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Unit1LanguageandLanguageLearningAimsoftheunitInthisunitwewilldiscusssomegeneralmattersaboutlanguagelearningandteaching.Wearegoingtodiscussfivequestionsonparticular:1.Howdowelearnlanguage?2.Whatarethecommonviewsonlanguage?3.Whatarethecommonviewsonlanguagelearning?4.Whatarethequalitiesofagoodlanguageteacher?5.Howcanonebecomeagoodlanguageteacher?1.1Howdowelearnlanguages?Machofhumanbehaviorisinfluencedbytheirexperiences.Thewaylanguageteachersteachintheclassroomistosomeextentinfluencedbythewaytheylearnedlanguages.Thisisespeciallytrueinforeignlanguageteaching.Beforewediscusslanguagelearningtheories,letusfirstreflectonourownlanguagelearningexperience.Task1Belowisalistofinterviewquestionsonhowpeoplelearnaforeignlanguage.Inthefirstcolumn,writedownyourownresponses.Theninterviewthreeotherstudentsinyourclassandentertheirresponsesintheothercolumns.Discussyourfindingsingroupof4anddrawsomeconclusion.YouST1ST2ST31.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.1.2viewsonlanguageThequestionthatallapproachestolanguageteachingshouldansweris,‘whatislanguage?’Theanswertothisquestionisthebasisforsyllabusdesigns,teachingmethodology,teachingandassessmentproceduresintheclassroom.Differentviewsonlanguagegeneratedifferentteachingmethodologies.Task2Workingroupof4.Brainstormpossibleanswertothequestion:whatislanguage?Whenyouareready,joinanothergroupandshareyourideas.Togiveaconcisedefinitionoflanguagehasalwaysbeendifficultforlinguistsandphilogists.Althoughtherehasbeenanenormousamountofresearchinlanguageinthepastcentury,noauthoritativeanswerhasbeengivento‘whatislanguage?’rather,peoplehavesettledowntotalkaboutviewsoflanguage,seeminglyallowingfororacceptingdifferenttheoriesforthemoment.However,languageteachersclearlyneedtoknowgenerallywhatsortofentitytheyaredealingwithandhowtheparticularlanguagetheyareteachingfitsintothatentity(Brown,1994a).forsampledefinitionof‘language’,pleaserefertoAppendix1.StructuralviewThestructuralviewoflanguageseeslanguageasalinguisticsystemmadeupofvarioussubsystems(Larsen-Freeman&Long,1991):thesoundsystem(phonology);thediscreteunitsofmeaningproducedbysoundcombinations(morphology),andthesystemofcombiningunitsofmeaningforcommunication(syntax).Eachlanguagehasafinitenumberofsuchstructuralitems.Tolearnalanguagemeanstolearnthesestructuralitemssoastobeabletounderstandandproducelanguage.Whenthisstructuralviewoflanguagewascombinedwiththestimulus-responseprinciplesofbehavioristpsychology,theaudio-lingualapproachtolanguagelearningemerged.FunctionalviewInthe1960s,Britishlinguistsdevelopedasystemofcategoriesbasedonthecommunicativeneedsofthelearner(JohnsonandMarrow,1981)andproposedasyllabusbasedoncommunicativefunctions.Thefunctionalviewnotonlyseeslanguagesasalinguisticsystembutalsoameansfordoingthings.Mostofourday-to-daylanguageuseinvolvesfunctionalactivities:offering,suggesting,advising,apologizing,etc.therefore,learnerslearnalanguageinordertobeabletodowithit.Inordertoperformfunctions,learnersneedtoknowhowtocombinethegrammaticalrulesandthevocabularytoexpressnotionsthatperformthefunctions.Examplesofnotionsaretheconceptofpresent,pastandfuturetime,theexpressionsofcertaintyandpossibility,therolesofagents,instrumentswithasentence,andspecialrelationshipsbetweenpeopleandobjects.InteractionalviewTheinteractionalviewconsiderslanguagetobeacommunicativetool,whosemainuseistobuildupandmaintainsocialrelationsbetweenpeople.Therefore,learnersnotonlyneedtoknowthegrammarandvocabularyofthelanguagebutasimportantlytheyneedtoknowtherulesforusingtheminawholerangeofcommunicativecontexts.Thesethreeviewspresentaneverwiderviewoflanguage.Thestructuralviewlimitsknowingalanguagetoknowingitsstructuralrulesandvocabulary.Thecommunicativeornotional-functionalviewaddstheneedtoknowhowtousetherulesandvocabularytodowhateveritisonewantstodo.Theinteractionalviewsaysthattoknowhowtodowhatyouwanttodoinvolvesalsoknowingwhetheritisappropriatetodo,andwhere,whenandhowitisappropriatetodoit.Inordertoknowthis,youhavetostudythepatternsandrulesoflanguageabovethesentencelevel