Human Language Series

I was really struck by the opening statement: "What is language? Every one knows, thank Heavens". I continued to ask myself this while I watched these documentaries, and I realized something - as an aspiring ESL teacher, I had really not fully contemplated what language is, or why we all know what it is. As mentioned in the third video, it is the institution we don't share in any significant way with any other organism.

I can read Krashen until the cows come home, and debate endlessly with my husband (also an ESL teacher - education is in the blood, apparently!) about the role of feedback and correction in teaching or what communicative competence is. But language itself, this esoteric discussion about the human capacity to communicate, is stunning in its range. To consider the fact that we can empathize, argue, brings tears and laughter, discipline, encourage, dismay, and a myriad other things through this very human interaction is overwhelming, to say the least.

In the first video, Mark Aranoff (for a bit of light distraction, you can see him at Stony Brook's Dancing With The Stars here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFQrDgRoZqQ - smooth moves, Prof. Aranoff!) gave a very useful analogy to chemistry. Seeing it in a concrete way like that made approaching teaching a lot easier. Seeing each word as a building block made me think of very basic teaching practices which I sometimes don't give enough consideration to - pre-teaching vocabulary is one example that comes to mind. Did anyone have any teaching practices they have been using (maybe subconsciously) that were brought to light in these videos?

I also really liked when Aranoff and another guest were talking about sentences that have never been used before - the President McCarthy story was very funny. I think the point here was that yes, we can use language to make up sentences that have never been used before, but surely the whole point of language is to communicate to be understood. This highlighted the importance of ESL teaching being contextualized - making sure the text being taught to the students makes sense to them contextually. For example, normally when I choose a picture book for reading practice in my Grade 3 class, I would choose a book based in the city like 'Blackout' (because I teach inner city in Trenton) over something like 'Mrs Wishy-Washy's Farm'. Then there are more everyday-based context clues for students to work with. 

I love working with this book!

The language acquisition portion of this series was fascinating also. One statement in the second video explored the fact that, from a very young age, children are equipped with "an understanding of the basic structure of any human language". But how can this be? This is definitely a question I have been left with. I was always interested in, but never quite on board with, Noam Chomsky's argument for a Universal Grammar Device. This video changed my mind about that a little when this statement was made: "The brain is like every other system in the biological world...it's highly differentiated into subsystems of special design and structure, and one of these happens to have a special design for acquiring language." 

I TOTALLY geeked out on the section about the Siberian Yupik language on St. Lawrence Island. As soon as I started watching I jumped on Wikipedia and from there fell down a separate YouTube hole which took me here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvxMaz20kXk&list=PLC5FA6F1F7B8708D0 (if anyone's interested in knowing more about the people). It really highlighted for me the fact that every language has rules, and that learning those rules is integral to learning a language - but how much of that are we innately geared towards, and how much of it is consciously studied? Another question I have been left with!

I think, overall, the biggest implications these videos have had for me is that language is a very human, universal ability. As an ESL teacher, I want to be able to equip my students with the ability to communicate within their specific contexts to better themselves and their communities. In terms of practices, I think I will concentrate even more on contextualizing the language learning so that it specifically relates to their content area and everyday lives. What did everyone else think about the videos? Has it changed your thoughts on language learning or teaching?

P.S. The importance of being bilingual: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h42Vsea1rmU