The Value of A Foreign Language As A Means of Communication. Linguistic Diversity: Getting To Know A New Language and Its Culture

VALORACIÓN DEL CONOCIMIENTO DE LAS LENGUAS EXTRANJERAS COMO INSTRUMENTO DE
COMUNICACIÓN ENTRE LAS PERSONAS Y LOS PUEBLOS. INTERÉS POR LA DIVERSIDAD

LINGÜÍSTICA A TRAVÉS DEL CONOCIMIENTO DE UNA NUEVA LENGUA Y SU CULTURA
4. THE VALUE OF A FOREIGN LANGUAGE AS A MEANS OF COMMUNICATION.

LINGUISTIC DIVERSITY: GETTING TO KNOW A NEW LANGUAGE AND ITS
CULTURE
0. INTRODUCTION
1. THE VALUE OF A FOREIGN LANGUAGE AS A MEANS OF COMMUNICATION
1.1. LANGUAGE AS CULTURE
1.2. ROUND THE LANGUAGE BARRIER
2. DEVELOPING INTEREST FOR LINGUISTIC DIVERSITY THROUGH THE
KNOWLEDGE OF A NEW LANGUAGE AND ITS CULTURE
2.1. LINGUISTIC DIVERSITY
2.2. THE CULTURE OF THE TARGET LANGUAGE
2.3. DEVELOPING CULTURAL AWARENESS AND INTRODUCING CULTURE
IN THE ENGLISH CLASSROOM
3. CONCLUSION
-BIBLIOGRAPHY-
1. INTRODUCTION
The development of our way of living is based on the existence of a globalised world so
it makes people need to communicate with people form different countries. And this need is
due to some reasons such as commerce, wars, curiosity…
Along this theme we will study how different cultures influence the way in which
people organise the world and reality so it will affect the language too, as we will see later.
We can point out that an important objective in P.E. is that sts develop interest towards
the FLs and their cultures; so teachers must provide sts with resources and materials for
them to come into contact with f.l. culture in a natural and real way (AÑADIR ALGO DE
LA REALIDAD EN CANARIAS)
2. THE VALUE OF A FOREIGN LANGUAGE AS A MEANS OF COMUINCATION
2.1. LANGUAGE AS CULTURE
C.c., the main objective that FL sts must achieve supposes a social and
cultural knowledge of the community who shares a language because an
important part of the meaning is culturally dependent and not universal.
The Decree 89/2014 1st of August, of the Canary Islands Autonomous
Community which follows Hyme’s approach, explains that c.c. involves the
ability to adapt the linguistic performance to the situation, according to the
social rules and habits. This is considered as socio-linguistic competence.
Edward Sapir was a linguistic who studied the relation between
language and culture. This relationship can be understood by saying that each
culture has a different way of interpreting reality and it affects the different
meanings of the words, but we will explain this better right now with some
examples in the next point.
LINGUISTIC DETERMINISM: INDAGAR
2.2. ROUND THE LANGUAGE BARRIER
As we have seen, language contributes to define the world view of the
community speaking. But, at the same time, language can also be the barrier
between people, because communities speaking different languages cannot
easily communicate. This is the reason why they will have different conceptions
of the world.
2.2.1. REASONS TO GET ROUND THE LANGUAGE
BARRIER
We are going to refer to the reasons that can be applied in a FL
classroom, taking into account Kramsch’s work:
- Learning FLs make sts appreciate their own language and
reflect on it in a different way that they did before. This is
related to the fact that learning a language contributes to
develop cultural awareness, but we will explain this in the
second point;
- The globalisation of the world affairs, so language barriers
only create difficulties and misunderstanding;
- Finally we can add that knowing FLs is very useful in order

to get interesting jobs
2.2.2. WAYS OF GETTING ROUND THE LANGUAGE
BARRIER TRANSLATION
It solves the problem to those who want to communicate, but it
ignore the other’s language:
-Literal translation is not possible when there is not an exact
equivalent for many words in other languages;
- The use of translators and interpreters is very expensive and
moreover, it is impossible to find enough specialities for so many
people;
1.2.3. USING A LANGUAGE AS LINGUA FRANCA
(Collins Dictionary) A lingua franca is a language or way of
communicating which is used between people who do not speak one
another’s native language.
English is considered to be the world’s lingua franca since it
being used as the major language in many countries worldwide.
Why English has become the world’s lingua franca is due to the
fact that is the common language or mode of communication that
enables people to understand one another regardless of their cultural and
ethnical backgrounds. It makes communication a lot easier and
understanding one another has become efficient. Aside from the fact
that it can be easy to learn, English is widely spoken by a lot of people.
EASIER TO LEARN: the forms and structures of the English
language as the form of writing and communication is easier to
understand and compose;
IT IS THE LANGUAGE OF BUSINESS: most programmes
and MBA’s are taught in English and most companies require a certain
amount of proficiency in English to their employees in order for them to
stay at the top of the games;
IT IS EIDELY USE IN ACADEMIA: English, as a language,
open doors of opportunities for sts to enable them to reach their goals
and dreams.
The Council of Europe has promoted the learning of European
FLs through different programmes: links between universities, studying
in different countries, exchange educational experiences, teacher
formation in FLS as lingua programmes and so on.
3. DEVELOPING INTEREST FOR LINGUISTIC DIVERSITY THROUGH THE
KNOWLEDGE OF A NEW LANGUAGE AND ITS CULTURE
3.1. LINGUISTIC DIVERSITY
Languages are different, not only because they have different wods, but also
because the system is different. Sts usually think that the language they are
learning has the same rules as htir mother language. This fact leads them to
make l. interference errors, that is to say, they apply Spanish pattern to English
(for example, I have 8 years old).
The English teacher should draw the sts’ attention towards these
differences, tell them that languages are different and that they should not be
surprised by that fact. The most significant differences between the 2 languages
are:
1. Obligatory use of the subject in English, since it lacks enough verbal
inflections to distinguish the grammatical person;
2. Use of auxiliaries to ask, to deny…
3. A more rigid order of elements than in Spanish;
4. The adjective is placed before the noun; it also lacks gender and plural;
5. Use of contractions;
6. Omission of the article in generalizations as well as in naming games
and sports;
7. Different spelling rules;
8. Different punctuation signs;
To avoid these interference errors, the teacher should:
- Check that the structure has been practised sufficiently. If
errors continue, the teacher must design more practice
exercises;
- Explain that they do not have to translate word by word
(literally). They should translate by looking first the
corresponding structure in Spanish;
Apart from this, the teacher also must take into account that there exist different
varieties of the FL (in the case of English, the most important distinction is
between British and American English). Although sts should be exposed to
different varieties, only one principal variety must be chosen within the
classroom. There is a situational dimension of linguistic variation. The
ACCOMODATION THEORY, developed by Giles, can explain this (PONER
ALGO MÁS)
3.2. THE CULTURE OF THE TARGET LANGUAGE
Decree… establishes the general objectives for the FLs Area in P.E and 3 of
them are related to the topic of this theme Resum 4 SILVIA (COMPROBAR
CON NUEVA LEY)
3.3. DEVELOPING ULTRUAL AWARENESS AND INTRODUCING
ULTURE IN THE ENGLISH CLASSROOM
During the last decades, new days of looking at the teaching of language
and culture have been suggested .Like we have seen in the previous point, and
objective of P.E. is that sts understand that to be culturally aware implies
realising that the way we regard a FL or culture is influenced from the point of
view of their own culture.
But how can we achieve this objective? First of all, the sts’s motivation is
necessary to achieve it. Designing attractive activities will help us to get sts’s
interest The activities can be… (SILVIA)
All these activities are designing to carry out within the class, but we can
not forget that we live in a privileged place; we have to take advantages of
living in the Canary Islands, which is a place in which there are a lot of tourists.
If it is possible (and Covid allows us) we could organise a school trip in order to
sts to practise English without travel to England.
4. CONCLUSION
We could finish this theme with a beautiful appointment by Sidney J. Harris, that
summarises this theme: ‘the whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows. It
is important to look further on from our own culture’.

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VALORACIÓN DEL CONOCIMIENTO DE LAS LENGUAS EXTRANJERAS COMO INSTRUMENTO DE

COMUNICACIÓN ENTRE LAS PERSONAS Y LOS PUEBLOS. INTERÉS POR LA DIVERSIDAD

4. THE VALUE OF A FOREIGN LANGUAGE AS A MEANS OF COMMUNICATION.

- Finally we can add that knowing FLs is very useful in order

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