VIEWS OF LANGUAGE

LEARNING
1. Structural View of Language
Learning
2. Functional View of Language
Learning
3. Interactional View of Language
Learning
1. Structural View of
Language Learning
WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THE
STRUCTURAL VIEW OF LANGUAGE

 “Structural view is a scientific study of the

fundamental structures of English language, their
analysis & logical arrangement.” (Brewington)

 “The structural view is based on the belief that in the

learning of a foreign language mastery of structures
is more important than acquisition vocabulary.”
(Menon & Patel).
WHAT DOES STRUCTURAL VIEW OF
LANGUAGE MEAN ?
 Teaching of English by helping the students to learn certain
structures of English as called the structural view.
 It is … “arrangement of words in such a way as to form a
suitable pattern.”
 Its main objective is to increase the students command over
the pattern of English and to enable them to use the language
more effectively.
 It is also known as ‘ aural-oral approach ’ as it stresses on
teaching language by giving opportunities to the students to
hear and speak the language.
 For this structures are carefully selected and suitably graded.
WHAT IS STRUCTURE ?

 “ The Different arrangement or pattern of words

is called a structure.”
 Language have their own structures. There are 325
structures and more then 1,000,000 words in English
the bulkiest language.
 While structural approach expects the students to
learn about 250 basic sentences pattern and 3,500
words at the ends of schooling.
 It has been found that 100 sentences of English have
about 600 structural words.
EXAMPLE

1. Nita is there.
2. Is Nita there?
3. There Nita is.
4. There is Nita

 All the four sentences have the same vocabulary item

still, but they give us different meanings due to the
different arrangement of the three vocabulary items. This
arrangement is known as structure.

 Thus, in structure, meaningful words are used in a

particular order to convey their meanings.
“ . . . structure may be complete utterances or part
of a large pattern”. Thus structures are tools of a
language and it should not be confused with a
sentence which is a grammatical order or words”.

Types of Structures
 Sentence pattern
 Phrase Pattern
 Formulas
 Idiomatic Structures, etc.
STRUCTURAL VIEW OR APPROACH

 “The approach involves the selection and

gradation of materials to be taught”.
 Selection is there because the students are
not supposed to learn all the structures but
they learn only those structures which
frequently comes.
 Thus, it is based on Usefulness &
Teachability.
PRINCIPLES OF SELECTION

Usefulness

Simplicity

Teachability

Productivity/Surrender Value

Area of difference
GRADATION

 Gradation means putting them in a suitable

order.
 Here, the purpose is to arrange words
according to their usability & difficulty.
 Grading puts the easier and most usable
structures before difficult & less usable
ones.
PRINCIPLES
 Speech is basis of acquiring other skills, like reading
and writing. Thus speech is emphasized.
 Language habit formation is important : the
important of forming language habit, particularly the
habit of arranging words in English standard sentence
pattern to replace the sentence pattern of the pupils’
own language. Through this process of learning of
second language also becomes natural.
 Activity-based learning.
CHARACTERISTICS
 It co-relates the teaching of grammar and
composition with reading lesson. Thus grammar is
taught informally.
 The unit teaching is particular structure.
 Oral drill forms a significant step of this approach or
view.
 Meaningful situations are created by the teacher with
the help of easily available teaching aids.
 It lays proper emphasis on aural-oral method.
MERITS
 Speech is emphasized.
 Habit formation is stressed.
 Carefully selected and graded structure/ language
materials.
 It creates interest and motivation of the pupils through
the use of selected and graded materials.
 Language is taught in meaningful situation. This
approach is linked with the situational teaching.
 Besides oral work, it emphasizes on reading and
writing skill . Thus objectives of language teaching are
fulfilled.
DEMERITS
 A good plan fails without understanding of the nature
of the language.
 Text-books prescribed in course cannot be taught
through this approach.
 Not helpful in teaching prose, poetry and other form of
literatures.
 Not suitable for higher classes as they don’t like
repetition of structures.
 Knowledge of grammar cannot be obtained through
this approach as it touches only the functional
grammar.
2. Functional-Notional View
of Language Learning
BASIC CLAIMS
 Functional-Notional view focuses on the
purposes for which language is used. It
emphasizes on communicative purposes of a
speech act.
 It underlines what people want to do or what
they want to accomplish .
 The Functional-Notional view helps learners to
use real and appropriate language for
communication.
WHAT IS FUNCTION?
Function is the communicative act; it is the
use of language to achieve a particular
purpose of communication, such as inviting
somebody, writing an apology, ordering,
promising, greeting…, etc.
EXAMPLES
 FUNCTION: Greeting
(informal) „Hello‟
( formal) „Good evening‟
 FUNCTION: Leave-taking

(informal) „ So long‟ or „bye‟

(formal) „ Goodbye‟
 FUNCTION: acknowledging an introduction

(informal) „ Please to meet you‟

(formal) „ How do you do?‟
 FUNCTION: expressing and acknowledging gratitude

(formal/informal) „Thank you‟

„You are welcome‟
WHAT IS NOTION ?
 It is important that functional language must also
incorporate with specific notions ; vocabulary, nouns,
verbs, adjectives, adverbs, structure verbs, miscellaneous
words.
 The words following the functional expression would be
considered notions.
 A notion is a concept, or idea and it may be quite specific,
such as a vocabulary (dog, house, for example); or it may
be very general – size, emotion, movement, place
 A notion may be “time past”; this may include past tenses,
phrases like a month ago, in 1990, last week, and
utterances using temporal clauses beginning with when…..,
before…., after…. and so on.
 NOTION

universal linguistic structural and

phenomena; time, space, quantity, vocabulary
motion, matter, case and deixis. items

The notion of time , the notion of place …

For example:
I’d like to invite your son to come to my club for lunch on
Saturday.

Specific notions depend on three major factors;

1. the function
2. the elements in the situation
3. the topic which is being discussed
SITUATION INCLUDES:
 The persons taking part in the speech act
 The place where the conversation occurs
 The time it is taking place
 The topic or activity which is being discussed.

The function+ the situation + the topic

WHAT ARE EXPONENTS ?

 Exponents are language utterances or statements which

stem from the function, the situation and the topic.
 They are language forms a speaker uses to express a
message or indicate social roles, formality, informality.
 Exponents are mostly depend on our personalities,
level of linguistic competence, social status..
 +
FUNCTION
>
FUNCTION FUNCTION

communicative people nouns

expressions and/ place verbs
or formulas time adj/ adv
topic structure
words
michellaneous words
UNIT-CREDIT SYSTEM (HOW ARE TOPICS
ORGANIZED?)

1. Functions are classified and put into units or modules.

2. Units can be limited to specific duties such as serve as
a receptionist in a doctor’s office.
3. They are specific as global content but free as to
internal organization and mode of presentation
4. Units will specify general grammatical, lexical,
notional-semantic items; that is , meaningful and
appropriate use in context or social situations.
THEORETICAL BASES OF F-N VIEW OF
LANGUAGE LEARNING
 F-N approach combines ‘communicative Grammar’
with cognitivism and humanism.
 The primary focus is the learner and the function or
functions of language- the communicative purpose s/he
wishes to express and to understand.
 Varied sociolinguistic situations are taken into
considerations.
 Social roles, psychological attitudes of participants, the
place, time, the activity, topic are all discussed .
Communicative behaviour is always situationally
conditioned. On that point, there are three factors
underlying speech acts:

a. the functions
b. the varieties of language
c. the shared sociocultural allusions -
presupposition
CATEGORIES OF FUNCTIONS

 Personal

 Interpersonal

 Directive

 Referential

 Imaginative
FACTORS OF VARIETIES OF LANGUAGE
 Geographical factors
 Social factors
 Status in the community or nation
 Differences related to social classes
 Educational background
 Register; a.) formality, informality b.) the topic, activity, work
or profession c.) the mode-oral or written-of the course.
 Code-switching ; a person’s individual use of the language or
dialect.

Ex: A doctor use a casual, informal register at home while using a

formal register at a professional dinner.
CULTURAL KNOWLEDGE

 F-N curriculum provides implicit and explicit

information for learning of culture .
radio broadcasts, television, tapes, cassettes,
documentaries, films, pictures, short
illustrated dialogues, real-life situations.

 Curriculum set realistic objectives as paralinguistic

feature of languages , gestures, convey meaning to
listeners.
Ex: cultural insights for immigrants
cultural immersion – explicit information
LINGUISTICS
 F-N view will provide learner to acquire a reasonable,
basic knowledge of the phonological, grammatical
and lexical subsystems of the language and the use of
language in actual communication.
 Encoding and decoding a message; appropriateness,
acceptability
 Oral or written communication
 Gestures and other paralinguistic features
EDUCATIONAL PRINCIPLES
 Transfer of learning is not always automatic
 A spiral and cyclical approach is recommended.
 The curriculum is divided into units and modules
 The starting point is the communicative function and
the social situation in which situation or purpose is
being expressed.
 The title of the units is expressed in functional terms
 The same function may be presented in different
situations
 The grammar and vocabulary to be taught in each unit
result from the integration of function and situation.
CONTINUED . . .
 In F-N curriculum ,a number of different functions may
be clustered in one unit.
 In the F-N approach grammatical structure and function
do not overlap. The same structure may be used to
express more than one function of language.
 Concepts and language needed in social studies,
geography, mathematics, art, music and literature are
integrated into the curriculum.
 Units contain linguistics and cultural materials the
learners will need for sociocultural and sociovocational
purposes
REASONS FOR OPTIMISM
 It sets realistic learning tasks.
 It provides everyday, real world language in a variety
of sociocultural situations.
 It emphasizes the need for numerous, varied and
receptive activities.
 The language used should be based on a situation or
setting. The speaker must have a real purpose to talk
about.
 The act of communication is motivating as it expresses
basic, universal communicative functions of language.
CONTINUED . . .
 It enables teachers refer to psycholinguistic,
sociolinguistic, linguistic and educational principles
 It does not insist upon mastery of any body material
presented.
 It makes provision through a unit and module system
for admission to certain programs at any time during
the year.
 In F-N approach grammatical structure and function do
not overlap. There is no obligatory one to one
relationship.
A DEBATABLE ISSUE
 Some linguists and notably Halliday developed a
theory of language showing how the formal
grammatical patterns reflect the functions of language
structure.
 No pedagogical use and not formulated
 There is an arbitrary relationship between function and
grammar.
CRITICS
 Dividing language into items is against the
nature of language
 It neglects linguistic items and gives more
attention to fixed expressions and formulas
 Grading is problematic and subjective.
3. Interactional View of
Language Learning
WHAT IS INTERACTION?
It ascribes the central role in the
process of language acquisition to the
environment. The focus of attention of
social interacionists is the way
interaction leads to the development of
language competence.
MAJOR CLAIM:
Language, according to social
interactionists, develops through
interaction with other human being,
which leads to input modification i.e.
adjusting it to the capacity of the
learner.
Additionally, interactionists claim that no ‘critical
period’ for language acquisition exists as the process
of interaction is not dependent on biological or
cognitive development.

Social interactionists do not deny the existance of

neuropsychological factors affecting language
acquisition; however, they claim that biological factors
are not sufficient. They also do not accept placing
language as just one more element of cognitive
development.
Lev Vygotsky proposes the model of language
acquisition consisting of two major concepts:
 Zone of proximal development (level of skill
of knowledge which is just beyond what the
learner currently copes with)
 Mediation (the role played by ‘significant
people’, the people the learner admires, who
select and modify the learning material for the
learner helping him/her to move to the next
zone of proximal development)
WHAT IS SCAFFOLDING?
 Refers to the support or assistance that lets the child
accomplish a task he/she cannot accomplish
independently.
 It is not about doing the task for the child while
he/she watches.
 It is not about doing short cuts for the child.
 It should involve the judicious assistance given by
the adult or peer so that the child can move from the
zone of actual to the zone of proximal development.
EXAMPLE OF SCAFFOLDING
 When the adult unzips the zipper an inch or two and
then holds the lunch bag still so that the child can
continue to unzip the lunch bag is SCAFFOLDING.
 Loosening the food container lid just a bit and letting
the child open the lid himself is SCAFFOLDING.
 Leading the straw to the hole and letting the child put
the straw through the tetra pack is SCAFFOLDING.
SCAFFOLDING PURPOSES
The purpose of the support is to allow the child to
achieve higher levels of development by:
1. simplifying the task or idea
2. motivating and encouraging the child
3. Highlighting important task elements or
errors
4. Giving models that can be imitated.
CONCLUSION
 Like Piaget, Bruner believed that children have an
innate capacity that helps them make sense of the
work and that cognitive abilities develop through
active interaction.
 “According to Burner “The child learns how to use
language within the social context of language use in
which the child interacts. He grows up and needs to
interact in the social scenario of the caretaker (s)
around him and he gradually adopts their movements
& language.”
Thank You . . .