Master’s
Program- Applied Linguistics
Academic
Year: 2012- 2013
Course
Title: Sociolinguistics
Instructor:
Dr. Mohamed Jabeur
Student:
Nada Mrabet
Topic:
How can
sociolinguistics be useful in the teaching of English as a foreign language
(TEFL)?
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Many researches have been conducted
in the field of learning strategies and teaching methodologies for the aim of
finding the most suitable outfit for the classroom of foreign learners of the
English language. Ever since the Grammar- Translation Method, pedagogical
approaches to language teaching have been expanding and evolving. This
escalating evolvement gave birth to up- to- date methods and approaches like
the Task- based Approach, the Lexical Approach, and the Neuro-linguistic
Programming and Multintelligencia.
However, the most notable approach, that created a sort of revolutionary
reform to Second Language Acquisition (SLA), is the Communicative Language
Teaching Approach (CLT). The latter introduced communicative competence as a
crucial component of the ultimate aim of learning a language which is language
proficiency. The main contribution to this reform was thanks to some major
works in Sociolinguistics of some of the pioneers of linguistics like John
Gumperz, Dell Hymes and William Labov. The purpose of this paper is to examine
(1) how is sociolinguistics incorporated into the teaching methods of English,
and (2) at what levels?
Linguistically, sociolinguistics came
into existence due to a plain dissatisfaction with structural linguistics from
a communicative point of view. As a matter of fact, Chomsky’s theory of competence was refuted by
Hymes (1972) who held that Chomsky’s theory is ‘sterile’ as it mainly focuses
on the mere knowledge of the grammar rules of a language with no much
consideration to the actual knowledge of the usage of a language. He stated
that “Communicative competence encompasses the knowledge of how to use the
language in the real world, without which the rules of grammar would be
useless” ( 1971). Historically,
sociolinguistics contributed largely in the birth of the CLT Approach as a
response to the Audio- lingual Method. The latter applied the
principles of structural linguistics along with the fundamentals of behaviorism
to language teaching, and turned a blind eye to sociolinguistic competence. There
are, indeed, other methods that paid a more or less attention to
sociolinguistic demands in the course of teaching such as Eclecticism and the
Task- based approach. Yet, the lion’s share remains with the CLT approach.
The most important aspects of the
communicative classroom are the roles of the teachers as well as of the learners.
Breen and Candlin redefined the teacher roles within the CLT approach using the
following words:
The teacher has two main roles: the first
role is to facilitate the communication process between all participants
and the various activities and texts. The second role is to act as an
independent participant within the learning- teaching group. (1980)
Teachers
must guide the learners throughout the lesson and leave the learning to the
learners. They must give the learners enough time and space to communicate,
exchange ideas, make an effort and make mistakes, learn from each other and
from their own mistakes, etc. Teachers must be mistake- tolerant and never interfere
when it’s the learners’ time to talk, unless the learners make errors that
cannot be overlooked. Teachers must teach the learners how to communicate
properly and how to use their language correctly in order to improve their
performance. This would apply a wider and more active role to the teachers than
the passive one given to them through former methods and approaches as they
need to interact more with the learners. On this matter, Lier (1996) states
that “teachers should be ‘a guide on the side’ rather than ‘a sage on the
stage’”.
In terms of classroom management, the
teacher talking time (TTT) must be controlled. That is to say that teachers
need to know when to talk and when to leave the talking to the learners, the
amount and way of talking, and how useful or helpful would the intervention be
to the learners. Teachers are allowed to ask questions; but, they must be
carefull what types of questions could be asked as some of the latter may lead
learners to frustration. Thus, they become no longer interested in the lesson. They
also need to know how much time must be given to the learners between “asking a
question and demanding a response”. This is something that can be acquired by
experience. In terms of classroom settings, Wright (1987) illustrated a diagram
that depicts the different ways in which desks might be arranged within the
communicative classroom so that all learners would be active parts of the
learning process. There are so many ways to establish that; but, the most
noticeable one is grouping the learners in rounded tables.
Another aspect should be borne in mind
is the possibility of having EFLs with different characteristics gathered in a
single classroom. Here, we mostly refer to multilingual and multicultural
classrooms. However, Willing conducts many other variables that should be put into
consideration by teachers when teaching and most importantly when designing the
lessons plans, some of which are: ethnic groups, age group, level of previous
education, speaking proficiency level, type of learning programme, and so on. All
of these variables can introduce a large change on the curriculum design. According
to the Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics, a
curriculum is defined as the following:
“an overall plan for a course or
programme… Such a programme usually states; (a) the
educational purpose of the programme, in terms of aims or goals and (b) the content
of the programme and the sequence in which it will be taught (syllabus), (c) the teaching
procedures and learning activities that will be employed (methodology), (d) the means
used to assess student learning (assessment
and testing), (e) the means
used to assess whether the programme has achieved its goals (evaluation). »
Therefore, a curriculum is not only the course plan, as some might
define it, but rather a sequence of steps that should be followed by the
teacher to insure a successfully delivered lesson. It should encounter not only
all the grammar rules, but also all the possible situations that all learners
might come across in the real life (business trips, shopping, requesting
information, etc). These latter can be enhanced through practice and exercises.
The number and types of exercises and activities that can be done in the communicative
classroom can be infinite especially those that involve discussion and
negotiation, and allow all learners to participate and interact with each
other.
Lier (1996)
recognizes three fundamental principles of a curriculum which are Awareness,
Autonomy and Authenticity (AAA). Not
only did he make different principles of a curriculum, but also regarded them
in terms of epistemology (i.e. “theory of knowledge with regard to methods,
validity and scope”), and in terms of ethics and axiology (i.e. “the study of
values and value judgments”). From an epistemic point of view, awareness is
about focus, attention, and the role of perception; autonomy is about self-
regulation, motivation, and depth of processing; authenticity is about real
life language use, relevance, and communication. From an axiological point of
view, awareness is about conscious engagement and reflection; autonomy is about
responsibility, accountability, free choice, and democratic education; authenticity
is about commitment to learning, integrity, and respect. Indeed, teachers need
to be ‘democratic’ and share control as well as decisions with the learners.
How? It is by taking into account the needs of the learners and designing a
curriculum based on those needs. Consequently, the broad goal of the CLT
approach is “needs analysis”. This is also one of the most noticeable reforms
introduced to TEFL thanks to the recognition of the sociolinguistic competence
as a major component of language learning.
One crucial concept
should be borne in mind when designing the curriculum is the stylistic
variation and dialectal variation. As communication is used as the framework of
the learning of English as a second language, the question that should always
be put in mind is “Who says what, to whom, when, where and how?” The
type of speech one delivers matters a lot. According to the former methods,
learners must be taught the standard form of the target language especially the
formal form, with no consideration of
the variations (i.e. different dialects) of that language once in for all. This
makes these learners unable to socially interact and communicate using the
target language, and going as far as to being unable of understanding native
speakers. In this way, teachers fail to prepare the learners to what they could
come across in real life situations as they are only able of producing
sentences in the standard language and formally. Here, sociolinguistics
interfered through the CLT approach to emphasize the importance of authenticity
of the materials used by the teachers, so that learners would become aware of
the fact that a language is beyond its standard and formal forms. The
sociolinguistic reform of the language teaching methods is the reason why most
students of today are capable of understanding a variety of styles and dialects
of the English language due to the huge attention they pay to authentic sources
(movies, radio, TV shows) when compared to the generation of the methods of a
structural nature. Now, students can know when to use the vernacular forms of a
language (for informal social interaction) and when to use the hyper- literate
forms (for formal and academic uses).
The evolving of the
roles of the teachers will immediately cause the evolving of the roles of the
learners from mere passive learners to actual active learners. Breen and
Candlin redefine the learner’s role within the CLT approach in the following
words:
The
role of the learner as negotiator- between the self, the learning process, and
the object of learning- emerges from and interacts with the role of joint
negotiator within the group and within the classroom procedures and activities
which the group undertakes.
Hence, the
approach to foreign language teaching became learner- centered as the teachers
must give special attention to the needs of the learners not only when
interacting within the classroom, but also when selecting the content of the
curriculum. Also, teachers must prepare the learners to apply the four language
skills to communicate language use outside the classrooms, i.e. in authentic
situations: listening (radio, television, media in general), reading (news
papers, fiction), writing (in one’s journal or diary), and speaking
(pronunciation and talking to native speakers during social events). In fact,
learners must find ways to converse with native English speakers, find
opportunities to practice their English outside the classrooms, and keep
themselves motivated by listening to songs and watching movies in the English
language every once in a while. All of these tricks and tips would help the
learners to become competent speakers not only in the classrooms, but also in
the real world.
The incorporation of the
sociolinguistic norms in English learning classes is not restricted to the CLT
approach. On the contrary, ever since these norms have been introduced to the
field of learning strategies and teaching methodologies, the sociolinguistic competence
have been put into account in all the after-coming methods and approaches. Now
it can no longer be ignored seeing the huge impact it had left behind at all
different levels: teacher role, classroom management, curriculum design,
accountability for stylistic variations, and the importance of the four
language skills. Indeed, language is not merely structural (i.e. about grammar
rules), but it also has a social dimension which is recognized as the
sociolinguistic component. The latter has participated largely into the development
of better procedures, skills and
strategies of teaching and learning of the post- communicative methods.
References:
McLaren, N. y Madrid, D. 2004. The Foreign Language
Curriculum. Madrid: Editorial Universidad de Granada, pp. 144-176.
Nunan, D. 1989. Designing Tasks For the Communicative
Classroom. Cambridge University Press.
Nunan, D. 1991. Language Teaching Methodology. London:
Prentice Hall International.
Richards, J.
and Rodgers, T. 1986. Approaches and Methods in language Teaching. CUP
Cambridge.
Richards, J and Schmidt, R. 2002. Longman Dictionary of
Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics. Malysia: Longman.
Van Lier, L.
1996. Interaction in the Language Curriculum. London: Longman.
Van Lier, L.
1988. The Classroom and the language Learner. London: Longman.
