English Language Teaching in its Social Context
English Language Teaching in its Social Context
English Language Teaching in its Social Context
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NAVIGATING THE DISCOURSE 309<strong>in</strong>dividual’s activity is a system <strong>in</strong> the system of social relations. It docs not existwithout these relations.The specific form <strong>in</strong> whch it exists is determ<strong>in</strong>ed by the formsand means of material and mental social <strong>in</strong>teraction.(Leont’ev 198 1 : 47)Leont’ev is suggest<strong>in</strong>g that an activity like learn<strong>in</strong>g a language is a mental process<strong>in</strong>evitably <strong>in</strong>terwoven <strong>in</strong> our social identity and our social relationships. But he goes furtherthan this. He is also assert<strong>in</strong>g that the object or content on which we focus <strong>in</strong> our learn<strong>in</strong>gis, by <strong>its</strong> nature, a social and cultural construct. And l<strong>in</strong>guists such as Halliday support sucha claim <strong>in</strong> reveal<strong>in</strong>g that social structure and system may be seen to permeate the wholetexture of a language (Halliday 1978). This perspective implies that the <strong>in</strong>terpretative,accommodat<strong>in</strong>g, and strategic work of learners as revealed by ma<strong>in</strong>stream SLA research isnot merely an act of cognition but that it is simultaneously social action.If we learn a language <strong>in</strong> the company of others <strong>in</strong> a classroom, then the nature of thissocial action is not merely a superficial frame for our work on language data. <strong>Social</strong>relationships <strong>in</strong> the classroom orchestrate what is made available for learn<strong>in</strong>g, how learn<strong>in</strong>gis done, and what we achieve.These relationships and the purposeful social action of teach<strong>in</strong>gand learn<strong>in</strong>g are directly realiscd through the discourse <strong>in</strong> which we participate dur<strong>in</strong>glessons. The data made available to learners are socially filtered through the particulardiscourse of the classroom and, thereby, rendered dist<strong>in</strong>ctive from what we might describeas naturally occurr<strong>in</strong>g language data <strong>in</strong> a different context. Furthermore, because the datamade available to learners <strong>in</strong> a classroom arc a collective product with which teacher andlearners <strong>in</strong>teract actively as both creators and <strong>in</strong>terpreters, because what learners actuallylearn from the classroom is socially rather than <strong>in</strong>dividually constructed, any explanationof how language is learned must locate the process withm the discourse of language lessons.This implies that language learners need not only be <strong>in</strong>terpretative, accommodat<strong>in</strong>g,and strategic as SLA research suggests, but also active practitioners with<strong>in</strong> the discourse ofthe learn<strong>in</strong>g context <strong>in</strong> which they f<strong>in</strong>d themselves. If the context happens to be a classroom,it will provide very particular opportunities for and specific constra<strong>in</strong>ts upon languagelearn<strong>in</strong>g. These opportunities and constra<strong>in</strong>ts can be identified <strong>in</strong> the discourse of languagelessons and a crucial variable which can contribute to our understand<strong>in</strong>g of the relativesuccess or failure of learners is how they themselves are obliged to navigate with<strong>in</strong> it.We can express this central issue <strong>in</strong> terms of a question: Does a learner’s success <strong>in</strong>learn<strong>in</strong>g language <strong>in</strong> a classroom depend upon the learner’s successful navigation of theopportunities and constra<strong>in</strong>ts <strong>in</strong>herent <strong>in</strong> discourse of lessons? This is a difficult questionthat needs further elaboration and I will offer this by look<strong>in</strong>g more closely at some of theprevail<strong>in</strong>g features of classroom discourse. I will address the question with reference to anumber of f<strong>in</strong>d<strong>in</strong>gs from SLA research.Dimensions of discourseDiscourse is a difficult concept because, like SLA research, discourse analysis is a relativelyyoung discipl<strong>in</strong>e and there are several conflict<strong>in</strong>g and overlapp<strong>in</strong>g def<strong>in</strong>itions deriv<strong>in</strong>g froma rangc of theoretical and analytical positions (van Dijk 1985, Macdonnell 1986). Early work<strong>in</strong> discourse analysis sought to uncover pattern and system at a higher level of organisationthan the sentence and to analyse the properties of dialogue such as speech acts, turn tak<strong>in</strong>g,topicalisation, and so on. Descriptive discourse analysis was also undertaken <strong>in</strong> relation towhat were seen as dist<strong>in</strong>ctive discourses such as media discourse, medical discourse, or legal