SOCIOLINGUISTIC COMPETENCE IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHING TO JOURNALISM STUDENTS: SECRETS BEHIND LANGUAGE GRAMMAR

Abstract

As a field of study that involves the interaction of both language and society, sociolinguistics has contributed to help foreign language teaching achieve a greater understanding of the nature of language, as well as its manifestations, along with the understanding of the nature of society. The idea above mentioned has implied better preparation on the foreign language teacher’s part, and a more complete and complex exposure to the target language and the evolving factors in it, on the students’ part. Nevertheless, it is important to question whether both teachers and students’ sociolinguistic competence and performance are balanced enough to determine if the people they interact, teach and learn from are salient ‘knowers’ and users of the language