Topic 1 Language, learning and teaching
I Language
1 The eightfold definition of language:
1) Language is systematic and generative
2) Language is a set of arbitrary symbols.
3) Those symbols are primarily vocal, but may also be visual.
4) The symbols have conventionalized meanings to which they refer.
5) Language is used for communication.
6) Language operates in a speech community or culture.
7) Language is essentially human, although possibly not limited to humans.
8) Language is acquired by all people in much the same way – language and language learning both have universal characteristics
2 Possible areas of the eight categories:
1) Explicit and formal accounts of the system of language on several possible
levels (most commonly syntactic, semantic, and phonological)
2) The symbolic nature of language; the relationship between language and reality; the philosophy of language; the history of language
3) Phonetics; phonology; writing systems; kinesics, proxemics, and other “paralinguistic” features of language
4) Semantics; language and cognition; psycholinguistics
5) Communication systems; speaker – hearer interaction; semantic processing
6) Dialectology; sociolinguistics; language and culture; bilingualism and second language acquisition
7) Human language and nonhuman communication; the physiology of language
8) Language universals; first language acquisition
II Learning
The seven domains of research and inquiry:
1) Learning is acquisition or “getting.”
2) Learning is retention of information or skill.
3) Retention implies storage systems, memory, cognitive organizations.
4) Learning involves active, conscious focus on and acting upon events outside or inside organism.
5) Learning is relatively permanent but subject to forgetting.
6) Learning involves some form of practice, perhaps reinforced practice.
7) Learning is a change in behaviour.
III Teaching
Teaching is guiding and facilitating learning, enabling the learner to learn, setting the conditions for learning. One’s understanding of how the learner learns will determine one’s philosophy of education, teaching style, approach, methods, and classroom techniques.
A theory of instruction should specify the following features:
1) The experiences which most effectively implant in an individual a predisposition towards learning.
2) The ways in which a body of knowledge should be structured so that it can
be most readily grasped by the learner.
3) The most effective sequences in which to present the materials to be learned.
4) The nature and pacing of rewards and punishment in the process of learning and teaching.
因篇幅问题不能全部显示，请点此查看更多更全内容