Language as a Dynamic System

Language, as we know, is not a linear entity that stays the same throughout time. It is an ever-evolving and changing way of communication that adapts and molds with the environment around it. Throughout my experience of learning the language of Japanese and also tutoring English to various international students, I have realized how many vocabulary words there are in a second language to acquire along with using correct grammar. As challenging as it may be at times, it is still not impossible to become highly intelligible, comprehensible, and even near-native-like fluency as an adult learner. During the courses in this area of proficiency, I spent the majority of my focus on comparing two learning and teaching contexts and applied my knowledge of second language acquisition such as the critical period hypothesis, backed by research, in order to find the most useful teaching and learning methods so that learners can bridge the gap between two separate cultures and languages as well as separate ages of acquisition. This was all done with the end goal in mind of identifying the most effective teaching practices to teaching English as a second language to adult learners in my specific teaching context of teaching English abroad. The two contexts that I spent my time comparing and analyzing were the Japanese language and the American English language with a focus on college and adult ESL learners. 

To begin, in LT 538 Pragmatics I teamed up with my classmate and LTS graduate Risa Miura who is from Kobe, Japan and we collaborated on a few projects in order to identify and teach these cultural and linguistic differences and how they affect language acquisition. We created several activities and a website that I included as my artifacts in this area of proficiency in order to address these differences as well as incorporate language lessons to language learners. The context for the activities that we created included focus on high vs. low context situations when leave taking, language lessons, the use of humor and sarcasm, and increasing pragmatic awareness when conversing between the two cultures. For example, Rösch (1987) explains that in Japanese language culture, when two people discuss, “To look a partner full into the eye for some length of time is considered a  mark of ill-breeding and is felt to be irritating (the opposite is true for the West, where this is held to be a sign of concentrated, attentive listening)” (p.61). We incorporated the IPIC model (AELRC, 2020) and discussed the different gestures that would be used when taking leave and how they vary depending on who you are talking to. This identified the societal differences between American and Japanese cultures and how that affects the language that we use in our daily lives as well as demonstrated how language is not so linear and includes many aspects beyond spoken words. 

The second activity that we created focused on what you do when you visit someone’s house in Japan. This addressed the common practices, gestures, greetings, and actions that one would typically do when entering a Japanese home. This activity was done in a lesson plan format with descriptions on what the teacher would say in the class along with the goals that the students were meant to achieve. We discussed different forms of speech in Japanese such as humble honorific and regular honorific and which situations one would typically use each of these forms. We incorporated language lessons on Japanese and how to conjugate the different forms as they appear in a sentence. This activity helped to build cultural awareness of someone who is visiting or living in Japan and allowed the opportunity to see the differences both linguistically and culturally between America and Japan. When we created these activities, I learned just how abundant language can be and which aspects of both language and culture seem the most salient and important to learn and teach. Language and a culture are closely intertwined and one must understand both in order to become truly intelligible in that language.

For the final project in this class, Risa and I teamed up once more to create an entertaining and informative website that described and discussed what humor and sarcasm looks like in the Japanese language. We discussed various modes and forms of humor and sarcasm from manga to TV shows to what sarcasm looks like in Tokyo compared to Kyoto and gave a brief history lesson as to where these modes stemmed from. Through analysis of humor and how it is used in Japanese language, one could clearly see the linguistic and cultural differences of the two contexts through the lens of humor and sarcasm. The overall goal of this project was not only to discuss and teach one about the use of humor and sarcasm in Japan, but it was also targeted for a Western audience in order to demonstrate how language can affect the way we interpret a situation and the effect that words can have on the listener. It showed that even the tone and word choice that we use when speaking a language can have a large effect on the meaning of the utterance. It demonstrated that you can not always take spoken and written language literally, but instead look deeper to find the true meaning behind what is being said.

In addition to pragmatics and the differences of the types of language that is used in these two contexts, my artifact from LT 534 Language in Context was a comparative context analysis where I compared the context of college and adult English as a foreign language in Japan and the context of English as a second language in America. That is, how does one acquire the English language when they are in their native country of Japan compared to the language acquisition of a Japanese learner of English when they are abroad in America. The main goal for this research paper was to identify the gaps in language learning and teaching in these contexts in order to improve the overall field of education in this department. I discussed the motivations of the learner and the role that plays in language learning. This was in order to identify the reasons for why someone is learning a language and how the answer to that question affects the learner's acquisition of that target language. As Wahyuni and Afrianti (2021) stated, “conversations with native speakers can increase students' confidence in language and vocabulary acquisition and students are also familiar with the expressions used in everyday language.” It became evident that one of the main factors behind the motivation for learning a new language is to speak with native speakers of that language and that is also a giant factor in acquiring that target language.

Another important factor that I discussed in this paper was the amount of exposure that a learner has in these two contexts and how that plays a major role in the rate that one acquires vocabulary in the target language, in this case English. I described how the amount of native English speakers that a learner interacts with is a direct correlation to the acquisition of the English language. I also discussed how the main focus in English classes in Japan focus on writing, reading, and grammar, and have a significantly less focus on actually speaking the language. This is partly due to the class culture in Japan where the teacher is mainly the one talking while the students listen and take notes. I discussed how integrating communicative lesson activities in class would help the learners to use and apply the English language while also improving their pronunciation skills. I discussed the various affordances and constraints of each of these learning contexts as well and compared how the classroom styles and cultural differences may play part in the level of motivation in the learners. I also incorporated a section on the appropriate approaches to teaching and learning that would greatly assist both learners and teachers in these two contexts. I found that increasing learner motivation and creating a positive and welcoming classroom environment where learners feel ok to make mistakes is an ideal setting for second language acquisition.

In regards to second language acquisition and how it relates to language being a dynamic system, the artifacts that I chose for my LING 544 Second Language Acquisition class focused more deeply on the research behind the critical and sensitive period hypothesis and the differences between learning a language as a child compared to learning a language as an adult. I also teamed up with my classmates in that class in order to create a website that focused on communicative competence in SLA and the methods of language learning as a whole. In this website, we included a quote that encompassed how culture and communicative competence intertwine. 

Communicative competence is a way of describing what it is a native speaker knows which enables him [or her] to interact effectively with other native speakers. [...] The native speaker knows not only how to say something but what to say and when to say it. The linguistic features of an exchange are embedded in cultural context which includes the role of the speaker in a particular context, the role of the other participants and a host of non-verbal communication cues such as distance, posture, gestures, facial expressions. (Savignon 1976). 

Through this research, I learned to incorporate many different aspects of language when teaching aside from dictionary pronunciation and spelling. I learned to include lessons on culture, history, and pragmatics that aim to describe language as a whole, dynamic system as opposed to a linear one.

References

AELRC (2020). Intercultural, Pragmatic, and Interactional (IPIC) Measure. Georgetown University. https://aelrc.georgetown.edu/resources/ressearch-briefs/ipic-research-brief/

Rösch, M., & Segler, K. G. (1987). Communication with Japanese. Management International Review, 27(4), 56–67. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40227860

Savignon, S. J. (1976). Communicative competence: Theory and classroom practice. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED135245.pdf

Wahyuni , Afrianti, N. I. (2021, August). The Contribution of Speaking Practice with the Native Speaker to Student’s Speaking Ability in Junior High School. Journal.Ainarapress.Org. https://journal.ainarapress.org/index.php/ainj/article/download/88/88