Insights to Identity as it Relates to Language Acquisition, Limitations and Consequences - Essay Example

Topic: Mass Communication: Insights to Identity as it Relates to Language Acquisition, Opportunities, Limitations and Consequences Introduction: Identity and use of language at a glance seem to be two different entities that at a closer look, always cross paths. But history, culture and various studies as well as bodies of knowledge have proven how these two relate and language have taken a position that actually influence or even manipulate identity. This may be a revolting thought among the majority of democratic individuals. But as Chomsky (2001) presented, language or words have creative nature so that it becomes powerful tool that could launch thousands of deaths. In a separate manner, identity is often noticed only by an individual in stages when he or she starts comparing the self to that of his or her peers and friends, what he/she has such as toys, or school materials (bags, notebooks, pens, shoes). It is when the individual becomes conscious of his appearance, his face, his nose, his height, his body built and all because he starts becoming aware of others and what other might perceive about him. I am saying this in a very personal matter as I started getting conscious about my identity only when it has become important to me about what others might think about me, and that was when I reached the "teen" age. At that stage, my "identity" has also become of importance. What do I want other people to think about me or how do they perceive me So, the first thing of course that I actually did is to look at people my age and study how they act, dress, and even the things they like. And then, I started asking myself how do I want people to identify me As society is often linked through use of language or languages, then, it must be so that identity and language are intertwined in a lot more ways than obvious. Discussion: Identity is defined as "the distinct personality of an individual regarded as a persisting entity" or "the individual characteristics by which a thing or person is recognized or known" (WordNet, 2006). In identifying the self, as earlier stated, there is a conscious interaction with the outside world. Berger (1997) presented detailed processes on how individuals as humans interact and that social reality is a form of consciousness so that society have a very important impact on the individual. Specifically, in the book (Berger & Luckman, 1966, p 51), it was stated that "Man's self-production is always, and of necessity, a social enterprise. Men together produce a human environment, with the totality of its socio-cultural and psychological formations." But first, it is necessary to establish how one acquires language. Walqui (2000) argued that contextual factors such as the individual, social and societal affect a learner's acquisition process so that in learning languages, the student's level of proficiency and knowledge and societal attitudes all play part. Likewise, acquiring a language is sociolinguistic in a manner that social factors are described and ways are explained as how learners vary in their use of language system (Gass and Selinker, 1994). The study of language alone is widely understood as interdisciplinary in nature and encompass psychology, cognitive process, linguistic and social aspects so that besides the actual features of the learning environment is the psychological meaning attached to these features by the individual learners perceptions and interpretations of their interactions with the learning environment. In this process, the individual and the identity are impacted. Krashen (1985) contrasted "language acquisition" with formal and non-constructive "learning" while there are various factors attributed to learning a language and these include family influences, social groups or peers, teachers, school, age, and self-concept. Chastain (1976) proposed that low self-concept allows a person to shy away from learning opportunities as well as avoid activities which they feel they are compromised to speak a language uncomfortable for them and partake only in activities where they are comfortable. Recent scholars prefer to view the acquisition of linguistic features as a gradual and complex process that is measured in input and output. Krashen's (1985) Monitor Model suggested that the amount of input learners take in is one of the most important factors affecting their learning, but it must be at a level that is comprehensible to the learner. Likewise, Gass and Selinker (1994) proposed that there are five levels accounting for the ways in which input is converted to output as follows: 1. Apperceived input 2. Comprehended input 3. Intake 4. Integration, and 5. Output There is a common notion that the majority of learners begin the acquisition process in "silent period", that of which they speak very little, if any at all (Krashen, 1985). But in the process when language is acquired, there presents a whole range of opportunities for the language user which includes understanding or enabling an individual to interact, and this process has been clearly discussed and explained by Berger & Luckman, (1966) thus: "social order is a human product. Or, more precisely, an ongoing human production. It is produced by man in the course of his ongoing externalization. Social order is not biologically given or derived from any biological data in its empirical manifestations. Social order, needless to add, is also not given in man's natural environment, though particular features of this may be factors in determining certain features of a social order." With this understanding, we can now view opportunities as well as limitations of language, and its impact on the identity of an individual, or even a group, a social one at that of which were clearly elaborated by Chomsky in his various books. These include the effects of propaganda, with language used negatively, first by Adolf Hitler, the British, and then the United States. Clearly, language has been considered manipulative as "propaganda" terms are coined to present to individuals a scenario which repetitive terms such "war on terror", "nuclear weapons" or "Iranian threat" posed. Individuals are prone to believe information presented factually without supporting data and Chomsky, as well as John Berger, had been vocal about these (Yudilovitch, 2006). Conclusion: In acquiring language, its use, opportunities and limitations presented all impact on the individual, group, organizational and even institutional identity. All these entities use language for identity, and although actions may be classified as opportunities or limitations, these also may be products of the use of language as argued by Chomsky and Berger. In the context of media use of language, certainly, the fourth state have proven its influence as generally, although the public may not always believe the media (or the press) as objective or fair, there is a certain process which Berger and Luckman have identified precisely which they called as "habitualization" wherein there is accumulation of a general practice. The media, through habit, had been presenting biased data, or even reporting to the point where it was not longer very obvious ad questionable: as clearly refuted by Chomsky et al. In like manner, as Berger and Luckmann proceeded, there is institutionalization that further strengthens an existing habit, or a practice of a social group, so that it becomes acceptable, and downright moral, right, and true, when in fact, it could be the opposite. In the process of communicating through language, there are actual blurring entities as clearly discussed by Berger and Luckmann. It is not only individuals but also groups and institutions that gets lost in the process of identifying themselves and this could be in turn, equally dangerous to the individual and the institution. Identity and language are inexplicably intertwined in such a way that one affects the other and that language use by individuals and institutions must be careful and balanced by other individuals and members of an institution in order to maintain harmony, and true equality, which is at most, propagated by the media as its cause. Reference: Berger, Peter (1997) The Social Construction of Reality. Irvington Publishing. Berger, Peter L. and Thomas Luckmann. (1966) The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise its the Sociology of Knowledge. Garden City, New York: Anchor Books, pp. 51-55, 59-61 Chastain, Kenneth. (1975). "Affective and Ability Factors in Second Language Learning." Language Learning, 25: 153-68. Chomsky, Noam. (2001). Propaganda and the Public Mind: Conversation with Noam Chomsky. Southend Press. Gass, Susan and Selinker, Larry. (1994). Second Language Acquisition: An Introductory Course. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Krashen, Stephen. (1985). "Newmark's Ignorance Hypothesis and Current Second Language Theory." In S. Grass and L. Selinker (eds), Language Transfer in Language Learning. Rowley, MA: Newbury House. Peirce, Bonny Norton. (1995). "Social Identity, Investment, and Language Learning." Tesol Quarterly 29 (1) pp 9-31. Small, Steven and Howard Nusbaum. (2003). "On the neurobiological investigation of language understanding in context." Brain and Language (Article in Press). Accessed from http://www.psychologie.unizh.ch/neuropsy/home_mmeyer/LMI-workshop/small04.pdf Walqui, Aida. (2000). "Contextual Factors in Second Language Acquisition. September 2000. Center for Applied Linguistics, from http://www.cal.org/resources/digest/0005contextual.html WordNet. (2006). "Identity." Princeton University, from http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwns=identity Yudilovitch, Merav. (2006). "Apocalypse Near." Information Clearing House, August 9, from http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14462.htm Read More