SOCIOLINGUISTICS IN LANGUAGE TEACHING (SOSIOLONGUISTIK DALAM PENGAJARAN BAHASA) Ahmad Faizin HS MAN I Praya Jalan Pejanggik Tampar Ampar, Praya, Lombok Tengah, NTB, Indonesia Pos-el: [email protected] Diterima: 22 Januari 2015, direvisi: 30 Juli 2015, disetujui: 5 Desember 2015 Abstract Language teaching is connected with sociolinguistics in many ways. Different social factors affect language teaching and language learning. This paper investigates the relationship between sociolinguistics and language teaching. Some social factors such as situation, context, and social setting that has roles in language teaching. It describes the main factors which influence linguistic choices and explains how well contemporary teaching can take account of them. It also investigates obvious variatious in the use of language used by people belonging to varieties facets. Key words: language teaching, social factors, and sociolinguistics Abstrak Pengajaran bahasa berkaitan dengan sosiolinguistik dalam berbagai cara. Faktor sosial yang berbeda mempengaruhi pengajaran dan pembelajaran bahasa. Tulisan ini mengkaji hubungan antara sosialinguistik dan pengajaran bahasa. Beberapa faktor sosial seperti situasi konteks, dan setting sosial memiliki peran dalam pembelajaran bahasa. Sosiolinguistik menjelaskan tentang faktor-faktor utama yang mempengaruhi pemilihan linguistic dan menjelaskan seberapa baik pengajaran saat ini dalam memanfaatkan faktor-faktor tersebut. Sosiolinguistik juga menelaah berbagai variasi dalam penggunaan bahasa yang digunakan oleh orang yang memiliki berbagai karakter. Kata kunci: pengajaran bahasa, faktor sosial, dan sosiolinguistik . 1. Introduction success of the learning a language. The Language is a centre to social teacher may not neglect the influences of a interaction in every society, regardless of variety of languages and sociocultural location and time period. Language and contexts of the participants, especially in social interaction have a reciprocal mother tongue or foreign language. This is relationship: language shapes social due to the roles to easier the learners to gain interactions and social interactions shape the purposes of teaching learning language. language. The terms of sociocultural contexts Learning language is getting through and variations of language may be covered the teaching learning process indoor, in sociolinguistics study. In order to outdoor, formal or non formal education. understand the phenomenon, broad Teaching, learning language, sociocultural knowledge of the process of language contexts and variations of language should acquisition, second or foreign language be considered because it is influenced by the education, sociolinguistics, linguistics, 66 Sociolinguistics in Language Teaching (Ahmad Faizin HS)| 67 psycholinguistics, and specific knowledge of age and religion have insignificant input on foreign language teaching techniques and secondary school students’ use of English. It methods of measurement and evaluation was concludedthat the family still remains a have become especially important. major source and most potent place for Sociolinguistics has become a very language learning; therefore, parentsshould important role recent, and we have become give more attention to students language use aware the role of language not just as a at home and provide all the necessary means of communication, but also a creator impetus. of social identity (Dunkley, 2013). The research by Irene wherritt to find Sociolinguistics is an interesting and relationsome specific examples of important area of language for teachers sociolinguistic principles as they affect because it deals with how the language is language teaching. Although the examples used and thought of in the real world. are taken from Portuguese, the situations are The educators should have a huge intended to apply to the teaching of foreign view of sociolinguistics to help their languages in general. The first part of the teaching, learning language process can be study treats practical matters of gathering implemented well because sociolinguistics sociolinguistic data. In the ensuing sections covers a tremendous variety of approaches. on phonology and syntax the discrepancy They have to know the variations of each between actual language use and typical learners’ language and social background in learning materials is presented and order to be able to select the appropriate suggestions for improvement are offered. approaches for teaching language. A central The part on interactional rules purports to problem for sociolinguistics approaches to show one area of neglect in traditional language is nationhood. Being the defining teaching materials. The final section framework for much discussion of both summarizes ideas on the importance of language and culture in popular and broadening language learning to include academic domains, the concept of the nation research from sociolinguistics. has had a huge influence on the ways in Stephen Van Vlack (2011) reviewed which languages and cultures have been review some of the basic ideas underlying defined (Nancy &Sandra, 2010). language use by looking at language from The teacher often disregarded the three different but overlapping theoretical sociolinguistics aspects in teaching viewpoints. He looked at sociolinguistics, language. They are more focus to teach the discourse analysis (a wee bit) and language either second or foreign language interlanguage pragmatics. Based on this, he words, grammar, and pronunciation expected the students to be exposed to and (speaking). Learning language with to generate a full picture of how language sociolinguistics can help the speakers able to use develops and is to be assessed and distinguish where, whom, when they speak. taught and specifically in subsequent Therefore, the teacher should associate the language learners. He combined necessary materials to social contexts. theories in SLA with practical outcomes related to language use. Students was 2. Literature Review encouraged to come up with real-world Ofodu (2012) conducted research into applications of the theories discussed in sociolinguistics input in language class for use in their own teaching. acquisation and used of English as Second Language in classroom, revealed thatgender, 68|Mabasan, Vol. 9 No.2, Juli—Desember2015 :66—77 3. Research Method to the interaction between language and This study applied observational culture, language and social phenomenon. method to collect the data that finding According to Spolsky (2010) sociolinguistic elaborated as conclusion. In this case the is the study of the link between language researcher did direct observation to and society, of language variation, and preparation that has been made by the attitudes about language. It is supported by English teacher such as Lesson plan and Hudson (1996) defined as a study of the Material relationship between language and social The lesson plan was observed from factors such as class, age, gender and four of English teachers focusing on the ethnicity. Whereas Bell (1976) said it is a steps of the teaching process. The researcher branch of anthropological linguistics that focused on the speech of the teacher in examines how language and culture are delivering the material into students.The related, and how language is used in suitability of material (theme) to the different social contexts. The study of students’ age, background language, and stylistic and social variation of language knowledge level was also observed. (Wardhaugh, 2010).The study of language in relation to its social-cultural context (Van 4. Discussion Dijk, 2009). Sociolinguistics is the study of In this case, it gives the definitions to the effect of any and all aspects of society, the terms linked to the paper topic and what including cultural norms, expectations, and are their relationships. context on the way language is used (Trudgill, 2000). 4.1 What is Sociolinguistics? In all these definitions, it is clear that 4.1.1 Definitions of Sociolinguistics sociolinguistics is a discipline that makes a There are several researchers or link between sociology and linguistics. It is linguists give the definition of a branch of sociology and as a concept, it is sociolinguistics in different perspective. concerned with how language use is a Yasemin (2013) defined determinant of a given society’s linguistic sociolinguistics as the science that requirements. Every society has its linguistic investigates the aims and functions of codes that are acceptable for interaction language in society. It attempts to explain (Meyerhoff, 2006). Sociolinguistics shows how language differs from one context to how groups in a given society are separated another across geographical borders and by certain social variables like ethnicity, how people in one context communicate religion, status, gender, age and level of with people in other contexts (e.g., non education and how adherence to these native-nonnative speakers; nonnative-native variables is used to categorize individuals in speakers; and so on). He’s prone to learn social classes (Hudson, 1996). The social language based on the sociocultural study of language is a modern linguistic contexts, how the learners can communicate paradigm because it was the modern linguist in one context with the others. Sali (2012), who first acknowledged and accepted that sociolinguistics is the interaction between language by its nature is totally a social language, culture, and society. Depending phenomenon (Bell, 1976).