Linguistic ethnographic imagination in foreign language teaching

Abstract

The article deals with the definition of a native language as a foreign language. The author discusses the ethnographic theory of language proposed by Paul Willis who emphasizes the cultural values of language. The usefulness of his concepts for methodology of teaching a foreign language is in centre of attention, thereby the dominant role of grammar in teaching a language is called into question. Due to the ethnographic point of reference, particular emphasis is placed on the significance of the description of cultural meanings in the relations and rules of communication for gaining the language competence. Teaching the native language as a foreign one is different from teaching any other language which is treated as a foreign language. Therefore, it needs to be set in a separate cultural space, it requires independent characteristics and definition of the communicative situation.