LANGUAGE AS A WAY OF KNOWING

Ways of knowing

The TOK course identifies eight specific ways of knowing (WOKs). They are:

• language
• sense perception
• emotion
• reason
• imagination
• faith
• intuition
• memory.

Language

How does language shape knowledge? Does the importance of language in an area of knowledge ground it in a particular culture? How are metaphors used in the construction of knowledge?

Language can refer to the mental faculty which allows people to learn and use complex communication systems, or it can refer to those systems themselves. Language consists of a system of signs with agreed or conventional meanings combined according to a set of rules for the purposes of communication, formulation of ideas, storage of knowledge or as a medium of thought. The term “signs” can be interpreted very broadly to include letters, symbols, sounds, gestures, images and even objects. Language is a crucial part of our daily lives, but is also filled with potential problem areas, for example, ambiguity, sarcasm, irony and translation issues.

Language plays an important role in communicating knowledge. However, some see language as having an even more central role, arguing that language doesn’t just describe our experiences of the world but in fact actually structures those experiences. In the section on the knowledge framework there is a discussion about whether certain types of knowledge are actually constituted by language—the idea that language is part and parcel of the knowledge claim itself and not merely a description of something that exists independently of language. The view that facts about the world might be determined by the language is called linguistic determinism.

Love is a Fallacy

In most of the statements heard, spoken, read or written, facts are blended with values. How can an examination of language distinguish the subjective and ideological biases as well as values that statements may contain? Why might such an examination be desirable?

Let's Explore Fallacies: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_81fz6kUJI

13´30

TOK LINKS WITH LANGUAGE B

What follows are some questions that could be used to investigate the link between the four ways of knowing (reason, emotion, perception and language) and additional language acquisition.

• Do we know and learn our first language(s) in the same way as we learn additional languages?

• When we learn an additional language, do we learn more than “just” vocabulary and grammar?

• The concept of intercultural understanding means the ability to demonstrate an understanding of cultural diversity and/or similarity between the target culture(s) and one’s own. To what extent is this definition true?

• “Those who know nothing of an additional language know nothing of their own” (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, playwright, poet, novelist, dramatist, 1749–1832). By learning another culture are we able to enrich our own?

• We can learn grammar intuitively, without conscious thought, or formally, by stating rules. What are the strengths and weaknesses of each approach? Are these the same for learning in other areas of the curriculum?

• To what extent does membership of a group (a cultural group, a gender group or another group) affect how we come to linguistic knowledge? Are there factors to consider between individuals within a group and between groups?

• To what extent does the learning environment (the physical setting) have an impact on the way an additional language is acquired?

• If you were to learn a language from a textbook only, how would this differ from learning through interaction only?

• Do you understand the world differently when you learn another language? How (for example, time, humour, leisure)?

• How is perception encoded differently in different languages (for example, colour, orientation)? What does this tell us about the relationships between perception, culture, reality and truth?

• How are values encoded differently in different languages (for example, family, friendship, authority)?

• When, if ever, is it possible to make a perfect translation from one language into another? What might “perfect” mean in this context?

• What is the relationship between language and thought? Do you think differently in different languages? If so, does it make a practical or discernible difference to how you interpret the world?

• If mathematics is a language, it is clearly different from natural languages. In your experience, do we learn the two differently? What does your answer tell us about the nature of mathematical and linguistic knowledge?