RECONCILING THE FOCUS ON AND THE NEED FOR LANGUAGE: A MATTER OF MEANINGFUL TEACHING FOR MEANINGFUL LEARNING

By

Leidy Marcela Chacón Vargas

Most of us as teachers, and especially as language teachers always want our students to become successful learners of the new language. But how many times have we questioned ourselves about the extent to which learners receive meaningful atmospheres for learning? In my attempt to reflect on this issue, I want to establish a discussion about the classroom social construction as an opportunity to convey the focus on and the need for language when learning English. I want to reflect on the approaches that promote language learning as a social dimension; on the conception of language as a core determiner of the teaching practice; on the role of culture when attempting to feel the classroom as a social context; on the need for experience and on the identity construction. All of these factors that play crucial roles when transforming teaching and learning into a meaningful walk where the focus on and the need for language reconcile.   

In the first place, there are various approaches that promote in their principles to foster the social dimension of language learning. The idea here is to see how their criteria can be addressed in order to materialize them in the social classroom. In that sense, the communicative movement that appeared by the 70’s and 80’s was one of the tendencies that gave place to various methods that emphasized on the transition from the structuralist to the authentic and communicative view of language. One of those approaches was the Community Language Learning whose primary attempt was to redefine the roles of the teacher and the learner. The principles of this method see the person as a whole where emotions, feelings as well as the linguistic knowledge should be considered, the individual is viewed in humanistic terms. There is one relationship here between the focus on and the need for language and in that need for language learners’ individuality becomes a must. In that respect, Moskowitz (1978:2) states that the CLL and its humanistic perspective:

blend what the student feels, thinks and knows to what he is learning in the target language. Rather that self-denial being the acceptable way of life, self-actualization and self-steem are the ideals the exercises pursue. The techniques help build rapport, cohesiveness, and caring that far transcend what is already there…help students to be themselves, to accept themselves and be proud of themselves… help foster a climate of caring and sharing in the foreign language class.

Another interesting aspect of this approach is the theory of language introduced by La Forge. It was the adoption of language as a social process. “Language is people, language is persons in contact, language is persons in response” (La Forge, 1983.9).  Another approach related to this social view of language is The Language as a Whole. Under this perspective the attention is not just paid to a particular or isolated skill. That is because when we communicate and interact, we convey all of them; language here is not only seen as a system but as a social construction. Rigg, (1991:522) claims, “If language isn’t kept whole, it isn’t language anymore”. This approach also emphasizes on the importance of a natural and innovative atmosphere, in that respect the learner is considered a member of a culture and the creator of his own knowledge.  Thus, this approach promotes the idea that teachers foster students’ construction of meaning by doing, so students are supposed to be engaged in groupal activities through which they represent their contexts.

Considering some of the most common current approaches framed whiting this communicative view of language, the Natural Approach, focuses on originality when using language more than on the correct use of grammar rules. There is a need for using language in context and with meaningful purposes. In that sense Richards & Rogers (2001:101) explain that,

“Like Communicative Language Teaching, the Natural Approach is hence evolutionary rather than revolutionary in its procedures. Its greatest claim to originality lies not in the techniques it employs but in their use in a method that emphasize comprehensible and meaningful practice activities, rather than production of grammatically perfect utterances and sentences”.

Following these same principles Cooperative Learning is another method that centers its attention on the interaction as a mutual construction of knowledge appealing to the reality that each member of the group experiences at the time that the communication strategies are reinforced. “Cooperative Learning is a group learning activity organized so that learning is dependently in the socially structured exchange of information between learners in groups and in which each learner is held accountable for his or her own learning and is motivated to increase the learning of others”. (Olsen & Kagan,1992:8).

The last approach that I want to address here is Task-Based considering as in the previous ones the role given to the social context and the meaningful use of language. This method centers on the implementation tasks under the principles of essential communication, promotion of learning, the usefulness of language which at the time combine language as a code and as a need.

Tasks are also said to improve learners’ motivation and therefore promote learning. This is because it requires the learners to use authentic language, they have well-defined dimensions and closure, they are varied in format and operation, they typically include physical activity, they involve partnership and collaboration, they may call on the learners’ past experience, and they tolerate and encourage a variety of communication styles. (Richards & Rogers, 2001:228)   

The initial conclusion that I can draw out after this journey is that through history the attempt to adjust the teaching practiced into a meaningful one there have been great advances in the ways of approaching language and the participants as active social members. At the same, time till this point there is not a definite answer that says this or the other method is the best or the most appropriate. We as teacher will continue assuming principles, taking strategies, and researching here and there in order to account for meaningful teaching that leads to meaningful learning. In that respect looking at and reflecting in approaches like those mentioned above give us the insights to build atmospheres where learners recognize, and express themselves as members of a culture mediated by a foreign language.    

In that sense, the teachers’ language conception is another factor that frames the teaching practice and the way we teachers reconcile the focus on and the need for language when characterizing a social classroom. So, I consider that language should be understood as an inherent part of our lives which allows us to establish relationships and express who we are as members of a culture. “Language is something that people do in their daily lives and something they use to express, create and interpret meanings and to establish and maintain social and interpersonal relationships” Lightbown & Espada, (1999: 16). Language teaching is based on a view of language as communication. “Language is seen as a social tool that speakers use to make meaning; speakers communicate about something to someone for some purpose, either orally or in writing” (Berns, 1990:104). Thus, we have to be aware of the effect of that understanding in our students’ learning and ask ourselves, what is it that they are learning?   Is there a balance between both, the linguistic and the social dimension of language? “Students need to develop their knowledge and understanding of the code and also to come to see language as a way of communicating between people” Lightbown & Espada (199:4), from this assertions it is clear that when we are able to keep that balance, we approach language not as the place where you arrive but the path through which you get there. Under this perspective, it is possible for both teachers and students to experience language together.  And that language can only get meaning in the culture where it is used, so in the EFL classroom in particular there are the learner’s culture and the target language culture together at the same time. Then, how is it understood in the language teaching and learning?

When translated into language teaching and learning, this knowledge-based view of culture often takes the form of teaching information about another country, its people, its institutions, and so on. Culture is not; however, simply a body of knowledge but rather a framework in which people live their lives and communicate shared meanings with each other” Lightbown & Espada (1999: 19).

Based on the previous assertion, we as language teachers need to recognize our students as individuals full of experiences, feelings, stereotypes, styles and personalities who constitute an opportunity for us to foster the social classroom through cooperative activities where  language more that  a code, becomes an experience. When they find it enjoyable and useful to interact with others, they take risks, and become more confident and capable of communicating. Combining culture inside the classroom is an opportunity for students to open their perspectives to other dimensions but without leaving their own beliefs and ways of looking at the world. It is matter of experiencing not of forcing learners to assume attitudes, ways of thinking, or customs that belong to a context totally different form their own, other ways, our role as language teachers is just a transmissioner who tries to fit a student into a culture that is totally external and sometimes unavailable to him.    

Based on the previous assertions, culture is and should be assumed and experienced differently considering the context where the language is being thought, it means ESL or EFL. It is clear that when the individuals have the possibility to interact in the new language outside the classroom because it is broadly used by the members of the society, the can learn it much more directly.  So it does not mean that when it is EFL students cannot learn it. On the contrary, it constitutes a challenge for educators to adapt and design their own strategies in order to transform their classroom in a meaningful social environment. From there students should take the tools they need and want to use that language outside the institution.  At this point Kramsch (2013: 66) states “FL learners learn about the foreign culture as an exotic curiosity; they try to adapt to it or temporarily adopt it as their own when they travel to the country” Based on that, in order to foster and perpetuate curiosity, the role of meaning is really crucial. Both students and teachers need to find it useful to communicate in the foreign language, and to do so it is necessary to convey the focus and the need for language in context. In that respect Kramsch (2013: 62) emphasizes on the relationship between culture and language in the classroom context,

Without language and other symbolic systems, the habits, beliefs, institutions, and monuments that we call culture would be just observable realities, not cultural phenomena. To become culture, they have to have meaning. It’s the meaning that we give to foods, gardens and ways of life that constitute culture. Unlike the linguistic system that is the object of study of theoretical linguists and the grammatical system taught by many language teachers, language-in-context is seen as a coherent symbolic system for the making of meaning.

Till this point, I was looking at the connection that we as language teachers need to make between language and culture. This relationship helps us narrow the branch of language as a code and language as communication. To keep the balance is what really should concern us as teachers. Thus, we cannot separate these two dimensions as they need to frame the social classroom where experience and identity are fostered. In that respect, experience is another key factor that must be considered when talking about classroom social construction. It is compulsory that our students find learning English close or familiar to their lives and contexts. "only that which has entered our experience is available to aid us in interpretation" (Harris, 1988: 78). Jarvis (1987:164) also states, “…there is no meaning in a given situation until we relate our own experiences to it”. To my understanding here, teachers have a crucial task when trying to understand their students’ individualities for giving them the opportunities to find out the connections with their own personalities and context; in that way they will be able to approach the new language and its culture easier. At the same time students could be able to define and describe who they are.

Personal identity is a set of attributes, beliefs, desires, or principles of action that a person thinks distinguish her in socially relevant ways and that (a) the person takes a special pride in; (b) the person takes no special pride in, but which so orient her behavior that she would be at a loss about how to act and what to do without them; or (c) the person feels she could not change even if she wanted to. (Fearon, 1999:25)

Based on the previous assertion it is valid to state that identity is a complex and continuous process of self identification which is shaped by many different factors. The context for example is an environment where individuals feel themselves part of a group. In language teaching, the classroom is one of those atmospheres where students encounter their roles as members of a community as they interact with each other. That is why; the classroom has to be a space for continuous self and mutual reflection of who we are and, what we do both teacher and students as architects of a society.

Till this point I have tried to look at a road where teaching and learning English as foreign languages become a meaningful process. I have accounted for describing the classroom as a social construction mediated by language and vice versa. It is a matter of evolution, of mutual growing. However this attempt of transformation can only be possible when we as teachers reflect, understand and frame our practices within the most suitable approaches, conception of language, and our students’ integral dimensions. It is not only to center the attention on the focus or on the need for learning a new language; but how we reconcile these areas and foster cooperative learning, experience, intercultural competence and the identity construction.  I have stressed the importance of being aware of those aspects as some of the determiners of meaningfulness.  Along this discussion I have pointed out that, it is not an easy task, because as EFL educators we need to go beyond, we have to be updated all the time and willing to investigate and understand situations, behaviors, attitudes, interactions, individualities, that shape our social classrooms. But it does not mean impossible or unreachable, just challenging.

REFERENCES

·         Berns, M. (1990), Contexts of Competence: Social and Cultural Consideration in Communicative Language Teaching, Plenum Press, New York

·         Fearon, J. (1999). What is Identity (As we know use the word)? Stanford.

·         Harris, Wendell, 1988. Interpretive acts: In search of meaning. Oxford: Clarendon.

·         Jarvis, P. (1987). Meaningful and Meaningless Experience: Towards an Analysis of Learning from Life. Adult Education Quarterly.

·         Kramsch, C. (2013). Culture in Foreign Language Teaching. Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research. Urmia University.

·         La Forge, P. (1983). Counseling and Culture in Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: Pergamon.

·         Lightbown, P. M., & Spada, N. (1999). How languages are learned. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

·         Moskowitz, G. (1978). Caring and Sharing in the Foreign Language Class. Rowley, Mass: Newbury House.

·         Olsen, D. & Kagan (1992). About Cooperative Learning. Cooperative Language Learning: A teacher’s resource book. New York: Prentice Hall.

·         Richards, J. & Rodgers, T. (2001). Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching. Second Edition. Cambridge University Press.

·         Rigg, N. (1991). Whole Language in TESOL. TESOL Quartely.