Belajar Bahasa Inggris: The Use of Language
We cannot imagine if we as human beings have no language. In our life language has an important role in communication. Without language we cannot think systematically and orderly. Without language it is impossible for us to thing elaborately and abstractly. Without language we will not be able to communicate our knowledge and experience to others. So, we use language in our life for a variety of purposes. Principally, language has three uses: the practical, the hortatory, and the literary.
First, when we use language to communicate information, like telling that somebody is a teacher, that today is Friday, that Indonesia is an archipelago, we are dealing with the practical use of language. This use of language is perhaps the commonest in our life. A reading matter included in the domain of the practical use necessitates the application of the basic search proficiency for information called literal comprehension skills. These skills not only cover the abilities to recognize words accurately, but also to identify topic, main idea, and supporting details; to understand sequence of events; to recognize cause and effect relationships.
Secondly, the hortatory deals with the use of language as an instrument of persuasion. In fact, we meet this use in advertisements, propaganda bulletins, sermons, and political speeches. To deal with a reading matter of the hortatory domain; however, the reader must use his proficiency in rational comprehension of facts and ideas named critical comprehension skills. They include the ability to read between the lines to determine what the author means by what he is saying; to question, analyze, and form judgments; to sort facts from opinions, to search for causes, and to consider the author’s qualifications and purpose.
The last, the literary use of language concerns with its function to communicate experience. We find this use when we deal with novels, short stories, plays, and poems. To read literature the reader needs to apply his affective comprehension skills, which can be simply defined as a fusion of the reader’s intellectual and emotional responses to what he read. Affective reading or affective comprehension is the most sophisticated level among the three comprehension skills.
To
sum up, there are three uses of language, that is, the practical, the
hortatory, and the literary. However, each of them needs certain comprehension
skills when we are faced with a reading matter. The three uses of language are
in hierarchical order. It means that literal reading proficiency precedes
critical reading proficiency, and both of them precede affective reading
proficiency. In other words, literal comprehension and critical comprehension
are prerequisite skills for affective reading. One cannot, in my opinion, read
affectively if he does not master both literal and critical comprehension yet.
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