Learning the Grammar of a Second Language
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"Grammar teaching" is a controversial term. This paper deals with the teaching/learning of grammar of a second language. One school of teachers/linguists asserts that the most effective way to develop competency in L2 is through the inductive process of "acquisition", i.e. through meaningful interaction between L1 and L2, and that the formal teaching/learning of grammar is detrimental to optimum acquisition because it focuses the learner's attention on the form rather than on the contents, the meaning. Another school of pedagogues/applied linguists/psycholinguists asserts that grammatical competence is a sine qua non of communicative competence and therefore must be taught/learned formally. A growing movement among language teachers and psycholinguists--more so than among theoretical linguists--believes in "an underlying assumption that working towards grammatical accuracy does not mean sacrificing fluency" (Celce-Murcia 406). This last assumption constitutes the hypothesis of this paper. Few people have had as much influence on modern language teaching methodology as Stephen D. Krashen. In the 1970s and 1980s, his "Second Language Acquisition Theory" was at the basis of perhaps a majority of foreign language instruction . . . at least in the United States. His theory, in turn, found its premises in three propositions, viz. the "acquisition-learning distinction", the "natural order hypothesis", and the "Monitor hypothesis". These three propositions
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in meaning, which can only be constructed through precision in the architecture of language---assuming there is precision in thinking. Significant two-way interaction occurs between the verb and the thought. Thus, fuzzy speaking not only expresses fuzzy thinking but also causes it. Consequently, however it is taught, grammatical correctness, language architecture, must be acquired if cognitive and expressive competencies are to be achieved, whether in speaking or in writing.
Noam Chomsky (Strozer 88) believes that knowledge of language is acquired through making use of an innate faculty for language (a sort of language organ, genetically determined). Knowledge of language is thus a mental generative procedure (a mental language). In this perspective, a grammar of language can be seen as a recursive function that generates the expressions of the language. Even if one agrees with Chomsky's "universals", one must consider how these hypothetical innate metalinguistic elements can be best acquired in other than one's native language--L1.
The process of education is one of formal analysis leading to formal synthesis with the objectives of conceptualizing and communicating. One cannot dissociate any "innate" intellectual process f
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Instruction Obviously, Input Hypothesis, Madsen Hilferty, L2 L1, L2 First-language, L2 L3, Chomsky Strozer, Scientific Management, Lightbown Pienemann, Stevick Eisenstein, language acquisition, formal grammar, formal grammar instruction, grammar instruction, comprehensible input, tesol quarterly, foreign language, adult learn, l1 l2, celce-murcia 406, attention form, grammar taught learned, teach student method, quarterly 27 1993, quarterly 262 1992,
Approximate Word count = 2840
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page)
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