Language: Concepts and precepts

Chapter 1      Language: Concepts and precepts
Book name: Understanding Language teaching
Written by: Kumaravadivelu
Prepared by: Saeed Mojarradi -   Ph.D. student
Language: A definition of language observed the British cultural critic, Raymond Williams, is always,
 implicitly or explicitly.Why?

• Because language permeates every aspect of human experience, and creates as well as reflects images of that experience. It is always impossible to imagine human life without it. And yet, we seldom think about it.

• In fact, we are oblivious (listless) of its ubiquitous (present) presence in and around us.

Just as the fish is unmindful of water it is submerged in.Julia Kristeva (1989, p. 329) ends her erudite book on language with the humbling phrase: “that still unknown object-language. "Aim: To decipher the fundamental concepts of language and how applied linguists have tried to turn some of those theoretical concepts into applicable pedagogic precepts.

• Theoretical concepts
  • Language as a system
  • Language as discourse
  • Language as ideology
• Pedagogic precepts
  • Components of competence
  • Areas of knowledge / ability
• Conclusion