COMMUNICATION IN LANGUAGE

"Communication refers to the transmission of information (a 'Message') between a source and a receiver using a signalling system" (Crystal 64). Theoretically, communication is said to have taken place when the information received is identical to that sent. But it never is--at least between people. Practically, indeed, the message is polluted by all sorts of interferences (noises): the medium or channel distorts the message. Moreover, the sender may not have formulated the message in terms semantically and physically fully understandable by the receiver. The receiver may lack the capacity--physical, intellectual, affective, or cultural--to comprehend the intended meaning of the message.

Teachers, among communicators, are concerned with transferring communicative competence and/or linguistic competence to their students. If the goal of teaching is essentially to help students pass formal examinations of the traditional school type, the stress will be on linguistic competence--on the how rather than on the what; for instance, on being able to translate words or texts or in reciting grammatical paradigms, or, at best, in proving reading competence. If the goal is primarily to assist students to communicate verbally, and hopefully also in writing, with natives of the target language, then communicative competence will play center stage. Which is better is not an appropriate consideration; which is more

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aking is the third stage in language learning. It is uttering the target language's verbal sounds and patterns in the closest approximations possible under given perceptual and productive circumstances. The progressive development view sees the ability to speak as deriving from a study of phonology, syntax, and lexicon. The immediate communication view holds that speaking derives from interaction even at first contact. A middle and practical position states that skill-acquisition goes hand-in-hand with skill-use, and should therefore be so taught and learned. Communicating: Reading and Writing Inasmuch as it is customary today to use more elaborate structures and more precise vocabulary in writing than in speaking, "learning to write... is an advanced art" (Rivers and Temperley 7). Indeed, the written language is less redundant than the spoken form. The spoken language uses additional clues provided by facial expressions, body language generally, intonation contours, stress patterns, junctures, and tones of voice. The written language must perforce be more explicit (i.e contain more contextual coded clues) than the spoken language. There is content-reading and there is form-reading. There is the controversy regarding the bo
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Approximate Word count = 2064
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)

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