Language plays a significant role and it serves a variety of functions in human society. In a broad sense, language is the symbol, the message, or the expression through which people can be communicated and meaning can be delivered. Human language is a very complex system and the communication through human language is one of the distinctive features of human beings. In a narrow sense, language refers to the spoken words, the speech as the media of communication and interaction among people in the social world. Language theories have been constructed by numerous researchers in history, and these theories have underpinned language instructional methods to native English speakers as well as to English language learners (ELLs). The review of language
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The social significance of language has been claimed by Saussure (1916), the founder of modern linguistics that “speech has both an individual and a social side, and we cannot conceive of one without the other” (p. 8). He made distinction and named the grammatical system of language as langue, and the social use of language as parole. Firth (1937) also said that “speech is social ‘magic’. You learn your languages in stages as conditions of gradual incorporation into your social organization…. the approach to speech must consequently be sociological” (p. 153). Language is the tool for communication no matter it is uttered through voice or articulated voicelessly by gestures or other methods of expression in various social circumstances. Chambers (2013) argues that “societies can obviously exist without language…but language cannot exist without societies” (p. 1). Given the feature of social relevance, language has been studied for its social uses as well as its various aspects related to social …show more content…
39). Based on their theories, urban classroom ESL and EFL teachers are encouraged to create social environment in the classroom, to invite students to participate in classroom discussion and interact with one another when they are speaking, reading, and even writing. Not only should there be dialogues among students, there should also be conversations between students and teachers, between teachers and parents. Teachers should provide a comfortable and engaging atmosphere for students to ask questions, to give them possible and optional access to find solutions, and to offer necessary scaffolding to walk them through language learning
The social significance of language has been claimed by Saussure (1916), the founder of modern linguistics that “speech has both an individual and a social side, and we cannot conceive of one without the other” (p. 8). He made distinction and named the grammatical system of language as langue, and the social use of language as parole. Firth (1937) also said that “speech is social ‘magic’. You learn your languages in stages as conditions of gradual incorporation into your social organization…. the approach to speech must consequently be sociological” (p. 153). Language is the tool for communication no matter it is uttered through voice or articulated voicelessly by gestures or other methods of expression in various social circumstances. Chambers (2013) argues that “societies can obviously exist without language…but language cannot exist without societies” (p. 1). Given the feature of social relevance, language has been studied for its social uses as well as its various aspects related to social …show more content…
39). Based on their theories, urban classroom ESL and EFL teachers are encouraged to create social environment in the classroom, to invite students to participate in classroom discussion and interact with one another when they are speaking, reading, and even writing. Not only should there be dialogues among students, there should also be conversations between students and teachers, between teachers and parents. Teachers should provide a comfortable and engaging atmosphere for students to ask questions, to give them possible and optional access to find solutions, and to offer necessary scaffolding to walk them through language learning