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Teaching English in Semiotics

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Teaching English in Semiotics TEACHING ENGLISH IN SEMIOTICS Muhammad Natsir Fakultas Bahasa dan Seni Universitas Negeri Medan ABSTRACT This paper deals with teaching english in semiotics and their sample applications in the language classroom. The oundation or semiotics must be laid with perception. The objects o perception are percepts. Percepts are not the material objects in the physical realm that the mind imagines (rightly or wrongly) that it is sensing. Visual percepts are patterns o area (shape, si)e, and position) and color over a two-dimensional ield. Audial percepts are patterns o pitch and volume over time. The verbal and the non-verbal aspects o language teaching should not be kept separate. The use o signs, symbols and visual aids by the teachers help the enhancement o the learning capacity o the language learner both at cognitive and meta-cognitive levels as they listen and try to learn a oreign language component in the classroom. Key Words : Semiotics, language teaching methods, context, sign, symbol INTRODUCTION Teaching o ,nglish has long been a di icult task . The present study intends to highlight the e-tent o .ndonesian undergraduate students/ motivation in learning ,nglish as a oreign language and the di erences in instrumental and integrative motivation. .ncrease in the numbers o language institutes and their students, also increasing interest o parents or their children to learn ,nglish can be a good evidence or recent value o ,nglish language in .ndonesian. .n this country ,nglish is taught at guidance schools, high schools and universities. 0ue to limitations in state schools, private language institutes have simply attracted an increasing number o interested learners including young children and adults. Many parents send their children rom the age o si- to learn ,nglish in these teaching centers. SEMIOTICS Semiotics, or semiology, is the study o signs, symbols, and signi ication. .t is the study o how meaning is created, not what it is. 0iscussing about semiotics, it cannot be separated with the important keywords and their e-plations as mentioned below. Some brie de initions o semiotic terms, beginning with the smallest unit o meaning and proceeding towards the larger and more comple-1 (1) Signi ier-any material thing that signi ies, e.g., words on a page, a acial e-pression, an image. (2) Signi ied- the concept that a signi ier re ers to. Together, the signi ier and signi ied make up the (3) Sign- the smallest unit o meaning. Anything that can be used to communicate (or to tell a lie). (4) Symbolic (arbitrary) signs- signs where the relation between signi ier and signi ied is purely conventional and culturally speci ic, e.g., most words. (5) .conic signs-signs where the signi ier resembles the signi ied, e.g., a picture. (5) .nde-ical Signs-signs where the signi ier is caused by the signi ied, e.g., smoke signi ies ire. (7) 0enotation-the most basic or literal meaning o a sign, e.g., the word 7rose7 signi ies a particular kind o lower. (8) Connotation-the secondary, cultural meanings o signs: or 7signi ying signs,7 signs that are 359 used as signi iers or a secondary meaning, e.g., the word 7rose7 signi ies passion. (9) Metonymy- a kind o connotation where in one sign is substituted or another with which it is closely associated, as in the use o Jakarta or the .ndonesian government or o the arrow or a certain tribe power. (10) Synecdoche-a kind o connotation in which a part is used or the whole (as hand or sailor). (11) Collections o related connotations can be bound together either by (11a) Paradigmatic relations-where signs get meaning rom their association with other signs, or by (11b) Syntagmatic relations-where signs get meaning rom their sequential order, e.g., grammar or the sequence o events that make up a story. (12) Myths-a combination o paradigms and syntagms that make up an o -told story with elaborate cultural associations, e.g., the cowboy myth, the romance myth. (13) Codes1 a combination o semiotic systems, a supersystem, that unction as general maps o meaning, belie systems about onesel and others, which imply views and attitudes about how the world is and/or ought to be. Codes are where semiotics and social structure and values connect. (14) .deologies-codes that rein orce or are congruent with structures o power. .deology works largely by creating orms o 7common sense,7 o the taken- or-granted in everyday li e. As Hodge and Kress (1988125) claim, 7Students o cross cultural communication know how o ten misunderstanding arises because o di erent assumptions in di erent cultural groups. Undoubtedly, it creates heavy demands to e-tend semiotics in this way, to include the description and analysis o the stock o cultural knowledge in a given society.7 There ore, it can be said that semiotics not only helps learners to get the right message through semiotic signs to avoid cross-cultural ailure, but also encourages the language teachers to play a critical role in the classroom. Semiotics is a very in luential and essential ield o study, because by making use o signs the learners are able to achieve a lot o in ormation on various ields such as: literature, art, architecture, psychology, anthropology, philosophy, etc. .n other words, communication is the primary concern o semiotics. .n the language classroom, the teachers make use o semiotics symbols to lead to a better understanding o the topic. By doing so, the learners ind the opportunity to study the topics o a given course in a more in ormative and enjoyable way. .n order to provide accurate and clear comprehension in the target language, the teachers use a number o methods and techniques in the classroom. Most o these language teaching methods have semiotic elements in their nature. SEMIOTICS IN LANGUAGE TEACHING There are semiotic signs which are actively used by the students and the teachers. Semiotic signs in language teaching help learners in a many respects. They not only present visual eedback or the students but also accelerates the learning process as well. Most o the language learning methods have semiotic elements.Situational language teaching is a term not commonly used today, but it is an approach developed by British applied linguists in the 1930s to the 1950s, which had an impact on language courses which survive in some still being used today. The theory o learning underlying the situational language teaching is behaviourism. .t gives more importance to the process rather than the conditions o learning. According to Aichards and Aodgers (1990137) 7Situational language teaching employs a situational approach to presenting new sentence patterns and a drill based manner o practising them.7 For Aichards and Aodgers, the situation re ers to the manner o presenting and practising the in ormation (the structure o language) in the language classroom. 7The situation will be controlled care ully to teach the new language material. in such a way that there can be no doubt in the learnerBs mind o the meaning o what he hears. almost all o the vocabulary and structures taught in the irst our or ive years and even later can be placed in situations in which the meaning is quite clear7 (Pittman, 19541155-5). 350 For e-ample, take one Semiotic Sign rom any source, the students irst o all observe the sign and name it, then learn the correct pronunciation o the vocabulary. Cith the teacher/s immediate guidance the students are encouraged to talk about it. ,veryday speech is emphasised in the Audio-Dingual Method. The level o comple-ity o the speech is graded so that beginning students are presented with only simple orms. The structures o the language are emphasised over all other areas. The syllabus is typically a structural one, with the structure or any particular unit included in the new dialogue. Vocabulary is also conte-tualised within the dialogue. .t is, however, limited since the emphasis is placed on the acquisition o the patterns o the language. The underlying provisions o this method include ive ma-ims to guide teachers in applying the results o linguistic research to the preparation o teaching materials and to classroom techniques1 1. Danguage is speech, not writing 1 (a) ,mphasis on correct pronunciation rom the beginning: (b) Distening and speaking be ore reading and writing: (c) Aealistic, situational utterances rom start: (d) Eral mastery irst: reading/writing as rein orcers: time lag will depend on situation. 2. Danguage is a set o habits1 Based on the assumption that language learning is a habit ormation process, pattern drilling and dialogue memorisation are e-tensively used. 3. Teach the language, not about the language1 (a) Aevolt against the grammar-translation method: (b) Frammar or the teacher not the learner: (c) Dearn thorough doing, through active practice: (d) Practice irst, rules induced later. 4. A language is what its native speakers say, not what someone thinks they ought to say1 (a) ,mphasis on colloquial wealth o language: (b) Diterary language at much later stage: (c) Traditional grammar mistrusted1 style and register (occupational, emotive, in ormative) studied as well as language o attitude. 5. Danguages are di erent1 (a) Universal rules o trans ormational grammar mistrusted: (b) Contrastive studies o language encouraged: (c) Translation accepted when necessary or possible: (d) Translation a later skill with its own techniques. A-DM enables the students to use the target language communicatively. .n order to do this the students are believed to overlearn the target language, to learn to use it automatically without stopping to think.
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