On Nurturing Linear Recognition through Foreign Language Learning

Abstract

Mikhail Bakhtin says that we are usually unaware of the fact that we are under the pressure of incontestable linguistic norms. As long as we live only with our mother tongue, we don’t have to face the language as a norm, but there are some exceptional situations where a language appears as a normative form. One of these situations is foreign language learning. Studying a foreign language includes not only absorbing new vocabulary but also acquiring a norm, namely syntax. Acquiring a norm always comes with conflict. While conflict is a thing that we should avoid as much as we can, it is indispensable for us to gain a new insight about the world. In recent foreign language learning, there are some social factors that help learners circumvent the conflict that they are supposed to struggle with in acquiring a norm. In this article I consider what this learning environment brings about. It affects people’s sensitiveness to language, which leads to the belittling of linear recognition of the world around us and things that are going on within us. Language as a norm will be a minimum premise we should share if we try to maintain dialogical communication with others.