EDUP3033 WRITING Lecture 1 : Language as a Social Phenomenon

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EDUP3033WRITING Lecture 1 Language as a
Social Phenomenon

• Alyson Simpson
• a.simpson_at_edfac.usyd.edu.au

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Administration

• Lecturers/Tutors Angela Thomas Alyson Simpson
• Queries to tutorial leaders first, Angela only
  for major issues such as academic dishonesty, and
  Assignment 1 questions
• Access to lecture notes on web
• Will be via either Angela or Alysons web pages
• http//www.edfac.usyd.edu.au/staff/thomasa/index.h
  tml
• http//www.edfac.usyd.edu.au/staff/simpsona/index.
  html

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Language and Culture

• All too often, language serves as a barrier,
  rather than as a flexible and efficient means of
  communication. We do not all possess the same
  language.
• It is by our language that we generally describe
  and define ourselves to others
• Specialised language can be used to enhance the
  power and importance of the users as they deal
  with those who are not in the group
• Culture is a way of life, the context in which we
  exist, think, feel and relate to others. It acts
  as the fabric of shared meanings which exist
  between different people.

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What clashes in culture can you think of?

• Racial
• Religion
• Social class
• Politics
• Generational
• Technology
• Place

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A social model of language learning

• Knowledge is socially constructed by members of a
  community or culture.
• Social interaction can lead to individual
  learning understanding can be accomplished by
  participating in social forms of interaction and
  communication, and by being a participant in a
  community of practice or learning.

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The social nature of learning

• Knowledge building activities - such as those
  undertaken by a community of research or inquiry
  - can help students learn to become active
  constructors of their own knowledge. These
  activities - gathering, interpreting,
  understanding, and communicating/sharing
  knowledge - can also lead to the development of
  metacognitive and critical thinking skills.
• Through participation in a community, a social
  learning environment supports the tasks and
  activities learners engage in toward the
  development of a shared knowledge base. Sense
  making, critical thinking, motivation, shared
  values and beliefs, etc. can come from this type
  of social participation.

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Vygotsky

• Current conceptualizations of sociocultural
  theory draw heavily on the work of Vygotsky
• "This view the sociocultural perspective has
  profound implications for teaching, schooling,
  and education. A key feature of this emergent
  view of human development is that higher order
  functions develop out of social interaction.
  Vygotsky argues that a child's development cannot
  be understood by a study of the individual.
• We must also examine the external social world in
  which that individual life has developed...Through
  participation in activities that require
  cognitive and communicative functions, children
  are drawn into the use of these functions in ways
  that nurture and 'scaffold' them"
• "Vygotsky (1934/1986) described learning as being
  embedded within social events and occurring as a
  child interacts with people, objects, and events
  in the environment

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The Classroom

• Teachers can model classroom activity after
  communities of discourse, where students
  participate in an ongoing conversation where they
  have opportunities to observe, reflect on, and
  practice the socially accepted and valued
  communicative and cognitive modes of the
  community.
• These communities stress negotiation, discussion
  of alternative views, reflection, critical review
  of ideas, and methods of persuasion and argument.

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Language and text

• The socio-cultural model of Language emphasises
  the cultural and social dimensions which enter
  into the formation and constitution of language
  and texts.
• The emphasis is on an understanding of what
  language is doing and being made to do by people
  in specific situations in order to make
  particular meanings.
• This means understanding the social needs and
  cultural values and meanings of language users.
• A conceptualisation of literacy as an integral
  part of social events and practices
• In a social theory of language the most important
  unit is the text.

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Key Principles

• Language is a social phenomenon.
• Texts are always located in a context.
• Contexts are located in social and
• cultural situations.
• Language occurs within a social context,
• informed by cultural beliefs and ideologies

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Where do these texts come from? What do they
mean?How do you know?
Text 1
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Text 2
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How do you understand this?
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Examine this image and text. What range of
cultures are reflected in this movie poster? How
did you come to these conclusions?

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(No Transcript)
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What do you need to understand about this culture
to make sense of the text?

• Fabienne is skinny and it makes her look taller
  than the 5'9" she really is. Her long face isn't
  exactly beautiful, but it has an intriguing
  quality. Maybe it's her eyes, her dark eyes that
  always seem to hide more than they reveal. Or
  maybe it's her long black hair that hangs around
  her face as if it's always still wet. Maybe it's
  her lips, thin but well defined, as if they had
  been drawn with a very fine pencil. Maybe it's
  her poise, her back always straight, her head
  always high. Or maybe it's the way she
  gesticulates when she speaks, deliberately as if
  she were conducting a big orchestra. Maybe it's
  her voice, the kind of voice that would belong to
  someone with a glass of whiskey and a cigarette,
  sitting in the corner of a dark bar, singing,
  accompanied by an accordion.
• Fabienne is skilled in Martial Arts, Aikijutsu,
  Japanese, and Gun Repair. Her skills with the
  knife, swords, and pistol are impressive. She has
  advantages of superhuman intelligence, superior
  stealth, remarkable strength and dexterity, good
  thievery, and ability to have implants.
• She is in excellent health. She is holding a
  credstick, a katana, a copy of Gideon's Bible,
  and a glass of zot.

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Which children might be excluded from
understanding this?
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Functional Literacy

• To allow ALL children access to the dominant and
  valued types of language in our Culture.
• A functional model of language tries to describe
  the sort of language that is typical of different
  types of situation.
• A functional model of language attempts to
  describe the ways texts differ.
• It is interested in what language choices are
  available within any particular situation, and in
  which choices are more likely to result in an
  effective text which achieves its purpose.

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Test yourself basic grammatical terms

• Noun, proper noun, pronoun, nominal group,
  collective nouns, participant
• Verb, process, auxiliary verb, verbal group
• What different categories of verbs
  (processes) do you know other than action
  verbs?
• Adverb, Adjective
• Preposition
• First, second, third person
• A clause

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Summary

• Language learning is a socio-cultural phenomenon
• Texts are understood within cultural and social
  contexts
• Those out of the specific cultural group will
  find the texts of that group difficult to
  comprehend
• Children, as they use language, are constantly
• Learning Language
• Learning Through language
• Learning About language
• Functional Critical Literacy is a means for the
  teaching all children the codes and variations of
  language as it occurs in different contexts that
  are valued by our culture
• A metalanguage is needed for talking ABOUT
  language, to make these codes explicit