Thinking Is Dependent on Language

This assignment is a reflective account on communicating with a patient who cannot communicate verbally. To remain confidential I will call the patient, Patient A. I’m going to discuss the importance of non-verbal communication within a healthcare setting. Patient A was a 63 year old lady suffering from MND which resulted in her losing her speech.

Nature and nurture both play a significant role in language development. Language development refers to how children understand, organise, speak and use words in order to communicate at an effective, age-appropriate level (Karen Kearns, 2013, P.105). For centuries, theorists have been debating the roles of nature versus nurture. Although, each child’s language will develop at their own pace and there will be many individual differences based on culture, ethnicity, health and ability. As well as physical, social, emotional and cognitive development in which will contribute to a child’s language development.

In the excerpt from Language in Thought and Action, S.I. Hayakawa claims that the most interesting and least understood application of words is when they are used in an attempt to influence the future. He explains that facts, opinions, and commands can all be used as a way of “making things happen by means of words.” I agree with Hayakawa’s statement that this “directive language” is interesting and important because I see how prevalent it is in today’s society. As he said, control of the public’s behavior is the driving force behind countless professions, including preachers, writers, and politicians. These people, whether we realize it or not, are constantly trying to change how we think through what they say. These attempts are important

The parietal lobe of the brain if affected by dementia affects language skills. This means that communication skills could be reduced. The person may not be able to ‘find’ the appropriate words to use, or may not understand questions asked of them. They may not relate ‘words’ to the correct ‘objects’ for instance if they pick up a cup, but call it a ‘pot’.

Nothing brings people together more than language. As an international student, I noticed that more often than not, international students tend to befriend those with a common native language. Perhaps their common language makes it easier for them to communicate since they might not be comfortable with speaking English. Another possibility would be that sharing a language can also mean that they share a common way of thinking. Lera Boroditsky, an assistant psychology professor at Stanford University, wrote the article “How Does Our Language Shape the Way We Think?” to illustrate to her readers that language, whether it is grammar or just the general logic, does indeed affect how we think. Boroditsky and research teams in Stanford and MIT collected data from all over the world. Because of the extensive amount of research and her article’s solid structure, I find Boroditsky’s argument easy to follow and understand, therefore quite convincing. She is so knowledgeable in her area that her arguments and article are solid and build on top of each other like Tetris tiles. A well-written article can only be achieved by knowing and understanding your material well.

The statement in the title is suggesting that non-cognitive language, or non-factual language, is inefficient at attempting to solve the relevant and evident issues with religious language. In this essay I will argue that although there are several innate flaws with non-cognitive language, I, on occasion, actually find it more helpful than cognitive language. This is because when using cognitive language it is often that people find themselves far more concerned with the meaning of the words, rather than the message, which they are trying to convey. This can often result in ‘loaded language’. But with non-cognitive the sole aim is to convey a meaning in a simple and

In his article "Does Your Language Shape How You Think?" the author Guy Deutscher discusses how the acquisition of one's mother tongue shapes one's view of the world. The article was published in The New York Times in August 2010. The author's major paradigm is that every language one learns influences one's mind and feelings in a different way. Deutscher explains that depending on one's mother tongue, objects can be considered masculine or feminine, which results in the speaker feeling differently about them. The author believes that different languages do indeed make one speak about space in different ways as well; although he claims people do not have entirely different views of it. Deutscher then explains that experiments have shown that

Although there is no official language in the United States, the English language is the most widely spoken. Language helps to shape our identities, define and limit our expectations of the world around us and who we are. You might ask yourself, how does our language shape our identities and influence our perceptions of the world? Through language, we are able to make meaning, understand, and define ourselves. We are able to communicate what we feel, our ideas, our hopes, and our dreams with others who can respond to our feelings and thoughts. However, our choice of words cannot always capture what we are feeling to the full extent.

To begin, I am going to summarize the video of “Does learning languages make kids smarter?” of the program “Your voice” which you can find it in the following page multilingualliving.com.

The article Is Language the Key to Human Intelligence? , Written by David Premack a professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, explains how humans have displayed their intelligence through language, unlike animals whose language, (any) hasn’t evolved at all. Premack uses examples such as grammar and syntax of the human language and explains the uniqueness and evolution of language over time. He claims humans have humans have six symbols system: “two that evolved- the genetic code and spoken language- and four that we invented: written language, Arabic numerals, music notation, and lab notation (a system for coding choreography)”. One word that he puts emphasis time over time is Recursion (“makes it possible for the words

No matter where you are in the world, you are taught about language. Whether it’s in your home learning your language or in school trying to learn a foreign language. Although while learning language the notion is never really thought about or brought up that the language and way we speak can influence the way we think and interact. Phycologist and neuroscientist alike have spent years, with multiple different tests to see if there is a connection between the various languages that are spoken and the way people not only think but also how they go about their daily lives. She writes to not only her colleagues and neuroscientists but also to anyone in the general public that is genuinely interested in the connection between

With the powerful influence of globalization transforming every aspect of our world humans must adapt to the new cultural environment being created. One major change is that of language evolution. English is the third most spoken language worldwide after Chinese and Spanish, but it is the most popular second language overall (Haviland, Prins, Walrath, & McBride, 2014). The English language is taking over, so what, you may ask, is the point of putting in the energy to learn a second language? Why should you enrol your child in a language immersion school program? Well, as an English Canadian, learning a second language through an immersion program comes with a collection of cognitive benefits that can influence a variety of things, including mental health, academic performance, and employability, not to mentions that it plays a vital part in preserving the many cultures in our country, all while promoting acceptance diversity.

“Language shapes the way we think, and determines what we can think about.” – Benjamin Lee Whorf

* In the educational field, the teaching learning cycle is a model used in contemporary teaching in both school and adult educational settings. Rothery (1996 in Derewianka & Jones 2012, pg 43) who originally developed the model used this to aim at disadvantaged children for teaching literacy and writing in the KLA (Key learning areas) who were from socially disadvantaged areas. Over time the model has been phased across other areas of the English language such as listening, speaking, reading as well as writing. The key involvement of the teacher also known as ‘expert other’ in the teaching learning cycle is guiding the learner to understand key concepts in academic literacy through use of scaffolding strategies to transform students

The role of consciousness in learning has been a heavily debated topic. Many researchers have been hesitant to even use the term “consciousness” when discussing the topic due to its vague nature and its difficulty to operationalize. Schmidt (1992) was one of the first researchers to explore in depth the true relationship of consciousness to second language learning. He operationalized the construct of consciousness under the umbrella term awareness. Awareness encapsulated attention and noticing, and implicit and explicit learning, factor groups which made awareness crucial for language learning (Schmidt, 1992). The factors attention and noticing held many interest’s as the notion of having a specific focus on the input, and noticing being vital to learning a new language, seemed unrealistic. The noticing hypothesis states it is one’s ability to change the input to long-term memory by not simply just noticing the input, but noticing all linguistic forms that are necessary to learn (Schmidt, 1992). These theories received backlash as many believed language could be acquired subconsciously without any target focus. Implicit and explicit learning shared a similar idea, but stressed the act of “understanding” (Schmidt, 1992). Understanding existed as a more complex form of noticing as it was less restricted to target learning and memorization. It was the ability to unconsciously internalize principals of the language. The contrast between the terms is implicit learning