王蔷主编的《英语教学法教程》第二版unit1.docx
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王蔷主编的《英语教学法教程》第二版unit1
Unit1LanguageandLanguageLearning
Aimsoftheunit
Inthisunitwewilldiscusssomegeneralmattersaboutlanguagelearningandteaching.Wearegoingtodiscussfivequestionsonparticular:
1.Howdowelearnlanguage
2.Whatarethecommonviewsonlanguage
3.Whatarethecommonviewsonlanguagelearning
4.Whatarethequalitiesofagoodlanguageteacher
5.Howcanonebecomeagoodlanguageteacher
1.1Howdowelearnlanguages
Machofhumanbehaviorisinfluencedbytheirexperiences.Thewaylanguageteachersteachintheclassroomistosomeextentinfluencedbythewaytheylearnedlanguages.Thisisespeciallytrueinforeignlanguageteaching.Beforewediscusslanguagelearningtheories,letusfirstreflectonourownlanguagelearningexperience.
Task1
Belowisalistofinterviewquestionsonhowpeoplelearnaforeignlanguage.Inthefirstcolumn,writedownyourownresponses.Theninterviewthreeotherstudentsinyourclassandentertheirresponsesintheothercolumns.Discussyourfindingsingroupof4anddrawsomeconclusion.
You
ST1
ST2
ST3
1.Howmanyforeignlanguagescanyouspeaksofar
2.Whendidyoustartlearningtheforeignlanguage(s)
3.Howdoyoufeelaboutlearningaforeignlanguage
4.Whatdifficultieshaveyouexperiencedinlearning
5.Whichskilldoyoufindmoredifficulttolearn
6.HaveyoufocusedonknowledgeorskillsWhy
7.Whydoyoulearntheforeignlanguage(s)
8.DoyouconsideryourselfasuccessfullearnerWhy
9.Whatareyourmostcommonlearningactivities
10.Doyoulikethewayyoulearnedtheforeignlanguage(s)
Fromtheabovetask,youmayhavefoundthat1)peoplestartedlearningaforeignlanguageatdifferentages;2)peoplehavedifferentexperiencesinlearningaforeignlanguage,somefinditeasy,somefinditdifficult;3)peoplelearnlanguagesfordifferentreasons;4)peoplelearnlanguagesindifferentways;5)peoplehavedifferentunderstandingsaboutlanguagelearning;6)peoplehavedifferentcapacitiesinlanguagelearning;7)learningcanbeaffectedbythewayitistaught;8)learningisaffectedbythedegreeofsuccessoneisexpectedtoachieve;andmore.Thusthechallengeconfrontinglanguageteachingishowteachingmethodologycanensuresuccessfullearningbyallthelearnerswhohavemoredifferencesthanthecommonality.
1.2viewsonlanguage
Thequestionthatallapproachestolanguageteachingshouldansweris,‘whatislanguage’Theanswertothisquestionisthebasisforsyllabusdesigns,teachingmethodology,teachingandassessmentproceduresintheclassroom.Differentviewsonlanguagegeneratedifferentteachingmethodologies.
Task2
Workingroupof4.Brainstormpossibleanswertothequestion:
whatislanguageWhenyouareready,joinanothergroupandshareyourideas.
Togiveaconcisedefinitionoflanguagehasalwaysbeendifficultforlinguistsandphilogists.Althoughtherehasbeenanenormousamountofresearchinlanguageinthepastcentury,noauthoritativeanswerhasbeengivento‘whatislanguage’rather,peoplehavesettledowntotalkaboutviewsoflanguage,seeminglyallowingfororacceptingdifferenttheoriesforthemoment.However,languageteachersclearlyneedtoknowgenerallywhatsortofentitytheyaredealingwithandhowtheparticularlanguagetheyareteachingfitsintothatentity(Brown,1994a).forsampledefinitionof‘language’,pleaserefertoAppendix1.
Structuralview
Thestructuralviewoflanguageseeslanguageasalinguisticsystemmadeupofvarioussubsystems(Larsen-Freeman&Long,1991):
thesoundsystem(phonology);thediscreteunitsofmeaningproducedbysoundcombinations(morphology),andthesystemofcombiningunitsofmeaningforcommunication(syntax).Eachlanguagehasafinitenumberofsuchstructuralitems.Tolearnalanguagemeanstolearnthesestructuralitemssoastobeabletounderstandandproducelanguage.Whenthisstructuralviewoflanguagewascombinedwiththestimulus-responseprinciplesofbehavioristpsychology,theaudio-lingualapproachtolanguagelearningemerged.
Functionalview
Inthe1960s,Britishlinguistsdevelopedasystemofcategoriesbasedonthecommunicativeneedsofthelearner(JohnsonandMarrow,1981)andproposedasyllabusbasedoncommunicativefunctions.Thefunctionalviewnotonlyseeslanguagesasalinguisticsystembutalsoameansfordoingthings.Mostofourday-to-daylanguageuseinvolvesfunctionalactivities:
offering,suggesting,advising,apologizing,etc.therefore,learnerslearnalanguageinordertobeabletodowithit.Inordertoperformfunctions,learnersneedtoknowhowtocombinethegrammaticalrulesandthevocabularytoexpressnotionsthatperformthefunctions.Examplesofnotionsaretheconceptofpresent,pastandfuturetime,theexpressionsofcertaintyandpossibility,therolesofagents,instrumentswithasentence,andspecialrelationshipsbetweenpeopleandobjects.
Interactionalview
Theinteractionalviewconsiderslanguagetobeacommunicativetool,whosemainuseistobuildupandmaintainsocialrelationsbetweenpeople.Therefore,learnersnotonlyneedtoknowthegrammarandvocabularyofthelanguagebutasimportantlytheyneedtoknowtherulesforusingtheminawholerangeofcommunicativecontexts.
Thesethreeviewspresentaneverwiderviewoflanguage.Thestructuralviewlimitsknowingalanguagetoknowingitsstructuralrulesandvocabulary.Thecommunicativeornotional-functionalviewaddstheneedtoknowhowtousetherulesandvocabularytodowhateveritisonewantstodo.Theinteractionalviewsaysthattoknowhowtodowhatyouwanttodoinvolvesalsoknowingwhetheritisappropriatetodo,andwhere,whenandhowitisappropriatetodoit.Inordertoknowthis,youhavetostudythepatternsandrulesoflanguageabovethesentenceleveltolearnhowlanguageisusedindifferentspeechcontexts.
Theunderstandingofthenatureoflanguagemayprovidethebasisforaparticularteachingmethod(RichardandRodgers,1986),butmoreimportantly,itiscloselyrelatedtotheunderstandingoflanguagelearning.Iflanguageisconsideredtohaveafinitenumberofstructuralitems,learningthelanguageprobablymeanslearningtheseitems.Iflanguageismorethanjustasystemofstructures,itismoreimportantlyatoolthentolearnthelanguagelearning.Iflanguageismorethanjustasystemofstructures,itismoreimportantlyatool,thentolearnthelanguagemeanstouseit,ratherthanjuststudywhatitisandhowitisformed.Thenextsectiondiscussessomecurrenttheoriesaboutlanguagelearning.
ViewsonLanguagelearningandlearningingeneral
Alanguagelearningtheoryunderlyinganapproachormethodusuallyanswerstwoquestions;1)Whatarethepsycholinguisticandcognitiveprocessesinvolvedinlanguagelearning2)Whataretheconditionsthatneedtobemetinorderfortheselearningprocessestobeactivated
Task3
Workingroupsof4.Brainstormtheanswerstothetwoquestionsstatedabove.
Whenyouareready,joinanothergroupandshareyourideas.
Althoughthesetwoquestionshaveneverbeensatisfactorilyanswered,avastamountofresearchhasbeendonefromallaspects.Theresearchcanbebroadlydividedintoprocess-orientedtheoriesandcondition-orientedtheories.Process-orientedtheoriesareconcernedwithhowthemindorganizesnewinformationsuchashabitformation,induction,makinginference,hypothesistestingandgeneralization.Condition-orientedtheoriesemphasizethenatureofthehumanandphysicalcontextinwhichlanguagelearningtakesplace,suchasthenumberofstudents,thekindofinputlearnersreceive,andtheatmosphere.Someresearchersattempttoformulateteachingapproachesdirectlyfromthesetheories.Forexample,theNaturalApproach,TotalPhysicalResponse,andtheSilentWayarebasedononeormoredimensionsofprocessesandconditions.Atthislevel,itistooearlytoformulateaspecificapproach,becausesomeaspectsarestilltoovague,forexample,whatisdoneintheseprocesses.
Behavioristtheory
ThebehavioristtheoryoflanguagelearningwasinitiatedbybehaviouralpsychologistSkinner,whoappliedWatsonandRaynor’stheoryofconditioningtothewayhumanacquirelanguage(Harmer,1983).Basedontheirexperiments,WatsonandRaynorformulatedastimulus-responsetheoryofpsychology.Inthistheoryallcomplexformsofbehavior—motions,habitsandsuch—areseenascomposedofsimplemuscularandglandularelementsthatcanbeobservedandmeasured.Theyclaimedthatemotionalreactionsarelearnedinmuchthesamewayasotherskills.Thekeypointofthetheoryofconditioningisthat‘youcantrainananimaltodoanything(withinreason)ifyoufollowacertainprocedurewhichhasthreemajorstages,stimulus,response,andreinforcement’(Harmer,1983:
30).
Basedonthetheoryofconditioning,Skinnersuggestedthatlanguageisalsoaformofbehavior.Itcanbelearnedthesamewayasananimalistrainedtorespondtostimuli.Thistheoryoflearningisreferredtoasbehaviorism,whichwasadoptedforsometimebythelanguageteachingprofession,particularlyinthe.Oneinfluentialresultistheaudio-lingualmethod,whichinvolvesendless’listenandrepeat’drillingactivities.Theideaofthismethodisthatlanguageislearnedbyconstantrepetitionandthereinforcementoftheteacher.Mistakeswereimmediatelycorrected,andcorrectutteranceswereimmediatelypraised.Thismethodisstillusedinmanypartsoftheworldtoday.
Cognitivetheory
Thetermcognitivismisoftenusedlooselytodescribemethodsinwhichstude