Cuántas veces los seres humanos no se arrepienten de no haber expresado su opinión o sus sentimientos o de no haber callado sus emociones, porque el poder del lenguaje es incalculable, en este caso, el de la palabra. Las personas se forman y se construyen a y se forman a través de la palabra de lo que piensan, de lo que dicen, de lo que escuchan; es decir, se puede descubrir el interior de un ser humano por la forma en que se comunica y actúa.
En la película el Náufrago(2000), del director Robert Zemeckis, el protagonista sobrevive solitario en una isla; desesperado por la falta de comunicación, decide dibujar con su sangre una especie de rasgos humanos a un balón de voleibol al que bautiza como Wilson y con el que habla y se convierte en su única compañía durante los siguientes cuatro años. Esta situación demuestra que la persona, como ser social , necesita expresarse y la palabra hablada o escrita es por excelencia la forma de hacerlo.
Rafael Echavarria (2003 ,p.21) así lo expresa al afirmar que:
Los seres humanos son seres lingüísticos, seres que viven en el lenguaje. El lenguaje, postulamos, es la clave para comprender los fenómenos humanos. Por cuanto, es precisamente a través del lenguaje que conferimos sentido a nuestra existencia y es también desde el lenguaje que nos es posible reconocer la importancia de dominios existenciales no lingüísticos. La experiencia humana, lo que para los seres humanos representa la experiencia de existencia, se realiza desde el lenguaje.
Funciones y características del lenguaje
El lenguaje es considerado como el sistema de significación, comunicación e interpretación de la realidad propio de los seres humanos, que se practica en un contexto de construcción social. Desde la cuna, la persona desarrolla una forma de lenguaje para construir y expresar significados que responden a sus necesidades (p. 10) comunicativas, pues de modo constante todos los seres se comunican a través de palabras, gestos, actitudes, diversos símbolos...
En la vida del ser humano, el lenguaje desempeña diferentes funciones, entre ellas :
Función significativa : aunque pareciera obvio reconocer como función básica del lenguaje la significación, es decir, la producción de sentido, este es un concepto relativamente nuevo. Los Lineamientos Curriculares de Lengua Castellana del Ministerio de Educación Nacional (1998, p . 47), al retomar los planteamientos del lingüista colombiano Luis Baena, le dan énfasis a la significación, porque se considera que, pese a estar en interacción con otros sujetos culturales, mediante el lenguaje es que se configura el universo simbólico y cultural de cada individuo.
Además de la significación como función esencial del lenguaje, se reconocen otras funciones relacionadas con ésta y que son también fundamentales:
Función cognitiva : el ser humano, cuando emplea el lenguaje como mediador, desarrolla procesos de razonamiento para comprender la realidad y construir conocimiento. Por tanto, el lenguaje y el pensamiento son fundamentales en todo proceso de construcción del desarrollo personal, es lo que le permite a la persona la búsqueda y el descubrimiento de lo conocido. Es a través del lenguaje que el ser humano expresa ideas, conceptos, raciocinios y juicios del pensamiento; pero además de poder expresarlo, el pensamiento se conserva por medio del lenguaje. Por consiguiente, el lenguaje posibilita, desarrolla, determina y conserva el pensamiento.
Función comunicativa : posibilita la interacción social al valerse del lenguaje para establecer relaciones humanas; así, se logra el intercambio de ideas, la manifestación de sentimientos, el análisis de situaciones, la emisión de juicios, el logro de acuerdos o las discrepancias, en fin todo lo que supone la convivencia en sociedad y que lleva a la búsqueda de unos propósitos bien sea para interpretar o para transformar la realidad. Por mucho tiempo se consideró la comunicación como la función principal del lenguaje.
Función expresiva : se manifiesta en el uso del lenguaje para crear mundos posibles y, en gran parte, está relacionado con la estética, por ejemplo, las creaciones narrativas que expresan las vivencias y fantasías de las personas. La expresividad a través de la palabra, la (p.11) la imagen u otra forma de lenguaje pone de manifiesto la subjetividad del individuo, su mundo interior, en fin, lo que conforma su identidad.
En efecto, el uso de la palabra y de otras formas de lenguaje le ha permitido al ser humano reflexionar acerca de de lo que es pensar el mundo que lo rodea. Es decir, permitió el significado, el razonamiento, el conocimiento. Cuando una persona se expresa no solo está describiendo la realidad, sino que la está interpretando según su propia visión del mundo, sus conocimientos, sus creencias, su sexo, su edad entre otros. El lenguaje aporta a la creación de una cultura y a su vez a la expresión de la misma. De este modo, la persona se va construyendo a sí misma gracias al dominio del lenguaje ( en especial de la palabra), junto con el dominio del cuerpo y de sus emociones.
Así mismo, los humanos, a diferencia de los animales inferiores, tienen la capacidad de planificar acciones complejas y transformar su entorno social y físico. Para esto, el lenguaje funciona como instrumento fundamental en las tareas de planeación ,organización y ejecución de la acción. Por tanto, el lenguaje está directamente relacionado con la acción, pues cuando al hablar, la persona consigue que se ejecuten acciones, ya que el lenguaje genera actividad. Cuando un maestro orienta a sus estudiantes en un trabajo de clase, puede persuadirlos en favor de un determinado tema, hacerles ver aspectos o situaciones, impulsarlos a descubrir, a crear, en fin, a generar posibilidades y mundos posibles. De la misma manera, a la palabra en sí es una acción, la acción de hablar o escribir, que permite desarrollar las actividades diarias; por ejemplo, por medio de la palabra hablada se puede preguntar dónde queda una oficina, hacer un pedido en una cafetería, saludar a un compañero, expresar un sentimiento, contar un chiste; es decir, se logra la interacción social al iniciar y mantener las relaciones con otras personas.
Por tanto, al hablarle o escribirle al otro y al escucharlo o leerlo se le reconoce como persona, se comunican sentidos, se expresan emociones, se generan acciones y se mantiene contacto con el mundo. De ahí que cuando una persona, por ejemplo un niño, se silencia y se aísla de los demás, los otros reaccionan con preocupación.
Además, en la vida en sociedad, el uso de la palabra ha sido considerado como un derecho individual y colectivo, pues al emplearla junto con la imagen y otras formas de lenguaje puede mover grupos hacia un propósito; por esto, en las sociedades dictatoriales o fanáticas se niega el derecho a la discusión o a la libre expresión. (p. 12. Villabona de Rodríguez, Cecilia. Lenguaje : saber saber. Teoría práctica para acompañar la labor del profesor en la preparación de las pruebas SABER. Bogotá :Editorial Magisterio, 2017)
ESTUDIOS Y ENFOQUES DEL LENGUAJE
El tema del lenguaje siempre ha sido motivo de análisis, desde la antiguedad hasta hoy. En la antiguedad, con una mirada filosófica; en la actualidad, el estudio linguístico se ha enriquecido con el aporte de otras ciencias (además de la filosofía) (p.12) como la sicología, la sociología, la epistemología, la pedagogía, entre otras; dándole así una mirada global y transdisciplinaria.
Durante varias décadas, el lenguaje se estudió mediante la ontogenia y la filogenia. La ontogenia se encarga del análisis del proceso por el cual el ser humano ha desarrollado el lenguaje y la filogenia estudia la evolución histórica del lenguaje. Es decir, la primera, desde una perspectiva biológica y la segunda, desde un enfoque sociocultural, sin embargo, estas dos visiones no aparecen aisladas, son complementarias, pues el hecho de que el ser humano haya evolucionado biológicamente para estar en capacidad de producir lenguaje está ligado al desarrollo sociocultural , logrado y demostrado a través de su interacción con la comunidad.
Se ha confirmado que un individuo no sólo recibe estímulos, sino que también los interpreta y analiza el efecto de sus acciones. Según Geertz (1973), ambos modos de realización linguística son el resultado de la interacción entre factores biológicos y culturales, que vistos desde una mirada sincrónica actual, están fuertemente imbricados.
Por tanto, según el enfoque interaccionista , el desarrollo cognitivo se logra por las interacciones del sujeto en su contexto social y cultural; además, los procesos de aprendizaje producidos en el sistema nervioso central (snc) se reconocen como procesos complejos del individuo y una respuesta más elaborada con respecto a sus entornos ambiental, social y cultural. Por consiguiente, el lenguaje es un fenómeno social, resultado de la interacción entre individuos biológicamente capacitados. No obstante, para lograr esa interacción, los miembros de una comunidad necesitan compartir un mismo sistema de signos ( un idioma, unas actitudes, unos símbolos). Es decir, el lenguaje es resultado de factores innatos y adquiridos, pues el lenguaje obedece a impulsos internos y externos; así, cuando no existen condiciones internas(físicas o sicológicas) también falla la facultad del lenguaje; por tanto, para el estudio de estos aspectos se ha acudido a la sicolinguistica y la sociolinguística.
Desde la linguística y la pedagogía también se han presentado importantes avances en el estudio del lenguaje verbal. Si se hace breve y somero recorrido histórico por los enfoques que han orientado estos estudios, se puede ver que el método tradicional de carácter formalista buscaba que el lector repitiera casi al pie de la letra las palabras de una lectura y que copiara muy bien los escritos (con bonita letra y ortografía). A comienzos del siglo XX surge el enfoque estructuralista, que considera a la lengua como estructura, un sistema abstracto de relaciones, y que, por tanto, basa su estudio en la descripción de sus enunciados. Es posible que muchos no olviden todavía los análisis de oraciones realizados mediante unos recuadros que subdividían los componentes del sujeto y el predicado; oraciones distantes del uso cotidiano y que debían adaptarse para tal análisis. Por consiguiente, desde esta visión, el texto es considerado como una estructura, compuesto por diferentes elementos que el autor (emisor) relaciona forma para (p.13) que el lector u oyente (receptor) pueda extraer su significado, sin una vinculación pragmática; esta concepción, a pesar de los nuevos aportes, no tienen en cuenta el papel activo del elctor o aprendiz y lo limita a simple receptor de las ideas del autor.
(Texto en progreso...de edición)
martes, 23 de mayo de 2017
martes, 2 de mayo de 2017
INTRODUCTION TO ESSAYS (Chapter Eight,J.Salvador Sichacá Barahona. Progr.Writ...)
What is an essay?
Althoug there is no satisfactory definition for the term essay due to the wide range of applications and classifications, it is usually considered as a moderately short prose composition on a restricted topic. Essays usually attempt to show the writer's opinion or point of view on a specific subject of his or her own interest.
What are the most common patterns of essays?
Keeping in mind the seriousness of the essay, it can be classified as formal or academic and informal. The formal essay is characterised by the seriousness of purpose, the dignity of the topic, the strictness of the structure, the logic of the organisation, the adequate length and the formality of the language. On the other hand, the informal essay is characterised by the author´s personal affections concerning style, tone, structure, taste, simplicity, unconventionality, confidentiality, and freedom of construction. However, a (p.109) very strict distinction between these two kinds of essays can not always be maintained because they are usually combined.
According to the purposes of essays, they can be clasified as narrations, descriptions, comparison-contrasts, argumentations, processes, definitions, problem-solutions, classifications, analysis, opinions and causation. Other divisions are the critical, literary, historical, periodical, letter, biographical, anecdotal and personal essays. Here, we will refer to the most commonly used modalities of essays such as description, comparison-contrast, narration, problem-solution, process, argumentation, persuasion, and others.
What are the parts of a formal essay?
Most essays usually have three clearly identifiable parts: introduction, development or body and conclusión. In order to enable you to write good essays, each part will be thoroughly studied.
Introduction
This is the first paragraph in an essay and it works like a door of a house:
it lets you go in. In brief, the introduction of an essay is the entrance to it. However, like in a house , if the entrance is ugly, dirty, and non-attractive, you will surelly not want to enter. In an essay , if the introduction is not interesting, attractive, and well built, the reader will not continue reading your paper, and its final place will probably be the trashcan. The introduction must be effective, interesting, and clear because it creates the first impression on the reader. It usually goes from general to specific. It is said, the writer first makes a general reference to the theme, and progessively this theme is narrowed to a more precise and specific topic which will be the central subject of your paper.
Writing on The Problem of Drugs is too extensive a topic and you would need months or even years to write effectively on it. You would have to investigate a lot about the topic in order to produce a trustworthy paper. Then, you will not be writing an essay but a book or maybe several books. You would probably be able to write a better paper on The Problem of(p.110) Drugs in Colombia, but this is stille a very complex and extensive topic. Maybe you do not know what this problem is like in cities, provinces and states located far away from the place you have been living for a long time; then, you would have to look for sources containing or providing the information you need. It would be too demanding and expensive for you, unless you expect some financial profits from you writing. Again, you final product would be, at least, a book rather than an essay.
If you decide to write on The Problem of Drugs in my Hometown, you would be capable to produce a complete and meaningful paper that fulfils both your expectations and the reader´s. Surely you Know a lot about the problem; if not, it is easier for you to get all the necessary information. Even easier would be for you to write an excellent essay on My Best Friend´s Problem with Drugs because you know exactly what the problem is, when it started, what its causes were, its consequences and many other aspects that your best friend has surely told you. The only thing you would have to do is to do is to organise ideas, write and rewrite the paper until you have a good essay.
This process is called narrowing the topic. It is a very useful strategy that you will need to apply if you want to produce good quality papers.
The introduction usually has two principal parts: a general background that is a global reference to the topic, and a thesis statement that contains the controlling ideas for the paper and tells the reader what the essay is about. The thesis statement usually consists of a single sentence that refers to the narrowed topic and it is advisable to be writen at the end ot the introduction. The purpose of writing the thesis statement in this position is to make sure that the reader´s brain is conscious of the activity it is carrying out. The human brain takes several seconds and even minutes to reach a high concentration when it starts a new activity.
The following paragraph is a good sample of an introduction:
One must always be prepared to face some unexpected experiences when travelling by plane. Sometimes it is impossible to know when to depart, what the flight will be like, and when you you will arrive at your final destination. In addition to these (p.111) uncertainties there are many steps a passenger must go through before boarding the plane: long lines, payment of taxes, revision of passport and tickets, revision of luggage, and then, possible transfers. When the flight is international, things become even more complicated because of the strictness of authorities at the airports. All these circumstances demand passengers to be patient and not to give up. I had to live this experience ten years ago when I traveled to the United States, and this is what my trip was like.
As you can see, the author starts the essay by making general reference to experiences a person has to face when traveling by plane. Then, the topic is narrowed to the experiences when the flight is international, and finally, the topic becomes more specific when it refers to a personal experience during a trip to the United States, ten years ago. This sentence is at the same time the thesis statement that tells the reader what is coming next in the paper. Then , you start writing the paragraphs of the body in wich you expand on what has been stated in the thesis statement. (p.112).
Body
Also called development, this is the part of the eassy in which you explain, support, expand, analyse or defend the thesis statement. Depending on the topic, it may consist of a single paragraph or several paragraphs properly organised.
It is essential to realise that writing paragraphs correctly demands some techniques and strategies that the writer must know. For example, a good paragraph must have a topic sentence and several expanding sentences. The topic sentence containts the controlling ideas for each paragraph. In other words, it tells the reader what the paragraph is about.
The function of the expanding sentences is to explain, support, defend, or expand what has been introduced in the topic sentence. It is essential that all the expanding sentences are related to the topic sentence and all the topic sentences are related to the thesis statement. This is called unity and coherence in writing.
The following sample will illustrate how to write paragraphs effectively.
"One day before the wedding, all was a chaos at Aunt Betty´s house. Presents wrapped in pastel paper and decorated
(En espera de terminar la copia del texto p. Sichacá Barahona, Jesús Salvador. Progressive Writing: An easy approach to composition. Magisterio.2007)
Althoug there is no satisfactory definition for the term essay due to the wide range of applications and classifications, it is usually considered as a moderately short prose composition on a restricted topic. Essays usually attempt to show the writer's opinion or point of view on a specific subject of his or her own interest.
What are the most common patterns of essays?
Keeping in mind the seriousness of the essay, it can be classified as formal or academic and informal. The formal essay is characterised by the seriousness of purpose, the dignity of the topic, the strictness of the structure, the logic of the organisation, the adequate length and the formality of the language. On the other hand, the informal essay is characterised by the author´s personal affections concerning style, tone, structure, taste, simplicity, unconventionality, confidentiality, and freedom of construction. However, a (p.109) very strict distinction between these two kinds of essays can not always be maintained because they are usually combined.
According to the purposes of essays, they can be clasified as narrations, descriptions, comparison-contrasts, argumentations, processes, definitions, problem-solutions, classifications, analysis, opinions and causation. Other divisions are the critical, literary, historical, periodical, letter, biographical, anecdotal and personal essays. Here, we will refer to the most commonly used modalities of essays such as description, comparison-contrast, narration, problem-solution, process, argumentation, persuasion, and others.
What are the parts of a formal essay?
Most essays usually have three clearly identifiable parts: introduction, development or body and conclusión. In order to enable you to write good essays, each part will be thoroughly studied.
Introduction
This is the first paragraph in an essay and it works like a door of a house:
it lets you go in. In brief, the introduction of an essay is the entrance to it. However, like in a house , if the entrance is ugly, dirty, and non-attractive, you will surelly not want to enter. In an essay , if the introduction is not interesting, attractive, and well built, the reader will not continue reading your paper, and its final place will probably be the trashcan. The introduction must be effective, interesting, and clear because it creates the first impression on the reader. It usually goes from general to specific. It is said, the writer first makes a general reference to the theme, and progessively this theme is narrowed to a more precise and specific topic which will be the central subject of your paper.
Writing on The Problem of Drugs is too extensive a topic and you would need months or even years to write effectively on it. You would have to investigate a lot about the topic in order to produce a trustworthy paper. Then, you will not be writing an essay but a book or maybe several books. You would probably be able to write a better paper on The Problem of(p.110) Drugs in Colombia, but this is stille a very complex and extensive topic. Maybe you do not know what this problem is like in cities, provinces and states located far away from the place you have been living for a long time; then, you would have to look for sources containing or providing the information you need. It would be too demanding and expensive for you, unless you expect some financial profits from you writing. Again, you final product would be, at least, a book rather than an essay.
If you decide to write on The Problem of Drugs in my Hometown, you would be capable to produce a complete and meaningful paper that fulfils both your expectations and the reader´s. Surely you Know a lot about the problem; if not, it is easier for you to get all the necessary information. Even easier would be for you to write an excellent essay on My Best Friend´s Problem with Drugs because you know exactly what the problem is, when it started, what its causes were, its consequences and many other aspects that your best friend has surely told you. The only thing you would have to do is to do is to organise ideas, write and rewrite the paper until you have a good essay.
This process is called narrowing the topic. It is a very useful strategy that you will need to apply if you want to produce good quality papers.
The introduction usually has two principal parts: a general background that is a global reference to the topic, and a thesis statement that contains the controlling ideas for the paper and tells the reader what the essay is about. The thesis statement usually consists of a single sentence that refers to the narrowed topic and it is advisable to be writen at the end ot the introduction. The purpose of writing the thesis statement in this position is to make sure that the reader´s brain is conscious of the activity it is carrying out. The human brain takes several seconds and even minutes to reach a high concentration when it starts a new activity.
The following paragraph is a good sample of an introduction:
One must always be prepared to face some unexpected experiences when travelling by plane. Sometimes it is impossible to know when to depart, what the flight will be like, and when you you will arrive at your final destination. In addition to these (p.111) uncertainties there are many steps a passenger must go through before boarding the plane: long lines, payment of taxes, revision of passport and tickets, revision of luggage, and then, possible transfers. When the flight is international, things become even more complicated because of the strictness of authorities at the airports. All these circumstances demand passengers to be patient and not to give up. I had to live this experience ten years ago when I traveled to the United States, and this is what my trip was like.
As you can see, the author starts the essay by making general reference to experiences a person has to face when traveling by plane. Then, the topic is narrowed to the experiences when the flight is international, and finally, the topic becomes more specific when it refers to a personal experience during a trip to the United States, ten years ago. This sentence is at the same time the thesis statement that tells the reader what is coming next in the paper. Then , you start writing the paragraphs of the body in wich you expand on what has been stated in the thesis statement. (p.112).
Body
Also called development, this is the part of the eassy in which you explain, support, expand, analyse or defend the thesis statement. Depending on the topic, it may consist of a single paragraph or several paragraphs properly organised.
It is essential to realise that writing paragraphs correctly demands some techniques and strategies that the writer must know. For example, a good paragraph must have a topic sentence and several expanding sentences. The topic sentence containts the controlling ideas for each paragraph. In other words, it tells the reader what the paragraph is about.
The function of the expanding sentences is to explain, support, defend, or expand what has been introduced in the topic sentence. It is essential that all the expanding sentences are related to the topic sentence and all the topic sentences are related to the thesis statement. This is called unity and coherence in writing.
The following sample will illustrate how to write paragraphs effectively.
"One day before the wedding, all was a chaos at Aunt Betty´s house. Presents wrapped in pastel paper and decorated
(En espera de terminar la copia del texto p. Sichacá Barahona, Jesús Salvador. Progressive Writing: An easy approach to composition. Magisterio.2007)
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