Marginalized Knowledge: An Agenda for Indigenous Knowledge Development and Integration with Other Forms of Knowledge

The Function of Sociocultural Characteristics In English Language Teaching In Esl Situations

By Musonda V Mpepo⁷ [e-mail], University of Zululand

Department of English

Abstract

Many people would readily agree that a language needs to reflect the socio-cultural and linguistic imprints of the society in which it is used. However, when matters of English use in Africa are considered, little attention seems to be given to the possibility that there exists in communities outside England, and beyond native speaker enclaves, unique semantic systems (the social semiotics), which generate different rules of use. Thus, some teachers and language experts consider it appropriate to teach to appropriate to teach or recommend native ways of communicating notions and functions in non-native environments. Obviously, this viewpoint is limited in that it fails to recognise and acknowledge that people differ considerably in their communication preferences and habits. This paper presents some of the issues and challenges underlying the teaching and learning of English in some multilingual ESL situations of Southern Africa.

Introduction

Many people would readily agree that a language needs to reflect the socio-cultural and the linguistic imprints of the society in which it is used. However, when matters of English use in Africa are considered, little attention seems to be given to the possibility that there exists in communities outside England, and beyond native speaker enclaves, unique semantic systems (the social semiotics) which generate different rules of use. Thus, some teachers and language experts consider it appropriate to teach or recommend native ways of communicating notions and functions in non-native environments. Obviously, this viewpoint is limited in that it fails to recognize and acknowledge the fact that people differ considerably in their communication preferences and habits.

Variation in communication preferences and habits of people in turn suggests that an individual’s communicative skills can always be improved upon in the light of the demands of the speech community: no one (including a native speaker) ever knows a language completely. Therefore, the greatest challenge for educators and applied linguists is to carry out research into how non-native speakers of English do things with English words.

This paper sketches some of the issues and challenges underlying the teaching and learning of English in some multilingual ESL situations of Southern Africa. It begins by looking at the theoretical underpinnings of the communicative approach and points out how the African socio-cultural context has been ignored or given lip-service within the teaching practice.

Instead of recommending an eclectic approach, practitioners of the communicative approach, demonised those who practise other approaches or methodologies.

The use of dated references is unavoidable because of the need to show the historical background of the communicative approach which some teachers use as a mark of being up-to date or trendy if not as a panacea for language problems.