王蔷主编英语法教程第二版UnitUnit 1 Language and Language LearningAims of the unitIn this unit we will discuss some general matters about language learning and teaching. We are going to discuss five questions on particular:1. How do we learn language?2. What are the common views on language?3. What are the common views on language learning?4. What are the qualities of a good language teacher?5. How can one become a good language teacher?1.1 How do we learn languages?Mach ofhuman behaviorisinfluencedbytheir experiences.Thewaylanguageteachers teachinthe classroomisto some extent influencedbythe waythey learnedlanguages. Thisisespecially true inforeignlanguage teaching. Before we discuss language learning theories, let us first reflect on our own language learning experience.Task 1Below is a list of interview questions on how people learn a foreignlanguage. In the first column, write down your own responses. Then interview three other students in your class and enter their responsesin the other columns. Discuss your findings in group of 4 and draw some conclusion.YouST1ST2ST31. Howmanyforeignlanguages can you speak so far? / 2. When did you start learning the foreign language(s)?3. How do you feel about learning a foreign language?4.What difficultieshave you experienced inlearning?5.Which skill do you find more difficultto learn?6. Have you focused on knowledge or skills? Why?7. Why do you learn the foreign language(s)?8. Do you consider yourself a successful learner? Why?9. What are your most common learning activities?10. Do you like the way you learned the foreign language(s)?From the above task, you may have found that 1) people started learninga foreign language at differentages; 2) people have differentexperiencesin learninga foreign language,somefindit easy, some finditdifficult;3) people learn languages fordifferentreasons;4) people learn languagesin differentways; 5) peoplehave differentunderstandingsabout languagelearning; 6) people have different capacities in language learning; 7)learningcan be affected by theway itistaught;8) learningis affectedby the degree of success one is expected to achieve; and more. Thus thechallenge confronting language teaching is how teaching methodology canensuresuccessful learning by all thelearnerswho have more differencesthan the commonality.1.2 views on languageThe question that all approaches to language teaching should answer is, what is language? The answer to this question is the basis for syllabusdesigns, teaching methodology, teaching and assessment procedures in theclassroom. Different views on language generate different teaching methodologies.Task 2Work in group of 4. Brainstorm possible answer to the question: what is language? When you are ready, join another group and share your ideas.To give a concise definition of language has always been difficult for linguists and philogists. Although there has been an enormous amount ofresearch in language in the past century,no authoritativeanswer has beengiven towhat is language? rather, people have settle down to talkabout views of language, seemingly allowing for or accepting differenttheoriesforthe moment. However, language teachersclearlyneed to knowgenerallywhat sortof entitythey are dealingwith and how the particularlanguage they are teaching fits into that entity (Brown, 1994a). forsample definition oflanguage , please refer to Appendix 1.Structural view The structural up of various (phonology);view of language sees language as a linguistic system made subsystems (Larsen-Freeman & Long, 1991): the sound system the discrete units of meaning produced by sound combinations(morphology),andthesystemof combiningunitsofmeaningforcommunication(syntax).Eachlanguagehasafinitenumber ofsuchstructural items. To learn a language means to learn these structuralitems so as to be able to understand and produce language. When thisstructuralview oflanguage was combined withthestimulus-responseprinciplesofbehavioristpsychology,theaudio-lingualapproach tolanguage learning emerged.Functional viewIn the 1960s, British linguists developed a system of categories basedon the communicative needsof thelearner(Johnson and Marrow, 1981) andproposed a syllabusbased on communicativefunctions.The functionalviewnot onlysees languages as a linguistic