Introduction To Linguistics For Language Teaching

Introduction To Linguistics
For Language Teaching

Language is the echo of our thoughts
and the reflection of our mind
Nancy Gómez Torres

Oscar Molina Márquez
Introduction To Linguistics
For Language Teaching
Language is the echo of our thoughts and
the reflection of our mind
Nancy Gómez Torres

Oscar Molina Márquez
Gómez Torres, Nancy
Introduction to linguistics for language teaching: Language is the echo of our thoughts and the
reflection of our mind = Introducción a la lingüística para la enseñanza de idiomas: El lenguaje es
el eco de nuestros pensamientos y el reflejo de nuestra mente / Nancy Gómez
Torres, Oscar Molina Márquez. — 1ª. Ed. — Ibagué: Sello
Editorial Universidad del Tolima, 2021.
244 p : il., gráficas, tablas
Contenido: The Foundations of Language — The World of Linguistics — Language in the brain
and the mind — The Power of words — Language as the founding element of
society — The Application of Language.
Texto en inglés.
ISBN electrónico: 978-628-7537-09-5
1. Lingüística 2. Neurolingüística 3. Lenguaje y lenguas - Enseñanza I. Título II. Molina
Márquez, Oscar
306.44
G633i
© Sello Editorial Universidad del Tolima, 2021

© Nancy Gómez Torres, Oscar Molina Márquez
Primera edición
ISBN versión electrónica: 978-628-7537-09-5
Número de páginas: 244
Ibagué - Tolima - Colombia
Introduction to Linguistics for Language Teaching. Language is the echo of our thoughts
and the reflection of our mind
Facultad de Ciencias de la Educación

pulicaciones@ut.edu.co
ngomezt@ut.edu.co
Corrección de estilo, diagramación y diseño de caratula por:

CMYK Diseños e Impresos. Bogotá – Colombia
Todos los derechos reservados. Prohibida su reproducción total o parcial por cualquier
medio, sin permiso expreso del autor.
Contents
Introduction ......................................................................................................... 7
The Foundations of Language

. Chapter 1: Language ...................................................................................... 9
. Chapter 2: Speech and Writing ................................................................... 29
. Chapter 3: Communication ......................................................................... 37
. Chapter 4: Language Change ....................................................................... 45
The World of Linguistics

. Chapter 5: Linguistics ................................................................................... 59
. Chapter 6: Grammar and Syntax ................................................................. 77
. Chapter 7: Phonology and Phonetics .......................................................... 91
Language in the brain and the mind

. Chapter 8: Neurolinguistics and Psycholinguistics ................................... 103
. Chapter 9: First Language Acquisition and Second Language
Learning .......................................................................................................... 117
. Chapter 10: Contrastive Analysis, Error Analysis, Interlanguage,
Fossilization, and Language Transfer........................................................... 135
The Power of words

. Chapter 11: Morphology .............................................................................. 145
. Chapter 12: Semantics and Pragmatics........................................................ 153
Language as the founding element of society

. Chapter 13: Sociolinguistics, Language Varieties, and Ebonics .............. 167
. Chapter 14: Idioms, Slang, Sayings, Jargon, Clichés,
. and Collocation .............................................................................................. 181
. Chapter 15: Discourse Analysis and Critical Discourse Analysis ........... 189
The Application of Language

. Chapter 16: Applied Linguistics .................................................................. 199
. Chapter 17: Monolingualism, Bilingualism, and Multilingualism ......... 205
. Chapter 18: Translation ................................................................................ 215
References .............................................................................................................. 223
Appendix A: The Pedagogy of the Four Language Skills ................................ 231
Appendix B: The Pedagogy of the Three Language Sub-Skills ....................... 240

List of Tables
Table 1: Languages differ in terms of semantics .............................................. 81
Table 2: Paradigms and Syntagms ..................................................................... 86
Table 3: Vowel features ........................................................................................ 99
Table 4: Distinction Between Acquisition and Learning ................................ 121
Table 5: Issues related to motivation ................................................................. 132
Table 6: Interjections in different languages ..................................................... 169
Table 7: The creation of a linguistic community .............................................. 213
Table 8: Important issues about the four language skills ................................ 231
Table 9: The auxiliary Do .................................................................................... 241
List of Graphs
Graph 1: Grammar .............................................................................................. 78
Graph 2: Modes of grammar............................................................................... 79
Graph 3: Components of neurolinguistics........................................................ 104
Graph 4: Language in the brain.......................................................................... 105
Graph 5: Psycholinguistics.................................................................................. 110
Graph 6: Three approaches to psycholinguistics.............................................. 112
Graph 7: Language requirements....................................................................... 119
Graph 8: Language acquisition theories ........................................................... 125

Introduction
I
“ ntroduction to Applied Linguistics for Language Teaching” is intended for both
pre- and in-service language teachers, either with or without any teaching
experience. It explores some insight into linguistics in order to be applied
in language teacher education programs. The book addresses a variety of issues,
which provides language teachers with theories, definitions, and examples. It aims
to facilitate understanding and comprehension of the content, which is explored
in a pedagogical manner. It is a readable book so that language teachers can enjoy
the subject, which is commonly thought to be difficult to grasp. The ultimate goal
is that teachers can apply its content in specific language and cultural settings and
contexts. It is organized into seven sections: 1) The Foundations of Language. 2) The
World of Linguistics. 3) Language in the brain and the mind. 4) The Power of words.
5) Language as the founding element of society. 6) Discussing Discourse Analysis.
7) The Application of Language. The first section addresses Language; Speech and
Writing; Communication; and Language Change. The second section deals with
Linguistics; Grammar and Syntax; Phonology and Phonetics. The third section refers
to Neurolinguistics and Psycholinguistics; First Language Acquisition and Second
Language Learning; Contrastive Analysis, Error Analysis, Interlanguage, Fossilization,
and Language Transfer. The fourth section is concerned with Morphology; Semantics
and Pragmatics. The fifth section deals with Sociolinguistics, Language Varieties, and
Ebonics; Idioms, Slang, Sayings, Jargon, Clichés, and Collocation. The sixth section
refers to Discourse Analysis and Critical Discourse Analysis, and the seventh section
addresses Applied Linguistics; Monolingualism, Bilingualism, and Multilingualism;
Translation. The book also includes Quotes, which contribute to the analysis of
linguistics and pedagogy in second language (L2). Also, it addresses the analysis
of how different issues in language and linguistics in “The Pedagogy of Language,”
section, for example. Both the “Reflections” and the “Projects” sections pose a set
of questions for reflecting about language learning and teaching, and meaningful
projects, which aim to put ideas into practice in social settings and contexts. Also, the
book includes Appendix A: The Pedagogy of the Four Language Skills and Appendix
B: The Pedagogy of the Three Language Sub-Skills. The authors expect that this book
can be up to the circumstances of novice and experienced L2 teachers.
7
Nancy Gómez Torres, Oscar Molina Márquez
The Foundations of Language
“The language learning process should be done without following a linear
order since the language acquisition process is quite chaotic.”
1
Language
“Language is a living entity with its own identity.”
L
anguage is an inherent component of being. The foundations of language
can be understood from a specific to a general point of view, as follows: a)
Neurological processes; b) The right functioning of the brain; c) Exposure to
language; d) Opportunities for interaction; e) Quality and frequency of interaction,
and f) Speech community and Culture.
• First, from the individuals and within them, the neurological or mental processes
involved, and the psychological factors, which intervene in its understanding,
storage, retrieval, and production.
• Second, they can be interpreted from the right functioning and maturity of
the brain and the physiological properties of the vocal tract.
• Third, the exposure that a baby, a child, or an adult has with the language, and
the other speakers, within a certain community or society, in a given culture.
• Fourth, the opportunities that people have to interact with others around or
far from them is an important element for a language and its culture to make
part of them.
9
• Fifth, the frequency and the quality of interaction in the language, first, second,
or foreign, make a difference in how successful acquisition or learning will be
and how long it will be installed within the learners’ linguistic system.
• Sixth, language is based on people since they are the final users of both speech
and writing. If there were no a speech community, language would vanish and
therefore, it would disappear.
Language cannot be understood in isolation since people perform roles as they

interact through it. Language is a mirror in which people look into. In this regard,
Edward Sapir stated that language was the result of culture and society. Of course,
it makes sense since it complies with a social purpose within a particular culture.
Language cannot be predicted since other people’s thoughts cannot be anticipated.
Everything is uncertain like language. It cannot be anticipated unless there is
something to be said. Language is the echo of our thoughts and the reflection of
our minds. The world around us is full of signs, which are provided by nature and
which are interpreted by man via the use of language. Language, as speech, is the
bridge by which man can establish relations, cooperation, and understanding in
order to develop and to maintain social interaction leading to survival. Language is a
reflection of the mind and the circumstances in which it is acquired; the environment,
the people, the culture, the beliefs, people’s attitudes and the like. Language must be
interpreted as a social phenomenon since people(s), who share a common linguistic
code, attempt to establish connections so that cultural understanding, based on
cooperative principles, may favor the relationship between a speaker and a hearer
in order for communication to take place.
The concept of language involves some issues language teachers should focus
their attention on and analyze them in order to establish connections: 1) Thought;
2) Production; 3) Understanding; 4) Communication; 5) Community; 6) Survival;
7) Culture and Civilization; and 8) Change. Language only makes sense within
society itself since it is people(s), who make it pertinent for their social encounters
and commercial purposes. Man uses either speech or writing as two means to share
ideas, to express feelings, or to establish relationships, which may help him or her
to relate to other people. According to historical accounts, man used speech first,
and then, written systems appeared. It is important to remark that not every single
community has a written system, but a spoken language, and due to acculturation
or globalization influences, some of the spoken languages have no speakers of that
language anymore because they have passed away, which has led to its extinction.
Spoken language, as oral tradition, helps people(s) to preserve culture as it is passed
down from generation to generation. Following the Whorf-Sapir Hypothesis, language
is the foundation of culture since language is expressed through it. Ancestors’ oral
10
Introduction to Linguistics for Language Teaching
Language is the echo of our thoughts and the reflection of our mind
tradition is a fundamental issue for the preservation of beliefs, ideas, customs,
traditions, and values so that they could be learned by the new generations to come.
Written language, on the other hand, contributes to the preservation of culture.
Future generations will be able to refer to the past since they have written records of
the achievements made in a given period and space. The more someone reads, the
better their writing will become and the more critical they will become. Language,
throughout history, has developed because of man’s mental processes, placing him
as a superior animal over the other creatures for the very faculty of possessing it.
Language appeared as a need for him to survive as communication processes evolved.
Communication may be divided into four categories since language is a system,
which is used by humans, animals, nature, and computers (Artificial Intelligence).
Language consists of a series of fields, which contribute to its complexity and it

should be understood as such. Language, being one of the most fascinating aspects
man has at his disposal, is the one that really makes him a rational animal. Language,
in all of its forms: speech, writing, signed, or computerized, is the responsible element
for man’s achievements on his way to civilization. Linguistics and all of its fields deal
with the study of language in relation to man, the inner, and the external processes,
involving its acquisition, learning, understanding, and production, as well as the
relationships, which derive from their exchange through language. Communities
of individuals who share a unique linguistic system are responsible for the survival
of their language. Knowledge of linguistic theories and principles is a fundamental
issue that language teachers should include in their methodological and pedagogical
repertoire. The application of those theoretical principles is to be the foundations
for language teachers to have a sound professional practice in English as a foreign
language (EFL) and English as a second language (ESL) fields. Natural environments,
such as plains, mountains, desserts and the like have a direct influence on the
language. In other words, depending on how advanced a social group is, in terms
of technological development, that would be the type of language that those people
would have to use as for communicative or survival purposes.
Language at the dawn of times

1. How did people(s) come to an agreement about how sentences were structured?
2. How could people(s) say and determine when sentences were structurally right?
3. How could people(s) say and determine; which structures were right and
which were not?
11
4. How did people(s) get to know what words and in which order they made
enough sense?
5. How did they discover what types of words went together and meant really
something?
6. How were sounds related to one another among diverse language speakers
and then, some other phonemes came out of them?
7. If the vocal tract is the same in the human race, why then has existed a varied
system of phonemes among related or unrelated languages?
8. Was the creation of language(s) a result of creativity? If this is so, why do
unrelated languages share some linguistic features in terms of phonology,
semantics, and syntax?
9. Was language a reflection of culture? Was culture a reflection of language?
When language just appeared, probably there was no previous culture. How
could the first idea be possible?
10. Did culture appear as language developed and turned out to be responsible for
a linguistic community immersed in a monolingual society?
Both Sapir (1884-1939) and Whorf (1897-1941) were interested in finding,

describing, and understanding the role culture played in the conception of language.
For them, language shaped the way people think. However, Sapir and Whorf never
proposed any theory, but they have been credited by it in anthropology. Language
is not just its grammar (unconscious knowledge), but grammar is what people can
do with it. The way that people conceive their reality contributes to the development
of their mental concepts and their ways of thinking. According to Wittgenstein
(1889-1951), there is an internal world within each one of us, which is acquired
based on our previous experiences, thoughts, ideas, and conceptions. He contended
that language is limited by people’s views of their world. In such a sense, the lack
of language aspects will interfere with the view we have about the world around
us. These aspects refer to semantics, syntax, or phonology, but some others may
include sociolinguistics, pragmatics, and discourse analysis, for instance. If someone
is not capable of conveying what they want to say in their own language, they will
be limited to the interpretation of the world around them since there will not be a
consensus and a link between certain concepts to be used by others, in the same way,
in the real or the abstract world. Language can be understood as a human faculty
and as a general system, too.
12
Language is the human faculty used to produce, to understand, and to convey
meaning through speech, writing, signs, or systems. Language is a general system,
which is proper to humans, but it differs in its structures: syntactic, phonological,
semantic, and morphological since language is used as a system for human
understanding, cooperation, and advancement of science and civilization. Another
key feature, which interferes with language production and understanding, is
culture. Not every speaker of English, for instance, speaks the same way. Cultural
elements and the vision of the world interfere with how people conceive the world
around and beyond them. Language is not just words. Language is influenced by
the geography, the environment, the culture -proper or foreign- and by political
and economic policies, and other languages, which are spoken in the same region,
country, or abroad. In Europe, for example, the people can speak English, German,
French, Italian, Spanish, Greek, Dutch, thanks to their geographic proximity.
A language is any system of communication used by nature, animals, machines,

or art. Music, painting, sculpture, architecture, and design, are considered expressive
languages to convey a message, emotions, feelings, and all kinds of thoughts. Nature
talks to us by means of the influence of the four elements: fire, water, wind, and earth.
Animals have their own language system of communication: dances, movements,
cries, barks, whistles, howls, screeches and the like. Machines are used to translate
texts into a target language. Music and art are the languages of the heart.
Saussure (1916), a Swiss linguist, is considered the Father of Modern Linguistics

and Semiotics. For him, language was mainly a structure in which its parts determined
the other parts. He introduced new terms in linguistics: Langue and Parole. These
two terms make up what we understand by Langage in French, Language in
English, Lingua in Portuguese, Lengua in Spanish, Lingua in Italian, and Sprache
in German. No matter what language people speak, they all have the same mental
and representational systems to encode and to decode it properly, in their processes
and cultures. Language is at the heart of the human mind. Language becomes more
complex as there are more synaptic relations in a child’s brain, exposure to it, and
opportunities for interaction.
• Langage: Both Langue and Parole make up what Saussure (1916) considers
Langage. It deals with the mental and abstract representations comprising its
systematic principles.
• Langue: It refers to the linguistic knowledge of the system or linguistic competence
(Chomsky, 1965). It is the language system itself, which constitutes the grammar
of the language in terms of semantics, phonology, and syntax.
13
• Parole: It refers to the actual use of that knowledge or linguistic performance
(Chomsky, 1965). It is the act of speaking, which takes place in a particular
place and time, with very specific speakers.
Language
Aukrust (2011) conceives language from a much broader perspective, by

referring to it as follows: “Language is seen as part of the complex and dynamic
processes of social membership, culture, and identity.” (p. 207).
According to the above, language does not take place in a vacuum. It makes
sense in direct contact with the people, who speak it. It is embedded within a shared
culture with a shared identity. Language is a living entity with its own identity.
Identity has a strong connection with the culture and the contexts in which it takes
place since people conform to the rules approved of by the speakers in a certain
community. If knowledge comes from experience, how can you expect learners to
be productive in a foreign language if they have not been exposed to it before? In the
internalization of language, there are at least three features, which make it as a spoken
system, among some others, which may exist. They are Concepts, Representation, and
Words. What is the logical sequence so that the spoken language could be logical?
Concepts Representations Words
Our brain is capable of making concepts of our reality or beyond it, only if men
have had the chance to being in contact with it out there. As soon as those concepts
reach our mind, then, men have the opportunity to reach a clear understanding of
the concepts, as they need to call reality somehow. Those concepts require names
in order for people to have a referent of that reality, which once, it is outside, it is
internalized. Right after this, mental processes contribute to the development of
an abstract reality, which is cultured by individuals within family, community, and
society. It is here where concepts become representations, which in turn, become
concrete as they achieve the status of a word.
Words Representations Concepts
Human beings feel the need to name reality after a consensus has been
reached. It is the starting point in order to begin using, identifying, and spreading
the words within the community or society. As those words mean something, then
people make up representations in their minds, being the prime requirement for
the development of concepts. These concepts, then, contribute to the increase of
14
related words, by producing, consequently a set of conceptual maps, which become
the matrix to mental development.
Representations Concepts Words
Human beings have the capacity to represent their reality, the one around
and beyond them. That representation then turns out to be concepts. Those mental
constructs require words in order to make the reality, external or internal, something
concrete as, both the former and the latter can be uttered, written, signed, or
computerized. Since concepts are expressed in words, meaning carries more weight
than the structure of what wants to be conveyed. Moreover, ideas are expressed
according to the concepts embodied in words. Ideas make sense when the concepts
expressed in words, carry meaning. In other words, when an idea is expressed what
really matters are the choices that we make of our concepts, and the structure used
depends on our intentions. A sentence could be in line with a phrase structure rule
of a particular language, and still, does not convey any meaning.
People have their own identity as their conceptions of the world around
them usually differ from those of ours. Although one single world exists, there are
many conceptions people may have about it, depending on their experiences and
expectations. You shape your thinking based on the language you speak and on how
you behave or interact with one another. The brain has been developed according
to environmental factors. Language has evolved based on the way people perceive
their world. Did language develop simultaneously in different settings and cultural
contexts? Ethnicity has to do with language development. Ethnicity interferes with
how advanced a given language is in comparison to another language variety. By
being able to speak and to understand a variety of languages or dialects, people
have the ability to perform well in them. However, more than that, they must be
knowledgeable about and competent in the new culture in which they have to use
language for communication, interactions, or transactions. It is through language
that human beings can establish, develop, and maintain social relations and cultural
understanding. Language, as a complex system, is studied and analyzed, based on a
series of factors shared by the individuals involved in the communication process.
These factors are the goal or the purpose of the communicative act, the topic, the
medium, the age, and the speaker’s and the hearer’s gender, the setting, the context,
the degree of formality or informality, and the circumstances in which it takes place.
Language, as a social phenomenon, accomplishes a great number of functions.
For Brown & Yule (1983), language is said to be interactional and transactional.
Language is also expressive and descriptive. All human beings use language for a
series of reasons. However, much more importantly, they do so because language is
considered a complex phenomenon where individuals are forced to use it to solve
15
problems, to come to an agreement, to express love or hatred, among some other
range of possibilities.
Brown & Yule (1983), refer to the functions of language as being both
Transactional and Interactional as follows:
We shall call the language which is used to convey ‘factual or propositional

information’ primarily transactional language. In primarily transactional language
we assume what the speaker (or writer) has primarily in mind is the efficient
transference of information. Language used in such a situation is primarily
‘message oriented’. It is important that the recipient gets the informative detail
correct. Thus, if a policeman gives directions to a traveler, a doctor tells a nurse
how to administer medicine to a patient, a householder puts in an insurance
claim, a shop assistant explains the relative merits of two types of knitting wool,
or a scientist describes an experiment, in each case it matters that the speaker
should make what he says (or writes) clear.
The interactional view

Whereas linguists, philosophers of language and psycholinguists have, in
general, paid particular attention to the use of language for the transmission of
‘factual or propositional information’, sociologists and sociolinguists have been
particularly concerned with the use of language to establish and maintain social
relationships. (p. 2-3)
Language is transactional: It is transactional because two or more people

exchange ideas, data, information, or communication, which both share in speech,
writing, or sign language. Human beings use language to describe the reality they
live in, experience, or engage in.
Language is interactional: It is so in the sense that two or more individuals

engage in interactions to achieve a common goal. Both speaker and hearer should
share a common linguistic system so that cooperation between them may be
successful through the establishment and maintenance of social relations. Although
some languages differ systematically, there are certain similarities, which make
them intelligible.
Language is expressive: The primary function of language is to express needs,

fears, desires, likes, anguish, etc. From the beginning of times, man has always
wanted to express his immediate needs through speech, pictures, or hieroglyphs,
16
being language his most precious resource to keep safe and to survive in the most
adverse conditions.
Language is descriptive: Man uses language as a device or a mechanism to

describe his internal or external needs. Procedures, processes, stages, for instance,
are carried out thanks to language: spoken, written, signed, or computerized.
Nature and emotions are described, by using literature, as in poetry, for example.
What people describe are the facts as they take place. Language is used to portrait
reality as it occurs although language may be used to express both literary and art
appreciation, where it tends to be symbolic.
Language is used to express thoughts to let people relate to the world, to convey
meaning, to establish relationships, to maintain interactions, to develop culture, to
create a national identity, or to achieve a common goal, etc. Language is used for
people to make plans about their immediate future, to play with language itself, or
to refer to it. In addition, language helps us to express our thoughts, needs, likes,
doubts, preferences and the like. Thanks to language, people can establish, develop,
and maintain relations, which could help them to relate to the environment in which
they live. Language serves a series of purposes, too. It is used to make up a great
number of realities, absent or present. Past, present, future, and even hypothetical
situations, can be expressed through language.
Features of language
Hockett (1966), an American linguist, came out with 16 features, which are
said to be common to all languages. Below, there are some of them:
Vocal auditory channel: Spoken language is produced in the vocal tract.
Semanticity: Language conveys meaning in order to carry a message.
Arbitrariness: Words change from language to language and from culture to

culture, but their concepts remain the same in people’s minds.
Displacement: Language lets people talk about the past, the present, the future,
hypothetical situations, as well as here, there, and over there.
Productivity: Language serves people to describe, to produce, and to invent

realities.
Traditional transmission: Language is possible thanks to the interaction with

and within social groups.
17
Learnability: People have the ability to learn any language system or code if they
are exposed to it, if they find it meaningful and useful, if they have the opportunity
to use it for interactions or transactions, and if they reach their purposes through it.
Reflexivity: Language is used for its own reflection and analysis, which is
called metalanguage.
Jakobson’s functions of language
According to Jakobson (1960) language consists of six factors: Context, Message,

Addresser, Addressee, Contact and Code and their corresponding functions:
Referential, Poetic, Emotive, Conative, Phatic, and Metalingual.
Factors
Context: It refers to the circumstances involved in the communication

process.
Message: It deals with the content or idea of what wants to be conveyed.

Addresser: It is the originator or the source of the message.
Addressee: It is the recipient of the message.
Contact: It has to do with the channel.
Code: It is the system that has to be common for both participants: oral,
written, signed, or computerized.
Functions
Referential: It describes facts: “It’s snowing.”
Poetic: It refers to the use of metaphors: “Life is hard stuff, death is easy.”
Emotive: It expresses emotions: “It’s delicious, yummy, yummy, yummy.”
Conative: It refers to commands: “Listen up!”
Phatic: It is used to maintain social relationships: “Hello, Professor Lee.”
Metalingual: It talks about language itself: “What do you mean by ‘prone?’”
18
Halliday’s Functions of Language
Halliday (1975) also distinguishes other language functions:
Instrumental: Language is a tool of communication, interaction, and cooperation.
Regulatory: Language has to respond to social conventions.
Interactional: Language tends to be collaborative since it is held by people.
Personal: Language is used as a means to communicate with other people.
Heuristic: Language helps people to surprise about discoveries.
Imaginative: Language is the vehicle that people use to imagine and to create
ideas.
Representational: Language is used to help man to represent realities.
Hymes’ SPEAKING Model
Hymes (1974) proposes the SPEAKING Model in which he introduces a

broader approach to the functions of language.
Setting or scene: Location and situation.
Participants: Members involved.
Ends: Goals, objectives, and purposes.
Act sequence: Cohesion and coherence.
Key: Additional piece of information.
Instrumentalities: Means used to convey meaning.
Norms: Standards governing social interaction.
Genre: Type of speech or piece of text.
It is important to mention that language consists of disciplines, such as phonology,

semantics, syntax, and morphology, as well as neurolinguistics, psycholinguistics,
19
sociolinguistics and the like. The word phonology derives from Greek and it deals
with speech sounds. The word syntax derives from Greek and it deals with order or
arrangement.
The word semantics derives from the Greek word sēmasí(a), which means
meaning. The word morphology, which comes from Greek, means form. Language
is also possible thanks to the mental and psychological processes, which take place
in the brain, and to the contact, connections, and relations, which take place in and
within society.
There has always been a fascination about how the human language originated.
Here are some theories about its appearance. When humankind wonders about
the origin of language, many questions come into play since no one knows for sure
how it took place. The role of scientists, neurologists, psychologists, philosophers,
and linguists has been to trace back its origins and come out with some possible
theories, which could explain how it really developed, expanded, and made feasible
the appearance of other languages from a common ancestor, known as Protolanguage,
but unfortunately, they do not have an answer about the origin of language yet. The
science interested in the origin and the evolution of language is Glossogenetics. That
is to say, it is believed that all spoken languages derive from this Protolanguage, and
according to geographic, societal, and cultural differences, other languages were
created and spread throughout the world. However, the following issues about the
origin of language can be of interest:
1. How did language and languages originate?

2. Who was the modern man’s ancestor, who first uttered a sound, made up a
phrase, and then came out with a sentence?
3. What neurological, mental, and physiological processes provided him with
the necessary equipment to become an autonomous individual?
Based on biblical records (New International Version, 2011, Gen. 2:19), God
provided Adam with language when He said,
Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field
and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would
name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.
According to the Bible (New International Version, 2011, Gen. 11:5-8), the
building of the Tower of Babel led to the origin of languages. Man’s intent was that
the Tower to reach unto heaven, but God did not let builders continue building it,
20
by having their tongues confused so they could not understand each other because
they were forced to speak different languages,
5
But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building.
6
The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun
to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. 7Come, let
us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.
8
So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped
building the city. 9That is why it was called Babel—because there the Lord
confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them
over the face of the whole earth.
Language as speech is considered a human phenomenon. Since language

originated as a means for men to communicate and to fulfill their needs, it makes
sense within a larger body of individuals. For language to make sense, it has to be
embedded into a formal system of rules, which consists of logical sequences, meaning,
and sounds, which convey a communicative purpose. It has to be practical and
pragmatic with an intention in mind. Language is also a societal phenomenon because
it surpasses the border in which a reduced number of people interact, but in a broader
sense, it serves larger communities, which by having a common linguistic code, are
able to intervene their reality around and beyond them, by influencing other people’s
lives. Language is vivid thanks to man’s participation within a particular society.
Sociolinguistics is in charge of analyzing the kind of language and the interactions
held between men and women alike. Language is supposed to bring people together
in neighborhoods, communities, villages, towns, cities, or countries where people
have the possibility to pass down their knowledge, cultures, and civilization from
their ancestors to their new generations in order for it to be preserved. Language
is the means for the advancement of technology, science, discoveries, the arts, and
the humanities, to have them known to humankind. If there were no language as
we know it today, either speech or writing would not exist. For instance, future
generations would not be able to interpret the achievements of past generations, and
they would have to devise a very new linguistic system of communication. Although
language is produced and understood in the brain, among some other processes,
still a question remains unanswered. How is language printed in the brain? In other
words, how do synapses make this miracle possible?
Based on Biblical accounts (New International Version, 2011, Acts. 2:1-4), during
the feast of Pentecost, languages were spread all over the earth, here is what it says,
1
When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2
Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and
21
filled the whole house where they were sitting.3 They saw what seemed to be
tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.4 All of them
were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the
Spirit enabled them.
Languages in the world differ in many regards. Not all of them have written,
but spoken systems. Besides, not all of them have the same category of language,
but that of dialect. That is the reason why there are pidgins and creoles. No language
is more difficult than any other language. This is true for children, who have that
special device (Chomsky’s LAD or Language Acquisition Device was proposed in
the 1960s) to grasp or to acquire language naturally. However, adults have a hard
time when they attempt to learn it since they have to deal with conscious processes,
which could help them to attain it. As it was pointed out earlier, it is supposed that
all languages come from a common linguistic trunk, which is called Protolanguage.
Throughout time, people(s) have caused languages to differ thanks to a number of
reasons, especially political and economic ones where dominating cultures impose
theirs over others, through invasions, wars, by taking over territories, and by making
them their own. It is true that no language is to outlive others forever. Languages
change as people(s) and their cultures do, too. As languages change and vary in their
internal structures, other languages are born, and some others disappear. Man is
always on the move, and as he moves, he establishes in new settlements, so probably
new languages may be born as a need for them to communicate in order to survive
as a linguistic community. As a matter to address the importance interaction has
in the L2 classroom, and mainly, outside of it, let me cite Rivers (1987) when she
stresses the significance that interaction has when it comes to language learning,
by stating that
Interaction involves not just expressions of one’s own ideas, but also about
comprehension of those of others. One listens to others, one responds (directly or
indirectly); others listen and respond. The participants work out interpretations
of meaning through this interaction, which is always understood in a context
physical or experiential, with nonverbal cues adding aspects of meaning beyond
the verbal. (p. 3)
Outside the classroom, learners have the chance to put into practice what
they have been ‘taught’ systematically in it. However, in real-life circumstances,
language goes unsystematically planned. Behind every kind of communication,
there is a purpose for it. When children are around other children and adults, who
are native speakers of a language, they are constantly in contact with it. According
to a number of circumstances, families and communities have a particular way
of speaking. Especially when talking on the phone, people tend to confuse those
22
who are wanted on it. This happens because since they spend their time together,
they tend to follow the same patterns as they interact. Since non-native speakers
do not have the opportunity of being immersed in the new language, it is difficult
for them to catch the intricacies of those features involved in speech patterns. The
ideal thing to do is that once non-native speakers are somehow proficient in the
foreign language, they can be exposed to a wide variety of dialects of that language,
in natural environments. Foreign language learners of any language have a hard
time understanding what native speakers tell them. Some of these reasons are as
follow: Non-native speakers have to internalize, in their brains and minds, every
single aspect dealing with what makes up language (phonology, semantics, syntax,
morphology, etc.), idiomatic expressions, and culture, the four language skills
(listening comprehension, speaking, reading comprehension, and writing).
What is the right methodology? When is the right moment? When the
language learner needs to convey an idea in either speech or in writing. That is the
right moment. Language learning cannot be supported by a fixed curriculum or
methodology, in which language teaching responds to previous requirements as if
language were a recipe. In language learning, there cannot be a linear order since
the structure of the language is unpredictable in social interactions and cultural
encounters. Language can be deconstructed, by analyzing a piece of text, such as a
sentence. As it is suggested by Derrida’s theory of deconstruction of language in which
a text has to be analyzed in terms of meaning. Negotiation of meaning is a key factor
in the communicative process. Negotiation of meaning (Pica, 1994); (Rees, 1998)
is crucial when it comes to learning the L2. If what the learner needs to say is not
within his reach, the teacher is there to help him or her to satisfy his communicative
needs. On the one hand, Pica (1994: 494) defines negotiation as “the modification
and restructuring of interaction that occurs when learners and their interlocutors
anticipate, perceive, or experience difficulties in message comprehensibility.” On the
other hand, Rees (1998) defines negotiation of meaning in the following manner:
“This negotiation of meaning involves the repeating, rephrasing and restructuring
of phrases between two or more learners to enable them to understand the meaning
of the messages they are communicating.”
Language learners, in their attempt to getting their message across, negotiation

of meaning is about the way they grapple with unexpected problems they
encounter in their real-life interactions, outside the classroom. Some issues,
which should be taken into account when it comes to negotiation of meaning can
include the following: a) background knowledge of the topic being addressed;
b) age differences between interlocutors; c) interlocutors’ roles and attitudes;
c) word-choice and use of idiomatic expressions; d) willingness to collaborate
to solve common problems; e) level of interaction and commitment, and so
23
forth. Some of the objectives behind negotiation of meaning could include the
following: a) to provide support and feedback from the interlocutor; b) to check
understanding; c) to ask for clarification; d) to satisfy a communicative need;
e) to reach an agreement or a common objective; f) to supply information and
the like. Speakers do not have the chance of negotiating meaning since there
is nothing to negotiate, interaction cannot be possible. In the event that their
parents speak different languages from that spoken in the community, learners
will be exposed to the languages and cultures that their parents already speak
as being their native languages, alongside with their cultures. Language is not
mere structure, but intention in the communicative event. When there is little
authentic input, the foreign language is poorly structured because it does not
match the one used by native speakers as it usually happens in their everyday
interactions. Learners are unable to figure out and to decipher when they are
given a fixed grammatical rule as if it always worked out for every single idea to
be expressed in the foreign language, but it is not the case. They find it difficult
to know what goes in-the-blanks in order to complete an idea. Language is not
the same as mathematics. While the purpose of mathematics is to solve problems,
language is used to convey meaning. Although mathematics conveys meaning
and language solves problems, as well.
Although language has a given standard, not every thought matches the formula,
being the case of, for example, S + V + O, which is equivalent to say, Subject + Verb
+ Object. Not every thought follows the formula above. The teacher’s role is to help
learners how to express their thoughts. What really counts is to provide learners
with meaningful comprehensible input, which comes from reading material, as
Krashen (1982) suggests. Language teachers’ task is to provide learners with the
mechanisms, which support their learning based on real communicative needs.
They will develop as their internal and external motivation allow them to do so. In
language acquisition, children do not receive any previous formal experience on how
to structure the language from their parents, caregivers, or those who are around
them. What children do is to decipher how the language is structured based on the
culture in which it takes place and the circumstances in which they are immersed.
Children can use their LAD and the exposure to the spoken language will help them
to comprehend it, in context. Whenever they are ready, they will be able to become
autonomous language users.
The Pedagogy of Language

Language as such cannot be taught. Language sprang as a natural need for
communication to take place. Think about how you grasped it. You did not have to
24
attend school to acquire it. It was just acquired thanks to exposure and the interactions
held among family members. That is why it is stated that it cannot be taught. Native
speakers, those who are born in a particular country, with a given set of cultures,
are exposed to the language in natural settings. It means that language is acquired
naturally, and speakers do not need to be trained prior to their being exposed to it.
For acquisition to take place, the conditions under which language develops and
changes, need to be met. Learners have their own interest in learning the L2, either
how to listen to it or to speak it, or to know how to read it or to write it down; formally
or informally. It is important to consider their background knowledge and their real
needs so that they can be successfully fulfilled. Once teachers have identified their
learners’ interests and the way they learn, then some changes in methodology are to
be made, but whenever necessary. Since language is acquired effortlessly, teachers
are to provide their learners with the methodology, which is similar to how it is
acquired naturally. Language acquisition takes place when there is exposure to it.
Quality of interaction and quantity of interaction (Gass, Mackey, & Ross-Feldman,
2005) are held on a daily basis and language comes out naturally, unplanned. The
whole universe is full of language. It is just awaiting to be discovered, to be named,
to be referenced. The more variation in language, the more learning will take place
since it is learned without any previous organization as it really happens when it is
acquired naturally. Language teachers have to be able to ‘read’ the reality their learners
have to respond to, and based on this, provide them with their needs, interests,
and problems, given the context and their circumstances so that they can deal with
unexpected situations when it comes to social interaction in the L2. Once language
teachers become familiar with the theories shared in this chapter, and throughout
the book, they will have, at their disposal, some principles and mechanisms, which
favor language learning based on the methodologies and the resources, which
best fit their learners’ linguistic, communicative, and cultural needs. Language
teaching should be based more on language learning. The very fact of being able to
speak a foreign language implies not only what is taught in class, but actually what
someone is able to do as an independent speaker in real-life interactions, outside
the classroom. The organization of language comes in and it is internalized in a
chaotic way, but it has to come out in an organized manner. Moreover, how does it
happen? Well, this is due to neurological and psycholinguistic processes thanks to
the social exposure, comprehension, interaction, and production of language. It is
quite illogical when it is expected that a foreign language can be taught in artificial
settings and environments when the only methodology, approach, and procedure are
based on the structure of grammar as it is commonly understood, in an organized
manner. What really counts is that the learner’s brain can be exposed to a series
of communicative events where the L2 has a purpose and a role to be played and
it is done, by providing it with a set of structures, which are shared by speakers.
25
Reading cannot be considered as a passive process, but as an active one since the new
knowledge interacts with the previous knowledge. The latter serves as a foundation
for a better understanding of the former. Writing is an active process since ideas are
connected as we write. Cohesion and coherence contribute to unity and meaning in a
piece of writing. In writing, there is a purpose and an audience where the writer has
a style, which fits both of them. A piece of text can be read, deciphered, interpreted,
analyzed, compared, and elucidated. Being able to think in a language other than
yours implies both decoding and encoding ideas according to what needs to be said
in the L2, and not, necessarily, based on what has to be taught. Language acquisition
comes out naturally since babies, toddlers, and children are exposed to it. What is
required is to have a sort of language input, which goes hand in hand with culture.
Language input is not exclusive to the second language, but to the first language, too.
If language input does not exist in a certain culture, then people and their children,
would not be able to encode and to decode it. It is important to remark that one
idea can be expressed differently, that is to say, in more than one way, by using the
spoken language. Culturally, what can be easily understood by a given community,
in one place, cannot be understood in another place since particular idioms and
expressions make a difference for people from various cultural backgrounds to get
the message across. The mystery of language acquisition deals with the idea of how
concepts and their meanings are installed in the brain and how it incorporates,
interprets, and retrieves them as required. Thus, it could be explained depending
on the function they play in their cultural settings and contexts. The brain must be
smart enough to deal with uncertainty as for language understanding and language
production go. Language understanding comes first. Language production comes
second. Although language instruction could play a role in language learning in the
EFL classroom setting, there should be a shift in terms of the roles played by EFL
teachers and those of their learners. Instruction, per se, is ineffective if learners are
unable to participate in social and cultural encounters in which language learning
is smoothly internalized by the direct contact with native speakers or proficient
speakers of that language. The production of both spoken and written language
cannot be structured at once, as a whole. On the contrary, it is done by chunks.
It is a time-consuming internal process. It is not just a teaching-related issue. For
someone to be able to utter a string of meaningful sounds, phonemes, words, and
phrases is not an easy endeavor. It is hard to achieve native-like competence because
in non-native settings, reality is quite different from what it actually happens in a
well-structured and organized EFL classroom setting. L2 instruction fails when the
language taught in the classroom or the school setting significantly differs from the
one used by native speakers in realistic and purposeful contexts. Language is not
only used for communicative, but also for survival purposes.
26
Reflection
1. Which language functions do you usually apply much more often as an English
teacher?
2. What kinds of strategies have you ever used to foster the four language skills
in English?
Project
In your community, analyze the language used by a segment of the population,
in terms of speech which includes phonological issues, word choice, and language
structure, sociolinguistic and pragmatic issues. Then, explain why language is a
social phenomenon.
27
2
Speech and writing
“Since speech is a dynamic system, it tends to change much more often than writing.”
B
oth speech and writing are modes for man to communicate. They are not
opposites, but complementary. In both speech and writing, not only should
form be negotiated, but also meaning, which at the end of the day, is what
really matters. He who has the ability to speak a language is in charge since he can
have access to a number of resources at his disposal. If someone is under control,
he may be willing to use speech to command, to convince, and to collaborate with
another. That is why he may get what he wants or needs to do business, to travel,
or just to solve everyday tasks, as simple as that. Speech can fulfill certain roles as
people attempt to convey meaning as they interact in societal contexts and cultural
settings. When we speak, we make pauses; when we write down, we use punctuation
marks. As we speak, words and expressions have to be carefully chosen depending on
the audience they are addressed to. When it comes to writing, coherence, cohesion,
and style need to be properly used so that the message can be conveyed according to
the writer’s area of focus or interest. The spoken language is much more commonly
used than the written language since there are more speakers than writers. Aristotle
(384 BC – 322 BC) used to say that “Speech was the representation of the mind,
and writing was the representation of speech.” Barber, Beal & Shaw. (2009) refer
to language as,
A human language is a signalling system. The written language is secondary

and derivative. In the history of each individual, speech or signing is learned
before writing, and there is good reason for believing that the same was true
in the history of the species. There are communities that have speech without
writing, but we know of no human community which has a written language
without a spoken or signed one. (p. 2).
29
Characteristics of the spoken language
Language is primarily spoken, not written: After language appeared in the
earliest communities in the manner of speech, it developed with the contact and
the interaction of people, who shared a common linguistic system, particular to
individuals within a cultural group, in a given space and time.
It was first developed: For man’s survival, in the very ancient times, he was
forced to make up the means to make himself understood, and it was speech, which
gave him the necessary resources to fulfill his needs in terms of hunting for food,
and for shelter, or protection from the outer world.
It tends to change much more often: Since speech is a dynamic system, it

tends to change much more often than writing. New words and expressions are
created on a daily basis. Formal and informal language can give birth to acronyms,
slang, technical, and scientific language to respond to discoveries and inventions.
It is momentary: Speech is possible thanks to man’s interaction with others

around him. Direct social contact is carried out by exchanging ideas and solving
problems with others.
It is studied by most linguists: Given the fact that speech tends to change
much more often than writing, linguists are more eager to delve into its core, by
analyzing the way people think and how their attitudes help them to interact and
to relate to others.
It is permanent, if it is voice or image recorded: Speech can be permanent

only if it could be recorded on tape, videotaped, or by using any other kind of
futuristic technology.
It is transitory: Spoken language is transitory in the sense that quick exchange

of speech does not let man keep it forever, but it transcends the natural borders of
human interaction.
It is immediate: Once a thought or idea is processed in an individual’s mind,

it is ready to come out through his mouth so that speech is produced immediately.
It is studied at a certain period: In order to establish the possible changes

that speech has gone through in a given period, linguists choose a particular time
in history and come out with convincing conclusions about its changes by analyzing
them in terms of its grammar. Written language can also be studied, at a certain time
in history to establish possible changes, in a given linguistic community.
30
It is used to swear and to say dirty words: Among the many applications
of speech, man usually tends to use it to swear, to say dirty words, or to convey
emotional meaning. It is important to highlight that people use a type of language
for speech and another somehow different type, for writing.
Characteristics of the written language

Not every society has a written system. Written systems develop in societies,
as people feel the need to record their life experiences and world views. Writing
appeared as a need of recording experiences, of keeping memories. People have
always used writing to portrait their realities, emotions, feelings, thoughts, and needs.
It is much more structured: Cohesion and coherence are two characteristics

of writing. Cohesion refers to the structure or the unity of the paragraphs in a
composition. On the other hand, coherence has to do with the sense and the meaning
of the message being conveyed. Therefore, in composition, writing has to be well
structured for it to make sense. That is why it is much more structured. To make
this point clearer, let me cite Ong (1982: 105), in Filkestein & McCleery (2002),
when he states, “Writing restructures consciousness.”
It is used to preserve history and culture: In the past, oral tradition was used
as one of the techniques for the transmission and the preservation of culture, but
now, written records help man to preserve facts for a longer time.
It is durable and continuous: “What I have written, I have written” or in

Latin, “Quod scripsi, scripsi.” Pontius Pilate. It can be said that readers interpret
writing systems. They tend to last for the centuries to come. Writing does not fade
as quickly as spoken language does. Writing can be checked and edited as many
times as necessary because new ideas appear to support or to contradict what has
been stated earlier.
It is not immediate: Writing takes time for its analysis since it cannot be studied
immediately as it happens with speech. Written language requires a much more
complex approach since it has to be carefully structured, depending on the type of
genre used, the circumstances, and the target population it has been addressed to.
It is permanent: Written languages let people trace the origin, the development,
and the spread of their cultures and civilization, making feasible the record of events
and achievements made by people in the past, makes writing to be permanent.
31
It is studied by some linguists: Not every linguist is interested in analyzing
written language taking into account the changes it has gone through for a certain
period or at a given moment in history.
It is a referent to study dead languages: Writing has been the raw material of
philologists and linguists, as the source to study languages that have disappeared a
long time ago. Latin does not have speakers anymore that is why it is a dead language.
It tends to be more elaborate and careful: Careful writing is necessary since a

clear and objective style must be respected. Thoughts and ideas have to be carefully
elaborated because the authors of articles or papers address serious issues for the
scientific community or those interested in a given field.
Throughout history, peoples and civilizations have devised a variety of writings.

Below, there are some of them:
Cuneiform was created, by using a wedge-shaped tool into uncured tables of

clay. In fact, the Latin word cuneus means, “wedge.” These writing tools, also known
as “styluses,” were generally made out of reeds. Goettel (2003-2010) tells a brief
history about cuneiform writing, as follows:
Most linguists, historians, and archaeologists confer that cuneiform, which

appeared about 5,000 years ago is the first real written language. Cuneiform
was developed by the Sumerians in southern Mesopotamia, the land that
presently lies within the borders of Iraq.
Most of the surviving evidence of cuneiform exists as inscriptions or impressions

in stone and clay tablets.
In China, people use logograms, which are graphemes or pictographic characters

to represent a word. For such a reason, for someone to master it, it is a hard endeavor
to be reached because of the number of words or ideas they require to express reality.
In ancient Egypt, Egyptians used hieroglyphics –inscriptions on rock– as a written
system. The alphabet was based on characters, which summed up more than 2,000
hieroglyphics. Nowadays, there is some evidence of hieroglyphics in modern Egypt,
where archaeologists attempt to decipher the past or probably the future, too.
Semiotics, also known as Semiology, refers to the study of human signs to

complement man’s interaction through speech. Semiotics studies the way man uses
his gestures to convey meaning thanks to the application of signs derived from
the senses. Human speech is complemented with additional piece of information
32
coming from behaviors, attitudes, and outcomes, which are present in the speaker’s
and the listener’s minds. Signs are just not written systems. A sign is an indication,
a trace of something, a token of gratitude, or a piece of evidence about something.
Signs are cues, clues, or hints, which let us interpret what they mean or we want
them to mean to suffice a need or a desire. Signs are everywhere we turn around.
They are found in the street, at work, at school, in libraries, in museums, at the
metro station, at the airport, you name it. Signs serve to express complex ideas
through pictures. In everyday life, signs express ideas, like in the following cases:
a) dizziness is a sign of anxiety; b) smoke is a sign of fire, c) gray clouds are signs
of probable rain, etc. Sign language is the type of language used by deaf and dumb
people and it is mainly performed using hands and visual cues in order to provide
the signers with a better understanding, that is to say, to convey meaning and to
let the conversation go on. Sign language differs from language to language. Sign
language is not the same everywhere.
Linguistic signs: signifier and signified: In language, signs are something deeper
as Saussure puts it. According to Saussure (1916) a sign is composed of a signified
and a signifier. Signified: It refers to the mental or the abstract representation of
a word. The signified (mental representation) is always the same, no matter the
linguistic system. If someone speaks different languages, let us say a polyglot, he has
the same concept in those languages. What changes in each language is the manner
how they structure their words and pronounce them: signifier. Signifier: It has to
do with the sequence of letters in a word, that is its spelling and its corresponding
pronunciation. It is arbitrary since it changes in every language. e.g. árbol, arbre,
tree, Baum. Symbols: A symbol is the representation of something else. A butterfly
symbolizes ‘change’ or ‘transformation’.
Stages involved in writing

Brainstorming or mind mapping: The idea needs to be expanded somehow.
Mind mapping is a good technique or resource to use. Other related words come
into play. They give the writer some insight into how it can be better developed and,
in this way, they would not miss out on anything.
Proposal: The idea of the piece of writing is developed into a proposal, which
sketches the general issues to be addressed in it. It intends to show, to express, or
to share with somebody else the main and the supporting ideas, which will make
up the text content.
Writing: The main and the supporting ideas are expressed cohesively and
coherently. Style is carefully developed as it implies your sign to your writing.
33
Grammar and vocabulary are based on the genre and the audience that the writing
is addressed to.
Proofreading: Both scanning (looking for specific information: names, places,

numbers, addresses, etc.) and skimming (looking for the main idea or supporting
ideas) can help the writer to go over the text to check spelling and mechanics to
avoid faulty writing and misleading ideas.
Editing: A more careful and detailed reading of the written text contributes
to avoid involuntary mistakes and ambiguities.
Publishing: The piece of writing is ready to be disseminated for the public

to enjoy it. Writing in an L2 is not an easy endeavor. It requires the use of proper
language, coherence, and cohesion to convey ideas accurately.
Nunan (1999) states that
In terms of writing, producing a coherent, fluent, extended piece of writing

is probably the most difficult thing there is to do in language. It is something
most native speakers never master. For second language learners the challenges
are enormous. (p. 271).
The more you write, the better your writing will be. It is through trial and
error that perfection will be achieved. The writer will have to be exposed to a wide
variety of both formal and informal texts, and in doing so, he will decide upon
what he would like to write about and which style to make his own. It is well known
that not everybody is capable of writing legal, medical, or technical texts, even in
their native language, which is still harder when it is done in a foreign or a second
language. The difference between speaking and writing is that people are exposed
to language in a natural way, as for the former, and as for the latter, they have to be
taught how to start doing it. Speaking turns out to come out effortlessly, nobody is
taught, meanwhile for writing, instruction is required.
Academic writing requires proper usage of language since a careful style is

used in papers, magazines, research papers, reports, presentations, lectures, and
conferences, etc. Being an active reader provides someone with the conditions for
having an inquisitive and creative mind, being the tools necessary for someone to
become a skillful writer. Reading extensively contributes to develop and maintain a
better writing performance. Since language is used as a system of communication,
the more you read, the better your writing style will be. Reading will help writers
to develop and to have a style of their own. Writing is a matter of practice.
34
The Pedagogy of Speech and Writing
It is not hard to tell that children acquire language just due to the very fact
of their unique mental and psychological mechanisms, which make them human
beings. Exposure to language is said to be permanent so that children grasp the
intricacies of the linguistic system and make it their own. The more they will hear
the language, the more their thinking will be developed in it. The brain is capable
of distinguishing chunks of language, no matter what language it is. When children
feel the need of talking, they will do it in the most natural manner possible if
they are surrounded by native speakers, who will serve as language providers and
transmitters of culture at all times. In the case of teachers, learners are expected to
be provided with meaningful language input so that intake can be possible according
to their conditions and circumstances. Unlike talking, writing requires a special
methodology, pedagogy, didactics, and training. Writing can be approached from
many different perspectives, depending on the following factors: a) the need; b)
the writer; c) the reader; d) the writer’s age; e) the reader’s age; f) the topic; g) level
of formality or informality; h) the purpose; i) the context; j) the setting; k) the
style, etc. There is a direct relationship between the ease someone has for writing
and the ability they have for reading. In other words, the more someone reads, the
better writers they will be. In this way, they will have their very own writing style.
Academic writing in English is a difficult and time-consuming endeavor. It is not
the same as writing short compositions in the EFL/ESL classroom settings.
Reflection
1. How is social media changing language?
2. Can you think of some tasks to promote your learners’ speech and writing
development?
Project
Choose a segment of the population where you live or work. Analyze the ways
in which they use both speech and writing, or sign language if the case applies.
Then, check similarities and differences in several language components. Finally,
write down the results and analysis.
3
Communication
“We most of the time say more with gestures than with words themselves.”
C
ommunication is a two-way process in which meaning is negotiated, followed,
supported, and complemented based on body language and cultural practices.
In the foreign language classroom, some pedagogical procedures, teaching
and learning practices are to suit language learners’ needs rather than the compliance
of a given syllabus, which most of the time, does not meet what language learners
really want in order to satisfy their communicative needs. Our choices of the words,
which make up our world, are a key component of our communicative competence,
as words change meaning according to the contexts in which they appear. The words
that we choose to establish interactions determine the types of communication
systems, which are prone to be used. Individual differences among people should
be respected so that cultural understanding could take place without affecting how
others conceive the world around them or they conceive their ideas based on their
beliefs, attitudes, or cultural traits. Communication is a system by which two or more
individuals engage in a common undertaking in order to establish, to develop, or
to maintain social relations to satisfy a human need, by using a common sign or
language: oral, written, computerized, or signed, as the word suggests, in a given
community. Communication is usually understood as a two-way process in which
a speaker and a hearer are involved. There is a message and a medium in which
that message will be transferred. There is also a purpose and a setting, which can
provide us with meaningful information whereas it is a public or a private place,
if the discourse is well or poorly structured or if the register is formal or informal.
Communication entails a connection and a relationship between a speaker and a
hearer, from a source to a destination, with a message, which needs to be sent, mainly
by means of speech, writing, sign, or computerized language. It is the foundation of
good human relationships. Communication can be achieved, developed, expressed,
37
improved, and maintained. Visual cues, gestures, speech, writing, or computerized
systems are examples of communication systems. The people involved in the process,
create and interpret messages, by using a common code of communication. If both
speaker and hearer feel the message has been well interpreted, then communication
has been successfully achieved. Otherwise, this fact could lead to misunderstanding,
which interferes with the purpose of the communicative act. If gestures happen to have
different meanings for both a speaker and a hearer, then there will be a breakdown
in the communication process since gestures may affect communication because
they have been given different meanings, in different cultural settings and contexts.
Thanks to modern and recent technology, communication can be carried out, by
using electronic devices like satellites, telephones, television, fax, computers, laptops,
iPods, videotaping, teleconferencing, as well as email, voice mail, text messaging,
chatting, and blogs. Actually, to text is a new word, which came into being as a response
to meet a purpose in immediate communication by technology, which means to send
messages via the keyboard, by using the traditional system proper to any linguistic
system. Currently, worldwide, it seems to be a common spread phenomenon in which
students, usually teenagers, and sometimes, the general public, text more than they
talk. Adolescents find this way of communication much more fun than just a simple
face-to-face kind of interaction. All of this is highly influenced by the generalized
use of social networks where communication is practically instantaneous. This
style of communication is favored because of teenagers’ preferences, which makes
them become isolated, independent, and autonomous. Therefore, thanks to current
technology, people of all lifestyles have the chance to achieving, expanding, and sharing
knowledge online in the comfort of their home. Unlike man, animals use a type of
language for communication or survival. They use instinct since they do not have a
developed phonatory system as we do. Animals respond to the stimulus-response
model. Although we also use it somehow, we account for mental and cognitive
systems, which help us to express our thoughts as we respond to a condition from
the environment, as it is the case of this model. We use common sense or intuition
as a complement of our ideas, which will be expressed through speech, which is an
analytical process being developed in our brains in order for us to sound logical. It
is important to point out that language teaching is different from language learning.
When language is learned formally in the ESL/EFL classroom or setting, it cannot
be understood from the grammatical point of view since many factors intervene so
that the communication process can be successfully achieved.
Human communication
We convey meaning in a variety of ways: Spoken words, written texts, sign
language, gestures, and attitudes, eyesight, and emotions. Sometimes, we do not even
38
communicate. We just remain silent. Probably there is no interaction with others,
but it could be a personal choice for inner reflection. Human communication can
come in a variety of ways: a) men can communicate with other men; b) men can
communicate with other animals; c) men can communicate with nature. This can
be done directly or indirectly thanks to the application and use of technology, or
just with the naked eye.
Communication breakdown
Spoken communication cannot take place if there is no coherence between
what the speaker says and what the hearer answers back. Some of the causes for this
to take place include the following:
1. Background knowledge of the communicative event differs.

2. Lack of attention on the part of one or both participants.
3. Misunderstanding of the message sent because of noise interference.
4. Lexical items differ between those used by the speaker and those by the hearer.
5. Phonological differences between the linguistic systems used by them.
6. Message abandonment in which one of the participants quits the conversation.
7. Emotional, attitudinal, or psychological problems interfere with communication.
8. Both speaker and the hearer do not reach a conclusion, which may lead to
understandings.
Animals use systems of communication, too, which, in some regards, are alike,
and in some others, are quite different. Below, there is a theory on how animals
communicate and much more particularly, chimpanzees and dolphins do it. Depending
on the species of animals, they use different systems of communication to get their
message across. Linguists, biologists, and other scientists have always been interested
in studying how mammals like chimpanzees and dolphins communicate. Lonsdorf
(2003) has shown interest in the study of the behavior of chimpanzees, by stating,
It’s well known that in the wild, chimps communicate by vocalizing, body
postures and facial expressions. It is also likely that they communicate quite
a bit by smell, but that has not been studied well. In captivity, chimps have
been taught to communicate in a variety of ways including American Sign
Language. The Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute has some
39
fabulous communication information on a chimpanzee named Washoe that
can communicate with sign language.
When being attacked, animals react as a way of protection and survival, but
there is no previous thought involved, as a response or defense to such behavior.
That is why we say animal “instinct.” The same is true for the criminal “instinct”
of assassins. Then, why do some people talk about “instinctive” language? Human
“instinct” is based on reactions and reflexes, not on logical thoughts. It is not that
languages differ from one another. It is people who do and make languages differ. It
is amazing to see how animals use their resources at hand for them to communicate,
by using facial expressions and body language, as well as utterances coming out
through their vocal tracts, which help them to express fear, love, assistance, protection,
or survival. Van der Toorn, (2009), makes some comments on how dolphins can
communicate. Here is what he states,
Dolphins communicate mainly by means of sounds. These sounds include
whistles, but also so-called pulsed sounds, which are often described as squawks,
barks, rasps, etc. But they also use breaching (jumping and falling back into
the water with a loud splash) and pectoral fin (or flipper) and tail (or fluke)
slaps (hitting the flipper or fluke on the water surface). Body posturing and
jaw popping also have a role in communication. This list is not exhaustive.
As for language, we do not know if they have one. Several studies have
demonstrated that dolphins can understand a structured language like ours.
This same has been demonstrated for a number of other animal species as well
(gorilla, bonobo, California sea lion, parrot). Some studies also indicate that
dolphin vocalizations are complex enough to support some form of language.
However, to date it has not been demonstrated yet that they indeed use a
language for communication among themselves.
Although people do not usually use sign language as a system of communication,
as other people can do, those suffering from deaf disorders, for instance, there is
too much of non-verbal communication involved in their personal encounters.
Speech is accompanied by this kind of language, in order to emphasize the
importance of what people tend to convey as they talk.
Meaning is the means through which a word or an expression makes sense.
To make sense is to be meaningful. When something does not make any sense, it
is meaningless. If something is meaningless, it lacks sense. For something to be
meaningful, it must convey sense. If an idea lacks coherence, it goes into a vacuum.
People cannot make heads nor tails of it. Many chances must be given until the
person can get its meaning right. In this regard, prior knowledge is paramount. If
40
you lack knowledge about a particular issue, it is harder for you to comprehend it.
The situation turns out to be more critical. When it comes to animals, the situation
could turn out to be of a quite different sort. When dogs, which are domestic animals,
are in contact with human beings and interaction is held with them, on a daily basis,
some questions arise. How can dogs (attempt to) comprehend and decipher the
language they hear, be it Chinese, English, French, German, Russian, or Spanish?
If they lack analytical thinking, how can images, concepts, and ideas be created
in their brains and mind? Do they go through mental processes as they grow up?
Probably the answers could be found in the tone and pitch of the speaker’s voice,
the customary interaction held between the pet and his owner, the body language
used, the attitudes and features of love, and appreciation shown by his owner, the
words and expressions commonly used in his interactions with his pets.
In other words, animal instinct can help dogs to develop certain images in their
brains and minds because of what they can see and perceive with their senses, around
them. Dogs, for example, use a number of pitches and tones as they bark. Each bark
represents something specific. It can express comfort, excitement, gratitude, happiness,
interest, love, obedience, playfulness, tenderness, understanding; anger, complaint,
danger, discomfort, disgust, distrust, fear, guilt, hatred, jealousy, powerlessness,
prevention, resentfulness, threat, etc. There are other types of communication systems,
which we use to get our messages across and they correspond to the following: Non-
Verbal Communication, Body Language and Unspoken Communication, which fall
into the same category: Wordless Communication.
One of the hardest cultural aspects to learn refers to the understanding and the
application of gestures, which accompany the spoken language. For some non-native
speakers, it is hard to interpret those gestures since they have not been taught. The
only way is that English language teachers, who have been abroad, can give their
learners some hints of what some gestures mean the same as those used in their
learners’ culture and, which of those mean exactly the opposite in order not to use
them and, in this way, avoid misunderstanding.
In the event that English language teachers have not traveled abroad and are
not familiar with the gestures used by native speakers, the ideal places where non-
native speakers can become acquainted with them is in movies, T.V. series, sitcoms,
or any other kind of audiovisual material. Another possibility is to meet people on
the Internet, that is to say online so that the learning of gestures can be done much
more easily since there is a direct contact between the speaker and the hearer. They
can ask for repetition or confirmation just to check understanding so that negotiation
of meaning can take place. The lack of knowledge of what gestures mean in another
country may lead to misinterpretations in the target culture.
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Body language, posture, and distance between a speaker and a hearer vary
from culture to culture. Violation of any of these issues, for example, turns out to be
offensive for the speakers of the target language. In the Arab culture, for instance,
showing the sole of your shoe is offensive. Then, learners have to be familiar with
cross-cultural communication before they travel abroad or they are in contact
with L2 speakers. As it can be appreciated, speaking a language not only has to do
with its proper usage, but also with the understanding of its cultural differences. In
the event that these differences are overlooked, then cultural misunderstanding is
sure to take place. If non-verbal communication is used in a foreign language and
culture, speakers have to be very careful about body language, facial expressions that
they use and the distance that they keep, in the new setting. Apologies are always
welcome when it is involuntarily done.
The Pedagogy of Communication

Attitude could be more evident than words themselves. A great deal of
information can be interpreted rightly or wrongly, depending on our conceptions
or preconceptions captured through interaction. We most of the time say more with
gestures than with words themselves. That is why a gesture can be read independently
of the words spoken by a particular speaker. Gestures and words are supposed to
go hand in hand so that they reinforce the ideas expressed orally. Gestures do not
represent the same ideas everywhere. That is why special attention should be given to
the way of expressing and interpreting them correctly. Non-verbal communication
is any system used to convey meaning, but not the traditional way, by using words,
but gestures, facial expressions, and posture. Other important factors, which also
interfere with non-verbal communication, include the space and the distance between
the speaker and the hearer, which is called proxemics.
Body language is the language used by the movement of fingers, hands, or

arms, eye contact, gestures, and postures, adopted by people as they interact with
one another. As it was pointed out earlier, it is through facial expressions, eye
contact, and body language how people establish, develop, or maintain relations
with relatives, friends, colleagues, or complete strangers. Not every culture uses
exactly the same gestures, body language, and non-verbal communication. Speakers
convey different meanings through them. Even within the same country, state,
county, or city, they are given different interpretations. As a concluding remark, it
can be said that a gesture is worth a thousand words, which are capable of being
understood, interpreted, and applied, accordingly. Language cannot and should not
be considered an isolated phenomenon. Instead, it should be thought of as a whole
system of communication, where not only human beings but also animals interact.
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People make or do not make language be meaningful. Although animals also have a
language or a system of communication, our system is different in the sense that we
use speech, which makes language be fluent and, most of the time, accurate. That is
why it should be introduced in a cultural context. Animals, on the other hand, use
cries and grunts with different intonation patterns in order to show hunger, need,
fear, happiness and the like; although we do, too.
Below, there are some reasons that make that non-native speakers cannot speak
a foreign language as native speakers can. Among the hardest aspects for a non-native
speaker to grasp are a) accent; b) intonation; c) pitch; d) pronunciation; e) rhythm;
f) stress; f) tone, of the new language. All of these features are what linguists call
Suprasegmentals. In order for people to be able to understand a spoken language,
all the features above are a requirement, but other than that, the active exposure,
the quantity, and the quality of interaction between speakers and hearers, within a
linguistic and cultural community, are also vital.
In order for communication to be initiated, at least two people need to

be involved: a speaker and a hearer, who eventually will take turns so that a
communicative event will take place. This is the idea behind the spoken language.
Internal or emotional factors, as well as external factors, intervene in the success
or failure of the communicative event, which will depend on a series of factors. In
order for communication to be, successful there is some interest between the speaker
or addresser and the hearer or addressee in what it is intended to be negotiated:
meaning, in an attempt to achieve a particular or common goal.
Reflection
1. Which is the hardest aspect dealing with communication in a foreign language
– attitude, prior knowledge, etc.? List the number of factors, which interfere
with it.
2. Based on the theory, which strategies can you apply in order to foster effective
communication in an L2 environment?
Project
Analyze the interest and time language teachers devote to both spoken language
and written language analyses and determine their learners’ linguistic achievements
in both modes of communication.
43
4
Language change
“There are many reasons for language to vary and to change.”
W
ords convey meaning. Words carry the meaning people –writers or speakers–
want them to convey. Their arrangement depends on what we want them
to mean. Time is responsible for language change and language variation
(Labov, 1963, 1966). It is not just that language changes per se, but people make those
changes happen. Progress, science, and technology create new specialized language –
jargon– to be developed in order for it to be adjusted to people’s cultural requirements.
It is said that language is a dynamic entity and it is communities, societies, and people,
who really make it change. Saussure (1857-1913) stated that “Time changes all things;
there is no reason why language should escape this universal law.”
Language changes since people make it change. People are vivid organisms
and language is, too. Language changes as people’s minds change based on societal,
cultural, technical, or scientific demands, requirements, or needs, as well as the
speakers’ age and social status. According to the locus where language is spoken,
people adopt a view of life, which highly influences their language behavior. Depending
on the type of speakers, there will be contexts and settings in which the choices
of language and interactions are affected by the topics held. Based on the level of
formality or informality, people choose words, structures, and sounds, which best
fit their interactions. Regarding speakers’ status, language is affected because of their
educational background, societal position. Viewpoints about the issue being held
will completely change, could lead to cultural misunderstanding. It can be said then
that language is a reflection of time. The choices of language, which people make,
are determined by circumstances. Because of the influence of time on people’s lives,
language is supposed to change, for better or worse. It is a living phenomenon within
societal borders. It evolves as people modify their thoughts and adopt a new philosophy
45
of life. There are many reasons for language to vary and to change: inventions and
discoveries, politics, and economics also influence it. Some people consider that
language change is negative because it may mean that it is in a decaying state. Some
other people think that it is positive because language responds to the changes that
communities undergo as they progress. It is undeniable that language has to be on
the move. It cannot be static. Language is a product of social interaction. It cannot
be understood unless it fulfills communicative acts in a given cultural setting. The
levels of language change comprise phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics
because of time, place, circumstances, settings, contexts, and speakers’ age, social
status, educational level, etc. As human beings change their speech and writing over
a certain period of time, language does too. Language is modified because of human
interaction thanks to technical and scientific discoveries. How the new generations
relate to one another makes words get new concepts and meanings. Grandparents
do not talk the same way as their children and grandchildren do. Grandchildren
have a hard time understanding their grandparents’ idiomatic expressions since they
live in different times and places. Language cannot be still. Language is a dynamic
entity with its own identity. These changes can take place as for sound, meaning, or
structure. McArthur (1992) defines Language change as follows:
The modification of forms of language over a period of time and/or physical
distance. Such change may affect any part of a language (pronunciation,
orthography, grammar, vocabulary) and is taking place all the time. (p. 575).
Languages change as people change with the trends and the necessities of a
community to convey meaning in their willingness to achieve a common goal. If
a language has some differences between two languages, it is said to be a dialect or a
language variety. A practical example is Black English (Ebonics), or Southern American
English. There are many reasons for language to change. People’s speech is not always the
same everywhere due to a number of circumstances: geographical issues, for example.
People from the coast speak the language differently than those from the plains, and the
same is true for those, who dwell in the mountains. Some other features, which make
language change, are age, genre, social status, register, and educational background, etc.
Educational Policies: Governmental agencies and educational institutions
sign agreements to teach foreign languages, by influencing other languages and
their cultures.
Economic Treaties: Leading economies try to establish dominating languages
over poor or decaying economic systems.
Imperialism: Powerful countries impose their languages and cultures on other
countries, which are unable to defend their own identity from those rich nations.
46
Invasions: Wars make people move and emigrate, leaving behind their cultural
heritage, which took them many years to come into being.
Linguistic influence: Neighboring languages offer a threat to ‘low’ or ‘inferior’

languages to change somehow. Every language should have the same status. No
language can be considered inferior to any other linguistic system.
Logical Consequences: Language varies or changes as people change their

conceptions or ideas about life. It is an inherent behavior, which affects the internal
structure of a language.
Cultural influence: Language tends to change, as there are social groups or

communities with their own culture, trends, fashions, and tendencies.
Political Causes: Based on the political measurements or policies, adopted by

certain governments, language is affected by the decisions made.
Technological influence: New words or expressions can be incorporated into

an L2 system thanks to the appearance of computational, medical, or legal terms,
and so on.
Internal Linguistic Structure: A language may vary according to its internal

linguistic structure: Phonology, Semantics, and Syntax.
• Phonology: People from other linguistic and cultural backgrounds can affect
the way native speakers speak, which cause phonological differences in terms
of the way they hear and produce the L2.
• Syntax: A mixture of syntactic systems is mutually affected depending on the

connection or relatedness between them.
• Semantics: Words and expressions from different linguistic backgrounds

can lead to the creation of completely new words, or old words can get new
meanings, given the circumstances in which language users put them into
practice. Words, idiomatic expressions, slang, jargon, and clichés appear as a
response to speakers’ communicative needs, in a variety of contexts. Science,
technology, and nature, require the invention of new words to name reality.
McArthur (1992) refers to language change, by saying,
Grammatical change. Major changes in syntax and morphology have affected

English over many centuries to the extent that speakers of Modern English
47
are not able to understand Old English without training. The structure of Old
English was more like Latin in that words had various inflectional endings to
indicate their grammatical function. This situation has been much simplified:
for example, the form of the definite article the, now invariant, once varied
according to case, number, and gender, as in se mona (the moon: masculine,
nominative, singular), seo sunne (the sun: feminine, nominative, singular),
and þæt tungol (the star: neuter, nominative, singular). Word order in Old
English was more flexible because grammatical relations were made clear by
the endings: Se hund seah þone wifmann (The dog saw the woman) could also
be expressed as þone wifmann seah se hund, because the inflected forms of the
definite article make it clear that ‘woman’ is the direct object in both cases. In
Modern English, however, grammatical relations are indicated largely by-word
order, so that the dog saw the woman and the woman saw the dog (compare
Old English Se wifmann seah þone hund) mean two different things. Modern
English has also lost its system of classifying nouns into three grammatical
genders, as still occurs in German. (p. 575).
Speakers’ age, educational background, and social class affect the choices of
language that they make or use. It is determined by the time and the circumstances
in which they live. That is to say, people use a type of language as they interact
with family members, peers, friends, or just ordinary people. Depending on the
educational level someone has, literate or illiterate, lay or expert; they use a specialized
type of language. Young people do not speak the same way as their parents and
grandparents do, and the other way round because concepts and ideas change due
to age. When ancestors are old enough and they do not have any offspring to inherit
their language and culture, it will lead to the extinction of their linguistic systems
and cultural patterns, as such, too.
Assessing culture in the EFL / ESL setting

The idea behind getting culture both naturally and artificially implies that
learners’ cultural requirements cannot be overlooked. Some of them should not
be sacrificed in order to favor others. One culture cannot be imposed over another
either in natural settings or in artificial settings. Broadly speaking, culture can be
explored from two different perspectives, but still, it continues being the same
culture. In the first place, culture could refer to people’s beliefs, traditions, and
practices in terms of food, clothing, politics, religion, which encompasses folklore.
In the second place, culture could refer to art, film, literature, and music. The concept
of culture is understood as the set of beliefs, ideas, traditions, and customs, which
make up a people’s world. This type of culture is said to be particularly related to
the grassroots of society. Since this type of culture covers the most part of society,
48
society influences patterns of thinking and patterns of behavior, which in turn,
affects large societal groups. Not every culture is the same everywhere. People
think and behave differently depending on geographic, ethnic, educational, and
attitudinal traits. Whether people were born on the coast or in the mountains, for
example, will tell you too much about how they think, what ideas they may have,
what traditions they still practice, and what customs are about to disappear because
of an acculturation process.
Culture is related to a series of criteria, which are socially accepted, which make
part of people’s beliefs and practices. It is the speakers’ social status, educational
preparation, and professional training, which define it. In other words, people have
their own ideas based on the principles taught by parents or the environment where
they have lived among some other issues, such as a) geographical surroundings; b)
attitudinal factors; c) educational background; d) traditional practices, etc. It is built,
developed, and maintained because of a permanent interaction, which is carried out
between people belonging to the same social class. Culture is said to affect people’s
social, economic, and political relationships as there are gains and losses. When
it is stated that culture is first-hand and informally acquired, it means that people
gain it without any effort involved. People do not need to make any special effort
for them to acquire it naturally. It is done so because this is an unconscious process,
which marks their beliefs, thoughts, and attitudes, which spring from social groups
or systems, such as family, school, friends, unplanned encounters with strangers, as
well. In culture, within a democratic society, there are no first-hand and second-hand
citizens; what there could really exist are low; middle; and high social classes. All
of them, whether you like it or not, are affected by internal and external economic
factors, which in the long run, make up what can be termed as a society on the move.
When foreigners are not familiar enough with a foreign culture, they are to
be formally taught in the aspects which make it up and be exposed to them in
natural settings. Culture is learned just when people lack cultural practices. They
need to be trained as to how they should communicate, behave, and relate to the
native speakers in the geographical space that they share with them. Not everybody
behaves and thinks alike everywhere even though they come from the same country.
Education, social status, beliefs, attitudes, values and the like are determinant factors
for people to think, to behave, and to make decisions, in their communities and
social encounters. Foreign language learners are expected to attend school so that
they can gain some knowledge since they are partially or completely new to them.
When one cultural system of thought, for example, needs to be incorporated into
an existing one, an acculturation process could take place. In other words, some
concepts, ideas, beliefs, and behaviors of the L1 have to be sacrificed so that the new
ones can be replaced by and incorporated into the new one.
49
Culture in the EFL setting
The cultural milieu in artificial settings –EFL–, that is to say, where English is
taught as a foreign language, has to be recreated by language teachers so that it can
somehow picture the customs, and traditions, which are practiced by native speakers.
It is a hard endeavor to carry out since English language teachers are expected
to be knowledgeable enough about what to be chosen, how to be presented, and
mainly why to be taken as a bastion of a given society, within a particular nation. It
is remarkable to point out that a nation consists of series of cultures, either high or
low, which provide it with an identity for others to learn from. People contribute
to its creation, development, and extinction. A language teacher is responsible for
choosing those features, which best represent the foreign language culture, based on
the resources that they may have at their disposal. Now, it is much easier for language
teachers to select appropriate resources, which best fit their learners’ communicative
competence needs based on their linguistic competence, linguistic performance,
and most importantly, their cultural background. The language learning context is
essential for the adoption of cultural practices, which depends on the type of setting
(EFL or ESL) in which it takes place.
Culture in the ESL setting
The cultural ambiance in the EFL setting is the one in which the cultural
conditions are gained effortlessly and naturally. Foreign language learners have
everything at their disposal when it comes to acquiring first-hand beliefs, customs,
attitudes, practices and the like since they are prepared and performed by native
speakers, in the L2 setting. For non-native speakers, this is the most difficult fact to
grasp because they lack the contact with native speakers. How can this be achieved
by them? What is the role played by both teachers and learners, in this particular
regard? In the first place, there should be a change of mind and attitude towards
the methodology, pedagogy, and didactics used by teachers in order for learners
to become acquainted with the L2 culture. The more and more teachers are aware
and open-minded as for how to impart their instruction, there will be a different
reaction on the part of their learners about the importance of learning the language
and its varieties of cultures.
In other words, if learners find a reason to learn the foreign language for practical
purposes, then, language is expected to portray the diversity of cultures practiced
by native speakers in numberless settings and contexts. For the same reason, culture
serves as a mechanism for language to be expressed differently as there are a huge
variety of speakers. In the second place, language learners have to be provided with
50
the L2 cultural background, which although is outside their circumstances, has to be
incorporated within their previous and existing L1 repertoire. This can be done, by
designing sound language lessons, where cultural practices are portrayed. Culture
is easily gained if learners have chance to access it, by inviting native speakers into
the L2 classroom, selecting suitable material (videos, listening resources, reading
passages, etc.), which shows them how native speakers relate and interact with one
another, choosing literary, musical, and art pieces, which let non-native speakers
appreciate it from a quite different perspective. Language teachers cannot impose
any type of thinking on their learners. Their decision-making process as to what
they choose to learn or not to learn needs to be respected. Acculturation should
be avoided at all costs. It does not make any good. Instead, it deprives learners of
what they have built in their lifetime. What it can be done is to let them make the
decision as to what aspects of the L2 culture they want to learn about, which ones to
incorporate within their existing system, or which ones to get rid of. Not everything,
which is taught is learned and not everything that learners have learned is because
it has been taught. Sources and resources for L2 learning are plentiful thanks to the
influence ICT (Information and Communications Technology) has had on the new
generation of learners or digital natives.
How can culture be assessed?
As it happens in language acquisition, culture cannot be assessed in isolation

or as a simple result of instruction. Both language and culture can be assessed only
if there are a number of reasons, which support or approve of their application
within communicative purposes. One thing is to attempt to teach culture in a
foreign ambiance. Another quite different thing is to force learners to adopt different
positions, views, or lifestyles, which contradict their very own postures acquired
within and through their native language. Let us not forget that language is the main
vehicle of culture. It can be assessed when learners have experienced it through
everyday life interaction.
How to know which culture to be assessed

There is no a single culture when it comes to the study and analysis of language.
Language is immersed in cultures and subcultures. People are responsible for
how cultures interact and behave because it is speakers’ mental and psychological
processes, which define them. Therefore, it is difficult to know, which culture to
assess. Language learners are the ones, who have the need of specifying the culture,
which meets their communicative and cultural requirements.
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What are the best ways for culture(s) to be assessed?
The best ways of assessing culture are by providing language learners with real-
life chunks of language, which can be used in social encounters and interactions.
They are supposed to be active participants, by being involved in the decisions
made as for how to proceed, to interact, and to deal with the interactions held
among participants in a speech community. Real language is not the one, which
appears in textbooks although it could help somehow, but the one that is carried
out in the community: homes, schools, restaurants, hospitals, etc. That is to say, in
outer spaces where language learning and acquisition make sense. It is important
to say that language changes across cultures. Speakers in every single culture are
responsible for those changes since they are the ones, who make language change
as they speak, read, and use it. Since the term culture is quite broad, it cannot be
defined as a single element since speakers interpret it and experience it differently.
What aspects of culture should be assessed?
It is not easy to say, which aspects of culture are to be assessed. As there are
different speakers as language users, there are also different culture users. Not everybody
uses language for the same communicative purposes so it is difficult to define and
specify those to be taught. Language teachers are thought to be troubleshooters
in this stance since they do not know what to expect from their learners. In other
words, language cannot be planned since it changes based on the culture where it
takes place. Not every speaker uses language the same. Culture determines it.
Language teachers can provide language learners with some hints on how to
proceed, but settings and contexts are determinant as for the kinds of idiomatic
expressions and vocabulary words to be used are quite different, sometimes. Age,
position, and purpose have a say in the type of interactions to be carried out by
language users in natural settings. It is necessary to experience it firsthand. One of
the best ways is by being in direct contact with it when there are native speakers
around, and language is the vehicle to achieve that. Since learners lack this kind
of opportunities, for obvious reasons, culture has to be taken into the classroom,
by inviting native speakers into the classroom, by using authentic materials and
resources, and by letting learners interact with native speakers via technological
tools and platforms.
For Vygotsky, language is a complex social phenomenon immersed in cultural

patterns where individuals express and keep their traditions alive, from generation
to generation. Language makes sense when it promotes and boosts social interaction.
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Language and culture are two sides of the same coin. However, language affects culture
in the sense that the way people think, will eventually have either a positive or a negative
impact on and between interlocutors, or writers and readers. Language serves its
purpose, when through culture, it can be manifested and used, for practical reasons.
However, it is also true that the way people have built and gained their culture is the
result of their worldview and their circumstances. As for the relationship between
language and culture and vice versa, Brown (1994: 165) refers to the interdependence
of both concepts, by stating that “A language is a part of a culture, and a culture is
a part of a language; the two are intricately interwoven so that one cannot separate
the two without losing the significance of either language or culture.»
Language is the vehicle for the expression of thought, and in turn, thought is
the vehicle to make language visible. Thus, being able to understand and to speak
a foreign language variety entails someone’s ability to tackle both linguistic and
cultural intricacies, which are better sorted out by direct contact and interaction
with L2 native speakers. In terms of vocabulary and useful expressions, such as
idioms and collocations, the L2 learner struggles and grapples with some difficulties,
which are understood and internalized once he has been exposed to them and used
them, accordingly. Across countries, regions, and sub-regions, there are marked
variations for a common concept, which, for sure, will lead to misunderstanding and
misinterpretations. For example, the English term for ‘boy,’ in Spanish, is equivalent
to ‘pibe,’ in Argentina; ‘cabrito,’ in Chile; ‘muchaco,’ in some regions in Colombia;
‘patojo,’ in Guatemala; ‘chavo,’ in Mexico; ‘guagua,’ in the Dominican Republic ‘crío,’
in Spain; and ‘chamo,’ in Venezuela.
Language learners come from a variety of cultural backgrounds. Their worldviews

are not always the same. Learners, who belong to different lifestyles, may or may not
see eye to eye, as many other cultures may. Not only should culture reflect learners’
views about the world, but also their standpoints about the foreign language learned.
Even, among languages, there exists a kind of status and preference for their learning
or not. It is likely that they could think that theirs is much better than any other
language, and other learners should learn theirs, instead. When it comes to foreign
language learners, they tend to have a quite different perspective as for their world
conception. Foreign language learners do have much to lose if they do not change
their minds regarding the contribution made by the learning of a foreign language.
It does not mean that they need to make any kind of sacrifice, by favoring the new
foreign language and culture and forget theirs. In the sense that they conceive the
world differently, the benefits will outweigh the damages.
Who and which one is the ideal native speaker (Chomsky) Language is
embraced by culture. Culture defines people’s linguistic choices. Culture consists
53
of diverse pathways. There is no just a single and simple culture, but a compilation
of them. As for English, there are regions and sub-regions within the very same
country, where there is a melting pot of cultures. Each region has its particular
traits, not only linguistic but also cultural ones. Then, the questions being asked
now should be stated as follows: does the learner want to speak the L2 as someone
from a particular region and not from another? Would the learner like to speak
it for educational, business, or tourism purposes? Would the speaker like to settle
down in Minnesota, Texas, New York, or California? Does language variety matter?
Political and economic reasons for learning a language or not, should not be
the two only criteria taken into account to achieve such a purpose. Culture in society
should not be compared with political and economic practices of a minority group
since they do not correspond to the whole majority. Sometimes, they do. However,
language needs to be more than that. Language is a part of a larger structure (society).
People use that language for a great number of purposes. In other words, language
preference cannot be a matter of political and economic practices, which make
learners, learn it or put it aside and choose a different one, which in fact, enjoys
international recognition, status, and reputation. The natural environment of the
L2 learner does not meet the natural environment in which it is actually used. It
cannot be expected that language learners come out with meaningful chunks of
language if the conception of the world does not let them conceive other worlds,
which are both foreign and alien to them. People’s conceptions, beliefs, practices,
and behaviors make them unique.
Language is a living entity with its own identity. Such an identity is possible
when language is rooted in culture. Language has life in itself because it adapts to
circumstances, changes according to them, and is alive since there are native speakers,
who use it. In the event that there are no native speakers of a given language, it will
die out. For it to be recovered, if anything, a group of non-native speakers should
be taught how to think and speak it, but no culture is present there. It has to be
created, developed, and maintained so that a completely new culture can spring
from the interactions and transactions held among speakers. Language is the vehicle
to express culture. People are responsible for making culture originate, develop,
evolve, or disappear. The latter can be achieved when people change their values
and adopt new ones derived from the contact with language within a particular
culture. It is important to say that not every speaker speaks their native language
the same way, which is due to their social status within cultural practices. That is to
say, although grandparents interact with their children and their grandchildren, not
all of them use the same words and expressions with the same sense and meaning.
Words and expressions change their meaning over time because it is people, who
make this happen. Moreover, it is here where misunderstandings among speakers
54
take place. That is why language is a social phenomenon and as such, it must be
taken out of the classroom and be put to the service of social encounters and real-
life interactions. Doyé (1996) establishes the existing interdependence between
language and culture, by saying,
The very nature of language forbids the separation of language from culture.
If language is considered as a system of signs, and signs are characterized by
the fact that they are units of form and meaning, it is impossible to learn a
language by simply acquiring the forms without their content. And as the
content of a language is always culture-bound, any reasonable foreign-language
teaching cannot but include the study of a culture from which the language
stems. (p. 105)
Culture is the vehicle through which language is expressed, perceived,

understood, and structured by practices derived from concepts. Language is
influenced by the way that people see their world around them. Language, thought,
and culture are interrelated and interdependent. Language is structured based on
mental schemata. Language determines and influences cultural practices. Thought
is the foundation on which language lies. Culture plays a role in the way societies
are organized and it influences the choices of language made by people as they
attempt to communicate, to come to an understanding, and to establish relations
to achieve common goals and to ensure survival. Language is passed down from
generation and culture is, too. It means that during that period, many things will
have affected language and culture will have been affected by it, as well. Neither
culture nor language is passed from generation to generation can remain unmodified
since speakers play a role in them. To be cultured means to have good manners.
Not only are parents responsible for how their children behave, but also sometimes
teachers are foisted with those duties. Parents are expected to educate their children
and teachers to instruct them.
Culture can be read as a blueprint of society, which is in a permanent state of

change. If language were attached to the past, culture would be unable to advance,
to be on the move. Similarly, cultural practices enable people to create new words
and expressions, which match them. People make up new slang and idiomatic
expressions as a way to keep up with new social practices and cultural demands,
which are framed within a given place and time. When someone does not behave as
the norm demands, and they do not comply with the rules and regulations, which
are set up by society, they are said to be coarse, uncaring, and unwilling to adapt
to the new standards most of society obeys. In this sense, it can be perceived that
language is a reflection of people’s beliefs, traditions, attitudes, and behaviors. In
brief, it can be concluded that language and culture are interdependent, intertwined.
55
The Pedagogy of Language Change
Language change cannot happen overnight in all its components. It does not
respond to any particular whim of changing it just for the sake of it. Language
changes can take place in terms of vocabulary as for the meaning a word may have,
at a particular place and moment, because of cultural interaction where speakers
decide a new meaning can be added to an existing concept. Music usually adapts
in its lyrics the spoken language used by youth, which is a kind of jargon, which
is peculiar to a given culture. Language affects culture and culture determines the
language people speak and use. In order for people to become acquainted with
language change what suffices is to obtain data from authentic sources. By doing
this, researchers and teachers can provide language series writers and learners
with the new expressions, which appear because of social contact, scientific, and
technological advancements. Language does not change as a matter of chance, but
because of a need. Television, the Internet, The Social Networks, and the written
press highly contribute to the expansion of language. Cartoons, publicity, advertising,
and mass media are good sources for language exploration in terms of its change.
The more learners are in direct contact with learning resources, their language will
strengthen their thinking skills. Literary works, when being compared in a specific
period, provide language teachers with some hints on how it has been modified by
literary style. Depending on the type of literary genre, authors try to incorporate,
in their works, words and expressions with a completely new meaning. Textbooks
alone cannot continue being used as the sole resource for language teaching or
much better, for language learning. Traditional series are in the market for 10 years,
not realizing that language is a social phenomenon, which is in constant move. At
this very moment, in any language, new words are appearing and some others are
disappearing. Language cannot be static. How could a language series be in the market
for quite a long time without any previous linguistic analysis, which should respond
to current learners’ communicative needs? Teachers should devise new strategies so
that learners can become familiar with the language changes. It cannot be admissible
to expose language learners to language without previously having considered their
linguistic and cultural needs, and the way it is currently used by native speakers.
Language varies as there are different settings, speakers, and writers. It is a demanding
task for teachers to respond to their learners’ language learning needs. Teachers do
not teach to meet certain requirements, but to supply their learners with realistic
language that they can use when they meet L2 native speakers. Language changes
and evolves since it is its speakers and writers, who make it change and evolve. Mass
media: Newspapers, Television, the Internet, and the Social Networks contribute to
this phenomenon. Thanks to discoveries, inventions, and social interaction, among
other factors, new words and expressions appear, some others take new meanings,
and still some others disappear.
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Reflection
1. What is a piece of evidence for language change?
2. In which regards does language change much more often? Why is it so?
Project
In a survey, ask people from different socioeconomic strata about the causes
and possible consequences of language change in their community. Consider sample
population, questions, data collection techniques, result analysis, conclusions, and
suggestions.
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The World of Linguistics
“A different language is a different vision of life.”
Federico Fellini.
5
Linguistics
“Language is a complex phenomenon, which does not take place overnight.”
L
inguistics is the scientific study of language because it is systematic, objective,
and dynamic. For a discipline to be systematic, it has to respond to a certain
order in its behavior and constituency; for it to be objective, it has to focus on
the social and cultural phenomena as they really happen; and for it to be dynamic, it
has to evolve as people and their circumstances change, on a daily basis. Linguistics
embraces the study of Syntax, Semantics, Morphology, Pragmatics, Phonology, Phonetics,
Psycholinguistics, Neurolinguistics, Translation, Applied Linguistics, First Language
Acquisition, etc. Grammar has always been related to just the written structure of
a language. However, there are principles, which govern both speech and writing,
although in stylistics, there exist some differences in the formality or informality of
the language used. Grammar does not judge what is good or bad, right or wrong,
appropriate or inappropriate since linguists do not tell people how they should use
the language. What they do is to study, to analyze, and to come out with the rules
specifying the way people arrange their ideas in their minds and express them fully.
The way people arrange their thoughts depends on a number of factors. Linguistics
studies language as a system with its corresponding order and constituency, which
contribute to a cultural understanding when it is immersed in every single aspect
of social and cultural interaction. As people commit themselves to constitute a
linguistic and a cultural community, it becomes a dynamic entity. It is linguistics,
59
which guides our teaching and it is us who guide our learners’ learning. “Leonard
Bloomfield defined linguistics as the science of language” (Haegeman, 1994, p. 4).
Linguistics is the systematic study of language, that is to say, language as a whole
system of communication, but not just of particular languages. Linguistics studies
and analyzes both speech and writing. Linguistics is descriptive since it describes
the phenomena involved in language. Linguistics is not prescriptive. It does not tell
people either how they should speak or write a language down. What linguistics
does is to try to find commonalities and differences between two or more linguistic
systems, especially in terms of their internal structure or grammar, pertinent to
each language. As those commonalities and differences arise, linguists are able to
formulate hypotheses of how people think and conceive the world around them.
Linguistics has to do with the study, the description, and the analysis of language
from a scientific perspective. Linguistics is a fascinating world, which provides us
with invaluable information about language, people, communities, societies, and
human understanding. As it was stated earlier, linguists do not worry about telling
people how they should or should not talk. Rather, they study the characteristics of
the real language used by people in particular contexts, settings, and circumstances.
Linguists also analyze the linguistic patterns of people based on a series of internal
or external conditions to which they are exposed.
The Prague School of Linguistics: It was created by Mathesius, Trubetskói, and

Jakobson, in 1926, which later influenced the works of Firth and Halliday (1961). Its
main interest was to study language from the structural point of view, by taking into
consideration how it has changed from two different perspectives: the diachronic
and the synchronic linguistics, given the fact that linguistics is a human, social, and
cultural discipline.
Diachronic or historical linguistics: It is concerned with the changes that

language experiences over time. Linguists are interested in figuring out the changes
that language has had throughout history, by establishing, analyzing, and explaining
the changes of language in terms of its main aspects: phonology, semantics, syntax,
morphology, etc.
Synchronic linguistics: It deals with the changes that language has had in a
particular period. That is to say, it concentrates on a definite period: The Middle
Ages, the Renaissance, the Twentieth Century, for instance. Its interest is to see how
language was used in that precise period regarding sounds, meaning, and sentence
order.
Linguistics studies those aspects related to language in terms of phonology,

semantics, and syntax, as well as language acquisition, neurolinguistics, psycholinguistics,
60
etc. It is important to point out that language is the result of how people think, view
the world around them, and relate to one another. Language teaching or language
learning should be based on the appropriateness, application, and use of language.
Among the many goals that linguistics has, the following can be considered: a)
to discover the origins of language; b) to describe language in all its aspects; c) to
formulate theories as to how language works; d) to analyze the structural meaning
of language; e) to trace the history of language; f) to establish relationships among
languages; and g) to study the changes and variations language experiences, etc.
To study how language originates, develops, and behaves; to explain, to describe,

and to analyze both speech and writing; to make emphasis on the use of language
rather than its usage; to classify languages and to define common features to all
languages, as well as to specify their differences, that is a linguist’s job. A linguist is
someone, who is interested in knowing, discovering, and explaining how language
functions in terms of how people use it on their daily life. It is not to tell people how
they should speak or write it down. Otherwise, language would become artificial.
It would sound unnatural.
Structural Components of Language

Semantics (relationship of concepts).
Syntax (relationship of functions).
Phonology (relationship of sounds).
Morphology (relationship of formation).
Approaches to linguistics
Comparative linguistics: Two or more languages are compared in terms of

syntax, semantics, phonology, and morphology. The purpose is to find commonalities
to see how they relate to one another, as well as differences to discover to what
extent they differ. In doing so, they can come out with some theories dealing with
the way that native speakers conceive the world around them. In the past, it was
known as comparative philology. Philology deals with the classic study of literature.
Its proponent is Sir William Jones.
Structural linguistics: It is when a language is analyzed in terms of its internal

structure based on the behavior of individuals, depending on the societal and cultural
settings and contexts in which individuals interact with one another. Its interest
lies in the arrangement, the meaning, and the sounds proper to a specific language
system, its rules regarding the aforementioned aspects. Its proponents are Ferdinand
de Saussure, Edward Sapir, Leonard Bloomfield, Roman Jakobson, and Zellig Harris.
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Generative linguistics: It studies the laws and principles governing the rules
proper to any linguistic system, but, mainly, from the grammatical (semantics,
phonology, syntax, and morphology) point of view. It deals with two ideas proposed by
Chomsky, which are the poverty of the stimulus argument (1981) and the minimalist
program (1995). The former refers to the fact that children are unable to learn the
grammar of a language just because of exposure, but because of innate linguistic
capacities, which take place in the brain as mental processes. This innateness deals
with linguistic competence and linguistic performance. The latter refers to the
importance the lexicon has in Chomsky’s generative grammar theory. The lexicon
consists of nouns, verbs, and adjectives.
Branches in linguistics
Syntax: Arrangement or sequence of words within a sentence.
Semantics: Meaning of words.
Morphology: Formation and derivation of words.
Pragmatics: Meaning of words in context.
Phonetics: Articulation, production, and perception of phonemes.
Phonology: Study of one or two linguistic systems in terms of sounds.
Psycholinguistics: Mental processes underlying language.
Neurolinguistics: Relationship between language and brain.
Sociolinguistics: Connection between language and society.
Discourse analysis: Study of the spoken language.
Text analysis: Study of the written language.
Language variation: Changes in language leads to language varieties.
Ebonics: Language used by the African American people.
Translation: Processes involved in expressing ideas from an L1 to an L2.
Applied linguistics: Application of language to other areas of knowledge.
First language acquisition: Foreign Language Acquisition - FLA.
Second language learning: Second Language Acquisition - SLA.
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Corpus linguistics: Natural and real life-like pieces for language used by people.
Anthropological linguistics: Social and cultural issues about language.
Computational l inguistics: Corpora, machine translation, and text analyses
made by computers.
Some linguists, who have studied and proposed some theories about language,
are Chomsky (1965), Hymes (1966), Savignon (1972), Widdowson (1978), Canale
& Swain (1980), Savignon (1983), Krashen (1983), Van Ek (1986), Bachman (1990),
Halliday (1993).
Chomsky’s Linguistic Competence & Linguistic Performance (1965)
Linguistic Competence is “the speaker-hearer’s knowledge of his language.”

(Chomsky, 1965: 4). It is the mental representation of linguistic rules, which make
up the speaker-hearer’s internal grammar. It is what you know about language.
Linguistic Performance is “the actual use of language in concrete situations.” (Chomsky,
1965: 4). It is the use of this grammar in the comprehension and the production of
language. It is what you can do with what you know about language.
Hymes’ Communicative Competence (1966)
A term coined by Hymes (1966) Communicative competence, in an attempt to

explain or to complement Chomsky’s ideas of linguistic competence and linguistic
performance, which in his opinion, were not comprehensive enough, in scope, to
what they were supposed to mean or to cover. For Hymes, Communicative competence
is understood as the ability a speaker has to say what to whom and how to say it
purposefully. As it can be seen, Hymes made emphasis on the social character of
competence and shared knowledge, while Chomsky considered competence and
performance from an individualistic point of view, that is to say, from a personal
perspective. Linguistic competence has to be perceived and assessed as knowledge,
skills, and applications of language used in real-life interactions with a communicative
and a survival purpose in mind. Linguistic competence has to spring from within
since people expect to meet their social and cultural needs. In the educational or
school contexts, it cannot be regulated, imposed, and controlled by the approval of
political and educational policies. These do not always comply with the real needs
of particular populations. Linguistic competence is not only a matter of instruction
but also a matter of exposure and permanent practice. Otherwise, the L2 could be
easily forgotten. Language learning is only validated when there is an objective in
mind, which is framed within cultural practices, under unpredictable situations.
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Important concerns about Communicative Competence
• What does Communicative Competence consist of?

• What is the right definition of Communicative Competence that suits your
context/purpose?
• What does the language learner want to learn the L2 for?

• How can language and its cultures be immersed in a foreign language setting
so that it could resemble the second language setting?
• What is a Communicative Competence Model?
• Does the Communicative Competence Model attempt to sharpen specific
language skills, that is to say, which of them are to be implemented?
• Does the school, college, or university want to favor the Sociolinguistic
Competence immersed in an L2 cultural context in which speaking and
listening are paramount skills?
• Under what premises is the Communicative Competence Model going to be
based on?
• What are some of the requirements for the new L2 Model?
• Who is going to benefit from such a Model: a) regular course learners, b)
extension language course learners, or c) pre-service teachers?
• Will the L2 Model satisfy all of the language requirements as for Sociolinguistic
Competence in the school’s language program?
• Does a Communicative Competence Model suffice? Why or why not?
• What strategies will be devised so that they can be incorporated within the
learners’ mental repertoire and the L1 cultural system since foreign cultural
practices are to be part of both of them?
• How can learners account for the L2 cultural component knowing that they
are not exposed to authentic language on a daily basis?
• Language, language teaching, language learning are not isolated issues dealing
with sociocultural practices and encounters.
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• The main concern here is to know how the intercultural component (Baxter,
1983) and (Byram, 1990) can be incorporated and developed in a foreign
language syllabus, where the cultural component cannot be easily achieved.
• How feasible is it to develop, improve, or maintain a Communicative Competence
Model in a non-native language setting like yours?
• Which improvements would you make to the existing Model so that it could
meet your learners’ Sociolinguistic Competence in an L2?
A Communicative Competence Model should consider and include the following:
What: Involvement in Sociocultural Contexts.

How: Task-Based Learning & Project Work.
Why: Creating the Necessary EFL Learning Conditions.
What: Active & Meaningful Participation.
How: Quality & Quantity of Interaction.
Why: Meaningful Learning Can Lead to Acquisition.
What: Learning is more important than Teaching.
How: Teachers & Learners Play Specific Roles.
Why: Guidance & Involvement in Meaningful Tasks.
How can Sociolinguistic Competence be “taught” and assessed?
Language cannot be taught. What parents, caretakers, teachers, family, and

strangers can do is to create the conditions for language to spring whenever the
neurological, psychological, mental, and physiological conditions are met. Language
is acquired in out-of-the-classroom contexts, which are framed in a natural setting.
Language acquisition is carried out effortlessly. There is a purpose in mind for
communication to take place. In a classroom setting, the conditions need to be
created. Language is learned when learners attend lessons formally under the
guidance of a language teacher, who defines lesson objectives, selects the teaching,
and learning resources, by adopting a given methodology where both teacher’s roles
and learners’ roles are specified. Most of the time, language teaching follows and
develops a structured and structural syllabus, which is based on linguistic competence
and not on the development of sociolinguistic competence.
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Kasper (1997) starts her article on pragmatic competence, by stating,
‘Can Pragmatic Competence Be Taught?’ The simple answer to the question

as formulated is “no.” Competence, whether linguistic or pragmatic, is not
teachable. Competence is a type of knowledge that learners possess, develop,
acquire, use or lose. The challenge for foreign or second language teaching is
whether we can arrange learning opportunities in such a way that they benefit
the development of pragmatic competence in L2.
In order for Sociolinguistic Competence to be fostered in a non-native context,

language teachers have to bear these aspects in mind:
Change of Attitude: Commitment to adopt new methodologies and roles played.
Use of Authentic Resources: Books, Culture, Newspapers.
Quality of Interaction: Meaningful Tasks, Project Work, Debates, Presentations.
Quantity of Interaction: Teacher Talk. Learner Talk. Face-to-Face Interaction.
Learning by doing and doing it with a purpose in mind
Out-of-the-classroom Tasks: Visit Places around Town where the L2 is spoken.
In-the-classroom Tasks: Invite native speakers to interact with learners.
Individual Work, Pair Work, Team Work, or Group Work, developing the
Tasks assigned, being monitored by the language teacher.
Some Hints for the Development of Sociolinguistic Competence in non-natural

settings and cultural contexts include:
Movies: Foreign Language learners can model relationships, behaviors, and

attitudes, distance, type of social language, cultural encounters.
Videos: Proxemics and Kinesics are part of non-verbal communication, which

are featured and captured in them.
Conversations: First-hand language is used in real and diverse types of contexts.
Online Interviews: Social language is picked up directly from people in formal

& informal settings.
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Documentaries: Formal, technical & scientific language is portrayed in History,
CNN, National Geographic, etc.
Authentic Reading & Listening Material: Literature, newspapers, biographies,

speeches, lectures, which should consider the addressee, style, register, cohesion,
coherence, etc.
Online Chatting: Immediate communication with native speakers and proficient

EFL/ELS learners.
E-mail & Pen-pals: Formal and informal discourse is explored in such a way
that Non-native speakers can grasp the basics of writing.
Social Networks: On-line establishment of Social & Cultural Contact and
Connections with Native & Non-native speakers.
Why can communicative competence fail sometimes?
Some possible causes follow:
• Lack of knowledge of a variety of languages or dialects.

• Little or no understanding of cultural practices in the new setting or context.
• No recognition of body language since it is different; and the new meanings,
which words and expressions get, in other settings and cultural contexts.
• Language learners’ lack of linguistic knowledge.
• Different cultural practices between native speakers and non-native speakers.
• Misunderstanding and misconceptions in conversational exchanges.
• Presuppositions for taking ideas for granted.
• Inappropriate use of body language between speaker and hearer.
• Message abandonment since there is no agreement between them.
• Either the speaker or the hearer does not get their message across.
• Teaching practices do not guarantee the successful completion of the task.
• Cultural expressions are unknown for either speaker or hearer.
• Lack of background knowledge in terms of what is discussed.
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• Teaching methodologies do not fit learners’ learning styles.
• Classroom contents differ from those used in real settings and contexts.
• Lack of opportunities for interaction in the L2 in meaningful situations.
• Emphasis is made on “teaching” not on “learning.” At this point, there should
be a shift in the roles played by teachers. Teachers should be regarded as being
guides and learners as being active participants, responsible for their own
learning.
• Foreign language learners are not well prepared to speak it. They have had
little, no sufficient time, and no clear opportunities to internalize it in their
brains and take it out from it to make their thoughts visible.
• Language cannot spring effortlessly because for foreign learners it takes time
to process it and to think in it. Thinking in a language, which most of the time
is alien to you and speaking it as if it were an everyday endeavor, takes time,
accuracy, and fluency, these last two terms as suggested by Brumfit (1984),
require a great deal of effort and experience from the L2 learner.
• Taking for granted that speaking English or any other language is an easy task,
is a big mistake. Learners are those who carry the can because they are not
prepared enough to perform the tasks provided by their teachers because they
have not been given a leading role in their learning.
• A real change needs to take place so that foreign or second language learners
become active participants and responsible for their own language learning.
This is possible only if language teachers stop dominating the conversations
and let their learners be in charge, instead.
• It is hard to be linguistically and culturally competent when the language

learner has not been exposed to language in natural settings, contexts, and
environments. The case here is that they have to be “taught” before articulating
the new spoken language. Besides, they have to learn how to interact with
native speakers in ways that they have never been “taught” before.
There should be a change of mind in those who hold a high position, especially
those who make the decisions on how to “run the show.” Otherwise, any effort made
for changing the state of things would be both fruitless and unsuccessful. It is time
to start making changes. In a nutshell, it is important to highlight that language itself
is what people make of it since it is the result of their speech exchange and social
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interactions within cultural practices. Language is not necessarily what is given in
a textbook, curriculum, or syllabus. Language is more than that. In order to make
communication functional, in foreign countries where the L2 is not spoken, the
following proposals can be useful:
• Change of attitude (community, staff, parental associations, teachers, learners).

• Make language learning much more realistic and culturally appropriate to needs.
• Provide the space & time for learner’s participation under the teacher’s
supervision.
• Use authentic materials & resources, which lead to L2 improvement.
Savignon’s Communicative Competence (1972)
Savignon (1972: 264) defined the term Communicative competence like this:
“used the term communicative competence to characterize the ability of language
learners to interact with other speakers, to make meaning, as distinct from their
ability to perform on discrete-point tests of grammatical knowledge.”
Widdowson’s Language Usage and Language Use (1978)
Widdowson’s dichotomy (1978) is explained below:
We are generally required to use our knowledge of the language system in order
to achieve some kind of communicative purpose. That is to say, we are generally
called upon to produce instances of language use: we do not simply manifest the
abstract system of the language.
Usage, then, is one aspect of performance, that aspect which makes evident the
extent to which the language user demonstrates his knowledge of linguistic rules.
Use is another aspect of performance: that which makes evident the extent to
which the language user demonstrates his ability to use his knowledge of linguistic
rules for effective communication. (p. 3).
Language Usage: Language usage refers to the correctness and appropriateness

of language. Language, in this instance, deals with what is right to use in everyday
life. Too much attention is paid to the form of language. People are careful about
choosing the appropriate structure and words to use. It has to do with the production
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of correct sentences thanks to the knowledge of the rules of the linguistic system.
Language is thought of as a structure.
Language Use: Language use has to do with the application of the grammar
of a particular language. It refers to the application of the syntax, semantics, and
phonology of language in real situations and contexts. Language is used as a means
of communication. Linguists study, analyze, and come out with some conclusions
regarding how people from different backgrounds, cultures, social status, genres,
ages and the like, speak the language daily, either in the street, at home, at school, at
work, or anywhere else. As people change due to technological and cultural factors,
so does language. Language is a living phenomenon; as such, and it is people, who
make it evolve throughout time. Language teachers have to provide learners with
suitable tasks, which favor the L2 learning in the most natural conditions possible.
It is important to adopt a suitable methodology, which lets learners learn it in a
meaningful way that makes sense to them and their interlocutors.
Canale & Swain’s Communicative Competence (1980)
Canale & Swain (1980) decided to broaden the concept proposed by Hymes
(1966), by explaining the type of competence speakers should deal with for them
to be linguistically proficient and culturally competent in the L2.
Grammatical Competence: Grammatical competence has to do with the

application of rules, syntax, semantics, phonology, and morphology in a language.
Not everyone does speak the same way ever. Every speaker chooses their language
structure in terms of the aforementioned aspects, as well as their culture so that the
message to be conveyed can be understood by the hearer, and the communicative
event can take place.
Sociolinguistic Competence: Socio refers to society (family, community, social

group, social class, ethnicity, culture). Linguistics refers to the study of language (given
commonly agreed parameters and standards, established by people in and within a
particular culture). Sociolinguistics, then, refers to the use of language according to
the context and the setting in which language takes place by a speaker and a hearer
in a given community. Depending on the people involved in the communicative
act, they make use of linguistic choices, which best fit it. Both the context and the
audience determine how people choose their language structures to relate to others
(babies, toddlers, children, teenagers, adults, etc.).
Discourse Competence: Discourse competence deals with the appropriateness of

both spoken and written language. Both speaker and hearer use informal language
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with family, friends, or acquaintances. On the other hand, they can use appropriate
language when it comes to formal language as in the case of giving a keynote address
or a speech, attending a conference, or doing business, for example.
Strategic Competence: Strategic competence deals with the strategies used by

the speaker or the hearer to convey meaning and to keep communication going. In
the event that either the speaker or the hearer does not come across with a word,
something that they can do is one of the following strategies: a) defining the word;
b) describing the word; c) providing an example with it; or d) by using any other
strategy they can think of, etc.
Krashen’s Monitor Model (1983)
Krashen (1983) in his monitor model came up with a theory about second
language acquisition, which consists of the following hypotheses:
Acquisition-Learning: Krashen makes a distinction between acquisition and

learning is made. According to him, the former is known as the “acquired system,”
which tends to be natural, that is to say, language acquisition takes place in natural
settings with the help of native speakers. Language learning, on the other hand, is
known as the “learned system,” which requires the use of a language instructor in
an artificial setting, with other necessary issues.
Natural Order: The natural order states that in language acquisition, there
exists a logical sequence of structures, which are a requirement for the others to
take place, that is to say, some grammatical structures appear first than some others.
Monitor Model: The monitor model refers to the idea that the language learner
needs some time to plan his thoughts, structure his ideas, which are expressed in
either speech or writing.
Input: Input is key for language acquisition to take place. It refers to the idea
that the learner must be exposed to comprehensive input with which he is expected
to interact, by means of the use of a common linguistic code. He is expected to deal
with a number of issues and topics, which are being discussed via the language he
is being exposed to: “i+1,” meaning that linguistic competence must be beyond his
current state of knowledge in the language.
Affective Filter: The affective filter has to do with the conditions in which
language acquisition develops. It must be devoid of negative feelings, attitudes, or
behaviors, which may hinder the learner’s linguistic competence, first and the linguistic
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performance, then. The affective filter must be low so that fear or anxiety does not
interfere with the outcomes of language in natural settings.
Van Ek’s Communicative Ability (1986)
Van Ek proposed the term Communicative Ability (1986), which added two
new concepts to the term Communicative Competence. These two terms were Socio-
Cultural Competence and Social Competence. The former refers to the ability the
speaker has to deal with the cultural component of the language in which he is
immersed. The latter, on the other hand, deals with the issues covering the social
situations in which the language develops, according to social conventions.
Bachman’s Communicative Competence (1990)
Baker (2011) shows Bachman’s Model in the following diagram:
Communicative Competence
1. Organizational Competence:
(i) Grammatical (e.g. syntax, vocabulary).
(ii) Textual (e.g. written and oral cohesion).
2. Pragmatic Competence:
(i) Illocutionary Competence (e.g. speech strategies, language functions).
(ii) Sociolinguistic Competence (e.g. sensitivity to register, dialect, cultural figures
of speech). (p. 14).
Halliday’s purposes of language (1993)
Halliday (1993) comes up with three ideas about the purpose of language, by
stating, “All learning -whether learning language, learning through language, or
learning about language- involves learning to understand things in more than one
way.” (p. 112).
Language permeates our lives since it is present in everything we do. Man cannot
be understood without the influence of language. The first two ideas are common
to ordinary people, while the last one is of the interest of linguists, psychologists,
neurologists, sociolinguists, anthropologists, etc.
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To know about language: It involves those aspects of language dealing with
the internal systems of a language: phonology, phonetics, syntax, semantics, as well
as methodologies, methods, designs, approaches, techniques, strategies, activities,
and tasks, used by the language teacher in order to facilitate language learning.
To know language: It refers to how well the learner uses and applies the
language system in natural or artificial settings in which the language is used as a
communicative and cultural means of respect, assistance, and cooperation among
people(s), who share a common language system. Language is also a tool used to
establish, maintain, develop, foster, and improve relationships among its users.
To know through the language: It implies that the language learner uses
the language as a means to get information, sin the to become knowledgeable, to
explore the world, and to try to deal with it accordingly, that is to say, based on
their linguistic, psychological, social, and cultural needs, interests, and problems.
Language is a system through which they establish links with others that use the
same code as a means of communication and cultural understanding.
Language is either acquired or expressed because of fluid and permanent exchange

of thoughts. Thoughts are expressed by the building blocks of language under the
figure of concepts and ideas. These thoughts respond to a series of requirements,
which need to be interpreted and adjusted to cultural and social practices so that
linguistic choices can be determined. Under these circumstances, language goes
unplanned. Language cannot be planned prior to the establishment of both social
interactions and cultural encounters.
Language is produced naturally, in situ, according to societal demands.

Language is not a classroom thing. Language is a living entity with its own identity.
Having said this, here comes the allegory of the fortune teller. The language teacher
must be prepared to deal with uncertainty. In other words, circumstances cannot
be planned since they refer to manner, space, and time, let alone the people we
can interact with, who might be either acquaintances or complete strangers.
The same is true for language. A fact that is certain about language is that it is
certainly uncertain. Everything is uncertain like language. Language is uncertain
like everything.
The Pedagogy of Linguistics

Linguistics is the scientific and formal study of language. One of the most
difficult aspects of dealing with the teaching of linguistics is to choose the proper
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methodology and didactics, which best suit language learners’ needs. Linguistics
should be part of every language training program so that its understanding and
application can help teachers to appreciate better its importance in terms of the
fields comprising it and how they contribute to their learners’ language learning. The
very fact of having language teachers be acquainted with linguistics, first language
acquisition, second or foreign language learning, semantics, syntax, phonology,
neurolinguistics, psycholinguistics, etc., will help them to understand the processes
and the conditions under which a second or a foreign language is acquired or
learned, respectively. Some conditions, which need to be met as for the pedagogy
of linguistics, include the following:
• Being respectful as for the theories proposed by linguists, which attempt to

shed some light on how their revolutionary ideas propose some insight to
teachers and from there, they have to make them their own.
• Having an open mind regarding the methodologies proposed by researchers,

which best contribute to the acquisition, learning, and teaching, and of course,
to the processes involved in them.
• Selecting the principles behind teachers’ beliefs, which have been gained through
analysis and reflection, derived from experience, training, and performance,
in their areas of expertise.
• Respecting learners’ capacities to interpret and to make use of the language

that they are exposed to. Language learning, in the conditions they are, requires
patience and time for them to become familiar with it and the cultures within
which it is purposefully used.
• Providing the requirements so that learners can gain some confidence as to

how to be able to convey a message.
Language is a complex phenomenon, which does not take place overnight.

There are many factors that teachers should be aware of, and in doing so, they
are to be respectful and understanding that language learning is a hard endeavor.
Besides, what is taught does not guarantee that it has to be learned, but learners
have to be given the chance to being in contact with it and use it meaningfully and
conveniently. Depending on the circumstances, language learners may have a certain
kind of interest in knowing about language, knowing language, or knowing through
language (Halliday, 1993).
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Teachers are supposed to respond to learners’ needs as they approach the L2
learning. The idea behind being familiar with some notions of linguistics responds
to a need that language teachers should have in order for their teaching practices can
be framed within a sound theoretical context. By doing so, they will be a little more
aware of what learning a foreign language implies. In the case of native speakers,
language is established and installed in the brain, and all the mental processes,
which take place in it and through it, are carried out naturally. When you think
about language, language makes you think about everything. Social relations and
interactions are framed within a series of unpredictable factors. In other words,
these factors cannot be determined in advance. Since people interact with quite a
number of strangers, people are unable to predict what kinds of structures to be
used and what vocabulary choice is appropriate for particular settings and contexts.
The same is true for the topics to be addressed in conversations. As for language
acquisition or learning, either the L1 or the L2 cannot be linear. Realistic language
takes place under a variety of times, and tenses. People refer to special moments
in their lives. They go back to the past and talk about their childhood experiences,
about what they did at a given moment in history. The same happens now, which
is more about the past than the present itself. It is somewhat philosophical in its
analysis. The present makes sense, but only when referring to daily routines or
universal truths. The past is the most difficult moment to deal with when you have
not experienced and internalized it and you have not made it part of your internal
system. Culture does play an influential role in the acquisition of language within
particular cultural contexts and settings. Otherwise, native speakers would not
be able to think like most speakers of the language do. It is something that native
speakers can do because culture lets them be prepared to deal with uncertainty.
Of course, very proficient non-native speakers can also do, subjected to limited
exceptions. It is well known that the natural circumstances, such as the environment,
do determine the building blocks of language: words. Words make sense when
they are in connection with a) imagination & creativity; b) articulation & sound;
c) meaning & order; and d) setting & context, which inform us about the purpose
of using language within cultural practices, which intervene in social encounters.
Geography, topography, anthropology, and sociology have a direct relationship with
and impact on the way people think and conceive the world around them. People,
who live in the mountains, those who do it at the beach, and those who live on the
plains, speak differently. Linguistic expressions are born from the need to satisfy and
to comply with social interactions and cultural encounters. In this sense, language
is ideational since it is created because of the natural environment in which they
are born, raised, and educated.
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Reflection
1. What aspects of linguistics do you usually make emphasis on in your L2 teaching?
2. How can linguistic performance be promoted, developed, and maintained to

facilitate communicative competence?
Project
Design a questionnaire to collect reliable data, by asking learners about the
strategies that they use to achieve communicative competence to perform well in
the L2?
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6
Grammar and Syntax
“Grammar, per se, depends on how thoughts are arranged in a person’s mind.”
Grammar
It can be inferred that not every single speaker ever speaks the same way
everywhere and not always the same way with everybody. People speak differently
as they interact with others: babies, toddlers, children, and adults, even literate or
illiterate people. The grammar of a language can be carefully thought and structured
based on the status or social position of both speaker and hearer. People can use
grammar accordingly, in some circumstances, but not in others. They, to some extent,
can violate the rules of the grammar of the language that they speak or write down.
Grammar, in general terms, has always been understood as the structures, which
should govern a language. However, the approach to grammar, at school, should be
conceived differently. Teachers should provide their learners with the rules they need
to be aware of so that a piece of a message can be expressed accordingly, by means
of a practical example, rather than by the “mathematical formula.” The structure of
thought is expressed by, in, and through grammar. American poet, Frost, used to
say that speakers could be a little ungrammatical depending on where they came
from in their country.
Grammar cannot be understood as something repetitive or mechanical human

beings do, but as something that has to do with mental processes. If this is the
case, language can spring from within and, then, it can be evident as two or more
individuals engage in effective communication. Grammar is language-specific.
Sentences do not correspond to the same principles or parameters as for sentence
formation, that is to say, syntax. What could be well structured in one language
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could be ill-formed in another. Grammar is a reflection of the way people think and
organize their thoughts in their minds based on the needs, expressed in ideas to
fulfill a communicative and functional task. Grammar can be considered as being
language-based because thoughts and social practices are the foundations of how
speakers view their world and speaker-dependent because speakers make choices
of their language according to their culture and the functions of language that they
use to convey meaning as interaction takes place and communication unfolds, as
it is shown below:
Graph 1. Grammar
Grammar
Language-Based Speaker-Dependent
Thought- Socially- Culture- Functional-

Based Based Dependent Dependent
Grammar, per se, depends on how thoughts are arranged in a person’s mind.
Ideas are organized depending on the type of effect we want and need language to
produce in others. Either in the ESL or the EFL classroom, grammar cannot and
should not be taught based on a pre-designed syllabus; rather grammar should
respond to what learners need to say and how to say it, formally or informally, at
the right time; not just when we want to instruct them with it. Language develops
as people intervene in the communicative events they participate in. For grammar
to be acquired or learned, the learner is expected to be immersed in engaging and
meaningful settings and contexts, which let them be proficient in the L1 or the
L2 system. When we say that a non-native speaker speaks an L2 system by the
grammar, it can be stated something like “You don’t speak a language. You just
speak grammar.” The kinds of people we interact with makes us adapt the grammar
of a given language. Thoughts should not be modified, but speakers should be
selective about the structures they want to use as they interact with others and want
communication to continue as they engage in meaningful conversations. In formal
language classrooms, the emphasis is on instruction. Language learning is based on
a predetermined syllabus. It follows a regular sequence of chunks of language. Under
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these circumstances, language is not considered as a whole. It is fragmented into
its basic components. Learners are to respond to what is introduced and presented
in the syllabus. There are prerequisites. Each piece of language has to be followed
by some others as if it were a mathematical formula. How many mathematical
formulae would be necessary, then? None would suffice. Ideas can be expressed
in a variety of ways. It would be impossible to respond to every single syntactic
structure. Although there are rules and restrictions or constraints in language, they
are incorporated into our system (brain) since they are grabbed unconsciously as
we make use of these linguistic resources in order to make ourselves understood
as we interact with others.
Graph 2. Models of Grammar
Grammar Grammar
Thought Conscious Mechanical Natural Uncons- Meaningful

cious
Learned Methodo- Instructor Mental Interlo-

logy Acquired
cutor
Grammar is always in the making. It is a never-ending process. People’s

thoughts and ideas, through meaning, determine how language is structured. You
just can think of something that you have been familiar with in your own language.
You cannot think in images, concepts, or ideas if you have not been in contact with
that language in particular Chinese, Greek, Hebrew, Japanese, or Portuguese. If
something cannot be thought of before, it does not mean that it cannot be thought
of afterward. Thought is the result of a need. When constraints (fear, uncertainty,
lack of knowledge, and unknown circumstances) arise, thinking processes become
much more complex and critical for speakers. Although native speakers can think in
their L1, not everything can be thought of, by any individual speaker. Knowledge is
key for what we can think about and for what we can do with what we can take from
it. In this sense, there is a bond between knowledge and thinking, which would be
possible thanks to language. Let us say, you have not had any previous experience
with German. You will not be able to think about what a word or an expression
means in French because it is completely new to you. Concisely, you cannot think
in a language if you have not had any previous experience with it. It is a matter of
use within social settings and cultural contexts. Without going that far, that situation
also happens in Spanish. If someone is being asked about the meaning of a particular
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word or expression in Spanish and they are not familiar with it, they will be unable
to decipher its meaning.
Aitchison (1992) refers to grammar, by stating, “A grammar is above all a device

which specifies what is, and what is not, a well-formed sentence. It encapsulates
rules which define which possible sentences, but it does not concern it with how
these possibilities are assembled.” (p. 164).
Language must be adapted according to the following criteria, but it has to

sound natural: Participants’ ages; Mental processes; Speaker-hearer relationships;
Purpose of communication; Means of communication; Topic of conversation;
Background knowledge; Type of interaction; Setting, context, and co-text, and
Discourse competence. For Chomsky (1957) the grammar of a language consists
of three components:
Syntax has to do with the arrangement of words in a sentence.

Semantics studies the meaning of words within sentences.
Phonology refers to the analysis of sounds of phrases or sentences between
languages.
Languages differ in terms of syntax. Below, there are the different typologies
or syntactic patterns of some world languages: S: Subject; V: Verb; O: Object.
(SVO): English, French, German, Spanish “I love you.”

(SOV): Japanese, Korean, Turkish “I you love.”
(VSO): Breton, Hawaiian, Hebrew, Irish, Welsh “Love I you.”
(VOS): Fijian, Malagasy “Love you I.”
(OSV): Xavante “You I love.”
(OVS): Hixkaryana “You love I.”
Some of the languages, which follow the SVO typology include:
English: He has a car.

French: Il a une voiture.
German: Er hat einen Wagen.
Italian: Lui ha una macchina.
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Portuguese: Ele tem um automóvel.
Spanish: Él tiene un auto.
Table 1. Languages Differ in Terms of Semantics
English car house money cat dog

French voiture maison argent chat chien
German Wagen Haus Geld Katze Hund
Italian macchina casa soldi gatto cane
Portuguese automóvel casa dinheiro gato cão
Spanish auto casa dinero gato perro
Note: Own work
In phonology, languages have specific features, which are proper to each

language. These phonological differences relate to segmental or discrete units, which
include vowel and consonant sounds, as well as Suprasegmentals features, which
include tone, stress, and intonation. Grammar has to do with the rules governing
the usage of language. Grammar is the set of rules, which govern the thought of the
people, who use it. It is usually related to the arrangement of words within a phrase,
a sentence, a statement, or a clause. Grammar serves to keep order, to make sense,
and to sound right. Van Lier (2004) wonders about the function of grammar and
language by stating,
Are the rules of language, i.e., its grammar,–fixed or are they constructed in
interaction, in practices of socialization, and are the use of language as a tool
of thought and social life? Traditionally, language is seen as consisting of a
prefabricated structure that exists either as a biologically inherited endowment
(a universal grammar, or UG, as in Chomsky’s linguistics), or is a cultural-
historical monument that has grown into what it is over the millennia of human
social intercourse (as Saussure suggested). (p. 86).
Although grammar can be approached from different perspectives, there is

a set of functions that it has to fulfill, within the communicative event. Grammar
can be approached according to its function (descriptive) or (prescriptive) and its
approach (deductive) or (inductive).
Descriptive Grammar is when linguists objectively describe language as a social

and cultural phenomenon. They describe it as it is actually spoken and written by
native speakers.
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Prescriptive Grammar is when someone is told how to speak or write a language
down correctly. Correction of grammar is not usually very successful. The following
example was recorded and reported by McNeill (1966):
“Child: Nobody don’t like me.

Mother: No, say “nobody likes me.”
Child: Nobody don’t like me. (Eight repetitions of this exchange)
Mother: No, now listen carefully; say “nobody likes me.”
Child: Oh! Nobody don’t likes me.” (p. 69)
In this regard, Nunan (1988) stated that, “It was recognised that simply being
able to create grammatically correct structures in language did not necessarily
enable the learner to use the language to carry out various real-world tasks.” (p. 25).
Deductive grammar is taught deductively when the teacher teaches it by the

rule. Learners are expected to memorize the rules of the language that they are
learning and practice them in isolated sentences, usually in meaningless contexts.
Inductive grammar is taught inductively when learners have to come out with
the conclusion of how grammar works. In other words, as learners are exposed to the
language, they are expected to interpret how the L2 grammar works or functions. The
internal mental grammar is the unconscious knowledge a native speaker has about
the language system, which is proper to the language he has been exposed to from
birth. Native speakers are able to tell, which structures, words, or phonemes, sound
right to them and, which do not. There exists an innate knowledge within their brains,
which enables them to judge right sentences from wrong ones. Learning how to speak
a language does not have to do with mathematical or algebraic formulae. Initially,
when someone is learning how to speak a foreign language, there is a tendency to
internalize it, by following a certain kind of structure. Still, this is not always the
case. If you want to know the formula, go out and ask those who can speak it or
native speakers to give it to you, and then, you will see that such a thing does not
exist. Language is acquired and learned in a chaotic environment where it cannot be
planned in terms of its structure, but in terms of what it needs to be conveyed, and
the brain will be able to do it, effortlessly and naturally. There is a tendency among
adult learners, who usually ask you for some grammatical explanations. However,
syntax does not always stick to the S + V + C structure. Just think about it. Let us
take the following: “What if we happen to talk after the class is over?” A linguist’s
role is to try to find commonalities or common features shared by languages and
then, formulate the rules underlying the acquisition processes of language, not of
any language in particular. Universal Grammar (UG) explores and explains the
principles, which are proper to all linguistic systems.
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Brumfit (1984) coined the terms of Accuracy and Fluency; as being defined
as follows:
… Language display for evaluation tended to lead to a concern for accuracy,

monitoring, reference rules, possibly explicit knowledge, problem solving and
evidence of skill-getting. In contrast, language use requires fluency, expression
rules, a reliance on implicit knowledge and automatic performance. It will on
occasion also require monitoring and problem-solving strategies, but these
will not be the most prominent features, as they tend to be in the conventional
model where the student produces, the teacher corrects, and the student tries
again. (p. 56).
In brief, accuracy refers to how well the language should be spoken and
fluency has to do with how fast one speaks a foreign or a second language. More
than being accurate, the purpose of communication must be achieved; the message
has to be conveyed. More than attempting to speak like a native speaker does, the
most important thing is to convey meaning and to get the message across in the
L2. However, it is also important to articulate and to pronounce it well in order to
avoid misunderstandings. Language teachers must be patient with their learners as
they internalize and interact with the L2 in natural or artificial settings. Language
teachers should provide learners with opportunities for L2 meaningful practice
and interaction.
Syntax
Syntax varies from language to language, from speaker to speaker, and from
culture to culture.
Syntax varies from language to language. As people from a certain region get
together, they think and attempt to interpret the world around them. The way how
they talk is a reflection of the view of the world around them. Syntax has to do with
the order of the elements in a phrase, a sentence, a statement, or a clause, based
on what the speaker wants to convey. The way how those elements are arranged in
the sentence depends on our communicative needs and intentions, the message to
be uttered. Syntax is the factual and evident reflection of the way how people view
the world in every culture. Syntax is the representation of thought through speech,
writing, sign, or computerized language. Syntax has to do with the logic of language,
which is and should be based on meaning. Although semantics deals with meaning,
which is paramount in language, we are selective on how to express an idea. In
other words, according to the kind of addressee, we attempt to select the “right”
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kind of structure. Meaning can be expressed in a variety of ways. The choice of the
syntax used depends on the audience or interlocutors (babies, toddlers, children,
adolescents, or adults).
Let us consider the following sentences:
• The lion killed the horse.

• The car hit the cat.
• The police captured the thief.
• The children played ball.
• The fire destroyed the house.
• The rain flooded the city.
• Let us consider the following ill-formed sentences:
• The cheese ate the mouse.
• The spinster called her husband.
• The book read the boy.
• The soccer is playing children.
• The lunch will cook my mom.
Transformational-Generative Grammar
Chomsky (1957) proposed his language theory, which deals with the making
up of all the right and correct possible sentences, which may be generated in any
language. People have the innate capacity to use language as a faculty inherent to the
human race. No matter the language people speak, in their brains and minds, they
have the potential to acquire language easily since they can grasp the rules in terms
of semantics, phonology, syntax, and morphology, easily. Then, they will be able to
apply them in meaningful sentences, based on their communicative needs. Babies
and children interpret rules thanks to both exposure and interaction of language
and culture as they are immersed in societal settings, contexts, and circumstances.
Although the aforementioned sentences are well written in terms of syntax, they
do not make sense in terms of semantics.
Language is meant to mean. A sentence is structured based on what it wants

to be conveyed, not the other way around. Teachers can expose language to their
learners, but according to their communicative needs, they will select those language
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elements, which best fulfill their purpose. In a classroom, learners cannot be exposed
to all of the structures of a language. Instead, they have to be provided with those
they need to convey a message, at a given moment. Probably, the structures, which
are being taught are meaningless because there is no point in learning them since
there is no need for a real application. Some language teachers refer to grammar
as the set of rules and restrictions applied to structures. In order for language to
make sense, it has to be logical. Language is acquired naturally through exposure.
As a baby, your parents talked to you although you could not because you were not
prepared to do so. The foreign language learning process is different, of course, and
still, it requires more time and effort.
Reflection about Language, Thought, and Syntax
a. Language is the means by which human beings express their thoughts.
b. In first language acquisition, language is first, thoughts are second, and syntax
is third, based on what wants to be conveyed.
c. Language is used to make our thoughts visible.
d. In second language acquisition or foreign language learning, thoughts are first,

language is second, and syntax is third, based on what wants to be conveyed.
e. We view the world based on the language we speak and the culture we live in.
f. An idea can be expressed based on a phoneme, a phrase, a sentence, or a

statement.
g. A sentence, which is a representation of an idea, is the reflection of our thoughts.
h. Thoughts expressed through speech or writing, are used to make language visible.
i. Since the universe represents order, syntax does, too.
j. Both speech and writing are the reflection of our world.
k. Then, syntax deals with the relationships and the analysis of words within a
system.
Syntax varies as users of the language are influenced by the culture they develop
in their relations on a daily basis. There is more than one possibility for the following
words to be arranged: the/bit/dog/the/cat. It all depends on what really happened: The
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dog bit the cat or The cat bit the dog. Reality is based on the actual and current facts
rather than organizing those elements the way we wanted to, not paying attention to
what really happened. In this sense, semantics is more important than syntax. Words
are arranged based on what needs to be communicated. Meaning is conveyed based
on the sequence of those elements within the sentence. In addition, Suprasegmentals,
such as intonation and stress, for example, also play a role in that, which wants to be
said. Suprasegmentals help the speaker to express emotions, feelings, fears, doubts
through statements, such as commands or questions, for example. Everybody, with
no exception, makes mistakes and commits errors as they talk or write down. A
number of circumstances, for us to make mistakes, include the very fact of being
humans; fear, anger, anxiety, tiredness, insecurity, are all factors, which contribute
to our realization that it is through language.
Saussure’s Paradigmatic and Syntagmatic Relations
Saussure (1916) also proposed two terms for the analysis of signs: Paradigms
and Syntagms. Paradigms: Within the same sentence, one sign may be replaced by
another, and a new meaning is obtained. Syntagms: It is the linear relationship one
sign has with the other signs within the same sentence and the correlation refers to
the functions those signs play.
Table 2. Paradigms and Syntagms
Paradigms The price of those jeans is high.

color walls nice
taste veggies disgusting.
smell flowers delicious.
look tiles perfect.
style uniforms gross.
Syntagms

Note: Own work
Although the following sentence by Chomsky (1957) is structurally correct,

it lacks meaning: “Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.” We should not forget that
meaning is the purpose of any language. That is why semantics is of paramount
importance since people organize their thoughts based on what they what to mean.
Syntax should respond to what it wants to be conveyed, not the other way around.
Chomsky’s theory suggests that, in the syntax of any language in the world, there
are two important structures in Transformational Grammar (1965): Deep Structure
and Surface Structure.
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Deep Structure (DS): It refers to the mental representation or idea of what
is thought.
Surface Structure (SS): It is what someone hears, reads, writes, or talks about.
I-language and E-language: Chomsky (1965) coined the concepts of Linguistic

Competence and Linguistic Performance, which were expanded later with his theory
of I-language and E-language, respectively, which was developed in 1986. The former
refers to the internal knowledge a speaker has about his or her native language, the
internal systems, which help people to understand language. The latter refers to the
external representation a speaker makes of his or her native language. It refers to the
production, application, and use people make of that I-language system.
Universal Grammar (UG): It is a theory of linguistics proposed by Chomsky

(1965) where he establishes the principles of grammar, which are shared by all
languages and they are thought to be innate to humans. With this, Chomsky means
that people share common features as far as language acquisition is concerned.
Phrase Structure Rules: A phrase-structure rule is the way used to break down
the components of a sentence, by showing every single element and the relationship
with the other elements in the same sentence. Below, there are some of them:
Sentence: (S)
Noun: (N)
Determiner: (Det.)
Adjective: (Adj.)
Preposition: (P)
Adverb: (Adv.)
Noun Phrase: NP
e.g. Jim (N)
The boy (Det. N)
The little children (Det. Adj. N)
Prepositional Phrase: PP
e.g. on (P)
in the car (P NP)
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off the lonely road (P Det. Adj. N)
Verb Phrase: V + (NP)
e.g. called (V)
broke the window (V NP)
drives the car fast (V NP Adv.)
broke into the apartment (V PP)
Representation of Sentences: Sentences can be represented as follows: by using

a labeled bracket notation or a phrase structure tree, as it is shown below:
“The dog bit the little girl.” [S [NP The dog][VP [V bit][NP the little girl]]]
“The children can play the flute.” [S [NP The children][VP [V can play][NP
the flute]]]
Structural and semantic ambiguity: Sentences can be interpreted in more

than one way. Below, there are some examples:
“The boy saw the man with the telescope.”

- The boy used a telescope to see the man.
- What did the boy use to see the man? A telescope.
- When the boy saw the man, the man had a telescope.
- Who did the boy see? A man, holding a telescope.
“American history teachers.”

- History teachers who are American.
- Teachers of American history.
“The magician touched the boy with the wand.”

- The magician touched the boy. The boy had a wand.
- The magician touched the boy. He used a wand to touch him.
The Pedagogy of Grammar and Syntax

The teaching or not teaching of grammar or syntax is a tricky concern. The
types of audience you are dealing with, as a language teacher, will help you better to
decide on which approach to use -inductive or deductive-. Let us say that you are
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teaching at the university level, much more specifically, at the School of Languages
or at the College of Education. For such an audience, grammar has to be taught
inductively, by providing pre-service teachers with the rules of language: language
usage, correctness, appropriateness, and competence, in terms of when to use the
right piece of language. It is known that language teachers need to be knowledgeable
about the rules governing the structure of a particular language when it is expected
to be taught to others. The fact of telling right structures from wrong ones will let
teachers feel at ease when questions about usage may appear in everyday instruction.
If you are dealing with adult learners, the most possible approach that they would
like to be taught with will be the inductive one. It is usually so because they like to
know the “why” more than the “how” and even, the application of a grammar rule
than the practical use of language. Children and adolescents do not worry very much
about the “why” because they can come out with their own conclusions as to how
the L2 grammar works and functions. They enjoy playing with language since they
grasp it much more easily and naturally than adults do. In other words, instruction
plays a positive or a negative role in how children and adolescents process the L2.
Inductive teaching favors L2 grammar learning since it is done effortlessly. Learners
are not given the rule prior to using it. They speak the language because they are in
direct contact with native speakers, music, movies, television, radio, newspapers,
the Internet among some other external sources.
Reflection
1. What are some of the factors that make people organize their ideas differently?
2. How is grammar learned much more easily -deductively or inductively-?
Project
Provide two interpretations for each sentence:
a. “Flying planes can be dangerous.”

b. “I saw her duck.”
c. “They are hunting dogs.”
d. “The parents of the bride and groom.”
e. “I think that water is cold.”
f. “Students hate annoying professors.”
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7
Phonology and Phonetics
“Knowledge of phonology is installed in the speaker’s brain. It is on the mind.”
Phonology
P
honology is about sound patterns among language varieties and languages.
It explores the differences between phonemes, which lead to the change in
an utterance. According to Crane, the place and the manner of articulation
change emotionally. From my perspective, it can be said that not everybody always
speaks the language the same way. If someone is excited, worried, angry, tired, or
anxious, they could think and interact, differently. According to Ladefoged & Johnson
(1993) phonology is defined in the following manner: “Phonology is the description
of the systems and patterns of sounds that occur in a language. It involves studying
a language to determine its distinctive sounds, that is, those sounds that convey a
difference in meaning.” (p. 79).
Knowledge of phonology is installed in the speaker’s brain. It is on the mind. It

relates to the whole system for producing, hearing, interpreting, and understanding
sounds particular to any language. Phonology deals with the study, the analysis, and
the classification of phonemes, as well as the rules, which govern them. Phonology is a
broader term, which covers phonetics. Some of the concepts dealing with phonology
include Phonemes, Free Variation, Complementary Distribution, Allophones, and
Phonotactics, among some other concepts covering it. Phonology studies, analyzes,
explains, and classifies speech sounds. It sets the patterns within the sound system of a
language. It establishes similarities and differences between two or more phonological
systems. Mispronunciation leads to fossilization (Selinker, 1972) if pronunciation
errors are not corrected from the very beginning, that is to say, at an early age or
stage when learners are formally exposed to the L2. Barber (1993) stresses on the
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importance that pronunciation since it differs from individual to individual when he
states, “Pronunciation varies from speaker to speaker . . . These variations, moreover,
occur between different social groups as well as between different regions, for there
are class accents as well as regional differences.” (p. 14-15).
Foust (2003) draws on the importance of achieving a native-like pronunciation

if the learner acquires or learns the L2, at an early age, by saying,
Pronunciation is more like that of a native speaker when language study

begins early. Some experts believe this is due in part to physiological changes
at puberty; by age 15, a child’s facial muscles and bones are nearly mature, and
his musculature loses sensitivity to phonetic distinctions that are not relevant
to the languages he speaks. It is simply harder for the older student to make
new, unfamiliar sounds. A psychological factor may also be at work: Older
children are more inhibited in trying out new sounds and more concerned
about making mistakes. (p. 2).
Distinctive features: “In phonology–a particular characteristic which

distinguishes one distinctive sound of a language from another or one group of
sounds from another group.” (Richards, Platt & Platt,1993, p.114).
Below, there are some of them:
/b/, /d/, /m/, /n/ are voiced, e.g. bud, debt, mane, naught.
/b/, /m/, /p/ are bilabial, e.g. blink, medicine, paint.
/m/, /n/, /ŋ/ are nasal, e.g. mint, nose, song.
Allophones: Pennington (1996) considers allophones as “two different phones

which are phonetic variations (or allophones) of the same phoneme.” Allophones
are the various pronunciations a speech sound takes, i.e., /p/, which is pronounced
differently, according to the position it takes in a word. The same is true for /t/ and /k/.
Initial position: pen, time, car. e.g. Where is my pen?

Mid position: speak, study, account. e.g. We speak English and French.
Final position: top, pit, look. e.g. It’s on top of the shelf.
Minimal pairs: Richards, Platt & Platt (1993:230) define a minimal pair as “Two
words in a language which differ from each other by only one distinctive sound
(phoneme) and which also differ in meaning.” A minimal pair contains the same
number of segments. It differs in meaning. It exhibits only one phonetic difference:
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pan [phæn] e.g. The pan is on the kitchen table.
pen [phen] e.g. I need my pen back.
can [khæn] e.g. They can help us.
tan [t æn]
h
e.g. She got a nice tan.
sit [sit] e.g. Don’t sit down on the floor.
seat [si:t] e.g. There is free seat right here.
Free variation: It is when the pronunciation of a phoneme may vary without

signifying a change in meaning. The substitution of one sound for another, in a
given environment, with no change in meaning.
data [dætə] [deɪtə]

economics [ɛkənɑmɪks] [i:kənɑːmɪks]
either [iːðər] [aɪðər]
giant [ʤayənt] [ʤjənt]
neither [niːðər] [naɪðər]
status [stætəs] [steɪtəs]
Complementary distribution: Fromkin et al. (2018) complementary distribution

refers to “When similar phones occur in complementary distribution, they are
allophones – predictable phonetic variants – of phonemes.” (p. 309).
e.g. [ ĩ ] and [ i ] are allophones of the same phoneme /i/.

[ ĩ ] occurs before nasal consonants in the same syllable: bean [bĩ:n]
[ i ] occurs elsewhere: beat [bi:t]
Phonological processes: They refer to how one sound affects the other sound
within the spoken chain. The most common phonological processes in English
include the following:
Aspiration: Word-initially voiceless sounds are always aspirated.

e.g. pen [pʰɛn] take [tʰeik] cat [kʰæt]
Assimilation: It is when a sound is influenced by another sound, “a sound is
influenced by the characteristics of a neighboring sound,” as Celce-Murcia (1996,
p. 159) puts it:
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e.g. bags [bæ:gz] backs [bæks]
lived [lɪvd] rented [rɛntɪd] finished [fɪnɪʃt]
Dissimilation: It is when similar consonant sounds in a word become less

similar, and one of them is replaced by another sound.
e.g. marble becomes marbrɛ
Deletion: Schwa [ə] is removed from a sound in words like the ones below:
e.g. mountain [maʊntn] people [pʰɪpl] sudden [sʌdn]
Elision: It is when a sound segment is purposefully omitted.

e.g. factory [fæktrɪ] medicine [mɛdsn]
Epenthesis: It is when a vowel or a consonant is inserted into a word to

pronounce it better.
e.g. stay [stei] is pronounced like [estei] in Spanish.
Metathesis: It is when two sounds within the same word are changed in their
sequence.
e.g. brid instead of bird [bɜːrd]
Phonotactics: It is the study of what sound sequences are and are not allowed
in a given language. What is allowed in a language is not allowed in another.
In English: In Spanish:
scream e.g. I heard her scream early this morning. escribir (to write ).
split e.g. Don’t split the apple into two pieces. espléndido (splendid).
street e.g. We live on a quiet street. estricto (strict, stern).
Phonetics
Phonetics is the science of speech sounds in terms of their production, transmission,
and reception.
Phonetics is in charge of the study and the analysis of the articulation, the
production, and the description of how a sound is uttered. Every language has a
specific set of sounds, which is particular to the manner how speakers utter and
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articulate speech, based on age, educational background, and geographical issues,
among some other features. Ladefoged (1993) defined phonetics in the following
manner: “Phonetics is concerned with describing the speech sounds that occur in
the languages of the world.” (p. 1).
Phonetics is in the mouth, jaws, tongue, and nose, in the ear, and in the air.
It has to do with the realization of sounds. An early training course is required if
pronunciation errors are to be avoided or corrected so that they do not interfere with
understanding either when delivering a speech or interacting with other speakers
of that language. Otherwise, it would be harder for both speaker and hearer to get
their message across. Phonetics is the study of phonemes in a language. Phonetics
is concerned with the description of speech sounds in a language. Knowledge of
phonetics has to do with the realization of sounds once they have been thought
firstly in the speaker’s brain and mind. Phonetics can be studied from three different
perspectives and it can be applied in the forensic sciences as for word recognition
in order to recognize someone’s voice. Phonetics is the science of speech sounds in
terms of their production, transmission, and reception.
• Articulatory: It refers to how articulators make contact every time a phoneme

is uttered.
• Acoustic: It has to do with the physical mechanisms involved, that is to say, the
transmission used in the production and the understanding of a given phoneme.
• Auditory: It is concerned with how a phoneme reaches the ear, and therefore,
how phonemes are heard.
Phonemes
In Fromkin & Rodman (1988), a phoneme is defined as “a phonetic unit or
segment” “a phoneme is a more abstract unit.” (p. 75). On the other hand, Collins
& Mees (2003) conceive phonemes as “the contrastive units of sound which can be
used to change meaning are termed phonemes.” (p. 10). Every language has a set of
certain number of phonemes (speech sounds: both vowel and consonant sounds),
which are sufficient to make all the necessary phonemes found in them because
people speak differently.
Transcribing phonemes
Transcription refers to the representation of phonemes in a particular word. It

can be at the Phonological or Phonemic level, which refers to the general pronunciation
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of a word, which uses slashes /…/ for such a purpose. It has to do with the mental
representation of that phoneme. The Phonetic level relates to a very detailed transcription
of the phoneme of a given word, which uses brackets […], instead. This level serves to
compare how people from other cultures pronounce the word differently, which leads to
the appearance of dialects of a language. When we talk about speech sounds, we usually
refer to the term Prosody, which includes the terms Segmental and Suprasegmentals.
Segmental phonemes refer to sound segments, which include consonants, vowels, and
semi-vowels. Suprasegmentals refer to intonation, stress, pitch, rhythm, etc. Consonants
may be described in terms of voicing, place of articulation, and manner of articulation:
Voicing characterizes consonantal sounds that when they are pronounced make the vocal
cords to vibrate or not to vibrate. Voicing could be either voiced or voiceless (unvoiced).
A speech sound is said to be voiced when there is vibration of the vocal cords.
e.g. /b/, /d/, /g/, /l/, /m/, /n/, /r/.
A speech sound is said to be voiceless or unvoiced when there is no vibration

of the vocal cords.
e.g. /p/, /t/, /k/, /f/, /s/.
Elements of the Vocal Tract
The vocal tract consists of the teeth, the tongue, the jaws, the alveolar ridge,
the hard palate, the velum, the uvula, the pharynx, the larynx, and the trachea.
Place of articulation: It has to do with the parts of the mouth and throat,
which intervene in the production of speech sounds.
Consonantal sounds are said to be:

Bilabial: the upper and lower lips. e.g. [b] buy; [p] pen; [m] man.
Labiodental: the upper teeth and the lower lip. e.g. [f] first; [v] very.
Interdental: the upper teeth and the tip of the tongue. e.g. [θ] thin; [ð] that.
Alveolar: the gum ridge and the tip of the tongue. e.g. [t] take; [d] dark; [s] six.
Palatal: the front palate and the front of the tongue. e.g. [j] you.
Alveolo-palatal: the front of the tongue towards the area between the alveolar
ridge and the hard palate. e.g. [tʃ] chin; [ʃ] sheep.
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Velar: the back palate and the back of the tongue. e.g. [k] cat; [g] game.
Glottal: sounds that are made at the glottis. e.g. [h] department.
Manner of articulation
It has to do with the manner how speech sounds are produced by the speech
organs. The manner of articulation has to do with how a phoneme is uttered.
When two linguistic systems share both the manner of articulation and the place
of articulation, the production of those phonemes will be easier for the speakers
of those languages.
Consonant classification
Stops or plosives: These sounds are produced by blocking the air stream.
e.g. /p/ voiceless bilabial stop

/b/ voiced bilabial stop
/t/ voiceless alveolar stop
/d/ voiced alveolar stop
/k/ voiceless velar stop
/g/ voiced velar stop
Fricatives: These sounds are produced by friction.
e.g. /f/ voiceless labio-dental fricative

/v/ voiced labio-dental fricative
/θ/ voiceless inter-dental fricative
/ð/ voiced inter-dental fricative
/s/ voiceless alveolar fricative
/z/ voiced alveolar fricative
/h/ voiceless glottal fricative
Affricates: These sounds are a combination of Stops and Fricatives.
e.g. /tʃ/ voiceless alveolo-palatal affricate
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/ʒ/ voiced alveolo-palatal fricative
/dʒ/ voiced alveolo-palatal affricate
Laterals or liquids: These sounds are produced through the sides of the mouth.
e.g. /l/ voiceless alveolar lateral
Nasals: These sounds come out through the nose, not the mouth.
e.g. /m/ voiced bilabial nasal

/n/ voiced alveolar nasal
/ŋ/ voiced velar nasal
Glides: These are sounds, which correspond to /w/ and /j/, which are also
considered as semivowels or semi consonants.
e.g. /j/ voiced palatal approximant

/w/ voiced bilabial approximant
When the articulatory or contact points in the mouth do not match those of
the target language, learners have a hard time trying to get rid of a “certain” kind of
accent, which betrays the speaker, by telling where he comes from. Accent differences
lead to language varieties known as dialects. These differences also play a role, which
makes it difficult understand people since their speech may deviate from the original
or standard, somehow. The quality and quantity of vowel sounds are different from
those of their native language. If articulation of speech sounds also differs from
speaker to speaker within the same language, it is even more extreme the case of
non-native speakers to try to understand phonemes and strings of ideas that they
have never been exposed to before. They have to undergo prior training so that
articulation can mock that of native speakers. It is through permanent and constant
repetition, and practice that an acceptable kind of pronunciation can resemble
the general standard. Watching oneself in the mirror is one of the most suggested
practices. Listening to all kind of audiovisual material is advisable. Learners should
practice it as much as possible, even though they happen to understand little or
nothing at all. Singing songs contributes to grasp the intonation, tone, pitch, rhythm,
and stress, much more naturally. Children of any language can do this effortlessly.
They do not need to be told, which articulators are used or if a given phoneme has
a particular kind of pronunciation so that misunderstanding can be avoided. The
very fact of someone being immersed in the setting and context makes it easy for
native speakers to tell the difference in meaning, which for non-native speakers
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seems to be a hard endeavor. When in a language, let us say Spanish, there are no
marked differences in terms of quality and quantity, it is difficult for them to tell
the difference when there really are in languages like English, for example. So much
work and training are involved here.
The International Phonetic Alphabet –IPA– is a system of phonetic transcription,

which can be used to describe the wide variety of phonemes of languages in the world.
Vowels are speech sounds produced with no blockage of the vocal tract.
American vowels can be classified as being Monophthongs or Diphthongs.
Monophthongs: It takes place when only one sound is involved.
e.g. [i:], [ı], [e], [æ] read, rid; pen, pan.
Diphthongs: It is when to sounds are pronounced in two different syllables.
e.g. [ai], [ei], [aʊ], [oʊ] buy, bay; now, know.
Vowel features
• Tongue height: high mid low

• Tongue backness: front central back
• Lips: unrounded rounded
• Duration pattern: tense lax
Glides are very like vowels, but they can also function as consonants.
e.g. [w] When, window, write [j] Yes, you, fly, try
Table 3. Vowel Features
Position Front Central Back

tense / lax tense lax tense lax tense lax
High i (meal) ɪ (dig) u (food) ʊ (foot)
Mid e (game) ɛ (get) ʌ (luck) ə (about) o (coal) ɔ (saw)
Low æ (map) ɑ (not)
Note: Own work
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Description of vowel features
[i] High front tense vowel [ɛ] Mid front lax vowel
[ɪ] High front lax vowel [æ] Low front lax vowel
[e] Mid front tense vowel [u] High back tense vowel
Some pronunciation issues are as follow:
Articulation: The phonological tract of the speaker interferes with how they talk.
Suprasegmentals: Tone, pitch, intonation, and stress, as we talk, determine

our speech and the relationships we establish with others in a communicative event.
Geographical and climatic factors: Mountains, hills, flats, canyons, valleys,

and desserts, shape the language of people in the places where they were born, they
live, work, or study.
Biological and racial factors: Children’s biological traits and the racial factors
who acquire a language or the individuals, who learn it, tend to have an impact on
how they speak it.
Culture and ethnicity: People pronounce and speak differently depending on

their culture and national origin.
Social class and status: People from different social class and status speak a
language differently within society.
Educational level: The education and the training someone has had throughout
their lifetime show how well they can speak or articulate a first language, a foreign
language or a second language.
Attitude: The willingness and desire someone has to articulate well as they talk.
Aptitude: The ability and the capacity someone has to pronounce phonemes
in a language.
Time: The time and the contact spent with the language and some other
languages.
Quality of interaction and quantity of interaction: The quality and the

quantity of interaction affect an individual’s speech.
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Sounds: There is no always correspondence between spelling and pronunciation
in English. K is silent in words, such as knee; knight; knot; know.
Sounds change according to the linguistic environment in which they occur:
Please [pli:z]; pleasant [plɛsant]; pleased [plist]; pleasure [plɛʒər].
Calm [kʰæm]; palm [pʰæm]; psalm [sæm].
Comb [kʰom]; dumb [dʌm].
Could [kʰʊd]; should [ʃʊd].
Debt [dɛt]; doubt [daut].
I, eye, mine, sight, sign, line, by, buy, bye, like, tie, vie [ai].
ate, eight, cake, brake, break, fake, late, day, may, main [ei].
me, mean, deceive, receive, leak, speak, sea, see, tea [i].
family, fine, cough, enough, laugh, tough, phantom, pharmacy, phlegm, deaf,
leaf [f].
car, cold, cute, Kate, kiosk, queen, queue, scheme, school, skill, luck, talk [k].
Not every sound is pronounced the same way:
child [tʃ];
chemist [k];
Chicago [ʃ].
break, steak [ei];
heard, leather [ɛ];
mean, team [i:].
The Pedagogy of Phonology and Phonetics

Phonology and phonetics have important roles to play since people tend to
speak more than they write. Language in the school should be a reflection of the
one used and spoken outside, in real-life interaction. There is no point in dealing
with language from only one perspective when it is indeed necessary to be explored
and exploited in the most common use: the oral-aural one. Reading aloud and silent
reading also contribute to improve thinking for the organization of ideas in an L2.
What it is meant here is that language is a dual process: one speaker and one hearer
are involved in the communicative event.
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The speaker uses his vocal tract to utter a sound, a phoneme, a syllable, a word,
a phrase, a sentence, a clause, a statement, a piece of text contained in a paragraph,
in a reading, in a recording. The hearer, on the other hand, uses his previous or
background knowledge about the issue being dealt with, in the language spoken by
the speaker. What he does then is to decipher or disentangle those phonemes coming
from the spoken chain. Speakers use their resources to make themselves understood
although there are some internal or external factors, which either favor or hinder
their very personal objectives as it comes to being engaged in a conversation, for
instance. Mental, psychological, attitudinal, and emotional conditions, affect, for
better or worse, a person’s ability to utter speech properly, given the circumstances.
As it was stated earlier, not every speaker always utters speech in the same way.
Teachers should be respectful when their learners make mistakes or errors, such as
slips of the tongue, which are made unconsciously or involuntarily. We all do make
them, even in our own language. Listening comprehension and articulation should
also be approached, from either the top-down or the bottom-up model. The former
has to do with the general to the specific; in other words, learners are responsible
for grasping the main idea or a piece of specific information based on what they
hear. The latter refers to the fact that learners are trained from the very basics until
they can grasp the most difficult issues of a spoken piece of language, for example.
Phonology can be approached based on the techniques and the resources that
teachers and learners have at their disposal.
Neurological, psychological, maturational, physiological, emotional, geographical,

educational, among some other factors, determine how someone speaks. The intention
of what is said or uttered through speech implies the type of intonation, tone, pitch,
rhythm, stress, or any other suprasegmental to be used. Culture also shows the way
children, adolescents, and adults communicate in their oral interactions.
Reflection
1. What phonological problems have you identified in your L2 learners?
2. Which types of phonetics are you much more interested in as a language teacher?
Project
Select the most difficult phonemes in English for Spanish learners or speakers
to pronounce. Explain the reasons and provide some suggestions to overcome the
problem.
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Language in The Brain and The Mind
“All mental processes, even the most complex psychological processes,
derive from operations of the brain.”
Eric Kandel.
8
Neurolinguistics and Psycholinguistics
“Neurolinguistics is highly related to psycholinguistics in the sense
that they complement each other.”
Neurolinguistics
N
eurolinguistics is the branch of linguistics, which deals with the make-up,
development, and functioning of the brain. It comprises all the processes,
which take place in a man’s brain. Neurolinguistics is also interested in studying
the phenomena related to mental illnesses, which interfere with language understanding
and language production, which comprise tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon, aphasia,
agrammatism, anomia, which are due to strokes, malformation of the brain, traumas
the child had at birth, accidents, or impairments someone has suffered throughout
time in their lifetime, etc. Neurolinguistics is highly related to psycholinguistics in
the sense that they complement each other. The former relates to the brain processes
involved in language. The latter refers to the mental processes underlying it. Both
issues will be covered in this chapter.
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Graph 3. Components of Neurolinguistics
Make-up
Development
Brain
Functioning
Mental processes
Neurolinguistics
Processing
Understanding
Language Production
Retrieval
Speech disorders
The brain is the physical structure –nerves and masses,– which makes the
mental functions be born, develop, and nourish. The brain is also responsi ble for
other basic functions people and animals are to perform. It is quite evident to point
out that language, in terms of production, comprehension, processing, and retrieval,
among some other functions, are installed in the brain. Neurolinguistics studies the
neural mechanisms of both the human and animal brains. Neurolinguistics studies
and analyzes the physiological properties of where and how language is produced
and understood in the brain. Neurolinguistics deals with the study of the human and
animal brains in order to describe, explain, or decipher the phenomena related to
the acquisition, storage, production, understanding, and retrieval of language. The
brain can stop functioning properly due to physical injuries and deterioration due to
aging, and probably, because of negative episodes people have had throughout their
lives, such as frustrations, deceptions, anger, fear, solitude, helplessness, boredom
and the like. Alzheimer’s disease is believed to be produced because of the loss
of neurons and atrophy, according to medical records. Thanks to recent medical
breakthroughs, in 2018, a team of scientists led by Professor Michele Vendruscolo,
devised a strategy to fight it. This is what Vendruscolo (2018) in the article Scientists
reveal plan to target the cause of Alzheimer’s disease said,
This is the first time that a systematic method to go after the pathogens—the
cause of Alzheimer’s disease—has been proposed ... Until very recently scientists
couldn’t agree on what the cause was so we didn’t have a target. As the pathogens
have now been identified as small clumps of proteins known as oligomers,
we have been able to develop a strategy to aim drugs at these toxic particles.
About the importance of the brain, this is what Sagan (1980) stated in this
regard, “The brain is a very big place in a very small space.” (p. 278).
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The main parts of the brain
The left hemisphere controls the right side of your body. It is responsible for
language, math, and reasoning.
The right hemisphere controls the left side of your body. It is responsible for
music, art, etc.
The central sulcus is a deep furrow in the brain, which separates the frontal
lobe from the parietal lobe.
The motor cortex controls the movement of hands, feet, arms, face, jaw,
tongue, and larynx.
The arcuate fasciculus is a bundle of nerve fibers, which connects Broca’s area
to Wernicke’s area.
The corpus callosum connects the two hemispheres.
The brain stem connects the brain and the spinal cord.
Graph 4. Language in the Brain
Languaje Left hemisphere

production
Broca´s Area
Impairment Broca`s aphasia
Language in the brain
Languaje
Left hemisphere
understanding
Wernicke´s Area
Impairment Wernicke`s aphasia
Language in the brain
Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area are thought to be the places in the human brain,
which are responsible for both language production and language understanding,
respectively. Broca’s area is the part of the brain, which is responsible for speech
production, it is also responsible for language processing and language comprehension
somehow.
First discovered in 1861, Broca’s area was named after Pierre Paul Broca (1824-
1880). He studied a patient’s brain after his death, such a patient suffered from speech
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impairment. Broca’s area is located in the anterior cortex of the left hemisphere. In
this area is where speech is produced.
Neurologist Carl Wernicke (1848-1905) was the scientist, who discovered the
place where language is understood. Wernicke’s area is located in the posterior cortex
of the left hemisphere. In this area is where speech is comprehended. Wernicke’s
area is responsible for language comprehension, semantic processing, language
recognition, and language interpretation. It is important to remark that deaf people
cannot speak, not because of an impairment of the region responsible for speech
in the brain, but because they are unable to hear. The more someone is exposed
to language; their brain will start receiving stimuli from external sources: people,
nature, and circumstances.
Speech disorders:
They are characterized by a difficulty in producing normal speech patterns.

Some of the most common speech disorders are aphasia, anomia, agrammatism, tip
of the tongue, spoonerism, stammering or stuttering, etc. The Encyclopedia of Children’s
Health (2010) refers to the stages that children have to go through as they attempt
to produce spoken language as follows:
Children go through many stages of speech production while they are learning
to communicate. What is normal in the speech of a child of one age may be a
sign of a problem in an older child. Speech disorders include voice disorders
(abnormalities in pitch, volume, vocal quality, resonance, or duration of sounds),
articulation disorders (problems producing speech sounds), and fluency disorders
(impairment in the normal rate or rhythm of speech, such as stuttering.
Speech disorders are common. More than a million children in the public
schools’ special education programs have been diagnosed with a speech disorder.
One in 10 people in the United States is affected by a communication disorder:
speech, language, or hearing disorders.
Aphasia: The term aphasia comes from the Greek language that means
“speechless.” Aphasia is a language disorder caused by the damage to the temporal lobe.
Someone, who suffers from it, has problems understanding or producing language
or both. Aphasia may be present due to one of the following factors: strokes, brain
injuries, or brain damage. Yule (1996) defines aphasia in the following manner:
“Aphasia is defined as an impairment of language function due to localized cerebral
i.e. (brain) damage, which leads to difficulty in understanding and/or producing
linguistic forms.” (p. 167).
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Types of aphasia
Broca’s aphasia: It refers to language production impairments caused by

strokes, brain injuries, etc. According to Yule (1996), Broca’s aphasia is also known
as “motor aphasia,” and it is characterized by a substantial reduced amount of speech,
distorted articulation, and slow and effortful speech. Individuals, who suffer from
Broca’s aphasia, do not have any difficulty in understanding speech. Individuals can
understand speech easily, but they have a hard time making themselves understood
as they talk.
Wernicke’s aphasia: It deals with difficulties someone has to understand

language. According to Yule (1996), Wernicke’s aphasia is also known as “sensory
aphasia” and the individual has difficulty in understanding speech. Individuals, who
suffer from Wernicke’s aphasia, do not have any difficulty in producing speech, but
they have a hard time understanding it. Following there is an example reported in
Akmajian et al. (2001):
Examiner: Do you like it here in Kansas City?

Aphasic: Yes, I am.
Examiner: I’d like to have you tell me something about your problem.
Aphasic: Yes, I, ug, can’t hill all of my way. I can’t talk all of the things I do,
and part of the part I can go alright, but I can’t tell from the other people. I usually
most of my things. I know what can I talk and know what they are, but I can’t always
come back even though I know they should be in, and I know should something
eely I should know what I’m doing. (p. 543).
Global aphasia: Global aphasia is an acquired language disorder involving

severe impairments in both language production and language comprehension.
Anomic aphasia: Anomia is a language disorder in which the individual cannot

remember words easily, especially nouns and verbs.
Agrammatism: According to Richards, Platt, & Platt (1992), “agrammatism

is difficulty in using grammatical words, such as prepositions, articles, etc.” (p. 18).
Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon: It is a phenomenon when someone is sure

he knows a word, but they are not able to remember it. They say they have it at
the tip of the tongue, but they just cannot remember the word or the expressions
they are required to utter. This phenomenon happens when they are under stress,
tiredness, or fear.
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Spoonerism: Spoonerisms are expressions, which are named after Reverend
W. A. Spooner. He used to misplace some syllables within the same phrase or
sentence, for instance:
He meant “Our dear old Queen,” but he instead said, “Our queer old Dean.”
Stammering or stuttering: It results because of the prolonged repetition of
phonemes, syllables, and words, affecting the smooth flow of speech. It can vary
according to the circumstances, the contexts, and the people involved in the speech
event.
The pace with which the brain thinks in a foreign language is kind of time
consuming. The brain is constantly bombarded with thoughts, images, and ideas,
which come and go with the impetus of an arrow. Thinking is a hard endeavor. Imagine
how difficult it is for you even in your own language. Sometimes, it is even difficult
to decide which word, phrase, sentence, or expression to use in order to structure an
idea, to express a need, or to convey a message. When it comes to a foreign or a second
language, whatever the case may be, it is even harder to organize an idea. Therefore, it
is far more difficult to achieve in a foreign language. You could ask them, for instance,
to tell you how to say, express, connect ideas, and convey meaning, just by asking them
something quite simple like How do you say “good morning” in Turkish? How do you
greet someone in Hindu? How do you say “you are right” in Russian? Learning does not
take place overnight just by simply providing learners with grammatical structures and
expecting them to come out with social expressions to which they have never been
exposed to before. You could ask them to write a paragraph and to deliver it orally
when they lack the conditions to do it properly. If the brain lacks concepts and ideas,
expressed in words, how can you expect that learners can say something if there is no
sufficient input on what to be said, conveyed, wanted, needed, or asked? Ideas exist
based on words. The universe is expecting to be named. The idealization of concepts
is different in every language. Concepts are language specific.
“Teaching” a foreign language does not necessarily imply that learners are ready
to learn it whatsoever, just for the sole fact of pleasing those who are in command of
demanding a series of language entrance or exit requirements. “Learning” a language,
when the necessary and ideal conditions are not met, becomes only a mere attempt
since learners lack realistic opportunities, which make them incorporate it within
their existing linguistic repertoire. How can learners achieve such a challenge when
they have not been exposed sufficiently to the language for them to carry out a task
successfully? Nothing can be productive if there is nothing in the brain to support
that productivity and creativity. A simple and basic task is to ask them to think in a
foreign or a second language to which they have not been exposed to before or they
have not had the need to speak it. How could language learners be able to please
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and to reach their teachers’ expectations? Unfortunately, most of the time, some
language teachers take for granted that learning how to speak English is a matter of
memorizing structural rules as if it were mathematics, calculus, chemistry, or physics,
which of course, is not the case. Speaking it goes beyond that. Language learning is
meaningful, and as such, its ultimate goal is to equip learners with what they want
and need to mean. In a community, people come and go. Pedestrians, by-standers,
foreigners, complete strangers, acquaintances, friends, colleges, co-workers, among
some others, may approach us. Social interactions develop and language does,
too. It is here where language has to be used, not just in the language classroom. It
should be taken outside of it and be used in many more realistic contexts, such as
a cafeteria, a restaurant, a library, a bookstore, and down the halls, of course. We
are unaware of what language structures are going to be used by those we approach
or those who approach us. The grammar taught in the language classroom, which
commonly follows an inductive approach, usually leads nowhere if there is no
practical use and application. Grammar cannot be planned as if it were a formula
since not everybody speaks alike. Thinking in a foreign language is a time-consuming
process both for understanding and for producing it. Language teachers need to do
it well because this is their job. Learners, on the other hand, have to do what it is
in their hands to learn something, which they do not like, they are not good at, or
is imposed from above. Even, if these were the sole justifications for not learning a
foreign language, language teachers should accommodate their “teaching” to their
learners’ learning styles (Kolb, Fleming). One of the hardest aspects is to train
the brain to understand what speakers say and really want to convey in a native
language, a foreign language, or a second language. The counterpart, that is to say,
hearers become speakers as they also contribute to keep a conversation going. Both
speakers and hearers exchange roles as they exchange ideas. The fact of understanding
speakers, hearers, and audiences, either interested or uninterested, entails a series
of factors: speakers’ view of culture; kind of communicative event; setting of the
communicative act; age of participants involved in it; contexts and settings of the
interactions held; prior knowledge of what is being talked about; real involvement
in the utterances held and interactions; sufficient background knowledge of the l2
culture they are involved in; permanent interaction held between non-native and
native speakers; exposure to language varieties so that l2 understanding is possible.
Psycholinguistics
“Mental representations differ from speaker to speaker.”
Psycholinguistics develops the idea behind the relationship between psychology
and linguistics. It aims at analyzing those features related to the mind of the
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speaker and the hearer and the processes involved in such a relationship. Mental
representations differ from speaker to speaker. Not every individual uses the same
strategies to process, understand, and retrieve language. The mental processes are
the raw material from where those interested in this field get their primary attention.
Psycholinguistics, according to Bauer (2007) is defined as follows: “Psycholinguistics
deals with the way in which the mind deals with language, including matters such
as how language is stored in the mind, how language is understood and produced
in real time, how children acquire their first language.”
Graph 5. Psycholinguistics
Psycholinguistics
Psyche Languaje
Mind Languaje
Mental Mental
representations processes
Psycholinguistics establishes a direct relationship between mind and language.

It is interested in studying the cognitive processes, which take place to understand,
produce, or store language. The mind is the amorphous entity in which our thoughts
come to life. Language is an instrument for the expression or communication of
thought. Language can affect thought once thought has been established. Both the
brain and the mind have unlimited powers from which men should learn in order
to reach and to develop their most potential, and in doing so, they can benefit from
them as sources of knowledge, creativity, and expressiveness. Socrates’ quote serves
as a springboard to the aforementioned ideas: “Strong minds discuss ideas, average
minds discuss events, weak minds discuss people.”
How can someone think in a foreign language when there is any background
experience as for sounds, images, meanings, applications, and needs in it? A quite
simple question can be asked: Could you ask someone the simplest question in Arabic,
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Chinese, or German if you have not ever heard any phoneme in that language? A
prime requirement for this to take place is to be immersed in language and culture
where it is naturally acquired. Immersion contributes to language acquisition. A
concern also springs from this analysis, you cannot ask your learners to perform
tasks as to prepare an academic article if they are not well prepared enough to do
so successfully. The only choice that they have is to translate it with the help of a
translating machine on the Internet or to ask someone else to do it for them. Language
does not come into a vacuum, but it comes into existence when it is embedded into
culture and culture is expressed through it. Language cannot be isolated from culture
because they back up each other.
Language and social interaction
Language is the foundation of thought. Language serves to shape people’s

thoughts. Speech as language is the basis of thinking. Speech understanding precedes
speech production. Speech is a common human trait, which is shared by any infant
no matter the linguistic code or system they speak or understand. Language as
speech is what really makes us different from other mammals or insects in our
attempt to communicate, to understand one another, to maintain and to improve
our social interaction, to develop mental abilities, or to perform higher cognitive
skills. Vygotsky (1896-1934) came up with an interesting quote, which can illustrate
the importance of thought through words, by saying, “Thought is not merely
expressed in words; it comes into existence through them.”
Both language and mathematics require mental processes for their understanding
and solving problems. As language makes part of a common ground, everybody
has to interact to keep a conversation going; this is not the case in mathematics.
The more we use language, the more it develops naturally and it becomes perfect
as individuals participate more often, on a daily basis.
Language was born as a survival element. No matter what language a child

acquires, there is a common pattern, which is naturally developed by them, around the
world. It means that the human brain is essentially the same to produce, understand,
and most importantly, get something out of it. The way people organize their thoughts
is a responsibility of the brain, the language they speak, and the cognitive processes
underlying them. Culture also has a say in the sense that what people experience
around them, contributes to organize their thoughts, and in doing so, they will be
able to interact with their peers in the achievement of very specific and particular
goals, where others also are responsible for contributing with their counterpart.
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Graph 6. Three Approaches to Psycholinguistics
Psycholinguistics
Mind Mind Languaje
Amorphous Instrument Processes

entity
Thoughts Thoughts Thoughts
The first one has to do with the mind: It deals with how the amorphous
entity interprets the thoughts installed in the brain, that is to say, the mind is not
physical by nature.
The second one, with language: It is the vehicle or the instrument through
which our thoughts come to life, how it contributes to human understanding.
The third one, with cognition: It refers to the processes involving language
in terms of how people know and gain some understanding of their surrounding
and how those experiences enrich the acquisition or the learning of language and
of what is achieved thanks to it.
Plato (428 BC – 427 BC), Aristotle (384 BC – 322 BC), and the Mind
Mukherjee & Ramaswamy (1999) state, “For Plato, the mind was active,
capable of directing itself towards objects of study, and if nurtured properly, it
was capable of becoming totally receptive to objects from the environment.”
(p. 74).
Feher (2012) provides the following idea referring to what the mind represented
for Aristotle, by saying, “To Aristotle, the mind was not a material entity.” (p.
297).
Language is not just influenced by what takes place in the brain, but also by
external factors, which affect the linguistic competence, the linguistic performance,
and the communicative competence, of both speaker and hearer. The brain is the
controlling source of all and every mechanism articulated physiologically, affecting
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a person’s mental and psychological states. As for language acquisition, language, in
any linguistic system, has to be installed, first in the brain and the mind. Right after
this, thoughts and ideas appear, as there is a need to be fulfilled. People in their small
social and cultural groups started to organize those thoughts and ideas based on
what they wanted to convey in order to achieve communication and understanding,
of course. That is where syntax, in the spoken language, appeared. Once people have
control over language, thought comes out easily, which is somehow very different
then, from how babies, toddlers, and children acquire their native language, of
course, under natural and normal conditions. In the case of animals, such as dogs,
for instance, although they do not have speech as humans do, they can understand
some of the words, phrases, or even sentences we tell them: “baby,” “doggy,” “puppy,”
“sweetie,” “Let us go,” “would you like to go for a walk?” They answer back just by
waging their tails or moving their ears, for instance, but they can also react like
this to greet someone or another dog, other animals or insects, or to express their
affection, fear, hunger, thirst, happiness, or curiosity, by using different tones of
voice. It is not a word, which carries a whole meaning or understanding of an idea,
but a simple phoneme performs such a task. An instance of this is an interjection,
which is used to express apology (oops!); disbelief (oh!); disgust (yuck!); fear (eek!);
hesitation (uh!); pain (ouch!); or surprise (wow!). Language acquisition takes
place naturally and effortlessly. Language learning, on the other hand, requires an
inordinate amount of time and effort. A word in isolation can carry meaning per
se, but the context in which it is used plays a role. Words such as “help!,” “police!,”
“water!,” can actually carry meaning. Even, when people are unable to come up with
a given word, they use a number of strategies to make themselves understood and
achieve their communicative goals. Language is the means, the vehicle, or the system
through which both thought as thinking and thoughts as ideas can be expressed.
As for language acquisition, quantity of interaction and quality of interaction
(Gass, Mackey, & Ross-Feldman, 2005). can be used. The former refers to the
amount of time the learner is exposed to a piece of knowledge in formal contexts:
the classroom or natural settings. The latter refers to how effective teaching is, as
well as how meaningful the type of material is. Therefore, babies, children, adults,
and dogs require quantity of interaction, as well as quality of interaction in terms
of the spoken language where they have to decipher it and read the gestures, body
language, and non-verbal communication in order for them to get a clue so that
the aim of communication can be reached. Babies, toddlers, and children can easily
and effortlessly “grasp the language” they are in contact with, for long periods. The
same is true for those who are just exposed to the sounds of birds and mammals,
and nature, found in the four elements: wind, water, fire, and earth. In this way,
they will develop the physiological, cognitive, and mental abilities to reproduce,
recognize, and communicate with others.
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Being exposed to language really matters in the sense that quality of interaction
and quantity of interaction play an important role in everyday encounters and cultural
practices. However, after such exposure, opportunities for interaction must be
coupled with the former. Otherwise, language acquisition could not ever be possible.
Although animals attempt “to talk,” to sing as in the case of roosters, for instance,
all of them utter the same sounds no matter their owners’ language background
although the speakers of those languages hear them differently. Language is generated
in and by a person’s brain, mind, and psyche. In my opinion, the generation of language
is one thing and the production of language through speech and writing is another
thing. There are more issues behind what language is and what it is used for. Is it
possible to create images and pictures out of the blue, out of nowhere, out of nothing,
when the spoken language has not been installed in a person’s brain? Personally, we
think it is not as easy as it could sound. It is through the direct contact, experience,
and the opportunity someone has when he is exposed to language input. As soon
as the spoken language is shared, experienced, and put to use, within a particular
context, it is feasible that a person’s brain could be ready to start creating, recreating,
evoking, recalling, understanding, and producing the spoken language. Then, once
an object has been presented, and used in a meaningful linguistic context, social
setting, and cultural practice, it can be represented in a person’s brain for further
communicative purposes. Nothing can be represented as a mental image or mental
representation if it has not previously mentally presented or introduced in a person’s
brain, on the one hand; and if it has not been repeated in a numberless time, framed
within beliefs, traditions, and practices, which give meaning to it, on the other hand.
The Pedagogy of Neurolinguistics and Psycholinguistics

The more parents, caretakers, and teachers are in contact with babies, toddlers,
children, and teenagers or even adults, the more they will have the chance to detect
possible language disorders, traumas, or damages, which are responsible for the
processing, the comprehension, the production, the storage, and the retrieval of
language in their brains and their minds. Then, it is important to refer them to people
specialized in the area, and in doing so, they can be treated accordingly. Language
teachers should have sound knowledge and understanding of the possible causes
and consequences that some of the disorders covered in this chapter can affect how
individuals, with limited language command, deal with language and communication
as they want to be understood as they interact with others.
The world of neurolinguistics is not just for those interested in the field, but
also for teachers, who are those who spend most of their time under the care or
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the instruction of children, teenagers, and adults. By understanding how the brain
works, they will become more aware of their responsibility for the development of
language in the most natural circumstances. The way the brain processes language
and how mental processes take place within it, is the interest of both Neurolinguistics
and Psycholinguistics. That is why teachers should take advantage of some of the
principles underlying language acquisition or language learning, and in doing so;
they could become aware of the possible problems that learners are to deal with in
their attempt to achieving language for them to understand and make themselves
understood. Language learning cannot be directly related to what is taught at
school, but to the mental and psychological processes through which they have to
go through as they attempt to approach the L2. Teachers have to be aware of the
stages, which make up their learners’ linguistic repertoire and identify any problems,
which may appear as they advance toward their language attainment, as well as the
cultural patterns accompanying the L2 community where it takes place and develops.
Language processing in a foreign language takes time.
Teachers have to be patient with their learners since they learn at their own
pace and not all of them learn the same issues because their interests differ in terms
of background knowledge and the direct application of the instruction held in the
classroom. A sense of security must be given to learners as they attempt to speak
a foreign or a second language where few or no opportunities for interaction are
given, outside the classroom.
The fact of being aware of what foreign language learners have to go through
refers to the neurological network and psychological factors with either favor or
hinder L2 learning. Language teachers should not be experts in the field. However,
they are expected to have some background knowledge about the areas in which
language comprehension and language production take place. Language is a mental
construct as Massam (2007) puts it when she states, “Language is a mental construct
with a set of rules and organizing principles and as linguists we are interested in
finding out what those are.” Language comprises an elaborated set of processes and
rules. Such rules are determined by external mechanisms, which help to structure
ideas based on what wants to be said. Language rules deal with word-formation
processes (prefixes, infixes, suffixes, etc.), phonological processes (aspiration,
assimilation, metathesis, nasalization, etc.), phonetic processes (accents, dialects,
regional differences, etc.), syntactic processes (word-order patterns at the sentence
level: statements, questions, negative markers, subject-verb agreement), pragmatic
processes (implicatures, inferences), sociolinguistic process (accommodation,
interpretation, standardization).
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Since language is either used formally or informally, there exist ways in which
that can be done and expressed purposefully. First language acquisition proceeds quite
randomly. Culture and views in which language is immersed are determinants for
both speakers and hearers to negotiate meaning other than just the mere structure.
Language could be well structured in the sense in which parts of speech are organized
and still it can lack meaning. Meaning should be favored rather than the syntax of
a particular language. There are some factors, which influence the way or ways in
which speakers and hearers, as well as writers and readers, make use of language.
Since language cannot be conceived as an individual endeavor, it requires other
people’s participation so that communication can be “successfully” achieved only
if those are willing to play an active role in the exchange of ideas with others, who
share a common linguistic code. In foreign language classrooms, teachers should be
able to let learners apply and practice what they have been taught in formal language
courses. Other than teaching, teachers should focus on letting learners learn the L2.
Such learning does not only comprise a definite process, but also a variety of them.
It cannot respond to a fixed or pre-designed syllabus, but one in which learners’
communicative and cultural needs, which are unknown, have to be met. They are
unknown when it comes to realistic interactions since they cannot be anticipated or
predicted. What teachers should do is to provide learners with many possibilities in
which ideas can be expressed, followed by meaningful vocabulary words and idioms,
which they surely are to come across once they leave the language classroom. Only
does language make sense when it serves a particular purpose in mind.
Reflection
1. How could knowledge of neurolinguistics and psycholinguistics be applied in
your EFL or ESL setting?
2. What kinds of teaching strategies have you ever implemented so that your learners
overcome any learning difficulty related to neurolinguistics or psycholinguistics?
Project
Explore an area related to neurolinguistics or psycholinguistics that you would
like to delve into. Explain if you have ever seen any neurological or psychological
disorder of any kind in your learners. Devise some strategies to tackle it. Write down
a report based on the findings to support your evidence.
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9
First Language Acquisition and Second
Language Learning
“Language cannot and should not be taught by certain levels, but what
learners really need to convey. Language is timeless. It is a social construct.”
N
obody has control over what grammatical structure has to be used.
Language cannot be predicted as such. No one can tell in advance, what
needs or has to be said, or even how the interlocutor could respond to a
given reply. Language acquisition is an unconscious process since children do not
take the time to analyze the behavior of language. Instead, they start building not
only the structure or the sequential order of how a particular phrase, sentence,
or statement has to be formed, but also their participation in social and cultural
practices with their parents, teachers, peers, and strangers. In that way, they start
building the structure of language, not just by memorizing extensive formulae of
grammatical and syntactic rules as if language were something like mathematics.
If it were the case, parents and teachers would have to use large and long charts in
which language structures were to be memorized by children. Language acquisition
is done randomly, not linearly, without any particular sequence. It just takes place, by
the sake of it, almost without being noticed. Language acquisition does not proceed
in a regular order since communication does not have requisites or prerequisites as
to what has to be taught or learned, first. In real-life everyday social interactions,
a plethora of phenomena converge, many processes, and interactions take place
simultaneously and unexpectedly.
When it comes to learning vocabulary words and idiomatic expressions,

children’s particular cultures contribute to their internalization. Much more specialized
vocabulary is grasped as they grow up, attend school, college, or university, take up
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a job, and continue socializing with others in communities and society, in general.
Some other issues, such as context, purpose, register, etc. have a say in the way
people select language. Language cannot and should not be fractured as it usually
happens in some formal regular language courses. Language teachers should
comply with their language learners’ requirements in terms of what they need to
say, at a given moment, toward the completion of their goal, which is not the same
as for a teachers’ target. In this sense, it can be appreciated that language teachers
and language learners do not always follow the same path as for what they want
to achieve. Language is used to convey meaning. The construction of language, its
structure or syntax depends on a purpose of what wants to be conveyed, not just
the mere juxtaposition of a Subject, a Verb, and an Object. Language determines
the way people think and culture determines the way people conceive the world,
according to the Whorf-Sapir Hypothesis. We totally agree with their posture in the
sense that the language that we speak affects both thinking and the culture we are
part of. Thinking is language specific. Otherwise, everybody would think alike no
matter the language that they speak. Language teaching must give way to language
learning only when there is a change of mind and a willingness of change of roles.
The learner is the doer of his own learning. The teacher is there, not just to teach, but
also to guide learning. That is the proper methodology. The one, which responds to
learners’ communicative needs at the right moment, at the right place. The language
teacher is there for the learner to supply and to guide his or her learning.
More than teaching, the idea is to provide learners with the conditions so
that language can flourish in their mind. Language has to be delivered such as it is.
Language is structured to fulfill a communicative need, not just to arrange certain
words in a string of sounds. The brain is as ready as a sponge to absorb language.
Speech is structured according to what people need to convey, which is meaning.
Meaning is organized. The organization of elements in speech may lead to ambiguous
interpretations. This ambiguity is analyzed based on interpretation, which depends
on the context of the situation and the speaker’s intention in the communicative event
to convey his or her message across. It is through language exposure and language
quality that someone acquires language naturally if the neurological mechanisms
and the psychological state let him or her do so.
Native language: It is the language a baby acquires in direct contact with native
speakers: parents, peers, friends, and the whole community out there, in natural
environments.
First language: It is the case when a child has been exposed to more than one
language, that is to say, English, Italian, German, Japanese, and the language that
he or she chooses is said to be his or her first language.
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Gass & Selinker (2001) define second language acquisition as follows: “Second
language acquisition is concerned with the nature of the hypothesis (whether
conscious or unconscious) that learners come up with regarding the rules of the
second language.” (p. 1).
Acquisition: It is the natural process by which children grasp language

unconsciously, at an early age, as Krashen & Terrell (1983) state.
Babies cannot think in any given or specific language if they have not been
previously exposed to it, in a natural environment. Babies’ speech is somehow replaced
by cries, which is a sign to express hunger, sleep, happiness, cold, or fear, until they
are prepared to understand it and to speak it as it should be, by depending on the
opportunities they have to interact with those around them in a given linguistic
system, within a specific culture.
For Krashen (1981, 1988) language acquisition takes place in natural environments.
Speakers are surrounded by native speakers. Language comes out naturally since
its focus is on communication. It is determined by chaos and non-linear linguistic
and cultural features, which cannot be pre-established in advance, but satisfied as
language serves as a vehicle for speakers and hearers to communicate. In non-natural
settings, that is to say, where language learning conditions have to be created from
the inside to the outside, the task-based approach plays an important role in the
learning process.
Scaffolding (adjustment) is the process through which learners have to go farther

in the L2 learning so that their language attainment can be possible through the
implementation of suitable and appropriate tasks. Thanks to our mental processes,
any language can be easily acquired at an early age, only if the conditions necessary
for that to take place, are successfully met. Babies can just react to a number of
circumstances, as it was stated earlier, but they do it as a sign to express their needs,
wants, and preferences, which are conveyed by cooing, babbling, crying, but also
by using body language, gestures, posture, and facial expressions, features, which
are commonly found in any language.
Graph 7. Language Requirements
Languaje requeriments
Braain Language Language Language Social & Cultural

maturity exposure production comprehension practices
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The language learning process should be done without following a linear order
since the language acquisition process is quite chaotic. When language acquisition
takes place, it does not stick to any particular paradigm. Then, in language acquisition
processes, babies, toddlers, and children grasp their native language effortlessly,
without any previous instruction from partners, peers, friends, teachers, or strangers.
It springs out naturally since what the brain and the mind just require are language
exposure and opportunities of interaction within a linguistic community, permeated
by cultural practices proper to each language.
Both native and non-native language teachers have to bear in mind what
their learners have to go through as they attempt to learn a foreign language.
Foreign language (L2) learning cannot be planned. It can be framed into the Chaos
Theory (Lorenz, 1961), also known as the Butterfly Effect. As the Chaos Theory
supports the idea of non-linearity and uncertainty, language learning also follows
the same path and trend. It is always on the move. It responds to unplanned and
unpredictable, external and internal conditions, which affect both the gains and
losses in terms of permanent language exposure (Krashen, 1988) and meaningful
opportunities for interaction (Rivers, 1987), which are critical, in a non-natural
setting. It can be said that first language acquisition is a first-hand experience
and foreign language learning is a second-hand experience. They occur under
different circumstances. In order for learning to be similar to acquisition, the
conditions of the latter have to be extrapolated to contexts of the former. In this
sense, language teachers, along with governmental officers, have to work hard
so that this can be achieved.
However, cultural practices play an important role in language learning or

language acquisition. Foreign language learning is subjected to the non-linear
theory. It means that language learning does not proceed in a regular order, but in
a quite different fashion. Not everyone learns the L2 following the same patterns, at
the same speed, and with the same objectives in mind. The same is true in foreign
language classroom settings in which it is expected that language teachers have to
comply with pre-fixed syllabi without responding to their language learners’ real
communicative needs outside the classroom. It is in real-life interactions where
language learning makes sense and comes to life.
A distinction between Acquisition and Learning is shown below:
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Table 4. Distinction Between Acquisition and Learning
Acquisition Learning
It is an unconscious process. It is a conscious process.
Learner’s internal factors. Learner’s external factors.
Mental mechanisms are natural. It is hard to think in the L2.
It takes place in a natural setting. It takes place in an artificial setti ng.
It is based on natural communication. It is based on formal instruction.
There are native speakers. There are no or few native speakers.
Direct contact with native speakers. Presence of teacher or instructor.
There is a realistic language purpose. There are many reasons to learn it.
The emphasis lies on fluency. The emphasis is on accuracy.
The conditions are already met. The conditions need to be created.
Language is linked to culture. It is hard to gain some cultural insight.
The curriculum is need-based. The curriculum tends to be gradual.
There are cognitive & mental processes. There is a lot of drilling involved.
There are authentic materials. Materials need to be created or adapted.
Native or natural pronunciation. Odd or strange pronunciation.
Language is being exposed from birth. Language is taught after childhood.
Speech sounds natural. Speech has a type of an accent.
Note: Own work
Foreign language (L2) learning cannot be planned in advance. It is unpredictable

since social interactions are permeated by a number of factors, which are hard to
be anticipated. Language is the result of human interactions between a speaker
and a hearer in order for them to reach a common goal through communication,
cooperation, and cultural understanding. Language exposure goes hand in hand with
the Chaos Theory (Becker, 1983); Larsen-Freeman (1997); (Bishop, 2015) since social
and cultural practices provide speakers with meaningful opportunities for interaction.
It is often said that foreign language learning should follow regular patterns in terms
of syntactic structures. However, it is a personal choice. Grammar is usually taught,
by applying the inductive approach, in which the rules are essential to understanding
the workings of “abstract rules of grammar” proper to a language. In this regard,
Becker (1983) points out: “Suppose that, instead of shaping discourse according to
rules, one really pulls old language from memory and then reshapes it to current
context.” (p. 218). Then, he entertains the idea that grammar should not be taught
implicitly, but it should be supplied according to learners’ communicative needs.
The same can be applied in foreign language learning. Every single building block,
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in terms of language learning, highly contributes to the building of the scaffolding
structure on which language is supported. We just do not internalize language. We
create ideas through and with language. First language acquisition cannot be linear
since language is a dynamic system. As its name suggests, it is always on the move.
When people interact and intervene in social encounters, it is where language
exchange takes place. Such a talk is marked by a series of thoughts and ideas framed
within particular structures, whose intentions are to determine likes, needs, and
purposes to be met. In other words, when people participate in social and cultural
practices, language is the means through which their ideas are exchanged, discussed,
supported, and approved of or disapproved of. Foreign language learners do not see
eye to eye when the linguistic and cultural conditions are not met in the household,
in the school, in the community, as it happens with native speakers. By focusing on
how the natural processes occur, foreign language learning should be based on the
same natural principles: randomness, non-linearity, and pre-establishments of what
comes first and what goes on next. It is learned, based on the communicative and
survival needs and circumstances in which it develops, grows, and redevelops as it
adapts to internal factors or external situations. Children start speaking the native
language prior to learning its grammar (formally). In other words, there is no point
of teaching the L2 grammar rules if there is no any practical use or application, in
the short term. The L2 rules can possibly be memorized, but still, it is a hard and
fruitless endeavor if the L2 learner does not have any real need in his or her own
setting, and experience those grammar rules. My discussion on the Chaos Theory
applied to foreign language learning is centered on Bishop’s idea (2015) when he states,
The big news about chaos is supposed to be that the smallest of changes in a system
can result in very large differences in that system’s behavior. The so-called butterfly
effect has become one of the most popular images of chaos. The idea is that the
flapping of a butterfly’s wings in Argentina could cause a tornado in Texas three
weeks later... To begin, chaos is typically understood as a mathematical property of
a dynamical system. A dynamical system is a deterministic mathematical model,
where time can be either a continuous or a discrete variable.
As it can be appreciated from the aforementioned quotation, the Chaos Theory

has large implications on small changes, which in turn, also have meaningful
repercussions in the structure as a whole. Larsen-Freeman (1997) refers to chaos in
the following manner: “The randomness generated by complex systems has to come
to be called chaos.” (p. 142). Based on the Chaos Theory, applied to mathematical
studies, Larsen-Freeman (1997) compares some of these features or properties
(dynamic, complex, nonlinear, chaotic, unpredictable, sensitive to initial conditions,
open, self-organizing, feedback, adaptive, strange attractor, and fractal) of the Chaos
Theory to language learning in the sense that they are always on the move, going
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back and forwards. Let me explain the concepts above both from a linguistic and
pedagogical perspective: Dynamic (changeable); complex (intricate); nonlinear
(discontinuous); chaotic (disordered); unpredictable (unforeseeable); sensitive
to initial conditions (butterfly effect); open (unobstructed); self-organizing (self-
regulating); feedback (assessment); adaptive (flexible to change); strange attractor
(chaotic attractor); and fractal (repeated pattern). All of the above features can be
paralleled with language since it behaves as physical properties, which are hard to
be predicted. Along with language acquisition processes, foreign language learning
cannot be specified, determined, and chosen according to pre-fixed syllabi, by
responding to a given series of structures previously designed. It should not be
considered as an element of a particular curriculum, but as an essential component
of being human since people interact within linguistic and cultural practices. When
a foreign language is taught based on a pre-established syllabus, language cannot
be comprehensive. The only way in which a language is comprehensive is when it is
learned as a whole and not from its constituent parts. Only is language completeness
possible when someone is able to think in it and to express any idea without any
limitation in structural thinking. The reason why language learners are unable to
think in a foreign language has to do with the fact that they have not been sufficiently
exposed to it and they lack the necessary lexical knowledge, which may not prepare
them to think purposefully in an L2.
Conditions and requirements for language acquisition to arise:

• Speakers around the children need to interact with them in a certain language.
• Then, there is language exposure within a cultural environment.
• Language comprehension is a need for communication to be successful.
• Chances for interaction with people around them are necessary.
• When the children’s brain is mature and ready, language production will take
place.
• Feedback is provided as people interact, talk, and experience language.
• Error correction is given naturally. Children are not “taught” how to speak
language. It just comes out naturally although some mistakes may occur.
• Meaningful language exchange will develop naturally.
Physiological traits: The internal organs and articulators should be well

developed.
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Psychological traits: The individual’s mental willingness toward the language
must be positive and adequate.
Language exposure: The time the individual is exposed to language is necessary.
Quality of interaction: The type of interaction could be good or poor.
Quantity of interaction: The time someone has been exposed to the L2 plays
a role in language acquisition.
First language acquisition: It studies the processes involved in terms of the

understanding and the production of language, in natural settings and contexts,
when children attempt to communicate with their parents, friends, peers, or even
strangers.
Second language learning: It explores the procedures used by non-native

speakers to grasp a second language in settings where it is spoken and used either,
within the family or within a community.
Some features about language acquisition include the following:

• It is natural.
• It develops in natural settings.
• It is acquired effortlessly.
• It is a process, which is usually acquired fast.
• It does not require any formal instruction.
• It does not require instructional materials.
• It takes place in a number of contexts and throughout time.
• Control is gained directly from the contact with native speakers.
• Native speakers have the ability to judge what is right or wrong.
• Brain maturity is reached when the child is five years of age.
• Foust (2003) provides some insight, by saying,
Many scientists believe that a newborn’s brain is genetically “programmed” to

learn language, just as a bird is programmed to sing or a spider to weave a web. No
one actually teaches a child to talk. Rather, parents and others enable her learning
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by speaking while they interact with her. The interaction is a critical part of this
process; merely hearing TV or radio is not enough by itself. (p. 2).
Language Acquisition Theories

Graph 8. Language Acquisition Theories
Language acquisition theories
Behaviorism Nativism Cognitivism Interactionism Emergentism
Behaviorism
Behaviorism was a theory of language acquisition proposed by Watson (1878-

1958), Skinner (1904-1990). Behaviorism is based on the idea that language is acquired
by stimulus, response, imitation, reinforcement, and repetition of a behavior. Mental
processes are not considered important in language acquisition. It is important to
mention that although Pavlov (1927) investigated classical conditioning, he did not
agree with behaviorism. Van Patten & Benati (2010) refer to behaviorism as follows:
Behaviorism was applied to language learning in the 1940s and 1950s. At the
heart of the application is the belief that language is a set of patterns or habits.
Child L1 acquirers learned language by imitating the language they heard and
receiving positive reinforcement from the environment (e.g., getting what
they…). (p. 68)
Nativism or Innateness Hypothesis
As a rejection to the ideas proposed by behaviorists, Chomsky (1965) proposed

the Nativism theory, which is also known as Innateness hypothesis that states that
language acquisition relates to mental processes, not to observable behavior as it was
stated in Behaviorism. Nativism theory is because the child is capable of understanding
and producing language thanks to his or her Language Acquisition Device –LAD–. The
Innate Hypothesis states that humans are born with the capacity to acquire language.
Weiten (2010) explains Chomsky’s LAD theory, by maintaining that “Nativist theory
proposes that humans are equipped with a language acquisition device (LAD)—an
innate mechanism or process that facilitates the learning of language.” (p. 326).
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Cognitive Theory
Cognitive theory appeared as a response to Behaviorism. For the same reason,

Piaget (1967) proposed his Cognitive theory, which underlies how important it is
for the child to understand concepts prior to incorporating them into his or her
linguistic system in order for him or her to be used with his or her parents, peers,
friends, and other people. It includes the concepts of assimilation and accommodation.
Bukatko & Daehler (2012, 2004) refer to these definitions in the following manner:
Piaget believed that schemes change through two complementary processes.

The first, assimilation, refers to the process of interpreting an experience in
terms of current ways of understanding things. The second, accommodation,
refers to the modifications in behavior and thinking that take place when the
old ways of understanding, the old schemes, no longer fit. (p. 23).
Learning contributes to the processing of information and to the implementation

of new mechanisms in order to make the necessary changes, as learning makes us
understand the world around us differently. Experiences, either positive or negative,
make us make sound decisions as for living under better conditions. Williams &
Burden (1997) refer to the field of interest of cognitive psychology, by saying,
In contrast to behaviorism, cognitive psychology is concerned with the way in

which the human mind thinks and learns. Cognitive psychologists are therefore
interested in the mental processes that are involved in learning. This includes
such aspects as how people build up and draw upon their memories and the
ways in which they become involved in the process of learning. (p. 13).
Teaching processes should favor learning so that learners can internalize the
new knowledge and incorporate it within their previous knowledge. In that way,
they start building up their confidence. In other words, teachers are expected to
change their practices so that learners’ practices can become meaningful. Otherwise,
it would be a waste of time, effort, and money invested.
Interactionism
Larsen-Freeman (2011) makes an emphasis on the idea that interaction is

essential to language acquisition to take place when she states,
Interactionists (e.g. Snow 1979) believe that it is not necessary to appeal to an

innate LAD to explain the facts of language acquisition. They instead could
be accounted for by looking closely at the interaction between the child and
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its caregivers, and the support the latter provides. For instance, even neonates
engage in “conversations” with their caretakers, with the latter making particular
accommodations to facilitate language acquisition. (p. 159)
There is always a need in everything we embark on. Language is not the exception.
It cannot be understood, developed, and produced unless there is a purpose behind
it. It is through interaction that human beings attempt to come together in order
to solve problems, socialize, help one another, etc. Language learning comes to life
only when there is something to be communicated, a need to be met, some kind of
assistance to be provided, etc. Williams & Burden (1997) stress on the importance
of social interaction by saying,
As we see it, babies are born into social worlds, come to develop a concept of
self as a result of their social interactions with others, and increasingly employ
language to make sense of that social world and to help them play an effective
part within it. Thus, an understanding of the social factors which play a part
in our increasing competence as language users is essential for all language
teachers. (p. 3)
Language cannot and should not be taught by certain levels. However, learners
should be provided with the language that they really need to convey meaning.
Language is a social construct. Everyone in the community contributes to its birth,
growth, development, maintenance, and decay. Emotions come and go. They are
present anywhere and everywhere. You cannot tell your language learners this is what
you are to learn how to say and nothing else. In such a case, you are not complying
with their communicative requirements. You are to provide them with what they
want to say, no matter if it is not included in the course syllabus. Babies, toddlers, and
little children are not taught their native or second language according to levels, but
through social interaction and cultural exposure, where language plays a key role.
Thus, it is the time to have your language learners –foreign or second– immersed
in both language and culture.
Emergentism
Gass & Selinker (1994) refer to connectionist/emergentist models as follows:
In this approach to language learning, also referred to as constructivist

approaches, the emphasis is on usage. Learning does not rely on an innate module,
but rather it takes place based on the extraction of regularities from the input. As
these regularities or patterns are used over and over again, they are strengthened…
(p. 219).
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For Ellis (1998) emergentism can be interpreted as follows: “Simple learning
mechanisms, operating in and across the human systems for perception, motor-action
and cognition as they are exposed to language data as part of a social environment,
suffice to drive the emergence of complex language representations.” (p. 657).
Motherese and Teacherese
In the theory of language acquisition, the term Motherese usually appears.

Motherese is the kind of language used by mothers when they interact with their
babies or children. Other terms for Motherese include: Mother talk, Parentese, Care-
taker speech, Child-directed speech or Baby talk. Teacherese is another term related
to Motherese and it refers to the language or speech used by teachers in the ESL or
EFL classroom setting. Some features about Motherese include the following:
Simple language: No complex or difficult language.
Slow pace: No fast speech delivered.
High-frequency words: Familiar and common words or expressions.
Nouns and verbs are commonly used: Most heard and spoken words.
Intonation patterns emphasized: Loud speech, rhythm, tone, and pitch.
Exaggeration: Too much articulation and repetition of the message, which

needs to be conveyed.
According to Foust (2003), Motherese plays a role in the acquisition of language:
Baby talk by adults is part of this interaction. It involves simple sentence structure
and vocabulary, exaggerated intonation and sounds, repetition, and questions, all of
which help a child sort out meanings, sounds, and sentence patterns of a language.
During this early period, two languages can be learned simultaneously as long
as the child regularly interacts with speakers of both languages (p. 2).
Kies (2017) retakes some background information about the critical period
to language acquisition according to Lenneberg’s theories (1964, 1967) by stating,
Although children will begin to vocalize and then verbalize at different ages
and at different rates, children –most children– will learn their first language,
a highly complex and abstract symbol system, without conscious instruction
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on the part of their parents or caretakers and without obvious signs of even
making the effort, let alone experiencing any difficulty in doing so. However,
before learning can begin, children must be ready to learn; that is, they must be
biologically, socially, and psychologically mature enough to undertake the task.
Linguists do not agree on exactly how biological factors affect language

learning, but most do agree with Lenneberg (1964) that human beings possess a
capacity to learn language that is specific to this species and no other. Lenneberg also
suggested that language might be expected from the evolutionary process humans
have undergone and that the basis for language might be transmitted genetically.
Acquiring a second language: It refers to the fact that children acquire language
naturally from the direct contact with other speakers. They can interact directly with
native speakers or with those who are fluent and proficient, not only in the language
but also in the culture, which makes part of that language. Acquisition is a term, which
is related to second language. As it comes to child language acquisition, no language
is ever taught to children. It is a personal endeavor, which requires little effort. They
just acquire or learn it as they are in contact with it, thanks to exposure and the
opportunities children have to experience it in meaningful contexts and settings.
Learning a foreign language: It is the one, which is usually taught at school

and the speaker has control over the grammar of the L2 system. Learning is a term,
which is related to foreign language learning or foreign language teaching.
Language acquisition stages: It is evident that almost every normal child in the
world goes through these stages, in their attempt to acquiring language: a) Cooing;
b) Babbling; c) One word; and d) Two words.
Cooing: Babies start to coo to express their needs and wants with soft murmuring
sounds. They start to gurgle after they are about 3 months old.
Babbling: Babies start to babble those phonemes they hear around them. This
takes place when they are about 6-10 months old. There is eye-to-eye contact with
caretakers.
e.g. [b], [m], [p].
One-word or holophrastic stage: Babies utter meaningful words, such as content

words (nouns, adjectives, verbs). This takes place when they are about 1 year old.
At the semantic level, one word may mean different things.
e.g. kitten; sleepy; eat.
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Two-Word Stage: Babies combine two words to express complex ideas. Language
tends to be short, but effective. This takes place when they are about 2 years old.
Language becomes more complex.
e.g. allgone milk; baby sleep.
Foust’s (2003) The Brain and Language Acquisition excerpt:
The “window of opportunity” idea is widely accepted. Here is a very simplified

explanation: From birth until puberty, the brain literally formats itself to perform
various specialized functions, such as language, based upon the input it gets
from the world. Neural networks gradually form, and they function more and
more efficiently as they are used. If a second language is part of that input,
networks for understanding and using it grow richer. Therefore, early exposure
to a second language actually causes more connections to grow in a child’s
brain, and those connections, in turn, allow for easier additional learning in
the second and first languages.
This “formatting” process, especially active in the first six years, ends at puberty,
or around age 12, and the brain begins to shed connections it no longer uses. The
capacity to distinguish and make sounds not encountered in languages the child
speaks diminishes or disappears.
Important Aspects in Second Language Acquisition
Language input: It refers to the language that the child is in contact with.
Parents, relatives, friends, family, or external sources, such as the radio or television
contribute to language input. It has to do with all the possible kinds of sources that
the child is in contact with and they have the possibility to use it in meaningful
contexts. L2 teachers can use language input, which comes from music, television,
newspapers, magazines, journals, the Internet, sports programs, language software,
or Web Sites to learn the L2, from authentic sources.
Language intake: It refers to the ability the learner has to choose from the
aforementioned sources. That is to say, they select those sources, which best contributes
to their L1 or L2 learning or acquisition.
Language output: It has to do with the ability and the capacity the child has
to produce speech. It relates to the production the learner makes, by applying his
or her linguistic knowledge.
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Attitude: It refers to the drive that makes people move in the achievement of
a given goal. If it is absent from the desire to learn a foreign language, there is no
point in making any effort. Learners’ attitude greatly determines the success or the
failure in attempting their linguistic and cultural aims.
Interaction: It has to do with the cooperation two individuals have to carry out
a project together, to cooperate in the solution of a common project, or to convey
meaning while doing transactions thanks to the use of language.
Motivation: In general, motivation can be defined as the interest, which may

derive from outside or from within. It refers to the willingness and the desire the
child has to acquire language naturally. Both motivation and demotivation are two
sides of the same coin. They are necessary to mold a person’s character. It is through
good and bad experiences that people achieve their personal goals throughout time.
The word Motivation refers to other concepts like reason, interest, like, preference,
desire, and need. Motivation is a drive, which pushes us to take action toward a
certain goal in order to be reached, which is highly related to psychological and
linguistic theories.
If someone is applying for a scholarship, grant, or fellowship to pursue graduate

studies, such as a Master’s Program, a PhD. or Post-Doctoral Studies, they feel the
need to learn English no matter what. Because there is much at stake, they do feel
the motivation to learn English in order for them to achieve their academic goals.
Besides, it may also happen that a great job opportunity is at risk of being lost because
learners or professionals are not linguistically competent in the L2. Motivation can
be classified as follows:
Intrinsic motivation: It is an internal drive that makes someone react to the need
to be fulfilled. It comes from the individual’s internal factors. They are interested in
learning it because they feel like doing it. Willingness to learn the foreign language
must spring from within the learner and must not be imposed from the outside.
Extrinsic motivation: It refers to an external series of factors, which serves to

initiate a response from within. It comes from external factors to the individual.
He is not interested in learning or acquiring the language because he wants to, but
he has to learn it anyway.
Integrative motivation (Gardner & Lambert, 1972): It is when learners openly

accept to become active members of a linguistic community in a cultural setting.
The individual learns the language to be in contact with the people who speak it and
want to make part of that community or society. It is intrinsic motivation that counts,
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but also supported by extrinsic motivation. When learners come to understand the
importance of having a foreign language as a plus, they should usually think of the
benefits derived from it. Some of them feel the need of learning it to pursue graduate
studies. Some others do it to get a better-paid job. Still, some others are willing to be
a part of its culture so that they can be integrated into it and not just for professional
purposes. When there exists this kind of empathy, learners take a look at a series of
possibilities and chances derived from their choice. Good status, globalization issues,
practical purposes, are probably the ones on top of the list. Some other reasons may
also be added to the list, these are the ones, which really satisfy their very personal
objectives. Unfortunately, things are not the same as they are expected by learners.
They are imposed, instead. They are to learn a foreign language, which does not
match their ideology, making it even more difficult for them to learn it. However,
since it is the language adopted by the institution, there is nothing that they can do
about it, but to comply with the L2 as a part of a graduate exit requirement.
Instrumental motivation (Gardner & Lambert, 1972): It is when language is

used as a tool or means for learners to reach their personal goals, but they have no
interest in becoming members of the community where they live. The individual
learns the foreign or the second language with a purpose in mind: to get a job, for a
job promotion, to do business, for tourism, to work, or to live in a foreign country.
That is to say, language is the tool to get what the individual wants to achieve.
Some aspects rooted to the issue of motivation could include the following:
Table 5. Issues related to motivation
Goal Purpose to be reached.

Attitude Participants’ personality.
Content Material and knowledge.
Location Setting, context, and weather.
Methodology Approaches and techniques.
Means Instructional resources.
Commitment Interest shown in the task.
Verification Checking task completion.
Note: Own work
When the Chaos Theory can be applied to language acquisition, it can be

stated that it does not lead to a regular or sequential order since mental faculties
make the four language skills overlap. Listening comprehension tends to be the
first one. Then, speaking may come next. However, it is true that speaking occurs
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first than listening comprehension. It could not be possible to achieve any input in
our brain and mind if it is not uttered in the first place. Listening implies a speaker
or an interlocutor so that communication between a speaker and a hearer can be
established and understanding and cooperation can be reached. The same is true for
the other two skills, reading comprehension and writing. In order for us to be able
to read, there should be someone who wrote it, a writer, of course. The acquisition
of those language skills does not always proceed in a regular order. Babies, toddlers,
and children develop their mental and cognitive skills in a chaotic and random way.
There is more exposure to listening to language than to any other language skill.
As they grow and they feel the need to start communicating their likes, wants, and
fears, etc., talking through their ideas, it is the right moment for grunts, screams,
sounds, grimaces, mimicry, facial expression, body language, etc. to emerge. Then,
it can be concluded that speaking comes into play at this stage. It is accompanied
by a set of social interactions, which take place in the settings and contexts where
language exchange and cultural practices occur.
Similarly, reading comprehension is a prerequisite for writing to be possible.
At school, children are taught the foundations for them to be able to write. This
comprises the identification of the letters of the alphabet, the recognition of the
syllables, the use of the reading strategy known as phonics. When it comes to writing,
it can be said that there exist different competences, which are gradually acquired,
initially at school and then, writing is nurtured as a personal choice and interest, if it
is practiced on a daily basis. However, reading comprehension provides the necessary
tools for developing a personal trait, which is characteristic of a writer. Going back
to the previous idea, developed in the last two paragraphs, the four language skills
overlap at a given moment. One language skill overlaps the other language skills.
They do not develop gradually, not even at the same speed. Sometimes, the only two
language skills, which are most commonly used are listening comprehension and
speaking. People can live without feeling the need to read and write in their own
native language. Why then are people forced to learning how to read and to write in
an L2? And even, they do not have the need to listen to and to speak it. A question
arises here, why are learners then told to take a foreign language since some of them
do not feel the need to learn it? Everybody has their own personal reasons to learn a
foreign or a second language. Some of them feel the need; others are forced to learn it.
Some others want to become part of the community where it is used. Still, some others
want to learn it just to survive at the workplace, but they keep their own language as
a means to express and to keep their cultural identity. In second language learning,
there is a purpose behind it so teachers do not have to struggle to convince learners
in their endeavor. Although pedagogy and didactics make emphasis on accuracy,
teachers should devote their efforts to fluency since learning how to speak is first
than just learning the basics of the language: grammar or syntax. This traditional
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method has not always been successful. When a learner travels to another country to
learn its language, the conditions are already given, what needs to be offered are the
opportunities for communication in the L2. Culture is just one step away: people’s
lifestyles, beliefs, and practices are learned from first-hand experience.
The Pedagogy of First Language Acquisition

and Second Language Learning
First language acquisition takes place when babies, toddlers, and children, grasp
it unconsciously, without intervention from instruction. They are then, in direct
contact with and surrounded by it in order to reach their communicative needs,
by guaranteeing survival and social interaction. First language acquisition cannot
be taught, but the conditions have to be created and provided in artificial settings
when it comes to a foreign or a second language-learning situation. Since language
has been exposed from birth, learner’s cognitive and mental processes develop
naturally. Native-like pronunciation is acquired unconsciously and naturally. As
for second language learning, the conditions are quite different. It refers to the fact
that one language has been previously mastered and then, another language makes
part of the speaker’s linguistic system. Within the family, parents should speak one
or more languages so that their children can acquire them effortlessly. Time and
exposure to language are two necessary conditions that children are expected to
take advantage of, apart from willingness and motivation. Language teachers should
contribute somehow with the kind of motivation their learners are expected to have
in order for them to approach an L2.
Reflection
1. What is the role of input in L2 instruction?
2. How can L2 instruction help your learners to become active participants in a

foreign language community?
Project
Compare the processes involved in first language acquisition and second language
learning. Consider learners’ age, participants’ background, acquisition and learning
styles, contexts, methodologies, resources, quantity and quality of interaction, etc.
Come up with some results, analyses, conclusions, and recommendations in order
to implement either one or the other in your particular setting and context.
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10
Contrastive Analysis, Error Analysis,
Interlanguage, Fossilization,
and Language Transfer
“Making mistakes is a natural endeavor, which reflects the way learners
attempt to approach the L2.”
M
aking mistakes is a natural endeavor, which reflects the way learners attempt
to approach the L2, which provides language teachers with meaningful
data regarding learners’ current state in terms of linguistic competence,
linguistic performance, and communicative competence. In educational, societal,
and cultural contexts and settings, there should be given careful attention to the
aforementioned processes in order for making the necessary adjustments to language
teaching practices. By being aware of them, language teachers are expected to be
understanding, respectful, and tactful, as they approach any of the phenomena
mentioned above. Otherwise, they would affect learners’ attitudinal behaviors. In
their attempt to learning a foreign or a second language, adolescents and adults,
usually have to go through a series of processes, which involve some of the following,
if not, all of them:
• Contrastive Analysis (Robert Lado, 1957).

• Error Analysis (S. Pit. Corder, 1967).
• Interlanguage (Larry Selinker, 1972).
• Fossilization (Larry Selinker, 1972).
• Language Transfer (Terence Odlin, 1989).
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All of these processes provide linguists with some insight into the mental
conditions and the stages language learners are in, at a certain moment, which can
give language teachers some hints about their developmental stage and how well or
poorly they structure their L2, is. The periods of language contact and the feedback
for correction that the learners receive from their teachers can give them an idea
of how formal and informal instruction or external sources play a role in the L2
learning process. That is why some piece of evidence should be kept, recordings,
videos, interviews, and journals, so to speak. The researchers should be ethical,
objective, and respectful as for the results they find in their analysis of their learners’
oral production or written work.
Lado’s Contrastive Analysis (1957)
Also known as CA, Contrastive Analysis deals with the comparison of two
languages in order to discover similarities and differences between them. Lado
(1957) suggested that, “Individuals tend to transfer the forms and meanings, and
the distribution of forms and meanings of their native language and culture to the
foreign language and culture.” (p. 2).
The similarities between the L1 and the L2 will ease foreign or second language
learning. The differences between the two systems explain which aspects will hinder the
learning or the acquisition of the L2. On the other hand, James (1980), in his Preface
of his book Contrastive Analysis, points out the following about the issue by stating,
In the heyday of structural linguistics and the pattern practice language teaching
methodology which derived insights and justification from such an approach
to linguistic description, nothing seemed of greater potential value to language
teachers and learners than a comparative and contrastive description of the
learner’s mother tongue and the target language.
As it can be appreciated, Contrastive Analysis attempts to discover the

commonalities and the differences between two linguistic systems, related or
unrelated, in terms of grammar: a) phonology; b) semantics; c) syntax; and d)
morphology so that predictions can be made in which aspects or senses L1 favors
or hinders the learning or the acquisition of the L2. Once these aspects have been
dealt with in-depth, teachers have to devote some time and analyze, which issues
need consideration, only if are there any negative influences on the L2 learning.
Most of the time, this analysis or comparison made between two linguistic systems
is in terms of speech. Lightbown & Spada (1999) draw on the idea of Contrastive
Analysis from another perspective, by stating the influence of an L1 to an L2 and
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from that very same L2 to that L1. In other words, there is a reciprocal influence of a
language over another since learners from different language backgrounds, attempt
to learn it, by saying, “A traditional version of the Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis
(CAH) would predict that, where differences exist, errors would be bi-directional,
that is, for example, French speakers learning English and English speakers learning
French would make errors on parallel linguistic features” (p. 73).
In English, people say, for instance: “I read it,” as referring to a book, while in
Spanish, people say, “Yo lo leí.” On the other hand, in Spanish, people say, “La gente
está ocupada,” while in English, it is expressed like, “People are busy.”
Corder’s Error Analysis (1967)
Corder (1967) who first decided to work systematically on the analysis of error
correction, based on the performance of speakers as for their language morphology,
syntax, and lexicon. That is to say, he was interested in going deeper into the studies
of the reasons behind learners’ mistakes as for the grammar of their languages as an
attempt to produce their utterances in an L2. For Lightbown & Spada (1999) error
analysis distinguishes from contrastive analysis in its purpose, as they explain below:
Error analysis differed from contrastive analysis in that it did not set out to
predict errors. Rather, it sought to discover and describe different kinds of
errors in an effort to understand how learners process second language data.
Error analysis was based on the assumption that, like child language, second
language learner language is a system in its own right –one which is rule-
governed and predictable. (p. 73-74)
What learners do is to transfer the knowledge they have of their mother tongue
and attempt to use a given structure, a phoneme, or a vocabulary word, into the new
language, sometimes misleadingly. Error Analysis, as proposed by Corder (1967), is
interpreted and expected to be applied, in the following manner:
A learner’s errors, then, provide evidence of the system of the language that
he is using (i.e. has learned) at a particular point in the course (and it must be
repeated that he is using some system, although it is not yet the right system).
They are significant in three different ways. First to the teacher, in that they tell
him, if he undertakes a systematic analysis how far to the goal the learner has
progressed, and, consequently, what remains for him to learn. Second, they
provide to the researcher evidence of how language is learned or acquired,
what strategies or procedures the learner is employing in his discovery of the
language. Thirdly . . . they are indispensable to the learner himself, because
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we can regard the making of errors as a device the learner uses in order to
learn. (p. 167)
Errors do not necessarily take place as a lack of knowledge of the grammar of

a certain or particular language. Somebody’s language cannot be said that is faulty
because they do not follow the patterns as the rules convey, but because of other
reasons: a) fear, b) fatigue, c) inattentiveness, d) tiredness, e) lack of formal instruction.
The idea behind this is that language teachers should not concentrate on the mistakes
that learners make. Instead, they should ask why that happens, make the necessary
corrections, and consider them as being natural processes that learners have to go
through in their attempt to learning the L2. The main interest of error analysis is
to distinguish between errors and mistakes. An error is said to be systematic and
interferes with understanding a piece of message in the communication process.
Mistakes, on the other hand, do not have such a negative impact.
Selinker’s Interlanguage (1972)
In simple words, interlanguage refers to a kind of mixed language system

comprising certain phonological, semantic, and syntactic elements, which are proper
to both the L1 and the L2.
Richards et al., (1992) define Interlanguage as follows:
The type of language produced by second and foreign-language learners who

are in the process of learning a language… Since the language which the learner
produces using these processes differs from both the mother tongue and the
TARGET LANGUAGE, it is sometimes called an Interlanguage, or is said to
result from the learner’s Interlanguage system or approximative system. (p. 186).
Ellis (2004:) defines Selinker’s Interlanguage (1972) as follows:
The interim grammars which learners build on their way to full target language
competence… The starting point for any discussion of the mental processes
responsible for L2 acquisition is the concept of interlanguage, a term coined
by Selinker (1972). It is used to refer to both the internal system that a learner
has constructed at a single point in time (‘an interlanguage’) and to the series
of interconnected systems that characterize the learner’s progress over time
(‘interlanguage’ or ‘the interlanguage continuum’). (p. 30, 350).
From what it is stated above, Interlanguage is a term, which moves from Point
A to Point B through Point C. In such a route, the learner’s L2 advances through a
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series of stages. He improves his or her linguistic competence (Chomsky, 1965) and
linguistic performance (Chomsky, 1965) and communicative competence (Hymes, 1966)
as he acquires his L2 thanks to exposure, opportunity, and interaction. In Spanish,
Italian and French, the negative particles (no, non and ne . . . pas), respectively, come
before the verb, in English, German, and Dutch, the verbs “Be”, “Sein”, and “Zijn,”
respectively, come before the negative particle.
Spanish: (Yo) no soy (un) comerciante.

Italian: Io non sono un comerciante.
French: Je ne suis pas un commerçant.
English: I am not a businessperson.
German: Ich bin nicht ein Geschäfstmann.
Dutch: Ik ben niet een Zakenman.
When comparing German to Dutch, it can be appreciated that there are many
similarities in terms of syntax, at this very basic level. Nouns are capitalized in both
languages. Native speakers utter and articulate speech very differently from how non-
native speakers do it. It is in this interlanguage transition that non-natives’ language
contains a mixture of both L1 and L2 systems. In terlanguage can be improved once
non-native speakers get in contact with native speakers’ language and culture(s).
Selinker’s Fossilization (1972)
Richards et al. (1992:) define fossilization in the following manner:
(In second or foreign language learning) a process which sometimes occurs

in which linguistic features become a permanent part of the way a person
speaks or writes a language. Aspects of pronunciation, vocabulary usage,
and grammar may become fixed or fossilized in second or foreign language
learning. Fossilized features of pronunciation contribute to a person’s foreign
accent. (p. 145-146).
Fossilization occurs when a learner’s pronunciation error is installed in his or

her brain and it is hard for him or her to get rid of it. It is common when the L2 is
learned through instruction. It is in this case where fossilization is grasped. Since
the learner does not get any corrective feedback from his or her teacher, he or she is
much more prone to continue making errors, repeatedly. Fossilization could take place
because of the following: a) Poor teacher’s linguistic preparation; b) Negative input
that learners or speakers gain from their surroundings; c) Learner’s lack of interest
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in learning or acquiring the L2 as it should be; d) Lack of meaningful opportunities
for learners to interact through it; e) Inadequate methodological procedures to
teach the L2 and its culture(s); f) Insufficient authentic learning resources, which
portrait the L2 culture(s); g) The language being taught in the L2 classroom differs
from the one used outside.
Yule (1996) defines fossilization in the following manner:
If some learners develop a fairly fixed repertoire of L2 forms, containing many

features which do not match the target language, and they do not progress any
further, their Interlanguage is said to have “fossilized.” The process of fossilization
in L2 pronunciation is one obvious cause of a foreign accent. (p. 195).
As it was stated earlier, the L2 learner’s progress is stuck because of the lack
of permanent contact with native speakers. Since the learner has little exposure
to the spoken language and the scarce opportunity of practice, his or her L2 does
not develop properly and his or her L2 pronunciation is affected by his or her L1.
Similarly, Brown (2000) refers to fossilization as follows: “A fossilized error is the most
aggravated form of an error, as it refers to the “relatively permanent incorporation
of incorrect linguistic forms into person’s second language competence.” (p. 231).
Although fossilization usually refers to pronunciation issues, it also affects other
aspects related to semantics, syntax, vocabulary choice, etc. L2 learners in their
attempt to guessing how the foreign language or the second language works, make
errors, which do not necessarily are transferred from their L1. Lightbown & Spada
(1999) establish the notion that language transfer is not the sole responsible for
language errors when they state,
Not all errors made by second language learners can be explained in terms of
first language transfer alone. A number of studies show that many errors can
be explained better in terms of learners’ attempts to discover the structure of
the language being learned than an attempt to transfer patterns of their first
language. (p. 72)
Odlin’s Language Transfer (1989)
Language transfer (1989) is defined as follows: “Transfer is the influence

resulting from the similarities and differences between the target language and any
other language that has been previously (and perhaps imperfectly) acquired” (p. 27).
Language transfer refers to cross-linguistic influences a language exerts over

another linguistic system. A learner makes use of his or her language knowledge
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and transfers some of its aspects into the language being learned. When there are no
coincidences between the two systems, there is a communication breakdown, so the
message cannot be conveyed. The differences lie in terms of the L1 and L2 grammars.
Selinker (1992) provides a definition of language transfer as follows:
Language transfer is best thought of as a cover term for a whole class of

behaviours, processes, and constraints, each of which has to do with cross-
linguistic influence, i.e. the influence and use of prior knowledge, usually but
not exclusively native language knowledge. (p. 208).
Not only does language transfer refer to a set of L1 cultural phenomena and
language issues, which affect the learning or the acquisition processes of the L2, but
also to teaching and learning-related issues.
Richards et al., (1992) define language transfer as follows:
The effect of one language on the learning of another. Two types of language
transfer may occur. Negative transfer, also known as interference, is the use of
a native-language pattern or rule which leads to an error or inappropriate form
in the target language . . . Positive transfer is transfer which makes learning
easier, and may occur when both the native language and the target language
have the same form. (p. 205).
At the initial stages, language transfer is a common phenomenon, especially

foreign language learners tend to transfer some aspects of syntax, semantics, or
phonology from their L1 system to the L2 system. Once the new system has been
installed in their brains and mind, the quality of language, in terms of grammar, is
expected to improve when the L2 is used purposefully. Transfer can be either positive
or negative. Positive transfer refers to the fact in which the structures of the speakers’
native language are similar to those used by non-native speakers. Negative transfer
results when there is no coincidence in terms of the structures used by non-native
speakers attempting to communicate with them or with others who are in the same
situation. As a concluding remark, it can be said that both EFL and ESL learners go
through any of the phenomena previously covered in this chapter. Either learners are
linguistically competent or not, they test hypotheses as for how language works. In
other words, at an early stage, they start contrasting both systems and once they feel
much more confident with their L2 competence, they improve their L2 competence.
In error analysis, language teachers have a great deal of data to work with, which can
help them to analyze the errors made by L2 learners. This is also an opportunity for
L2 teachers to design strategies, which contribute to their learners’ L2 improvement.
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Non-natives’ ability to think like native speakers implies hard work, meaningful input,
and a lot of practice with native speakers so that interlanguage can be left behind and
the L2 system looks more like the one used by native speakers. When L2 learners do
not receive any opportune and proper feedback, fossilization can take place, which
hinders L2 competence and performance. If L2 learners’ ideas are similar to those
expressed in their L2 system, language transfer can be positive. Otherwise, pedagogical
practices need to be implemented. Any of these phenomena can be present at any
moment in their attempt to communicating or expressing ideas in the L2.
The Pedagogy of Contrastive Analysis, Error Analysis,

Interlanguage, Fossilization, and Language Transfer
Linguists try out a quite number of theories, which better helps to understand
the internal mechanisms that people use to process a foreign or a second language.
The aforementioned processes in this chapter (contrastive analysis, error analysis,
Interlanguage, fossilization, and language transfer) constitute a series of efforts that
linguists have devised in order to interpret the stages that learners have reached
in their attempt to mastering an L2. When linguists back on their theories on
observation, practice, and reflection, they come out with the best principles to
cope with an understanding of the procedures and processes underlying language
learning, more than acquisition itself.
These have been the prime theories that have accompanied language teachers
for a while, always with an attempt to improve language teaching and to foster
language learning, whenever possible. All of them have language as the main issue.
Let us concentrate on the Interlanguage process. Interlanguage is of great help to
teachers because it is a process in between where two linguistic systems meet. It can
be said that mental operations become more complex as a new linguistic system
makes part of an existing one. As learners advance in their language learning, the
Interlanguage system seems to fade away, and the interference of the existing language
gradually disappears. Teachers have to be careful, respectful, and attentive to the
processes their foreign language learners have to go through as they approach the
L2. Both the spoken language and the written language can provide teachers with
some insight into the progress that their learners have made because of instruction
or language exposure, and practice, of course. Language exposure implies that
those who benefit from it will permit others to gain not only the language but also
the culture in which it is immersed. When this happens, there is a guarantee that
language will be preserved for it to be passed down from generation to generation.
Language, as a social phenomenon, is immersed within a culture. Depending on
the culture where the language is used for communicative and survival purposes,
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its speakers choose chunks of language, which conform to ideation processes, by
affecting not only the structure of the language but also the choices of their lexical
repertoire and idiomatic expressions used to convey meaning. Language affects
how speakers think and conceive the world around them and beyond, in terms of
the structuring of their native language.
The more authentic materials and resources that language teachers use and provide
their learners with, the better for their Interlanguage system to be reduced progressively.
On the one hand, discourse analysis serves to explore and to study speech produced by
learners in oral interactions through language exchange, in or outside the classroom
setting, in real-life situations, where language is the means of communication. On the
other hand, text analysis can shed some light on how the foreign written language starts to
look like that produced by native speakers. What teachers can do is record and videotape
speech so that it could be transcribed and analyzed for further research. The same is
true for the written language when learners’ compositions serve as samples for further
analysis and exploration so that some pedagogical measures can be taken accordingly.
Language improvement is possible thanks to the opportunities that language learners
are given to be in contact with the language and its culture(s), autonomously. Once they
become independent from their teachers, their decisions to continue learning the L2
are just personal. It can be said that both native and non-native speakers are prone to
making mistakes. However, this is much more common among non-native speakers
since different phenomena can come into play and be intertwined.
Reflection
1. Which of the phenomena covered in this chapter is the most common one
committed by your learners? Which strategy have you implemented to tackle it?
2. In foreign language contexts, how could the L2 culture be meaningfully
incorporated?
Project
Go over the questions below and write down a brief report based on the
reflection of your current experience as an L2 teacher.
1. In which regards could an L1 and L2 be compared?

2. Have you ever found any evidence of Interlanguage systems?
3. What aspects of Interlanguage can be implemented in your language lessons?
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The Power of Words
“Words have a magical power. They can either bring
the greatest happiness or the deepest despair.”
Sigmund Freud.
11
Morphology
“Words exist as they supply communicative needs to be used in social
settings and cultural contexts.”
W
ords themselves have their own structure in terms of origin, formation,
derivation, function, and meaning. Words have their own rules, which
specify how they are formed. Words exist as they supply communicative
needs to be used in social settings and cultural contexts. Words can be classified as
functional in terms of grammar; that is, they have a role to play within a sentence
and they convey meaning when it comes to verbs, nouns, adjectives, etc., to describe
reality. Although words seem to mean the same everywhere, they do not. Words do
not necessarily mean what they are to mean, but what people want them to mean. The
power of words deals with some disciplines of linguistics, which include Morphology,
Semantics and Pragmatics. Words make sense when we know where they come from
or how they originate. Words are useful to us as they help us to know what they refer
to and mean. Words are essential for us to know in which context they have to be used.
Akmajian et al. (2001) define morphology as follows: “Morphology: The study of the
structure of words.” (p. 11). Morphology deals with the creation of words. A word
may give the chance for other words to be created out of them, by different processes,
such as backformation, blending, compound, etc. Semantics is responsible for the
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meaning of words. By the way, what is a word?–A word can convey meaning according
to a particular context and given the circumstances. The phonology, the morphology,
the spelling, and the meaning a word gets, are not subjected to a common consensus
among languages, so words are arbitrary since they do not follow any laws. Words and
phonemes make up the raw material of language. Not all well-formed sentences in
terms of syntax are said to be coherent in terms of meaning. Meaning is paramount
when it comes to expressing one’s ideas fully. Pragmatics is interested in the analysis
of language in context. A word is an abstract entity, which carried out a function to
convey meaning, based on a number of contexts and settings. A word is analyzed,
based on the roles played by the speaker and the hearer, in the communicative act.
Words are the raw material of language; without them, there would not be concepts
and ideas, derived from language, spoken, written, signed, or even computerized
language. Words come from people’s minds and their meaning vary according to
what people want them to mean in their specific contexts and settings, where culture
plays an important role. The term lexicon refers to the mental repertoire of words,
phrases, or expressions that someone may know of the reality in their language and
culture. The lexicon refers to idioms, slang, jargon, clichés, etc. Words, concepts, and
representations make up the backbone of language. If they did not exist in a speaker’s
mental repertoire, it is difficult for them to figure out what they mean. Knowing a
word implies the connection with some other disciplines of linguistics: Phonology,
Semantics, Syntax, Morphology, and Pragmatics. Culture, indeed, has an important
role to play in the meaning a word can take since words change their meanings over
time, according to people’s background knowledge, educational level, social status,
etc. Morphology is interested in studying the formation processes involved in the
creation of new words. Below, there are some examples about the third-singular
person, the plural of regular nouns, and the regular past tense form.
Third-person singular:
He speaks English. She lives in town. He watches T.V.
The plural of regular nouns:

I like books. Close the doors. Pick up the boxes.
The regular past tense form:

I studied for the test. She rented the flat. He missed the flight.
Phonology: It refers to how a word is uttered.

Semantics: It has to do with the meaning of words.
Syntax: It relates to the arrangement of words within a sentence.
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Morphology: It deals with the make-up of words.
Pragmatics: It studies the relations people establish with and through language.
Culture: It embodies the thoughts, beliefs, ideas, or traits of a group, a society.
Tartaglia (1972) refers to an allomorph as follows:

Each of the different phoneme sequences of the plural ending in boys, cats,
and roses is called an allomorph of the plural morpheme. (An allomorph is a
morpheme variant which occurs in fixed environments.) (p. 107)
An allomorph is a variation of a morpheme in terms of pronunciation, based

on the linguistic context. The realization of the [s] sound may be pronounced as /s/,
/z/ or /iz/ depending on the linguistic context in which the [s] sound takes place, as
it is shown above; the same is true for the pronunciation of the regular plural form
and the regular past tense.
Simple present tense marker

paints /s/ He paints landscapes.
goes /z/ She goes to work by Metro.
washes /iz/ The maid washes the dishes.
Plural noun marker

books /s/ I have two books to read.
cars /z/ There are few cars in the garage.
boxes /iz/ We need some boxes.
Simple past tense marker

lived /d/ I lived abroad for 5 years.
worked /t/ We all worked on the project.
rented /id/ They rented a cozy apartment.
Classification of morphemes: Free or Bound

Free morphemes can stand alone as an independent word, e.g., house, big, short.
Bound morphemes cannot stand alone as an independent word in a sentence.
It has to be attached to another morpheme: a free morpheme, e.g., houses, bigger,
shortest.
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Affixes are a kind of a bound morpheme. Affixes include Prefixes and Suffixes.
Prefixes are morphemes, which go before base morphemes. For example, the prefix
“in,” provides a new meaning or function to the word. Some examples are illegal;
immature; impossible; irrelevant; disrespectful; unrelated.
e.g. His behavior was somewhat immature. To me, it is quite impossible.
Suffixes are morphemes, which are attached at the end of base morphemes, provide
a new meaning or function to the word. Some examples of suffixes are _s; _ing; _ed.
e.g. friends: We have many friends.

reading: Reading is my favorite pastime.
worked: He worked the whole weekend.
Base morphemes + bound morphemes

comfort + _able: comfortable: Your apartment is very comfortable.
run + _er: runner: Jerome was an excellent runner.
examine + _tion: examination: Patrick passed his examination.
Some words may derive from their verbs, adjectives, and nouns:
Verbs
e.g. build: builder; building; rebuild; rebuilding.
create: creator; creativity; recreate; recreation; recreational.
Adjectives
e.g. easy: easiness; uneasiness; uneasy; easily; uneasily.
polite: politeness; impolite; politely; impolitely.
Nouns
e.g. certainty: certain; certainly; uncertain; uncertainly; uncertainty.
anger: angry, angrily.
heat: heater, heating.
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Parts of speech or word classes
They refer to the different kinds of words, which are used to form phrases,
sentences, clauses, in either speech or in writing. Parts of Speech include:
Nouns: bus, eraser, hotel Pronouns: I, his, ours Conjunctions: and, or, either
Verbs: to do, to get, to go Adverbs: fast, slowly, well Determiners: a, an, some, the
Adjectives: cold, easy, hard Prepositions: at, in, on Interjections: oh, uh-huh, oops
Word classification
Open class words refer to content words, which correspond to Nouns, Verbs,
Adjectives, and Adverbs. It means that new words can be created in this category,
based on the discoveries, inventions, or advancements in science and technology.
Closed class words refer to function words, which correspond to Pronouns,

Prepositions, Conjunctions, Interjections, and Determiners. It means that no more
new words can be created in this category. Until now, there has been no need to
create more words to fulfill other purposes, corresponding to function words.
Importance of words and context
Isolated words convey a particular function or meaning. Words within a

particular context play a function and have a specific meaning.
e.g. The child likes to play ball.

We attended the ball last Saturday.
I had a ball at the party.
Inflectional suffixes
_s / _es: third-person singular. e.g. He plays the piano.

_ing: continuous tense. e.g. Francis is taking a nap.
_d / _ed: simple past tense. e.g. We arrived home early.
_er: comparative. e.g. Benjamin is taller than Paul.
_est: superlative. e.g. He is the best person I know.
_ly: adverbs out of adjectives. e.g. She sings beautifully.
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Word-formation processes
New words appear as a response to a need people have to name reality in

terms of science, law, architecture, engineering, art, music, dentistry, medicine,
technology, etc. The formation of words comprises several phenomena, which will
be explained below:
Acronyms: The initial letter of a word serves to create an expression.
A.S.A.P.: As soon as possible. C.U.L.A.: See you later alligator.
J.A.S.: Just a second. K.I.T.: Keep in touch.
e.g. Call me A.S.A.P. C.U.T. I love you.
Backformation: A verb is derived from a noun: to acculturate: acculturation; to
babysit: babysitter; to evaluate: evaluation; to resurrect: resurrection; to televise: television
e.g. We need to vaccinate the children. She usually babysits on the weekend.
Blending: A new word is formed by combining some elements of both words:
breakfast + lunch: brunch; emote + icon: emoticon; motor + hotel: motel;
smoke + fog: smog;
work + alcoholic: workaholic.
e.g. On weekdays, there is much smog all over the city. Her husband is a
workaholic.
Brand Names: The brand of a company makes it identifiable for everyone:
Band-Aid; Coke; Frotex; Kleenex; Kotex are just some examples.
e.g. Do you have a Kleenex by any chance? Do you have a Band-Aid by any
chance?
Brand Names: Business and technological nouns turned out to become verbs:
E-mail: to email; Fax: to fax; Google: to google; Twitter: to tweet.
e.g. Can you google that for us, please? Tweet me your pictures.
Compound: A new word is made by joining two words together: book + store:
bookstore;
hand + shake: handshake; news + stand: newsstand.
e.g. The bookstore has been closed down. Give me a strong handshake.
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Agentive Nouns: Nouns are made starting from their verbs: To dance: dancer;
To drive: driver; To sing: singer; To teach: teacher; To work: worker; e.g. He works
as a taxi driver. She is my favorite singer.
Clippings: Long words become shorten: advertisement: ad; gymnastics: gym;

laboratory: lab; newspaper: paper.
e.g. They put an ad on the Internet. The lab is on the second floor.
Diminutives: These are words, which express tenderness, love, or affection:

Dad or Daddy for father; Mom or Mommy for mother; Grandma or granny for
grandmother.
e.g. Raymond is Daddy’s pet. Mommy has been a great support for her.
Diminutives: for common words include the following: From book, we get
booklet; from cigar, we get cigarette; from drop, we get droplet; and from Kitchen,
we get kitchenette.
e.g. We don’t like cigarettes. The booklet is by the night table.
Nicknames: Some nicknames for people are shown below: Thomas: Tom;
Richard: Dick; Henry: Harry.
e.g. Harry Potter is a fantastic novel. Tom, Dick, and Harry were at the party.
Some differences in terms of spelling and verb formation are common in British
English and American English. These differences are due to geographical or historical
influences from other languages, such as French. In the case of British English, some
spelling examples follow: behaviour, colour, favour, honour, labour, neighbour, while in
American English, the words above are spelled as behavior, color, favor, honor, labor,
neighbor. In terms of verb differences, in spelling, some examples follow: for American
English dreamed, dwelled, kneeled, learned, spelled, spilled; for British English dreamt,
dwelt, knelt, learnt, spelt, spilt. Some other differences between British English and
American English have to do with the s-c distinction. For example, practise / practice;
and the s-z distinction, as in the following words: apologise / apologize, analyse / analyze,
recognize / recognise, synchronise / synchronize, etc. The formation of new words responds
to the need to supply those to name an idea, a product, an action, etc. and that is exactly
what happens with content words. New verbs appear as they derive from nouns. In
morphology, there exists the possibility to create new words, such as adjectives, nouns,
verbs, and adverbs. That is why they are considered to be open-class words. Advances
in agriculture, business, education, engineering, science, and technology, so to speak,
make the appearance and the development of new words and expressions possible. The
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morphology of words entails a number of processes, which determine the creation of
new words because of prefixes and suffixes, which are attached to the root of a word:
To act: act; action; actor; actress; active; actively; proactive; proactively.
The Pedagogy of Morphology

The internal form of words is peculiar to particular languages. Not every language
has the same prefixes, infixes, or suffixes. Derivation of words differs from language
to language. There could be some similar processes when there are certain features
shared by two or more languages. It is quite interesting to be able to compare an L1
to an L2 as for its corresponding formation and derivational processes. The more
relationship exists between English and German, or Spanish and Italian, for instance,
the more common processes are to be found in them. In Spanish, adjectives agree
in number and genre, in English they do not. An easy process to specify someone’s
profession is when _er is added to the verb from which it is derived, for example,
for engine we get engineer, the same is true for teach, teacher; learn, learner; drive,
driver; swim, swimmer; dance, dancer, etc., but not for cook, for instance. Compound
words are common in English and Spanish, but they have their very specific processes
in their corresponding languages. In English, there are some examples: blackout;
handbook, sidewalk. In Spanish, some examples include abrelatas (can opener), paraguas
(umbrella), pasamanos (banister), sacacorchos (corkscrew). As for diminutives, both
languages have similar processes. Some examples in English and Spanish are shown
respectfully, cigarette, cigarrillo; daddy, papito; doggy, perrito; kitchenette, cocineta;
mommy, mamita. It can be concluded that although there are morphological similarities
between languages, people can create new words according to the requirements and
advancements in science and technology, or even, the simple everyday language
people use in their social interactions. It can be concluded that prefixes and suffixes
play an important role since new words can be created as a response to advances in
science or technology. Words result from the need to name or to rename realities.
Reflection
1. What kind of morphological processes do you approach much more often?
2. How does morphology contribute to increase learners’ vocabulary repertoire?
Project
Analyze the manner(s) in which English textbooks introduce and teach
morphology.
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12
Semantics and Pragmatics
“The material world requires names for things around us or abstract
concepts for them to be named.”
Semantics
T
hat what is read are words, but what we get out of them are ideas, which are
based on our preconceptions or concepts. Semantics deals with the meaning
of words. Words are the symbols used to help human beings to relate to the
world. Words make up our world. The material world requires names for things
around us or abstract concepts for them to be named. What it can be inferred from
what Shakespeare wrote is that more than words in a book, what we read is the sense
that we can make out of them. Words come into being only if there is a need for
them to be used in “real” life. Words do not exist into a vacuum. They exist to make
us be aware there is a reality out there, which needs to be named. Words make sense
only if they are used in meaningful contexts. The meaning of words varies according
to a number of circumstances. How, why and in which degree words change the
meaning, is the task of semantics. Our needs, interests, problems, wants, and feelings
are expressed in the order in which we organize the words in our minds, based on
our emotions. For semantics to make sense there should be a common agreement
between the speaker and the hearer, in terms of the topic, the context, the setting,
the cultural traits, and the intentions of the communicative act. It is better conveyed
thanks to the use of non-verbal communication, sometimes.
Signs, symbols, pictures, emoticons, and speech serve to express meaning.

Semantics does not stand alone. It requires the use of other resources, such as topic,
purpose, subjects, setting, context, means, etc., for it to make sense. It makes the
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hearer or the reader interpret the concept of a word based on knowledge of the
world. People react to ideas based on previous experiences. The interpretation of
a word depends on what it evokes the hearer, the speaker, the reader, or the writer.
For sentences to have a logical meaning, they have to be coherent in terms of what
they want to convey. Not all well-formed sentences in terms of syntax are said to be
coherent in terms of meaning. Sentences are expected to be cohesive and coherent so
that they can fulfill their communicative purpose. Words provide us with concepts,
which vary depending on our personal and cultural perceptions of the circumstances
we live in. Therefore, it is important to have a sound understanding based on the
relations we establish with words. Although sentences are said to be written, spoken,
or signed, they are meant to mean something, but it is not always the case; all this
depends on the relatedness of the elements or words within a sentence. Semantics
analyzes all of the possible interpretations a single word may have due to the
concepts involved in the speaker’s and the hearer’s minds. Meaning does not always
take place in isolation but within both a linguistic and a cultural context. For an
isolated word or concept to make sense requires a lot of thinking on the part of the
hearer, the viewer, or the reader, if it were the case. Words do not mean what they
really do, but what people want them to. Some examples include the following: In
Colombia, for instance, people use the verb “to provoke” when offering something
to someone, as in: “¿Te provoca un café?” In English, it is something like: “Do you
fancy a coffee?” or “Would you like some coffee?” In English, for instance, the word
broad has different meanings, as in: “What you said requires a broad explanation,”
and “who is that broad?” Semantics and syntax are related fields of linguistics in the
sense that whatever you want to say has to be well structured. Thus, your idea can
be well understood, by either the hearer or the reader. How an idea is expressed,
depends on the speaker’s or the writer’s preferences, that is, either one or the other
selects the pieces or chunks of language, according to factors like the audience, the
educational background, the psychological age, etc. Once you have clarified your
thoughts, then you get ready to talk or to write down about what is on your mind.
In this regard, there is something, which goes like this:
Contexts and the importance of meaning

Linguistic context, also known as co-text, refers to how a word or a concept
relates to others in the same phrase or sentence. Cultural context refers to the
possible connotations a word or a concept can take, based on the meaning it has
in a given culture. The meaning or the interpretation of a sentence, which could
sound ambiguous, depends on the perceptions we have of the world around us and
of our inner conceptions based on our cultural background, as well as the topic of
the conversation.
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Semantic ambiguity in English
The meaning of a sentence offers more than one possible interpretation, but
no more than one syntactic interpretation. Explain the possible interpretations for
the sentences below:
• “Visiting great-aunts can be a nuisance.”

• “Students hate annoying professors.”
• “I said I would see you on Tuesday.”
• “She cannot bear children.”
• “The chicken is ready to eat.”
Ladusaw (n. d.) states that “Investigating how our understanding of what is
said is influenced by our individual and cultural assumptions and experience, which
are much less visible than what is explicitly said, can help make us more aware and
effective communicators.”
Semantic ambiguity in Spanish
• El puerco de mi vecino, apesta.

• El burro de mi amigo.
• La perra de mi vecina aúlla mucho.
• El gato se comió el dulce debajo de la cama.
• Eso acaba con la hoja y la mata.
Semantics, word choice, and translation
Word meaning changes according to the context, given a particular situation.

That is why translation is difficult for the translator to choose a lexical item from a
dictionary since there is no explicit reference when it comes to translating isolated
sentences.
Grouping lexical items
It helps people to classify, organize, store, and retrieve words according to

categories in terms of meaning, as well as syntax and phonology. Some examples follow:
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e.g. Colors: black, white, blue, red, yellow, brown, orange, green, pink, etc.
Emotions: happy, angry, sad, worried, excited, patient, impatient, etc.
Semantic change
Words change their meaning over time due to a number of factors.
Gay: Merry, happy; lively, colorful. A gay: A homosexual.

A guy: A person of grotesque appearance. A guy: An average man or woman.
A mouse: A small rodent. A mouse: A cursor control device.
To starve: to die. To starve: to die of hunger.
e.g. He is gay. He is a gay.
Many people are starving. She starved due to the plague.
Componential Analysis: It refers to the classification of lexical items based

on specific criteria, such as the species, its genre, or its age. Some examples follow:
e.g. Stallion [horse + male + adult]

Mare [horse + female + adult]
Colt [horse + male–adult]
Filly [horse + female–adult]
Semantic Features: It is a notational method, which can be used to express the

existence or non-existence of semantic properties by using [+] or [-].
e.g. A man is [+human], [+male], [+adult]

A woman is [+human], [-male], [+adult]
A boy is [+human], [+male], [-adult]
A girl is [+human], [-male], [-adult]
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Words and expressions
In order for a word, a term, a lexical item, a concept, and an expression, to be

understood by a speech community, it must have an agreed-upon meaning within
it. This can be achieved as soon as it comes into use by its speakers, who depending
on their age, sex, or social and cultural condition, give birth to new meanings, which
can be easily spread as it makes part of people’s lives and circumstances. No one
knows for sure what effect words will have on people as they make them acquire
new meanings. It is intentions that contributes to the conceptualizations of words.
Some words or concepts keep on living although they take a new identity, a new
and different meaning appears. Some others change the meaning, and some others,
disappear. Life is granted when there is a purpose in mind. The same is true for words.
Words are given new meanings, as there is a need to be fulfilled. Still, some others
disappear because of technology since there is no point in continuing using them
and new words appear so that the new reality can be named, by taking their place.
Denotation: It is the literal meaning of a word. It is what a word conveys.
e.g. Dog, eagle, rat, snake, etc.
Connotation: It is the meaning a word may have based on the context in which
it takes place.
e.g. A dog represents Friendship or Loyalty.

A snake represents Treason or Fear.
An eagle represents Freedom or Spiritual Protection.
A rat represents Fertility or Plague.
Semantic, thematic, or theta roles, proposed by Fillmore (1968), refer to

the roles played by the components of a sentence and their relationship within it.
e.g. John hit Bill. Bill was hit by John.

Agent: It is the doer of a volitional act.
Experiencer: It is the object whose condition or property is described.
Theme: It is what undergoes an act.
Recipient: It is the receiver of an object.
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Instrument: It is the tool used to perform an act.
Time: It refers to the moment in which the act is performed.
Location: It is the place of an act or object.
Source: It is the origin of a motion or change.
Goal: It is the destination of a motion or result of a change.
Manner: It refers to how the act is performed.
e.g. The child hid the candy under the bed.
Agent= CHILD
Theme= CANDY
Location = UNDER THE BED
Time = PAST
What words are meant to mean
Synonyms, antonyms, homophones, homonyms, homographs, and euphemisms

are commonly used.
Synonyms are words that have the same meaning. The richness of a language
can be measured by the number of words its people have at their disposal to name
their reality.
e.g. boring: dull. The meeting was very boring / dull.

happy: joyful. We felt extremely happy / joyful.
Antonyms are words, which mean the opposite:
e.g. easy / difficult. This exercise is quite easy /difficult.

high / low. The price was high / low.
light / heavy. Those suitcases were not light / heavy at all.
Homophones are words, which sound and are written the same way, but they
have different meaning: e.g. back; bark; book; count; crane; date; flat; game; kind;
pen; pound.
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e.g. The bark of the tree is rotten. Dogs usually bark at night.
I can count to ten. The count was arrested.
Homonyms are words, which are pronounced alike, but they are spelled
differently:
e.g. buy; by; bye.

cite; sight; site.
knight; night.
knot: not.
know: no.
right; rite; write; Wright.
their; there; they’re.
to; too; two.
e.g. Eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth. I am very proud of him.
Do you know her? No, I don’t.
Homographs are words, which are spelled the same way, but with different
meanings and may be pronounced differently.
Noun: address. What’s your address?
Verb: to address. Do I have to address such an issue?
Euphemisms refer to words, phrases or expressions, which tend to be offensive.
e.g. She died last night.

She passed on last night.
She passed away last night.
She kicked the bucket last night.
e.g. He got fired.
He lost his job.
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He got the sack.
He was made redundant.
e.g. You are crazy.
You are nuts.

You are up the pole.
You are out of your mind.
e.g. They were mad.
They were furious.

They were angry.
They were pissed off.
It can be said that foreign or second language learners, who are able to use
and to understand euphemisms have the possibility to interact much more easily
with native speakers at it comes to cultural matters. Being culturally proficient is
one of the most difficult aspects that foreign or second language learners have to
deal with. One of the best ways to develop such a cultural understanding is to be in
contact with native speakers, to read heavily, and to watch movies or sitcoms where
culture is portrayed through language and language is portrayed through culture.
Pragmatics
“Not every concept has the same word.”
Crystal (1987) defines pragmatics in the following manner: “Pragmatics studies

the factors that govern our choice of language in social interaction and the effects
of our choice on others” (p. 120).
In pragmatics, people have different words to name the same concept. For
example, people from different parts of a region or country, start talking about
what a word or expression is called in their corresponding places and it turns out
that there are many words with different and sometimes opposing meanings for
the same concept. Such a situation will help us to improve the L2 system to avoid
misunderstanding.
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Context: The linguistic context, as well as the context of the conversation in which
language occurs, make people use it according to several circumstances: participants,
age, social status, topic, type of interaction, etc. Language must respond to truth, as
it is one of its basic functions, to convey meaning as something real. It is important
to highlight that truth is one of Grice’s principles, the Maxim of Truth where the
information conveyed must be truthful. The most important idea about language
is to convey meaning, which is a requirement for communication to be useful. The
hearer’s or the reader’s task is to understand not just what words mean, but also the
context of the conversation, non-verbal communication, attitudes, understandings,
and misunderstanding, especially that, which has not been said, as well.
Physical Context: It serves to clarify the meaning of a concept below, there is

an example with the term “bank,” which is used in two different contexts:
e.g. The bank closes at 4:00 p. m.

Don’t go camping near the bank of the river.
Deixis: It is a term, which refers to people, place, or time:
Person Deixis: It refers to people: “this man;” “that girl;” “these children;”
“those friends;” etc.; or pronouns like “me;” “you;” “her;” “us;” “them,” etc.
e.g. I love you. We saw her.
Spatial Deixis: It refers to adverbs like “here;” “there;” “over here,” etc.
e.g. Meet me there. The keys weren’t here.
Temporal Deixis: It refers to adverbs like “today,” “tomorrow,” “later,” etc.
e.g. See you tomorrow. They arrived yesterday.
Reference: It is a linguistic form, which serves to identify one idea. One idea
reinforces the next idea.
e.g. Hemingway wrote “The Old Man and the Sea.” He wrote it in 1951.
My family and I went to our farm. We had a good time there.
Ellis (1999) defines the concept of reference as follows:
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Reference. All texts have some elements that refer to something else for
interpretation. These elements are not directly semantically interpreted but rely
on reference to something else for semantic interpretation... There is a further
distinction between endophoric and exophoric reference. Endophoric reference
is when a cohesive tie relies on some element within the text for interpretation:
When a tie must go to something back in the text it is called an anaphoric
reference, and when it must wait for something forward in the text it is called a
cataphoric reference. An anaphoric relation says “look backward in the text for
an interpretation,” and a cataphoric relation says “look forward.” An exophoric
reference instructs the listener to go to the context of the environment for
interpretation and not to some other place in the text. (p. 112)
Inference: It is a term, which relates to something you can conclude based on

the evidence provided.
e.g. Dad really likes listening to Strauss. (Dad likes Strauss’s music).
Shakespeare is difficult to read. (Shakespeare’s literary style is difficult
to follow).
Anaphora: It refers to a term that will be mentioned later on and it refers to

the same person or thing.
e.g. Laura stayed home. She was sick.

The book was very heavy for me to carry. Then, I left it home.
The children played the whole day. They were tired after that.
Cataphora: It refers to a term, which has been mentioned in a sentence and it

is explained in the second sentence in order to make the previous idea clear.
e.g. She typed it in a jiffy. The letter was quite long, though.
We invited her, but Granny dropped out the invitation.
The boy broke the window. He was forced to pick up the pieces.
Presupposition: It is an assumption made about something or someone, but

there is no real evidence that it is completely true or certain.
e.g. When were you fired? (You are not working anymore).
How late did you leave? (You had to work late last night).
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Speech Acts: A speech act is an utterance used to convey meaning.
e.g. Locutionary propositional: I’m tired. (I’m exhausted).

Illocutionary meaning: I’m tired. (I want you to go to
bed. I’m tired, too).
Examples for Speech Act Classification
Commissive: I’ll help you out tomorrow.

Declarative: I pronounce you husband and wife.
Directive: Please come in.
Expressive: The dinner was delicious.
Representative: This is Mr. President.
Politeness: Do you mind telling Annie not to come?
The language that you speak, the language that you write down, or the language
that you sign and teach must sound logical either to native or to non-native speakers,
in that way understanding and cooperation could be reached.
Grice, (1975) proposed four Maxims to be applied in the communicative act;

these are:
Maxim of quantity: The information is adequate.

Maxim of quality: The information is truthful.
Maxim of relevance: The information is relevant.
Maxim of manner: The information is clear, brief, and orderly.
Grice’s four Maxims can be applied both in speech and in writing. Language
is the best means by which people attempt to convey messages as they talk or write
down. In language teaching, in the development of syllabi and curricula, as well
as in the design of language tests to evaluate and to assess learners’ progress and
attainment, Grice’s four Maxims can be highly used and applied in the ESL/EFL
contexts and settings. In your language teaching profession, it is important to bear
in mind the following aspects:
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• Make your speech clear, relevant, sufficient, and precise.
• Make your writing adequate, truthful, necessary, and orderly.
• Design your English language tests as natural as possible so that the L2 culture
may be reflected on them.
It can be said that in pragmatics, the use of language in meaningful communicative

and cultural contexts, words and phrases get a completely new meaning. In this
sense, a word is the result of the need to name an entity. If this were not the case,
there would not be any reason to create it. Words exist since there is a reality to be
named. Words and expressions are made to satisfy both social and cultural needs,
which will have different meanings according to the contexts in which they are used.
It is important to remark that not every concept uses the same word.
The Pedagogy of Semantics and Pragmatics

The real foundation of language is its words, which are referred to as being
functional or content words. The external world, represented by nature and the outer
space, serves as the breeding ground to create new words as the demands require.
Those words and expressions, which have not been used so much, so far, let new words
and expressions appear, or their meanings are likely to take new interpretations since
there are diverse cultures and people. The internal state of individuals also makes
them create new words as emotions, feelings, frustrations, fears, and pleasures are
to be named somehow. Semantics helps us to name what has not been named yet.
Pragmatics contributes to the understanding and the interpretation of meaning as
the context varies, according to areas of knowledge. A curious thing to do is to trace
down how a word or an idiomatic expression gets its meaning, how people reach a
consensus on what it means. It is a socio-cultural phenomenon. Words can spring
from society, of course, even without knowing their exact origin, but what really
matters is the new meaning it will have within the linguistic repertoire of a given
community or social group. Words mean exactly what people want them to mean
once a consensus has been reached. They do not exactly mean what a dictionary
entry means, but what we want them to refer to.
Reflection
1. Is there any connection between semantics and pragmatics?
2. What strategies do you use to teach vocabulary words and expressions?
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Project
In English, as in any other language, words change their original meaning, by
being given other new meanings, which sometimes are not related to their original
meanings. Please select some words of your preference in order to analyze how other
additional meanings have been given to them and explain the possible reasons for
that change.
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Language as The Founding Element
of Society
“A common language is the most obvious binding element
in any society.”
Michael Howard.
13
Sociolinguistics, Language Varieties,
and Ebonics
“Language in society and society in language are key features
to be studied by Sociolinguistics.”
S
ociolinguistics studies language in relation to society. Sociolinguistics deals with
the social phenomena, which affect language. Sociolinguistics is also interested
in studying, analyzing, and describing, how language affects the social relations
of individuals within a given community or society. Not everybody behaves,
communicates, and relates to one another in the same way. Age is a factor, which
interferes with the kind of language used by those who take part in a conversation:
children, adolescents, adults, and old people. Expressions also differ because of
social status, educational background, geographical features, etc. Hudson (1996:
4) defines sociolinguistics as follows: “Sociolinguistics is the study of language in
relation to society, whereas the sociology of language is the study of society in
relation to language.”
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Post-creole continuum. When people in a creole-speaking community are
taught in the standard language to which the creole is related, they form a post-
creole continuum. For example, in Jamaica and Guyana, an English-based creole
is spoken and standard English is taught in schools. Those with higher levels of
education speak something close to standard English, the acrolect. Those with little
or no education speak the creole or something close to it, the basilect, and the rest
speak a range of varieties in between, the mesolect.
Diglossia: Ferguson (1959) proposed the term Diglossia. Briefly, it can be

defined like this: It is when within a society, there exist two types of varieties of
language, one is high and the other is low. The former is somewhat prestigious
and the latter is somewhat vulgar. Diglossia, then, may occur in places or areas in
which there are two types of language or two languages with which people may
interact, for instance, Quechua and Spanish, which are spoken in Ecuador, Peru
and Bolivia. Quechua is considered a low-variety language, while Spanish is not.
Galician in Spain is considered inferior compared with Spanish. McArthur (1992)
defines Diglossia in the following manner:
A term in sociolinguistics for the use of two varieties of language for different
purposes in the same community. The varieties are called H and L, the first being
generally a standard variety used for ‘high’ purposes and the second often a ‘low’
spoken vernacular. In Egypt, classical ARABIC is H and local colloquial Arabic
is L [. . .] Functions generally reserved for H include sermons, political speeches,
university lectures, and news broadcasts, while those reserved for L include everyday
conversations, instructions to servants, and folk literature.
The varieties differ not only in grammar, phonology, and vocabulary, but also
with respect to function, prestige, literary heritage, acquisition, standardization,
and stability. L is typically acquired at home as a mother tongue and continues to
be so used throughout life. Its main uses are familial and familiar. H, on the other
hand, is learned through schooling and never at home, and is related to institutions
outside the home. The separate domains in which H and L are acquired provide
them with separate systems of support . . . (p. 312).
Standard Language is a type of language, which is commonly accepted as

being the one used on business transactions and, which tends to be formal for more
academic and research purposes.
Non-standard language is a type of language that people tend to use and to

speak in the street, at school, at work, not when serious matters are discussed. A
non-standard language is spoken with family, friends, peers, or partners.
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Taboo in language is an important aspect of any linguistic system and culture.
Some words or expressions are said to be banned by society because they tend to
be inappropriate or dirty.
Words about national or ethnic origin tend to be offensive and you had better
not use them: Chimp; WASP; monkey; nigger; redneck. Holy words or those related
to religion are said to be blasphemous: Oh, my Gosh; Oh, my Gee; Holy shit; For
God’s sake; For goodness sake; God damn it, I don’t give a damn; I don’t give a fuck;
I don’t give a shit. Good-bye derived from the expression: God be with ye.
Parts of the body and those related to the male or female organs are also taboo
in language. Words about sexual practices and sexual orientation are considered
nasty. It is up to language teachers refer to them just in case that their learners
would like to know them. However, other than that, obscene language is rooted in
the culture of every society. It does not mean that language teachers should teach
it to their learners for them to use it to offend others. Culture has a role to play in
the way people interpret their circumstances or refer to their realities. Words and
expressions, such as interjections are particular to languages. That is to say, they
change from language to language and even from culture to culture, depending on
the way people think they hear the sounds or they express surprise. Interjections are
discourse markers, which express feelings, such as emotion, surprise, fear, anxiety,
doubt, and assertiveness. Language teachers should be knowledgeable about these
speech or written resources. They also should teach them to their learners so that
they become familiar with the expressions native speakers use as they intervene
in communicative acts within their particular cultural settings, contexts, and
circumstances. Thanks to the symbolic relationship between language and society,
sociolinguistics is in charge of delving into a series of issues, which greatly contribute
to and with the analysis of how language is used in a particular society. Spoken
language is influenced by interjections.
Below, there is a comparative table with some interjections in different languages:
Table 6.Interjections in Different Languages
English: Oh! Oops! Ouch! Uh-huh! Bang! Yuk! Yummy!

French: Oh! Houp! Aïe! Ouais! Boum! Berk! Deliciuex!
German: Ach! Hoppla! Autsch! Ja! Peng! Igitt! Lecker!
Italian: Oh! Ops! Ahi! A-ha! Bang Puh! Squisito!
Portuguese: Oh! Opa! Ai! Acordo! Bum! Nojo! Delicioso!
Spanish: ¡Ah! ¡uy! ¡Huy! ¡Aja! ¡Pum! ¡Gas! ¡Mmm!
Note: Own work
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In English:
• Oops! I didn’t mean it.

• No problem. That’s O.K., but don’t bollix it up again.
• Yuck! That’s gross.
• I completely agree.
In Spanish:
• ¡Mmm! Huele delicioso.

• Sí. Lo hice especialmente para ti.
• ¡Gas! ¿A qué huele?
• Huele a gas.
In French:
• Est-ce que nous pouvons parler par Twitter?

• B: Oh!, Oui! D’accord.
• A: Ouais, c’est à facile à faire.
• B: Merci beaucoup.
In German:
• A: Ach! da bist du endlich.

• B: Ja, da bin ich. Wir können jetz gehen.
Language is conceived as a whole system. It cannot be fragmented into pieces.

Language and society are part of the same mold. Since language cannot be split
into pieces, reality should not either. There is only one reality, not realities, as it is
commonly stated. Instead of having ‘realities,’ there are circumstances, which intervene
in that reality. Both reality and language are intertwined. The former cannot be
expressed if the latter fails to do so. In other words, if speakers are unable to make
use of linguistic resources, reality cannot be interpreted accordingly. Language
serves the purposes of reality to be expressed by speakers in their corresponding
social settings and cultural contexts.
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Language should be at the service of reality and the circumstances in which
speakers relate to it and to other speakers’ communicative needs. The individual or
the family is at the very core of a society. Sometimes, language is the most central
feature. When this is the case, the members of the family, especially parents, are
responsible for their children’s language acquisition process. Caretakers, in their
absence, are the first people with whom children establish strong bonds and language
is at the crux of the issue. Schooling, in a sense, is like an extension of the family for
language acquisition to take place or to be improved, depending on social relations
and opportunities for linguistic growth.
Language Varieties
“Language is always on the move as people are, too.”
American: British:
What’s your favorite color? What’s your favourite colour?

We need to analyze the data. We need to analyse the data.
She lives in an apartment. She lives in a flat.
He escaped from jail. He escaped from gaol.
May I have the check? May I have the bill?
Do you have a car? Have you got an automobile?
I already read that book. I’ve already read that book.
I’m wearing new pants. I’m wearing new trousers.
She lives on the first floor. She lives on the ground floor.
We are on the second floor. We are on the first floor.
He beats around the bush. He beats about the bush.
It’s a swell idea. It’s a good idea.
Language cannot and should not be understood as an isolated system, as it

usually happens in the EFL classroom. Instead, it needs to be conceived as a complex
one in which a number of issues come into play, as it is shown below:
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• The place where the person was born, lives, works, or studies.
• Culture particular to every region affects how people see the world.
• Language is highly influenced by the culture where it develops.
• People do not always speak or pronounce the same way everywhere.
• The words and expressions used by people differ.
• Ideas are not always expressed in the same way.
There is little or no feedback from native speakers to foreign language learners

when the foreign language is spoken. In the event that there is scarce contact with
language and its native speakers, it is harder for non-native speakers. That is to say,
foreign language learners require to get permanent and primary feedback from
native speakers since their parents, family, friends, partners, and the community,
where they live, do not or cannot use it as a means of everyday communication and
interaction. The classroom should not be considered the center where the foreign
language springs. Besides, language learning cannot be teacher-centered, but learner-
centered, instead. Learners are expected to do their learning. On the other hand,
teachers are expected to provide learners with language learning resources and
some tips on how to proceed and to explore them so that learning becomes lasting
and meaningful. Meaningful learning takes place only when language is used on a
daily basis. There is a purpose behind it for learners to learn it willingly: a) to satisfy
their communicative needs; b) to pursue graduate studies; c) to do business; d) to
live and to work in a foreign country; e) to be an active member and participant
in the foreign culture. Language learners devote their time, interest, and effort to
achieving their goals. How can this be possible? Well, the answer is quite simple: just
by creating the real needs in the communicative event where the language fulfills
its purposes. When learners are not surrounded by native speakers, it is necessary
to create, promote, develop, improve, and maintain those suitable conditions. The
one-million-dollar question is how to achieve it. A series of concerns, among some
others, have to be taken into account:
• How often is the learner exposed to L2 varieties?

• How necessary is it for him or her to use the L2 on a daily basis?
• How feasible is it for him or her to be part of a linguistic community in which
it is often used for communicative purposes?
• What strategies should be applied so that the L2 can be successfully learned?
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• What are the roles played by both English language teachers and their learners?
Insufficient contact time because of geographical or even mental barriers

impedes foreign language learners to grasp it. Maybe there could be somehow a
kind of contact in the language classroom, but it does not resemble the one used
and spoken outside of it. The reason for this phenomenon is that there is not a
genuine language community, which really contributes to its learning. Then, there
exists a big gap between that which is taught and that which is practical to be used
in everyday interactions. The lack of materials has a negative role to play when it
comes to quality of time. That is to say, learners do not have a series of suitable
learning resources, and in some cases, the L2 partially or completely differs from
the real language varieties used in a given geographical location.
Since language changes over time, especially idiomatic expressions, it is difficult

for non-native speakers to try to understand and to make themselves understood
with their limited language and cultural knowledge. Another drawback has to do
with the inappropriate use of resources. Although they could be available at a given
school, sometimes, teachers lack the necessary training and knowledge to use them
accordingly. On the other hand, it usually happens that if they have laptops, tablets,
or iPods, they lack Internet access, Wi-Fi connectivity, or in extreme cases, electricity
shortage, especially, in isolated rural areas. In this situation, qualified English language
teachers are expected to overcome the problem, by designing language-learning
resources, which can simulate and emulate the language used by native speakers. In
foreign language contexts, the real communicative needs to express ideas in a foreign
language are quite unusual or scarce. There are no sufficient native speakers where
the language can be spoken and practiced. In other words, it means that non-native
speakers find it hard to interact with them. This leads to the fact that the language
to be taught has to be similar to the one used and spoken in natural contexts and
settings. There cannot be a divorce between the classroom language and that of the
street and everyday life language. The real communicative need springs from the
fact that what learners want to convey has to be as natural as the one expressed by
native speakers. English language learners are able to reach that point when they
can think of an idea in a foreign language. It is a hard endeavor when you just see
as a language teacher that all that your language learners just can say is little. It is
important to stress that in natural settings, knowledge of vocabulary and idiomatic
expressions is acquired naturally and effortlessly. Speakers learn them to satisfy a
communicative and cultural need. Language is not what happens in the classroom,
but outside of it. On the other hand, in artificial settings, the learning of vocabulary
words and idiomatic expressions requires a lot of effort since language learners need
a lot of concentration and long-term memory so that they can be used properly
and purposefully. It can be said that knowledge and understanding of vocabulary
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words and idiomatic expressions are culturally based. In other words, in terms of
dialect boundaries (Labov), concepts have a diversity of words, which convey a wide
range of meanings. That is to say, not every native speaker uses or understands every
single word when it is heard or read since cultural differences, come into play. This
phenomenon could be particular to one of the following factors: the geomorphology
of the landscape (mountains, plains, beaches, deserts, and jungles); the speakers’
social class (high, middle, or low); the speakers’ educational background and training;
the jargon used by professionals in their academic fields; their purchasing power to
buy goods and to obtain services and the like. The aforementioned issues should
be taken into consideration in foreign language learning. It is affected by cultural
factors. In this sense, the grammar to be learned or acquired has to satisfy learners’
immediate communicative needs. In other words, the one required to help them to
express their ideas purposefully, not the other way around. Chomsky (2006) states
that “The grammar has to be discovered by the child on the basis of the data available
to him, through the use of innate capacities with which he is endowed.” (p. 162).
Foreign language learners do not consider themselves as real native speakers

because they lack native speakers’ cultural background. It is a quite difficult endeavor
to be able to grasp the intricacies of the foreign culture as for everyday expressions
and humor, in the whole sense of the word. One thing is to be able to attempt to
speak a foreign language, but what is even harder to achieve is to internalize the
L2 culture if they are unwilling to do so. Considering oneself like a native speaker
of an L2 implies more than the very fact of speaking a language, but to be able to
engage in everyday conversations and encounters with native speakers outside the
four school walls, which interfere with grasping the intricacies of the L2 culture(s)
and language varieties.
Learners have a hard time understanding others as they speak. It is a quite

natural and common phenomenon. Let us say, you have never heard a Chinese, a
Greek, or a Polish person speak. When learners have not been exposed to any of
those linguistic systems, they just say, “that’s Greek to me,” and that is completely
true. Our brains lack mental representations and concepts, which derive from new
words and expressions we hear. In order for them to make sense, they have to be
used with a purpose in mind: a communicative one. Although we do not know,
which words we are required to learn first, we need to start learning as many words
as necessary to deal with everyday situations. Then, a question can be raised here,
do these words and expressions that non-native speakers need to internalize first
have to supply everyday life situations? The answer is yes.
Rather than dealing with the structure of language as if a recipe would suffice,
the idea is that language teachers are there to guide their learners’ linguistic,
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cultural, and sociolinguistic demands based on a particular space and moment.
Initially, learners have to be supplied with some samples from which they can take
the necessary elements to create their mental images of what they want, need, and
have to say orally. Since language is primarily spoken, that should be the purpose
of language learning. Learners cannot be asked to write when they do not have
anything to think about since they lack the spoken images of the L2. The natural
order is what native speakers, first they speak, and then, they write or compose.
What is the best way for learners to be able to cope with mental images when they
lack them? Familiar words come from the need that learners have to use them in
real communicative tasks. Once learners have a reasonable number of words and
expressions either active or passive, in their brains, they are expected to put them
into practice, under the influence of concepts or mental constructs.
Reading plays an important role in how native speakers structure their language.
After they have internalized it in their brains, it will be much easier for them to grasp
language. Reading (Goodman & Goodman, Krashen) serves as the foundation for
gaining knowledge of vocabulary words and idiomatic expressions. Both intensive
reading and extensive reading contribute to language improvement. Not only does
reading have to do with language, but also with culture. The learning of semantic
elements has a say in how thoughts can be expressed, and reading can contribute
meaningfully in this regard. As you read, you structure your thinking, and words,
which are used in a variety of applications, affect their meaning since their contexts
make them achieve new meanings. New meanings are assigned by the contexts and
settings in which they take place by both speakers and writers.
Let us take the case of babies and children. Before they can walk, they have
to crawl. This is a good simile. Teachers cannot demand and ask novice learners of
English to produce written language when they lack the necessary tools to produce
spoken language, first. Since learning how to walk requires physiological maturation,
speaking a language does, too. It does not take place overnight. It springs as a
communicative act or social event. Listening to language is also a prerequisite for
someone to speak. If the speaker is not exposed to aural stimuli, then communication
cannot occur between a speaker and a hearer. If there is nothing to be said, then,
the speaker prefers to be immersed in a silent period. When the communicative act
takes place, it means that it is the right moment for the spoken language to spring
from within. The result of sharing thoughts, needs, fears, doubts, likes, etc. comes
to life as the communicative process between a speaker and a hearer is evident.
Reading is not a passive skill, but an active one since mental processes come into
being. The reader can establish connections between his or her existing knowledge
and the new one provided in a reading passage. There should be more emphasis on
writing. Before delving into the issue of writing, it is important to frame what it is
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meant by writing. There are different levels when it comes to writing. It can involve
simple facts, such as transcribing a piece of writing from a blackboard, a book, a
newspaper, a magazine, or a computer to paper. Writing can refer to just jotting
down ideas without any structural order. It also can deal with describing an image
or writing a grocery list down. Writing can also comprise both formal and informal
texts. In the case of formal writing, the following can be mentioned: a) a business
letter; b) an academic report; c) a newspaper report; d) a journal article; e) a short
story or a novel, etc. As for informal writing, the following can serve as examples:
a) a biography; b) a personal letter; c) an e-mail message; d) a restaurant menu; e)
an anecdote; etc., even spelling or taking a dictation, which is also quite difficult to
do. Language teachers most of the time make little emphasis on writing. It is not
because writing is the Cinderella among the four language skills. It is because it is a
complex and time-consuming skill, which demands high qualification from learners
as for how the L2 works, in terms of how to express their ideas appropriately and
adequately.
One of the most suitable strategies to develop writing techniques requires

a sound knowledge of the L2 grammar. Apart from this, reading extensively and
intensively also contributes to the improvement of writing. As we read from other
sources, our brain takes some models or samples of how native speakers of the
L2 think, structure, and express their ideas. Writing in a foreign language implies
being able to think in it. Language teachers cannot and should not demand their
learners to come out with pieces of writing if they have not been exposed to any
model or sample, as well as extensive training. Writing is a matter of trial and error.
The more you write, the better your style will be. Therefore, if writing is difficult for
some teachers, imagine how hard it is for their learners. As a language teacher, you
need to be ethical and coherent with what you demand from your learners to do.
Writing is a matter of practice. Thus, practice, practice, practice because “Practice
makes perfect.”
Language teachers need to step aside or step down so that learners can have
an active role to play when it comes to learning. Those changes must come from
teachers’ innermost part. A teacher’s job other than teaching is to let learners learn,
by guiding them in their attempt to achieving their learners’ goals. Thanks to the
aforementioned issues, language teachers should balance learning and teaching.
In other words, they are to provide learners with the necessary tools and resources
for them to learn on their own. Rather than teaching the structure of the language,
the idea is not to teach it the way it is traditionally done. Based on what learners
need to say, the teacher should be there for them. Language learning is something
unpredictable and unplanned. It cannot be taught according to the methodology used
or applied as it is commonly done. Not every learner has the same interest or goals
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in learning what they are being taught. When it comes to language methodology,
the best methodology is no methodology at all. This assumption does not sound
contradictory. As people meet and engage in conversations, negotiation of meaning
comes in a variety of ways. People use all kinds of structures in different tenses and
modes, loaded with a great number of formal and informal expressions, which usually
are learned in situ. Nowadays, thanks to television services, the Internet, and mass
media, both language teachers and language learners grasp their meanings from
those sources. Otherwise, it would be a hard endeavor to achieve. That is why a series
of changes in methodology and roles needs to take place. Among these changes,
the following stand out: a) learners’ roles; b) active and participative learning; c)
meaningful hands-on tasks; d) task-based learning; e) realistic classroom projects;
and f) teachers’ role.
• Learners’ roles: Teacher’s assistance can help somehow, but learners are
responsible for their own learning. They are to take sole responsibility for their
language gain. The teacher is there to guide and support learners. However,
they need to take the first step.
• Active and participative learning: Learners become active participants since the
L2 learning springs from within as a need to be fulfilled. What really matters
is to provide learners with what they need to say no matter “the level that they
are doing.” Speakers do not speak their language according to their level, they
just do it. In real-life interactions, language comes in a variety of modes, tenses,
and a wide range of vocabulary words and expressions, which are uncertain
as people relate to others. Language cannot be predicted or planned a priori.
Language as such has no levels. Language has to be functional and practical.
• Meaningful hands-on tasks: Practical tasks in which learners can show their
progress and achievements in the language are a real need. When there is a
purpose in everything we do, positive outcomes can spring from it.
• Task-based learning: Similarly, learners learn best when teaching comes in

second-place and learning comes first.
• Realistic classroom projects: One of the best ways to show language learning is
through its projection in realistic and meaningful developments. The idea behind
classroom projects has to do with the application of language in communicative
assignments carried out by learners and supported by their teachers.
• Teachers’ role is to devise the corresponding methodology so that learners can

carry out, not only tasks but also realistic classroom projects, which serve as
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the springboard for learners to show relevant progress in their language and
cultural achievements.
Teaching should respond to learning outcomes. In other words, since learning

is an internal need that learners have, the teachers’ role is to provide them with
meaningful input. Communication is a two-and multi-way process. When language
learners are out there, in real-life interactions, they do not know what kind of
structures they are going to be exposed to and what kind of words and expressions
they are going to come across. That is why teaching cannot and should not respond
to a pre-established syllabus. Language learners need to know more than they are
being taught so that they can deal with unpredictable circumstances. That is what
language learning is all about.
Ebonics
“The nature of language is the nature of the human mind, which is based
on the human experience.”
The term Ebonics derives from the combination of Ebony which means black,
and the term Phonics which means sound. So, what the term Ebonics refers to is
the language or speech used by Black American people. It is thought that Ebonics is
attributed to the American psychologist Robert Williams (1973). As Ebonics refers
to English spoken by Black Americans, it is believed that its influence comes from
the time of slavery when they worked as servants in the American South. This type
of dialect has very peculiar characteristics in terms of pronunciation, vocabulary,
and syntax, of course. Since it is a dialect, it is a non-standard language spoken by
Black people. Other names for Ebonics include the following: African American
Vernacular English (AAVE), “nigger speak,” “niggerish,” which in my opinion tend
to be very pejorative. Some important issues about Ebonics according to Rickford
(n. d.) include the following:
To many people, the first examples that come to mind are slang words like
phat ‘excellent’ and bling-bling ‘glittery, expensive jewelry’, words that are
popular among teenagers and young adults, especially rap and hip hop fans.
But words like kitchen ‘the especially kinky hair at the nape of one’s neck’ and
ashy ‘the whitish appearance of black skin when dry, as in winter’ are even
more interesting. Unlike many slang terms, these ‘black’ words have been
around for ages, they are not restricted to particular regions or age groups,
and they are virtually unknown (in their ‘black’ meanings) outside the African
American community.
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Ebonics pronunciation includes features like the omission of the final consonant
in words like ‘past’ (pas’) and ‘hand’ (han’), the pronunciation of the th in ‘bath’ as t
(bat) or f (baf), and the pronunciation of the vowel in words like ‘my’ and ‘ride’ as a
long ah (mah, rahd). Some of these occur in vernacular white English, too, especially
in the South, but in general they occur more frequently in Ebonics. Some Ebonics
pronunciations are more unique, for instance, dropping b, d, or g at the beginning
of auxiliary verbs like ‘don’t’ and ‘gonna’, yielding Ah ‘on know’ for “I don’t know”
and ‘ama do it’ for ‘I’m going to do it.’
According to this, no language can be considered as being either inferior or

superior regarding its complexity to interpret nature or culture. Language is created
based on very particular needs. People, in their surroundings, do not necessarily
have the same environments although their technology is similarly advanced or
developed. Perceptions related to the interior world change as their emotions are
highly affected by their external factors. Reasoning is one of the features that makes
language be what it actually is intended to be. When people reflect on language is
the same as the very fact of reflecting on their essence: thoughts, ideas, desires,
experiences, and expectations. The search for language is a never-ending endeavor.
People are always questioning about its origin, establishment, evolution, and current
state. The nature of language is the nature of the human mind, which is based on
the human experience, which in turn, is shaped by the cultural background people
gain in their everyday exchange and influenced by the environment and the view
people have about their surroundings and needs.
Since people relate to one another through language differently, there exist
language varieties, also known as Dialects. These dialects derive from the contact
that people have with language and, of course, with those who speak it to establish
relations, to do business, or to communicate purposefully. In the event that there
are many differences between two dialects, then a new language may develop out
of them, like in the case of the Romance languages: Portuguese, Spanish, Italian,
French, and Rumanian, which derived from Latin.
Depending on the setting and the contexts where the linguistic and cultural
phenomena occur, speakers adopt and develop a specific type of language variety
known as Ebonics. Afro-Americans use this variety of language. Language teachers
need to choose appropriate materials and to design pertinent strategies where language
varieties can be evident and foreign language learners can be exposed to and cope
with them, as required. Some resources can include authentic materials found in
documentaries, literature, magazines, movies, musical videos, newspapers, sitcoms,
social networks, television programs, The Internet and the like. It is important to
say that no language variety is better or worse than any other variety.
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The Pedagogy of Sociolinguistics, Language Varieties, and Ebonics
It is not easy to learn how to cope with the quality of language used by native
speakers if someone is not mingled with them. Teachers are likely to delve into the
language spoken in natural settings by native speakers, from television, soap operas,
movies, music, dialogs, and conversations, as well as written sources. Then, they are
to analyze them and to come out with some ideas on how to design practical lessons
where some issues about sociolinguistics can be reflected. Language is a reflection
of society. It is people, who make language come to life, to move on, to evolve, and
even, to disappear. Language is a social phenomenon, which exists for a variety of
reasons, but not everybody uses it in the same way, with the same purposes in mind.
Language teachers are expected to take advantage of their experience and initiative
to set the conditions under which language use can be done naturally. It is through
interaction and negotiation of meaning that social contact is possible.
Reflection
1. Which aspects of sociolinguistics do you consider important for the foreign
teaching process or foreign learning process? Support your position, please.
2. Should language learners be exposed to a particular language variety, two

varieties, or more than two varieties? Explain why or why not. Then, provide
some evidence to support your choice.
Project
When it comes to selecting an English textbook, do you think of its possible
users? What aspects of sociolinguistics do you usually take into account to select
it? Take three to five English textbooks and analyze them in terms of layout, goals,
contents, methodology, resources, etc.
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14
Idioms, Slang, Sayings, Jargon, Clichés,
and Collocation
“If someone lacks knowledge of idioms, jargon, and slang, they would
not be able to engage in everyday life encounters.”
B
eing a proficient language speaker comprises a series of factors. A question
arises, but how can anyone achieve such a goal? Well, there are too many
things, which come into play regarding the achievement of such a particular
interest in mind. If someone is a foreign language learner, they have to start from
the very beginning. Motivation, interest, hard work, and commitment, are some of
the key factors, which intervene in the carrying out of a particular project, which
needs to be achieved, for any personal or professional reason. Below, there are some
requirements for this to take place:
• Attitudinal and motivational factors are paramount.
• A wide variety of vocabulary words and expressions is necessary.
• Exposure to a particular language variety as it is used in the speech community.
• Direct contact with native speakers is the ideal thing to do.
• Listening to a variety of sources in the L2 from audios, videos, or movies.
• Speaking about a wide variety of topics of interest for the L2 learner.
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• Reading extensively refers to books, magazines, newspapers, and specialized
journals, etc., either from printed material or from The Internet.
• Comprehending language in all its forms and cultures.
• Writing in a formal or in an informal style is to be well designed and properly

developed.
• Being knowledgeable about basic jargon relating to a variety of professions.
Authentic materials and their effects on language learning

Watching authentic materials, which include movies, T.V. programs, newsreels,
sitcoms, contests, games, sports, and interviews, will help the learner to be exposed
to the language as it is used in real contexts and settings, and not just exclusively
focused on the prescriptive grammar of the language being taught and learned in the
EFL classroom. Some of the most difficult features about a language and its cultures,
for a non-native speaker of any particular language, are to deal with the meaning
and the use of expressions, which involve idioms, slang, sayings, jargon, clichés,
and collocations. However, how could they be able to internalize the meaning of
so many idiomatic expressions, which appear from the direct contact with people
if they are taught the L2 grammar out of context?
ICT, settings, and contexts

The Internet is a good option for EFL learners to meet other learners or native
speakers with whom they could engage in meaningful and lasting experiences of
gaining insight into how the new language works and how people relate to one
another in a wide variety of scenarios. Other technological devices like tablets,
iPhones, and iPods, help people to be in contact with other speakers or users of the
L2. In order for someone to be updated with the idioms, jargon, and slang, being used
in a certain period, requires a lot of hard work since the learning or the acquisition
of those expressions change as people’s ideas, thoughts, attitudes, or behaviors also
change. Expressions change over time because they get new and completely different
meanings that they used to have in the past. That is to say, language expressions
vary from generation to generation, from culture to culture, and from age to age.
They also get other meanings according to geographical features in the sense that
people from the plains use different expressions as those used by people from
the mountains, valleys, flats, or coasts. Learning how to speak a foreign language
in settings and contexts where learners do not have direct contact with native
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speakers and access to the L2 culture is a hard endeavor. This is the case in most
Latin American countries where Spanish is the most spoken language. In Europe,
for instance, the situation is completely different since there are native speakers
from Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Poland, Austria, etc.,
where these are neighboring countries and people have a direct contact with other
speakers; something that in Latin America is not the case. That is why learners are
expected to have access to an unlimited number of resources available anywhere,
anytime thanks to music, radio, television, The Internet, the social media, as well
as movies and documentaries.
Knowledge of both language and cultural understanding is a reflection of the

lifestyle of native speakers of that language. Being competent in a foreign or a second
language is not just related to how well someone can use their linguistic system;
rather, they should be able to deal with the expressions native speakers use on a
daily basis, in the street, at work, at school, at home, or somewhere else. If someone
lacks knowledge of idioms, jargon, and slang, they would not be able to engage in
everyday life encounters with their peers, friends, colleagues, or just strangers since
they would be unable to decipher and to understand how people conceive their
world around them according to the choices of language they make. Consequently,
they would not fit in social settings, and interactions would be difficult for them to
interact with others who speak it. One of the hardest things to master, for a non-
native speaker of an L2, is to exchange and to understand idiomatic expressions
like native speakers do. Most of the time, they are taught the basics of the language
system in terms of its syntax, semantics, and phonology, toward the improvement
of the four language skills. Second or foreign language teachers should let learners
be in contact with language as it is naturally used and the best way for them to grasp
it is to interact with native speakers, to bring culture into the classroom: guests
as proficient native speakers, proficient non-native speakers, cultural events, T.V.
programs, movies, sitcoms, documentaries, fashion, cooking, sports, lifestyle, etc.
Idioms: They are defined as expressions whose meaning differs from the
individual meaning of the words, which make them up.
e.g. I’ll be leaving at the crack of dawn. That’s the pot calling the kettle black.
There’s something fishy here. He’s going to take me under his wing.
She is a wet blanket. She is wet behind the ears.
Slang: It refers to informal idiomatic expressions used by people based on

their social status.
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e.g. He’s a couch potato. You need to be more laid-back. We saw a nice flick.
Sayings: They are popular expressions based on the beliefs of individuals,

which leave a message. That is to say, people get a lesson out of them. They are
usually referred to as proverbs.
e.g. A man is known by the company he keeps. No news is good news.
Better late than ever. Practice makes perfect.
Between the devil and the deep blue sea. The early bird catches the worm.
Cheap costs more. Time is money.
Jargon: It is a variety of language that has been used by the academic or the
scientific community according to an agreement reached among its members.
e.g. Anecdotal records, critical thinking, learning, lesson plan, teaching. (In
teaching).
Affidavit, case, courtroom, guilty, innocent, lawsuit, plaintiff, prison. (In law).
Allergy, doctor, health, medication, nurse, outpatient, pain, treatment. (In

medicine).
Clichés: They relate to expressions people use on a daily basis.
e.g. as a matter of fact; as old as hills; at a drop of a hat; at the end of the day;
cat got your tongue; dumb as a rock; only tome will time; read between
the lines;
think outside the box.
Collocation: It refers to the positioning of two or more words, which make up

phrases and usually have to do with culture specific to each language, community
or society. Collocation refers to words, which go together within the same phrase.
e.g. fork, knife, spoon; single or married; today or tomorrow; ups and down;
do a favor, do exercise, do homework, do the dishes, do well; make a comment,
make a mistake, make a suggestion, make progress, make the bed. Some other
examples follow:
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e.g. He is still alive and kicking.
They paid an arm and a leg for their apartment.
I can see everything black and white now.
e.g. I usually have orange juice, bread and butter and coffee.
It’s raining cats and dogs.
He is wanted dead or alive.
e.g. Poverty and violence go hand in hand.
What do you choose -heads or tails-?
They are here and there.
e.g. I’ll be back in a jiffy.
In a nutshell, everything is under control.
They have been in and out.
e.g. They collected the information in dribs and drabs.
We need to explore every nook and cranny of the subject.
They did not consider the pros and cons.
The Pedagogy of Idioms, Slang, Sayings, Jargon, Clichés,

and Collocation
One of the hardest aspects that language teachers have to deal with refers to
how non-native speakers manage to learn idiomatic expressions in a particular
language and culture. Native speakers cannot always understand idioms, slang, and
jargon because they differ from region to region or from country to country. That
is to say, not everybody can understand other people’s expressions although they
speak the same language and they are familiar with the most common expressions
used in their countries. Expressions are culture-specific since they relate to specific
situations, which are interpreted by those who can speak the same language. There
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is no guarantee that if someone was born in a Latin American country, they will be
able to understand any single expression from Mexico down to Argentina, except
for Brazil and other countries where Spanish is not spoken. The same is true for
the language variety used by speakers within their geographical boundaries. It is
a common phenomenon in any language. Sometimes, speakers can have a hard
time as they try to make themselves understood. It is not a matter of grammar, or
much better, structure or syntax, but about semantics and context. We have seen
misunderstandings between American and British people; French and Canadian
people; Spaniard and Colombian people, for instance, because words and expressions
do not always mean the same to everyone, everywhere. Connotation of words, in
terms of their meaning, usually leads to misinterpretations although people do not
always do it on purpose. As someone becomes familiar with idiomatic expressions,
they will be able to understand the culture in which native speakers move around.
Then, they will be accepted by them much more easily. The learning of sayings,
jargon, clichés, and collocation lets non-native speakers be considered as their pairs
since there is commitment, respect, and understanding between the two cultures
involved. A question arises here, how could non-native speakers become proficient
in the understanding and use of idiomatic expressions if they are not in authentic
settings where the L2 is commonly used by native speakers? Well, they are to be
taken into the classroom as learners are exposed to music, movies, television,
radio, the Internet, and printed materials. Soap operas, series, and sitcoms are good
sources of information for learners to gain some understanding of what they mean
and how they can be used. Proverbs, for instance, give foreign or second language
learners, some hints about how a culture is expressed. That is why a handful of
proverbs, quotes, and idiomatic expressions, is recommended to be taught to
learners. Language learning is a never-ending process. We cannot decide to stop
learning it as a matter of personal choice. People are creative since new idiomatic
expressions appear because of social interaction, scientific breakthroughs, inventions
and the like. Some other idiomatic expressions may be replaced, and yet, some
others may disappear.
Reflection
1. How is English portrayed in L2 textbooks? What do authors mainly focus on?
2. In your teaching, what are some strategies and techniques to help learners to
learn idiomatic expressions in an L2?
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Project
Watch a video from a TV program, a song, a cartoon, an interview, a speech,
or a conversation. Then, analyze the type of language they use. Is it formal? Is it
informal? Do speakers use street talk? Who is in it? Where does it take place?
What is the purpose of the communicative act? and the like. Finally, write down
your findings.
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Discussing Discourse Analysis
“The analysis of the functions of language can be referred to as discourse
analysis to capture the notion that language is more than
a sentence-level phenomenon.”
H. Douglas Brown.
15
Discourse Analysis and Critical Discourse
Analysis
“The role of discourse is to analyze language, as well as the intentions, which come
from the mind or from the heart of those who speak a language.”
A
lthough language is primarily spoken, it turned out to become written, as a
response to a need that men had to make it last for the centuries to come.
Linguists, philosophers, and psychologists, have shown some interest in the
study of language in order to see the manner how people affect language and how
people affect it. It is quite evident that we do not speak the way we write and we do
not write the way we speak. In every culture, speakers have certain rules for them
to speak and some others, sometimes quite different, for them to write. Idiomatic
expressions are used differently, both in speech and in writing. When we interact
with one another, using the main two linguistic means, which are speech or writing,
we are immediately dealing with discourse.
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What is the point of uncovering discourse? Speakers, hearers, writers, and
readers, must be careful when exchanging speech or messages through writing; it
is where discourse comes into being. Writers and readers should pay attention to
style, level of formality, or informality, context, and participants, based on the depth
of the issue, which is being discussed. People talk about everything and anything,
sometimes they are aware of their discourse; some other times, they are not. It
is important to analyze it to see how language changes or remains unmodified.
We choose our utterances in some cases, but not in others, why is it so? Because
depending on whom we are talking to or who is talking to us, we try to be cautious
about what style to adopt. We analyze what we want to convey right before uttering it
or writing it down, depending on the addressee and the context that we are dealing
with. Discourse Analysis examines utterances of spoken language, as in conversations,
dialogs, interviews, talks; whereas Text Analysis refers to the study of written language
or compositions found in e-mail messages, journals, letters, magazines, memos,
menus, messages, newspapers, poems, etc. Depending on the researcher’s interest,
either discourse analysis or text analysis can contribute to a better understanding
of how people think and view the world around them. Language is expected to be
analyzed as it is really used, in a number of circumstances, in either speech or writing.
Discourse: It is any type of speech, which is used to address an audience.

It can include lectures, conferences, interviews, dialogs, conversations, sermons,
declamations, and speeches. Discourse refers to the fact that language can be
analyzed in terms of utterances. That is to say, pieces of spoken language are studied
by relating what has been said with the contextual analysis of the whole, just to see
if there exist both coherence and cohesion.
Analysis: Analysis has to do with a careful and detailed study of the implications
something has over anything else. What can be analyzed is the interest of linguists
to uncover the phenomena involved in language interaction, between two or more
participants, within a linguistic community.
Discourse Analysis: It is a term coined by Harris (1952), aims at discovering,

explaining, and studying the phenomena involved in the make-up of language, in
either speech or writing. Discourse analysis is then; interested in analyzing the ways
people use language, in a particular place and time, in history, to come out with some
theories about how language is modified by social groups. According to Donoghue
& Punch (2003) discourse analysis can be analyzed from a societal point of view:
Although discourse analysis is defined in various ways, it frequently refers to

an examination of the way in which language, as social practice, produces and
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reproduces social structures (Gilbert and Low, 1994; Marshall, 1994; Kamler
et al., 1997; Skillington, 1997). (p. 73)
Text linguistics usually studies written texts, such as ancient inscriptions,

hieroglyphs, literature, letters, messages, stories, short stories, e-mail, and the
grammar of a particular language. Style is what identifies one person from others.
People have their own writing style depending on the genre and the audience.
Structuralism is the school of thought, which is in charge of the study and the
analysis of both the spoken and the written modes of language. Structuralism can be
approached from the syntactic, semantic, and phonological points of view. Proponents
of structuralism include Saussure, Bloomfield, and Hjelmslev. Structuralism has
to do with a syntactic approach to language, considering it from a linear analysis,
but at the compositional level, the text being the minimum component of analysis,
in order for the linguist to delve into its constituency. Discourse analysis and text
analysis are approached in terms of the L2 internal structures (grammar, semantics,
syntax, morphology, and phonology).
Discourse analysis comprises the study of dialogs, conversations, speeches,

presentations, debates, etc. Speech is explored in terms of the interaction held, the
interlocutors, the topic being dealt with, the purpose of the communicative act, the
level of formality or informality, which is being expressed, the type of turn-taking
being exchanged, but mainly, the type of information being shared, transferred, and
interpreted and how the goals established can partially or fully be developed. Some
other factors, which are worth mentioning, include the depth of knowledge about
the issue, the level of empathy between the speaker and the hearer, as they exchange
ideas, information, data, or concerns. Both speakers and writers use certain strategies
to convey meaning as they are exposed to language. Based on the proficiency level
that they have reached; they are expected to interact accordingly in order to carry
out a task or to pursue a common goal.
Some of the strategies used to make themselves understood include the following:
body language, facial expression, and proxemics, etc., as well as descriptions, synonyms,
antonyms, approximation, or just in some other cases, message abandonment because
they lack the necessary tools to express what they want to mean, in either speech
or in writing. The adopted style of writing is related to the writer’s personality, the
audience, and the issue being dealt with. Pieces of raw material of language help
language teachers, psychologists, or linguists, to determine how the L2 is being
internalized.
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Below, there are some examples in which language interactions and language
transactions are held:
• May I borrow your car, please?
• Yes, you may.
• Is it ok if I take you home?
• Yes, it is.
• Do you know where the hospital is?
• Yes, I do.
How appropriate are the answers provided above? Although they are right in
terms of grammar, they are not suitable answers in terms of pragmatics; in order to
establish a relationship between the speaker and the hearer, there should be logical
answers to previous requests as it is shown below:
• May I borrow your car, please?
• Sure, no problem. Anytime or Sorry. It has a flat tire.
• Is it ok if I take you home?
• Yeah, that’s fine. It’s very nice of you or No, thank you. Don’t bother.
• Do you know where the hospital is?
• Oh, I’m sorry. I’m new in town or Uh-huh. It’s five blocks away from here.
Some of the factors, which have to do with how people speak or talk and write
down, are the following:
Purpose: The communicative event makes a difference based on the goal to

be achieved.
Topic: Every issue is approached in a very particular way, depending on the

person’s knowledge about the issue in question.
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Geography: Circumstances are affected by the places where people live and
interact in.
Culture: The beliefs and principles passed down from generation to generation.
Background: The personal experience gained through trial and error.
Age: The mental and psychological processes vary from person to person.
Training: The courses the individual takes contributes to his or her performance.
Context: The situation in which speech or writing takes place.
Setting: The place and the circumstances, under which language is used, make
a difference
Target audience: People speak, talk, and write differently depending on the
speakers and writers.
Interlocutor: As we talk to children, teenagers, and adults, language is affected.
Reader: Our preferences and personality determine what we like to read about
Mental framework: Our vision of the world around us determines our thoughts
and concepts.
Coherence refers to meaning, to semantics. Cohesion refers to unity, syntax.

Coherence and cohesion lead to the logical meaning of a text or a piece of discourse
when the reader has some background knowledge of the matter. Interpretation has
a role to play as for any piece of language in either speech or in writing. Halliday &
Hasan (1976) define text, texture, and cohesion as follows:
The word text is used in linguistics to refer to any passage, spoken or written,
of whatever length, that does form a unified whole. A text is best regarded as
a semantic unit; a unit not of form but of meaning.
A text is a unit of language in use. It is not a grammatical unit like a clause or

a sentence; and it is not defined by its size.
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The concept of texture is entirely appropriate to express the property of ‘being
a text’. A text has texture, and this is what distinguishes it from something that
is not a text.
Cohesion occurs where the interpretation of some element in the discourse is

dependent on that of another. The one presupposes the other, in the sense that
Connor (1996) defines cohesion in the following manner: “Cohesion is defined
as the use of explicit linguistic devices to signal relations between sentences
and parts of texts.” (p. 83).
In other words, cohesion deals with how sentences relate to others within a
piece of writing. Aspects dealing with syntactic references are analyzed in order to
see how they affect other sentences in a particular piece of text.
Spoken discourse and written discourse fulfill a communicative need. Everywhere

people engage in an endless number of exchanges, which either mean or do not
mean anything at all.
It is in those exchanges that linguists show some interest in the use of spoken
language. Since language is primarily spoken, linguists devote some time to its
analysis and application. Spoken discourse varies according to contexts, settings,
and people involved in the linguistic exchange. Not every speaker ever speaks the
same way about common issues since internal and external factors determine the
type of language chosen, such as state of mind and circumstances. Written discourse
can be analyzed at the level of phrases, sentences, clauses, or paragraphs, or longer
compositions. Textbook writers and language teachers should focus their attention on
how discourse competence reflects the language as it is used in real-life interactions.
In this way, people will be able to engage in meaningful interactions, leading to the
learning of the foreign language, as well as its culture, and everything that is implied
of it. For Halliday (1978) the social context of language can be analyzed in terms of:
a) Field (subject or topic); Tenor (role relationships, power, and status); and Mode
(channel: spoken or written).
The term Critical Discourse Analysis can be replaced by Critical Linguistics.

Some scholars prefer to use the term Critical Discourse Studies, instead. Some of
the proponents of CDA include Fairclough (1997), Van Dijk (2007), Wodak (1997,
2008). Fairclough & Wodak (1997) relate to CDA as follows:
CDA sees discourse -language use in speech and writing- as a form of ‘social
practice.’ Describing discourse as social practice implies a dialectical relationship
between a particular discursive event and the situation(s), institution(s) and
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social structure(s), which frame it. As a dialectical relationship is a two-way
relationship: the discursive event is shaped by situations, institutions, and
social structures, but it also shapes them. (p. 258).
Wodak (2006) provides the aims behind CDA as follows:
CDA [is] fundamentally interested in analyzing opaque as well as transparent

structural relationships of dominance, discrimination, power and control when
these are manifested in language. In other words, CDA aims to investigate
critically social inequality as it is expressed, constituted, and legitimized by
language use. (p. 53).
Spoken language or written language is analyzed based on people’s social

practices.
Depending on the issue of the conversation, setting, context, and audience,

people choose their discourse. The same happens when people write. There is an
interest, as well a focus on the audience, setting, and context. The same is true for
coherence, cohesion, and language choice. CDA aims at studying and exploring the
relationships held between speakers, writers, and readers and how their language
choices affect their use of power and authority. Language and social relationships,
framed within cultural practices, let people attempt to convey meaning, based on its
use and application. Discourse is field-specific in language use, within and along the
social class or status. Not everybody always speaks the same way in their fields and
they do not always use the same means to express or to get their messages across. It
is for this reason that we have explicit words and expressions used by the different
occupations and professions in society. A practical example can be appreciated in the
jargon used by doctors, engineers, and architects, teachers, office workers, plumbers,
carpenters, bus drivers, and the average Joe or Jane in the street. Power is not just
given by those who hold it in a broader sense, but by parents when it comes down to
family relations with their children. It is also present in the boss-worker relationships
and in the teacher and learner interactions in the school setting. However, when the
circumstances change, the type of power and authority may also change as external
forces exert tensions when those under oppression, are no longer oppressed by their
parents, bosses, or school teachers.
Discourse is affected by everything that surrounds it: science, technology,

discoveries, and inventions. Since new words and expressions need to be coined
to name reality, present or absent, discourse is always on the move. The social,
political, and economic movements have a say in how discourse is articulated in the
minds of people, either with or without power. The idea of power is transitory. Not
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everything lasts forever. Those who are at the top of governments and organizations
today; tomorrow, are overthrown thanks to the new artifacts and gadgets found in
the social media, which move people to move others from where they are.
Power is in the tongue. It can serve to praise or to curse. The role of discourse
is to analyze language, as well as the intentions of speakers and writers, as well.
Corpus linguistics collects its raw material from society and it is how sociolinguistics
relates to it. People use language out there in society and it is not confined in the
classroom when it comes to foreign language teaching or even, second language
teaching. L2 learners should grasp the language in the way that native speakers do.
Corpus linguistics contributes to textbook writers to include those expressions,
which are usually used much more often by people in real settings and contexts.
These include places like schools, universities, cafeterias, restaurants, hospitals,
clinics, hotels, clothing stores, banks, airports, etc.
Language is used differently according to the people that we interact with in

real-life interactions, not in the classroom, but outside of it, in society, where culture
plays an important role. The methods used by corpus linguistics to collect words and
expressions used by people include recording, videotaping, or eavesdropping, by
using electronic devices. In this way, they use those, which are influencing people’s
choices when it comes to speaking, writing, or signaling. Corpus linguistics and
discourse analysis complement each other. Corpus linguistics collects the material
and discourse analysis works on it.
Linguists, psychologists, neurologists, and sociolinguists, attempt to delve

into the intricacies and the underlying mechanisms, which make people change
their discourse, as they get involved in language, making them speak differently.
Discourse analysis usually seeks to explore the devices, which force people to
interact as they engage in language. Language is a social phenomenon, which is
practiced everywhere: home, school, work, or street. Social language makes sense
when interlocutors use it to establish, develop, and keep relations or do business,
for instance. Learners should be given the chance to practicing it meaningfully so
that it could be a reflection of how it is actually used anywhere. Critical Discourse
Analysis should be widely researched in the EFL/ESL contexts and settings so that
relations of power and learners’ participation can be traced down in a way in which
favoritisms could be left out, either from the teachers or from their learners. The
issues of Discourse Analysis and Critical Discourse Analysis should be a concern
to those involved in research in linguistics. However, unfortunately, this is not the
case. As it was stated earlier, language teachers should delve into these issues to
strengthen the teaching processes and the learning practices within a non-threatening
environment so that they cannot be affected.
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The Pedagogy of Discourse Analysis and Critical Discourse
Analysis
Language is at the heart of human activity. When speakers utter and articulate
speech, it is because they want to convey meaning. Discourse analysis, which is the
interpretation of the spoken language, differs from text analysis, which studies and
analyzes the written language. Although both modes of communication spring from
a communicative need, linguists tend to devote their time to discourse analysis since
it tends to change much more often than text discourse does. Spoken language is
the result of mental processes derived from voluntary and involuntary reactions of
brain functional and emotional states. Internal and external factors, such as thought,
imagination, and creativity, as well as feelings, emotions, and desires, play a role in
for how people structure language.
Spoken language, which is usually considered as the basic mode of communication,

has served to its expansion, by giving birth to language varieties, and dialects. In
such an expansion, other language varieties have developed, by making discourse
analysis the central discipline to explore, mainly, the spoken language. Linguists,
then, have shown some concerns about how discourse analysis can shed some light
on how people make language change. Although people tend to speak a common
type of language, discourse is affected by factors like a) age; b) geographical features
where someone is born; has lived, or is currently living; c) social status; d) socio-
economic position; as well as the kind of contact within their family, school, or
work. It is important to see how children make up their reality, by taking language
as a standpoint peculiar to their experiences.
Reflection
3. How could L2 teaching be improved with discourse and text analysis?
4. Is there any connection between discourse analysis and the teaching of L2

grammar?
Project
Analyze both spoken and written discourse, by determining learners’ language
current stage. Then, determine their final stage in order to compare and to determine
their communicative competence, communicative performance, and achievements in
the L2.
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The Application of Language
“The process of translation comprises in its essence the whole secret of
human understanding of the world and of social communication.”
Hans Georg Gadamer.
16
Applied Linguistics
“The idea behind the term Applied linguistics appeared in the United States
as an attempt to solve problems related to the teaching and
the learning of languages.”
T
here is a purpose in everything we do, as both individuals and teachers.
In language teaching, for instance, the main emphasis lies precisely on
teaching, but it should be on learning, instead. Language learners are to be
provided with the necessary tools, autonomy, and independence so that they become
responsible for their own learning. That is why language teachers should have a
sound understanding of the underlying processes that learners have to go through,
and in doing so, make use of the principles derived from the discipline of Applied
Linguistics. Brumfit (1997) refers to it as follows: “The theoretical and empirical
investigation of real-world problems in which language is a central issue” (p. 93).
Applied Linguistics: must be conceived as a broader term that fulfills the

expectations of linguists and those interested in the areas of language learning and
teaching. Applied linguistics covers a wide range of areas, such as language teaching,
language learning, engineering, ESP courses, law, medicine, speech pathology,
translation, etc.
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Carter (1993) indicates that, “…applied linguistics is the application of linguistic
theories, descriptions and methods to the solution of language problems which have
arisen in a range of human, cultural, and social contexts.” (p. 3).
The study of language can be approached from two different perspectives: a

theoretical one or an applied one. The former has to do with the design, development
of systems of theories, and underlying language models. The latter refers to the
application of language: Foreign Language Teaching, Translation, Bilingual Education,
Sociolinguistics, Language Planning, Discourse Analysis, Text Analysis, Syllabus
Design, Psycholinguistics, Neurolinguistics, Testing, or English for Specific Purposes,
and the like. Theoretical Linguistics deals with the production, understanding, and
analysis of language. Applied Linguistics deals with application, problem solving
and teaching. Theorists of language are much more concerned with the production,
understanding, and analysis of language as a societal and cultural phenomenon.
Experience, research, need, and reflection, are important factors for theory to be
developed, and finally applied, in the areas of language teaching, pedagogy, and
didactics, so to speak. The idea behind the term Applied linguistics appeared in the
United States as an attempt to solve problems related to the teaching and the learning
of languages. As the term suggests, linguistics should serve a practical purpose in
order to solve concerns both for theorists and language teachers or translators, for
instance. An applied linguist must have a sound knowledge of what linguistics is,
as well as its application in instruction or in any other field. Kaplan (2002) explains
the origin of applied linguistics, as follows:
The term applied linguistics came into existence in the 1940s through the efforts
of language teachers who wished to ally themselves with “scientific” linguists
and to disassociate themselves from teachers of literature.” By the mid-1950s,
the term was given credence by the opening of the School of Applied Linguistics
at the University of Edinburgh (1956) and by the creation of the Center for
Applied. Linguistics (CAL, 1959) in the United States. Soon thereafter, during
the 1960s, the term was institutionalized in the International Association of
Applied Linguistics (Association Internationale de Linguistique Appliquée,
[AILA]; 1964), (p. vii).
Mackey (1965) states that “Throughout the history of formal language teaching
there has always been some sort of applied linguistics, as it is known today” (p. 253).
Richards, Platt & Platt (1992) refer to Applied Linguistics in the following
manner: “The study of second and foreign language learning and teaching” (p. 19).
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Schmitt & Celce-Murcia (2002) refer to Applied Linguistics as follows: “Applied
Linguistics’ is using what we know about (a) language, (b) how it is learned, and
(c) how it is used in order to achieve some purpose or solve some problem in the
real world” (p. 1).
Cook (2003) refers to applied linguistics in the following manner: “This is the
aim -and the aspiration- of applied linguistics, the academic discipline concerned with
the relation of knowledge about language to decision making in the real world.” (p. 5)
ESP Courses
In foreign or second language teaching, there has usually been an interest in
the design of English for Specific Purposes –ESP– courses. Its main emphasis falls on
language courses that could suit the learners’ needs in real-life situations, at school, at
work, or in society. ESP courses were popular in the 1980s, where English language
instruction was geared towards fulfilling a communicative need, especially in the
area of reading for understanding in specific fields: medicine, law, engineering, the
tourism industry, the food industry, etc. Language courses were tailored according
to the learners’ needs.
Language teachers should be acquainted with the most recent approaches or

methodologies regarding the development, the design, and the implementation
of ESP syllabi or curricula, based on the outcomes of a needs-analysis program. It
requires a careful study since ESP courses require careful planning. They also should
be well developed in terms of the goals, the resources at hand, the materials design.
That is to say, they have to suit learners’ communicative needs, by responding to,
but especially, by respecting their cultural traditions or heritage. It is the teacher’s
responsibility to design the ESP syllabi, by taking into consideration his or her
learners’ particular needs. Their design is a time-consuming endeavor. Although
their emphasis has usually been on reading comprehension, it is important to
explore the other language skills. One of the drawbacks of ESP courses then is that
it does not focus on listening comprehension and speaking skills, but mainly on
reading comprehension. ESP courses are usually designed for more technical and
scientific texts, which learners are to become familiar with; especially in medicine,
law, engineering, robotics, or architecture, for example. Discourse analysis has also
a place in the approach of ESP courses since it intends to explore language, as it is
spoken. For example, reading contributes to increase a learner’s vocabulary power,
speaking enhances the learners’ linguistic competence, as they are to extrapolate the
issues provided in the reading. Listening comprehension can be promoted as they
watch videos or listen to documentaries related to the topic of a given piece of text.
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Learners can also express their points of view as they write brief ideas down,
short paragraphs, with a particular purpose in mind. The analysis of both the spoken
and written language cannot be judgmental. People speak their language because of
a variety of reasons and circumstances, which determine the way in which they view
their world. Speech is the mere representation of people’s thoughts as they interact
with others to achieve a common set of goals: to reach understanding, to cooperate
among themselves, to get things done, to solve problems, to live in a community,
either broad or narrow, among many other possible purposes that we can think of.
Language is the vehicle through which needs, wants, likes, desires, fears, etc. are
made visible. That is why people from different socio-cultural settings, contexts,
and environments speak the language differently. Discourse analysis is wide ample.
Not every piece of writing is always the same. Formal and informal registers
determine the way how people speak. Within the first category, public documents, legal
papers, commercial agreements, etc. can be found. In the second category, personal
letters, texting, messages, are commonplace. In the case of e-mail messages, they can
be either formal or informal. In other words, the seriousness of the piece of writing
determines if the writer decides to approach it either formally or informally. Each
piece of writing carries a specific structure according to the text, which is chosen.
The addresser, the addressee, the purpose, the content, the context, and some other
circumstances, have a role to play in how we relate to others.
Applied linguistics should work as a functional and remedial mechanism

to solve real problems both teachers and learners have to deal with. Oftentimes,
teachers are ignorant of the context in which they will perform. They prefer to
devote some time to the teaching of isolated grammar. Every discipline follows a
specific methodology, select instructional materials, resources, assessment criteria,
which help language teachers to deliver language teaching purposefully. Then, it is
important to identify, determine, and measure the effectiveness of the methodology
used based on the goals achieved.
The Pedagogy of Applied Linguistics

Applied linguistics covers a wide range of fields and disciplines, which somehow
contribute to the study of language from very different perspectives and applications.
Language teachers over the years have gained some insight into how to teach language.
However, applied linguistics contributes a great deal to the study and analysis of
which pedagogy, didactics, or methodology best favors language learning. Language
teachers can come up with new ideas about which approach to language learning
fits their particular learners’ needs. Take into consideration the following issues:
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a. Not every area of knowledge can be approached in the same way. That is why
a realistic needs analysis has to be carried out.
b. Goals have to be previously thought and established as those needs are to be

met and satisfied accordingly.
c. It is important to make emphasis on the importance of context. Objectives are

established according to learners’ communicative needs.
d. Once the context has been set and studied, the content is specified according
to methodology, teaching principles, and didactics, which are supported in
the teleological components of an institution.
Reflection
1. How can applied linguistics be implemented in other areas of knowledge?
Provide some examples.
2. Has applied linguistics served its purpose(s) for which it was devised? Provide
some evidence and practical examples from research.
Project
Check any ESP course that someone has ever taught. Please analyze both
advantages and drawbacks associated to design and implementation. Then, make
some suggestions on how it could be improved.
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17
Monolingualism, Bilingualism,
and Multilingualism
“The real concern is that they will be able to continue being bilingual
or multilingual.”
L
anguage is considered a personal asset or possession for people in a community
or society. Language is perceived as an active system, which requires interaction
so that others around native speakers can acquire or learn it. It can be achieved
through different approaches: Monolingualism, Bilingualism, or Multilingualism.
Monolingualism, also known as Monoglottism or Unilingualism, refers to

those people who just use one language to be in contact with others, within their
community or society, to communicate or interact with them.
Bilingualism refers to the ability someone has to speak two languages, but it
should refer to other features, which are not necessarily related to speech, which
include mental processes, the development of linguistic patterns, and cultural
knowledge.
Biculturalism means that the learner is able to interact in two different cultures
as they speak the foreign or the second language, in a given community or society.
Multilingualism refers to the fact that people who speak more than two
languages are considered to be multilingual. Being multilingual is a much more
common phenomenon than being monolingual. It means that there are more people
who are bilingual, multilingual, or polyglot than monolingual. The more people
(businesspeople, students, teachers, professionals) are on the move, there will be
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more need of establishing relations using language. It cannot longer be considered
as being exclusive to a particular country or nation but as a universal language or
lingua franca in which they can communicate with others.
Monolingualism refers to the fact that people who just can speak only one
language are said to be Monolingual. Some of them are monolingual because of
a personal choice; they think that their language and culture are more important
compared to those of other people.
Because of lack of direct contact with the foreign or second language, they
find it difficult to leave their Monolingualism behind. Social factors have a say in
how speakers think and view their world around them. Language use is a matter of
a decision-making process.
According to Valdés (n. d.) being monolingual is a scarce language phenomenon

since most people tend to be bilingual or multilingual. Here is what she says,
Contrary to what is often believed, most of the world’s population is bilingual

or multilingual. Monolingualism is characteristic only of a minority of the
world’s peoples. According to figures cited in Stavenhagen (1990) for example,
five to eight thousand different ethnic groups reside in approximately 160
nation states. Moreover, scholars estimate that there are over 5000 distinct
languages spoken in that same small number of nation states. What is evident
from these figures is that few nations are either monolingual or mono-ethnic.
Each of the world’s nations has groups of individuals living within its borders
who use other languages in addition to the national language to function in
their everyday lives.
Bilingualism is the use of at least two languages, by either an individual or

a group, within a community. Being bilingual implies knowledge of not just the
language system, but also its culture since language is embedded into it and culture,
is too. People feel the need of being bilinguals because it is a requirement to survive
in the community. At home, parents expose their children to more than one language
system in order for it to be acquired naturally. At school, children are taught two
or more languages.
At work, individuals have the possibility to interact with others in face-to-face

encounters or virtually, thanks to the advancement of technology, where distance
is not a burden, but a possibility to come into contact in real-time interaction.
Being bilingual implies the following: a) to think with ease in two languages,
either second or foreign; b) to handle two languages; c) to understand and to
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speak two languages; d) to interact with native or non-native speakers about any
particular topic; e) to read and to write them down properly; f) to understand,
to speak, to read, and to write them down alike; g) to use sign language and any
other modes if it were the case; h) to practice the foreign or the second language
as much as possible; i) to provide learners with the conditions so that the L2 can
flourish naturally; j) to be immersed in a culture so that the L2 can be maintained
and improved.
Bilingual policies require a serious and thoughtful planning. The conditions

are to be supplied naturally but not artificially imposed. They cannot spring from
a political decision, but from a careful educational analysis. Being able to think
in a foreign language when the only person who might slightly speak it is the
teacher of English, not the English teacher, makes it very difficult for non-native
speakers to learn it. Although governmental officers and policymakers pass laws,
the implementation of those bilingual policies have to be backed up by native
speakers of those languages, which want to be implemented within the school,
the community. The ability to speak a language is something that results from
an unplanned interaction among the members of a linguistic community. As the
expression suggests, a community consists of speakers, who share a common
linguistic code, when there is only one. In the event that there are some other
languages, like in the case of Europe, people could have the chance to becoming
bilingual effortlessly since languages are the means of communication to interact, to
do business, to achieve a common goal, to satisfy any particular need, or to meet a
requirement. The implementation of bilingual policies cannot be framed exclusively
into the classroom if there is no external support like the one found in Europe,
where people communicate with a variety of purposes in mind. When learners have
the chance to interact with native speakers in real-life situations, it is the moment
when a country can become bilingual. Interactions and transactions are performed
in a great number of contexts, settings, and environments, on a daily basis. This
demands the support of policymakers, teachers, parents, and the community, as
a whole. Otherwise, this would be a real waste of time, effort, and money. A series
of conditions need to be fulfilled so that serious and realistic bilingual policies
can be implemented in the national context. Firstly, they have to be realistic and
achievable, based on the particular conditions where the communicative event
takes place. Secondly, they need to be designed according to the number of foreign
speakers, who contribute to the development and maintenance of the L2 in the
corresponding setting and context where learners need to interact with foreign
speakers on a daily basis. Thirdly, the school, college, and university curricula
require working hand in hand with educational authorities and policymakers so
that any decisions taken contribute to the improvement and strengthening not
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only of the L2 but also of the mother tongue. Fourthly, the school community
should receive training, not only as for methodologies but also to brush up on
their language skills. Lastly, businesses, companies, and industries are expected to
train their staff in the learning of an L2, etc. Once these real conditions to foster
bilingual policies are met in the country, it can be said that people or much better
equipped linguistically and culturally, the new generation of people, will be able to
deal with bilingual visitors, who can come from English speaking countries. If the
new fan of possibilities is open to other languages other than English, our country
could become multilingual in the next twenty or thirty years to come, only if we
are lucky enough, of course, without sacrificing their native language and culture.
Compound: It is when a child begins acquiring the two languages before the
age of 6, the child organizes them in their brains as if it were just one language.
Co-ordinate: It is about early or late bilinguals. Learning the second language

takes place after puberty. Their first and second languages are two separate language
systems.
Simultaneous: It is when a child acquires two languages at the same time.
Sequential: It is when a child acquires one language first, and then, they acquire
the other language.
Additive: It is when someone acquires a second language without interfering

with the acquisition of their native language, but both languages are acquired,
developed, and maintained.
Subtractive: It is when the acquisition of a second language interferes with

the acquisition of the first language in completely new settings for the learners.
It is so because they do not have the chance to practicing or to speaking their
native language due to the lack of exposure to language. If children are removed
from the environment in which they were born, their minds would grasp the new
language(s) easily, due to the flexibility of their brains to accommodate to new
situations, almost effortlessly. Fostering bilingualism is possible when some of the
criteria below are met:
• When both parents speak two different languages at home, children are exposed
to them, for socializing purposes.
• When one language is spoken at home and the other language at school or
at work.
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• When families interact in their native language and use the second language
with colleagues, friends, or strangers, in the street, at any other moment.
Some criteria to design bilingual programs include the following: a) National

standards; b) Political policies; c) Economic policies; d) Educational policies; e)
International Standards; f) Learner’s linguistic needs; g) Teaching training programs;
h) Teacher language qualification; i) Adequate instructional materials; j) Attitudinal
and motivational factors; k) Appropriate teaching methodologies; m) Suitable
assessment techniques and strategies; n) Learners’ opportunities to interact with
the L2; o) Maintenance of both the language and its culture(s).
Bilinguality is a characteristic of the individual while bilingualism is a societal

phenomenon. Titone (1989) defines the term Bilinguality as follows:
Bilinguality implies a degree of communicative competence sufficiently foe

effective communication in more than one language; effectiveness requires the
ability to correctly understand the meaning of messages and/or parallel ability
to produce intelligible messages in more than one code. (p. 18)
It is stated that someone is bilingual when they can communicate with others
in an L2. Since they can communicate in an L2, they can gain cultural insight from
those who speak the L2; do business with other people from other nations; interact
with others almost simultaneously thanks to technology; read literature as it was
written by important authors; have the chance to traveling around the world; have
the chance to pursue graduate studies abroad. Then, they will succeed if they are
bilingual. Hamers & Blanc (1989) define bilinguality as “the psychological state of
an individual who has access to more than one linguistic code as a means of social
communication.” (p. 25).
Language proficiency: Someone is linguistically proficient when they can

handle the language in terms of the following:
• … its phonological and phonetic systems.
• … the language system in terms of its structure.
• … its words, their meanings, and their proper use.
• … how to use it in meaningful contexts.
• … how to interact with users or speakers of it.
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• … how to use the four language skills properly.
• … how to intervene in the L1 and L2 settings.
• … how to think and communicate properly in the L2.
• … how to overcome cultural misunderstanding.
• … how to deal with language varieties.
• … how to talk about any issues related to specialized language.
Language is acquired or learned with a purpose in mind. That is why it is

important to have a sound knowledge of linguistics for you to make the right
decisions regarding the goals of your teaching and those of your learners. Some
factors affecting language and cognition may include the following: a) Brain
development; b) Age of the child to acquire the second language; c) Exposure to
the language; d) Maintenance of the L2 at home, in school, and in the community;
e) Status of the language; f) Child’s cultural awareness related to the L2. Children
have the ability to speak any language. The fact is that children are endowed with
the faculty to acquire the language to which they have been exposed to, at an early
age, given the circumstances, to practice it naturally, in ordinary settings, with a
communicative purpose in mind.
Code switching: The switching from one language to another language is called
code switching. Someone can speak two languages and, in their interactions, they
can speak or answer back in one language and then in another language. People code
switch for a number of reasons: to exclude a group of speakers from the conversation,
to demonstrate modernity or show educational standing.
Immersion education: It is when learners learn their curricula in their native

language and most of the other subjects are taught or delivered in a second language,
which is spoken in their community.
Dual or “Two-Way” immersion programs: These programs involve students

representing two native language groups, for example, native speakers of English
and native speakers of Spanish, and the learners learn the curriculum, which is
delivered in both languages.
Bilingual education: It refers to the teaching of a foreign language or a second

language other than the mother tongue, at the school level, for the teaching of content
subjects. English is used as the language of instruction, for instance.
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Multilingualism
Now than ever before, it is very important for anyone to be proficient in both
a language and a culture. If someone wants to get along well with native speakers
of an L2, it is necessary for them to have a clear and sound knowledge of the
cultural traits of that language. Thanks to the scientific development, the growth
of telecommunications and the impact globalization has had on the relationships
established among people, more and more people are becoming multilingual and
bi-cultural or polycultural. In order for someone to be admitted into a linguistic
community, they have to know how to deal with cultural matters, which are new to
them, in such an environment. Valdés (n. d.) in her article “Multilingualism” mentions
some types of Bilinguals and Multilinguals and she approaches them as follows:
Because there are very different kinds of bilinguals and multilinguals, much
effort in the study of bilingualism has gone into developing categories which
might make the measurement and description of these differences possible.
The categories used to describe different types of bilinguals reflect different
researchers’ interests in focusing on specific aspects of bilingual ability or
experience. Researchers concerned about the age of acquisition of bilingualism,
for example, classify bilingual individuals as either early or late bilinguals
and further subdivide early bilinguals into simultaneous bilinguals (those
who acquired two languages simultaneously as a first language) or sequential
bilinguals (those who acquired the second language (L2) after the first language
(L1) was acquired).
The construction of a linguistic community
• A linguistic community is understood as a group of individuals, who share a

common language so that communication can take place.
• A linguistic community needs to be immersed in a cultural context.
• Every participant is expected to contribute to its creation and development.
• Learners need to be exposed to the L2. Contact with authentic language is key.
• Language varies and needs to be adopted according to particular contexts.
• People who share a common linguistic code differ in the ways how they relate
to one another because of cultural practices.
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• If the resources are carefully chosen, teachers have to comply with their learners’
learning requirements.
• Language teachers should expose learners to authentic language, in natural

settings.
• Opportunities for interaction, participation, and exchange, have to be provided

so that the L2 learning can flow smoothly.
• Part of real life is expected to be taken into the classroom so that learners can
depict it in authentic settings and meaningful contexts.
• In order for a learner to become part of a linguistic community, he or she

should show the willingness of belonging.
• The teacher is responsible for the selection and use of suitable and appropriate
learning resources.
Some factors to classify someone as being bilingual or multilingual are the

following:
Age: Early bilingual or late bilingual: The sooner someone becomes bilingual,
the better for their mental processes since they take place naturally.
Setting: Simultaneous bilingual or sequential bilingual: Depending on the type

of bilingual, the individual can process his or her thoughts and ideas much more
easily as for the opportunities they have for interacting in the L2.
Context: It could be either artificial (language institutions) or natural (in the

community), or a mixture of both contexts, which is expected to favor the learning
or the acquisition of the L2. Language teachers play a role in their posture about
how they deal with their practices and beliefs. The very fact of being or becoming
bilingual or multilingual implies a series of factors. Being able to think in two
languages, when people have just been exposed to only one language, their native
language, is not an easy endeavor, in the short run. This will be possible, in the very
long run, after two or three generations, when there are native speakers of the L2
being mixed up with non-native speakers. Probably your children or grandchildren
will be socially and culturally suited only after a very long process of being in contact
with the native speakers of one or more languages. These languages have to be
spoken and used for communicative purposes, in a multicultural and multilinguistic
society. The conditions, under which bilingualism or multilingualism can take
place, have to spring from people’s particular needs, conditions, which have to be
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naturally shared. They cannot be imposed because of a series of political, economic,
or educational policies since learners are not ready enough to comply with them.
Learning a language, at school, college, university, or anywhere else, cannot render
the expected results, either those coming from theorists or lawmakers. There is a
huge difference in the language, which is formally taught, with the real language
spoken, out there, by native speakers, in society. Only does language make sense
when people are culturally immersed in a linguistic community. It is also true when
there is a change in methodology, which responds to learners’ linguistic needs and
nothing else because they are the real reason for what language teachers do for them.
It is to help them to learn the L2 to be used in real-life interactions, and not just in
the L2 classroom or anywhere else. Some issues, which have a direct connection
with the creation of a linguistic community follow:
Table 7. The Creation of a Linguistic Community
Methodology Learner-Centered; Sense of Belonging; Dynamic; Realistic; Practical
Interaction Teacher-Learner; Learner-Teacher; Teacher-Class; Class-Teacher; Learner-Class
Techniques Pair work; Team work; Class work; Outer Community
Resources Human; Place; Educational
Tasks Debates; Movies; Presentations; Readings; Interviews; Musical Videos; Immer-

sions
Projects Learning Centers; Learning Circles; Cooperative Work; Collaborative Work
Skills Integration of Language Skills Favoring Communication & Interaction
Assessment Objective & Formative; Permanent & Continuous
Note: Own work
Methodological procedures have to be designed with sound practices favoring

the foreign or the second language. It is in this way that bilingual education becomes
successful. All over the world, people tend to speak one, two, or more languages,
for a variety of reasons and purposes. The chances for these phenomena to take
place depend on the economic, educational, and political policies adopted by
governments. No matter if someone is bilingual or multilingual. If there is a real
contact with languages, and an intention to communicate an idea with those who
speak them, they will be able to improve and to maintain their languages alive.
Otherwise, they will forget them over time as a lack of permanent use within a
linguistic community.
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The Pedagogy of Monolingualism, Bilingualism, and Multilingualism
Thanks to the National Bilingualism Program (2004-2019); the Program for

Strengthening the Development of Competences in Foreign Languages (2010-
2014); Bilingual Colombia (2014-2018); The National Plan of English: Colombia
very Well (2015-2025), there has been an interest in Colombia in the teaching and
learning of English, both in public and private institutions. Being monolingual is a
personal decision. Being bilingual and multilingual requires time, effort, practice,
and opportunity of interaction with native speakers of those languages. Learners
can learn the L2, by using the resources found on the Internet. They can meet
native speakers; attend bilingual institutions where the L2 is taught; travel abroad
and be in contact with language and culture(s); watch movies; sing songs, and find
opportunities to practice the L2 as much as possible. Unfortunately, some people
do not like to learn a foreign language because they feel that they will lose their
linguistic and cultural identities. What is important here is to let them know about
the benefits they can gain once they become bilingual: a) They can have access to
a new culture; b) They can view the world differently; c) They can pursue graduate
studies abroad or even in their countries; d) They can be hired much more easily
for a job; etc. For those who want to become bilingual and multilingual, then, what
suffices is to promote and foster national and multinational agreements in which
learners can have access to exchange programs and to be active participants in a
first-hand culture in an English-speaking country. That is why language learning and
teaching resources must go hand in hand with pertinent and meaningful practices,
which favor the design and the development of L2 curriculum and instructional
programs, supported by governmental policies that have to be backed up by sound
educational policies.
Reflection
1. How can bilingual programs be suggested, and developed in your school setting?
2. What are some of the advantages and drawbacks offered by bilingual programs?
Project
Analyze a bilingual program curriculum in terms of its structure: goals, contents,
methodology, and evaluation. Then, suggest one, which could be designed and
implemented in your school setting and context, by making the necessary adjustments.
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18
Translation
“Translation is possible when accuracy respects the writer’s intentions in its original
text so that the version, which results from the L1 interpretation in the L2,
conveys the intended meaning.”
T
ranslation: It is the process whereby one idea is translated from the source
language (L1) into the target language (L2). Translation deals with expressing
ideas, in at least two languages, without changing the essence of the message.
The Translator in Translation

• The translator must be able to handle both linguistic terms without interfering
with the meaning of the original or source language.
• The translator must have a sound knowledge of the culture of the languages
being translated.
• The translator must respect the ideas, but keeping the style, which is proper
to the language being translated.
• The translator must write down what the text in the original source really
means, not just expressing the ideas he thinks that should be right.
• The translator must have many stylistic resources at hand so that they fit the
linguistic and cultural contexts found in the L1.
• The translator should leave subjectivity aside and focus on the message, without
distorting the writer’s intentional meaning.
215
• The translator should be able to deal with features related to vocabulary
choice, cultural patterns, syntactic structures, which could lead to further
misunderstanding to the potential reader of the finished work.
• The translator should have, at his or her disposal, excellent reference desk
books, monolingual and bilingual dictionaries, grammar books, etc.
• The translator should be able to explore any field of knowledge in order to

have a broad worldview, as for languages and cultures.
• The translator should be exposed to up-to-date theoretical frameworks related

to new methods or approaches to translation processes.
Although the structure of expressing ideas in two or more languages is

completely different, in most of the cases, what the translator must look for is sense
and meaning so that the message conveyed fills the original writer’s purpose, with
style and clarity.
Popovič (1976) posits four types of equivalence, which must be considered

when it comes to translating a piece of text, which are Linguistic, Paradigmatic,
Stylistic, and Textual Equivalences.
Linguistic Equivalence: It deals with word-for-word translation from the source

language (L1) to the target language (L2). This kind of translation is not easy to do
and to find since thought in every language is not always the same. People view their
inner and outer worlds differently. More than having a word-for-word translation
the idea is to keep both meaning and message unmodified
Paradigmatic Equivalence: It refers to the fact that the structural components

are said to be similar in both languages, which is not either easy to find in the L2
translation from the L1 original text.
Stylistic Equivalence: It is expected that both texts keep the same style, that
is to say maintaining the “expressive ideas” coming from the L1 without changing
their style and meaning to be expressed conveniently.
Textual Equivalence: It means that the L1 has special ways to express its own
discourse, which is not always the same when it comes to expressing it in the L2.
On the other hand, Nina (1964) defines both Formal Equivalence and Dynamic
Equivalence, in the following manner:
216
Formal equivalence focuses attention on the message itself, in both form and
content. In such a translation one is concerned with such correspondences as
poetry to poetry, sentence to sentence, and concept to concept. Viewed from
this formal orientation, one is concerned that the message in the receptor
language should match as closely as possible the different elements in the source
language. This means, for example, that the message in the receptor culture is
constantly compared with the message in the source culture to determine the
standards of accuracy and correctness.
The type of translation which most completely typifies this structural equivalence
might be called a “gloss translation,” in which the translator attempts to reproduce
as literally and meaningfully as possible the form and content of the original.
... A translation of dynamic equivalence aims at complete naturalness of

expression, and tries to relate the receptor to modes of behavior relevant
within the context of his own culture; it does not insist that he understands
the cultural patterns of the source-language context in order to comprehend
the message. (p. 159)
Following Nida, the translator must translate the ideas from the source language
into the target language as they were stated by the original writer. That is to say,
the translator must be faithful to the text and the ideas expressed in it, without
interfering with the message conveyed by the author. This type of translation is
called Formal Equivalence. The translator also needs to get the ideas expressed by
the original author and then put a personal touch into it, only if the being or passage
being translated lets him or her do it. This type of translation is called Dynamic
Equivalence or Functional Equivalence. The translator’s task is to respect the writer’s
original ideas as they have to be interpreted in the target language as they expressed
them in the source language. The translator then must be fluent both in the language
and respectful of the culture(s) in which the text is expressed. The translator must
be culturally knowledgeable in order to interpret correctly, what is meant from the
L1 to the L2 or vice versa. For this particular reason, the translation process can
comprise the following:
1. Understanding the grammatical components of the text.
2. Checking the cultural components, which interfere with its understanding.
3. Identifying the original writer’s style.
4. Keeping the original ideas as they were expressed in the text.
217
5. Using clear and formal language to convey the ideas expressed in the target
language.
In terms of style, translators are expected to have and to develop their own
style to translate texts either from the L1 into the L2 or vice versa. Their style has
to respect the original ideas of the text being translated so that the text can be
clear as possible in both the source language and the target language. The level
of formality or informality depends on the type of text, which includes articles
about science, technology, art, medicine, engineering, architecture, or letters,
reports, diplomas certificates, legal documents, newspaper articles, abstracts or
informal pieces of texts.
Please analyze the translation into Spanish of Woolf ’s “A Haunted House.”
A Haunted House
Virginia Woolf
https://www.englishclub.com/reading/story-haunted-house.htm
“Whatever hour you woke there was a door shutting. From room to room they
went, hand in hand, lifting here, opening there, making sure—a ghostly couple.
“Here we left it,” she said. And he added, “Oh, but here tool” “t’s upstairs,” she
murmured. “And in the garden,” he whispered. “Quietly,” they said, “or we shall
wake them.”
But it wasn’t that you woke us. Oh, no. “They’re looking for it; they’re drawing
the curtain,” one might say, and so read on a page or two. “Now they’ve found
it,’ one would be certain, stopping the pencil on the margin. And then, tired of
reading, one might rise and see for oneself, the house all empty, the doors standing
open, only the wood pigeons bubbling with content and the hum of the threshing
machine sounding from the farm. “What did I come in here for? What did I want
to find?” My hands were empty. “Perhaps it’s upstairs then?” The apples were in
the loft. And so down again, the garden still as ever, only the book had slipped
into the grass.
But they had found it in the drawing room. Not that one could ever see them.
The windowpanes reflected apples, reflected roses; all the leaves were green in the
glass. If they moved in the drawing room, the apple only turned its yellow side.
Yet, the moment after, if the door was opened, spread about the floor, hung upon
the walls, pendant from the ceiling—what? My hands were empty. The shadow
218
of a thrush crossed the carpet; from the deepest wells of silence the wood pigeon
drew its bubble of sound. “Safe, safe, safe” the pulse of the house beat softly. “The
treasure buried; the room . . .” the pulse stopped short. Oh, was that the buried
treasure?
A moment later the light had faded. Out in the garden then? But the trees
spun darkness for a wandering beam of sun. So fine, so rare, coolly sunk beneath
the surface the beam I sought always burned behind the glass. Death was the glass;
death was between us, coming to the woman first, hundreds of years ago, leaving
the house, sealing all the windows; the rooms were darkened. He left it, left her,
went North, went East, saw the stars turned in the Southern sky; sought the house,
found it dropped beneath the Downs. “Safe, safe, safe,” the pulse of the house beat
gladly. “The Treasure yours.”
The wind roars up the avenue. Trees stoop and bend this way and that. Moonbeams
splash and spill wildly in the rain. But the beam of the lamp falls straight from the
window. The candle burns stiff and still. Wandering through the house, opening the
windows, whispering not to wake us, the ghostly couple seek their joy.
“Here we slept,” she says. And he adds, “Kisses without number.” “Waking in
the morning—” “Silver between the trees—” “Upstairs—” “In the garden—” “When
summer came—” “In winter snow time.” The doors go shutting far in the distance,
gently knocking like the pulse of a heart.
Nearer they come, cease at the doorway. The wind falls, the rain slides silver
down the glass. Our eyes darken, we hear no steps beside us; we see no lady spread
her ghostly cloak. His hands shield the lantern. “Look,” he breathes. “Sound asleep.
Love upon their lips.”
Stooping, holding their silver lamp above us, long they look and deeply. Long
they pause. The wind drives straightly; the flame stoops slightly. Wild beams of
moonlight cross both floor and wall, and, meeting, stain the faces bent; the faces
pondering; the faces that search the sleepers and seek their hidden joy.
“Safe, safe, safe,” the heart of the house beats proudly. “Long years—” he sighs.
“Again you found me.” “Here,” she murmurs, “sleeping; in the garden reading; laughing,
rolling apples in the loft. Here we left our treasure—” Stooping, their light lifts the
lids upon my eyes. “Safe! safe! safe!” the pulse of the house beats wildly. Waking, I
cry “Oh, is this your buried treasure? The light in the heart”.”
219
La Casa Encantada
Virginia Woolf
http://www.ciudadseva.com/textos/cuentos/ing/woolf/la_casa_encantada.htm
“A cualquier hora que una se despertara, una puerta se estaba cerrando. De

cuarto en cuarto iba, cogida de la mano, levantando aquí, abriendo allá, cerciorándose,
una pareja de duendes.
“Lo dejamos aquí”, decía ella. Y él añadía: “¡Sí, pero también aquí!” “Está arriba»,
murmuraba ella. “Y también en el jardín”, musitaba él. “No hagamos ruido”, decían,
“o les despertaremos.”
Pero no era esto lo que nos despertaba. Oh, no. “Lo están buscando; están
corriendo la cortina”, podía decir una, para seguir leyendo una o dos páginas más.
“Ahora lo han encontrado”, sabía una de cierto, quedando con el lápiz quieto en el
margen. Y, luego, cansada de leer, quizás una se levantara, y fuera a ver por sí misma,
la casa toda ella vacía, las puertas quietas y abiertas, y sólo las palomas torcaces
expresando con sonidos de burbuja su contentamiento, y el zumbido de la trilladora
sonando allá, en la granja. “¿Por qué he venido aquí? ¿Qué quería encontrar?” Tenía
las manos vacías. “¿Se encontrará acaso arriba?” Las manzanas se hallaban en la
buhardilla. Y, en consecuencia, volvía a bajar, el jardín estaba quieto y en silencio
como siempre, pero el libro se había caído al césped.
Pero lo habían encontrado en la sala de estar. Aun cuando no se les podía ver.
Los vidrios de la ventana reflejaban manzanas, reflejaban rosas; todas las hojas eran
verdes en el vidrio. Si ellos se movían en la sala de estar, las manzanas se limitaban
a mostrar su cara amarilla. Sin embargo, en el instante siguiente, cuando la puerta
se abría, esparcido en el suelo, colgando de las paredes, pendiente del techo... ¿qué?
Yo tenía las manos vacías. La sombra de un tordo cruzó la alfombra; de los más
profundos pozos de silencio la paloma torcaz extrajo su burbuja de sonido. “A salvo,
a salvo, a salvo...”, latía suavemente el pulso de la casa. “El tesoro está enterrado;
el cuarto...”, el pulso se detuvo bruscamente. Bueno, ¿era esto el tesoro enterrado?
Un momento después, la luz se había debilitado. ¿Afuera, en el jardín quizá?

Pero los árboles tejían penumbras para un vagabundo rayo de sol. Tan hermoso, tan
raro, frescamente hundido bajo la superficie el rayo que yo buscaba siempre ardía
detrás del vidrio. Muerte era el vidrio; muerte mediaba entre nosotros; acercándose
primero a la mujer, cientos de años atrás, abandonando la casa, sellando todas las
ventanas; las estancias quedaron oscurecidas. Él lo dejó allí, él la dejó a ella, fue
al norte, fue al este, vio las estrellas aparecer en el cielo del sur; buscó la casa, la
220
encontró hundida bajo la loma. “A salvo, a salvo, a salvo”, latía alegremente el pulso
de la casa. “El tesoro es tuyo.”
El viento sube rugiendo por la avenida. Los árboles se inclinan y vencen hacia
aquí y hacia allá. Rayos de luna chapotean y se derraman sin tasa en la lluvia. Rígida
y quieta arde la vela. Vagando por la casa, abriendo ventanas, musitando para no
despertarnos, la pareja de duendes busca su alegría.
“Aquí dormimos”, dice ella. Y él añade: “Besos sin número.” “El despertar por
la mañana...” “Plata entre los árboles...” “Arriba...” “En el jardín...” “Cuando llegó el
verano...” “En la nieve invernal...” Las puertas siguen cerrándose a lo lejos, distantes,
con suave sonido como el latido de un corazón.
Se acercan más; cesan en el pasillo. Cae el viento, resbala plateada la lluvia en

el vidrio. Nuestros ojos se oscurecen; no oímos pasos a nuestro lado; no vemos a
señora alguna extendiendo su manto fantasmal. Las manos del caballero forman
pantalla ante la linterna. Con un suspiro, él dice: “Míralos, profundamente dormidos,
con el amor en los labios.”
Inclinados, sosteniendo la linterna de plata sobre nosotros, nos miran larga

y profundamente. Larga es su espera. Entra directo el viento; la llama se vence
levemente. Locos rayos de luna cruzan suelo y muro, y, al encontrarse, manchan
los rostros inclinados; los rostros que consideran; los rostros que examinan a los
durmientes y buscan su dicha oculta.
“A salvo, a salvo, a salvo”, late con orgullo el corazón de la casa. “Tantos años...”,
suspira él. “Me has vuelto a encontrar.” “Aquí”, murmura ella, “dormida; en el jardín
leyendo; riendo, dándoles la vuelta a las manzanas en la buhardilla. Aquí dejamos
nuestro tesoro...” Al inclinarse, su luz levanta mis párpados. “¡A salvo! ¡A salvo! ¡A
salvo!”, late enloquecido el pulso de la casa. Me despierto y grito: “¿Es este el tesoro
enterrado de ustedes? La luz en el corazón.”
The Pedagogy of Translation

Becoming a translator requires a set of qualified characteristics. First, translators
must have a sound knowledge of both linguistic systems. Along with this, translators
are expected to have developed a writing style, which does not betray the original
writer’s intentions as they are to be expressed, especially, by keeping the sense and
the essence of the intended meaning, with its corresponding accurate grammar.
One of the best strategies, for translators to deal with the analysis, understanding,
and production of translations, is by carrying out comparative studies of scientific,
221
technical, or literary works done by different kinds of authors. By comparing and
contrasting linguistic systems, by selecting terms, which fit the linguistic and
cultural contexts, by making use of appropriate methods, approaches, and reference
materials, translators will have the necessary resources at their disposal. These
will help translators to convey the intended meaning of the piece of work. Theory
without practice is meaningless. Practice serves as the foundation of theory. In
other words, translators gain a better understanding of the processes, procedures,
and outcomes, which are derived from practice and reflection. Theory is based on
both observation and practice since it is from experience that we gain some insight
into how to create it.
Reflection
1. What are some of the difficulties that language translators have to deal with as
it comes to translating technical texts? (Style, jargon, word equivalences, etc.).
2. Are there any advantages and drawbacks associated to translation? (Inaccuracy,

lack of expertise in the field, etc.).
Project
Carry out a classroom project in which text analysis is carried out in an L1-L2
or an L2-L1 translation.
222
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Appendix
Appendix A: The Pedagogy of the Four Language Skills
Table 8. Important Issues About the Four Language Skills
Listening Speaking Reading Writing
Learners get Learners have the Learners gain Learners learn the
acquainted with chance to internal- some insight into basics in terms of
Importance different speech ize the L2. the L2 culture. mechanics.
patterns.
Teachers need to Teachers design Teachers have to Teachers need to

Needs identify difficult speaking tasks for have a prior design effective
analysis sounds. learners to learn knowledge of techniques.
the L2. learners’ needs.
Learners find it Learners have a Learners are not Learners need to

difficult to hard time to use familiar with the be exposed to all
Drawbacks identify some the L2 naturally in style and depth of kinds of writing
speech sounds. some cases. analysis. tasks.
Learners are not Learners need to Learners need Learners can write
Selection familiar with the use the L2 beyond to be exposed to down texts,
criteria number of L2 their competence. different kinds of messages, recipes
phonemes. materials. and the like.
Learners are Interviews, talks, Materials should Learners have

exposed to authen- and debates serve be carefully access to a variety
Application tic materials and to develop the L2. chosen to fit of written tasks.
pragmatic learners’ needs.
information.
Learners can Learners are put to Learners explore Learners can write
identify basic test in real and all kinds of texts down all type of
Assessment vocabulary words current situations. and passages of texts smoothly.
in context. their choice.
Note: Own work
231
Strategies for Teaching Listening Comprehension
Provide learners with a wide variety of sources and resources with comprehensible
input: songs, movies, short stories, movie segments, newsreels, T.V. shows, skits, etc.,
with their corresponding, closed captioned. In this way, learners have the possibility
to be exposed to the L2 as it is currently used and spoken in a given place, at a given
time. As long as they are exposed to all type of topics and issues, they will become
familiar with the words and expressions people use in different circumstances and
occasions, in a natural way.
Micro strategies for teaching listening comprehension
In formal instruction, listening comprehension can be explored using two

different approaches: Bottom-up Processing and Top-Down Processing:
Bottom-up processing: It takes into account single phonemes, syllables,

words, phrases, sentences, hearers or learners are exposed to. They should be able
to decipher those phonemes so that a clear understanding can derive from that
approach. More than just identifying those phonemes, learners are expected to have
a sound knowledge of the issue(s) being addressed. In other words, it means that
you may understand specific phonemes within the spoken chain; there could be a
lack of comprehension since you may not be familiar with the topic, as it happens
in real-life situations. You may attend a conference about psychology, astronomy,
or even car mechanics, and if you do not know anything about those fields, you will
have a hard time keeping a conversation going with those in the know.
Top-down processing: The top-down processing works the other way round.
Learners are expected to gain a clearer understanding since they are knowledgeable
about the issue being addressed. Concepts and ideas are the foundation of top-down
processing. Hearers just make an idea of what they are exposed to and much more
easily, they can express their ideas either orally or in writing, to contribute to a
discussion. For example, it is necessary that the hearer can have a vast vocabulary
and expressions of the issue so that they can follow the discussion. Otherwise,
they would be unable to add to it. It can be said that instead of being opposite,
both bottom-up processing and top-down processing complement each other.
In the communication process, there is interaction; negotiation of meaning is a
permanent issue. Both hearers and speakers rely on their background knowledge
so that communication can be developed smoothly. Otherwise, there would be
a breakdown in the communicative event. The idea of learners being exposed to
232
listening material in the L2 classroom is to help them to become familiar with it and
in a variety of issues or topics that they are to expect in real-life situations.
Listening tasks: three different perspectives
• Pre-listening tasks:
• They help learners to be tuned up with what they are about to hear.
• Some vocabulary words and expressions are previously introduced.
• The setting of the tasks is paramount to figure out the goal expected.
• They serve to prepare the listeners for what they are about to be exposed to.
• Learners are given the chance to make predictions based on the given topic.
• While-listening tasks:
• They serve to guide learners’ understanding if misinterpretations take place.
• Learners’ expectations can be either verified or disproved as the case unfolds.
• Learners are expected to contribute to the discussion of the issue as it develops.
• The questions being asked depend on the topic and content of the conversation.
• They let learners get more focused on the issue which is going to be dealt with.
• Post-listening tasks:
• They attempt to grasp whole ideas rather than individual words or sounds.
• The type of grammatical structures and words determines the level of formality.
• Learners become more engaged with the message so that they can take a stand.
• They can develop a better understanding only if they are exposed to it willingly.
• Critical thinking, along with critical analysis, sure can play a role in such a
process.
233
Brown (2001: 256) suggests a number of micro-skills of listening comprehension.
Below, there are some of them: “Recognize reduced forms of words. Process speech
at different rates of delivery. Recognize cohesive devices in spoken discourse. Infer
situations, participants, and goals by using real-world knowledge. Distinguish
between literal and implied meanings.”
Strategies for Teaching Speaking
Children learn how to speak because they are exposed to natural language. It is
present at home, at school, in the street, on television, on the radio, on the Internet,
just to name a few of them. Language is not grammatically planned, rather, it is
incidental. Language teachers can provide learners with the authentic language
people use on a daily basis. Watching dialogs, conversations, or sitcoms on T.V. or
the Internet, for instance, can help learners to gain some cultural insight into how
people interact. Debates and presentations can be implemented in class. Language
is everywhere there are people even though they speak a different linguistic code,
that what needs to be done is to establish a bridge so that communication between
speakers is made possible.
Micro strategies for teaching speaking
Speaking is about oral interaction. When two or more individuals engage in

the exchange of negotiation of meaning, they use a number of strategies to come to
an understanding by language, both verbal and non-verbal. Below, there are some
of them:
Information gap
Both speakers who are engaged in a conversation. For example, they attempt
to obtain information that each one of them lacks. That is to say, one speaker has
information that the other speaker does not have. The idea behind information gap
tasks is to negotiate meaning and to cooperate so that the task can be successfully
achieved for both speakers.
Conversational routines
They could be considered as trivial for the type of language used, which
attempts to initiate language just for social routines, known as fixed expressions.
Some examples follow:
234
• That’s all for today.
• I’m just looking, thanks.
• It doesn’t make any difference.
• Do you know what I mean?
• I’m just calling to say “I love you.”
• Jigsaw activities
Jigsaw activities, as they are usually called, promote collaborative work. The
participants, who are usually more than two, get ready to contribute to the solution
of a task. As in a jigsaw puzzle, every participant has a part that the other participant
lacks.
Formal and informal speech
Because speakers can use either formal or informal speech, language teachers
are expected to provide learners with both types of speech. Speaking cannot be
prepared in advance because it is unplanned and unexpected. Speaking activities
and tasks are proposed.
Strategies for Teaching Reading Comprehension
One of the best manners to improve, develop, and maintain language is by

taking reading as the foundation for learners to gain some knowledge on how the
people think, behave, and see the world around them. Although learners are in a
fixed place, they have the possibility to wander through their imagination. Reading
lets learners become world citizens. With reading, they have the opportunity to go
back to the past, to reflect on the present, and to plan, for the future. Reading cannot
be considered as a passive process, but as an active one since the new knowledge
interacts with the previous knowledge. The latter serves as a foundation for a better
understanding of the former. The more you read, the better you write. Reading
contributes to better writing. The more you read and write, the better your style will
be. What are some of the purposes of reading? a) to gain (academic) knowledge;
b) to have a broader perspective about an issue; c) to become informed; d) to get
cultured; e) to spend the time fruitfully; f) to expand one’s frontiers.
235
Micro strategies for teaching reading comprehension
In formal instruction, reading comprehension can be explored using two

different approaches: Bottom-up Processing and Top-down Processing:
Bottom-up processing
It takes into account single phonemes, syllables, words, phrases, sentences,

the hearer or the learner is exposed to. They should be able to decipher those
phonemes so that a clear understanding can derive from that approach. More than
just identifying those phonemes, learners are expected to have a sound knowledge
of the issue(s) being addressed. In other words, it means that you may understand
specific phonemes within the spoken chain; there could be a lack of comprehension
since you may not be familiar with the topic, as it happens in real-life situations. You
may attend a conference about psychology, astronomy, or even car mechanics, and
if you do not know anything about those fields, you will have a hard time keeping
a conversation going with those in the know.
Top-down processing
The top-down processing: It works the other way round. Learners are expected
to gain a clearer understanding since they are knowledgeable about the issue being
addressed. Concepts and ideas are the foundation of top-down processing. Hearers
just make an idea of what they are exposed to and much more easily, they can express
their ideas either orally or in writing, to contribute to a discussion. For example, it
is necessary that the hearer can have a vast vocabulary and expressions of the issue
so that they can follow the discussion. Otherwise, they would be unable to add to
it. It can be said that instead of being opposite, both bottom-up processing and top-
down processing complement each other. In the communication process, there is
interaction; negotiation of meaning is a permanent issue. Both hearers and speakers
rely on their background knowledge so that communication can be developed
smoothly. Otherwise, there would be a breakdown in the communicative event.
The idea of learners being exposed to listening material in the L2 classroom is to
help them to become familiar with it and with a variety of issues or topics that they
are to expect in real-life situations.
Skimming: You skim a text for gist in order to get the main idea. It means
that readers go over the reading passage to get the general idea of what it is about.
236
Scanning: You scan a text in order to obtain specific information. This
detailed information can be a name, a place, a date, a fact, a cause, a consequence,
a relationship, which is purposefully expressed in a text.
Guessing or prediction: Learners can make predictions based on the following

cues: a) the title; b) the subtitles; c) the accompanying messages; the topic covered;
the content of the reading, etc. Once learners, or much better readers, formally
approach the text, they can test or verify their hypotheses or guesses as for how
right or wrong they were about the topic of the text.
Inference: When the text does not provide learners with information about it,
some inferences can be made. Inferences can be drawn from results or conclusions.
Strategies for Teaching Writing
Learners are expected to write down basic words, phrases, and sentences at
the initial stages. According to Krashen (1993, 2003) reading contributes to better
writing. The more you read about a single topic, you will have a sound knowledge
of words, terms, and concepts, which change their meaning based on the context
in which they are used. Writing is an active process since ideas are connected as
we write. Cohesion and coherence contribute to unity and meaning in a piece of
writing. In writing, there is a purpose and an audience where the writer has a style
that fits both of them. A piece of text can be read, deciphered, interpreted, analyzed,
compared, and elucidated.
What are some of the purposes of writing?
• To express one’s opinions.
• To share thoughts.
• To take a stand or position about an issue.
• To think critically about a particular issue.
• What are some of the purposes of reading and writing?
• To be culturally accepted.
• To belong to a social class.
237
• To have access to knowledge.
• To be able to analyze and interpret circumstances.
Micro strategies for teaching writing
Learning how to write is a hard endeavor, which takes time and devotion. The
more someone reads, the better his or her writing will become. Although style is
a personal issue, writing can be improved through reading. In this sense, reading
contributes to take a particular approach to the issues expressed in writing. Below,
there are some ideas about how writing can be made specific:
Brainstorming
Brainstorming is a topical task. That is to say, it derives from a series of ideas

relating to a single issue. These ideas are interconnected and they serve as the basis
or the foundation prior to undertaking writing, as such. It is in this way that relations
among concepts are created.
Mind maps
Once some previous concepts have been selected, more elaborate ideas about
writing can be more deeply explored. In other words, the central concept leads to
other concepts, by making the connections like a web, from which the main idea is
supported by the secondary ideas, which are found there.
Basic or elementary ideas, which are complex
The previous concepts make sense when they are used in basic ideas, which
are, of course, complex ones. What is meant here is that the structure of ideas seems
to be basic or elementary. It is not that simple. Ideas are always complex. It depends
on learners’ linguistic competence, training, and experience in writing. Not every
native speaker has already developed such competence because they lack either one
or the other, sometimes.
Paragraphs
The interconnection of ideas provides the writer with some elements to start
putting into words their previous ideas, so to speak. In the initial stage, straightforward
paragraphs are an indication of the simplicity of writers’ competence. Then, they
238
will be able to start developing more interconnected paragraphs so that a text can
make sense.
E-mail messages
They are quite schematic in the sense that depending on the type of message,
some fixed expressions of greetings, content, and leave-takings can be used.
Book or movie reviews
The writing of a book review or a movie review has to be better structured.

Language tends to be more academic, scientific, or technical because of the jargon
used. Although there are learners and teachers with a variety of learning and
teaching styles, the right pedagogical practices and methodologies should suit their
learners’ learning styles (Kolb, 1971, Fleming & Mills, 1992), by complying with
their communicative needs.
239
Appendix B: The Pedagogy of the Three Language Sub-Skills
Before addressing the issue of the three language sub-skills, it is important to

remark that pedagogy has a direct relationship with didactics and methodology.
It helps language teachers to shape their teaching practices in order to favor
learners’ L2 learning. In this sense, this section addresses some issues about
what the three language sub-skills are and how they can be implemented in EFL/
ESL settings and contexts. The three language sub-skills refer to a) grammar; b)
pronunciation, and c) vocabulary. As the name suggests, they are sub-skills. It
means that they complement the four language skills: a) listening comprehension;
b) speaking; c) reading comprehension; and d) writing, respectively. Language
sub-skills shape language. Following Chomsky, grammar deals with syntax,
phonology, and semantics. Pronunciation has to do with speaking and listening
comprehension. Vocabulary refers to semantics, and it is embedded in listening
comprehension, speaking, and reading comprehension, and writing. It permeates
language. Below, there are some suggestions and strategies, which may guide
L2 instruction, but most importantly, learners’ L2 learning with autonomy,
independence, and self-discipline. They are explored in the manner in which
they were introduced above.
The Pedagogy of Grammar
Grammar can be introduced and taught either deductively or inductively.

Deductive grammar instruction refers to the explanation of specific grammar rules.
The teacher provides learners with rules, exceptions to those rules. Then, some
examples, where the rule is used, are provided. It has been the most common
approach to teaching grammar in foreign language settings and contexts. L2 adult
learners prefer grammar explanations. They feel at ease. They memorize rules and
exceptions. They expect to learn and apply a fit-all rule. However, this is not the
case. Native speakers create, develop, and use language. Language is not about
creating and applying rules. There are exceptions to them. Language is about
discovering and creating language rules for communication, social interaction
and cultural understanding. Inductive grammar instruction, on the other hand,
introduces the L2 grammar in meaningful and communicative contexts. Learners
have to come up with their own conclusions as to how native speakers think,
communicate, and relate to others. Children fall into this category. For them,
language is a playful activity. In this regard, a distinction between both terms is
made. Thornbury (1999, n. p.) states, “a deductive approach (rule-driven) starts
with the presentation of a rule and is followed by examples in which the rule
is applied. An inductive approach (rule-discovery) starts with some examples
240
from which a rule is inferred.” Brown (2007, n. p.) stresses the importance of
an inductive grammar approach to L2 teaching, by saying, “While it might be
appropriate at times to articulate a rule and then proceed to instances, most of the
evidence in communicative second language teaching points to the superiority
of an inductive approach to rules and generalizations.” There should be a balance
between both approaches. Factors (age, audience, prior knowledge, goals, and
needs for L2 learning, etc.) will determine, which one to adapt and to adopt. If
any explanation (usage) is required, it can be easily provided with some examples
(use) in order to clarify its real communicative application. Adult learners, most
of the time, ask for some explanations, clarifications, and applications of rules.
A deductive approach to language teaching follows:
The auxiliary “Do”
“Do” is used with the following personal pronouns: I, you, we, you, they, or a
plural noun, in the simple present tense.
“Does” is used with the following personal pronouns: He, she, it, or a singular
noun, in the simple present tense.
“Did” is used with all the personal pronouns in the simple past tense.
“Do,” “Does,” and “Did” can be used for reinforcing a sentence, stating a negative
sentence, or asking questions.
Table 9. The auxiliary Do
Subject Auxiliary Verb Complement
I do speak Spanish.
He does like coffee.
We did eat veggies.
Subject Auxiliary Verb Complement
I don’t speak French.

He doesn’t like tea.
We didn’t eat candy.
241
Auxiliary Subject Verb Complement
Do you play soccer?

Does she bake cookies?
Did they come late?
Information
Auxiliary Subject Verb
question
When do you paint?
Where does she teach?
What did they buy?
Note: Own work
The Pedagogy of Pronunciation
In the foreign or second language classroom, teachers can use the top-down
approach or the bottom-up approach according to their learners’ particular
communicative needs.
Top-Down Approach: Learners are exposed to a particular piece of language

either formally or informally. According to what they grasp from it and based on
their previous knowledge; then, it will be easy or difficult for them to follow what
is being heard. Once they have listened to a part of it or the whole of it, teachers
can ask a set of questions to check comprehension and from it, start a discussion
about the issue in question.
Bottom-Up Approach: The alphabet can be approached from the following

analysis: a) Letter recognition, b) Proper identification of the phoneme, c) Proper
articulation of the phoneme, d) Phonological processes involved, e) Linking sounds,
which take place within the spoken chain, f) Attitudinal and emotional state of
the speaker, etc. In order for non-native speakers to be able to articulate as native
speakers do, meaningful exposure to the language, training, and opportunities are
keys to speaking the L2 in suitable and accepted ways.
Below, there are some tips on how L2 teachers can help their learners to grasp
and to improve pronunciation, by listening to a) Authentic material; b) Videos; c)
Music: lyrics, songs, karaoke, and videos; d) Tongue twisters; e) Dictation exercises; f)
Spelling bee; g) Dialogs and conversations; h) Interviews; i) Debates; j) Presentations;
242
k) Repetition drills; l) Television programs: cartoons, the news, documentaries, soap
operas, series, m) Radio programs: music, interviews, the news, etc.
The Pedagogy of Vocabulary
Vocabulary in context is the backbone of language. It comprises notions. Notions

provide L2 learners with ideas. Ideas can help them to structure their thinking. Without
vocabulary words, speech and writing would be impossible. People could not read
and write. They would be illiterate. Social encounters and cultural understanding
would not take place as we know it today. Vocabulary is shaped by culture. Culture
reflects the way(s) in which people think. Thinking helps us to understand the
manner how a community develops, relates, and creates language. These are just
some reasons why vocabulary plays a key role in L2 learning or acquisition.
Below, there is an inventory of strategies. Some examples follow:
a. Collocations: some words often go together: fork, knife, and spoon; salt and
pepper.
b. Description: a scene or situation is described: It was a lovely, sunny day.
c. Drawings: a scene is drawn to set a situation: animals, fruits, and veggies.
d. Fill-in-the-blank activities: grammar exercises: gaps need to be completed.
e. Flashcards: list of individual, but related words: family members, tropical fruits.
f. Grouping: a set of words needs to be organized: colors, clothing, prices, etc.
g. Hangman: an entertaining game in which a word needs to be guessed: beautiful.
h. Labeling: pictures are labeled with their corresponding names: bar, house, park.
i. Making words out of a word: “Teacher:” tea, teach, ache, care, her, rate, ace, etc.
j. Matching: synonyms or antonyms are matched: big: small; sick: ill; tall: short.
k. Mind maps: Based on a word, concepts derive from it: “Shirt:” new, old; big; small.
l. Odd-one out: a word is not related to others: father, mother, car, son, brother.
m. Reading: Extensive reading and intensive reading are key to gain vocabulary.
243
n. Word clouds: a cluster of words related to another: “Mammals” cat, cow, dog, rat.
o. Word search: words, which must be located, are displayed in a grid.
p. Words in context: words change meaning: “kid” for a baby; “kid” for a young goat.
244
Nancy Oscar
Gómez Torres Molina Márquez
Is a full-time professor in the is currently working at both the

Department of Spanish and Universidad Nacional de Colombia
English at Universidad del Tolima, (Sede Medellín) and at the
where she has been a faculty Institución Unversitaria Colegio
member since 2014. She Mayor de Antioquia as an adjunct
received her Master's degree in professor. He has worked as a pre-
Applied Linguistics in the service and in-service instructor
teaching of Spanish as a Foreign and has taught at all educational
Language from the Universidad levels at both public and private
de Jaén and a Master's degree in institutions ranging from primary
Teachers Training of Spanish as a school to university level. He holds
Second Language from the a Certificate of proficiency in
Universidad de León. She English from the University of
teaches culture, intercultural Michigan English Language
Institute. He also holds a Master
competence, non-verbal
of Arts in Languages from West
communication and research in
Virginia University and a
foreign languages teaching to bachelor's Degree in Languages
both bachelor and from the Universidad Pontificia
master'sstudents. Her research Bolivariana. He has 34 years of
interests lie in the area of experience as a language teacher.
linguistics, sociolinguistics and His philosophy of teaching stands
pragmatics. on the premise that teachers don't
teach, rather they provide learners
with what they really need to
become proficient in the L2.
Introduction to Linguistics for Language Teaching by Nancy Gómez and
Oscar Molina is an easy-to-read book, which ideal for use at all levels. In its
first edition, it covers a wide variety of issues in linguistics, particularly in
language education instruction. The format in which the chapters are
organized follows a regular order and sequence. The book covers 1) The
foundations of language. 2) The world of linguistics. 3) Language in the
brain and the mind. 4) The power of words. 5) Language as the founding
element of society. 6) Discussing discourse analysis. 7) The application of
language. It aims to facilitate understanding and comprehension of the
content addressed. It provides both novices and experienced language
teachers with a wider view of its content to be applied in their day-to-day
pedagogical practices. The style used by the authors is direct and
straightforward. Published by © Sello Editorial Universidad del Tolima,
2020, it is important to highlight that is it the first time that a book is
printed in English.
The book incorporates a set of definitions about linguistic terms,

examples, citations, quotes, practical questions to apply the theory are
found in “Reflections” and “Projects.” It also addresses the authors'
critical positions and the analyses of outstanding issues in linguistics,
applied linguistics, and pedagogy in “The Pedagogy of Language.” It also
contains a couple of Appendices about “The Pedagogy of the Four
Language Skills” and “The Pedagogy of the Three Language Sub-Skills” to
help teachers to become acquainted with some theory and practical ideas
on how to use them in their language teaching contexts and settings. The
book serves various academic purposes for educators, experienced, and
unexperienced language teachers, or anyone interested in grasping some
knowledge in the fields of language, linguistics, applied linguistics,
language teaching, language learning. To conclude, it can be said that it is
informative and easy to read as a source of guidance for educators in the
fields of linguistics for language teaching.
ISBN 628-7537-09-5
9 786287 537095

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For Language Teaching

Nancy Gómez Torres

Nancy Gómez Torres

© Sello Editorial Universidad del Tolima, 2021

Facultad de Ciencias de la Educación

Corrección de estilo, diagramación y diseño de caratula por:

The Foundations of Language

The World of Linguistics

Language in the brain and the mind

The Power of words

Language as the founding element of society

The Application of Language

References .............................................................................................................. 223

Appendix A: The Pedagogy of the Four Language Skills ................................ 231

Appendix B: The Pedagogy of the Three Language Sub-Skills ....................... 240

Table 2: Paradigms and Syntagms ..................................................................... 86

Table 3: Vowel features ........................................................................................ 99

Table 4: Distinction Between Acquisition and Learning ................................ 121

Table 5: Issues related to motivation ................................................................. 132

Table 6: Interjections in different languages ..................................................... 169

Table 7: The creation of a linguistic community .............................................. 213

Table 9: The auxiliary Do .................................................................................... 241

Graph 2: Modes of grammar............................................................................... 79

Graph 3: Components of neurolinguistics........................................................ 104

Graph 4: Language in the brain.......................................................................... 105

Graph 5: Psycholinguistics.................................................................................. 110

Graph 6: Three approaches to psycholinguistics.............................................. 112

Graph 7: Language requirements....................................................................... 119

Graph 8: Language acquisition theories ........................................................... 125

Language cannot be understood in isolation since people perform roles as they

Language consists of a series of fields, which contribute to its complexity and it

Language at the dawn of times

Both Sapir (1884-1939) and Whorf (1897-1941) were interested in finding,

A language is any system of communication used by nature, animals, machines,

Saussure (1916), a Swiss linguist, is considered the Father of Modern Linguistics

Aukrust (2011) conceives language from a much broader perspective, by

Concepts Representations Words

Words Representations Concepts

Representations Concepts Words

We shall call the language which is used to convey ‘factual or propositional

The interactional view

Language is transactional: It is transactional because two or more people

Language is interactional: It is so in the sense that two or more individuals

Language is expressive: The primary function of language is to express needs,

Language is descriptive: Man uses language as a device or a mechanism to

Vocal auditory channel: Spoken language is produced in the vocal tract.

Semanticity: Language conveys meaning in order to carry a message.

Arbitrariness: Words change from language to language and from culture to

Productivity: Language serves people to describe, to produce, and to invent

Traditional transmission: Language is possible thanks to the interaction with

Jakobson’s functions of language

According to Jakobson (1960) language consists of six factors: Context, Message,

Context: It refers to the circumstances involved in the communication

Message: It deals with the content or idea of what wants to be conveyed.

Referential: It describes facts: “It’s snowing.”

Emotive: It expresses emotions: “It’s delicious, yummy, yummy, yummy.”

Conative: It refers to commands: “Listen up!”

Phatic: It is used to maintain social relationships: “Hello, Professor Lee.”

Metalingual: It talks about language itself: “What do you mean by ‘prone?’”

Halliday (1975) also distinguishes other language functions:

Instrumental: Language is a tool of communication, interaction, and cooperation.

Regulatory: Language has to respond to social conventions.