. Therefore, there is an

absence of immediate answer for possible explanation of the message. In addition,

writing can be modified and it displays several unique features as punctuation, spelling,

space organization, capitalization and calligraphy, all this make the learning of this skill

more difficult. Lastly, written language tend to be more formal than oral language and

use more varied syntactic structures.

The knowledge of the characteristics of oral and written language allows teachers to

program activities which will develop each one of them in an appropriate way. The

practice of the oral and written communication can be provide through a combination

of a mechanical practice, a meaningful practice and a communicative practice. When

students practice the use of a particular grammar it would be a mechanical practice.

When they have to give instructions answering where is the supermarket on a map, they

are doing a meaningful practices, and if they are using language in a real communicative

context sharing opinions, it would be a communicative practice.

Today, the FLT has incorporated the functional and communicative potential of language

into teaching. Language teaching now focuses on communicative proficiency rather than
on mastery structures. To practice the oral communication and ensure the skills of

listening andspeaking teachers could use activities such as:

o Guided dialogues, where students practice a model dialogue where some

variations are possible.

o Language games, where students need to use language to achieve and objective.

o Reciting and singing, songs provide an amusing way to fix “chunks” of language.

o Information-gap activities, where there is a gap of information that student must

find.

o Role-play, where students interact in imaginary situations.

o Problem-solving like riddles or guessing games.

o Describing personal experiences.

o Communicative games like bingo.

Regarding to the written communication, in the English class different activities could

be used to provoke written communication:

o Writing instructions.

o Writing short messages.

o Writing short letters.


o Filling forms.
o Communicative games as the hangman.

To motivate students will be necessary a comfortable atmosphere and a positive

reinforcement. It will encourage them to practice both oral and written language, taking

in account that mistakes are a natural part of the learning process.


4. FACTORS DEFINING COMMUNICATIVE SITUATION: ADDRESSER, ADDRESSEE,

FUNCTIONS AND CONTEXT.

After analysing some of the main aspects of the oral and written language, we should

take a look at the factors that take part in a communicative act and the pedagogical

implications derived from them. The components that make communication possible are

the addresser, the addressee, the message, the context, the purpose, the medium, the

channel, the code and the register.

The addresser and the addressee are the participants in the communicative act. The

addresser is the author of the massage and the addressee is the person or people to

whom it is directed. In an English class, based on the communicative approach, we should

try to change the traditional pattern teacher-students and create several interaction as

student-teacher, student-student or student-students.

The message is the information than the addresser wants to transmit.

The context is the circumstances surrounding a message. In the English class the student

should not only be able to communicate a massage, but also learn how to select the

language form in a certain context. Role-plays are very useful to create different

situations.

The propose is the intention of a message, what the addresser wants to happen as a

result of what he or she says or writes. Communication in an English class will have always

an objective.

The medium is the means by the message is transmitted (speech or writing), and the

channel is the technical means of transmission (television, a letter or face to face).

The code is the communication system. Language is the most frequent code, but there

are others extralinguintic codes like facial expressions. Non-verbal communication is very

important in the learning process of the spoken language.

Finally, the register is the style of the language and it could be formal, consultative,

casual, intimate or frozen. In the English classroom the registers used correspond to

informal or intimate situations. We could introduce formal situation to the oldest

students.
And what do we use language for? According to the linguist Roman Jakobson, there are

six general functions: the emotive function, the conative function, the referential function,

the poetic function, the phatic function and the metalingual function.

The emotive function is the expression of feeling and attitudes (wow!). It is directed to

the addresser.

The conative function is used to draw the addressee’s attention (excuse me!). It is

directed to the addressee.

The referential function consist of the communication of ideas or facts, for example the

explanation of a lesson. It is directed towards the context.

The poetic function is the language used for aesthetic purposes like a poem or as a

verbal play like in a joke. It is directed towards the message.

The phatic function is used to establish or maintain a social relationship like when we

say good morning or nice to meet you. It is directed toward the channel.

Lastly, metalingual function is used when language refers to itself. For example this is a

short sentence or book has four letters.

So, as teachers, we have to teach language to communicate, as well as expressions to

help students to maintain a relationship, enjoy the language or strategies to understand

the language better.

5. CONCLUSION

To conclude, in this topic we have analysed the main characteristics of the oral and

written skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. Knowing the differences between

the oral and written language allows the English teachers to design programmes which

will develop students’ abilities in an appropriate way.

During the learning process we need to create a friendly environment in the class and

use positive reinforcement to encourage students to use the language, facing mistakes

as something natural and as a positive evidence of the training.


As teachers, we must remember that the main objective in the English class will be to

develop our students’ communicative competence, which consists of the ability to

communicate effectively in a variety of daily-life situations. According to the

communicative approach, learning language successfully comes through having to

communicate real meaning, because as Benjamin Franklin said: tell me and I forget, teach

me and I may remember, involve me and I will learn.

6. BIBLIOGRAPHY AND WEBSITES

o Finch, G. (2000), Linguistic terms and concepts. London: Macmillan Press

o Harmer. J., (2001), How to teach English. Longman.

o Littlewood, W. (2007), Communicative Language Teaching. Cambridge University

Press.

o Richards J. and Rogers, T. (2007), Approaches and methods in Language.

Cambridge University Press.

o Council of Europe (2001), Common European Framework of Reference for

Languages: learning, teaching, assessment. Cambridge University Press


o www.britishcouncil.org

o www.liguapress.com

7. LEGISLATION

o Organic Law of Education 2/2006, May 3rd

o Organic Law 8/2013, December 9th, for the improvement of quality in education.

o Royal Decree 126/2014, February 28th, which establishes the basic curriculum for

Primary Education.

o Decree 108/2014, July 4th, which establishes the curriculum and develops the

general organization of Primary Education in the Valencian Community.

o Law Decree 3/2017, September 1st, the current law in force which regulates

multilingualism about the linguistic program in the Valencian Community.

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