THEORIES OF LANGUAGES “ Language is power, life and the instrument of culture, the instrument of domination and liberation. Angela Carter ” THEORIES OF LANGUAGES The Discourse Theory & Second Language Acquisition Theories THE DISCOURSE THEORY The Discourse Theory The Discourse Theory -Conceptualized by Evelyn Hatch -Among the theories that came into birth and developed rapidly in the past five decades with the emergence of SLA researches worldwide The Discourse Theory - The discourse theory has resulted from a theory of language use. - Emphasizes that language development should be viewed within the framework of how the learner discovers the meaning capacity of language by taking part in communication Definition of terms… A linguistic unit larger than a sentence It is the technical term for “conversation” DISCOURSE Latin word “discursus” which means to and fro, and denotes written and spoken communication The Discourse Theory - Language can be learned by communicating with the target language. - Learners discover the potential meaning of language by participating in communication. The Discourse Theory Communication is treated as the matrix of linguistic knowledge… * … such that if we want to acquire a second language, the main way to learn is by making a lot of interaction with the target language. The Discourse Theory -Even for the first language acquisition to be successful, interaction, rather than exposure is required The Discourse Theory - It is said that the first language acquisition is related with this theory Michael A.K. Halliday thinks that the process of first language acquisition is actually the process of learning how to communicate in that language. The Discourse Theory - Hatch agrees with Halliday and perceives little difference between the first language acquisition process and second language acquisition. She thinks that only through communication discourses can the learner acquire the second language. The Discourse Theory LEVELS OF LANGUAGE PHONOLOGY: Word sounds MORPHOLOGY: Word parts and meanings SEMANTICS: Word meanings and use SYNTAX: Complete sentences and sentence structure DISCOURSE: Multiple sentences (paragraphs, stories, chapters, books) The Discourse Theory COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE - It is defined by Canale and Swain (1980) in terms of the following components: • GRAMMATICAL COMPETENCE: words and rules • SOCIOLINGUISTIC COMPETENCE: appropriateness • STRATEGIC COMPETENCE: appropriate use of communication strategies The Discourse Theory COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE - In 1983, Canale refined the said model, adding discourse competence. * DISCOURSE COMPETENCE: defined as the ability to understand and produce the range of spoken, written and visual texts that are characteristics of a language. These text are to be well formed and clear. This also includes the ability to convey information appropriately and coherently to those who are listening to, or viewing one’s texts. The Discourse Theory COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE - BACHMAN (1990) divides communicative competence into the broad headings of: • ORGANIZATIONAL COMPETENCE which includes grammatical and discourse (textual) competencies, and • PRAGMATIC COMPETENCE which includes sociolinguistic and illocutionary competencies. The Discourse Theory COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE - DEL HYMES’ description of communicative competence reflects the principles of the Discourse Theory A. knowledge of the grammar and vocabulary B. knowledge of rules of speaking C. knowledge of how to use and respond to different types of speech acts and social conventions D. knowledge of how to use language appropriately The Discourse Theory COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE - Through the influence of communicative language teaching, It has become widely accepted that communicative competence should be the goal of language education, central to good classroom practice. The Discourse Theory DICOURSE THEORISTS: “ Language acquisition will successfully take place when language learners “know” how and when to use the language in various settings and when they have successfully “cognized” various forms of competence such as grammatical competence (lexis, morphology, syntax and phonology) and pragmatic competence (e.g. speech acts). A language learner needs to “know” conversational strategies to acquire the language.” The Discourse Theory DISCOURSE ANALYSIS… - It is defined as the analysis of language ‘beyond the sentence’ Discourse analysts consider the larger discourse context in order to understand how it affects the meaning of the sentence. The Discourse Theory DISCOURSE ANALYSIS… - It is defined as the analysis of language ‘beyond the sentence’ For example, Charles Fillmore points out that two sentences taken together as a single discourse can have meanings different from each one taken separately. The Discourse Theory DISCOURSE ANALYSIS… “Please use the toilet, not the pool” The Discourse Theory DISCOURSE ANALYSIS… “Pool for members only.” The Discourse Theory DISCOURSE ANALYSIS… “Please use the toilet, not the pool” “Pool for members only.” The Discourse Theory DISCOURSE ANALYSIS… If you regard each sign independently, they seem quite reasonable. But taking them together as a single discourse makes you go back and revise your interpretation of the first sentence after you’ve read the second. MAIN PRINCIPLES OF THE DISCOURSE THEORY A. In second language acquisition, the rules of grammar are acquired in a natural order. This is largely influenced by the learner’s age, context of learning and learner’s L1 background. - SLA has a controlling factor called “faculty for language” that all human beings possess and which is also responsible for the first language acquisition. MAIN PRINCIPLES OF THE DISCOURSE THEORY B. When communicating with a non-native speaker, the native speaker adjusts his discourse to negotiate meaning with the speaker. -in this principle, the native speaker enables the non-native speaker to communicate while the latter uses various strategies in the negotiation of meaning. Together, they strive to overcome the communicative difficulties which are always likely to arise as a result of the learner’s limited second language resources. MAIN PRINCIPLES OF THE DISCOURSE THEORY C. The strategies and means used in discourses and the adjusted language input will influence the speed and order of second language acquisition in the following speech: 1. The learner learns the grammar of the L2 in the same order as the frequency order of the various features in the input. It means the first structures that the L2 learner acquires are those that he/she is exposed to most frequently. MAIN PRINCIPLES OF THE DISCOURSE THEORY C. The strategies and means used in discourses and the adjusted language inbput will influence the speed and order of second language acquisition in the following speech: 2. The learner acquires commonly occurring formulas and then later analyzes these into their component parts. MAIN PRINCIPLES OF THE DISCOURSE THEORY C. The strategies and means used in discourses and the adjusted language inbput will influence the speed and order of second language acquisition in the following speech: 3. The learner is helped to construct sentences vertically. Learner utterances are constructed by borrowing chunks of speech from the preceding discourse. MAIN PRINCIPLES OF THE DISCOURSE THEORY D. The natural order of SLA is the result of the learner’s learning to make discourse interactions (how to hold conversations) - This is the strongest claim for the role of interaction in SLA. It emphasizes the role of the linguistic environment, which is shaped jointly by the L2 learner and the native speaker in discourse, and plays down the role of internal processing factors THE CONVERSATION A.Modes of Discourse 1. EXPOSITION 2. NARRATION 3. DESCRIPTION 4. ARGUMENT/PERSUASION THE CONVERSATION B. RULES OF CONVERSATION 1. Attention getting 2. Topic nomination 3. Topic development 4. Topic termination RELEVANCE OF DISCOURSE THEORY IN SLA A. It shows how written, visual and oral texts give more depth to the text when the context is understood more deeply in the relevant circumstances in the social context. B. Instructional dialogue should be closely linked to the particular scenario in a classroom. The thoughts and connections between teachers and students during the process of teaching and learning acquisition develop the rigorous nature of pedagogy. RELEVANCE OF DISCOURSE THEORY IN SLA C. Ideas and concepts will be mutually understood. It calls for a variety of teaching methods and teaching conditions specific to that classroom. - Accordingly, in the case of L2 acquisition language learners are encouraged to deal with accomplishing actions, which are thought to help them acquire the target language. DICOURSE INVOLVING CHILDREN “For a child to learn a second language, allow him/her to engage or participate in meaningful communication.”” This theory is very useful for child or young learners. DICOURSE INVOLVING CHILDREN A.Children have some specific mental structure to acquire language effortlessly. B.When a child is involved in participating in different language learners, he/she can get better mastery over the language. C.Children interact better than the adults do. They interact without any hesitations. They don’t have qualms in making mistakes. D.Hatch shows that in child/young learners, the child will always attempt to “open the channels” by calling for an adult’s attention. CLASSROOM IMPLICATIONS OF THE DISCOURSE THEORY A.Encourage interaction among learners B.Be aware of the rules of conversation C.Create situations that will allow interaction and communication CRITICISMS/WEAKNESSES OF THE DICOURSE THEORY A.There is no certain method that can be directly implemented to the learners B.Language can’t be learned when learners don’t have the interest to make an interaction. C.The mood or character of the learner will affect his learning. If he/she is a shy person, he/she might not feel comfortable communicating. CRITICISMS/WEAKNESSES OF THE DICOURSE THEORY D. There should be a mastery of vocabulary to be able to interact with the target language speakers. E. It overemphasizes the role of external factors in the process of language acquisition and gives little importance to internal learner strategies (i.e. innate processes). The Discourse Theory is similar to the Behavioristic view of language acquisition in that environmental factors and input (or positive stimulus) are at the very center in attempting to explicate the acquisition process. The Discourse Theory is of course more sophisticated than the Skinner’s views in accounting for the complex structure of communication. Yet it overstresses the role of “knowledge of competence and functions” in acquiring a language, and hence fails to notice universal principles that guide language acquisition. Thank you for listening
