王蔷主编的《英语教学法教程》第二版Unit.docx

王蔷主编的《英语教学法教程》第二版Unit.docx

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王蔷主编的《英语教学法教程》第二版Unit

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.Haveyoufocusedonknowledgeorskills?

Why?

7.Whydoyoulearntheforeignlanguage（s）?

8.Doyouconsideryourselfasuccessfullearner?

Why?

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:

whatislanguage?

Whenyouareready,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）Whatarethepsycholinguisticandcognitiveprocessesinvolvedinlanguagelearning?

2）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

Thetermcognitivismisoftenusedlooselytodescribe