Principles of Language Learning and Teaching (Longman) – Chapter 1: Language learning and teaching

7/26/2019 Principles of Language Learning and Teaching (Longman) Chapter 1: Language learning and teaching

1/10

xii

f reface

6.

Journal

guidelines for

a

language learning experience.

l have

always recon1n1ended

that

the inforn1ation in a book like this

is

besr

internalized if the

reader

is

concurrently

taking a

course

in a foreign lan

guage. At

the

enJ of each

chapter

in lhis eition is a new secrion that

offers c assroon1-tested journal-wTting guidelines for the

reader either

to reflect on a current experience learning another language orto take

a retrospective look

ata

previous foreign language learning experience.

Jn

both

cases,

the

reader is askell to apply conceprs and consf1ucts anti

models to

a

personal

experience

learning

a

foreign language.

7.

Rcvised end-of-cl1apter

In

tl1e Classroon1 vig:nettes.

As

in

the

Third

Edition,

these

vignetres provide informarion

on

various pcdagog

ical applicatons anJ implications of second language rt:search.

The

first

four vignettes describe a historical progression of language-teaching

rr1ethods; the other chapters


2/10

CURRENT ISSUES

IN

SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

What?

How?

Current

issues in secon


3/10

4 0/APTER 1 Langudge, Learning

and

Tr::,ichin:;

And

you

can hone the global questions

into

finer, suhtler questions, vvhici1

in itself

is an ilnportant task, for often heing

able

ro ask

the

right quesrions

is more

valuable

t.han possessing storehouses of kno"\vledge.

Tho1nas Kuhn (1970) referred ro "norn1al scence

as

a prOCL".:ss of

puzzle solving

in which

part of the task of thc scicntist,

in

this case the

reacher, is to discover the ph:ccs and then to fit thc pieces togerher. Son1e

of the pieccs

of

the

language learning

puzzle

havc

beco1nc

-..vell

estab

lbhed. Others

are not yet

discovered,

and

the careful defining

of questions

vvill

lead

to finding

those

pieces.

We can rhen

undertake the task

of fitring

the pieces together into

a "paradig1n"

an interlocking design,

a theory of

second language acquisition.

That

theory,

like a jigsaw puzzle, nceds to be coherent and unified. Jf

only

one

point

of vicvv is

taken-if you look

al

only

one

facet

of

second

lan

guage

learning and

teaching-you \\-'ili

derive

an

incon1p ete,

partial

tht:ory.

The second

langtiage

teacher, with eyes

vvkte open

to

the total picture,

neecls

to form an

integrated

understanding of the many aspects

of

the

process of second language learning.

In order to begin to

ask

further questions and to find answers to sorne

of those

questions,

vve

111u.sr

first address a fundan1ental concern in

prohlen1-posing:

defining

or Jelin1iting

the focus of

our inquiry.

Since

this:

book

is about

language, learning, and teaching, let's see

what

happens

\Vhen

wc try

to

"


4/10

6 CHAPTfR 1 Language Learning ind Tt-aching

2. Thc sy1nolic naturc

of

language; the

relationship

betv.'een

languagc anJ reality; the philosophy of l;;inguage; thc history of

language.

3.

Phonelic::.;

phonology; writing

systems; kinesics,

proxemics, and

other

"paralinguistic" features of language.

4. Seni.cu-1Ucs; languagc and

cogaitiun;

psycholinguistics.

5.

Cu1nrnunication

.systt:rr1s; spcakcr-hearer

interaction; sentcnce

prucc.ssil1g.

6. DialecLlvgy; ~ u c i u l i n g u i s t i c s ; Janguage and culture; bilingualism

and second

Ianguage acquisitio.n.

7. I-Iuman language and nonhtunan co1nmunication;

the

physiology

of

language.

8. Language universab; first tanguage acquisition.

Serivus

;inJ extensive thinking about these eight topics involves a

com

plex journcy through

a labyrinth

of lingubtic

science-a rnazc

that

con

tinues

to

be n>..:gutia.:d. Yet the language

teacher needs to

kn.ow

something

about tls syste1n

of

conununication

that we

call language. Can foreign lan

guage teachcrs cffectively teach a language if they do not know, even in gen

eral, sornething about the

relationship

between

ianguage

and

cognition,

-..vriting

systems,

nonvcrbal

communication, sociolinguistics. and

first lan

guage

acqubition?

And if

the second

language

learner

is

being asked

to

be

successful in

acquiring

a system

of

communication of such vast con1plexty,

isn't

it fea;:.onable

that the

teacher have

awareness

ofwhat the

con1ponents

of that system :'re?

Y'our undcrstanJing of the con1ponents of

language

determines to a

large

extent hoy;;- you teach

a language. If, for ex:unple,

you believe that

nonverbal cu1nn1unicatlon is a key to successful

second language

learning,

you v:ill devotc son1e attention to nonverbal systen1s and

cues.

If you per

ceive languagc as a phcnun1enon that can be


5/10

CHAPTEN i

Language Learning

and

Teaching

choose

to

present copious rules

anct paradigms

to your students rather

than let then1 "discover"

those rules

inductively.

A.n

extended definition-or theory-of teaching \Yill

spell

out

gov-

erning principies for choosing certain n1ethods and techniques. A theory

of teaching,

in harn1ony

with

your integrate understan


6/10

1 O

CHAPTER

l Lan;uage earning ami /eaching

seiection

of

the descriptively adequate gramn1ar of each language"

(Chomsky 1964: 63).

Early

sec n ; ; ; but

they wcre fa.r n1ore

interested in

a more

ultin1ate

quesdon

1

iiihy:_

\- '{7h;1t

underlyU1g

rcasvns,

gcnetic and cnvironmcntal fac

tors, and circun1stance::. caused a particular event?

If

you

\\'ere

to nbse1-ve so1neone walk into yottr house, pick upa

chair

an PTER-1

Language Learning and 7eaching 11

thc physical Jescription of the perS(Jfi, the time of day, the size of the chair,

the ilnpact

of

the chair, and

so

forth. Another set of questions vvould ask

why

the person

did what

he

di


7/10

1 2 CH-\PTER 1 Language Learning ind

eaching

Researchers stuclying first and second language acquisirion have

demonstrated

constructivist

perspectives through studies of conversa

tionll discourse, sociocultural factors in

learning, an


8/10

14

Cl-fAlTER 1 Language Lcarning and Teaching

nicative competence

and for explanations

of the

interactive process

of

lan

guage. The language

teaching

p.rofes::,ion responded

to

these theorctical

trends

\Vith approacbe::i and techniques

that

ha ve

stressed

thc itnportance

of self-esteem,

of

::iluJenls cooperatively icarning together,

of

developing

individual strategics for

success,

and above ali

of

focusing

on

the

co1nmu

nicative

process in language learning.-Toclay

the

term

"comn1tucative

lan

guage

teaching" is a by 'or


9/10

16

CHAPTER

J

language,

Learniflg

and Teaching

7.

Often the on y dri ls are exercises in translating dlscon

nected sentences

from the

target language into the mother

tangue.

8.

Little

ar no attention is given to

pronunciation.

t

is

remarkab e, in one sense, that

this method

has been so

stal

wart among many competing models. t does virtually

nothing

to

enhance a student's commu nicative ab lity in the language. t is

"remembered with

distaste by thousands

of

school earners,

for

whom foreign language learning meant a tedious experience of

n1emorizing endless lists of unusable grammar rules and vocabu ary

and

attempting to

produce perfect translations

of

sti ted or

literary

prose" (Richards & Rodgers

1986:

4).

In another

sense, however,

one can understand why Grammar Translation is so popular.

t

regui_ees

f_ew_ ~ p e c i a l i z e d

_skills on the part

of t e a ~ ~ ~ r s .

Tests

of

gramma-ruleS

a d of translations

are easy

to coStuct

and can be

objectively scored. Many standardized tests

of foreign

languages still

do

not attempt to tap

lnto communicative abilities,

so students

have

Htt e motivation to go beyond grammar analogies,

translations,

and

rote

exerclses. And it is sometmes successful

fn

leading a student

toward

a reading knowledge of a second language. But,

as

Richards

and Rodgers (1986: 5) pointed out, "it has no advocates. t s a

method far which there is no theory. There-ls o literature

that

offers

a

rationale or

justificatlon

far it or that attempts to

relate

it to

issues

n inguistics, psychology, or educational theory." s we continue

to

examine theoretical principies in this book,

I

think

we

will under

stand

more

fu y

the

"theorylessness"

of the Grammar

Translation

Method.

TOPICS AND QUESTIONS FOR

STUDY

AND DISCUSSION

Note:

Items

listed belovv

are

coded for either individual 0

work,

group/pair

(G)

work,

or

whole-class (C) discussion, as suggestions

to

the instructor

on

how

to incorporare

the

topics and questions into a class session.

l (G)

In

the

first paragraph

of

this

chapter,

second

language learning is

described as a

c o m ~ o l e x

long-term

effort

that requires n1uch

of

the

learner.

ln

small

groups

of

three to

five,

share

your own

experiences

in

learning,

or

attempting ro learn, a foreign language.

Describe your

own

(a) co1nmitment, (b) involvement,and (e) etfort

to

learn.This discussion

should introduce you to a variety of patterns of learning.

2. (C:) Look at

the

nvo


10/10

18 Cl-IAPIER

l Language Learning

nd

Teaching

A nun1ber o,{ rej'erences 'lvere n1ade In this c/Japter to tr c lds n

research on app ied linguistics and 51.J 1. 17.Jesr? thrce it(fornzatue

boohs o j ] e r j l u 1 h e r j ) e r s j > e c t i v e ~

on

the

tJree 1 1 1 c ~ o r

scbouls

oj.thought

descrihcd here, and re Luritten in a user-jj-iendly s(vle.

Annual Revieiv o/

AjJplied Lingustics, published by

Cambridge

University

Press.

G ~ o 1 n J r e h t > n s i v e

and

currellf

n)Ur111c1tion on uorious subj"i:elds

o}

interest zuthin lVhat is hroac (y

ternied

'apjJ ied

lingu

istics

..

is t l Cl

il-

able through

this

annuctl y j)lthlishecl

journal.

Thon1as Kuhn. 1970. The

Structure

of Scientific Rez,.olutions. Chicago:

University of Chicago Press.

This classic tt'ork descrihes

thc

lVCLYing

and ll'Olling

q

scle1tt((ic

tre11ds

througb bisto1y.

Jt helps

une to

tuzden>tand SlA

research

trends

in a conte.\t

o)-

other

scientific

dsciplines.

Bro\vn, H. Douglas. 2000. Teaching b_y Principles:An

Interactive Approach

to Language Pedagogy. Second E

Documents

Principles of Language Learning and Teaching (Longman) – Chapter 1: Language learning and teaching