西安外国语大学英文学院陕西西安710128
Abstract:Thepurposeof“HowLanguagesareLearned”istofamiliarizestudentsandresearcherswiththemaintheoriesoffirstandsecondlanguageacquisition,andunderstandingsoflanguageacquisitionandlearningbreed.
Keywords:languageacquisition;languagelearning;
Thebookisaboveallbasedonrecentdevelopmentsinlanguageacquisitionandresearch,sothatreaderscouldhaveanadvancedunderstandingofforeignlanguagelearningtheories.Atthesametime,examplesandcasestudiesareincludedthroughoutthebooktoillustratetheideasofresearchers,manyofwhicharefromsecondlanguageclassroom.Agoodnumberofactivitiesprovidereaderstheopportunitytopracticesomeofthetechniquesofobservationandanalysisfromwhichtheauthorspresentinthisbook.Comparedwithotherbookonforeignlanguagelearning,thosetwoauthorscombinetheorieswithteachingandlearningpractice.Forexample,Nunan(1992)focusesonresearchtheorieswhichwillenablethemtoreadandevaluateresearchreports.However,thisworksatisfiesreaders’needshaveageneralviewoverforeignlanguagelearning.
Ibelievethatinformationaboutfindingsandtheoreticalviewsinsecondlanguageacquisitionresearchcanhelpteachersevaluateclaimsmadebytextbookwritersandproponentsofvariouslanguageteachingmethods.Theresevenchaptersinthisbook,eachofwhichcontributestodeepeningourunderstandingtolanguagesecondorforeignlanguageteachingandlearning.
Asfortheorganizationofthiswork,chaptersarecomposedlogicallyandorderly.Readerswillfinditeasytocomprehendthroughoutthestepbystepofthecomplextheories.
LightbownandSpada(2002)didempiricalresearchandsecondaryresearchinthework.Mostofstudiesareimplementedinsecondlanguageclassroomsorbyobservations,whicharepersuasiveandconvincing.Apartfromtheempiricalresearch,authorsalsoturntonotedlinguists;thereviewofgreatlinguistsprovidessolidtheoreticalfoundationforthisbook.Intermsofmethodologicalapproach,theworkisquantitativeandqualitative.
InthefirsttimeIsawthetitle,Iwaswonderingwhylanguagesare“learned”not“acquired”?Afterthoroughreadingofthewholebook,Ireallyagreeauthors’exactuseofwords.Acquisitionrepresents“unconscious”learning,(Lightbown&Spada,2002,p.177).Mothertongueorfirstlanguagecanbeseenasacquisition;thosewhoacquiredlanguagemostlyarebabiesandverylittleyoungchildren.Throughoutthecommunication,theymainlyfocusonmeaningratherthantheformoflanguage.Theypracticetheirlanguageinauthenticcontext.Apartfromthat,adolescentsoradultsseemhavemoretoleranceonchildren’sincorrectformthanlistenerswhoaregrown-ups.However,learningisdescribedas“conscious”process(Lightbown&Spada,2002,p.177).Suchusuallyoccursinsecondlanguagelearninginthecommunitypeopledonotconsiderthelanguageasthetoolforcommunication.Therefore,“learning”isdistinctfrom“acquisition”.Ofcourseinthetitle,“learned”ismoreappropriatelythan“acquired”.
Also,Iamastonishedbysomeideasinthisbook.Thestereotypethatlittlebabiescouldnotdistinguishthehumansoundbeforetheystarttospeakhauntedme.Lightbown&Spada(2002)pointedthatinfants,intheirearlyweeksandmonthsoflife,arecanhearverysubtledifferencesbetweenthesoundsofhumanlanguage.Itoccurstomethatthelanguageofparentsandcommunityisextremelyimportanttoaninpidualthattheyareendowedinacertainlanguageatmosphere.Basedonthat,abilingualormultilingualatmosphereprovidesinpidualsaperfectopportunitytolearnasecondoraforeignlanguageforthoseimmersedinsuchlanguageenvironmentacquirelanguagesintheirearlyyearsorevenmonths.
Formypart,intermsoflearnerlanguagethecomplexitiesofsecondlanguagelearningrestwiththesimilaritiesofmothertongueandsecondlanguageratherdifferences.Mothertongueplaysanoverwhelmingroleinlearningasecondorforeignlanguage.Theexampletothepointislearningthepronunciationandintonationofasecondlanguage.Asforthedifferencesbetweenmothertongueandtargetlanguage,languagelearnercanlearnasanativedoes.Studies(Lightbown&Spada,2002.)showthattherearedevelopmentalsequences.Learnersacquirelanguagestepbystep.Toputitanotherway,languageexpertscouldtellwhatstagethelearnerisbywhatmistakesorerrorsheorshemakes.
Thebookisalmostaperfectchoiceforpostgraduatestudents,secondforeignlanguageteachers,andthosewhohaveagreatinterestinlanguageacquisitionandlanguagelearning.
References
[1]Lightbown,P.M.,&Spada,N.(2002).HowLanguagesareLearned.Shanghai:ShanghaiForeignLanguageEducationPress.
[2]Nunan,D.(1992).ResearchMethodsinLanguageLearning.Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress.
作者简介：李倩，1993年1月2日出生，女，汉族，神木县人，现就读于西安外国语大学2016级外国语言学及应用语言学，主要研究方向：应用语言学。