LANGUAGE ,CULTURE AND SOCIETY

INSTRUCTOR
 Course Description :
This course allows the pre-service English Teachers to explore the
inextricable link between and among language, culture, and
society and its implications to the development of English as a
global language and the ways by which it is learned and taught.
With this, they must demonstrate content knowledge and
application to the lingua franca to cultural , societal, and even
pedagogical development through a study of research-based
principles in language and language teaching . also , they must be
able to gain insights of responsive learning environments I terms
of language and community /societal needs.
 Course Learning Outcomes:

At the end of this course, you must be able to:

[Link] theory to the practical reality of language and language
variation in the community and the link between the use of
language and the context of that use;
[Link] research-based knowledge and principles of English
language teaching and learning through case presentations
and journal reviews; and
3. articulate the theoretical underpinnings of sociolinguistics,
anthropological linguistics,and ethnolinguistics.
Course Requirements :
• Attendance
• Quizzes/Long Test
• Assignments (Journal, Essays,etc. )
• Group reporting
• PPT/ Handouts- Instructional Materials
• Term Exams
Grading system:

TOTAL : 100%
 Topics : Midterm
Week #1: Introduction 01/22/25
Week #2: Review on Linguistic Components of Language 02/05/25

Week #3:
Week #4: Language and Humans 02/12/25
Week #5: 02/19/25
Week #6: Language and Cultures 02/26/25

Week #7: 03/05/25

Week #8: Long quiz ( from week 2 to week 7) 03/12/25

Week #9: Midterm Exam: March 19,2025

 Topics : Finals
Week #10:Language and History 03/26/25
Week #11: 04/02/25

Week #12:Language and Society 04/16/25

Week #13: 04/23/25
Week #14:
Week #15:Introduction to Ethnography and Ethnolinguistic Research 04/30/25
Week #16: 05/07/25
Week #17:Long quiz (From week 10 to week 16) 05/14/25
Week #18:Final Exam May 21, 2025
 Language, Culture and Society
Chapter 1:
THE NATURE OF LANGUAGE AND LANGUAGE STUDY
Learning Outcomes :
At the end of this Chapter, the students are expected to:
• define language,macro skills and communicative competence
;
• differentiate first language and second language and second
language,synchronic and diachronic language analysis and
• analyze situations that involve the learning of language micro
and macro skills.
Chapter 1 : The Nature of Laguage
and Language Study
• Lesson 1:
“A Quick Look at Language, Macro Skills and
Communicative Competence”
• Lesson 2:
“First Language v.s Second Language”
• Lesson 3:
“Micro and Macro Linguistic Studies”
 Lesson 1:

“ A Quick Look at Language, Macro Skills

and Communicative Competence ”
Lost in Communication : “Mini Role-Play”
• 3-5 members per group
• Scenario:
A tourist arrives in a new country but does not speak the
local language. They need help finding a hotel, ordering
food, and asking for directions.
• Create your own versions of the situation, add twists(e.g .,
gestures, incorrect translations, misunderstandings)
• Make it more dramatic,funny, and exaggerated.
 Rubrics:
Creativity & 10 The performance is engaging, creative, and original. The group shows
Engagement effort in making the scenario entertaining and meaningful.

Clarity of 10 The message is clear, and language is used effectively. Gestures and facial
Communication expressions help in conveying meaning.
Use of Macro 10 The group demonstrates listening, speaking, and nonverbal communication
Skills skills. Their interaction is smooth and understandable.

Teamwork & 10 All members contribute to the role-play. They work together effectively and
Cooperation share responsibilities.
Problem-Solving & 10 The group successfully finds ways to solve communication barriers in the
Adaptability scenario. They use creative strategies to overcome misunderstandings.

Total Points 50
50- 41 - Outstanding Performance
40-31- Good Performance
30-21 Satisfactory
20 and below : Needs Improvement
Instruction: Complete the short scene below by filling in the thought bubbles with conversations.
Then share your story with partner .
 Pause and Think :

1. How did characters in the comic strip communicate ?

what do they use?

2. What are the similarities between your story and your

partner’s story ? Or differences?
Formative Questions :

• What is Language, and how does it function as a

system for communication?

• Why is language considered a fundamental

aspect of human interaction and culture ?

• How do we create and adapt language to fix the

needs of different contexts and environments?
Definition of Language
Language
• is the ability to produce and comprehend spoken and written words;
linguistics is the study of language
• is such a special topic that there is an entire field, linguistics,
devoted to its study.
• Linguistics views language in an objective way, using the scientific
method and rigorous research to form theories about how humans
acquire, use, and sometimes abuse language.
• There are a few major branches of linguistics from a psychological
perspective
Major Branches of
Linguistics:
• Phonetics
• Phonology
• Morphology
• Syntax
• Semantics
• Pragmatics
Major levels of linguistics: This diagram outlines the various subfields of linguistics, the study of language.
 Phonetics and Phonology

• Phonetics and phonology work together to explain how we produce and organize sounds in
language

• Phonetics looks at the actual sounds we make, like the "p" in "pat" and the "b" in "bat."
• It studies how we physically produce and hear these sounds.

• Phonology looks at how these sounds work together in a language to create meaning.
• For example, changing the "p" sound in "pat" to a "b" sound changes the word to "bat," which
shows how sounds are used to distinguish words in English.

• phonetics deals with the "how" of sounds, and phonology deals with the "why" and "how" they
work together to form meaningful words.
 Morphology
• is the study of the structure of words and other
meaningful units of language like suffixes and prefixes.
• words like “dog” and “dogs” or “walk” and “walking,” and
how people figure out the differences between those
words.
• it explains how words are built from smaller pieces.
 Syntax
• Syntax is the study of sentences and phrases
• It focuses on the rules and patterns that govern sentence
structure .
• Typical sentence structre is Subject+Verb+Object
e.g. “ John (Subject) eats (Verb) an apple (Object )”
• Changing the order of the words can make the sentence
incorrect or change its meaning .
• e.g. An Apple eats John.
• Looks at how words fir together in the right order to create
clear, meaningful sentences.
 Semantics and Pragmatics
• Semantics - is about literal meanings.
- what words mean
• e.g. I ate an apple . “ apple” is a fruit.
• Pragmatics - is about how context shapes those
meanings in real life situations.
 The 4 Macro Skills in Communication

• Listening
• Speaking
• Reading
• Writing
Listening
• The first one in the 4 macro skills of communication.
• The process of using the sense of hearing, in order for the person
to know what is happening around him.
There are 3 types of listening:
• passive
• active
• competitive
• Passive listening happens when a person listens to the speaker without any
response at it. He/she will only listen to the speaker without giving any feedbacks.

• Active listening happens when a person listens to the speaker while also
acknowledging the information given by the speaker. Active listeners also give their
brief or short response to the given information of the speaker.

• Competitive listening happens when a person listens to the speaker in order for
them to give their own opinion to the speaker, he also promotes his/ her own ideas
as if they are arguing with each other. This kind of listening usually happens during
a court hearing or a debate between two parties.
Speaking
• The second communication skill in language.
• The process of conveying a message to a receiver verbally, or a process where
the listener applies to him/herself the information he/she have heard.
• Speaking can be a tool in order for an individual to express his/her feelings
towards what he heard.
• A listener applies all the information he received while listening in order for him to
communicate with other persons, or to share their feeling and thought with each
other.
• Communication will fail if the receiver didn't understand what the sender is saying.
Possib causes are; the senders don't know how to construct sentence properly or
the receiver can't decode the message given to him by the sender.
Reading
• The third communication skill in language.
• It is the process of analyzing symbols for you to understand the message
conveyed by the sender.
• A person learns to read by memorizing the alphabets, analyzing the sounds per
letter make and applying it in order for him to decode the message given to him
by the sender.
• Reading takes a lot of practice in order for an individual to decode the message
given by the sender.
• if the scenario is like this, the receiver decodes the message successfully, but
he/she didn't understand what he/she is reading, communication will fail.
Writing
• The last and probably the most complex skill in communication.
• Writing takes time and practice for you to master the said skill.
• Writing can be practiced by knowing the strokes of each letter in
the alphabet.
• Writing is also a process in which a person can share his thoughts
and feelings through symbols.
• Writing can also be a tool to develop and strengthen human
connections and the society.
First Language (L1) vs. Second Language ( L2)
• A first language is the mother tongue or native language of
a person
• The first language is like an instinct which is triggered by
birth and developed with the experience of being exposed
to it.
• A second language is a language a person learns in order
to communicate with the native speaker of that language.
• A second language is a personal choice of a person
• The acquiring process of the first language is very rapid
while the learning process of the second language can
vary from language to language and from person to
person, but can never be as rapid as the first language
acquisition.
Some factors of difference for
the first language and the
second language.
• Age
• Personality
• Culture
• Motivation
AGE
• It is the most important factor that makes
a second language totally different from
the first language. Children of the age of 6
who have already acquired full proficiency
in their first
• language are most capable of learning a
second language. Adults usually find it
difficult to learn a new language when
they become too accustomed to their
first/native language.
PERSONALITY
• A child’s personality does not usually make
that much of difference in the acquisition of
the first language. But it makes a huge
difference in the learning process of the
second language.
• In the second language learning process,
the learners with an introvert personality
usually make slow progress than the
learners with an extrovert personality.
CULTURE
• The first language is one of the most
important factors of a person’s culture.
But a second language is not that
important in anyone’s culture.
• The second language has some
effects on the culture of a person but
not significant enough to be counted
as an element of that culture.
MOTIVATION
• It is an important factor for the second
language learning. A learner with good
motivation to learn a second language is
likely to learn that language faster.
• But the acquisition of the first language
does not require any motivation because
it is a natural phenomenon. The first
language is acquired subconsciously and
there is no need for motivation to acquire
it.
Native Language vs. Mother Tongue
vs. Foreign Language
• A native language is generally the first one a child is
exposed to
• Some early studies referred to the process of learning
one's first or native language as First Language
Acquisition or FLA,
• but because many, perhaps most, children in the world
are exposed to more than one language almost from birth,
a child may have more than one native language.
• A foreign language is a language indigenous to another country. It
is also a language not spoken in the native country of the person
referred to, i.e. an English speaker living in Japan can say that
Japanese is a foreign language to him or her.

• These two characterizations do not exhaust the possible

definitions, however, and the label is occasionally applied in ways
that are variously misleading or factually inaccurate. Some
children learn more than one language from birth or from a very
young age: they are bilingual or multilingual.
• These children can be said to have two, three or more
mother tongues: neither language is foreign to that child,
even if one language is a foreign language for the vast
majority of people in the child's birth country.
• For example, a child learning English from her English
father and Japanese at school in Japan can speak both
English and Japanese, but neither is a foreign language
to her.
PIDGINS AND CREOLES
• The word pidgin refers to a language used as a means of
communication between people who do not share a
common language.
• The word pidgin derives from a mispronunciation of the
English word business.
• The term “Pidgin English” was first applied to the
commercial lingua franca used in southern China and
Melanesia, but now pidgin is a generic term that refers to
any simplified language that has derived from two or more
parent languages
• Creoles typically arise as the result of contact between
the language of a dominant group and that of a
subordinate group, as happened as the result of
European trade and colonization.
• The earliest reference to a creole language is to a
Portuguese-based creole spoken in Senegal.
• The vocabulary of a typical creole is supplied for the most
part by the dominant language, while the grammar tends
to be taken from the subordinate language.
• A pidgin is nobody’s natural language; a creole develops
as a new generation grows up speaking the pidgin as its
main language. The grammar of a creole usually remains
simpler than that of the parent languages, but the new
language begins to develop larger vocabularies to provide
for a wider range of situations
• Because of its distinctive use of verb tenses and other
grammatical features, Black English is considered by
many to be an English creole having British and American
varieties.
MACRO & MICRO LINGUITICS STUDIES
• Macro-linguistics and Micro-linguistics are both fields of
study of linguistics that focus on language and its form and
meaning and the changes that occur to that form and
meaning due to other factors;
• Macro-linguistics examines language on a macro level, or
from a more general perspective
• Micro-linguistics examines language on a micro level, or in
a more specific and particular way.
Macro-linguistics analyzes language beyond its most basic
functions and context—it focuses on the social, cultural
psychological, and neurological factors and how they're
connected to the language and its structure.
Subcategories of macro-linguistics:
• Sociolinguistics (language and society)
• Psycholinguistics (language and psychology)
• Neurolinguistics (language and neurology)
• Computational linguistics (language and IT)
• Micro-linguistics is the study of how a language is a
system with a structured set of rules.

• Micro-linguists might study phonology, or how speech

sounds are arranged to convey appropriate meaning.
They might also study morphology, or how words are
formed and how they relate to other, similar words.

• In micro-linguistics, you might study the syntax of a

language, or how words are arranged to create sentences
Prescriptive vs. Descriptive Grammar
Prescriptive Grammar “Proper”
describes when people focus on talking about how a language
should or ought to be used. One way to remember this
association is to think of going to a doctor’s office. When a
doctor gives you prescription for medication, it often includes
directions about how you should take your medication as well
as what you should not do when taking your medication.
example: Anyways- Anyway
she dont know - she does not know
• In a similar way, a prescriptive grammar tells you how you
should speak, and what type of language to avoid. This is
commonly found in English classes as well as other
language classes, where the aim is to teach people how
to use language in a very particular
• (typically described as ‘proper’ or ‘correct’) way.
Descriptive Grammar
• Focuses on describing the language as it is used, not
saying how it should be used.
• For example, think about a prescriptive rule like Don’t split
infinitives. A descriptive grammarian would see a sentence
like “To boldly go where no man has gone before”(To go
boldly where no man has gone before) and would try to
describe how the mental grammar can cause that ordering
of words, rather than saying that the surface form is faulty
due to prescriptive rules.
• as long as it is understandable.
Diachronic vs. Synchronic
Diachronic linguistics (thinking about the time)
• is the study of a language through different periods in
history.
• Diachronic linguistics is one of the two main temporal
dimensions (Layers of time)of language study identified by
Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure in his Course in
General Linguistics (1916)
Synchronic(how is it like right now)
- study of language is a comparison of languages or
dialects—various spoken differences of the same language
—used within some defined spatial region and during the
same period of time," wrote Colleen Elaine Donnelly in
"Linguistics for Writers."
- Determining the regions of the United States in which
people currently say 'pop' rather than 'soda' and 'idea'
rather than 'ideal' are examples of the types of inquiries
pertinent to a synchronic study.
Oral vs. Written Language
• The written language can be significantly more precise.
Written words can be chosen with greater deliberation and
thought, and a written argument can be extraordinarily
sophisticated, intricate, and lengthy.

• These attributes of writing are possible because the pace of

involvement is controlled by both the writer and the reader.
The writer can write and rewrite at great length, a span of
time which in some cases can be measured in years.
• the reader can read quickly or slowly or even stop to think
about what he or she has just read.
• the reader always has the option of re-reading; even if
that option is not exercised,
• its mere possibility has an effect upon a reader's
understanding of a text.
• The written word appeals more to a contemplative,
deliberative style.
• Oral communication can be significantly more effective in
expressing meaning to an audience.
• This distinction between precision and effectiveness is
due to the extensive repertoire(collecion/skills) of signals
available to the speaker: gestures, intonation, inflection,
volume, pitch, pauses, movement, visual cues such as
appearance, and a whole host of other ways to
communicate meaning
• A speaker has significantly more control over what the
listener will hear than the writer has over what the reader
will read.
• the speaker needs to make sure that he or she has the
audience's attention
• audiences do not have the luxury of re-reading the words
spoken.
• the speaker, therefore, must become a reader of the
audience.
Plurality of English
• Linguistic Universals and
Universal Grammar
• English vs. Englishers
• Standard English
• Common Language vs.
Multilingualism
• Philippine English
• Kashrus’s Concentric Circles
Linguistic Universals and Universal Grammar
• Linguistic universals in syntax are sometimes held up as
evidence for universal grammar.
• “All human language”
• epistemological arguments are more common.
• linguistic universal features found in every language
“nouns and verbs”
• Universal Grammar- all humans share an innate language
structure that allows us to learn any language.
English vs. Englishers
• English is sometimes used to mean 'belonging or relating
to Great Britain. However, it is better to avoid this use, as it
may cause offence(british spelling of offense) to people
who come from Scotland, Wales, or Northern Ireland.- as
to respect individual identities .
• these countries have their own unique Identities and
cultures that are different from England.
• English is derived from England, one would think. But in
fact the language name is found long before the country
name.
• The latter first appears as Englaland around the year 1000
and means "the land of the Engle,"
• that is, the Angles. The Angles, Saxons, and Jutes were
the three Ge rmanic tribes that emigrated from what is now
Denmark and northern Germany and settled in England
around the fourth century AD.(anno Domini )
Standard English
• English that with respect to spelling, grammar,
pronunciation, and vocabulary is substantially uniform
though not devoid of regional differences, that is well
established by usage in the formal and informal speech
and writing of the educated, and that is widely recognized
as acceptable wherever English is spoken and
understood.
Common Language vs. Multilingualism

Common Language - language spoken by two or more

people – allowing them to communicate.

Multilingualism – The ability to speak many languages

proficiently (though not necessarily perfectly)
Philippine English
• Philippine English (similar and related to American English)
is any variety of English native to the Philippines.
• including those used by the media and the vast majority of
educated Filipinos.
• English is taught in schools as one of the two official
languages of the country, the other being Filipino (Tagalog).
Kashrus’s Concentric Circles
 ESSAY
Answer the following questions comprehensively
• 1. In your own words, define and explain language. 10 points
• 2. How important is language and why? 10 points
• 3. In your own words, define the 4 macro skills in
communication. (10 points)
• 4. Differentiate diachronic vs synchronic. (10 points)
“Language is not just [Link]’s
a culture,a tradition, a unification
of a commuunity.”