应用语言学第一二章.doc

Chapter 11.What Is Applied Linguistics?1).What is applied linguistics? Why is there no consensus on its definition and scope? Applied linguistics aimed to solve problems in various fields by applying the knowledge of linguistics.As applied linguistics is a comparatively new discipline, there is as yet no consensus of opinions as to what its definition is and how wide its scope should be.2.What is the role of applied linguistics? Why does it play that role? The role of applied linguisticsLinguistics, etc. Applied Linguistics Language Teaching, etc.Figure-The role of applied linguistics as a mediator.Applied linguistics thus not only provides principles and basic methodology for language teachers, etc., based on the theories and insights of linguistics, sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, etc.; it also provides feedback to linguistics, sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, etc., by summing up the experience from the practical areas such as language teaching.3.What is the nature of applied linguistics? What is the difference between applied linguistics and other applied sciences?Answer: the nature of applied linguistics (1) It is an independent discipline in its own right, because* it has its own object of study;* it has its own scientific system of theories and methodology; and* it has its own researchers.(2) It is an interdisciplinary science, because it draws upon theories not from a single science,but from several. Besides, its application is also interdisciplinary in the broad sense.(3) It is an applied science. Its goal is to solve problem, i. e. application, unlike pure science.But we should not understand application in a narrow sense. Applied linguistics is also concernedwith implications of the theoretical fields such as linguistics, sociolinguistics and psycholinguistics.(4) It is an empirical science. Like natural sciences, it uses experiments as its basic way ofresearch, emphasizing objectivity, systematicness, explicitness and economy. The goal of applied linguistics is to solve problem, i.e., application. But we should not understand application in the literal sense. Applied linguistics is also concerned with implications of the theoretical fields such as linguistics, sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics.4.What is the relationship between applied linguistics and language learning and teaching? Answer: Good language teaching practice is based on good theoretical understanding, and a good language teaching theory will strive to provide a conceptual framework devised for identifying all factors relevant in the teaching of language and relationship between them and for giving effective direction to the practice of language teaching, supported by the necessary research and inquiry. 5.Why is it necessary for the language teacher to learn applied linguistics? Answer: Applied linguistics aims to provide language teachers with good language teaching theories, principles and methodology. The language teacher can benefit from applied linguistics in, at least, the following three areas: a comprehensive and up-to-date grasp of the theoretical foundations of language learning and teaching; an integrated understanding of the various factors affecting language learning and teaching, and a basic knowledge about different language teaching approaches, methods and techniques. In short, applied linguistics will help the language teacher teach more effectively. Chapter 2Language, Learning and Teaching1.What is the nature of language? Why is it necessary for the language teacher to know it?Language is systematic and generative. It is a set of arbitrary symbols and they have conventionalized meanings to which they refer. is used for communication. operates in a speech community or culture. language and language learning both have universal characteristics.By system: we mean the recurring patterns or arrangements or the particular ways or designs in which a language operates. Every language contains two systems: a system of sound and a system of meaning. This phenomenon is called duality.“arbitrary vocal symbols”: Anything that represents something else is a symbol.Language consists of another type of symbols, sound symbols or speech sounds.human communication: Language is a unique system of communication. It is the cement of society. It allows people to live, work and play together, to tell the truth or to tell lies.Teachers cannot hope to teach a part (the particular language) of reality without knowing how that part fits into the whole(language in general) Your understanding of the components of language will determine to a large extenthow u teach a language.2.What are the similarities and differences between human learning and animal learning？ How do you understand language learning？Animal learning for simple communication .express the food source, very simple emotion like anger and happiness. human learning complex idea. hypothesis , give command, thinking.Language learning in a broad sense include both formal learning in the classroomstimulated by teaching and natural informal language learning without instruction from any teacher.Learningistheprerequisiteandbasisofteaching.Atheoryofteachingalwaysimpliesatheoryoflearning.3.What is teaching? Can it be defined apart from learning? Why(not)?Teaching can be defined as “activities which are intended to bring about learning. ” Teaching cannot be defined apart from learning, because teaching presupposes learning. There will be no teaching if learning does not take place.4.Illustrate the relationship between language teaching and language learning?J. S. Bruner-1966 Toward a Theory of Instruction “Learning something withthe aid of an instructor should, if instruction is effective, be less dangerous or risky orpainful than learning on ones own.”Teaching understand the learners development ,skill, motivation and gives formalinstruction ,training, by media or different kind of supportive activities. thus makeslearning easier.5. Why is it necessary for the language teacher to have some knowledge not only of teaching but also of learning? Since the mid-1960s,the student-centered view has been widely accepted, This reflects the theory that the students play an active role in learning ,and that they are not only actively participating in classroom activities ,but are interacting with the teacher and their peers.Chapter 31. What are the characteristic features of human learning?conceptualization of learning has several implications:1）. Everything we learn is retained in some form in our brain, even though it may be forgotten.2.） Learning cannot be equated with behavior or performance.3）. Learning includes not only deliberately acquired new associations but also those acquired without conscious awareness, when we are paying primary attention to something else.4）. The new associations which constitute learning vary in meaningfulness and complexity.5）. All learning depends upon environmental input.6）. Learning is not restricted to new associations or insights that result from experience with purely external stimuli.2、What are the four general philosophical views of human nature? How are they related to human learning? The pessimistic view According to this view, humans are inherently evil. Therefore, education must be designed to keep dangerous instincts under control. This philosophy leads to approaches which emphasize the will not engage in higher intellectual pursuit voluntarily, but they will learn if they are forced to.The hedonistic viewAccording to this view, people are selfishly preoccupied with the pursuit of pleasure and the avoidance of pain. This philosophy leads to approaches which emphasize the need to make learning experience as enjoyable and intrinsically rewarding as possible.The optimistic viewAccording to this view, people are naturally altruistic, humanistic and curious. This view leads to theories that picture people as thirsting for knowledge and actively processing information from the environment.The tabula-rasa or “blank-slate” viewThis is a neutral view. According to this view, humans have few if any natural predispositions. Development, therefore, is dependent upon the individuals experiences, which are determined by the environment and are thus open to planning and control. In its strongest form, this approach pictures learners as almost entirely passive and reactive, so that their behavior can be controlled predictably and systematically through environmental manipulation. Teaching then becomes a matter of structuring learning environments so as to produce desired outcomes.3、What are the similarities and differences between classical behaviorism and neobehaviorism?Similarities: They are predominantly concerned with the relationship between stimulus and response. According to them, behavior is acquired or changed when the organism builds up associations between stimulus and response either because of the closeness of stimulus and response or by satisfaction which comes from giving a correct response to a given stimulus.Differences: classical behaviorism is related to association between stimuli and reflexive response, Classical conditioning, Reflex could also occur in response to stimuli that appear to be indirectly related to the reflex. neobehaviorism focuses on operant conditioning VS respondent conditioning (Classical conditioning). classical behaviorism stressed the environmental modifiability of behavior, as against determination by constitutional structure. Neobehaviorism : Guthrie stressed classical conditioning and the principle of contiguity over instrumental conditioning and the principle of reinforcement. Hull stressed one-trial learning. The whole process was controlled by reinforcement. Skinner stresses a particular kind of instrumental conditioning known as “operant conditioning” . Operants are any behavioral elements or series f related behaviors that organisms presently perform or are capable of performing, and the produce an effect or operate on the environment.4、What are the strengths and weaknesses of the behaviorist theories?Watsons behaviorism: he stressed the environmental modifiability of behavior, as against determination by constitutional structure. He seek to make psychology a “purely objective experimental branch of natural science” by restricting it to the study of the relations between environmental events(stimuli) and behavior(response). But there will be an increase in both frequency and recency of successful responses until a correct S-R pattern appears.Guthries S-R theory: He stressed classical conditioning and the principle of contiguity over instrumental conditioning and the principle of reinforcement. However, it has difficulty accounting for more complex kinds of learning.Hulls S-O-R theory: Hull stressed one-trial learning. The whole process was controlled by reinforcement. Reinforced responses would be more likely to appear in the future, and punished or unreinforced responses were less likely to reappear.Skinners operant conditioning: he stresses a particular kind of instrumental conditioning known as “operant conditioning” . Operants are any behavioral elements or series f related behaviors that organisms presently perform or are capable of performing, and the produce an effect or operate on the environment. Otherwise, when there is a punishment(i.e a positive reinforcing stimulus is removed or a negative reinforcing stimulus is presented), the rate of responding decreases. 5、What are the similarities and differences among the cognitive learning theories? Why are they cognitive?Gestalt psychology: eh emphasizes on innate organizing principles(gestalt) in human perception, recognition, sensorimotor skills, learning and even in social conduct . according to this theory, organisms are innately active in their interactions with the environment.Piagets developmental psychology: his basic concepts are assimilation and accommodation. He refers to the learning process as the development of new schemata (the plural of schema) through assimilation and accommodation. Schemata are the cognitive or mental structures by which the individual intellectually adapts to and organizes the environment. These cognitive structures are used to process and identify incoming stimuli.Ausubels theory of meaningful learning: according to ausubel, meaning is a “clearly articulated and precisely differentiated conscious experience that emerges when potentially meaningful signs, symbols, concepts or propositions are related to and incorporated within a given individuals cognitive structure on a non-articulatory and substantivebasis” human learning is a meaningful process of relating new events or items to already existing cognitive concepts or propositions. Meaning is therefore a process of relating and anchoring new material to relevant established entities in the learners cognitive structure. Meaningful learning takes place when the learner has a disposition to relate the new material to what he already knows or when the learning task is potentially meaningfulIf we can conceive of cognitive structure as a system of building blocks, then rote learning is the process of acquiring isolated blocks with no particular function in the building of a structure, and therefore with no relationship to other blocks. Meaningful learning is the process whereby blocks become an integral part of already established categories or systematic clusters of blocks.6、What do you think of the different learning theories? What is your own view of human learning?Cognitive theories place greater store by the functioning of the mind, and postulate internal mental thinking as well as processes including perception, memorizing and cognitive structures which can be acquired from learners experience and can modify their present behavior. Much greater emphasis is placed on learners being aware of the surroundings and being flexible in solutions they adopt.Chapter41.Is it easy for the child to acquire his mother tongue? Why (not)?No, it is not easy for the child to acquire his mother tongue. First of all, he must segment the sound stream into meaningful units (words or phrases). This requires his ability to analyze. Then, he must combine them to arrive at the intended underlying propositions. This requires his ability to synthesize.2.What questions must theories of L1 acquisition answer? Why?Psycholinguists who study child language are confronted with a more complex task than theoretical linguists whose major concern is competence (i.e. the system of language) and sociolinguists whose major concern is performance (i.e. the use of language). Psycholinguists have to be concerned with both competence and performance.Because they look at language from different angles, and because their purposes in the study of language are different.3.Sketch out Skinners behavioristic theory of L1 acquisition.Skinners behavioristic model is embodied in his classic Verbal Behavior. His theory of verbal behavior is in fact an extension of his general theory of learning by operant conditioning. According to Skinner, verbal behavior, like other human behavior, is controlled by its consequences. When consequences are rewarding the behavior is reinforced and maintained, and even increased in strength and frequency. When consequences are punishing or when there is no reinforcement, the behavior is weakened and eventually extinguished. Therefore, effective language is the production of correct responses to external stimuli. The L1 acquisition process is one in which the childs correct responses are repeatedly reinforced and finally a habit is formed.4.What are the main points of mediation theories? Why are they called mediation theories?Mediation theories are represented by O. H. Mowrer and C. E. Osgood. Their goal is to fill the “black box” with postulated internal psychological structures and processes in order to account for the observed behavior of organisms. They have developed a principle of mediated association, according to which two things associated with a third thing tend to be in association with each other. Once the association is established, an internal link is built up even when the third thing is not present. They need media. The internal mediating response is considered to be an internal replication of a “real” response. From a behavioristic point of view, meaning is an internal replica of an external response.5.How do the nativist theories account for L1 acquisition?Nativist theories are represented by N. Chomsky, E. H. Lenneberg, and D. McNeill. According to these theories, human babies are somehow predisposed to acquire a language. Lenneberg contends that language is a species-specific behavior which is biologically determined. The child is born with the biological basis for the acquisition of language. Chomsky claims the existence of a little black box which he calls the language acquisition device (LAD). He regards it as “the genetically determined language faculty”, “an innate component of the human mind that yields a particular language through interaction with presented experience.” McNeill describes four innate linguistic properties of the LAD and suggests that infants are born with a hierarchy of linguistic categories and the basic grammatical relations.6. What are the main arguments of the cognitive theories?Cognitive theories are represented by D. I. Slobin, J. Piaget and L. Bloom, who attempt to account for the linguistic knowledge of the child by a more general theory of cognitive development. Slobin suggests that the conceptual development of all human children is the same with regard to the order of attainment of conceptual categori