Barna Harghel Gabriela

Colegiul Tehnic Dimitrie Ghika Comanesti

Tehnici de predare a limbii engleze ca experienta a timpului prezent

Present -Language and Teaching Experience

There's no time like the present!

Why do people talk? What is language for? One common answer to this question is that
language is a complex form of communication, and that people talk in order to share or request
information.

Whenever we open our mouths to speak, we provide those who hear us, chosen interlocutors or
mere bystanders, with information. That is certainly a very important use of language, but clearly it is
not the only use. According to linguists, by language we mean the socially shared conventions that
govern communication using words, symbols or gestures. Because communication and language are
central to all forms and levels of education, they deserve special consideration. Learning a language is
the main intellectual exercise undertaken.

Language is a condition for engaging in formal education and has both a social and cognitive
role.

The human experience is organized in time. Time can be measured in language by tenses and
verbs. The tense establishes the relationship between the form of the verb and the time of the action or
state it describes. The verb is the part of speech that allows expressing time. Time is organized through
language. The language succeeds in organizing time on a basis. Everything happens as linked to the
present but the present can be different as regards every speaker. There is no past and no future if there
is no present. The present defines the fundamental experience of time.

The language, which people use, is a key part of their identity. They use language to establish
relationships, to understand and interpret their environment and to interact with the world around
them.

English is the worlds most important language. It is certainly the worlds most widely used
language. All over the world, English is considered to be lingua franca because of its widespread
influence on global economy. Learners have sufficient level of motivation to learn English.
Consequently, they are trying to learn English and apply it wherever needed to keep pace with the
present world. The reality is that we can bring a learners fluency of English first and then go for his/her
accuracy.

We, most members of the language teaching profession, realize that their students learning
potential increases when attitudes are positive and motivation is high. The general impression is that
students ability to learn a second language can be influenced by our attitudes towards the target
language, the target language speakers and their culture, the social value of learning the second
language, and also the students attitudes towards themselves as members of their own culture.

As regards the way students perceive the new language, Davidson Joe suggests that within
English lessons students experience language in three different ways:

Learning through language. Language is the medium through which much of their learning will
take place. Students will learn by listening to the teacher and listening to each other. They will learn by
reading novels, poems, textbooks, and comments from their teacher and from each other. They will
explore and develop their ideas in both speech and writing.

Learning to use language. Students learn to use the language by practicing it in a variety of
different ways. They practice speaking and writing many types of text for a range of purposes and to a
variety of audiences. They practice reading and listening for many different purposes and in many
different contexts.

Learning about language. Students already know a huge amount about language at an implicit
level. In every conversation, they make sophisticated choices of vocabulary, grammar and emphasis in
order to achieve the tone and the effect they want. The task of the English teacher is to help students to
reflect on language and to make their implicit knowledge of language explicit.

Being in the world is temporal and local, bound to a persons individual situation in life. It is
being in relation to what has been, what there is now and what each one expects the life and reality to
be to him or her in the future. Nevertheless, the central point of ones life is present. A human being
learns from this knowledge of personal experiences. Thus the past, present and future
autobiographical is continuously present in a person when he or she learns or teaches a foreign
language. Teaching and learning a foreign language is seen here as reflexive being-in-the-world. When
teaching and learning a foreign language, a persons relation to the reality, to his or her situation in life
changes. The person changes himself /herself and the world.

Teaching a language is supposed to be achieved in a context. Socio-cultural context refers to the

idea that language, rather than existing in isolation, is closely linked to the culture and society in which it
is used. This means that when language is learnt, the socio-cultural context in which it is used needs to
be taken into consideration as well. Context refers to the time and place in which an utterance occurs.
Cultural context involves the things; a person brings to the interpretation of that meaning based on such
things as national origin or religion. The linguistic context is the setting (words, phrases, and sentences)
in which the text occurs. Social context includes the identity of the speaker and the person or persons to
whom he or she is speaking, their relationship, and the speakers intent or purpose in making the
remark. Understanding the context is a major step toward comprehension of any communication.

When teaching concentrates on the way the world is, the students use the experience from the world
through their language. Language facilitates the construction of personal meaning and social identity.
Individuals develop a sense of self and explore their identities by what they say to themselves, and by
what others say to them. Individuals and groups tell stories about themselves, which reveal their
histories, values and ambitions. Language does not reflect reality, it constructs it.

Learners come to an educational setting with a certain amount of cognitive ability and knowledge, the
teacher brings a more sophisticated cognitive ability and a greater level of knowledge. Through the
means of language, teacher and learner interact. The teacher encourages, gives examples, supports and
affirms ideas, offers analogies and metaphors and challenges existing ideas.

Learning a foreign language occurs as a result of experience, everything in comparison to the

present. The experience may be students prior experience or the experience of others; it may be formal
or informal, inside or outside a classroom. Experience is the foundation and the stimulus for learning a
foreign language. Learning is socially and culturally constructed and can be influenced by the socio-
emotional context in which it occurs.

Teachers need to provide experiences for students. Teachers need to help students to process
that experience. Learning a foreign language involves a transformation of experience. Experiential
learning is part of a student-centred movement, and stresses the direct experience of the student. This
offers the teacher a range of strategies for engaging students in the learning process and provides a
range of techniques such as problem based learning that demands active involvement in learning.

Language is a key feature in pupils identity and environment. The development of knowledge
about language is an entitlement for all pupils.

Language is the most human of all human attributes. More than just a means of communication,
it is our vehicle of thought. We cannot imagine human beings without language, and if we came across
another creature with language in our sense we would say it was human or human-like, or intelligent in
the way that humans are. Language impinges upon every sphere of human activity, including all the
sciences, from physics through sociology to literary criticism.

In other words, language teaching is not just about teaching language, it is also about helping
students to develop themselves as people. Human experience always refers to the linguistic expression
and the unique time of reference of life experience is the present.
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