What is Language?

Defining language is a difficult task. The first idea we come across is that language is a faculty, characteristic of any human being because of the mere reason of being one: we are people, we can speak a language. Secondly and taking into consideration recent theories, language has come to be considered as a means of cognition, a quite vygostkyan approach to it, due to the fact that through language we learn to think.Both, as a human faculty and as a means of cognition, it is impossible to deny that language is a system. Any single language spoken in the world is a system made up of a set of conventions, conventions which are totally arbitrary passed on and transformed generation through generation. These systems are dual ones because they are composed of finite elements, for example, letters, sounds, that in isolation have got no meaning by themselves but when combined, gist is asserted, and in fact, there are infinite ways of combination.Till now, we have been talking about what language is, but the idea of its function has remained quite blurred. Language fulfils functions. We can just convey information –this is what is called the “transactional function of language”- but we can use it, too, to exchange social meanings –this is the “interactional function of language”.So, in a few words, we can make a division. On the one hand, language is a social construct. People create pieces of discourses, which are going to be coherent and cohesive (discourse competence); that piece of discourse (locutionary act) is going to be uttered in the proper way and place –pragmatics- (sociolinguistic competence) to have an effect on somebody else (illocutionary act) with the ultimate aim of getting an answer, a response (perlocultionary act) (Austin, 1962). If what we are communicating is not understood, we can negotiate meanings with our interlocutors to compensate for breakdowns in communication (strategic competence)On the other hand, language is a cognitive construct. We have got, probably subconsciously though it can turn out to be conscious if required, a set of rules in mind. The left hemisphere of our brain is rule-based, and it emerges when the activity requires accurate constructs. The right one is said to be memory-based and it is in charge of fostering fluency. Correct forms, vocabulary, pronunciation, etc account for what is known as grammatical competence. Both, the social and the cognitive concepts, materialize in what is known as Communicative Competence (Hymes, 1972; Canale & Swain, 1980)
Though all these concepts sound extremely coherent to our times, this has not been the case through the years. Along time, language has been seen through different ways, through different perspectives, namely: Classical-Humanism, Reconstructionism and Progressivism.
1) transmission of knowledge, structuralism (you are given a set of rules and you apply it to varied circumstances. No preparation for life or work (Classical-Humanism, teacher as one who transmits knowledge
2) everybody can learn everything, different backgrounds are accepted, the curriculum is end-oriented, that is, by the time students finish, they behave in a certain way: “to speak about plans in the future” (reconstructionism, teacher as facilitator)
3) you learn by yourself (learning by doing), problem to solve are the axis (progressivism, teacher as mediator, educator, paying attention to what ss need, in consequence, he or she becomes a reflective teacher)

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