The system of language = the system of sounds + the system of words + the system of grammar
The structural view
System of
Language
Sounds
Words
3 sub-systems
(phrases & sentences)
…
Morphological/Lexical system
(morphemes & words)
Phonological system
Bottom
(Phonemes )
The functional view (The functional-notional view)
The functional view sees language as
a linguistic system and as
a means for doing things.
Functions of language
e.g. offering, suggestion, advising, apologizing, etc.
language(s)? 8. What were your most common learning activities? 9. Did you like the way you learned the foreign language(s)?
Conclusions of the task
People learn a foreign language for different reasons;
e.g. number of students, what kind of input learners receive, learning atmosphere
The Behaviourist theory and
The Cognitive theory
The Behaviourist theory
The impact of Chomsky’s theory on language teaching
➢ One influential idea is that students should be allowed to create their own sentences based on their understanding of certain rules.
Grammar
The structural view
Sentences phrases Words Morphemes (the smallest meaningful unit) Phonemes (the smallest unit)
Top
The structural view
Syntactic system
objects
The interactional view
The interactional view sees language as
a communicative tool (to build up and maintain relations between people).
Two things are needed for communication:
Watson an Raynor:
a stimulus-response theory of psychology
The Behaviourist theory
According to the theory: Forms of bebaviour such as motions,
habits, etc. are seen as elements that can be observed and measured.
The Condition-oriented theories
The Condition-oriented theories concern the nature of the human and physical context in which language learning takes place.
The Process-oriented theories concern how the mind processes new information.
e.g. habit formation, induction, making inference, hypothesis testing, generalization
People learn languages in different ways;
People have different understandings about language learning; and
People have different capabilities in language learning.
The Cognitive theory
Chomsky’s question:
If all language is a learned behaviour, how can a child produce a sentence that has never been said by others before?
method of a person.
1.3 Views on language learning
Views on language learning involve two questions:
1. What are the psycholinguistic and cognitive processes of language learning?
(Harmer. 1983:30)
The Behaviourist theory
Stimulus → Organism → Response Behavior
Reinforcement (behavior likely to
occur again and become a habit)
No Reinforcement (behavior not likely to
1.2 Views on language
The answer to the question ‘What is language?’ is the basis for:
syllabus design, teaching methods, teaching procedures, and teaching techniques
2. What are the conditions for the learning processes to be activated?
The Process-oriented theories and
The Condition-oriented theories
The Process-oriented theories
1.1 How do we learn language? Task 1 on pp. 1-2
1. How many foreign languages can you speak? 2. Did you find learning a foreign language easy? 3. What difficulties did you experience? Why? 4. Which skill did you find more difficult to learn? 5. Did you focus on knowledge or skills? Why? 6. Why did you learn the foreign language(s)? 7. Did you find it interesting to learn the foreign
Rules of language form (grammar & vocabulary)
Rules of language use in a context (Is it appropriate to use this language item in this context?)
Views on the nature of language have an impact on the teaching/learning
中学英语教学法 Unit 1
Language and Learning
Unit 1 Language and Learning
1. Views on language 2. Views on language learning 3. What is a good language
teacher, and how can one become such?
Three different views of language
The structural view, The functional view, The interactional view
The structural view
The structural view sees language as a linguisticFra biblioteksystem.
There are a finite number of grammatical rules in the system and with knowledge of these rules an infinite number of sentences can be produced.(Language is generative. )
The Behaviourist theory