The different purposes of language

Talofa lava.

To continue the discussion of the cultural component of language and the way this impacts on the learner I would like to take a quick look at the different purposes of language, what we might call genre. Genre here refers to text purposes such as narration (story telling), recount (telling a personal experience), giving directions etc, rather than the “science fiction”, “historical novel,” “chick flick” meaning of genre.

Every culture has its own concept of the purpose of a particular genre, and how it should be done. For example in New Zealand we would most likely think that a report should be written in the third person, giving the impression of objectivity by not using the words I, me, you, we, us. It should have an opening paragraph outlining the report, and a closing section in summary. Some cultures however expect to find the summary first, and others give reports in a story form. All of these are valid and require our language student to gain an understanding of how the language being learnt performs that task.

Another example is the purpose behind telling a story. Western cultures tend to tell stories as single stand - alone items. In my experience the stories we hear nowadays are primarily intended to entertain. In earlier times in the Western world stories were used to teach lessons about behaviour, remember the moral stories from Victorian times.

It seems to me that the Maori stories I know are commonly intended to transmit information about genealogy, tribal history and proper behaviour and are part of a longer narrative. In this way the story of how Motutapu got its name is connected to the Tainui canoe, the grave that the tree from which Tainui was carved grew, and Maui’s sister’s stillborn baby, after her first husband was turned into a dog. These are characteristics found less today often in English language stories, except perhaps for the Harry Potter books and similar series.

The implications of this for our programmes is that firstly we need to teach our students authentic genre not just a version of the English genre translated into the target language. We also need to be aware that when we put a text in front of a student, they may not understand the deeper meaning because they have the wrong expectation about that genre. If they expect that the story is meant to entertain, and are given a story intended to explain a historical relationship between two tribes, they will struggle to maintain interest and gather deeper meanings.

Ia manuia lou aso.

Chris