Language User Groups and Language Teaching

8/10/2019 Language User Groups and Language Teaching

1/9

Language User Groups and Language Teaching

(Vivian Cook)

Multi-competence Background

Multi-competence was originally defined as the compound state of a mind with two

grammars (Cook, 1991) !his was reworded as the knowledge of two languages in one

mind (Cook, "##$), %ecause some people took the term grammar in the narrow meaning of

synta& rather than in the %road meaning of linguistic competence intended Multi-

competence emphasi'ed the relationships of the languages in the same person mind rather

than the separate e&istance of a first language and a interlanguage

s multi-competence came out of a Chomskyan tradition, it started with the

indiiduals knowledge of language Cook ("##$) distinguished fie meanings of language *

1 representation system known %y human %eings + human language" n a%stract entity + the nglish language set of sentences + eerything that has or could %e said + the language of the .i%le/ !he possession of a community + the language of 0rench people !he knowledge in the mind of an indiidual + 2 hae learnt 0rench as a foreign

language for 3 years

Communities and Language User Groups

!he core alue of a community is, howeer, almost inaria%ly taken to %e a single

language4 a minority ethnic community is seen as identifying itself with its own language,

protecting it and maintaining it as a heritage n indiiduals use of two languages supposes

the e&istence of two different language communities4 it does not suppose the e&istence of a

%ilingual community (Mackey, 19$") !his denies the reality of the multilingual communitiesin the world with more than one language at their core

5aing two languages may %ring people into a different multilingual community t

one leel people may %elong to natie speaker communities who talk to fellow-mem%ers

6ust as the concept of indiidual multi-competence stressed the 7" user in their right, so the

multi-competence of the community stresses the multilingual community in its own right, not

as a collection of people with different 71s %ut as a community with an integral use of two or

more languages ccording to Canagara8ah ("##$), 7inguistic dierdity is at the heart of


2/9

multilingual communities !here is constant interaction %etween language groups, and they

oerlap, interpenetrate, and mesh in fascinating ways

The De Swaan Hierarchy

iegel ("##:) used sociolinguistic settings, %ased on the idea of dominant language,

to show how the language user groups %e categori'ed n alternatie is the hierarchy

proposed %y ;e waan ("##1) *

2n the scheme, languages differ in terms of geographical and function areas + where

they are used and why t the %ottom come languages that are peripheral4 they are used

within a circumscri%ed territory for the purposes of a local community s the term

peripheral seems to coney some ealuation, the term local is more neutral


3/9

typically going up the hierarchy peakers of a local language hae to learn a central

language to function in their own society peakers of a central language need to learn a

supercentral language to function within their region peakers of a supercentral language

need the hypercentral language to function glo%ally, true of any%ody %ut a natie speaker of

nglish

Language Groups and SL! "esearch

ome 7 research has looked at this type of ac=uisition from ;ulay and .urt (19$)

studying grammatical morphemes ac=uisition among panish-speaking children in California

to 5annan ("##/) doing the same with ast nd .engalis Central language ac=uisition %y

local groups has not howeer usually %een distinguished from other types of ac=uisition,

e&cept through the second>foreign language distinction

!he important point in 7 research here is that we need to %e e=ually careful in

specifying the language groups the learners %elong to and want to %elong to, rather than

treating 7 research as a unified whole ?enerali'ing from the taught C7 group is

particularly difficult as we cannot isolate the effects of teaching 2nterestingly for many of the

other groups teaching is not a ma8or concern4 it is simply taken for granted that you hae to

%e multilingual in Central frica or 2ndia

Language Groups and Language Teaching

Group B Learning and Teaching of Central Languages

5istorically the teaching of central languages has concerned ethnic minority children

and immigrants %y haing a local language at home and may %e directly taught the language

at school or mainstreamed into ordinary classes 2t needs to take account of the e&tent to

which the oerall community is multi-competent or monolingual

!he dult @7 Core Curriculum for ngland (;f, "##1) proides an e&ample of

educational thinking on this topic !he target is four types of learners* settled communities

such as 5ong Aong, refugees, migrant workers and partners and spouses of learners + all

essentially prospectie ?roup . mem%ers 2t aims at defi ning in detail the skills, knowledge

and understanding that non-natie nglish speakers need in order to demonstrate

achieement of the national standards (;f, "##1* $) 2n other words, the only goal of

@7 learners is to %ecome part of the ?roup rather than part of a ?roup .


4/9

Group C Teaching of Supercentral Languages

@ne characteristic of supercentral languages is their limited use across %orders for a

small range of functions ince the 19:#s this speciali'ed functionality has %een the concern

of many an B course, ranging from courses for oilrig-workers to courses for general

practitioners4 to the consternation of one of my e&-students, her first teaching 8o% was

nglish to a 6apanese se&-shop manager part from nglish, the hypercentral language, all

of these are supercentral languages with a sphere of influence e&tending outside their own

countries and sometimes outside urope, say with 0rench and panish 7anguage learning

in schools in urope is oerwhelmingly upward in the ;e waan hierarchy towards

supercentral languages and the hypercentral language

Group D Teaching the Hypercentral Language

!he hypercentral language nglish is the one that is all things to all people, not

confined to a particular territory or a particular function 2ts users do not hae to take part in a

particular society, unlike ?roup ., or utili'e more specifi c functions in a wider territory, unlike

?roup C4 potentially they use nglish with anyone anywhere for almost any reason ?roup

natie speakers of nglish hae no special status, indeed may struggle with some aspects of

hypercentral nglish more than their non-natie fellows ?roup ; speakers retain their own

71 identities while at the same time using an 7" to deal with each other + language for

communication


5/9

Biligual and Multiligual #ducation

(Cristopher J. Hall)

Deinition and $urposes

!he criterion for what makes a prohramme %ilingual or multilingual in a particular

conte&t can %e the language %ackgrounds of the learners and>or the language(s) they are

taught in !he purposes of %ilingual and multilingual education programmes are similarly

dierse, rangung from deelopment of adanced leels of proficiency and academic

achieemet in %oth target languages to the promotion of academic skills in a dominat

language %ut not in the pupils home language

e present here a three-part framework for understanding how education in multiple

lamguage is commonly organi'ed e %egin %y distinguishing %etween frames that are

(1)language-%ased, (") content-%ased and () conte&t-%ased

Language-%ased &rames

!he strong-weak dichotomy in %ilingual education refers to the %alance in classroomusage %etween the two languages inoled

2n %ilingual a minority language is distinguished from a dominant language according

to what its used (its conte&t)

heritage language is the language of a minority community iewed as a property of

the groups cultural history, and is often in danger loss as third generations grow up

%eing un-preundere&posed to the language

.illiteracy is literacy in two (or more) languages

Content-%ased &rames

Children engage in de-facto %ilingual education when they and their teachers

implicity draw on su%8ect knowledge ac=uired preiously in a language which is

diffent from the language of instrictruction

sheltered nglish programme is one in which school pupils with limited proficiency

in the target language get instruction in nglish as an additional language along with

other su%8ect taught in nglish , until they can 8oin students who hae the proficiency

re=uired to engage in mainstream classrooms


6/9

Su%mersion education

Bupils are placed in classes with students who are natie>proficient speakers of the

dominant language, and their academi progress is ealuated using measures

designed to assess the performance of natie speakers and for comparison with the

norms esta%lished for them u%mersion education remains the most common form

of schooling for language minority students (?arcia, "##9)

Transitional %ilingual education

!ransitional %ilingual education is su%stractie using the first language as atemporary medium for gaining proficiency in the (dominant) second language an

important factor in the organi'ation of !. programmes is the length of time that

students are permitted to study in their 71 %efore %eing moed into classes designed

for natie speakers of the dominant language

Maintenance %ilingual education

Maintenance %ilingual education is addictie, aiming to complement and strengthen,

rather than replace, the ( minority ) first language the maintenance %ilingual

education model is intended for immigrant pupils thought likely to return to their home

countries and whose successful return woud ideally included %eing a%le to participate

in schools there

'mmersion

!he term immersion refers to programms designed to teach content in the target

language, %ut in a way that does not (intentionally) harm the learners 71 Aey

aria%les in immersion programmes include the language(s) of instruction and the

home language(s) of the students, with one way and two-way immersion

Community language teaching


7/9

Community language teaching is an approach to heritage langauge education

adopted in the DA, ustralia, the


8/9

to %ecome %ilingual out of choice, often for increased prestige and those who seek to

%ecome %ilingual out of necessity, often of surial

'ntegrating the &rameworks

!he wide range of practices reflect the fact that %ilingual and multilingual

programmes are not only linguistic and learning endeaours, %ut also political and economic

arrangements 2n response to this comple&ity, applied linguists need to %e a%le to

understand programmes of %ilingual and multilingual education from the multiple and

oerlapping persoecties of language, content and conte&t, with special attention to glo%al

and local situations

ssentially , we can think of %ilingual and multilingual programmes as %eingorgani'ed along one or more of three primary orientations*

7anguage as pro%lem

7anguage as right

7anguage as resources

Characteristics o #ecti*e $rogrammes

@ur reading of the research on %ilingual and multilingual education suggests that themost effectie programmes are those that hae the support and inolement of students,

families and teachers, and in these e&ceptional cases indiidual programmes deelop and

adopt practices that %est fit their needs

ome key features of successful programmes can %e offered here*

ll pupils learn %est in a language they understand

!eacher preparation

chool autonomy is a condition for success

Barents and other care-giers, teachers, administrators and school staff should %e in

agreement a%out priiding support for adanced %ilingualism and specially, should

hae respect for the minority language Brogram should challenge students to work at high academic leels, %ecause low

e&pectations dont foster academic success in any language

"oles or !pplied Linguists

'n Schools


9/9

round the world, finding suffcicient num%ers of linguistically proficient and well-

trained language professionals poses a critical challenge to the success of %ilingual

and multilingual schooling !he o%ious need for classroom teachers programmes

may re=uire*

.ilingual assistants for monolingual teachers

riters and designers a%le to produce curriculum, forms of assesment and print and

digital materials in non-dominant language chool administrators a%le to communicate the special need of %ilingual learners to

those education and pu%lic authorities which regard monolingualism and monolingual

schooling as normal and %ilingual or multilingual learners as something of a mystery

or nuisance

+utside schools

Documents

Language User Groups and Language Teaching