La lengua como comunicación: lenguaje oral y lenguaje escrito.

Factores que definen una situación comunicativa: emisor,

receptor, funcionalidad y contexto.

LANGUAGE AS COMMUNICATION: ORAL AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE. FACTORS WHICH

DEFINING A COMMUNICATIVE SITUATION: SENDER, RECEIVER, FUNCTIONALITY AND
CONTEXT.

INDEX:

0. INTRODUCCTION.

1. LANGUAGE AS COMMUNICATION: ORAL AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE.

1.1. Language as communication.

1.2. Oral language and Written language.
1.3. Language as communication: pedagogical implication.

2. FACTORS DEFINING A COMMUNICATIVE SITUATION: SENDER, RECEIVER,

FUNCTIONALITY AND CONTEXT.

2.1. Factors definig a communicative situation.

2.2. Communicative situation: elements.
2.3. Functionality of the language.
2.4. The role of the context.

3. CURRICULAR IMPLICATIONS.

4. CONCLUSION.

5. BIBLIOGRAPHY.
0. INTRODUCCTION.

I would like to start by saying that the main goal in the teaching of a foreing
language in primary education is the development of the keys competences,
specially the communicative competence. It is stated in our legislation, concretely
in the Real Decree 126/14 28th of February and in the Order of 17th March, 2015. In
others words, we need students who can use the language like a vehicule to learn
and to express their thinking, emotions, states and to speak in different context
using oral laguage and writing language.

On the one hand we must know how the students learn: a) cognitive aspects,
b) social aspects and c) physical aspects. On the other hand we must know how the
language is organiced: sender, receiver, code… and how the language is used in
different contexts.

In this line, the language is a mean to transmit knowledge and to integrate in the
society. Learning to write and read, in a second language, is probably the most
fundamental step in education because is the basis for future access to the
globaliced world.

Finally, in this paper, we are going to considerer the main characteristics of oral
and written language. We are going to define the elemnts in a cummunicative
situation, the funcionality of the language and the importance of the context using
our reality to learn.
1. LANGUAGE AS COMMUNICATION: ORAL AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE.
1.1. Language as communication.

What is a language? What is the communication? Or What is language as

communication? Three important questions for teachers of foreing language. In this
part of our paper we are going to answer these cuestions according different relevant
authors and our Curriculum. Different authors have spoken about the language and
the communication, for example Littlewood, W. (1981) stated that language is the
institution whereby humans communicate and interact with each other. On the one
hand, others authors have said that the language is a combination of form and
meaning that the humans can use in different context and different realities. In this
line, we can said that the language is a combination of spoken language (secuence of
sounds), written language (secuence of letters) and sing language (combination of
gestures). On the other hand in RD 126/14 28th february reiterates that the
communication is understood as “the exchange and negotiation of information
between humans in a globalized World”. According with the authors and the Royal
Decree we can conclude that the language as communication:

 It is a form of social interaction.

 It always has a purpuse.
 It involves three elements (sounds, letters and gestures).
 It is a code.
1.2. Oral language and Written language.

According with Peck, S. (2001), written and oral language are not learn in the same
way: whereas we learn to write throught a formal instruction, speaking and listening
come naturally along different stages of the child´s evolution. For this reason teachers
must know the main characteristics of the oral language and the written language if
we want to develop the communicative competence.

 Characterics of oral language:

The characteristics of oral language are stated in the Order of 17th March, 2015.
Concretaly in the Block 1: comprehension of oral texts and the Block 2: production of
oral text.

o Expresisive possibilities: when speaking, we can vary the tone, the accent and the
speed. It is possitive in our english class.
o Gesture and body language: can be used to reinforced the transmisión of the
message. Gestures and words go together. We must practice our gesture in the
classroom.
o Simple constructions: the spontaneity and speed of oral language makes a person
build simpler sentences. We must use simple constructions when we are speaking
with the students.
o Pause and repetitions: can be used to lear vocabulary and grammar point.
o Errors: it is normal to make mistakes when speaking. Have pacient.
 Characteristics of written language:

The characteristics of written language are stated in the Order of 17th March, 2015.
Concretaly in the Block 3: comprehension of written text and the Block 4: production
of written texts, expression and interaction.

o It is more constreined by rules: the students need to know the rules.

o It is more formal: it is used to write different type of formal texts.

o Sentences are more complex: the senteces need the use of specific vocabulary.

o It is more difficult to learn: it is normal to make mistakes in the written language.

o It needs time, effort and study: It is important to create habit and writing routines
in our students

1.3. Language as communication: pedagogical implication.

The knowledge of characteristics of oral and written language allows the teachers to
programme activities which develop each one of them in an appropiate way. According
with Cameron (2001) the teachers must know:

 Oral language is easier to acquire that written language, so it should be introduced

earlier. Listening and speaking first, Reading and writing later.

 Errors in the oral and written language should be considered normal. Use the error
to learn.

 Spelling exercises are important. Introduce this exercise in your routine in the
class.

 Introduce typical expressions in the class. Repite the expressions and do the
natural english.

 Reading and writing text about person, animal, objects or things that the students
can see or touch.

 Create different activities and activities with different level of difficulty.

 Teach how to organize ideas in a written text using the personal experiences to
write.
2. FACTORS DEFINING A COMMUNICATIVE SITUATION: SENDER, RECEIVER,
FUNCTIONALITY AND CONTEXT.

2.1. Factors definig a communicative situation.

A communicative situations implies the interaction between speaker and hearer or

writer and reader intended for the delivery of information which is completely or
partly unknowns to the hearer or reader.

The communicative acts, and their nature, depend on several factors: participants,
context and the objectives and competences that we want to develop. In the English
classroom, it is necessary to take these factors into account and it is important to
design learning situations respecting our students, our context (school, level,
resources, etc.) and our study program. Others factors which defining a communicative
situations are the different elements of the communication according with Jacobson
and others authors.

2.2. Communicative situation: elements.

One of the most productive schematic models of a communication situation was

created by the linguist Jakobson. His model is not the only one, but his clarity has
made him the best known. It contains the following elements:
1) Sender: The person who intends to convey the message with the intention of
passing information and ideas to others.

2) Receiver: Receiver is the person who receives the message or for whom the
message is meant for. The communicative approach rejects the traditional
pattern: teacher- student, and advocates the creation of varied interactions:
teacher-s student(s), student- teacher, student(s)- student(s).

3) Message: This is the subject matter of the communication. This may be an

opinion, attitude, feelings, views, orders, or suggestions.

4) Code: passing requires use of certain symbols such as words, actions or pictures
etc. Language is the most frequent code, but non-verbal communication is very
important in the first year of learning the spoken language, because students have
very little communicative competence.

5) Topic: The topic is the matter about which the interaction develops. In order to
have successful communicative activities in the English class it is essential for the
topics to be based on the student´s interest.

6) Channel: This information is transmitted to the receiver through certain channels

which may be either formal or informal. Air, paper…

7) Purpose: The purpose is the intention of a message. For instance, to give some
information, to apologize or to express pleasure. The purpose will vary the
election of the words of the sender.
2.3. Functionality of the language.

In this section, we will focus on the different classifications of the purposes why people
use language. Said in others words: functionality of the language. According with
Jakobson there are different functionalities of the language:

 Emotive: related to the sender. It is generated by and related to the speaker´s

attitude.

 Conative: related to the receiver. it is oriented towards the addresse, and

language is used to cause effect on the addressee.

 Representational: related to the context. The message always deals with

something different to the speakers and addressee themselves, but they are still
involved.

 Pathic: related to the channel. Is just to check that the communication still exists.

 Metalingual: related to the code. If we use the language to talk about the
language.

 Poetic: related to the message. If the focus is in the phonetic properties of the
message.

2.4. The role of the context.

In a communicative situation the context is very important, including the school or the
classroom. For us the context is considered the environment in which the message is
delivered. If we want to have a good communication it is very important to create an
adequate context to learn. There are different types of context: family context or
formal context, for example, and it will vary the type of language used: colloquial or
complex.

In the English class, it is more important to introduce different types of context using
the role plays. These simulations are very useful to recreate a situation of real learning
and it is the best form to develop the keys competences in our students. The
contextualizing learning implies that the teacher should assume the role of creator of
lerarning scenarios.

3. METHODOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS.

Authors like Newton(2009) state that it is the student who constructs their own
knowledge acting in a daily context. Therefore, in order to make the students
protagonists of their own learning in an effective way, some methodological principles
must be followed, according to the pedagogical implications written in the previous
section.
  Constant practical use.
 Motivation.
 Pleasant classroom atmosphere.
 Graded tasks.
 Self-access.
 Open-ended tasks.
 Variety of materials topics and methodological techniques.
 Variety of groupings:
 Games.
 Collaborative work.
 ICT´s.
 Project works.

4. CONCLUSION.

Nowaday the school system and the normative want to develop the different keys
competencies, especially the language competence in our students. In this new
context, teachers should know the characteristics of the language as
communication. In others words, theachers ought to know the different
characteristics of the written and oral language to develop activities according with
the new social demands. If you want to be a teacher, or a good teacher, you should
to know the differents elements

The knowledge of characteristics of oral and written language allows the teachers
to programme activities which will develop each one of them in an appropriate
way. Nowaday, the school system want to develop the different keys
compentences, specialy the language competence

5. BIBLIOGRAPHY.

 Cameron, L. “Teaching languages to Young learners” Cambridge University Press

2001.
 Jacobson, M. H. “Fundamentals of language”. California. Mouton and Company
1980.
 Littlewood, W. “Communicative language teaching. An introducction” Cambridge
University Press. 1981
 Newton, J. “Teaching ESL/EFL Listening and speaking” Routledge. Taylor Group.
2009
 Pecks, S. “Developing children´s listening and speaking in ESL” in “Develop English
as a Second or Foreign Language. Celce-Murcia. Heinle and Heinle. 2001
Legislation
 Law for the Improvement of Quality in Education (LOMCE, 8/2013), of
December, 9.
 Royal Decree 126/2014, of February 28, which establishes the basic curriculum of
Primary Educ.
 Law 17 on Education in Andalusia (LEA/2007), of December 10.
 Decree 328/2010, of July 13, which establishes the Basic Norms for early
education centres of the second cycle, Primary schools, early education and primary
schools and public centres for special education.
 Decree 97/2015, of March, 3, which establishes the organization and curriculum of
Primary Education in the Autonomous Region of Andalusia.
 Order of 17th March, 2015, which develops the curriculum of Primary Ed. in
Andalusia.
 Order of 4th November, 2015, which establishes the evaluation for Primary Ed. in
Andalusia.
 Order of the 25th of July, 2008, which regulates attention to diversity of students
in basic education in public schools in Andalusia.