UNIT 1

LANGUAGE AS A MEANS OF COMMUNICATION: ORAL AND

WRITTEN LANGUAGE. ELEMENTS OF COMMUNICATION:
ENCODER, DECODER, FUNCTIONALITY AND CONTEXT

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 UNIT 1
LANGUAGE AS A MEANS OF COMMUNICATION:
ORAL AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE. ELEMENTS OF COMMUNICATION:
ENCODER, DECODER, FUNCTIONALITY AND CONTEXT

OUTLINE
1. Introduction
2. Legal justification
3. Language as a means of communication
4. Oral vs Written language
5. Functionality and context
6. Pedagogical implications
7. Conclusion
8. Bibliography

1 Introduction

According to Krashen’s theory of the ¨Comprehensible Input Hypothesis¨ (1987), we acquire

language in only one way, when we understand messages. Following this theory, current
tendencies in Foreign Language teaching (FLT) focus their attention on a crucial aspect: language as
a means of communication, rather than a theoretical acquisition of grammatical rules and
vocabulary through memorisation. Therefore, this communicative approach emphasises the
importance of providing the students with meaningful and contextualised activities related to the
real world inside and outside the classroom.

In this unit, we are going to study language and its functionality to see that communication is the
main function of this. However, the communication process takes place in different forms or
contexts either written, oral or verbal, and even non-verbal conventions.

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But let us find first the meaning of this unit in relation to our current education legislation and the
teaching of English as a Foreign Language (EFL).

2 Legal justification

As it is stated in the Preamble of the new Organic Law 3/2020, December 29th, of Modification of
the Organic Law on Education (LOMLOE), the Spanish Education System must face the changes of
the modern society in which we live and promote quality and equity in education. However,
guaranteeing an adequate education necessarily involves providing comprehensive education
which focuses on the development of competences. These competences are further specified by
means of general aims and objectives. Among the Primary Education Stage objectives stated in the
article 17 of this law, we may find:

f) Acquire in at least one foreign language (FL) the basic communicative competence that allows
them to express and understand simple messages in everyday situations.

j) Use different artistic, visual and audiovisual representations and expressions.

These objectives and the organisation into different areas to achieve them are subsequently
developed through the Royal Decree 126/2014 which establishes the Primary Education Curriculum
and its further specification in our Autonomous Community of (_____) with the (CURRICULUM).

The area of the First Foreign Language clearly contributes to the development of the students’
communicative competence, and therefore communication and the different language codes play
an important part to this contribution, as we shall see now.

3 Language as a means of communication

In many cases, the words ¨language¨ and ¨communication¨ are used interchangeably. We use both
to mean the transmission of messages from person to person. However, there is a distinct
dichotomy between the two terms.

In a very real sense, every living thing communicates in some way. Animals make noises to
communicate. Even plants, according to recent studies, seem to communicate with each other by
means of fungal networks. However, language is attributed to the highest form of intelligence
interaction, which is believed that only occurs among humans.

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In the process of showing the difference between language and communication, it is essential to
have a more comprehensive definition of both.

What is language?

As we said before, language is a distinctly human activity that aids in the transmission of feelings
and thoughts from one person to another. According to the American linguist Edward Sapir (1921)
¨language is a purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas, emotions, and
desires by means of voluntarily produced symbols¨. Later, in the 1960s, after some research on
language and interaction, Noam Chomsky’s theory of the ¨universal grammar¨ suggested that all
humans are born with a built-in language organ that contains this language blueprint. That is, a
series of biological switchers in our brain that react to the complex language we hear in our early
years.

Among people, language is the primary means of communication. It is through language, either oral
or written, that we are able to share our ideas, opinions, views, and feelings with another person.
However, we must be aware that this language is influenced and reflects culture, which relates to
common experiences and backgrounds of a specific group of people. Over time, language has been
transmitted verbally through generations and eventually recorded by means of some form of
written manifestation. Throughout history, the humankind has used these language conventions,
either oral or written, as a vehicle or means of communication.

What is communication?

Where language is a tool, communication is an experience that involves an action. The word
communication has its origin in the Latin word ¨communicatio¨, from the root ¨communis¨, which
means ¨sharing¨.

In 1928 the English literary critic and author I.A. Richards offered one of the first definitions of
communication as a discrete aspect of human enterprise. According to him ¨communication takes
place when one mind so acts upon its environment that another mind is influenced, and in that
other mind an experience occurs which is like the experience in the first mind¨.

In a short way, communication can be simply defined as the transfer of information from one place
to another. This transfer of information can be conducted in different ways.

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Varieties of communication

Broadly speaking we can say that there are two main types of communication: verbal
communication and non-verbal communication.

Verbal communication refers to the use of words to share information with other people. It can
therefore include both spoken and written communication. It can be face-to-face, over the
telephone, via WhatsApp, zoom, email, etc. Some verbal interactions are informal, such as chatting
with a friend, while others are more formal, such as scheduling an interview or appointment.

Non-verbal communication includes facial expressions, posture, eye contact, gestures, hand
movements, tone of voice, among others. Experts have found that every day we respond to
thousands of nonverbal cues that reveal an immense amount of information.

It is obvious that these types of communication acts may change according to the people, context,
and culture, but in most cases, there are some specific elements that are involved in the
communication process.

Elements of Communication

According to D. Berlo (1960), there are three main elements necessary to conduct a communication
i.e., the sender, a message, and a receiver. The sender is the most involved person with a full
understanding of that matter which he wants to deliver. However, if the receiver does not
understand the intended message there will not be communication.

In other words, communication is a two-sided phenomenon which involves both an exchange of

meaning on the part of the participants, and also a means of social interaction. When we face a
communicative act, therefore, it is important to bear in mind the fact that communication is
carried out when a given source (encoder or sender) sends a message through a specific channel
to the destination (decoder or receiver) using a commonly known code and in certain context.

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In the case of verbal communication, the code is the language being used, English in this case. This
code or language consists of a set of linguistic signs known by the sender and the receiver. The
message is the meaning being transmitted from an encoder to one or more decoders, even if they
are not present. The context is the situation of the communicative act (e.g., in a classroom, the
park, restaurant, etc.) and finally the channel may be either oral or written, as we shall see in the
following section.

4 Oral vs Written language

Oral communication

Oral communication can be defined as a two-way verbal process between an encoder or speaker
and a decoder or listener using both productive (Speaking) and receptive (Listening) skills.

Technological advances have influenced Linguistics since we can now come across types of
exchange of messages which were inconceivable in the past. We may now find an oral
communicative situation in which the participants are not face to face or even present at the same
time.

On the one hand, oral communication involves more complexity and difficulties than written
communication because of certain constraints, including the following:

a. TIME PRESSURE: unlike written communication, when facing an oral communication situation
such as buying a ticket or a newspaper in a foreign country, we find limited time to understand
what has been said to us, to think the answer, structure it, and finally answer.

b. NEGOTIATION: utterances are not often well structured or linked because of negotiation. In
most cases, the speaker usually gives for granted that the listener knows the code or language
being used, when the reality is that this does not apply to all communicative situations.

However, although some problems can be found, there are also certain helpers which facilitate this
type of exchange of information. According to M. Geddes we are helped by:

a. PARALINGUISTIC CODES: non-verbal elements of communication which can also express

different acts, feelings and emotions: to express sympathy, agreement, hostility, indifference, ...

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b. PROSODIC FEATURES: these include stress, rhythm and intonation. For example, answering ‘Yes,
I’d love to’ to a question such as ‘Would you mind doing the washing-up?’ may be interpreted in a
different way, depending on the way it is pronounced.

As we can see, even though oral communication presents certain limitations in contrast to written
communication, it also counts on certain helpers and features that facilitate both the transmission
(encoding) and the understanding (decoding) of a given message. This does not involve, however,
that oral communication surpasses in importance written communication, but rather that both are
valid and effective channels to share information, and both have specific features that make them
more adequate for certain situations or contexts.

Written Language

Regarding written communication, it can be defined as a two-way verbal process between an

encoder and a decoder using both productive (Writing) and receptive (Reading) skills. This process
of communication can be clearly distinguished from that of oral communication if we consider that
the context in which the receiver is going to be when reading the message will be, most likely,
different from the one of the sender.

Therefore, certain complexity may be considered when dealing with written communication as
there are specific constraints or difficulties of this type of human interaction which are absent in
oral communication. Some of them can be:

a. TIME: writing requires much more time that oral communication. The writer must bear in mind
the characteristics of the reader when writing a text in order to address the message accordingly.

b. PSYCHOLOGICAL FEATURES: written communication demands a different organisation of ideas

since the reader is not present, and it requires more effort on the writer to express meaning. Some
written language elements (spelling, grammar, vocabulary, etc.) must be known by both, the writer
and the reader, in order to have an effective communication.

On the other hand, it seems convenient to take into account that written communication also
counts on certain features which make the communicative act easier. These specific helpers or
resources may be of two types, namely graphological and rhetorical.

a. GRAPHOLOGICAL FEATURES: such as the representation of sounds through words or specific

symbols to express punctuation (exclamation and question marks, commas and period to do a
pause, etc.)

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b. RHETORICAL FEATURES: these include the use of descriptions, similes, metaphors, examples,
comparisons, synonyms, etc.

We may conclude by stating that written communication, as we have seen, also counts on certain
elements which help and facilitate communication. However, both oral and written communication
have something in common, the necessity of carrying a purpose or intention. This is what we
understand as functionality of the language, as we shall see now.

5 Functionality and context

The most usual answer to the question “why do we use language?” is “to communicate our ideas”.
But it would be wrong to think that communicating our ideas is the only purpose for which we use
language. Several other functions may be identified where the communication of ideas is marginal
or irrelevant. According to Halliday (1994), the word “function” is related to the use of language,
that is, language is doing a job within a context. Thus, we can say that we use the language for
introducing, describing, apologizing, entertaining, etc.

One of the most influential models on language functionality has been that of Roman Jakobson,
who distinguishes an equivalent function to each factor involved in the communication process.

According to Jakobson’s model there are the 6 general functions of language, according to which
an effective act of verbal communication can be describe:

1. EMOTIVE (or Expressive) function. This is related to the expression of feelings and attitudes.

2. CONATIVE function. This is used to draw the receiver’s attention.

3. REFERENTIAL function. It is the communication of ideas or facts.

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4. POETIC function. This is oriented towards the message and the focus for its own sake.

5. PHATIC function. This is based on aspects of the message related to the addressee.

6. METALINGUAL function. This is used when explanations are requested for clarification.

As we know, the situation where a speech act takes place clearly determines the way a given
function such as greeting will be structured. Thus, a friend gathering to go to the cinema and a
reception at Buckingham Palace may share the function of greeting somebody, and yet the
linguistic (word choice), prosodic (intonation), and paralinguistic elements will, of course, vary in
both situations.

If this happens in real life, both at written and oral discourse, and speakers of a language are used
to the relevance of context in speech, why should it not be the same in the case of learning a FL?.
Of course, it is as important in the case of a FL as in the mother tongue, as it helps learners
understand and use the language in meaningful contexts.

6 Pedagogical implications

The ‘Communicative Approach’ adopted for Teaching English as a Foreign Language starts from a
theory of language as a means of communication. Therefore, the main goal in language teaching is
to develop what Hymes (1972) referred to as ‘Communicative Competence’. Hymes coined this
term in order to contrast a communicative view of language with Chomsky’s theory of ‘Linguistic
Competence’. For Chomsky (1965), the focus of linguistic theory was to characterize the abstract
abilities speakers possess that enable them to produce grammatically correct sentences in a
language (¨knowing a language is equivalent to mastering the grammar of that language¨). Thus,
Chomsky’s view of competence deals primarily with abstract grammatical knowledge of the
language.

Hymes, on the other hand, held that such a view of linguistic theory was limited, and that linguistic
theory needed to be seen as part of a more general theory incorporating communication
(interaction) and culture, that is, he incorporated the ¨sociolinguistic¨ dimension. Hymes’ view of
‘Communicative Competence’ was defined as ¨what a speaker needs to know in order to be
communicatively competent in a speech community¨.

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Then, Hymes’ concept underwent critical scrutiny in the field of Applied Linguistics, particularly
regarding Second Language Acquisition, and different theoretical frameworks for understanding
communicative competence appeared.

Canale and Swain (1980) expanded the previous description of Hymes’ theory, establishing four
dimensions or subcompetences of the ¨communicative competence¨:

1. Linguistic competence. The focus lies on the necessary skill and knowledge to understand
and produce meaningful linguistic messages. It involves the mastery and command of the
linguistic code (both verbal - oral and written - and non-verbal - signs, symbols, ...).

2. Sociolinguistic competence. It deals with the knowledge of how to use and respond to
language appropriately, given the context, the topic, and the relationships among the
people involved in the communication.

3. Discourse competence. It refers to the ability to relate the information in a communicative

situation with coherence and cohesion.

4. Strategic competence. It is based on the knowledge of certain strategies (whether verbal

and non-verbal) to compensate breakdowns in communication.

For Canale and Swain sociocultural competence was implicitly acquired through the attainment of
these four competences. However, Canale (1983) stated the role of this competence by adding it to
the other four. According to Canale, the cultural background and support of language learning is an
essential element of the learning process of that language.

As we can see, communicative competence embraces certain subcompetences that lead to a better
understanding of what should be considered as a mastery of a second or foreign language. This
communicative competence and its subcompetences can also be related to some extent to the key
competences described in the Order ECD/65/2015 which establishes the relationship among
Competences, Contents and Evaluation Criteria. Therefore, we can say that while our students
develop their communicative competence in a foreign language, they are achieving at the same
time the development of some key competences, as it is the case of ¨competence in linguistic
communication¨ (while working on linguistic and discourse competence), ¨learning to learn¨
(working the strategic competence), ¨social and civic competence¨ (related to sociolinguistic
competence), ¨cultural awareness and expression¨ (in relation to the sociocultural competence),
etc.

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Communicative activities

In our Autonomous Community of (_________), following the specifications of the Laws of

Education (LOE 2/2006 and LOMLOE 3/2020) and the Royal Decree 126/2014, the (CURRICULUM
DECREE or ORDER) which establishes the Primary Education Curriculum in our Autonomous
Community defines the elements of the First Foreign Language, its organisation and development.
In its article (__) about ¨methodological guidelines¨, highlights the importance of using different
group dynamics to provide integrated learning activities in meaningful contexts, as well as the use
of tasks and projects through individual and teamwork, using meaningful reading, writing, the use
of Information and Communication Technologies, and promotion of oral expression through
debates or presentations.

Following these recommendations and the specific methodological guidelines and the development
of the content blocks of the First Foreign Language, we may use the following communicative
activities in the FL classroom:

- Using visual support such as gestures, mime, facial expressions, etc. to accompany oral
language and compensate breakdowns in communication.

- Using images such as pictures, flashcards, poster, real objects, etc. to make visual
connections with the intended language and bring the culture to the classroom. Also,
labelling certain objects in the classroom with words in English.

- Using songs, rhymes, stories, dramatizations, audio or video recordings, TV programmes,

communicative games, etc. appealing and appropriate to their age.

- Using the Internet and other digital resources to bring interactive communicative situations
close to the students’ reality, such as blogs, wikis, WebQuests, chats, interactive games, etc.

- Making the students use the language in meaningful interaction activities such as: describing
something or someone close to them (e.g., show and tell), doing a role play or simulation
(going shopping, in a restaurant, the park, a doctor appointment, traveling, etc.), writing a
letter to a friend or family member, presenting a project worked in a team, etc.

- Reading authentic or adapted texts (newspapers, magazines, advertisements, etc.) on paper

or digital format and prepare some possible questions to be discussed in the classroom.

- Writing texts to be shared with other people, such as newspaper articles, books or stories,
comics, poems, etc.

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As we can see, the variety of activities to bring opportunities for real communicative interactions in
the FL classroom is unlimited. It will mostly depend on the accessibility to the resources, the
imagination of the teacher and the motivation of the students.

7 Conclusion

As a conclusion, we can state that the most efficient communicator in a FL is not always the person
who is best in manipulating its structures. It is often the person who is most skilled at processing
the complete situation involving himself and the decoder(s), taking into account the knowledge
that is already shared between them, the situation where they are, and selecting those factors that
will make the message more efficient in the communication process.

The new Law on Education, LOMLOE 3/2020, emphasises the importance of an inclusive and
comprehensive approach (also recognised in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and People
with Disabilities) to provide equal opportunities in education. To guarantee an adequate education,
it is necessary to focus on the development of certain competences that must be balanced and
worked in all areas. The FL area contributes to the development of these competences since the
students will learn not only linguistic skills, but also sociocultural concepts and strategies to acquire
the abilities to communicate in any situation. In summary, develop their communicative
competence, which is our final goal in FL teaching.

8 Bibliography

Lawful references:

• Organic Law 3/2020, December 30th, Modifying the Organic Law 2/2006 on Education.

• Royal Decree 126/2014, February 28th, establishing the Curriculum of Primary Education.

• Order ECD/65/2015 describing the relationship among Competences, Content and Evaluation
Criteria in Primary, Secondary Education and Bachillerato.

• (LEGAL DOCUMENTS FROM YOUR AUTONOMOUS COMMUNITY)

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 Authors:

□ Krashen, S. (1987) Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition. Prentice-Hall

International.

□ Ellis, R. (1985) Understanding Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: 0.U.P.

□ Halliday, M.A.K. (1985) An Introduction to Functional Grammar. Chapter 9

□ Crystal, D. (2003) The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of Language. Cambridge: CUP.

□ Richards, J. (2010) Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics. Longman.
London.

□ Littlewood, W. (1991) Communicative Language Teaching. An Introduction. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press.

□ Hedge, T. (1993) Writing. Oxford: O.U.P.

□ Jakobson, R. (1995). On Language. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Websites:

- http://www.signosemio.com/jakobson/functions-of-language.asp

- http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk

- http://www.britishcouncil.org

- https://www.jstor.org/

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