TUTORAIL ACTIVITIES/QUESTIONS for Chapter 10

1. Find out the answers to the following questions through reading relevant books or interviewing some educational administrators and then discuss the questions in class.

　(1) What foreign language was taught widely in China in the 1950s and 1960s? Why?

　(2) What changes have taken place with regard to the position of English as a subject in the curriculum of schools and colleges since early 1980s?

　(3) Why was it decided at the beginning of the 21st century that English should be taught in primary schools?

2. Identify the type of syllabus as illustrated by A and B, and then discuss the view of language that underlies each of the two types of syllabus. (答案）

　 A. Lesson (l) drills copula and adjective combinations:
　　　　　　　　　She is happy.
　　　Lesson (m) introduces the –ing form:
　　　　　　　　　She is driving a car．
　　　Lesson (n) reintroduces existential there:
　　　　　　　　　There is a man standing near the car.
　　　Lesson (o) distinguishes between mass and count nouns:
　　　　　　　　　There are some oranges and some cheese on the table．
　　　(McDonough 1981: 21)

　 B. Expressing truth values ( ideational meaning)
　　　1. Factual information
　　　　　1.1 identifying
　　　　　1.2 reporting through description
　　　　　1.3 reporting through narration
　　　　　1.4 correcting
　　　2. Argument
　　　　　2.1 expressing agreement/disagreement
　　　　　2.2 confirmation/denial
　　　3. Likelihood
　　　　　3.1 expressing possibility/ impossibility
　　　　　3.2 expressing probability/improbability
　　　　　3.3 expressing logical conclusions (deduction)
　　　　　3.4 expressing prediction and predictability
　　　(Yalden 1987: 167)

3. Below are theoretical assumptions of two language teaching methods summarized in Stern (1997: 453, 465). What method is characterized by A and B respectively? (答案）

A. The target language is primarily interpreted as a system of rules to be observed in texts and sentences and to be related to first language rules and meanings. Language learning is implicitly viewed as an intellectual activity involving rule learning, the memorization of rules and facts related to first language meaning by means of massive translation practice. The first language is maintained as the reference system in the acquisition of the second language.

B. [The method] reflects the descriptive, structural, and contrastive linguistics of the fifties and sixties. Its psychology is avowedly behavioristic. Mainly following Skinner, but also influenced by neobehaviorists such as Osgood, its psychology is an interpretation of language learning in terms of stimulus and response, operant conditioning, and reinforcement with an emphasis on successful error-free learning in small well-prepared steps and stages.

4. Discuss the idea of professionalism. Compare the job of a sports coach and that of a foreign language teacher. Are there any similarities? Is theorizing necessary in both of them?

 

MINI-PROJECTS

1. Find a syllabus for teaching English in schools or one for teaching English in universities and analyze the theoretical assumptions with regard to the nature of language and the process of second language acquisition.

2. Observe the English classes of at least two teachers focusing on their treatment of students' errors. Then interview them and ask them why they have treated students' errors in that way.

3. Find in your school library three English textbooks published in the 1950s-1960s, 1970s-1980s, and 1990s. Compare the first lesson in them and analyze the linguistic theoretical underpinnings.