What changes in language we have made in different stages of our lives?

Sociolinguistics
&
Foreign Language Teaching

GROUP 2 - PG.35
1. Vũ Ngọc Anh
2. Vũ Thị Hạnh
3. Ngô Thanh Thúy
4. Bùi Cao Tuấn
01
a. Definition of sociolinguistics

Presented by: Vu Thi Hanh

 I. Definition of sociolinguistics
● Is a branch of linguistics, which studies just those properties of languages that require
reference to social including contextual factors.
(William Labov, 1975).

● the study of language in relation to society, implying (intentionally) that sociolinguistics is

part of the study of language.
(Hudson, 1996)

● interested in explaining why we speak differently in different social contexts, and social
functions of language.

(Homes, 2008)
 I. Definition of sociolinguistics

Coulmas (1997)

Macro-
Micro- sociolinguistics sociolinguistics

social structure influence the way people talk and what societies do with their languages.
how language varieties and patterns.
I. Summary of definition

• Sociolinguists view language and society as being mutually constitutive: each influences the
other in ways that are inseparable and complex.

• To study the effects of language use within and upon societies and the effects of social
organization and social context on language use.

• To discover how social structure can be better understood through the study of language.
 Example:

1. Can you identify formal and informal conversation into 2 examples?

2. How does Ray greet the principle?
3. Would you use the same greetings to your best friend?

=> The usage of language reveals the relationship between speakers.

=> Social factors influence the word choices, and the way people speak.

=> Language serves a rage of functions.

02 b. Key concepts of sociolinguistics

Presented by: Vu Thi Hanh

 I. Key concepts of sociolinguistics

Language variation

Focus on users Focus on uses

Social Lingua
Language Dialect Idiolect Pidgin Register
Dialect Franca
Language variation
 1. Language
 Haugen (1966) has pointed out that language and dialect are ambiguous terms.
 A ‘language’ is considered an overarching category containing dialects.

Language Dialect
non-linguists’ usually used to mean both the The term ‘dialect’ often implies
perceptions superordinate category and the standard nonstandard or even substandard
variety

sociolinguists’ is used to refer either to a single linguistic dialect’ is used to refer to one of the
viewpoints norm or to a group of related norms. norms.
Haugen (1966)

sociopolitical identity A language has more power than any of its A dialect is considered powerless
dialects. compared to language.
 Dialect
definition features example

• A form of a language that is • Distinguished from other • Morphology: some Atlantic

spoken in a particular part dialects of the same state have clim, clum,
of a country or by a language by features of clomes instead of climbed.
particular group of people. linguistic structure such as:
• Vocabulary: subway
words (American English),
underground (British
 grammar English).

• Syntax: sick to his stomach,

 pronunciations
sick at his stomach, “ sick
in”, “ sick on”, sick with”.
 Social Dialect
Social dialect: a variety of speech associated with
various social groups and classes.
( Wardhaugh, 2014)

Social class has various factors to determine social dialects originate among social
social position: occupation, place of residence, groups and are related to a variety of
education, income, racial or ethic category, factors: social class, religion, and
cultural background. race/ethnicity.

E.x: In a city Baghdad, the Christian, Jewish and

E.x: There is an “ African American dialect found in Muslim inhabitants spoke different variety of
many places in the United States Arabic, even though Muslim served as common
language.
 Idiolect
definition features example

• An individual's distinctive • Person’s dialect is • Differences in the uses of

and unique use of language, constantly undergoing language between a farmer
including speech. change. and a professor.
• Affected by styles and
• This unique usage levels of language users.
encompasses vocabulary,
grammar, and
pronunciation.

• No two speakers have the

same language, because no
two speakers have the
same experience of
language (Hudson, 2008).
Language variation
Lingua Franca
 Lingua Franca

Definition Example

• A language or dialect systematically used to • Academics and experts meet at

make communication possible between international conferences, or when
groups of people who do not share a native politicians arrange summit meetings, a
language or dialect. world language such as English, French or
Spanish is often used as the lingua franca.
• Particularly when not one of the speakers'
native languages.
(Homes, 2008)
Application of Lingua Franca

Map. The Negro and Amazon Rivers and surrounding countries

 Pidgin

definition features example

• A pidgin is a language which • it is used in restricted • In Vietnam, a pidgin English

has no native speakers. domains and functions. developed for use between
the American troops and the
• it has a simplified structure Vietnamese, but it
• Pidgins develop as a means of subsequently died out.
communication between • it generally has low prestige
people who do not have a and attracts negative
common language attitudes.
 Register
definition features example
• a linguistic repertoire that is • Speakers learn different • You can speak as a
associated, culture-internally, registers through socialization stockbroker and an
with particular social in different cultural groups archeologist, or a mountain
practices and with persons within their society. climber and an economist.
who engage in such
practices. • one person may control a • choose words that are
(Agha, 2006) variety of registers considered more "formal"
• focus on the situational (such as father vs. dad, or
parameters defining the • helps to construct an identity child vs. kid)
communicative situation. at a specific time or place.
(Biber, 2003)

• are sets of language items

associated with discrete
occupational or social
groups.
 1.
1.
BILINGUALISM &
BICULTURALISM

INTERCULTURAL & CROSS-

2. CULTURAL COMMUNICATION
2.
03. 3. LANGUAGE AND POWER

3.
4. LANGUAGE AND GENDER
1.1. Bilingualism & biculturalism

Foreign langu
age learning i
accompanied s not
by loss of the
native langua
ge, it results in
bilingualism, n
ative-like con
of two langua trol
ges (Hoffman
n,
2014, p.6)

1.1.1. DEFINITION OF
BILINGUALISM
1.1.2. Example of bilingualism

Alternate languages
(Vietnamese and Korean)
fluently

=> Bilingualism
 1.1.3. Features of bilingualism

• Interference
• Borrowing
• Individual creations
• Code-switching
Code-switching

Code-switching refers to the mixing, by

bilinguals (or multilinguals), or two or
more languages in discourse, often with no
change of interlocutor or topic. (Poplack,
S. (2001).

Style, yay for no make up, sexy, can not

decide…
 1.2. Biculturalism

Individuals are considered bicultural if they speak both the language of their
heritage cultural context and the language of their receiving cultural
context, have friends from both cultural backgrounds, and watch television
programs and read magazines from both cultural contexts (Schwartz, 2000)
2. Intercultural & cross-cultural communication

1. Definition
2. Dimensions of intercultural and
cross-cultural communication
 2.1. DEFINITION

Intercultural Cross-cultural
communication communication
Involves communication involves comparisons of
between people from different communication across cultures
countries. (Gudykunst, 2003) (Gudykunst, 2003) 

Ex: ULIS students

participate in year-on-year
Thai-Viet Youth Exchange
Programme 
 Collectivism Individualism
Members of individualistic
Members of collectivistic culture: cultures:
more concerned with
more concerned with clarity in conversations and
avoiding hurting others’ feelings view clarity as necessary for
effective communication

tend to use high-context tend to use low-context

messages when maintaining communication and
ingroup and communicate in an communicate in a direct fashion.
indirect way. (Gudykunst & (Gudykunst & Ting-Toomey,
Ting-Toomey, 1988) 1988)
 Collectivism Individualism

Ex: Ex:

Hi there. How are you doing? Hey, turn down the volume! It’s
I can see that everyone in the annoying. Do you see we are in
library is so silent, isn’t it? the library?
 Collectivism Individualism

Ex: Ex:

Hi there. How are you doing? Hey, turn down the volume! It’s
It’s weird that everyone in the annoying. Do you see we are in
library is so silent, isn’t it? the library?
3 Language and Power

Language and racial inequality

Language and class inequality

The power of language

 3.1. Language and racial inequality

Linguistic racism is a term describes when language is used to empower

dominant white culture over another racial group (Ives & Rana,2018).

Example:
• Good guys wear white hats and ride white horses => White colour
represents for positivity
• Bad guys wear black hats and ride black horses => Racism
 3.2. Language and class inequality

Linguistic discrimination is often based on elitist views of language,

with people judged on their accent and dialect. (Ives & Rana,2018).

Those who speak with strong regional (and often working class)
accents are viewed as inferior to those who speak with an RP
accent.

Example: The UK (RP accent => High social status)

 3.3. The power of language
Positive impacts Negative impacts

Make people feel personally Make people feel isolated:

fulfilled (Ives & Rana,2018).
- feel unfamiliar with the sociolect
(the language used by a particular
Example: social group, teenage school children,
“I love the milk-glass vase. I’ll adults in a book club.) or dialect of
think of you every time I see it on those around them (Ives &
my table” Rana,2018).
4 Language & Gender

Definition of gender

Sexism in word order

Semantic degrotion
 4.1. Definition of gender

Gender, then, is not something a person has or is born with; it is something

they accomplish through their behaviour, clothing, habits and speech.
(Mooney & Evan, 2018)
 4.2. Sexism in word order

Heidi Motschenbacher
(2003) examined the
patterns of ordering when
both a male and a female are
mentioned in a noun phase.
M-F order seems to be
accepted widely but this is Example:
unusual - Các thầy/cô
- Anh/chị
 4.1. Semantic derogation

Semantic derogation refers - “Slut”

to the process by which a  1402: a woman of dirty,
word comes to have untidy habits or appearance
negative meanings over  loosing sexual morality
time. (Ives & Rana, 2018,
p.133).  No term that refers to males in
exactly the same way.
4 Language planning &
Language policy

Presented by: Ngo Thanh Thuy - PG.35

 Language planning & Language policy

Language Planning
Definition:

‘Language planning is a government authorized, long-term, sustained, and conscious effort to alter a
language’s function in a society for the purpose of solving communication problems.’ (Weinstein, 1980, p.
56).

--> It represents a coherent effort by individuals, groups, or organizations to influence language use or
development

Example: the U.S. Court Interpreters Act of 1978 provides an interpreter to any victim,
witness, or a defendant whose native language is not English
 Language planning & Language policy

assessing resources complex decision-

making

the assignment of different the commitment of

functions to different languages or
language varieties in a community
valuable resources
Language planning & Language policy

Language Policy

Definition:

Planned interventions pronounced and implemented by

states, supported/enforced by law
Language planning & Language policy

Language Policy

Three components (Spolsky, 2004):

• the language practices of a community: patterns of selection from linguistic resources for
particular domains (location, topics, participants)

• language ideologies - associate language choices & speakers with economic, political and moral
dimensions.

• language planning - an attempt to change language practices

 Language planning & Language policy

Language Policy & Planning (LPP)

The plans in changing languages often involve policy decisions

--> work on language planning is often intertwined with work on language policy.

It is frequently referred to as LPP (Language Policy and Planning; Hornberger 2006).

 Language planning & Language policy

Language Policy & Planning (LPP)

LPP is defined as planning - often large scale and national, usually taken by the governments - to
influence ways of speaking or literacy practices within a society. (Baldauf, 2004)
 Language planning & Language policy

Language Policy & Planning (LPP)

Example: Singapore - A multilingual country

- Mother tongue policy: defned in Singapore as the language of the father’s ethnic group
--> not necessarily equivalent to the home language/the first or native language of an
individual.

- Malay: national language because of Singapore’s position in the Malay world

- English has become the working language of Singapore: the language of the government
system, the authoritative language of all legislation and court judgments, and the language
of occupational mobility and social and economic advancement
 Language planning & Language policy

TYPES OF LANGUAGE PLANNING

Language planning focuses on:

(1) the status of language with regard to some other language --> status planning

(2) internal condition to make adjustments --> corpus planning

 Types of Language planning

Type 1: status planning

• Changes the function of a language or language variety within a given

society.
• As a result of planning decisions, a language can achieve one of a variety
of statuses (Kloss, 1968).
 Types of Language planning
Type 1: status planning

• A language may be recognized as the sole official language

Example:
- French is in France
- English in the UK and the US

• Two or more languages may share official status in some countries

Example:
- English & French in Canada
- English, Malay, Tamil, Chinese in Singapore
 Types of Language planning
Type 2: Corpus planning

• refers to norm selection & codification

(characteristics/ criteria of a good language are established)
• normally undertaken by language experts to standardize the language

• Corpus planning may involve:

- the development of the language itself
- new sources of vocabulary, dictionaries, literacy manuals, with the cultivation of new
uses
--> so that the language can indeed serve its designated functions (such areas as
government, education, and trade.)
5 Englishes in the world

Presented by: Ngo Thanh Thuy - PG.35

 1.1. The growth and expansion of
English

Englishes in
the world The roles and status of
2.2. English in Vietnam
 1.1. The growth and expansion of English

Reasons for the spread of English

Crystal (1997) concludes that one of the primary reasons for the spread of English is that ''it has been in
the right place at the right time'':
The growth and expansion of English

1 2 3

17th -18th 18th -19th late 19th- early

century century 20th century
the language of the the language of the
English was the language leading economic
leader of the industrial
of the leading colonial power - the USA
revolution - also
nation - Britain
Britain
 The growth and expansion of English

• English has spread everywhere in the world as a lingua franca (common

language) (Crystal, 2003).

• English is used not only to communicate within English-speaking countries

but also in international relations, the worldwide media, international
travel, education.
- The rapid spread of English as a language of
communication has raised the issue of the
status of English in its varieties, which are
commonly called World Englishes (Kachru,
1985).
 New Englishes

English is a rather complex set of varieties. People use it to express

both national and local identities (Schneider 2003)
Platt et al. (1984, p. 2-3), a ‘New’ English is one which fulfils the following criteria:

• It has developed through the education system.

• It has developed where a native variety of English was not the language spoken
by most of the population.
• It is used for a range of functions among those who can speak or write it in the
region where it is used (e.g. in literature, the government, and the media).
• It has become ‘localized’ or ‘nativized’ by adopting some language features of
its own.
 New Englishes

Examples:
• Hong Kong English, Indian English, Nigerian English, and Singapore English

• Many distinctive forms also identify the Englishes of the other countries of the
inner circle: British English (BrE) vs American English (AmE), Australian
English, New Zealand English, Canadian English, and, within Britain, Irish,
Scots, and Welsh English. 

• Most adaptation in New English relates to vocabulary, in the form of new

words, word-formations, word meanings, collocations, and idiomatic phrases.
 1.2. The roles and status of English in Vietnam

English in the national formal education system from general schools to college

• In general school, among seven foreign languages being taught in Vietnam

(English, Chinese, Russian, French, German, Japanese, and Korean), the number of
students learning English as a Foreign language (FL) 1 always accounts for over
98% (Hoang, 2010).

• In tertiary education, there are 2 main types of English language teaching:

(1) universities/colleges where English is taught as a major with advanced level
training in English
(2) English is taught as a subject or non-major and is considered a compulsory subject.
 1.2. The roles and status of English in Vietnam

English outside the formal education system:

• English competence is a necessary qualification in the government service.

• Some economic sectors, hotels, business firms/ groups only employ staff who have
fluency in English speaking. (Eg. Airlines companies)
 1.2. The roles and status of English in Vietnam

English in the non-formal education sector:

English courses and testing services at different levels of proficiency

Example: The British Council, Apollo, …

06 The relationships between
Sociolinguistics and FLT
(Foreign Language Teaching)
The relationships between Sociolinguistics and FLT

“Every human language shows variation in linguistic structure depending on

the occasions of its use.”

Ferguson (1991)

Variation in the native speech community is a feature of what the learner must
grasp.
 1.1. Language Education
& Culture

The
relationships 2.2. Language Education &
Gender
Language Education
& Culture
Language Education & Culture

Language awareness Multicultural

or dialect education education
curricula

Participatory
Funds of
pedagogy
knowledge
Language awareness or dialect education curricula

• A curricular component
designed specifically:

To raise learners’ awareness of

the variable nature of language
and its link to their cultural
identities.

ENGLISH BOOK – GRADE 6

(COMPOSED BY PROF. HOANG VAN VAN)
 Language awareness or dialect education curricula

- Helps learners to understand the social, political, and historical nature of

languages considered standard and against which their own varieties are judged.

Involving learners in the study of the language varieties found in

their local communities
Funds of knowledge

• Drawing on learners’ diverse worlds outside the classroom

=> Create linguistically and culturally meaningful curricula and instructional practices
in the classroom.
 Funds of knowledge
• The active involvement of teachers in the ethnographic study of their students’
worlds outside the school and in the use of their newfound understandings.

=> Redesign or transform their curricula and instructional activities.

Funds of knowledge
 Funds of knowledge

MID AUTUMN FESTIVAL IN HANOI ADELAIDE SCHOOL

Multicultural education

• Multicultural education is an idea, an educational reform movement, and a process

(Banks, 1997).

• As an idea, multicultural education seeks to create equal educational opportunities

for all students, including those from different racial, ethnic, and social-class
groups.
Multicultural education

Multicultural Education
addresses the concerns

IN THE PAST RECENT YEARS

Three groups in particular: Linguistically and culturally

those identified by race, diverse immigrant groups
class, and gender
 Multicultural education

Founded in 1988, The United Nations International School of Hanoi

(UNIS) is the most diverse international in Hanoi.
Participatory pedagogy

• Has its roots in the work of Brazilian educator Paulo Freire (1972, 1973)

Teachers – a facilitator Curriculum - organized

around experiences,
needs

Learners - considered to
be central to their lives
Participatory pedagogy

• Aims to create classroom environments that help learners:

1. understand more fully their local conditions and circumstances

2. to take action toward changing their lives.

Participatory pedagogy
• Include such activities: learning through social networking, searching and
retrieving information, researching information, collaboration and share
interests, .etc
Funds of knowledge

ENGLISH BOOK – GRADE 6

(COMPOSED BY DR. HOANG VAN VAN)
Language Education
& Gender
Language Education & Gender

1 2 3

Gendered access to Gendered interactions Gender in the foreign

linguistic resources in the classroom and second language
curiculum
 Gendered access to linguistic resources

Since the early 1990s, many research conducted

=> To enhance the understanding of way in which gendered practices mediate
immigrants’ access to educational and interactional opportunities.

- Their access to English as a

Immigrant women from Second Language (ESL) classes
traditionally patriarchal
communities
(older women and - Limit their acess to opportunities
women with families) that would allow them to practice the
language
 Gendered access to linguistic resources
SOLUTIONS:

Offer evening and weekend programs, externally funded daycare, and programs
centered around these women’s needs (Frye, 1999; Norton Peirce et al. 1993;
Rivera, 1999)

Ex: Program based in the United States, where all classes, those in Spanish and in
English, aim at helping working-class immigrant Latina women:
 acquire literacy skills,
 improve their basic education,
 increase English proficiency
 prepare for the high school equivalency exam.
Gendered access to linguistic resources

A digital literacy
programme - helping
women and girls in
Kenya to learn new
skills and earn extra
income, irrespective of
age or education level
Gendered interactions in the classroom

• Gender shapes interactions in the classroom, asking:

o which participants have the right to speak and to define meaning

o who remains invisible and why

Gendered interactions in the classroom

• In a French-language school in Toronto :

o Older immigrant girls had least access to the school’s linguistic resources, in
particular, English

o Academically successful middle-class males were most likely to become

bilingual in a way envisaged by school.
 Gendered interactions in the classroom
• In kindergartens and elementary schools:

Þ Boys, on average, are more likely to speak up during a class discussion—

sometimes even if not called on, or even if they do not know as much about
the topic as others in the class (Sadker, 2002)

Þ When working on a project in a small co-ed group, furthermore they have a

tendency to ignore girls’ comments and contributions to the group.
 Gendered interactions in the classroom

o Cultures of learning play an important role in this process as learners often

hold beliefs about classroom behaviors and patterns of teacher–student
interaction.

Þ Students whose voices are not being acknowledged in the classroom may:

1. lose their desire to learn the language

2. engage in passive resistance to classroom practices and curriculum

demands
Gendered in the foreign and second language curriculum
o SOLUTIONS: Gender and sexuality can be broached in the classroom.

(Norton and Pavlenko, 2004)

Ex:

 Holding scenarios as a way to discuss diverging views of what constitutes sexual

harassment.

 Holding a discussion of gay and lesbian identities into the unit on modal auxiliary
verbs.

=> Offer a relatively safe space in which students could explore their own and
others’ views of potentially ambiguous gender and sexual identities and acquire
new interpretive skills.
THE IMPLICATIONS OF SOCIOLINGUISTICS ON
ENGLISH TEACHING
The implications of sociolinguistics on English teaching

Paying attention Combining

The Occurrence
to the Students’ Language
of Situational
subjective Teaching with
Language
emotional Cultural
Teaching
factors Teaching
Students’ subjective emotional factors

A friendly atmosphere
The emotional and harmonious
communication interpersonal
of students in relationship for the
the class teaching
Combining Language Teaching with Cultural Teaching

The understandability The tolerance of

of language input language output

1. Improving teaching quality

2. Foster the students’ integrated thinking ability and proactive spirit
3. Lay the foundation for the effective implementation of various teaching
means.
Combining Language Teaching with Cultural Teaching

Teachers SHOULD
Language - a tool for
communication and it is also + teach the students language knowledge
all important part of culture such as the vocabulary and grammar
as well as a
mirror which reflects a + introduce the cultural
nation’s culture and reveals background and teach the communication
its cultural content. principles which combine with various
social and cultural factors
Combining Language Teaching with Cultural Teaching

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGKCkvNk_zI
1:10-1:42
The Occurrence of Situational Language Teaching

Language can only realize the function of social communication in certain

situations.

Ex: USING “YOU” STATEMENTS INSTEAD OF “I” STATEMENTS

- It can be easy to say, “You did this” or “You didn’t do that.”

Þ We need to own those feelings rather than place the responsibility on the
other person.

- Instead of saying, “You didn’t call me back…” try saying, “I felt hurt when you
didn’t return my call.”
The Occurrence of Situational Language Teaching

Þ Teachers should make the students:

+ know the different meanings of language in different situations.

+ set up various situations that the students are likely to encounter in real life to
teach them suitable language.
 References
Gudykunst, W. B. (2003). Cross-cultural and intercultural communication. Sage.
Gudykunst, W. B., & Ting-Toomey, S. (1988). Culture and affective communication. American
behavioral scientist, 31(3), 384-400.
Hoffmann, C. (2014). Introduction to bilingualism.
Hofstede, G. (2011). Dimensionalizing cultures: The Hofstede model in context. Online readings in
psychology and culture, 2(1), 2307-0919.
Ives, G., & Rana, R. (2018). Language and Power. Cambridge University Press.

Mooney, A., & Evans, B. (2018). Language, society and power: An introduction. Routledge.
Motschenbacher, H. (2018). Corpus linguistics in language and sexuality studies: Taking stock
and looking ahead. Journal of Language and Sexuality, 7(2), 145-174.
Schwartz, S. J., Birman, D., Benet-Martínez, V., & Unger, J. B. (2017). Biculturalism: Negotiating
multiple cultural streams.