Language and embodied consciousness: A Peircean ontological justification for First Language educational instruction and the need for regional lingua-francas in Africa

Abstract

Effective learning needs to be as existential (and, in a sense, as experiential) as  possible and that involves more the pragmatics rather than merely the semantics of words. The initial system of signification that enables one to process/grasp  concepts is crucial in whatever one will do with those concepts subsequent to their acquisition. Since students come to school from a background of conceptuality  informed by their First Languages, learning would be more meaningful and effective if it is carried out in those languages. During instruction in any language, effective learning will take place only when the experience behind the sign or word or what the word points to is emphasized more than merely the knowing of the word itself.  Nevertheless, the sign/word that initially points one to the concept determines the possibilities of what you will do with that concept afterwards, hence the importance of First Language instruction. My paper seeks to explore how the relationship  between signs/words and concepts impacts on conceptuality in general, and how this would be reflected in an instructional setting where a foreign language is used, specifically. Adopting Charles Sanders Peirce’s triadic model of the organic relationship between the sign and the referent (in a pragmatic sense), the paper argues that the relationship between signs and referents is not as arbitrary as  Saussurean and some post-structuralist language theorists posit.

Key words: First Language instruction, Existential /experiential learning,  signs/words and concepts, Saussurean and post-structuralist linguistics, Peircean linguistics.