EED112 Language as Social Practice

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EED112Language as Social Practice

• Essay by Kate Kendall 8th April 2004
• Contents Click on the slide you want to view
• The Question
• Introduction
• Socio-cultural approaches to language
  development Learning
• Implications of Socio-Cultural approaches in
  the context of schooling
• Discourse communities
• Implications of discourse communities in the
  context of schooling
• Conclusion
• References

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The Question

• This subject sees language as social practice
  which is learned as part of the
  wider socio-cultural activities in which we are
  engaged as we become members of our families and
  communities. That is, 'we learn to do literacy as
  we learn how to behave and belong in our families
  and communities' (Breen et al. 1994). 
• Discuss this statement in relation to the concept
  of 'Discourse communities' and the
  socio-cultural approaches to language development
  and learning introduced in this subject. How can
  these be applied to language development and
  learning in the context of schooling? 

Socio-cultural Approaches in context of
schooling
Discourse Communities in context of schooling
Reference List
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Introduction

• Language and literacy as social practice is a
  contemporary theory, which recognizes that
  literacy is not context free different
  literacys are used and understood in different
  social contexts and situations. It is within
  these contexts and situations that literacy is
  learnt and an understanding of the meaning of
  language is constructed and shaped. Childrens
  literacy develops within their sociocultural and
  linguistic communities, they learn to understand
  and construct meaning through language first in
  the context of their family and then in the
  context of the wider community. As children learn
  how to behave and belong in their families and
  communities, they learn how to construct,
  understand and express meaning though literacy,
  (Breen et al. 1994). The concept of literacy as
  social practice will be discussed within the
  context of schooling, within reference to the
  pertinent socio-cultural theoretical
  underpinnings and the concept of discourse
  communities.

Socio-cultural Approaches in context of
schooling
Discourse Communities in context of schooling
Reference List
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Socio-cultural approaches to language
development Learning

• Social communication theories emphasize the
  functional value of interpersonal communication
  and the social contexts in which language
  evolves (Bohannon Warren-Leubecker 1989
  Farrar, 1990 as cited in Weiten 2001).
• Childrens cognitive development (thought and
  speech) develops through social interactions with
  others. Children naturally and often
  effortlessly develop into competent members of
  their families and communities by engaging in
  dialog and shared activity with more experienced
  members (Vygotsky, 1978 as cited in Hilberg
  Tharp 2002). More experienced members of a
  childs sociocultural linguistic communities
  guide a childs cognitive development until they
  can understand independently, This process is
  known as scaffolding (Bruner 1985). The region
  between what a child can do unaided and what they
  are potentially capable of with assistance is
  known as the zone of proximal development, a
  concept developed by Vygotsky (Cohen 2002).
• In contrast, Piaget assumes that children are
  egocentric. The egocentric child is unable to
  conceive that his view of the world is not the
  only one that exists (McCandless and Evans
  1973), This prevents them from having social
  awareness and interacting through socialized
  communication.
• Halliday, proposed that young children begin to
  acquire language through constructing
  protolanguage, with the purpose to express
  meaning before they are able to express
  themselves using fully developed language
  techniques. (Halliday 1990)
• All texts- whether they are spoken or written
  carry meaning. There are different levels of
  meaning within any given text type, depending on
  the social context through which the text
  operates (Makin and Jones Diaz 2002).

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Implications of Socio-Cultural approaches in
the context of schooling

• Implications of scaffolding and zone of proximal
  development.
• Educators need to work with childrens familiar
  understandings and materials. the familiar to
  the unfamiliar(Makin Jones Diaz 2002).
• it needs to be developmentally appropriate for
  the child. implies that the teacher is aware of
  the developmental stages of the children
  (Hedegaard 1990).
• An example of how scaffolding is used in the
  context of schooling is in the form of teaching
  learning cycles, Love, Pigdon, Baker and Hamston,
  (2002) outline a teaching learning cycles as
  comprising of five key features
• Engaging the learners interests and establishing
  the learners existing knowledge.
• Building on what the learner already knows.
• Transforming the information into new
  understandings.
• 4. Providing opportunities for the learner to
  demonstrate their new understandings
• 5. Provide opportunities for teacher and learner
  reflection and future planning.
• Implications of different texts have different
  meanings in different social contexts,
• Schools need to intertextualize. (Makin and
  Jones Diaz 2002)
• school educators need to demonstrate how the
  meaning of texts are socially constructed. It is
  important to involve students in examining a
  whole range of texts,and the purposes for which
  they are constructed (Cusworth 1994).

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Discourse communities

• Family and community groups play an important
  role in childrens literacy development.
  Childrens first literacys are the product of
  socio-cultural factors such as ethnicity, race,
  age, class, gender and geographical location.
  Each individual child has acquired their primary
  literacy skills through individual experiences
  and active involvement through communication with
  their family, this is known as a primary
  discourse.
• All Humans, barring serious disorder, get one
  form of discourse for free, so to speak, and
  through this acquisition. This is our
  socio-culturally determined way of using our
  native language in face to face communication
  with intimates. (Gee 1991).
• Secondary discourses involve social institutions
  beyond the family, including educational settings
  and schools. Secondary discourses extend on the
  language skills acquired as part of our primary
  discourses. These discourses do not come
  naturally, they are acquired through association.
  (Gee 1991)

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Implications of Discourse Communities In
the context of schooling

• School institutions involve the child acquiring
  a secondary discourse. In many cases childrens
  home literacy practices are extremely different
  from their educational literacy practices.
  Therefore in the context of schooling, it needs
  to be understood by educators that before
  entering school setting, individual children have
  already developed their own primary discourses.
  It is the responsibility of educators to scaffold
  childrens language and literacy development, and
  bridge together childrens home and educational
  literacy practices. Educators need to scaffold
  childrens literacy learning and mediate between
  childrens various literacys (Makin and Jones
  Diaz 2002).  
• ExampleAboriginal linguistic and socio-cultural
  discourses
• Aboriginal English is not standard English,
  although still as linguistically complex, through
  cultural and social influences, it is a formation
  of a different dialect. However, Aboriginal
  English has only recently been recognized as a
  different lingo or dialect (Hanlen 1998). The
  implications of this difference, is that in the
  context of schooling childrens primary home
  discourses need to be taken into consideration
  when scaffolding childrens learning. It is
  widely accepted that children who in the first
  years of schooling also learn using their home
  dialect, have a far greater success rate in all
  learning areas (Hanlen 1998). 
• Children can contribute an array of knowledge
  and resources from their own socio-cultural
  communities into the classroom, Educators need to
  value the diversity of different language
  backgrounds and learn to consider them as
  valuable resources. value the different ways of
  talking and different orientations to language
  and literacy that students from a whole range of
  backgrounds bring to the class room (Cusworth
  1994).
•  

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conclusion

• In conclusion, literacy as social practice,
  refers to the fact that the meaning of language
  is socially constructed, and different literacys
  are used in different social contexts and
  situations. Literacy cannot be seen as
  independent of the social contexts through which
  it is created and expressed, the two are
  interconnected with each other and cannot
  function alone. The understanding of literacy as
  social practice, implies that children learn
  language through social interactions and
  communication. Therefore in the context of
  schooling teachers need to appropriately scaffold
  childrens learning and development. The concept
  of discourse communities, implicates that a
  childs language develops primarily within their
  home and family, and secondary in the context of
  schooling, and the wider community, therefore
  teachers need to understand that the discourses
  and dialect used in educational settings does not
  come naturally for children. In assisting
  childrens learning, it is the responsibility of
  teachers to scaffold between a childs primary
  and secondary discourses.

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Reference list

• Breen, M, Louden, W, Barratt-Pugh, C, Rivalland,
  J, Rohl, M, Rhydwen, M, Lloyd, S Carr, T 1994,
  Literacy in its Place Literacy Practices in
  Urban and Rural Communities, electronic version,
  Clearinghouse for National Literacy and Numeracy
  Research, Griffith University, Qld, viewed 19th
  November 2003, http//www.gu.edu.au/school/cls/cle
  aringhouse/1994_place/content01.html 
• Bruner, JS 1985, Vygotsky A Historical and
  Conceptual Perspective. In Culture, Communication
  and Cognition, ed. J. Wertsch. Cambridge
  University Press, MA. 
• Cohen, D 2002, How the Child Mind Develops,
  Routledge publications, Sussex.  
• Cusworth, R 1994, What is a Functional Model of
  Language? Pen vol. 95.
• Gee, JP 1991, What is Literacy. In Rewriting
  Literacy, Mitchell, C Weiler, K, Beigin
  Ganey, New York.. 
• Halliday, M 1990, Three aspects of Childrens
  Language Development Oral and Written Language
  Development The Impact on Schools, Goodman.
  International reading Association and National
  council for teachers. edn. Y, pp. 7-19. 
• Hanlen, W 1998, Same Language, Different Lingo.
  EQ Australia, edn. 1, pp. 22-24. 
• Hedegaard, M 1990, The Zone of Proximal
  Development as Basis for Instruction. In Vygotsky
  and Education, Moll, University Press, Cambridge,
  Boston.
• Hilberg, R Tharp, R 2002, Theoretical
  Perspectives, Research findings, and Classroom
  Implications of the Learning Styles of American
  Indian and Alaska Native Students. ERIC/CRESS
  Publishers, West Virginia, USA.
• Love, K, Pigdon, K, Baker, G Hamston, J 2002,
  Built Building Understandings in Literacy and
  Teaching. 2nd edn. CD-ROM. The University of
  Melbourne Melbourne.
• Makin, L Jones Diaz, C 2002, Literacies in
  Early Childhood Changing Views Challenging
  Practice. MacLennan Pretty Pty Limited,
  Eastgardens, NSW. 
• McCandles, BR Evans, DE 1973, Children and
  Youth Psychosocial Development, Dryden press,
  USA.
• Weiten, W 2001, Psychology themes and Variations,
  edn. 5, Wadsworth, Belmont USA.