ENSINO E APRENDIZAGEM DE INGLÊS

COMO LÍNGUA ESTRANGEIRA

ECOLOGICAL LINGUISTICS AND

LANGUAGES LEARNING

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Olá!
Ao final desta aula, você será capaz de:

1 - Identify a definition of ecological linguistics;

2 - Learn the relationships between language and physical environment, between language and social/ cultural

environment, between and among languages;

3 - Understand linguistic diversity, between learners (child or second language learner) and the learning context;

4 - Analyze ecological research models.

Introdução

In our last class, we’re going to present a definition of ecological linguistics. You should understand the

relationships between language and physical environment, between language and social/ cultural environment,

between and among languages. We are also going to discuss linguistic diversity, between learners (child or

second language learner) and the learning context.

The term “language ecology”, like “language family”, is a metaphor derived from the study of living beings.

The view that one can study languages as one studies the interrelationship of organisms with and within their

environments presupposes a number of subsidiary metaphors and assumptions.

Most notably that languages can be regarded as entities, that they can be located in time and space and that the

ecology of languages is at least in part different from that of their speakers.

Language is not an object that can be considered in isolation, and communication does not simply occur by

means of sequences of sounds […] Language […] is a social practice within social life, one practice among others,

inseparable from its environment […]

The basic idea is thus that the practices which constitute languages, on the one hand, and their environment, on

the other, form an eco-linguistic system, in which languages multiply, interbreed, vary, influence each other

mutually, compete or converge.

This system is in interrelation with the environment. At every moment language is subject to external stimuli to

which it adapts.

Regulation, which I will define as the reaction to an external stimulus by an internal change which tends to

neutralize its effects, is thus a response to the environment.

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This response is first and foremost the mere addition of individual responses – variants that, over time, lead to

the selection of certain forms, certain characteristics. In other words, there is a selective action of the

environment on the evolution of language […] (Calvet, 2006).

1 What is Eco-linguistics?
Eco-linguistics emerged in the 1990s as a new paradigm of linguistic research which took into account not only

the social context in which language is embedded, but also the ecological context in which societies are

embedded.

Michael Halliday's 1990 paper New ways of meaning: the challenge to applied linguistics is often credited as a

seminal work which provided the stimulus for linguists to consider the ecological context and consequences of

language.

Among other things, the challenge that Halliday put forward was to make linguistics relevant to the issues and

concerns of the 21st century, particularly the widespread destruction of ecosystems.

The main example Halliday gave was that of “economic growth”, where he described how the orientation of the

English language with regard to unmarked terms such as large, grow, tall, and good gives growth a positive

aspect, despite the negative ecological consequences.

Since Halliday's initial comments, the field of eco-linguistics has developed considerably, primarily in the

direction of analyzing the ecological impact of specific discourses rather than languages in general.

The main online research forum for eco-linguistics, the Language & Ecology Research Forum, characterizes eco-

linguistics in this way:

Eco-linguistics examines the influence of language on the life-sustaining relationships of humans with each

other, with other organisms and with the natural environment.

Research ranges from the impact of advertising discourse in encouraging ecologically damaging consumption to

the power of nature poetry to encourage respect for the natural world.

There are two main approaches which use the term “eco-linguistics” and they can be glossed as “eco-critical

discourse analysis” and “linguistic ecology”.

2 What’s eco-critical discourse analysis?

Eco-critical discourse analysis includes, but is not limited to, the application of critical discourse analysis to texts

about the environment and environmentalism, in order to reveal hidden assumptions and hidden messages and

comment on the effectiveness of these in achieving environmental aims (e.g. Stibbe 2012, Harré et al, 1999).

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In its fullest formation, it includes analysis of any discourse which has potential consequences for the future of

ecosystems, such as neoliberal economic discourse and discursive constructions of consumerism, gender,

politics, agriculture and nature (e.g. Goatly 2000, Stibbe 2004).

Eco-critical discourse analysis does not just focus on exposing potentially damaging ideologies, but also searches

for discursive representations which can contribute to a more ecologically sustainable society.

Approaches such as eco-semiotics (Selvamony, 2007), environmental communication and eco-criticism have

broadly similar aims and techniques to eco-critical discourse analysis.

3 What were the changes in the status of English as a

foreign language?
According to the information presented by Joshua Fishman in his book entitled Post-Imperial English, the status

of English as a foreign language changed noticeably after World War II, when most North European countries

“…downgraded German and at the same time upgraded English as a school subject”.

At that time, French was chosen as a foreign language by a minority of students (before World War II) the

situation was reversed- French dominated as a foreign language or “lingua franca” in the majority of European

countries).

At present, English as a foreign language has an overwhelming lead over all other foreign languages in schools of

EU.

Especially interesting may seem the changes that took place in

Eastern Europe during the so-called transformation period.

In these countries, German was traditionally a “lingua franca” and the major foreign language taught in schools.

After World War II, the situation changed as a consequence of the Soviet victory and Russian was introduced into

schools as the first foreign language. German retained its second position.

The situation changed radically after the collapse of the Soviet Union around 1990, due to which the political

upheaval in Eastern European countries took place.

As a result, a tremendous increase in English as simultaneous decrease of Russian could be observed.

Worth mentioning is the fact that English was preferred as a foreign language also in Germany especially in more

demanding school forms and tertiary education.

The spread of English as the first foreign language in Eastern Europe caused its acceptance as the language of

higher education, science and worldwide communication:

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When we move on from the teaching or studying of languages to their application in communication, it seems

useful to distinguish different spheres, or, in a special sense, “domains” of language uses like industry and

commerce, science and others.

Concluding, it can be stated that during the post-World War II period English became a dominating foreign

language both in education and commerce as well as in worldwide communication. It gained tremendous

popularity and became a global language.

4 Why ecology?
Since its first application to linguistics, two decades ago, the ecological perspective has offered an alternative to

the somewhat mechanistic and de-contextualized "computing" metaphor for language learning, with its inputs,

outputs and feedback.

The ecological perspective situates language and language learning, not in the head, but in its social and cultural

contexts - the linguistic ecosystem, If you like.

Just as organisms adapt to their environments, and in so doing shape their environments, so to do speakers use

language both to integrate into, and to influence, their discourse communities.

Through this reciprocal process of interaction and mutual adaptation, the linguistic system (both the individual's

and the community's) evolves.

This, at least, is the view propounded in a number of recent publications, including Leo van Lier's The Ecology

and Semiotics of Language Learning (2004) and Larsen-Freeman and Cameron's Complex Systems and Applied

Linguistics (2008).

Which concepts does Van Lier identify concerning an ecological approach to language and language

learning?

Click here: http://estaciodocente.webaula.com.br/cursos/gon450/docs/a10_t07.pdf

5 Are language and communicative competences learned

and developed in intra-cultural, inter-cultural and trans-
cultural contexts?
Language and communicative competences learned and developed in intra-cultural, inter- cultural and trans-

cultural contexts. But in schools today, focus is mostly on the inter-cultural and to a certain extent, the intra-

cultural contexts.

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Through a further presentation of the characteristics of the three contexts, we argue that this focus is too narrow

if the goal of language education* is to contribute to friendly and fair cooperation locally and across regions,

nations, ethnicity, gender/sex and age and to a fruitful childhood, creativeness and democracy.

* the goal of language education: Mother tonguue, langiages education, international anguages, foreign

languages.

6 Final words
Now, to give you something to chew on over breakfast, here is a quick cut and paste of some of the ideas that

capture many of the core themes of the classes in this course:

1. If there are no languages, only language, what is it that we teach? … The short answer, perhaps, is that we

would facilitate a kind of creative DIY approach – semiotic bricolage, perhaps – by means of which learners

would become resourceful language users, cutting and pasting from the heteroglossic landscape to meet both

their short-term and their long-term goals.

2. The tension – and challenge – of successful communication is in negotiating the given and the new, of

exploiting the predictable while coping with unpredictability. To this end, a phrasebook, a grammar or a

dictionary can be of only limited use. They are a bit like the stopped clock, which is correct only two times a day.

3. Creating the sense of ‘feeling at home’, i.e. creating a dynamic whereby students feel unthreatened and at ease

with one another and with you, is one of the most important things that a teacher can do.

4. A reliance on the coursebook IN the classroom does not really equip learners for self-directed learning

OUTSIDE the classroom, since nothing in the outside world really reflects the way that language is packaged,

rationed and sanitized in the coursebook.

5. The language that teachers need in order to provide and scaffold learning opportunities is possibly of more

importance than their overall language proficiency.

6. A critical mass of connected chunks might be the definition of fluency (plus, of course, the desire or need to BE

fluent).

7. Education systems are predicated on the belief that learning is both linear and incremental. Syllabuses,

coursebooks and tests conspire to perpetuate this view.

To suggest otherwise is to undermine the foundations of civilization as we know it.

8. If I were learning a second language with a teacher, I would tell the teacher what I want to say, not wait to be

told what someone who is not there thinks I might want to say.

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9. Irrespective of the degree to which we might teach grammar explicitly, or even base our curriculums on it, as

teachers I think we need to know something about it ourselves. It’s part of our expertise, surely. Besides which, it’

s endlessly fascinating (in a geeky kind of way).

10. Every language divides up the world slightly differently, and learning a second language is – to a large extent

– learning this new division.

11. The meaning of the term student-centered has become too diffuse – that is to say, it means whatever you

want it to mean, and – whatever it does mean – the concept needs to be problematized because it’s in danger of

creating a false dichotomy.

12. There is a responsibility on the part of teachers to provide feedback on progress, but maybe the problem is in

defining progress in terms of pre-selected outcomes, rather than negotiating the outcomes during the progress.

13. Language learning, whether classroom-based or naturalistic, whether in an EFL or an ESL context, is

capricious, opportunistic, idiosyncratic and seldom amenable to external manipulation.

14. I have no problem with the idea of classes – in fact for many learners and teachers these can be less

threatening than one-to-one situations – but I do have a problem with the way that the group learning context is

molded to fit the somewhat artificial constraints of the absentee coursebook writer.

15. The idea that there is a syllabus of items to be “covered” sits uncomfortably with the view that language

learning is an emergent process – a process of “Uncovering”, in fact.

16. This, by the way, is one of [Dogme's] characteristics that most irritates its detractors – that it seems to be a

moving target, constantly slipping and sliding like some kind of methodological ectoplasm.

17. The “mind is a computer” metaphor has percolated down (or up?) and underpins many of our

methodological practices and materials, including the idea that language learning is systematic, linear,

incremental, enclosed, uniform, dependent on input and practice, independent of its social context, de-

humanized, disembodied, … and so on.

18. Is there no getting away from the fact that classrooms are just not good places to learn languages in? And

that, instead of flogging the present perfect continuous to death, it might not be better simply “to take a walk

around the block”?

19. If automaticity is simply the ability to retrieve memorized chunks, this may result in a repertoire that is fast

and accurate, but functional only in situations of the utmost predictability. Fine, if you’re a tourist – just

memorize a phrase-book.

But for a more sophisticated command of language – one that is adaptable to a whole range of situations – you

need to be able to customize your chunks. In short, you need to be creative. Hence, creative automaticity.

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20. Technosceptics, like me, happily embrace technology in our daily lives, but are nevertheless a little

suspicious of the claims made, by some enthusiasts, for its educational applications – claims that frequently

border on the coercive.

21. As edtech proponents tirelessly point out, technology is only a tool. What they fail to acknowledge is that

there are good tools and bad tools.

22. Another bonus, for me, of the struggle to dominate a second (and third, fourth etc.) language has been an

almost obsessive interest in SLA theory and research – as if, somewhere, amongst all this burgeoning literature,

there lies the answer to the puzzle.

23. ‘Fluency is in the ear of the beholder’ – which means that perhaps we need to teach our students tricks

whereby they ‘fool’ their interlocutors into thinking they’re fluent. Having a few rehearsed conversational

openers might be a start….

24. I’ve always been a bit chary of the argument that we should use movement in class in order to satisfy the

needs of so-called kinesthetic learners. All learning surely has kinesthetic elements, especially if we accept the

notion of “embodied cognition”, and you don’t need a theory of multiple intelligences to argue the case for whole-

person engagement in learning.

25. I agree that learners’ perceptions of the goals of second language learning are often at odds with our own or

with the researchers’. However, if we can show [the learners] that the communicative uptake on acquiring a

“generative phraseology” is worth the initial investment in memorization, and, even, in old-fashioned pattern

practice, we may be able to win them over.

26. How do we align the inherent variability of the learner’s emergent system with the inherent variability of the

way that the language is being used by its speakers?

27. The problem is that, if there is a norm, it is constantly on the move, like a flock of starlings: a dense dark

center, a less dense margin, and a few lone outliers.

28. Think of the blackbird. Every iteration of its song embeds the echo, or trace, of the previous iteration, and of

the one before that, and the one before that, and so on. And each iteration changes in subtle, sometimes barely

perceptible, ways. But the net effect of these changes may be profound.

29. Diversity is only a problem if you are trying to frog-march everyone towards a very narrowly-defined

objective, such as “mastering the present perfect continuous.” If your goals are defined in terms of a

collaborative task outcome … then everyone brings to

the task their particular skills, and it is in the interests of those with many skills to induct those with fewer.

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30. Teaching [...] is less about navigating the container-ship of the class through the narrow canal of the

coursebook/ syllabus than about shepherding a motley flotilla of little boats, in all weathers, across the open sea,

in whatever direction and at whatever speed they have elected to go.

Saiba mais
Access:
• Language and ecology. Available at <http://ecolinguistics-association.org>.
Access at May 7th, 2014.
• Eco-Linguistics. Available at <https://www.onlineocr.net/pt/>. Access at May
7th, 2014.

CONCLUSÃO
Nesta aula, você:
• Discuss a definition of ecological linguistics;
• Understand the relationships between language and physical environment, between language and
social/ cultural environment, between and among languages. Linguistic diversity, between learners (child
or second language learner) and the learning context.

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