LEARNING MODULE
LANGUAGE, CULTURE,
AND SOCIETY
BSEDE
Y1A
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This learning module (LM) was developed by the College Curriculum Committee for the
new normal on learning modalities of educational institutions. The learning modules were
written by the faculty members of the undergraduate studies of Holy Cross College Sta.
Rosa, N.E, Inc. and were used as exemplars either as a sample for presentation or for
workshop purposes.
The LM is designed for online learning and can also be used for blended learning and
remote learning modalities. The year indicated on the cover of this LM refer to the year
when the LM was used as a module and the year it was written or revised. For instance,
2017 means the LM was written S.Y. 2016-2017 and was used in the 2017. The Y
indicated on the cover refers to the Year Level of the students that will use this LM.
The LM is also designed such that it encourages independent and self-regulated learning
among the students and develops their 21st century skills. It is written in such a way that
the teacher is communicating directly to the learner. Hence, the teachers are trained how
to write their own standards-based learning plan.
The parts or stages of this LM include Explore, Firm Up, Deepen and Transfer. It is
possible that some links or online resources in some parts of this LM may no longer be
available, thus, teachers are urged to provide alternative learning resources or reading
materials they deem fit for their students which are aligned with the standards and
competencies. Teachers are encouraged to write their own standard-based learning plan
or learning module with respect to attainment of their school’s vision and mission.
The learning modules developed by Holy Cross College Sta. Rosa, N.E., Inc. are aligned
with the Higher Education Curriculum of the Commission of Higher Education.
This document is password-protected to prevent unauthorized processing such as
copying and pasting.
LANGUAGE, CULTURE, AND SOCIETY
LCS-MC: LANGUAGE, CULTURE, AND SOCIETY
Course Introduction
Language is a crucial means for communication and interaction. Language not only
reflects and expresses facts and observations, it also influences attitudes and behavior.
It thus constitutes a vital component of the cultural prerequisites underlying societal
development. The aim of this course is to discuss the role of language and language use
in a series of societal challenges and in various cultural contexts.
Course Description
This course defines the uses of language in society and its relationship to the culture(s)
of its speakers. Students are introduced to the broad fields of socio-linguistics and
anthropological linguistics. The course studies language variation across regions,
ethnicity, social class, gender, age, religion, level of education etc. The course also looks
at language as a window into the culture of its speakers, thus serving as a useful tool for
anthropologists in coming to understand cultural institutions and the world-view of
speakers. A major focus will be on how different languages and language varieties coexist, complement or replace other languages and language varieties or even result in
new languages.
Course Objectives
At the end of the course, students are expected to:
Knowledge
1. Demonstrate full understanding of the interconnectedness between language,
culture, and society.
2. Discuss critically the major issues considered in the course.
3. Synthesize ideas, concepts, and theories discussed in the course.
4. Apply theories introduced in the course to the analysis of sociolinguistic phenomena
in societies.
Skills
1. Convey ideas about the foundations of linguistics and linguistic anthropology.
2. Practice the usage of different speech sounds.
3. Use nonverbal communication when delivering a speech or when having a
conversation.
Values
1. Adopt awareness on the connections of language, culture, and society.
2. Share knowledge about linguistic anthropology.
3. Reflect on the role of culture and society in the development of language.
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Lesson 1 – Introducing Linguistic Anthropology
In this lesson, you will do the following:
• Develop a background knowledge
about the history of anthropology.
• Determine the different modern
myths of language and find out if
these myths are true or not.
•
Lesson 1
Give their own opinions/ideas about
the different statements concerning
the modern myths of language.
• Find answer to question, “why
should we study language in daily
life?”
•
Explain the sequence of events of
the history of anthropology using a
chart.
•
Complete semantic web, by listing
down the roles of the four main
subfields of anthropology.
• Write a reflection paper entitled:
Importance of studying language in
today’s society.
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Let’s Warm-Up Activity (Motivation)
Find the words inside the box in the “CROSSWORD PUZZLE”. It can be vertical,
horizontal, or diagonal then encircle it.
culture
society
Language
people
history
fieldwork
myth
holistic
humankind
Homo Sapiens
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What’s on your mind?
Write your thoughts or ideas about the relationship of the words that you’ve found in
the crossword in “Linguistic Anthropology”.
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Lesson 1- Introducing Linguistic Anthropology
1.1 BRIEF HISTORY OF ANTHROPOLOGY
Many other fields, of course, are also concerned with aspects of the human condition.
Among these fields are anatomy, physiology, history, political science, economics, art
history, literature, and sociology. With all these specialized areas focusing on the human
experience, why would there be a need for such a broad discipline as anthropology?
When Herodotus, a Greek historian of the fifth century B.C., wrote briefly about the
ethnic origin of the Carians and Caunians of Southwestern Asia Minor and took into
consideration the dialects they spoke, he engaged in what called linguistic anthropology.
Linguistic anthropology in the modern sense is a relatively recent field of study that
developed in the United States and has been practiced predominantly by North American
academics.
By the middle of the nineteenth century, the world was basically a well-known place,
both geographically and culturally. The details certainly remained filled in, but no one
expected to find a new hemisphere or uncover an unknown civilization. What puzzled
scholars, however, was why they found so much human variety. One of the main
intellectual and scientific tasks of the day was to try to explain the diversity of race,
language, and culture, past and present.
Modern anthropology began as the study of subjects that were not already claimed by
scholars in other fields. But to say that anthropology just gathered these intellectual
leftovers is not quite accurate. It was thought that the study of human biological and
cultural development would shed a light on the pressing “race, language, and culture”
question. Because at that time “primitives” were thought to be remnants of an evolutionary
ancestral past, the study of pre-industrial societies naturally became anthropology’s main
domain. Early anthropologists then, focused especially on the nonliterate tribal people
others considered “primitive” or “savage”. These humble beginnings are still reflected in
the present. The one commitment that anthropologists profess regardless of their
specialization is the holistic approach. The term holistic refers to concern with a system
as a whole rather that with only some of its parts. Because studying an entire culture in
full detail could easily become a lifetime project, anthropologists focusing on only certain
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of its aspects invariably study and discuss them in full cultural context. In the study of
humanity, applying the holistic approach means emphasizing the connections among the
many different facets of human condition so that humankind can be understood in its full
complexity – cultural, social, and biological.
One characteristic that sets anthropology apart from other social sciences is a strong
fieldwork component, sometimes augmented (especially in archaeology and biological
anthropology) by work in the laboratory. Archeologist survey land for sites and excavate
and analyze the remains of past cultures. Biological anthropologists study such topics as
the relationship between culture and disease, the behavior of nonhuman primates (such
as chimpanzees and gorillas), gene pool frequencies, and nutritional patterns. They also
search in particular locations of the world for skeletal remains relating to human evolution.
For some time now, cultural anthropologists have not limited themselves to the study of
tribal societies, peasant villages, or bands of hunter-gatherers in remote parts of the
world. This is certainly as it should be: If anthropology is truly the study of humankind,
then it must concern itself with all of humankind
1.2 WHY SHOULD WE STUDY
LANGUAGE? LANGUAGE IN DAILY
LIFE
“Why should I study language?” is hardly a
rhetorical question. Most people never
formally study language and they seem to get
along fine. But do they? For example, have
you ever arranged to meet someone “next
Tuesday” only to find that your friend was
planning to show up a next week later than you
had anticipated? Or why do we need lawyers
to translate contract for us when the document is written in a language that all parties
share? David Crystal (1971:15) points out that communication between patients and
physicians can be extremely difficult given the differences in training and perspective of
the persons involved. The doctor often has to take a general phrase, such as “a dull ache
in may side,” and formulate a diagnosis and treatment based solely on this description.
And when responding to what the patient has said, the doctor must choose her words
carefully. What a doctor calls a “benign growth” might be heard as “cancer” by the patient.
At school we are confronted with language problems the minute we walk in the
door. Some are obvious: “I can’t understand Shakespeare. I thought he spoke English.
Why is he so difficult?” Other problems are not so obvious: “What is the difference
between who and whom? Doesn’t one make me sound British?” “Why do I have to say
‘you and I’ instead of ‘me and you’?”
Language is involved in a wide variety of human situations, perhaps every
situation. If something permeates every aspect of human life, and is so complex that we
cannot fathom its influence, we should study it. The scientific study of language is one of
the keys to understanding much of human behavior.
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The study of language will not in itself solve all the world’s problems. It is useful
enough to make people aware of these problems of language exist and that they are
widespread and complex.
1.2 MODERN MYTHS CONCERNING LANGUAGE
This may be a good place to provide information about languages in general in order to
set some basic matters straight. Every human being speaks a language, but what people
think about languages – particularly those about which they know little or nothing – is
quite another matter. Consider the following statements. Which ones do you think are
true?
Myth #1: Learning a foreign language requires a special talent.
An individual who can speak
multiple languages, many people assume
that he has a natural “gift” for language. In
other words, they believe there is
something unique in his DNA that “enables”
him to learn. As the myth goes, this strand
of language-learning DNA exists only in a
select few. So, if you are struggling to learn
Spanish, that must mean you aren’t part of
this special group of people. Of course, this
makes zero sense when you consider the fact that any child can learn any language
anywhere.
We ALL have the language learning gene—it’s part of what makes us human.
So then why do some adults succeed at learning a foreign language while others don’t?
Simple—practice and approach. If you are failing to learn a language, it’s either because
you’re not practicing enough, or because you are taking the wrong approach.
Most things we think of as talents are actually just heavily-trained skills.
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Myth #2. Children are better at learning languages
Everyone seems to take it for granted
that children are the ultimate language learners.
When it comes to language learning, children
have one major advantage—they’re blank
slates. They don’t have any pre-existing
pronunciation habits to interfere with the new
language. They’re not going to try to make
sense of the foreign grammar using the
incompatible native grammar.
Furthermore, children are blank slates in
identity, so they’re not worried about looking stupid. This is their biggest advantage over
adults. To learn a foreign language, you need to spend a lot of time making mistakes and
saying the wrong things.
For adults, this can be nerve-wracking. For children, this is just another day of life.
Since children don’t care about embarrassment, they get all the practice they need.
Meanwhile, adults hide behind books and apps so we can pretend to learn without putting
our reputations on the line. But, when adults can overcome their fear of looking bad, they
can beat out children with intelligence, discipline, and consistency. A six-year-old doesn’t
have the discipline to sit down for several hours a day to train language. Adults do.
Myth #3. You should train written and spoken fluency at the same time.
Most language learners learn to read
and write at the same time they learn to
understand and speak.
On day one of Spanish class, you learn how to
say “Hola” in a conversation, AND you learn
how to write “Hola” down on a piece of paper.
This may seem like the most sensical way to
learn a language. Both oral and written fluency
are useful, and they’re related, so why not learn
them both at the same time?
First, it’s always faster to do two things sequentially rather than simultaneously. Spoken
fluency and written fluency are two separate skills. It’s possible to be conversationally
fluent in a language without knowing how to read (e.g. blind people), and it’s possible to
read and write in a language without knowing how to converse (e.g. deaf people).
So, if you’re learning in sequence, which one should you start with—conversation
or writing?
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Most language learning programs start you on reading and writing because it’s
easier for people to teach. You can learn to read and write in silence without risking
embarrassment. But, that’s not the order you learned your first language. As a child, you
first achieved oral fluency, then you learned how to read and write in school.
Myth 4: Pronunciation is a Bonus Skill You Save for the End
What people fail to appreciate is that
human speech is nothing more than a string of
sounds we make with our mouths.
So, if pronunciation is about “how to make those
sounds with your mouth,” then pronunciation
can’t be a bonus skill…
Pronunciation is at the foundation of language.
That’s why, when people have really strong
foreign accents, you can’t understand them, and
they can’t understand you. Who cares if you know
how to spell every word? If you can’t pronounce those words, the language is useless to
you in conversation. Moreover, any sounds you have trouble pronouncing will have a
domino effect on your speaking ability. A word gets stuck in your mouth, and that makes
you self-conscious. That self-consciousness makes you mess up even more words,
starting a vicious cycle. That’s why your first step in learning a language should be to
identify the Elemental Sounds you are mispronouncing.
Myth 5: You need to study grammar.
In your first language, you probably
speak with perfect grammar. Is it because you
hold conjugation charts in your head all day? Is
it because you’ve memorized all the grammar
rules and their official names? No, you learned
grammar organically through mimicry. If
someone said to you “I has a cheeseburger,”
you would instantly know it was ungrammatical,
because no one ever says it that way. Your ear
would immediately register it as “off.”
This intuitive sense of grammar is what you want to have in your target language. But you
won’t get that from studying theory. In fact, studying grammar theory too early can actually
slow down your learning. When people study grammar, it stokes the fire of
perfectionism—a fire our teachers have been stoking our entire school careers.
Perfectionism is the enemy of progress. Instead of focusing on correction, focus
on connection. Do you understand what the native speaker is saying? Can you get your
point across clearly? If the answer is yes, then you’ve succeeded. Who cares if you didn’t
use the right preposition—those nuances will come later.
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Myth 6: You can learn a language through books and apps alone
Too often some people say: “Yeah I’m
learning Spanish now. Just got the Duolingo
app.” The hope is that, with a free app and a
couple minutes a day on the train, you can
achieve fluency in a foreign language.
Unfortunately, it’s not that easy. You’ll never
achieve conversational fluency through
books or apps alone. Sure, books and apps
might help you learn vocabulary or
troubleshoot concepts. But the whole point of
learning a language is to have conversations
with real people. So, even the perfect book or
app will never replace putting yourself out there and practicing conversations in the real
world.
The only path to conversational fluency is to practice lots and lots of conversations
with real human beings. All the other methods should just be there to steer you along
your path.
Myth #7: Languages have rules.
People like to speak in terms of rules.
Like, “the rule in French is that you have to put
the accent here”.
But in reality, there are no hard and fast
rules—language is constantly evolving.
True, there are governing bodies who make
edicts on language.
But at the end of the day, language is not
dictated by the “Academy of the Spanish
Language,” it’s dictated by conventions that
arise organically among groups of people.
In English, for example, we used to say, “never split the infinitive.”
But then Star Trek came along and said, “To Boldly Go Where No Man Has Gone Before.”
And now, “to boldly go” sounds normal and grammatical. The “rule” has been broken and
replaced. Just like that. Context is also key for determining what language is “right” in a
given situation.
Saying, “I ain’t got time for dis” would be incorrect if I wrote it in a school essay, but it’s
totally fine when joking around with my friends.
Indeed, I would be more impressed by a foreigner who made that joke. But if another
foreigner said to me, “At the present moment I lack the temporal means with which to
achieve said end objective,” that would just be weird, even though it’s grammatical.
Why? Because, there are no rules in language, what matters most is context.
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Myth 8: I can’t learn languages or pronunciation because I’m tone deaf
If you think you’re tone deaf, then
you’re probably not tone deaf.
Tone deafness is a real medical condition
called congenital amusia. It’s when a person
is physically unable to distinguish between
variation and pitch in music. But it occurs in
just 4% of the population. Despite this fact,
more than 50% of people claim to be tone
deaf!
Why? Because they can’t sing in tune.
But the reason most people don’t sing in tune
is not because they are tone deaf, it’s because they haven’t practiced singing in tune.
This is yet another example of people being bad at something they’ve never practiced
and then assuming it’s because they are not naturally talented.
Myth 9: People want to learn languages
People say they want to “learn a
language,” but languages don’t really matter.
What really matters is people. People just
want to connect with other humans, and
language is our biggest tool for this.
When someone says, “I want to learn
Spanish,” for example, what they’re really
saying is, “I want to connect with these
Colombians,” or “I want to make friends in
Madrid when I travel there.” And in order to
do that, they need to learn Spanish. So
ultimately, it’s not about the language, it’s about the people. Whatever you’re doing to
learn a new language, make sure it helps you connect with other people.
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Post-Assessments
TASK # 1
Using the chart below, write the sequence of events about the history of anthropology.
Sequence of Events
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TASK # 2
Complete the semantic web. Write down the different roles of “Four Subfields of
Anthropology”.
BIOLOGICAL
ARCHEOLOGY
ANTHROPOLOGY
LINGUISTIC
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ASSIGNMENT # 1
Based on the lessons, do you agree or disagree on the following statements
below? Why or why not? Briefly explain your answer.
1. Most things we think of talents are actually just heavily trained skills.
2. Children are blank slates.
3. It’s always faster to do things sequentially rather than simultaneously.
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4. Perfectionism is the enemy of progress.
5. The only path to conversational fluency is to practice lots and lots of conversations with
real human beings.
6. There are no rules in language, what matters most is context.
7. It’s not about the language, it’s about the people.
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Reinforcement Activity (REFLECTION PAPER)
Answer the question “Why should we study language especially in today’s society that
we are facing COVID-19 pandemic?
Title: Importance of studying language in today’s society.
Using a maximum of 500 words, write a reflection paper about it. Use the following format:
font 12, Times New Roman, and 1.5 spacing.
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Answer Key (Motivation)
Answer key for Let’s Warm-Up Activity
culture
society
Language
myth
people
history
fieldwork
holistic
humankind
Homo Sapiens
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References
BOOK REFERENCES
Salzmann, S. A. (2016). Language, Culture, and Society (6th ed.). Westview Press.
Stanlaw, J. M., Adachi, N., & Salzmann, Z. (2019). Language, culture, and society: an
introduction to linguistic anthropology (7th ed.). Routledge Taylor et Francis Group.
SUPPLEMENTARY READINGS
Ghannam, F., & Paul, R. A. (2020, April 18). Anthropology. Encyclopædia Britannica.
https://www.britannica.com/science/anthropology.
Ness, T. H. (2017, August 30). The 9 Biggest Myths in Language Learning - Busted.
The Mimic Method. https://www.mimicmethod.com/9-biggest-myths-languagelearning-busted/.
Prepared by:
Reviewed by:
Recommended by:
Approved by:
HEIDI M.
LADIGNON, LPT
Subject Instructor
AGNES M.
AQUINO, PhD
Program Chair,
Education Department
KEN GIE ANTHONY
M. CRUEL, CPA,
MBA
Chair, Curriculum and
Instruction
ALMARIO B.
GARCIA. PhD
Dean, College
Department
Date:
Date:
Date:
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Date: