1、Unit 1 Language and learningUnit 1 Language and learningI.How do we learn language?1)How do we learn our own language?2)How do we learn a foreign language?(1)People learn language for different reasons.(2)People learn language in different ways.(3)People have different understanding about language l
2、earning.(4)People have different capabilities in language learning.1)What is language?Language is a system of arbitrary verbal symbols used for human communication.(Wardhaugh,1972:3)(other different definitions on p307,Appendix1)2)Different views on language:the structural view the functional viewth
3、e interactional viewII.Views on language.Structural View:It sees language as a linguistic system made up of various subsystem:from phonological,morphological,lexical,etc.to sentence.(p3,from Larsen-Freeman&Long,1991)Each language has a finite number of such structural items.To learn a language means
4、 to learn these structural items so as to be able to understand and produce language.Functional View:It not only sees language as a linguistic system but also as a means for doing things(p.3).Most of our day-to-day language use involves functional activities:offering,suggesting,advising,apologizing,
5、etc.Therefore,learners learn a language in order to do things with it.To perform functions,learners need to know how to combine the grammatical rules and the vocabulary to express notions that perform the functions.Interactional View:It consider language as a communicative tool,whose main use is to
6、build up and maintain social relations between people.Therefore,learners not only need to know the grammar and vocabulary of the language,but also need to know the rules for using them in a whole range of communicative context.III.Views on language learningA language learning theory underlying an ap
7、proach or method usually answers 2 questions:1)What are the psycholinguistic and cognitive process involved in language learning?2)What are the conditions that need to be met in order for these learning process to be activated?The research into the answers falls into process-oriented theories and co
8、ndition-oriented theories.Process-oriented theories are concerned with how the mind processes new information,such as habit formation,induction,making inference,hypothesis testing and generalization.Condition-oriented theories emphasize the nature of the human and physical context in which language
9、learning takes place,such as the number of students,what kind of input learners receive,and the learning atmosphere.Behaviourist theory:Proposed by the behavioural psychologist Skinner,he suggested that language is also a form behaviour.It can be learned the same way as an animal is trained to respo
10、nd to stimuli.This theory of learning is referred to as behaviourism.One influential result is the audio-lingual method,which involves the“listen and repeat”drilling activities.The idea of this method is that language is learned by constant repetition and the reinforcement of the teacher.Mistakes ar
11、e immediately corrected,and correct utterances are immediately praisedCognitive theory:The term cognitivism is often used to describe method in which students are asked to think rather than simply repeat.It is Noam Chomsky theory.The key point of Chomskys theory is reflected in his most famous quest
12、ion：If all language is a learned behaviour,how can a child produce a sentence that has never been said by others before?by Noam Chomsky According to Chomskys theory,language is not a form of behaviour,it is an intricate rule-based system and a large part of language acquisition is the learning of th
13、is system.There are a finite number of grammatical rules in the system and with a knowledge of these rules an infinite number of sentences can be produced.One influential idea of this theory is that students should be allowed to create their own sentences based on their understanding of certain rule
14、s.Vygotskys ZPD theory(Vygotsky,1978):支架式教学支架式教学（Scaffolding Instruction）n支架式教学支架式教学是是从前苏联心理学家维果斯基（Vygotsky,1978）的“临近发展区”理论（Zone of Proximal Development）发展而来，借用建筑行业中使用的“脚手架”(Scaffolding)作为上述概念框架的形象化比喻，其实质是利用上述概念框架作为学习过程中的脚手架（如设问、提示和添加任务等）。这种框架中的概念是为发展学生对问题的进一步理解所要的，也就是说，该框架应按照学生智力的“最邻近发展区”来建立，因而可通过这
15、种脚手架的支撑作用(“支架作用”)，不停顿地把学生的智力从一个水平提升到另一个新的更高水平，真正做到使教学走在发展的前面。IV.What makes a good language teacher?There are a variety of elements that contributes to the qualities of a good language teacher.They are:(1)Ethic devotion 职业道德(2)Professional qualities专业素质(3)Personal styles个人风格V.How can one become a goo
16、d language teacher?The most important and most difficult part of the making of a good language teacher is the development of professional competence,which is the state or quality of being qualified for the profession,and armed with a specific range of skills,strategies,knowledge and ability.Accordin
17、g to Paul Davis(2002:2),a successful teacher has the following qualities:(1)Have a practical command of English,not just knowledge of grammar rules.(2)Use English most of the time in every class,including beginners class.(3)Think mostly in term of learner practice,not teacher explanation.(4)Find tim
18、e for really communicative activities,not just practice of language forms.(5)Focus their teaching on learners needs,not just on finish the syllabus or course books.For the development of professional competence,we can use the“reflective model”by Wallace(1991).From the model,we can know that the deve
19、lopment involves stage I,stage II and the goal.Stage I:language training.All English teachers are supposed to have a good command of English.Stage II:The second stage is more complicated,for it can be divided into three sub-stages:learning;practice and reflection.The learning stage involves:(a)learn
20、 from others experience(empirical knowledge(b)learn received knowledge(such as language theories,psycholinguistics;sociolinguistics;educational psycho-logy,etc.(c)learn from ones own experienceThe term“practice”can be used in two senses:(1)it is a short period of time assigned for students to do tea
21、ching practice as part of their education,under the supervision of their instructors.(2)The other sense of practice is the real work that the teachers would undertake when they finish their education.Stanley(1999)pointed out that teachers benefit from practice if they keep on reflecting on what they
22、 have been doing.The teachers reflect on their work not only after they finish a certain period of practice,but while they are doing the practice.And the most difficult thing to do is to keep on reflecting on their work when teachers are doing practice in the real work sense.After some period of practice and reflection,a teacher matures and approaches the goal.But this goal is“a moving target or horizon,toward which professionals travel all their professional life but which is never finally attained.
