Linguistic landscapes and elt labs sample

Page 1


Linguistic Landscapes and ELT by Stephen Greene & Damian Williams Part 1 - Introduction What are linguistic landscapes? Stop reading this and take a look out of your nearest window. What can you see? What does your view look like? Is it a landscape of snow-peaked mountains with an alpine forest? Or do you have a view of the waves as they crash against the shore? Maybe you can see gently rolling hills with red flowers and trees and a country house in the background. More probably you can see houses and gardens, or if you are like me, other apartment buildings and, in the distance, the promise of the odd tree in a park. Whatever you can see, this is your geographic landscape. It can have an effect on you and your mood, especially if you have a view as bad as mine. But what is your linguistic landscape like? This is made of the language that you see around you every day of the week. It might be the signs of the shops you drive past on your way to work or school, or the advertising you try to avoid on the bus. It could be the warnings about not dropping litter or the signs telling you the name of the station you have just arrived at on the train. It could be the menu you are going to choose your lunch from or letter from your local government about that unpaid parking fine. The language(s) used in these communications, and much more, make up your linguistic landscape. Just as the view out of your window can affect your mood, your linguistic landscape can affect and inform your linguistic mood. If you are surrounded with words from one particular language you might feel more motivated or more inclined to learn that language. If you have many languages around you, but one or two of them seem to have more prominence then you might feel they are of a higher status and more important. If you never see another language you might not see the point in even trying to learn another one. The language of public road signs, advertising billboards, street names, place names, commercial shop signs, and public signs on government buildings combine to form the linguistic landscape of a given territory, region or urban agglomeration. Landry and Bourhis, 1997 It is the attention to language in the environment, words and images displayed and exposed in public spaces, that is the center of attention in this rapidly growing area referred to as Linguistic Landscape (LL). Shohamy and Gorter, 2008 The study of linguistic landscapes is a relatively recent field of academic research. Its main aim is to see how languages interact with each other in the public sphere by analysing how languages are used in both public and commercial signs. By identifying which languages are used and for what purpose researchers can infer how relevant or dominant one language is over another in a particular area, for example, and how this correlates to the socio-economic situation of the area being studied.

Why should English teachers and students be interested in linguistic landscapes?


The main reason is just because it is so interesting. As language teachers we are interested in language just for the sake of it. We revel in the joy of seeing new and novel uses of words or the noticing how language is evolving to deal with different problems and opportunities. Being aware of the linguistic landscape in which we live touches on so many areas of politics, identity and place can only be interesting to a language professional. If a student can be encouraged to take an interest in the language around them then we believe that they will find more learning opportunities and find it easier to relate the language they are exposed to in the classroom to the world outside the classroom. Dagenais, Moore, Sabatier, Lamarre and Armand (2008) use the term Environmentl print to describe the idea of cities as texts. The urban landscape, then, becomes a fully contextualised source of language. There are also other reasons why we should be interested in Linguistic Landscapes. Some of these include: Democratic The language that we see around us belongs to us. We may not have written it, it might not even be aimed at us, but by reading it we own it. It is therefore available to everybody, no matter your class, age, colour, creed or race. It does not rely on access to expensive technology. Authentic There is always a reason for somebody to produce a sign, a leaflet or a piece of graffiti. That reason might be to warn us against parking our cars in a particular place, or to encourage us to buy a certain product or to make us think about a political argument. Whatever the reason, it is an authentic one and not one that has been created just for the English classroom. For a lot of students, the English they see around them might be the only real contact they get with the language. Critical thinking It is easy to travel around our local towns and cities without really paying attention to what is going on around us. An awareness of linguistic landscapes encourages us to ask questions about the language we are bombarded with. Questions such as: Why is that sign in English and not in my own language? Why doesn’t my language have a word for that? That’s what the advert says, but what’s it like in reality? Builds linguistic culture The language that we see around us can be very important in building our own linguistic culture. If we never see words from a foreign language it might be more difficult to accept other aspects of foreign cultures. Likewise, if we encounter other languages around us all the time then there is a better chance that we will see speakers of those languages in a better light. Being aware of the languages that make up our linguistic landscape can help us to be aware of decisions and judgments that we might be making. Pronunciation One of the problems with seeing words around us is how we imagine they are spoken. A learner may see a word but imagine pronouncing it using the rules of their own language, and think they know how to say it. For example, a Brazilian Portuguese speaker may see the word RAP and, following Portuguese rules of pronunciation, pronounce it HAPPY. This could render an utterance unintelligible. By making students aware of the words they are seeing and checking the pronunciation of the word (something we can do in class), we make this resource much more valuable. Some basic tools All we really need to be aware of and use our linguistic landscapes is our eyes. At its most basic level, we just need to train ourselves to see the language around us, rather than just pass by it blindly. However, if we want to encourage our students to get the most out of their linguistic landscapes as a learning opportunity, then there are some extra tools we might want to encourage them to use. A small notebook: students can make a note of any language they see and the context in which they find it. Ideally, this will be a notebook that they can carry with them easily. A lexical notebook: students can organise the language they find into concepts and categories. This notebook should probably be used not only for language that students encounter in their environment, but also in all other contexts. For more information on how to use lexical notebooks go to


A camera: More and more students have access to cameras on their phones, so instead of asking them to make a note of language they encounter in a notebook you could ask them to take a photograph. A class blog: Start a class blog for students to share any photos they have taken. Thing to look out for in the linguistic landscape We know that once you start looking out for interesting language features in the linguistic landscape, it becomes very addictive. You’ll start to notice more and more around you that you’d previously just walked past without really paying much attention to. As this happens you’ll no doubt discover a range of interesting features, but here are a few ideas to get started with. Code-mixing This is where structures from one language are applied to the lexis of another language. For example:

! Photo by Damian Williams

This is an advert for a water (and other soft drink) delivery company. Beber is the Portuguese word for the verb to drink. In this case, English grammar has been used, and Beb has been turned into a name. There are lots of examples of interesting code-mixing like this in the linguistic landscape. False friends Often when translations are used, it’s a good opportunity to see ‘false friends’, or translations that almost work.


! Photo by Damian Williams

In this example from Prague, the word classic is a false friend – in Czech it means something more similar to elegant rather than typical. It’s useful when these come up to compare with other possible translations. This not only helps accuracy through work on differential meaning, but also provides an opportunity for meaningful exploration of the language. Use of other languages It’s easy to see English in use around the world in the linguistic landscape, but other languages are also used. It’s worth noticing what effect this has. In this example, the use of French makes the restaurant sound more upmarket:

! Photo by Damian Williams

Use of different fonts and different size letters You may start to notice correlations between the types of fonts used and the function of the sign. Or there may be creative use of different size letters as in the Spot the Letter activity later in this book.


! Photo by Kate Leigh

Beyond words Of course such as communicative as different text in the linguistic landscape is the use of different symbols and street art. This is where people can get very creative as there tend to be fewer limits on what’s accepted.

! Photo by Damian Williams

Write Me a Photo Dotted around the book you’ll find short descriptions of some of the photos we have used as illustrations. All of the descriptions are written by the people who took the photos and submitted them to the Mapping the Urban Linguistic Landscape (MULL) group on Flickr and Facebook. Photos are also submitted via Twitter and Instagram using the #MURBLL hashtag. The MULL group is made up of people who enjoy taking photos of the language they find around them. The basic criteria for the photos is that they have to be of interesting language, and so, as this is a fairly subjective criteria, there is a wide variety of language. Most of the members of the group are English language teachers, but we also have a number of language students, other language professionals or just people who are interested in language.


The descriptions are included partly to show how taking photos of language can be important to people and partly as an example for the Write Me a Photo exercise on page XXX. If you or your students would like to submit photos and descriptions to the MULL group we would love to see them. Health Warning! There are a number of things to be aware of when taking photos or recording language that you see around you. Crime Always be aware of the people around you when taking photos to make sure nobody is going to steal your camera. Be aware of where you are and the time of the day and, if in doubt, don’t take the photo. You can always write it down or come back and take the photo a different time with a friend to help you. Personal Safety It can be very tempting to step into the road to get the perfect angle for a photo, or take a picture while driving. Please remember your own personal safety as well as the safety of other people around you. Permission Certain places, for example government buildings, shopping centres or public transport, might have rules about not taking photos. Be sure to know what the local laws are and, if in doubt, as somebody if it is ok to take a photo. The same is also true if you are taking photos of people’s belongings, for example cars. Addiction Slightly less serious is the fact that taking photos of interesting language around you can quickly become addictive. There are a number of stories in the MULL group of exasperated, and embarrassed, spouses, relatives and friends as we stop to take a photo of yet another obscure sign. There is a serious risk that you will be called a language nerd!


Part 2 – Sample activities 1 Spot the Letter Time: 10-20 minutes Aim: to practise recognition of the alphabet and numbers Level: Beginner +. This activity works well with students who are learning English as a new script and need practise reading and deciphering the alphabet.

! Photo by Stephen Greene

Before Class: Find about 10 photos of local signs with English language in them. In Class: 1.

Show students the photos and ask where they were taken and what they represent, for example shops, restaurants, bars, tourist areas.

2. Ask students to look at the photos and call out all the English words they see. Tell them to check the spelling of the words. Are they spelled correctly? 3. (for students who use a different script) Ask students to identify all the capital letters they can see. Then ask them to copy the names of the places in two different ways: first using all capital letters, second using all lower case letters. 4. Remove the pictures, and write the names of the places on the board, but leave out some letters. Students must come up to the board and complete the words. 5. Ask a student to spell out one of the words on the board in English. The other students must say what the word is. Follow-up: Ask students to prepare their own signs for places in school, for example the cafeteria, car park, reception, etc.


2 Signs of the times Time: 45 minutes Aim: to practise language of speculation e.g. It might be… / I think it’s… / It definitely can’t … Level: Intermediate + Before Class: Take photos of the signs used by local businesses which have English in them. These could be the names of shops, advertisements or even products in a supermarket. You’ll need two sets of photos: Set A showing one of the English words used in each sign or product, and set B showing the rest of the sign or product for each corresponding photo. For example: Set A

Set B

!

!

!

!

!


! Photos by Damian Williams

In Class: Part I 1.

Put students into teams and ask each group to think of a name for their team.

2.

Show the first photo from set A for about a minute. Teams discuss what type of business or product they think it’s from and write down their answer.

3.

When students are ready, move on to the next photo. Repeat for all of the photos.

4.

When you have shown all of the photos and students have decided what they think each one shows, go through each one and elicit what the teams think each one is. Show the corresponding photo from group B and award a point to each team which guessed correctly. The team with the most points at the end wins.

Part II 1.

Rearrange the teams, and ask learners to discuss the following: Compare what your guesses for each sign. Are there any common answers? Why did you make those guesses? Why do you think the companies chose those names for their products/businesses?

2.

When they have finished, nominate students from each group to share their ideas with the class.

Follow-up/Alternative: Put students in pairs or small groups. Give them a list of local businesses and common products, and ask them to come up with their own names. When they have finished, they present their ideas to the class, explaining their choices. The class votes for the best of each.


3 Where the Streets Have People’s Names Time: 20 minutes Aim: to practise narrative tenses and writing a biography Level: Pre-intermediate +

! Photo by Stephen Greene

Before Class: Take a photograph of the name of a street, park or square in near you that is named after a person. Try to choose a less famous person so that students will face more of a challenge to discover who it was. Prepare some notes you can read to your class about the famous person. Find a map you can show to students so they can identify the location of the street. In Class: 5.

Show students the photograph of the street name. Ask them if they know where it is, and if they don’t, show the location on a projected map.

6.

Ask students if they know who the famous person is. Elicit ideas and write them on the board.

7.

Tell your students you are going to read some notes you have made about the person in the street name. Ask students to listen and decide if the person is worthy of having a street named after him or her.

Below is an example we have used for Rua Nilo Cairo in Curitiba, Brazil.


You have all heard about Rua Nilo Cairo in the city centre. But do you know who the original Nilo Cairo was? Nilo Cairo da Silva (1874-1928) was born in Paranagua and lived there until he went to Rio as a teenager to continue his studies. He eventually became an engineer with the army, but he had a difficult time as he first wife died during childbirth. Shortly after this, Nilo Cairo moved to Curitiba and opened a homeopathic clinic. He was responsible for numerous articles and books about homeopathy as he sought to spread the word all around Brazil. In the early 20th century he brought together a number of intellectuals and other important people to eventually create the University of Paraná in 1912. This was the first institution in Brazil to be designated as a university. As well as giving lectures in Physiology, General Pathology and Anatomical Pathology, Homeopathy and Therapeutic Homeopathy, Nilo Cairo was also the 1st Secretary of the university. In 1928, at the age of 53, Nilo Cairo travelled to Rio to undergo treatment for a stomach ulcer. During his treatment he passed away and his remains were transported back to Curitiba. His ashes were placed in a bust which to this day can be found in the square in front of the ‘old’ university building.

8.

Discuss with the class whether the person should have a street name after them. Clarify any aspects of your notes that weren’t clear the first time.

9.

For homework, ask students to take photos of streets named after other people and to write a short biography about the person.

Alternative Procedure If you feel your students won’t find their own photos, then you can add the following steps before point 5. If you do this, then you will need to find more photos of streets named after semi-famous people. 5.

Show students photos of other streets named after people from your local area. Again, elicit where the streets are located and who the original people were.

6.

Ask students to choose one of the streets and write a short biography of the person. This can be done in groups in class if you have access to the internet, or individually as homework.

Follow-up Ask students to give a mini-presentation about the person they researched.


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.