During a lot of centuries people learn foreign languages. People in Europe started to learn languages in the 11th century. It is known that Yaroslav the Wise knew a lot of foreign languages. But at those times learning foreign languages was a privilege of rich people. Today millions of people all over the world learn foreign languages. They play a great part in our life. People, who know foreign languages, are necessary for the development of the techniques, economy and arts in the modern society. For example, a good engineer or a qualified worker should be able to read some technical papers for the imported equipment. Learning foreign languages is especially important in our country. People want to learn foreign languages to write to their pen-friends, or to communicate with them personally. People also want to read the works of famous writers in the original, newspapers and magazines. During the classes of foreign languages one can train his memory and thinking. A foreign language helps to know the native language better. A person who learns a foreign language, at the same time gets acquainted with the culture of the country, its literature, history and geography. There is an opinion that 
those who know nothing of foreign languages know nothing of their own. World is full of charm, secrets and a lot of wonders. People try to find the best way to a gorgeous life, to learn what is useful and interesting. One of this ways may be to learn foreign languages because they are so important in our life: in many jobs, businesses, careers, travels and private contacts. English is the most widely spoken language in the world,and has more second-language speakers than any other language. It is also the language of Internet, and so studying, doing research, interacting with international companies and traveling is almost impossible without at least some English. But have you ever asked why is it important for you to study English language? Unfortunately, this simple question can demonstrate your point of view about life. At the beginning of the 21st century English more widely spoken and written, than any other language has ever been. It has become the language of the planet, the first truly global language. English has become the world’s important language in politics, science, trade and cultural relations. Three quarters of the world’s mail and its telexes and telegrams are in English. More than half of the world’s scientific periodicals and eighty per cent of the information in the world’s computers are also in English. English is the main language of business. It is the language of sports: the official language of the Olympics. In a number of speakers it is second only to Chinese. At the same time it is the most widespread language in the world. It is the official language of the UK, of the USA, Australia and New Zealand. English is used as one of the official languages in Canada, the Republic of South Africa and the Irish Republic. It is also spoken as a second language by many people in India, Pakistan, numerous countries in Africa. The number of second language speakers may soon exceed the number of native language speakers, if it hasn’t happened yet. Everybody can see now the importance of English, listening to the radio and music, watching films on TV. English is not an easy language to learn. There is a big problem of speaking, punctuation, a large number of exceptions to any rule. This language is very idiomatic and the prepositions are terrible. English is one of those languages which may be seen easy in the beginning but then the bridge between basic knowledge and mastery takes a long time to cross. But if you cross this bridge it will give you great satisfaction. Even now the ability to speak to foreigners in their native tongue gives me great freedom and satisfaction. It’s important also to read foreign authors in the original, which makes our outlook wider. It is not surprising that many intellectuals know several foreign languages. Besides, learning a foreign language opens great opportunities nowadays. You certainly know that with the development of international contacts hundreds of joint ventures appear in every city, every industrial and cultural centre. They need specialists who know one or two foreign languages. Also foreign businessmen, delegations and missionaries keep coming to our country, and they all need interpreters. Out tourists and businessmen go abroad. So many people study foreign languages in every possible way. Teachers of foreign languages are in great demand. Such teachers needn’t fear they may remain unemployed. Among the great number of languages that exist on our planet today there are some, which stand out. Scientists distinguish 13 great languages. These are the languages that are spoken by no less that 50 per cent of people on the Earth. They are Chinese, English, Russian, Spanish, Hindi and Urdu,Indonesian…A person who knows these languages can speak to and understand almost 2 thousand million people. Today there are a lot of people in Europe and Asia who know several languages. A person who knows several languages is called a polyglot. It is known that different languages can come into fashion or go out of it. It is generally considered that the most fashionable language in the world nowadays is English. Spanish also becomes very popular. It is learnt nowadays more often than earlier. Oriental languages are also widespread today. Learning a foreign language has a practical value but the choice of a foreign language sometimes depends on a fashion. If under fashion we mean the demands of life and society. Thus, the knowledge of a foreign language today is a life necessity. The English language surrounds us like a sea, and like the waters of a deep sea it is full of mysteries. English is and has always been constantly changing. Some words die, some change their meanings and all the time new words appear in the language.
I. Pronounce the following words correctly:
universal dangerous
language disappear
official throughout
approximately pop
tongue fluently
popularity artificial
П. Head the text. Try to understand its contents
ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Though there are almost three thousand languages in the world, English is the most universal. It is the official language in over forty countries. It is the most used language in international business, science and medicine. Approximately 400 million people speak English as a mother tongue (700 million speak. Chinese, 200 million speak Russian and 100 million speak German).
Even in the countries where English is not the first language, a number of English words are used. Words from no other language are borrowed more often then from English. Hundreds of words borrowed from English can now be found in other languages such as soda, hotel, golf, tennis, jeans, O.K., baseball, and airport. Many words are used just as they are. Other are changed to make them more like the native language, easier to say and remember.
English is everywhere. It is on signs, clothing, soft drinks and other goods around the world. In spite of the popularity of the English words and phrases, they are not always welcome. Some people think that the use of English words is dangerous for the purity of their native language. Some countries tried to eliminate English as their official language in order to save their native tongue.
Some people believe that English should bе the international language. They believe that business would run more smoothly if everyone spoke the same language.
Some language experts think that many languages are disappearing. In some parts of the world only a few people are left who can speak their native language.In Ireland, for example, there are only a few areas where people speak Gaelic, the native Irish language.
Languages have changed and disappeared throughout the history. This change is inevitable. Because people have very strong feelings about the importance of their native language, we probably will not have English as a universal language in the near future. It is certain, however, that English words will continue to pop up everywhere, whether some people like it or not. It is also certain that English will be the language of business, diplomacy and international relations. Most educated people speak English fluently. Attempts to introduce an artificial international language like Esperanto have failed.
III. Remember the words and phrases:
universal универсальный
an official language официальный язык
the most used language наиболее используемый язык
to speak English as a mother tongue говорить на английском как на родном языке
to be borrowed from заимствоваться из
the popularity of популярность чего-либо
to be dangerous for the purity of быть опасным для чистоты (языка)
to eliminate English as their official устранить английский
language. как национальный язык
to save one's native tongue спасти- свой родной язык
the international language международный язык
to run smoothly протекать, проходить гладко
a language expert лингвист
to speak one's native language говорить нa родном языке
to disappear throughout the history исчезать с течением времени
inevitable неизбежный
to- pop up возникать, появляться
diplomacy дипломатия
international relations. международные отношения
educated people образованные леди
to speak English fluently говорить по-английски бегло
to introduce an artificial international language ввести искусственный международный язык
Esperanto эсперанто
to fail провалиться
IV. Answer the questions:
1. How can you prove that the English language is the most universal one?
2. In what ways does the English language influence other languages?
3. Why do some people think English is dangerous for their native languages?
4-. Why do some people believe that English should be the international language?
5. Why do language experts think that some languages are disappearing?
6. Why will the international language probably be English, and not an artificial language?
V. Give the English equivalents:
Наиболее универсальный язык, официальный язык, наука, медицина, родной язык, слово, употреблять, заимствовать, везде, быть опасным, спасти свой язык, устранить, популярность, международный язык, исчезать, неизбежный,
образованные люди, говорить бегло, искусственный язык, международные отношения, важность.
VI. Give the Russian equivalents:
to speak one's native language, international relations, to save one's native tongue, the popularity of, an official language, to disappear throughout the history, educated people, to speak English as a mother tongue, the most used language, to introduce an artificial international language, a language expert, to be borrowed from.
VII. Insert the missing words from the text:
1. English is... language.
2. Approximately 400 million people speak English as a......
3. Words from no other language are... more often than from English.
4. Many words are... just as they are.
5. Some countries tried to... English as their official language in order to save their........
6. Some language experts think that many languages are …...
7. Most educated people speak English....
8. Attempts to introduce an...... language like Esperanto have failed.
(fluently, used, mother tongue, disappearing, artificial International, universal, borrowed, eliminate, native tongue).
VIII. Translate into English:
I. Английский - наиболее универсальный язык.
2 Английский - официальный язык во многих странах, наиболее употребляемый язык в бизнесе и науке и родной язык более, чем 400 миллионов людей.
3 Слова, которые заимствуется из английского языка, могут использоваться в том же виде 4. Некоторые слова, заимствованные из английского языка, изменяются.
5. Чтобы сохранить чистоту родного языка, в некоторых странах пытались устранить английский язык как официальный язык.
6. Лингвисты считает, что исчезновение многих языков неизбежно.
И. Answer the questions:
1. Do you ever use English outside the classroom? When? What for?
2. What contacts do you have with English?
3. Have you ever been to an English-speaking country?
4-. Do you listen to songs in English?
5. Do you watch films on T.V. or programmes in English?
6. Do any other members of your family speak English?
7. What do you think you will use English in the future?
- •■
X. Read the text. Try to understand its contents and retell it
ENGLISH LANGUAGE
English is one of the most spoken languages in the world. It has become a world language during last few centuries and now over 300 million people speak it.
It is the official language of the United Kingdom, the USA, Australia and New Zealand. It is also one of the official languages in Canada, Irish Republic and the Republic of South Africa. As a second language it is spoken in Pakistan, India, Singapore and very many countries of Africa and Asia which are former colonies of Great Britain.
Besides millions of people in all parts of the plant speak it as a foreign language. English language developed on the bases of the dialects of Angles and Saxons who invaded British Isles in the 5 th century. Later it was influenced byScandinavian Vikings and by Norman French. Many Latin and Greek words came into English during the Renaissance.
At present time when there are close ties among nations, various languages influence each other and English also experiences this influence. English has become the language of science, literature, education, it is one of the official language of the U.N. (United Nations) and of many other international organizations and politics. Hundreds and hundreds of books, magazines and newspapers are printed in English and read all over the world.
It is the language of modern music, cinema and theatre, us well as of the international tourism.
■
English is widely taught in our country now. The integration of our country into world community makes it necessary for all people to know English, the main language of international communication.
XII Answer the questions:
1. When did English become a world language?
2. How many people speak English in the world now?
3. Can we say that English is one of the most important language? Why?
4. Name the countries where English is spoken?
5. Name the languages that influenced English.
6. Name other languages of international communication.
XII. Read and remember the text about some American-British Vocabulary differences:
Despite the fact that British and the Americans speak the same English language, sometimes you can find different words for the same notion used in their respective countries, for example:
EnglishAmerican
ministry department
to rise to speak to take the floor
plurality majority
an inquiring bureau a bureau of information
railway railroad
smoke, fog smog
station depot
subway underground
government administration
thirsty dry
apartment flat. shop store
lift elevator
autumn fall
and some others, but nowadays you can often meet the so-called Americanisms in an Englishman's speech and vice versa.
Again, though British and American spelling is the same in most cases, it differs in a few details, which sometimes leads an inexperienced student to failures in his attempts to find some unknown words in the dictionary.
For instance, being unable' to identify the word "reflexion." found in a text of American origin, the student starts looking for it in the dictionary which he has at hand. If it is a small dictionary containing under 20 000 words, which is often, the case, the word may remain a puzzle unless he recollects that there may be some difference in spelling, and that the American "exion" looks "ection" in the British usage.
To avoid trouble and loss of time those who are engaged in reading and translating books and magazines published both in Great Britain and America should keep in mind at least some of the most commonly met differences, such as:
1. The British -re stands for the American -er:
theatre theater centre center metre meter
2. The British -our takes the form of -or in American:
labour labor
honour honor
vapour vapor
colour color
3. The British -ize is written as -ise in American:
criticize criticise mechanize mechanise organize organise civilize civilise
4. The ll before -ing and -ed used in the British spelling is substituted with a singe l in the American spelling:
travelling traveling
travelled traveled
i levelled leveled
levelling leveling
5. The British -ection stands for the American -exion:
connection connexion reflection reflexion
6. The British to-day, to-night, to-morrow lose their hyphens in the American today, tonight, tomorrow.
Provided the students know the six main differences mentioned, they will encounter less trouble in their work.
By the way, the so-called Americanisms are known to be making much more headway in England, therefore one may often find a typical American spelling in a British paper. In fact spelling gets morе and more mixed, especially in scientific and political fields.
Today it is quite evident that everyone should know at least one foreign language.
Knowing one or more foreign languages makes it possible to get acquainted with different ways of thinking, to understand a new civilisation. Learning a foreign stimulates mental abilities and gives you a chance to appreciate a new literature, a different culture and to broaden your outlook.
Besides, knowing foreign languages has a practical value. It helps to improve the quality of your work, because it reduces the time lost on obtaining the necessary information.
The knowledge of other languages is very useful, especially if you have to work abroad or of you must read foreign literature in the original. If you know the language of a foreign country, you can talk to its people and understand what they are speaking about without anybody’s help. The knowledge of foreign languages also helps young people of different countries to develop friendship.
As for me, I’m learning English, because in the recent years it has become not only an international language, it is now a number one language in the world. Besides, English is becoming a lingua franca. A lingua franca is a language chosen for international purposes.
At the beginning of the 21st century English more widely spoken and written, than any other language has ever been. It has become the language of the planet, the first truly global language. English has become the world’s important language in politics, science, trade and cultural relations. Three quarters of the world’s mail and its telexes and telegrams are in English. More than half of the world’s scientific periodicals and eighty per cent of the information in the world’s computers are also in English. English is the main language of business. It is the language of sports: the official language of the Olympics. In a number of speakers it is second only to Chinese. At the same time it is the most widespread language in the world. It is the official language of the UK, of the USA, Australia and New Zealand. English is used as one of the official languages in Canada, the Republic of South Africa and the Irish Republic. It is also spoken as a second language by many people in India, Pakistan, numerous countries in Africa. The number of second language speakers may soon exceed the number of native language speakers, if it hasn’t happened yet.
Everybody can see now the importance of English, listening to the radio and music, watching films on TV. As for me I have always wanted to study English deeply since I began learning it at school. My English lessons were always very interesting and I liked them most of all at school. WE started learning English with the alphabet, transcription and sounds. Then we learned some English words, conversation phrases and dialogues by heart, read and translated easy texts. Of course, sometimes we worked in the language laboratory listening to the recorded tapes and doing laboratory exercises, but that was not enough. From lesson to lesson we improved our knowledge, learned more and more new words, grammatical structures and put them into practice of speaking. Soon we were able not only to read and translate texts but to discuss their contents in English, to communicate with one another. Our teacher always told us that it is very helpful to listen as much as possible to different English educational programmes on the radio and on TV. I have a lot of English cassettes at home and try to listen to them almost every day. To my mind, English is not an easy language to learn. There is a big problem of speaking, punctuation, a large number of exceptions to any rule. This language is very idiomatic and the prepositions are terrible. English is one of those languages which may be seen easy in the beginning but then the bridge between basic knowledge and mastery takes a long time to cross. But if you cross this bridge it will give you great satisfaction. Even now the ability to speak to foreigners in their native tongue gives me great freedom and satisfaction. It’s important also to read foreign authors in the original, which makes our outlook wider. It is not surprising that many intellectuals know several foreign languages. Besides, learning a foreign language opens great opportunities nowadays. You certainly know that with the development of international contacts hundreds of joint ventures appear in every city, every industrial and cultural centre. They need specialists who know one or two foreign language. Also foreign businessmen, delegations and missionaries keep coming to our country, and they all need interpreters. Out tourists and businessmen go abroad. So many people study foreign languages in every possible way. Teachers of foreign languages are in great demand. Such teachers needn’t fear they may remain unemployed.
Among the great number of languages that exist on our planet today there are some, which stand out. Scientists distinguish 13 great languages. These are the languages that are spoken by no less that 50 per cent of people on the Earth. They are Chinese, English, Russian, Spanish, Hindi and Urdi, Indonesian…
A person who knows these languages can speak to and understand almost 2 thousand million people doesn’t suffer from the language barrier. Today there are a lot of people in Europe and Asia who know several languages. A person who knows several languages is called a polyglot.
It is known that different languages can come into fashion or go out of it. It is generally considered that the most fashionable language in the world nowadays is English. Spanish also becomes very popular. It is learnt nowadays more often than earlier. Oriental languages are also widespread today. Learning a foreign language has a practical value but the choice of a foreign language sometimes depends on a fashion. If under fashion we mean the demands of life and society. Thus, the knowledge of a foreign language today is a life necessity.
The English language surrounds us like a sea, and like the waters of a deep sea it is full of mysteries. English is and has always been constantly changing. Some words die, some change their meanings and all the time new words appear in the language
] Ancient to medieval period
Although the need to learn foreign languages is almost as old as human history itself, the origins of modern language education are in the study and teaching of Latin in the 17th century. Latin had for many centuries been the dominant language of education, commerce, religion, and government in much of the Western world, but it was displaced by French, Italian, and English by the end of the 16th century.John Amos Comenius was one of many people who tried to reverse this trend. He composed a complete course for learning Latin, covering the entire school curriculum, culminating in his Opera Didactica Omnia, 1657.
In this work, Comenius also outlined his theory of language acquisition. He is one of the first theorists to write systematically about how languages are learned and about pedagogical methodology for language acquisition. He held that language acquisition must be allied with sensation and experience. Teaching must be oral. The schoolroom should have models of things, and failing that, pictures of them. As a result, he also published the world's first illustrated children's book, Orbis Sensualim Pictus. The study of Latin diminished from the study of a living language to be used in the real world to a subject in the school curriculum. Such decline brought about a new justification for its study. It was then claimed that its study developed intellectual abilities, and the study of Latin grammar became an end in and of itself.
"Grammar schools" from the 16th to 18th centuries focused on teaching the grammatical aspects of Classical Latin. Advanced students continued grammar study with the addition of rhetoric.[1]
[edit] 18th century
The study of modern languages did not become part of the curriculum of European schools until the 18th century. Based on the purely academic study of Latin, students of modern languages did much of the same exercises, studying grammatical rules and translating abstract sentences. Oral work was minimal, and students were instead required to memorise grammatical rules and apply these to decode written texts in the target language. This tradition-inspired method became known as the 'grammar-translation method'.[1]
[edit] 19th–20th century
| The examples and perspective in this article deal primarily with the United States and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please improve this article and discuss the issue on the talk page. |
Henry Sweet was a key figure in establishing the applied linguistics tradition in language teaching
Innovation in foreign language teaching began in the 19th century and became very rapid in the 20th century. It led to a number of different and sometimes conflicting methods, each trying to be a major improvement over the previous or contemporary methods. The earliest applied linguists included Jean Manesca, Heinrich Gottfried Ollendorff (1803-1865), Henry Sweet (1845-1912), Otto Jespersen (1860-1943), and Harold Palmer (1877–1949). They worked on setting language teaching principles and approaches based on linguistic and psychological theories, but they left many of the specific practical details for others to devise.[1]
Those looking at the history of foreign-language education in the 20th century and the methods of teaching (such as those related below) might be tempted to think that it is a history of failure. Very few students in U.S. universities who have a foreign language as a major manage to reach something called "minimum professional proficiency". Even the "reading knowledge" required for a PhD degree is comparable only to what second-year language students read and only very few researchers who are native English speakers can read and assess information written in languages other than English. Even a number of famous linguists are monolingual.[2]
However, anecdotal evidence for successful second or foreign language learning is easy to find, leading to a discrepancy between these cases and the failure of most language programs, which helps make the research of second language acquisition emotionally charged. Older methods and approaches such as the grammar translation method or the direct method are dismissed and even ridiculed as newer methods and approaches are invented and promoted as the only and complete solution to the problem of the high failure rates of foreign language students.
Most books on language teaching list the various methods that have been used in the past, often ending with the author's new method. These new methods are usually presented as coming only from the author's mind, as the authors generally give no credence to what was done before and do not explain how it relates to the new method. For example, descriptive linguists[ who? ] seem to claim unhesitatingly that there were no scientifically-based language teaching methods before their work (which led to the audio-lingual method developed for the U.S. Army in World War II). However, there is significant evidence to the contrary. It is also often inferred or even stated that older methods were completely ineffective or have died out completely when even the oldest methods are still used (e.g. the Berlitz version of the direct method). One reason for this situation is that proponents of new methods have been so sure that their ideas are so new and so correct that they could not conceive that the older ones have enough validity to cause controversy. This was in turn caused by emphasis on new scientific advances, which has tended to blind researchers to precedents in older work.[2](p. 5)
There have been two major branches in the field of language learning; the empirical and theoretical, and these have almost completely separate histories, with each gaining ground over the other at one point in time or another. Examples of researchers on the empiricist side are Jesperson, Palmer, and Leonard Bloomfield, who promote mimicry and memorization with pattern drills. These methods follow from the basic empiricist position that language acquisition basically results from habits formed by conditioning and drilling. In its most extreme form, language learning is seen as basically the same as any other learning in any other species, human language being essentially the same as communication behaviors seen in other species.
On the theoretical side are, for example, Francois Gouin, M.D. Berlitz, and Elime de Sauzé, whose rationalist theories of language acquisition dovetail with linguistic work done by Noam Chomsky and others. These have led to a wider variety of teaching methods ranging from the grammar-translation method to Gouin's "series method" to the direct methods of Berlitz and de Sauzé. With these methods, students generate original and meaningful sentences to gain a functional knowledge of the rules of grammar. This follows from the rationalist position that man is born to think and that language use is a uniquely human trait impossible in other species. Given that human languages share many common traits, the idea is that humans share a universal grammar which is built into our brain structure. This allows us to create sentences that we have never heard before but that can still be immediately understood by anyone who understands the specific language being spoken. The rivalry of the two camps is intense, with little communication or cooperation between them.[2]
[edit] Methods of teaching foreign languages
Language education may take place as a general school subject or in a specialized language school. There are many methods of teaching languages. Some have fallen into relative obscurity and others are widely used; still others have a small following, but offer useful insights.
While sometimes confused, the terms "approach", "method" and "technique" are hierarchical concepts. An approach is a set of correlative assumptions about the nature of language and language learning, but does not involve procedure or provide any details about how such assumptions should translate into the classroom setting. Such can be related to second language acquisition theory.
There are three principal views at this level:
- The structural view treats language as a system of structurally related elements to code meaning (e.g. grammar).
- The functional view sees language as a vehicle to express or accomplish a certain function, such as requesting something.
- The interactive view sees language as a vehicle for the creation and maintenance of social relations, focusing on patterns of moves, acts, negotiation and interaction found in conversational exchanges. This view has been fairly dominant since the 1980s.[1]
A method is a plan for presenting the language material to be learned and should be based upon a selected approach. In order for an approach to be translated into a method, an instructional system must be designed considering the objectives of the teaching/learning, how the content is to be selected and organized, the types of tasks to be performed, the roles of students and the roles of teachers. A technique is a very specific, concrete stratagem or trick designed to accomplish an immediate objective. Such are derived from the controlling method, and less-directly, with the approach.[1]
[edit] The grammar translation method
The grammar translation method instructs students in grammar, and provides vocabulary with direct translations to memorize. It was the predominant method in Europe in the 19th century. Most instructors now acknowledge that this method is ineffective by itself[ citation needed ]. It is now most commonly used in the traditional instruction of the classical languages.
At school, the teaching of grammar consists of a process of training in the rules of a language which must make it possible to all the students to correctly express their opinion, to understand the remarks which are addressed to them and to analyze the texts which they read. The objective is that by the time they leave college, the pupil controls the tools of the language which are the vocabulary, grammar and the orthography, to be able to read, understand and write texts in various contexts. The teaching of grammar examines texts, and develops awareness that language constitutes a system which can be analyzed. For example, many Spanish teachers like to use "La Gran Aventura de Alejandro" to teach their students, because while many young Spanish natives would find the book simple to read, the average person learning Spanish would find it ideal. This knowledge is acquired gradually, by traversing the facts of language and the syntactic mechanisms, going from simplest to the most complex. The exercises according to the program of the course must untiringly be practiced to allow the assimilation of the rules stated in the course.[ citation needed ] That supposes that the teacher corrects the exercises. The pupil can follow his progress in practicing the language by comparing his results. Thus can he adapt the grammatical rules and control little by little the internal logic of the syntactic system. The grammatical analysis of sentences constitutes the objective of the teaching of grammar at the school. Its practice makes it possible to recognize a text as a coherent whole and conditions the training of a foreign language. Grammatical terminology serves this objective. Grammar makes it possible for each one to understand how the mother tongue functions, in order to give him the capacity to communicate its thought.
[edit] The direct method
The direct method, sometimes also called natural method, is a method that refrains from using the learners' native language and just uses the target language. It was established in Germany and France around 1900 and are best represented by the methods devised by Berlitz and de Sauzé although neither claim originality and has been re-invented under other names.[2] The direct method operates on the idea that second language learning must be an imitation of first language learning, as this is the natural way humans learn any language - a child never relies on another language to learn its first language, and thus the mother tongue is not necessary to learn a foreign language. This method places great stress on correct pronunciation and the target language from outset. It advocates teaching of oral skills at the expense of every traditional aim of language teaching. Such methods rely on directly representing an experience into a linguistic construct rather than relying on abstractions like mimicry, translation and memorizing grammar rules and vocabulary.[2]
According to this method, printed language and text must be kept away from second language learner for as long as possible, just as a first language learner does not use printed word until he has good grasp of speech. Learning of writing and spelling should be delayed until after the printed word has been introduced, and grammar and translation should also be avoided because this would involve the application of the learner's first language. All above items must be avoided because they hinder the acquisition of a good oral proficiency.
The method relies on a step-by-step progression based on question-and-answer sessions which begin with naming common objects such as doors, pencils, floors, etc. It provides a motivating start as the learner begins using a foreign language almost immediately. Lessons progress to verb forms and other grammatical structures with the goal of learning about thirty new words per lesson.[2]
[edit] The series method
In the 19th century, Francois Gouin went to Hamburg to learn German. Based on his experience as a Latin teacher, he thought the best way to do this would be memorize a German grammar book and a table of its 248 irregular verbs. However, when he went to the academy to test his new language skills, he was disappointed to find out that he could not understand anything. Trying again, he similarly memorized the 800 root words of the language as well as re-memorizing the grammar and verb forms. However, the results were the same. During this time, he had isolated himself from people around him, so he tried to learn by listening, imitating and conversing with the Germans around him, but found that his carefully-constructed sentences often caused native German speakers to laugh. Again he tried a more classical approach, translation, and even memorizing the entire dictionary but had no better luck.[2]
When he returned home, he found that his three-year-old nephew had learned to speak French. He noticed the boy was very curious and upon his first visit to a mill, he wanted to see everything and be told the name of everything. After digesting the experience silently, he then reenacted his experiences in play, talking about what he learned to whoever would listen or to himself. Gouin decided that language learning was a matter of transforming perceptions into conceptions, using language to represent what one experiences. Language is not an arbitrary set of conventions but a way of thinking and representing the world to oneself. It is not a conditioning process, but one in which the learner actively organizes his perceptions into linguistics concepts.[2]
[edit] Variation of direct method
The series method is a variety of the direct method (above) in that experiences are directly connected to the target language. Gouin felt that such direct "translation" of experience into words, makes for a "living language". (p59) Gouin also noticed that children organize concepts in succession of time, relating a sequence of concepts in the same order. Gouin suggested that students learn a language more quickly and retain it better if it is presented through a chronological sequence of events. Students learn sentences based on an action such as leaving a house in the order in which such would be performed. Gouin found that if the series of sentences are shuffled, their memorization becomes nearly impossible. For this, Gouin preceded psycholinguistic theory of the 20th century. He found that people will memorize events in a logical sequence, even if they are not presented in that order. He also discovered a second insight into memory called "incubation". Linguistic concepts take time to settle in the memory. The learner must use the new concepts frequently after presentation, either by thinking or by speaking, in order to master them. His last crucial observation was that language was learned in sentences with the verb as the most crucial component. Gouin would write a series in two columns: one with the complete sentences and the other with only the verb. With only the verb elements visible, he would have students recite the sequence of actions in full sentences of no more than twenty-five sentences. Another exercise involved having the teacher solicit a sequence of sentences by basically ask him/her what s/he would do next. While Gouin believed that language was rule-governed, he did not believe it should be explicitly taught.[2]
His course was organized on elements of human society and the natural world. He estimated that a language could be learned with 800 to 900 hours of instruction over a series of 4000 exercises and no homework. The idea was that each of the exercises would force the student to think about the vocabulary in terms of its relationship with the natural world. While there is evidence that the method can work extremely well, it has some serious flaws. One of which is the teaching of subjective language, where the students must make judgments about what is experienced in the world (e.g. "bad" and "good") as such do not relate easily to one single common experience. However, the real weakness is that the method is entirely based on one experience of a three-year-old. Gouin did not observe the child's earlier language development such as naming (where only nouns are learned) or the role that stories have in human language development. What distinguishes the series method from the direct method is that vocabulary must be learned by translation from the native language, at least in the beginning.[2]
[edit] The oral approach / situational language teaching
The oral approach was developed from the 1930s to the 1960s by British applied linguists such as Harold Palmer and A.S. Hornsby. They were familiar with the Direct method as well as the work of 19th century applied linguists such as Otto Jesperson and Daniel Jones but attempted to formally develop a scientifically-founded approach to teaching English than was evidenced by the Direct Method.[1]
A number of large-scale investigations about language learning and the increased emphasis on reading skills in the 1920s led to the notion of "vocabulary control". It was discovered that languages have a core basic vocabulary of about 2,000 words that occurred frequently in written texts, and it was assumed that mastery of these would greatly aid reading comprehension. Parallel to this was the notion of "grammar control", emphasizing the sentence patterns most-commonly found in spoken conversation. Such patterns were incorporated into dictionaries and handbooks for students. The principle difference between the oral approach and the direct method was that methods devised under this approach would have theoretical principles guiding the selection of content, gradation of difficulty of exercises and the presentation of such material and exercises. The main proposed benefit was that such theoretically-based organization of content would result in a less-confusing sequence of learning events with better contextualization of the vocabulary and grammatical patterns presented.[1] Last but not least, all language points were to be presented in "situations". Emphasis on this point led to the approach's second name. Such learning in situ would lead to students' acquiring good habits to be repeated in their corresponding situations. Teaching methods stress PPP (presentation (introduction of new material in context), practice (a controlled practice phase) and production (activities designed for less-controlled practice)).[1]
Although this approach is all but unknown among language teachers today, elements of it have had long lasting effects on language teaching, being the basis of many widely-used English as a Second/Foreign Language textbooks as late as the 1980s and elements of it still appear in current texts.[1] Many of the structural elements of this approach were called into question in the 1960s, causing modifications of this method that lead to Communicative language teaching. However, its emphasis on oral practice, grammar and sentence patterns still finds widespread support among language teachers and remains popular in countries where foreign language syllabuses are still heavily based on grammar.[1]
[edit] The audio-lingual method
The audio-lingual method was developed around World War II when governments realized that they needed more people who could conduct conversations fluently in a variety of languages, work as interpreters, code-room assistants, and translators. However, since foreign language instruction in that country was heavily focused on reading instruction, no textbooks, other materials or courses existed at the time, so new methods and materials had to be devised. For example, the U.S. Army Specialized Training Program created intensive programs based on the techniques Leonard Bloomfield and other linguists devised for Native American languages, where students interacted intensively with native speakers and a linguist in guided conversations designed to decode its basic grammar and learn the vocabulary. This "informant method" had great success with its small class sizes and motivated learners.[1]
The U.S. Army Specialized Training Program only lasted a few years, but it gained a lot of attention from the popular press and the academic community. Charles Fries set up the first English Language Institute at the University of Michigan, to train English as a second or foreign language teachers. Similar programs were created later at Georgetown University, University of Texas among others based on the methods and techniques used by the military. The developing method had much in common with the British oral approach although the two developed independently. The main difference was the developing audio-lingual methods allegiance to structural linguistics, focusing on grammar and contrastive analysis to find differences between the student's native language and the target language in order to prepare specific materials to address potential problems. These materials strongly emphasized drill as a way to avoid or eliminate these problems.[1]
This first version of the method was originally called the oral method, the aural-oral method or the structural approach. The audio-lingual method truly began to take shape near the end of the 1950s, this time due government pressure resulting from the space race. Courses and techniques were redesigned to add insights from behaviorist psychology to the structural linguistics and constructive analysis already being used. Under this method, students listen to or view recordings of language models acting in situations. Students practice with a variety of drills, and the instructor emphasizes the use of the target language at all times. The idea is that by reinforcing 'correct' behaviors, students will make them into habits.[1]
Due to weaknesses in performance[3], and more importantly because of Noam Chomsky's theoretical attack on language learning as a set of habits, audio-lingual methods are rarely the primary method of instruction today. However, elements of the method still survive in many textbooks.[1]
[edit] Communicative language teaching
Communicative language teaching (CLT), also known as the Communicative Approach, emphasizes interaction as both the means and the ultimate goal of learning a language. Despite a number of criticisms[4] it continues to be popular, particularly in Europe, where constructivist views on language learning and education in general dominate academic discourse. Although the 'Communicative Language Teaching' is not so much a method on its own as it is an approach.[5]
In recent years, task-based language learning (TBLL), also known as task-based language teaching (TBLT) or task-based instruction (TBI), has grown steadily in popularity. TBLL is a further refinement of the CLT approach, emphasizing the successful completion of tasks as both the organizing feature and the basis for assessment of language instruction. Dogme language teaching shares a philosophy with TBL, although differs in approach.[6] Dogme is a communicative approach to language teaching and encourages teaching without published textbooks and instead focusing on conversational communication among the learners and the teacher.[7]
[edit] Language immersion
Language immersion in school contexts delivers academic content through the medium of a foreign language, providing support for L2 learning and first language maintenance. There are three main types of immersion education programs in the United States: foreign language immersion, dual immersion, and indigenous immersion.
Foreign language immersion programs in the U.S. are designed for students whose home language is English. In the early immersion model, for all or part of the school day elementary school children receive their content (academic) instruction through the medium of another language: Spanish, French, German, Chinese, Japanese, etc. In early total immersion models, children receive all the regular kindergarten and first grade content through the medium of the immersion language; English reading is introduced later, often in the second grade. Most content (math, science, social studies, art, music) continues to be taught through the immersion language. In early partial immersion models, part of the school day (usually 50%) delivers content through the immersion language, and part delivers it through English. French-language immersion programs are common in Canada in the provincial school systems, as part of the drive towards bilingualism and are increasing in number in the United States in public school systems (Curtain & Dahlbert, 2004). Branaman & Rhodes (1998) report that between 1987-1997 the percentage of elementary programs offering foreign language education in the U.S. through immersion grew from 2% to 8% and Curtain & Dahlberg (2004) report 278 foreign language immersion programs in 29 states. Research by Swain and others (Genesee 1987) demonstrate much higher levels of proficiency achieved by children in foreign language immersion programs than in traditional foreign language education elementary school models.
Dual immersion programs in the U.S. are designed for students whose home language is English as well as for students whose home language is the immersion language (usually Spanish). The goal is bilingual students with mastery of both English and the immersion language. As in partial foreign language immersion academic content is delivered through the medium of the immersion language for part of the school day, and through English the rest of the school day.
Indigenous immersion programs in the U.S. are designed for American Indian communities desiring to maintain the use of the native language by delivering elementary school content through the medium of that language. Hawaiian Immersion programs are the largest and most successful in this category.
[edit] Minimalist/methodist
Paul Rowe's minimalist/methodist approach. This new approach is underpinned with Paul Nation's three actions of successful ESL teachers.[ citation needed ] Initially it was written specifically for unqualified, inexperienced people teaching in EFL situations. However, experienced language teachers are also responding positively to its simplicity. Language items are usually provided using flashcards. There is a focus on language-in-context and multi-functional practices.
[edit] Directed practice
Directed practice has students repeat phrases. This method is used by U.S. diplomatic courses. It can quickly provide a phrasebook-type knowledge of the language. Within these limits, the student's usage is accurate and precise. However the student's choice of what to say is not flexible.
[edit] Learning by teaching (LdL)
Main article: Learning by teaching
Learning by teaching is a widespread method in Germany, developed by Jean-Pol Martin. The students take the teacher's role and teach their peers.
[edit] Proprioceptive language learning method
The proprioceptive language learning method (commonly called the feedback training method) emphasizes simultaneous development of cognitive, motor, neurological, and hearing as all being part of a comprehensive language learning process. Lesson development is as concerned with the training of the motor and neurological functions of speech as it is with cognitive (memory) functions. It further emphasizes that training of each part of the speech process must be simultaneous. The proprioceptive method, therefore, emphasizes spoken language training, and is primarily used by those wanting to perfect their speaking ability in a target language.
The proprioceptive method virtually stands alone as a second language acquisition (SLA) method in that it bases its methodology on a speech pathology model. It stresses that mere knowledge (in the form of vocabulary and grammar memory) is not the sole requirement for spoken language fluency, but that the mind receives real-time feedback from both hearing and neurological receptors of the mouth and related organs in order to constantly regulate the store of vocabulary and grammar memory in the mind during speech.
For optimum effectiveness, it maintains that each of the components of second language acquisition must be encountered simultaneously. It therefore advocates that all memory functions, all motor functions and their neurological receptors, and all feedback from both the mouth and ears must occur at exactly the same moment in time of the instruction. Thus, according to the proprioceptive method, all student participation must be done at full speaking volume. Further, in order to train memory, after initial acquaintance with the sentences being repeated, all verbal language drills must be done as a response to the narrated sentences which the student must repeat (or answer) entirely apart from reading a text. [8]
[edit] Silent Way
The Silent Way[9] is a discovery learning approach, invented by Caleb Gattegno in the 1950s. It is often considered to be one of the humanistic approaches. It is called the Silent Way because the teacher is usually silent, leaving room for the students to talk and explore the language. The students are responsible for their own learning and are encouraged to interact with one another. The role of the teacher is to give clues to the students, not to model the language.
[edit] Pimsleur method
Pimsleur language learning system is based on the research of and model programs developed by American language teacher Paul Pimsleur. It involves recorded 30-minute lessons to be done daily, with each lesson typically featuring a dialog, revision, and new material. Students are asked to translate phrases into the target language, and occasionally to respond in the target language to lines spoken in the target language. The instruction starts in the student's language but gradually changes to the target language. Several all-audio programs now exist to teach various languages using the Pimsleur Method. The syllabus is the same in all languages.
[edit] Michel Thomas Method
Michel Thomas Method is an audio-based teaching system developed by Michel Thomas, a language teacher in the USA. It was originally done in person, although since his death it is done via recorded lessons. The instruction is done entirely in the student's own language, although the student's responses are always expected to be in the target language. The method focuses on constructing long sentences with correct grammar and building student confidence. There is no listening practice, and there is no reading or writing. The syllabus is ordered around the easiest and most useful features of the language, and as such is different for each language.[10]
[edit] Other
Several methodologies that emphasise understanding language in order to learn, rather than producing it, exist as varieties of the comprehension approach. These include total physical response and the natural approach of Stephen Krashen and Tracy D. Terrell.
Suggestopedia is a method that experienced popularity especially in past years, with both staunch supporters and very strong critics, some claiming it is based on pseudoscience.
There is a lot of language learning software using the multimedia capabilities of computers.
[edit] Learning strategies
[edit] Code switching
Code switching, that is, changing between languages at some point in a sentence or utterance, is a commonly used communication strategy among language learners and bilinguals. While traditional methods of formal instruction often discourage code switching, students, especially those placed in a language immersion situation, often use it. If viewed as a learning strategy, wherein the student uses the target language as much as possible but reverts to their native language for any element of an utterance that they are unable to produce in the target language (as, e.g., in Wolfgang Butzkamm's concept of enlightened monolingualism), then it has the advantages that it encourages fluency development and motivation and a sense of accomplishment by enabling the student to discuss topics of interest to him or her early in the learning process—before requisite vocabulary has been memorized. It is particularly effective for students whose native language is English, due to the high probability of a simple English word or short phrase being understood by the conversational partner.
[edit] Blended learning
Blended learning combines face-to-face teaching with distance education, frequently electronic, either computer-based or web-based. It has been a major growth point in the ELT (English Language Teaching) industry over the last ten years.
Some people, though, use the phrase 'Blended Learning' to refer to learning taking place while the focus is on other activities. For example, playing a card game that requires calling for cards may allow blended learning of numbers (1 to 10).
[edit] Skills teaching
When talking about language skills, the four basic ones are: listening, speaking, reading and writing. However, other, more socially-based skills have been identified more recently such as summarizing, describing, narrating etc. In addition, more general learning skills such as study skills and knowing how one learns have been applied to language classrooms.[11]
In the 1970s and 1980s the four basic skills were generally taught in isolation in a very rigid order, such as listening before speaking. However, since then, it has been recognized that we generally use more than one skill at a time, leading to more integrated exercises.[11] Speaking is a skill that often is underrepresented in the traditional classroom. This could be due to the fact that it is considered a less-academic skills than writing, is transient and improvised (thus harder to assess and teach through rote imitation).
More recent textbooks stress the importance of students working with other students in pairs and groups, sometimes the entire class. Pair and group work give opportunities for more students to participate more actively. However, supervision of pairs and groups is important to make sure everyone participates as equally as possible. Such activities also provide opportunities for peer teaching, where weaker learners can find support from stronger classmates.[11]
[edit] Language education by region
[edit] Europe
[edit] Foreign language education
1995 European Commission’s White Paper "Teaching and learning – Towards the learning society", stated that "upon completing initial training, everyone should be proficient in two Community foreign languages". The Lisbon Summit of 2000 defined languages as one of the five key skills.
In fact, even in 1974, at least one foreign language was compulsory in all but two European member states (Ireland and the United Kingdom, apart from Scotland). By 1998 nearly all pupils in Europe studied at least one foreign language as part of their compulsory education, the only exception being the Republic of Ireland, where primary and secondary schoolchildren learn both Irish and English, but neither is considered a foreign language although a third European language is also taught. Pupils in upper secondary education learn at least two foreign languages in Belgium's Flemish community, Denmark, Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, Finland, Sweden, Switzerland, Greece, Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia and Slovakia.
On average in Europe, at the start of foreign language teaching, pupils have lessons for three to four hours a week. Compulsory lessons in a foreign language normally start at the end of primary school or the start of secondary school. In Luxembourg, Norway, Italy and Malta, however, the first foreign language starts at age six, and in Belg