Otality in Culture & feducatlon

Abstract

Our education and culture involve us daily in one of the defining activities of humankind the expression of knowledge and emotions through oral language. However sophisticated communication technology becomes, we remain living and breathing creatures of oral habit. We express ourselves through songs and poems, through narrative, through anecdote and language play, as well as through rational argument and exposition. Print culture has obviously brought great advantages for both the storage and the dissemination of information. However, I shall argue that we should not carelessly ignore the relevance of oral culture to the postulation of knowledge. In the context of language knowledge oral communication is crucial both to language learning and to language use. It is a defining characteristic of being human. Therefore, in this paper, I shall emphasise the importance of incorporating theories of orality in the development of materials for language education.