Step by Step2000 02 Language—A Vehicle in Communication

Part I

A

1. There are more than 2,700 languages in the world. In addition, there are more than 7,000 dialects. A dialect is a regional variety of a language that has a different pronuniciation, vacabulary, or meaning.

2. The language in which a government conducts business is the official language of that country.

3. One billion people speak English. That’s 20 percent of the world’s population.

4. Four hundred million people speak English as their first language. For the other 600 million it’s either a second language or a foreign language.

5. There are more than 500,000 words in the Oxford 1 dictionary. Eighty percent of all English vocabulary comes form other languages.

6. Eighty percent of all information in the world’s computers is in English.

7. Somalia is the only African country in which the entire population speaks the same language, Somali.

8. More than 1,000 different languages are spoken on the continent of Africa.

9. When the American spaceship Voyage began its journey in 1977, it carried a gold disc. On the disc, there were messages in 55 languages. Before all of them, there was a message from the Secretary General of the United Nations in English.

B

Different people have different ways of learning. We call this your “learning style,”and it’s based on your senses. To learn, you need to use your different senses¬¬－hearing, seeing, touching 2, etc., to bring information to your brain. Now, most people use one of their senses more than the others. Some people learn best by listening. They are called hearing learners. And other learn best by reading or looking at pictures. They are called visual learners. And some learn best by touching and doing things. They are called tactile 3 learners. Now, scientists don’t know why people use one sense more than the others. Maybe the sense they use most just works best for them.

C

All right, class. Today we’re going to be looking at different language learning styles. You may be surprised to find that there are different ways of going about learning languages, none of which is necessarily better than the others. Researchers have identified four basic learner “types”－the communicative learner, the analytical 4 learner, the authority-oriented learner and the concrete learner. Communicative learners like to learn by watching and listening to native speakers. At home, they like to learn by watching TV and videos. They like to learn new words by hearing them. In class, they like to learn by having conversations. Now, concrete learners like to learn by playing games, by looking at pictures and videos in class, by talking in pairs, and by listening to cassettes at home and school. Now, authority-oriented learners, on the other hand, like the teacher to explain everything. They like to write everything down in their notebook, and they like to have a textbook. They like to learn new words by seeing them. And finally, we have analytical learners. These learners like to learn by studying grammar. At home, they like to learn by studying English books, and they like to study by themselves. They like to find their own mistakes. Now, of course, it’s unusual for a person to be exclusively one “type” rather than another. Most of us are mixtures of styles. What type of learner do you think you are?

 

Part II

A: Well what I wanted to ask really was… you’re a teacher, been teaching for some years now, erm, what would you say, how would you describe a good student or a bad student, you know, sort of things they do or don’t do in the classroom?

B: Erm, well, a good student is usually one who’s not afraid to make mistakes, I’d say.

A: Uh huh.

B: And he’s, er, eager to experiment with every new thing that he learns, whether it be a structure or a function or a new word, erm, he immediately starts trying to use it.

A: Yeah, all right.

B: And he’s interested in the mistakes he makes, he’s not afraid to make them.

A: So he’s not simply interested in having it corrected and moving on?

B: No, no, no. He, he plays with the language. A bad student, on the other hand, will perhaps say “OK I’ve done this chapter I know this,” without trying to experiment at all, without really testing himself.

A: Ahha, ahha.

B: He’s usually passive, he won’t speak up much in the classroom. He’ll very rarely ask you why this and why not something else…

A: Just sort of accepts what you give him and doesn’t do anything more with it.

B: That’s right and in a test he’s the one person who’s likely to suddenly realize that, er yes, he wasn’t too sure about that after all.

A: Yeah.

B: And peep over at the er… at this neighbor’s paper.

A: Oh yes, an alternative learning strategy.

B: Right, and he invariably decides that the other person is more likely to be right than himself. I think that’s the result of, er, this sort of unwillingness 5 to make mistakes and stick his neck out.

A: Mm, right, yeah. Er, anything else?

B: Er…

A: That characterizes the good or bad learner?

B: Er, mm, the bad learner is, wait a minute er, the good learner is erm, well, I think he’ll do more off his own bat as well, he won’t rely entirely 6 on the teacher.

A: Mm hm.

B: He’ll read, he’ll read books.

A: Mm, so work outside the classroom as well as in it.

B: Yes, yeah.

A: yeah, yeah.

B: Students who make most progress are first of all those who experiment and secondly 7 those who read books.

 

 

 

Part III

I－Interviewer P－Professor

I: And now we have an interview with Professor J. T. Lingo 8, Professor of Linguistics 9 at Chimo University, who is here to talk to us about the growing business of teaching English. Good morning, Professor Lingo.

P: Good morning.

I: Professor, I understand that teaching English is becoming “big business” all around the world.

P: It seems that language schools are springing up everywhere.

I: Why is that?

P: With the move toward a global economy, English has become the most widely used language in the world. It is the language of business, aviation, science and international affairs and people find that they must learn English to compete in those fields.

I: And do people find English an easy language to learn?

P: Well, every language has something about it that other people find difficult to learn. English is such a hodgepodge of different languages－it’s essentially 10 Germanic but a lot of its vocabulary comes from French, and technical words stem from Latin and Greek. This feature makes English fairly adaptable－which is a good thing for a world language－but it causes irregularity in spelling and pronunciation.

I: English spelling baffles me, too.

P: Yes, well, anyway, English also has the largest vocabulary. Often there are words for the same thing, one that is Anglo-saxon and one from the French－like “buy” which is Anglo-Saxon and “purchase” which is from the French. The French word often has more prestige.

I: Anglo-Saxon?

P: That’s the word for Old English. The Norman Conquest in 1066 brought the French language to Britain and helped English evolve into the language it is today.

I: I see. Is there anything else particularly difficult about English?

P: Well, the idioms in informal English pose a problem for some students.

I: Informal English?

P: As with any language, there are different varieties: slang, colloquial 11, formal, written, as well as the different dialects－British, American and Canadian English.

I: And how is Canadian English different from American and British?

P: Well, Canadian English is closer to American in pronunciation and idiom. Some of our words and our spellings do reflect British usage, however. We wouldn’t use the British term “lorry” for truck, but we have kept the “o-u-r” spellings in words such as “honour”and “colour”.

I: This has been very interesting, professor. I’m afraid we’re out of time. It has been a pleasure talking to you.

P: Thank you.

I: We have been talking to Professor Lingo of Chimo University.

 

 

Language study and language appreciation 12

Listen to the following statements you have learned in the previous and present units.Pay special attention to the parts in bold type.Learn to appreciate and use the language.

1. to excel in...

The University excels in sport and social activities,debating,drama,music and much more.

2. to sit an examination

After that,you can leave school at sixteen or you can go on and sit your Unversity Entrance Examination,which then gives you entree 13 into a unversity.

3. on the ground that...

Many people whose practical experience and ability would have been enormously useful to their employers have been rejected on the ground that they are insufficiently 14 qualified 15.

4. off one's own bat

The good learner will do more off his own bat.He won't rely entirely on the teacher.

5. to spring up

It seems that language schools are springing up everywhere.

6. a hodgepodge of...

English is a hodgepodge of different languages.

7. to evolve into...

The Norman Conquest in 1066 brought the French language to Britain and helped English evolve into the language it is today.