STERN: CHAPTER 10: Society, Culture And Language



STERN: CHAPTER 10: Society, Culture And Language

Pre-reading questions

1. What was the dilemma faced by language teachers? (191)

2. Which are the most general studies of social life? How many essential disciplines are there, and which are they? (192)

3. How old is sociology as a discipline? What has been its focus of study? (192)

4. What were the strategies/ methods adopted in the first and second stages of growth of the discipline? What were the differences between the first and second stage of growth of this discipline? Who were the major players during the two stages? (192)

5. What were the themes of Durkheim? How did his insights contribute to developments in linguistics? (192-193) Can you spot any similarity between Durkheim’s ideas and the ideas of a contemporary literary/ social critic you have come across?

6. What was the focus of Weber’s study? What was the methodology he adopted? (193)

7. On the way to modern sociology, other strategies were adopted. What were they? Give examples. (193)

8. Why does Stern think it odd that social surveys ignored the linguistic aspect in their surveys? (193)

9. How do you think descriptions of societies will contribute to second language pedagogy?

10. During which period is sociology considered to have reached its maturity as a discipline? What were some suggestions for change in the discipline? (193-194)

11. Sociology has also deviated radically in recent years. What kind of study has this lead to? (194)

12. Sum up the status and focus of modern sociology. What are the concepts modern sociology studies? Give specific examples of modern sociological studies. Find two quotes on ‘What is sociology?’ (8-12 sentences) (194-195)

13. What is anthropology? Write out two definitions given for the discipline. (195)

14. Anthropology studies, for example, the similarities and differences in the physical appearances of the Aryan and the mongoloid races. Is this statement correct? Which sentence is your supporting argument? (195)

15. Under what conditions would anthropology deviate into physiology and psychology? (195)

16. What is the essential difference between sociology and anthropology? (195)

17. What is ethnography and ethnology? (195)

18. What were some of the aspects of societies studied by anthropology? (195)

19. What is the difference between social and cultural anthropology? (195-196)

20. What are the two sources for the evolution of anthropology? (196)

21. What were some of the specific issues studied by Demeunier? (196)

22. According to Morgan there are three ethnic periods in human history. What were the theoretical assumptions about anthropology which led to such formulations? (196)

23. What was the strategy adopted by Boas? What was these strategies a reaction against? (196-197)

24. How did Freud influence Sapir? What according to Sapir should be the focus of anthropological studies? Why is Sapir’s approach liked by language teachers? (197-198)

25. What was Benedict’s argument? (198)

26. What according to Mead were the reasons for adolescent problems in the West? (198)

27. What is the relationship between culture, child training and personality characteristics? (198)

28. Sum up briefly Radcliffe-Brown’s approach to anthropology. (199) (2-4 sentences)

29. Sum up briefly Malinowski’s approach to anthropology. (199) (2-4 sentences)

30. What were the similarities and differences in their approaches? (199)

31. How could sociology and anthropology contribute to the development of the language curriculum? (200)

32. What is one basic difference between human and non-human species? (200)

33. What is Stern’s purpose in quoting Bottomore? (200)

34. How important is language in anthropological studies? (201)

35. How did Boas and Kroeber incorporate language study into anthropology? (3-6 sentences)? (201-202)

36. What was Sapir’s view on the role of language in anthroplogy? (202-203) (3-5 sentences)

37. What was the negative impact Bloomfield had on linguistics? How was this rectified later? (203)

38. What is the theory of linguistic relativity or what is the Whorf-Sapir/ Whorfian hypothesis? What is the general consensus regarding this hypothesis? What are its implications in language pedagogy? (203-206) (8-12 sentences)

39. What was Malinowski’s attitude to language in anthropology? (207-208)

40. What are the four uses of language he identified in primitive societies? (208) (4-8 sentences)

41. What is the difference between primitive languages and civilized languages according to Malinowski? (208)

42. How was Firthian linguistics influenced by Malinowski? (209)

43. What is the basic unit of linguistics for Firth? What are the elements of context of situation for him? (209)

44. How have Malinowski and Firth contributed to the development of sociolinguistics? (209)

45. What was the theory developed by Mead? (209)

46. Summarize the arguments of Lewis, Weinreich, Haugen, and Bernstein in a paragraph of around 100 words each. (210-213)

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