Dear all,
Reading V.Zegarac and B.Clark "Phatic intepretations and phatic
communication" I have found an interesting place, which could
pertain to foreign language instruction. The authors write that
"Sperber and Wilson do not propose that to inform somebody of
something is to cause that person to entertain specific thoughts" and
quote S&W in saying that the informative intention is "an intention to
modify directly not the thoughts but the cognitive environment of the
audience" (p.325)
In relation to his, would it be possible to say that to teach somebody
a foreign language means to teach that person mastery of drawing
correct inferences by modifying the cognitive environment of the
learner.
It has occurred to me that all EFL textbooks are code-model based
(grammar rules, behaviorist exercises etc.) and then when you show
your University-level EFL students an episode of "Friends" or Jay
Leno's show, they understand the code, but that's all the understand - most of the
inferences they draw about the intended meaning are false (hence their
conclusion that American humor is "different" (to use a euphemism).
Thus, my students were at a total loss regarding the reaction of the
studio audience of David Letterman's to such episodes as "Would you
like to touch the meat?" or "Will it float?" (perfect instances of
purely phatic communication in Malinowski's sense, btw) :)
I was wondering if anybody has written anything about the possibility
of developing an RT-based EFL curriculum (especially adult
student-oriented)?
All the best,
Andre
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