Language, Learning and Teaching, by H. Douglas Brown.

Questionnaire on Brown’s chapter 1

1.      What is a permanent struggle in teaching/learning?

Try to reach beyond the confines of your first language and into a new language, culture way of thinking, etc.

2.       Are we equipped with a do-it-yourself-kit?

Language learning is not a set of easy steps that can be programmed in a quick do-it-yourself-kit. Many variables are involved in the acquisition process.

3.      Why do people learn or fail to learn a language?

Because the teacher needs to know something about the intricate web of variables that are spun together to affect how and why one learners fails when they learn a second language.

4.      Name the issues to consider in second language acquisition.

Current issues in second language acquisition (SLA) are approached in some questions:

v  Who?  Here we have to say who does the learning and teaching, and the answer is learners and teachers.  But the thing is to know the characteristics of these people; where they come from, who are their parents etc.

v  What? What is going to be learnt and taught?  What is language?  Because both of them have to know what are going to learn or teach.

v  How? Refers to where the learning takes place, what is the optimal interrelationship of cognitive, affective, and physical domains for successful language learning.

v  When? The moment when we use the language.

v  Where?  Is the context in which we use the language.

v  Why?  These questions have been posed to give you an inkling of the diversity of issues involved in the quest for understanding the principles of language learning and teaching.

5.      What are the motivations to learn a language?

To give us an inkling of the diversity of issues involved in the quest for understanding the principles of language learning and teaching.

6.      What is a PARADIGMA?

Paradigma it's an interlocking design, a theory of second language acquisition.

7.      Give 3 definitions of LANGUAGE.

1.      Language is a set of arbitrary symbols, (those symbols are primary vocal, but may also be visual).

2.      Language is used for communication.

3.      Language is essentially human, although possibly not limited to humans.

8.      What is the relation between language and cognition?

A foreign language teacher effectively teach a language if they don't know, even in general, something about the relationship between language and cognition

9.      Which are some LEARNING definitions?

1.      Learning is retention of information or skill.

2.      Learning involves active, conscious focus on and acting upon events outside or inside the organism.

3.      Learning is a change in behaviour.

10.  Can we define TEACHING apart from LEARNING?

Teaching cannot be define defined apart from learning, because teaching is guiding and facilitating learning , enabling the learner to learn, setting the conditions for learning.

11.  What is the importance of our PEDAGOGICAL PHILOSOPHY?

It reflects our personal values and the needs of our student. These are our expectations as a teacher. It is important because it is going to determine your teaching style, your approach, methods and classroom techniques based on the experience.

12.  Refer to the 3 schools of thought is SLA?

 1. Structuralism/Behaviorism: It was said that any notion of “idea” or “meaning” is explanatory fiction, and that the speaker is merely the locus of verbal behavior. The behaviorist paradigm also focused on publicly observable responses. The “scientific method” was rigorously adhered to, as “mentalist”, illegitimate domains of inquiry.

 2. Rationalism and cognitive Psychology: Ferdinand de Saussure (1916) claimed that there was difference between parole (performance) and langue (competence). Descriptive linguists chose largely to ignore langue and to study parole

 3. Constructivism: Constructivists argue that all human beings construct their own version of reality, and therefore multiple contrasting ways of knowing and describing are equally legitimate

13.  Describe the GTM.

The classical method or grammar translation method has been practiced in language classrooms worldwide for centuries. It is focus on grammar rules, memorization of vocabulary, translations of texts, and so on.   Classes are taught in the mother tongue, with litter active use of the target language.  The attention of the class is focus on rules, structures more that context and important meaning of the language.