The Value of Foreign Language Knowledge as a Means of Communication

DIANA MONJE MARCOS

Introduction to Foreign Language Value

Before starting the development of this topic, I would like to make a brief introduction which starts explaining why I have chosen it.

English has become a need in our globalized world for social, cultural, economic and academic reasons but mainly for communication between people.

Have you ever thought why Esperanto didn't survive? Some researchers considered that it was due to the lack of cultural background as it was an artificial language.

In this sense, topic 4 is paramount for us teachers since it provides a general overview of the importance of learning a FL and its culture as topic 5 which are closely related.

Let's continue now with laws, which can be considered as the educational process' foundation, because they are the basis to build up the beautiful building of education. Taking CFRL as a reference, our current educational law is based on the communicative approach.

But which is the pillar of this building? "A good Education is the main wealth and resource of a country and its citizens", this is set by our current law LOMLOE 3/2020 passed on the 29th of December which modifies LOE.

Then, if we continue building up, we arrive at the floor, the Royal Decree 157/2022 passed on the 1st of March which establishes the curriculum of Primary Education and states on its article 7 goal f) that primary education will contribute to develop the capacity which enable children to "achieve basic communicative competence in at least one FL to enable them, express and understand simple messages and to perform well in everyday situations".

Moreover, goal a) related to co-existence and goal d) about knowing, understanding and respecting different cultures.

Finally, we arrive at the roof of this building, by our 38/2022 Decree passed on the 29th of September which establishes the curriculum of Primary Education in Cyl which states that this area contributes to the improvement of sustainable development goals and to enable students to face the challenges of the 21st century. Moreover, our curriculum includes some methodological guidelines in the FLT which stablish the importance of getting closer to the cultural diversity of countries that speak the foreign language and to become familiar with the sounds of the language.

Besides, regarding the Key Competences, TOPIC 4 has a relevant role in the curriculum as it can be a tool to help pupils achieve competence in linguistic communication and competence in cultural awareness and expression.

The present topic is divided into 4 main sections:

First, I will deal with the value of foreign language as means of communication. Second, I will present linguistic Diversity: getting to know a new language and its culture. Third, I will compile the main conclusions and the bibliography used to develop this topic.

Now, let's start with the first part of this topic which is ...

DIANA MONJE MARCOS

The Value of a Foreign Language as Means of Communication

Learning another language opens up new opportunities, gives new perspectives and gives the learner ability to step inside the mind and context of another culture.

As globalization, mobility and communications, bring the world closer together the need for global citizens to be competent in other languages is more urgent than even before.

Our own Decree 38/2022 specifically incorporates content linked to the value of foreign language as an instrument of communication.

In the FL classroom, considering language a means of communication implies that the teacher informs students of the advantages of being fluent in a common language in a world where so many languages exist. It also implies adopting a communicative methodology in which the student understands the scope of communicating in another language.

Why Learn Foreign Languages?

We will now examine in detail the reasons why foreign languages should be promoted at school:

1. SOCIOLOGICAL REASONS: learning foreign languages will allow young citizens to broaden their understanding of the world, to learn about ways of life, social organization and ideas which are different from their own, contributing in this way to the development of social and cultural tolerance and the access to a vast range of professions.
2. EDUCATIONAL REASONS: the students' general communicative competence is improved by the incorporation of other linguistic codes and the acquisition of new concepts, strategies, abilities and attitudes.
3. COGNITIVE REASONS: monolingual children discover that the notions they have learnt in their mother tongue can be expressed similarly in other languages.
4. LINGUISTIC REASONS: children are better prepared to learn a language than adults at an auditory and phonological level, since their natural ability to acquire a language diminishes as they grow up.
5. AFFECTIVE REASONS: children spontaneity is a useful tool in the second language learning process when communicating.
6. LEARNING A NEW LANGUAGE ENCOURAGES POSSITIVE ATTITUDES towards foreign language as it is stated in our Regional Decree.
7. LEARNING A NEW LANGUAGE IS FUN: games and activities lend themselves naturally to language learning. In this line, generating motivation through active, fun and contextualized activities are key factors 3DIANA MONJE MARCOS which determine the learner's achievement of communicative competence.
8. IT IS BEST TO START EARLY: Primary Pupils are very receptive to learn a new language. They are willing and able to mimic pronunciation without inhibitions and self-consciousness of older students.
9. IT DEVELOPS SELF-CONFIDENCE AND STRONG INTERPERSONAL SKILLS.

English as Lingua Franca

A Lingua Franca is any language widely used beyond the population of its native speakers.

Nowadays, the absolute protagonist is English. English is used as Lingua Franca to facilitate communication and to spread better knowledge in almost every field.

Since 19th Century, English has progressively gain status as an international language and several factors have contributed to it:

1. Demographic factors: The quick growth of English native speakers during 19th century in the USA, in the UK and their colonies.
2. Political and military factors: development of the British colonies in the 19th century and prominent international role played by English-Speaking nations after the World War II.
3. Economic factors: great economic development of the USA in the 20th century as the first worldwide economic power.
4. Technological, scientific and industrial factors: the technological and industrial achievements of Britain and the USA and the fast development of means of communication and mass media have made English the international language in many different fields.
5. Linguistic Factors: the degree of the morphological and syntactic simplification of English is an advantage when learning this language. English is a relatively easy language to learn with a cosmopolitan vocabulary, a clear syntactic sentence order and lack of inflections.

Nowadays, all THESE FACTORS have affected the position of English a LINGUA FRANCA. Its importance is clear in the following fields:

1. Geographical frame: it is estimated that English is spoken in more than 60 countries.
2. Number of speakers: more than 1348 millions of people speak English, 400 million people as their mother tongue.
3. Political Field: English is the language of the most important world institutions (UNESCO, ONU).
4. Cultural and informative fields: English is widely used in films, cinema, music, tv, radio, podcasts, internet and entertainment.
5. Scientific and technological fields: from World War II onwards, English became the language of scientific and technological advances.
6. Sports field: International Olympic Committee also uses English as a means of communication.
7. Educational field: Millions of children in the world study English. Educational authorities from over the world have included the study of English in the different levels of education.
8. Linguistic field: the huge number of anglicisms in our language shows the hegemony of English in our society in politics, sports, clothes, transport, etc.

Learning to Communicate in English

Since the 1970s, the belief that a language is a means of communication has inspired a new Approach in the Foreign Language Teaching: the Communicative Approach developed by Robert Langs. It is based on providing the students with enough communicative activities to develop oral and written skills in order to use the language accurately and appropriately.

The Council of Europe incorporated this communicative view into a set of guidelines called The Common European Reference for Languages.

Moreover, our current Educational Law is based on the COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH, since one of its aims is that students achieve Communicative Competence. This concept which was coined by Dell Hymes comprises not only the abstract abilities that speakers possess that enable them to produce grammatically correct sentences (Chomsky's view) but also to use a language in an appropriate way in order to be communicatively competent in a speech community. Hymes incorporated a communicative and a cultural dimension in his definition of Communicative Competence.

In this line, Canale and Swain (1980) expanded Hyme's description establishing that communicative competence is made up of 5 subcompetence areas.

1. Linguistic Competence: Consists of knowing how to use the grammar, syntax and vocabulary of a language.
2. Sociolinguistic Competence: Consists of knowing how to use and respond to language appropriately according to the social context, participant and purpose.
3. Discourse Competence: Consists of knowing how to interpret the largest context and how to construct longer structures of language so that the parts make up a coherent whole.
4. Strategic Competence: It is the mastery of verbal and non-verbal communication strategies used to compensate for breakdowns in communication and to make communication more effective.
5. Sociocultural Competence: It is being familiar with the social and cultural context, the background where the language is spoken.

Besides, another concept considered in our law is the four skills. Learning to communicate in a language means using the 4 skills (listening, speaking, 5