Post method Pedagogy's Strategies: An Innovative way in Designing English Language Teaching Material for Writing Skill

Abstract

Many definitions of language have been proposed. Henry Sweet (1877), an English phonetician and language scholar, stated: “Language is the expression of ideas by means of speech-sounds combined into words. Words are combined into sentences, this combination answering to that of ideas into thoughts.” The American linguists Bernard Bloch and George L. Trager (1942), formulated the following definition: “A language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols by means of which a social group cooperates.” Any succinct definition of language makes a number of presuppositions and begs a number of questions. The first, for example, puts excessive weight on “thought,” and the second uses “arbitrary” in a specialized, though legitimate, way. Every physiologically and mentally typical person acquires in childhood the ability to make use, as both sender and receiver, of a system of communication that comprises a circumscribed set of symbols (e.g., sounds, gestures, or written or typed characters). This symbol set in spoken language consists of noises produced by movements of certain organs within the throat and mouth. These symbols in signed languages can be hand or body movements, gestures, or facial expressions. People can use these symbols to convey information, express feelings and emotions, influence the actions of others, and comport themselves with varying degrees of friendliness or hostility towards people who use a similar set of symbols.

Different communication systems constitute different languages; the degree of difference required to establish a different language cannot be specified precisely. Because no two people speak exactly alike, one can recognize the voices of friends on the phone and distinguish a number of unseen speakers in a radio broadcast.