H.D.Brown《语言学习与语言教学的原则课后答案笔记
第1章 语言，语言学习和语言教学
1.1 复习笔记
本章要点：
1The definition of language 语言的定义
2The Grammar Translation Method 语法翻译法
本章考点：
1语言的定义；
2学习和教学的定义；
3课堂教学：语法翻译法。
本章内容索引：
I. Language
II. Learning and teaching
1Learning
2Teaching
III. The Grammar Translation Method
I. Language（语言的定义）
A consolidation of the definitions of language yields the following composite definition.
1Language is systematic and generative.
2Language is a set of arbitrary symbols.
3Those symbols are primarily vocal, but may also be visual.
4The symbols have conventionalized meanings to which they refer.
5Language is used for communication.
6Language operates in a speech community or culture.
7Language is essentially human, although possibly not limited to humans.
8Language is acquired by all people in much the same way-language and language learning both have universal characteristics.
语言的定义可以从以下8个方面来理解：
1语言是系统的、生成的；
2语言是一套任意的符号；
3这些符号主要是声音的，但也可能是视觉的；
4符号有特定的含义；
5语言用于交际；
6语言在语言社区或文化中起作用；
7语言从根本上来说是人类语言，尽管语言可能不只限于人类世界。
8人们学习语言的方式大体相似，语言和语言学习具有普遍的特征。
II. Learning and teaching（学习和教学的定义）
1Learning（学习）
Breaking down the components of the definition of learning, we can extract 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 organization.
(4) Learning involves active, conscious focus on and acting upon events outside or inside the 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 behavior.
学习的定义可以从以下7个方面来理解：
（1）学习是习得或“获得”；
（2）学习是保留信息或技巧；
（3）保留需要存储系统，记忆力，认知结构；
（4）学习涉及主动的、有意识地注意，并对有机体内外的事件做出反应；
（5）学习相对持久，但会遗忘；
（6）学习涉及一些练习，也许是强化练习；
（7）学习是行为的改变。
2Teaching（教学）
A theory of instruction should specify the following features:
(1) The experiences which most effectively implant in the individual a predisposition toward 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 punishments in the process of learning and teaching.
教学的定义应该包含以下4个方面：
（1）在学习的倾向中最有效地收获的经验；
（2）一定量的知识被组织的方式，以便最好地被学习者理解；
（3）最有效的呈现学习材料的顺序；
（4）学习和教学过程中的奖惩的本质和频率。
III. The Grammar Translation Method（语法翻译法）
The major characteristics of Grammar Translation:
1Classes are taught in the mother tongue, with little active use of the target language.
2Much vocabulary is taught in the form of lists of isolated words.
3Long elaborate explanations of the intricacies of grammar are given.
4Grammar provides the rules for putting words together, and instruction often focuses on the form and inflection of words.
5Reading of difficult classical texts is begun early.
6Little attention is paid to the content of texts, which are treated as exercises in grammatical analysis.
7Often the only drills are exercises in translating disconnected sentences from the target language into the mother tongue.
8Little or no attention is given to pronunciation.
语法翻译法的主要特征：
1. 课堂用母语教学，很少主动使用目的语；
2. 许多词汇以单词表的形式来教；
3. 语法解释详细；
4. 语法提供了词语结合的规则，教学常常关注词语的形式和变形；
5. 经典文章的阅读早；
6. 很少注意文章的内容，文章只用于语法分析；
7. 翻译练习只将独立的句子从目的语翻译成母语；
8. 几乎不关注发音。
1.2 课后习题详解
Topics and Questions for Study and Discussion
1In the first part of the chapter a number of “who, what...” questions were posed. What other possible questions occur to you? Attempt some tentative answers to at least a few of the questions, and write them down for referral as you progress through the chapters of this book.
Key: There are at least four questions that occur to me. They are listed as follows, and two of them are given answers.
1) Question: What are the ages of the learners? Answer: They may be children from 5 to 11 years old, or they may be adults who are in their thirties.
2) Question: What kind of textbook do the learners and the teacher use? Answer: They can use the usual textbook in school, but they can also use materials prepared by the teacher.
3) Question: What kind of motivation do the learners have in learning the language?
4) Question: What are the sizes of the classes they are in?
2Look at the definitions of language on page 4. How are they different from each other? Why are there differences in such definitions? What assumptions or biases do they reflect on the part of the writer?
Key: The definitions of language on page 4 differ mainly in two ways. One is that they differ in defining the characteristics of language. The other is that they differ in defining the use of language.
There are differences in such definitions, because the writers look at language from different perspectives.
These definitions reflect some assumptions or biases of the writer. For example, Wardhaugh defines language as “a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication”. This definition reflects two assumptions. One is that “Language is a set of arbitrary symbols” and the other is that “Language is used for communication”.
3Write your own “twenty-five-word-or-less” definitions of language, learning, and teaching. What would you add to or delete from the definition given in this chapter? Save your definitions and when you finish the book determine if you would revise those definitions in any way.
Key: My definitions of language, learning, and teaching are as follows.
Language is “a generative universal system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for communication in a speech community”.
Learning is “the active acquisition of knowledge which involves cognitive processes”.
Teaching is “the effective way of imparting knowledge”.
These definitions are simpler than the definitions given in this chapter. I delete “Language is essentially human” and “Language is acquired by all people in much the same way” from the definition given in this chapter.
4Look up some abstract words in a dictionary. Try words like love, good, evil, emotion, peace, and other such terms, in what way might those definitions fall short of being adequate? Do they reveal certain theoretical biases on the part of the definer?
Key: I looked up abstract words like “Love” in Collins Dictionary online.
Collins Dictionary online defines “Love” as:
1) “the feeling that a person's happiness is very important to you, and the way you show this feeling in your behaviour toward them”, for example, parents’ love for their children;
2) “a very strong feeling of affection toward someone who you are romantically or sexually attracted to”, for example, an old-fashioned love story;
3) “a strong liking for something, or a belief that it is important”, for example, a love of literature.
These definitions may not be adequate when describing people’s love for their country.
However, I do not see any certain theoretical biases on the part of the definer.
5What kind of teaching emphases would emerge in the second language classroom by keying the exclusive importance of any one of the eight subfields of linguistics listed on pages 5-6. Take several subfields and discuss the type of approach to second language teaching that might emerge.
Key: “Phonetics” and “communication systems” are two of the eight subfields of linguistics listed on pages 5-6. In the field of “phonetics”, Audio-Lingual Method might emerge in the teaching of pronunciation. In the field of “communication systems”, Communicative Language Teaching Approach might emerge in the teaching of communicative skills.
6What did Twaddell (a935:57) mean when he said, “The scientific method is quite simply the convention that mind does not exist”? Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of attending only to “publicly observable responses” in studying human behavior. Don't limit yourself just to language teaching in considering the ramifications of behavioristic principles.
Key: Twaddell said, “The scientific method is quite simply the convention that mind does not exist”. This means that languages can differ from each other and that no preconceptions must be taken to the field.
Attending only to “publicly observable responses” in studying human behavior has some advantages. For example, the behaviors can be described in detail and it’s easy to collect evidence. Meanwhile, this method has some disadvantages. For example, it’s hard to define the psychological cause of human behavior.
7Define rationalism and empiricism. You should consult an encyclopedia or other reference for some details. Why are generative grammar and cognitive psychology classified as rationalistic approaches?
Key: According to the free encyclopedia, Wikipedia, in epistemology, rationalism is the view that “regards reason as the chief source and test of knowledge” or “any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or justification”; more formally, rationalism is defined as a methodology or a theory “in which the criterion of the truth is not sensory but intellectual and deductive”.
According to Wikipedia, empiricism is “a theory which states that knowledge comes only or primarily from sensory experience”.
Generative grammar and cognitive psychology are classified as rationalistic approaches, because both use a rationalistic approach to answer the why question, which is to discover underlying motivations and deeper structures of human behavior.
8Linguistics isn't the only discipline with its theoretical and applied aspects. How would you describe similar distinctions in psychology, sociology, or other disciplines with which you are familiar?
Key: Like linguistics, psychology as a discipline also has its theoretical and applied aspects. As psychology involves the scientific study of mental functions and behaviors, the inquiry of mental behaviors may evidence the applications of relative theories to the assessment and treatment of mental health problems and at the same time contribute to a better theoretical understanding of the particular mental behavior.
9What did Robin Lakoff mean by “data generated in the rocking chair?”
Key: By saying “data generated in the rocking chair”, Robin Lakoff means that theory severed from applications is suspect.
10If a “method” is, in one sense, a “theory in practice,” does that mean that theories always have to come first? In what way do you suppose theory and practice are interactive? How do theories get changed?
Key: A “method” is, in one sense, a “theory in practice,” that does not mean that theories always have to come first.
Theory and practice are interactive as people can respond to theoretical trends when using certain methods in practice and in another way a new theory may be revised when people add new meaning to certain methods in their practice.
In fact, theories get changed with time through practice.
11Referring to the Grammar Translation Method, Richards and Rodgers (1986:5), said, “It is a method for which there is no theory.” Why did they make that statement? Do you agree with them?
Key: Richards and Rodgers said, “It is a method for which there is no theory.” They say this because they think Grammar Translation Method lack theoretical basis. They show a disagreement with Grammar Translation Method. They also expressed their surprise in finding Grammar Translation Method so popular in second language classrooms.
In one sense, I agree that Grammar Translation Method seems not based on so many theoretical principles as other methods are. In another sense, I think the popularity of Grammar Translation Method is not surprising. Actually this method does have its theoretical basis.
第2章 第一语言习得
2.1 复习笔记
本章要点：
1Theories of first language acquisition 第一语言习得的理论
2Competence and performance 语言能力与语言表现
本章考点：
1第一语言习得的理论：行为主义，先天主义，功能主义；
2相关概念：语言能力与语言表现，语言理解与语言产出；
3相关议题：先天还是后天，普遍规律，系统性与差异性，语言和思想，模仿。
本章内容索引：
I. Approaches
1Behavioristic approaches
2The Nativist approach
3Functional approaches
II. Concepts
1Competence and performance
2Comprehension and production
III. Topics
1Nature and nurture
2Universals
3Systematicity and variability
4Language and thought
5Imitation
I. Approaches（理论）
1Behavioristic approaches（行为主义理论）
The behavioristic approach focuses on the immediately perceptible aspects of linguistic behavior and the relationships or associations between those responses and events in the world surrounding them.
行为主义理论关注语言行为的显而易见的方面，以及这些反应和周围事件之间的关联。
(1) Skinner's theory of verbal behavior（Skinner的言语行为理论）
Skinner's theory of verbal behavior was an extension of his general theory of learning by operant conditioning. Operant conditioning refers to conditioning in which the organism (in this case, a human being) emits a response, or operant (a sentence or utterance), without necessarily observable stimuli; that operant is maintained (learned) by reinforcement (for example, a positive verbal or nonverbal response for another person). According to Skinner, verbal behavior, like other behavior, is controlled by its consequences.
Skinner的言语行为理论是他的操作条件学习理论的扩充。操作条件是指有机体（这里指人）在无刺激时做出反应或操作（一个句子或一句话）的条件；操作通过加强（如，他人的积极言语或非言语反应）来维持。根据Skinner的理论，言语行为和其他行为一样，由结果来控制。
(2) mediation theory（中介理论）
In an attempt to broaden the base of behavioristic theory, some psychologists proposed mediation theory. In mediation theory, meaning was accounted for by the claim that the linguistic stimulus (a word or sentences) elicits a “mediating” response that is self-stimulating.
为了拓宽行为主义理论的基础，一些心理学家提出中介理论。在中介理论中，语言刺激（一个词或句子）引出一个自我刺激的“中介”反应，由此产生意义。
Jenkins and Palermo (1964) claimed that the child may acquire frames of a phrase-structure grammar and learn the stimulus-response equivalences that can be substituted within each frame; imitation was an important if not essential aspect of establishing stimulus-response associations.
Jenkins and Palermo (1964)认为，儿童可能习得短语结构框架，学习每个框架中可以被替代的等效刺激-反应；模仿是建立刺激-反应连接的重要条件，若非必要条件。
However, behavioristic theories still left many questions about language unanswered.
但是，还有许多语言问题是行为主义理论没有解答的。
2The Nativist approach（先天主义理论）
The term nativist is derived from the fundamental assertion that language acquisition is innately determined, that we are born with a built-in device of some kind that predisposes us to language acquisition-to a systematic perception of language around us, resulting in the construction of an internalized system of language.
先天主义一词基于这样一个说法，即语言的习得是先天决定的，我们天生有一种内部机制使我们能习得语言，能系统地感知周围的语言，建构一套语言的内部系统。
(1) a language acquisition device (LAD)（一种语言习得机制（LAD））
Chomsky (1965) claimed the existence of innate properties of language to explain the child’s mastery of his native language in such a short time despite the highly abstract nature of the rules of language. This innate knowledge, according to Chomsky, is embodied in a “little black box” of sorts, a language acquisition device (LAD). McNeill (1966) described LAD as consisting of four innate linguistic properties: 1) the ability to distinguish speech sounds from other sounds in the environment, 2) the ability to organize linguistic events into various classes which can later be refined, 3) knowledge that only a certain kind of linguistic system is possible and that other kinds are not, 4) the ability to engage in constant evaluation of the developing linguistic system so as to construct the simplest possible system out of the linguistic data that are encountered.
Chomsky (1965)认为，语言存在固有属性，这可以解释为什么儿童能够在短时期内习得母语，尽管语言规则本质上是高度抽象的。这种固有的知识体现在一个语言习得机制（LAD）中。按照McNeill (1966)的描述，LAD由四种固有的语言特征组成：1）能区分口语和环境中的其他声音；2）能将语言事件组织成多种今后可以完善的类别；3）知道只有某类语言系统是可能的，其他类别的不是；4）能持续地评价正在形成的语言系统，在所遇到的语言材料中构建出最简单的有效语言系统。
(2) Universal Grammar (UG)（普遍语法）
Positing that all human beings are genetically equipped with language-specific abilities, researchers are now expanding the LAD notion into a system of universal linguistic rules which has come to be known as Universal Grammar (UG). UG research is attempting to discover what it is that all children, regardless of their environmental stimuli (the language(s) they hear around them) bring to the language acquisition process.
研究者假定人类先天具有特定的语言能力，将LAD的概念扩展成一套普遍语言规则，并称之为普遍语法（UG）。普遍语法研究旨在探究所有儿童习得语言的过程，不论他们受到怎样环境刺激（他们所听到的周围的语言）。
(3) the generative framework（生成框架）
Research has revealed that the child’s language, at any given point, is a legitimate system in its own right. Before generative linguistics came into vogue, Jean Berko (1958) demonstrated that children learn language not as a series of separate discrete items, but as an integrated system. The generative model has enabled researchers to take some giant steps toward understanding the process of first language acquisition. The early grammars of child language were referred to as pivot grammars.
研究发现，无论怎么看，儿童的语言都是一个合理的系统。在生成语言学开始流行之前，Jean Berko (1958)证明，儿童学习语言时不是把语言当作一系列独立的不连续的东西，而是把语言当作一个整体系统。生成模式使研究者加深了对第一语言习得的理解。儿童语言的早期语法被认为是支点语法。
In general, approaches within the nativist framework have made at least three important contributions to our understanding of the first language acquisition process: 1) freedom from the restrictions of the so-called “scientific method” to explore the unseen, unobservable, underlying, abstract linguistic structures being developed in the child; 2) systematic description of the child’s linguistic repertoire as either rule-governed or operating out of a parallel distributed processing capacities; and 3) the construction of a number of potential properties of Universal Grammar.
总的来说，先天主义理论明确了三点：
1）从所谓的科学方法中挣脱出来，探索儿童形成的潜在的抽象语言结构；
2）将儿童语言机制系统地描述为有规则的或是按分布式运行的；
3）构建了普遍语法的许多潜在特征。
3Functional approaches（功能主义理论）
As Lois Bloom (1976:37) summarized, there have been two main thrusts in attempts to explain how children learn to talk. On the one hand, it was proposed that the course of language development depends directly on the nature of the linguistic system and, more specifically, on the nature of those aspects of language that might be universal and represented in an innate, predetermined program for language learning. On the other hand, evidence began to accrue to support a different hypothesis which emphasized the interaction of the child's perceptual and cognitive development with linguistic and nonlinguistic events in his environment.
如Lois Bloom (1976:37)所述，在解释儿童怎样学习说话的时候有两个方向：一方面，语言的发展直接依赖于语言系统的性质，更确切地说，依赖于语言的普遍属性或语言学习的先天机制。另一方面，证据渐渐支持另一个假设，强调儿童的感觉和认知发展与他所在的环境中的语言和非语言事件之间的相互作用。
Dan Slobin (1971,1986) demonstrated that in all languages, semantic learning depends on cognitive development and that sequences of development are determined more by semantic complexity than by structural complexity: “There are two major pacesetters to language development, involved with the poles of function and of form: 1) on the functional level, development is paced by the growth of conceptual and communicative capacities, operating in conjunction with innate schemas of cognition; and 2)on the formal level, development is paced by the growth of perceptual and information-processing capacities, operating in conjunction with innate schemas of grammar” (Slobin 1986:2).
Dan Slobin (1971,1986)证明，在所有的语言中，语义学习依赖于认知发展，且发展顺序更多地由语义的复杂性而不是结构的复杂性决定。他说，语言的发展有两个主要标志，一个是功能上，另一个是形式上。语言功能发展的快慢取决于概念和交际能力的发展，与认知的内部机制相连。语言形式发展的快慢取决于认知和信息处理能力的发展，与语法的内部机制相连。
II. Concepts（概念）
1Competence and performance（语言能力与语言表现）
Competence refers to one’s underlying knowledge of a system, event, or fact. It is the non-observable ability to do something, to perform something. Performance is the overtly observable and concrete manifestation or realization of competence. It is the actual doing of something: walking, singing, dancing, speaking.
能力是指一个人对某个系统、事件或事实的潜在知识。这种做事的能力是无法观察到的。表现是可以明显观察到的，能力的具体表现或实现。它是指实际地做某事，如走路、唱歌、跳舞或说话。
In reference to language, competence is your underlying knowledge of the system of a language-its rules of grammar, its vocabulary, all the pieces of a language and how those pieces fit together. Performance is actual production (speaking, writing) or the comprehension (listening, reading) of linguistic events.
语言能力是一个人的语言系统的潜在知识，如语法规则、词汇，还有其他语言结构以及他们的组合方式。语言表现是实际地生成语言（说话或写作），或理解（听或读）语言事件。
However, the competence-performance model has not met with universal acceptance.
然而，语言能力和语言表现的说法没有获得一致认同。
2Comprehension and production（语言理解与语言产出）
Comprehension refers to listening and reading, while production refers to speaking and writing.
In child language, most observational and research evidence points to the general superiority of comprehension over production: children seem to understand “more” than they actually produce. However, there is also research that appears to support the superiority of production over comprehension.
语言理解是指听和读，语言产出是指说和写。
关于儿童语言，许多证据表明，儿童的语言理解多于语言产出。不过，也有研究发现，儿童的语言产出多于语言理解。
III. Topics（议题）
1Nature and nurture（先天还是后天）
Chomsky contended that the child is born with an innate knowledge of or predisposition toward language, and that this innate property (the LAD or UG) is universal in all human beings. But the innateness hypothesis presented a number of problems itself.
Chomsky提出，孩子天生具有语言的内在知识，这种内在属性（LAD或UG）是所有人所共有的。但是，内在假说本身也并不完美。
For years psychologists and educators have been embroiled in the “nature-nurture” controversy. Derek Bickerton (1981) proposed that human beings are “bio-programmed” to proceed from stage to stage.
心理学家和教育家就语言习得是先天的还是后天培养的争论了多年。Derek Bickerton (1981)提出，语言的学习是从一个过程，总是从上一阶段向下一个阶段过渡。
2Universals（普遍性）
There is a claim that language is universally acquired in the same manner, and moreover, that the deep structure of language at its deepest level may be common to all languages.
有人说，语言的习得方式是普遍的，在深层次上，所有语言可能是相通的。
3Systematicity and variability（系统性与差异性）
Indeed, most of the data gathered so far point to the systematic nature of the learning process. From pivot grammar to three-and four-word utterances and to full sentences of almost indeterminate length, children exhibit a remarkable ability to infer the phonological, structural, lexical, and semantic system of language.
许多数据表明，语言的学习过程是系统的。从支点语法到三四个字的短语，再到整句话，儿童表现出对语音、结构、句法和语义系统的推测能力。
But in the midst of all this systematicity, there is an equally remarkable amount of variability in the process of learning. Even after acquisition has been more or less completed, the native language of adults is full of variability.
但是在系统性之外，也有许多证据证明语言学习的差异性。即使习得过程已经比较复杂了，成人的母语还是有很大的差异性。
4Language and thought（语言和思想）
Benjamin Whorf and Edward Sapir formed the well-known Sapir-Whorf hypothesis of linguistic relativity, namely, that each language imposes on its speaker a particular “world view.”
Benjamin Whorf 和 Edward Sapir提出了有名的Sapir-Whorf假说，该假说认为，每一种语言都会赋予其使用者一种特定的世界观。
5Imitation（模仿）
It is a common, informal observation that children are “good imitators.”
人们通常认为，孩子是很好的模仿者。
In surface-structure imitation, a person repeats or mimics the surface strings, attending to a phonological code rather than a semantic code. The earliest stages of child language acquisition may manifest a good deal of surface imitation since the baby may not possess the necessary semantic categories to assign “meaning” to utterances. But as children perceive the importance of the semantic level of language, they attend primarily if not exclusively to that meaningful semantic level-the deep structure of language. They engage in deep structure imitation. In fact, the imitation of the deep structure of language can literally block their attention to the surface structure so that they become, on the face of it, poor imitators.
在表层结构模仿中，模仿者会重复表层语言，注重语音而不是语义。儿童在语言习得的早期会出现大量表层模仿，因为小孩子没有掌握必要的语义类别，无法理解话语的含义。但随着孩子感觉到语义的重要性，它们会主要关注语义，即语言的深层结构。它们会进行深层结构模仿。实际上，深层结构模仿会使他们不去关注表层结构，这样他们就不怎么模仿表层结构了。
Research has also shown that children, when explicitly asked to repeat a sentence in a test situation, will often repeat the correct underlying deep structure with a change in the surface rendition.
研究还表明，当孩子在测试条件下被要求重复时，他们常常重复正确的潜在深层结构，而在表层结构上会出现变化。
2.2 课后习题详解
Topics and Questions for Study and Discussion
1Why is it that behavioristic theories can account sufficiently well for the earliest utterances of the child, but not for utterances at the sentence and discourse level? Do nativistic and functional approaches provide the necessary tools for accounting for those later, more complex utterances?
Key: Behavioristic theories can account sufficiently well for the earliest utterances of the child, but not for utterances at the sentence and discourse level. That is because the behavioristic approach focuses on the immediately perceptible aspects of linguistic behavior-the publicly observable responses. The earliest utterances of the child are simple and publicly observable, while utterances at the sentence and discourse level are too complex and depend much on underlying processes.
Nativistic and functional approaches do provide the necessary tools for accounting for those later, more complex utterances. Nativistic approaches provide LAD and UG to account for the grammatical phenomena in language acquisition. Functional approaches looks at language on both functional level and formal level, which can account for later, more complex utterances.
2If you can, try to record samples of young children's speech. A child of about 3 is an ideal subject for you to observe in the study of a human being's growing competence in a language. Transcribe a segment of your recording and see if, inductively, you can determine some of the rules the child is using.
Key: Omit.
3Briefly describe the continuum of behavioristic, nativistic, and functional approaches to the study of child language acquisition. In what way do functional approaches cycle back, in purl to behavioristic approaches?
Key: The behavioristic approach focuses on the immediately perceptible aspects of linguistic behavior and the associations between those responses and events in the world surrounding them. However, the behavioristic approach fails to account for the abstract nature of language and does not account for even a young child’s ability to comprehend and produce novel utterances.
The nativist approach explains the child’s mastery of his native language with the existence of innate properties of language which is embodied in LAD or UG. However, the nativist approach is abstract and quite logical, and fails to account for the functions of language.
The functional approach observes the relationships of the forms of language to the functions of language. So it has focused on the performance level of language, that is, the linguistic behavior in language acquisition. Indeed, the linguistic behavior has been the focus of behavioristic approaches.
When functional approaches try to supplement nativist approach, they turn to the focus of bahavioristic approaches. In this way, functional approaches cycle back, in purl to behavioristic approaches.
4What is Universal Grammar? Is it something different from the nativists’ concept of LAD?
Key: Universal Grammar is a system of universal linguistic rules that go well beyond the LAD.
It is something different from the nativists’ concept of LAD. In fact, it goes further than LAD in describing linguistic rules.
5Why do you think Chomsky insisted on weeding out “performance variables” in analyzing language? What do theorists gain from examining only the “idealized” speaker-hearer? What do they lose? How might Tarone's notion of “heterogeneous” competence go beyond the limitations of Chomsky's understanding of competence?
Key: Chomsky insisted on weeding out “performance variables” in analyzing language, because he wanted to explain the abstract nature of language and to use a universal rule to explain child language acquisition. If “performance variables” were taken into consideration, it would be impossible to find out a universal rule.
Theorists could form a simple and useful theory by examining only the “idealized” speaker-hearer, but such theory may fail to explain complex realities. So they lose a chance to observe the real performance of speaker and hearer.
Tarone’s notion of “heterogeneous” competence refers to the abilities that are in the process of being formed, while Chomsky’s definition of competence consists of the abilities of an “idealized” hearer-speaker. Tarone’s notion of “heterogeneous” competence goes beyond the limitations of Chomsky's understanding of competence as it considers the context within which a person is communicating.
6Competence and performance are difficult to define. In what sense are they interdependent? Suppose, for example, that an accomplished pianist suffers an accident in which her hands are cut off: does the pianist still possess the competence to play her favorite Mozart concerto? If a person suffers brain damage and can no longer talk, does that person still have the competence to talk?
Key: Competence and performance are interdependent. Performance is the overtly observable and concrete manifestation or realization of competence. Through performance, a person can also enhance his or her competence.
The pianist in the example still possesses the competence to play her favorite Mozart concerto.
If a person suffers brain damage and can no longer, that person in the example does not have the competence to talk.
7Do you think comprehension and production are two separate modes of competence? In what way are they distinctly related? Cite examples supporting their possible unrelatedness.
Key: I think comprehension and production are two separate modes of competence, as comprehension refers to listening and reading while production refers to speaking and writing.
They are distinctly related, as listening is related with speaking, and reading is related with writing. Meanwhile, some research has found the general superiority of comprehension over production, while some other research appears to support the superiority of production over comprehension. The superiority of either can support their possible unrelatedness.
8Explain the essential difference between what is referred to as the forms of language and the functions of language. To which aspect does the child give more conscious attention?
Key: The forms of language are related with grammar, while the functions of language are related with the interaction between linguistic development and the world around.
The child gives more conscious attention to the functions of language.
9Do you think that theories of the variability in child language are simply a researcher's way of saying there are many utterances that children produce that we just can't account for in rearms of a possible system?
Key: I do not think that theories of the variability in child language are simply a researcher’s way of saying there are many utterances that children produce that we just can’t account for in rearms of a possible system. One can easily find that it is true that there is much variability in child language.
10The frequency of a linguistic item in the child's input may or may not be an important factor in determining acquisition. What is meant, though, by saying that “frequency of meaningful occurrence may well be a more precise refinement of the notion of frequency” (p.40)?
Key: “Frequency of meaningful occurrence may well be a more precise refinement of the notion of frequency”. This statement reveals that there is a distinction between meaning occurrence and meaningless occurrence.
Evidence shows that certain highly frequent forms are acquired first. However, when a child finds a certain term is more meaningful on a deep-structure level, some of the most frequently occurring words in the language can be omitted in two-and three-word utterances. So it appears that frequency of meaningful occurrence may well be a more precise refinement of the notion of frequency.
11Listen to the conversation of a 3- or 4-year-old child, either with parents or with peers. Try to notice the subtleties of language that the child processes: understanding intended meaning, seeking clarification, turn-taking, nonverbal communication, and so on. Then try to make subtle grammatical corrections of his childlike forms. How does the child respond to the corrections?
Key: Omit.
12In what way do you think Gonin reflected some ideas about language and about language acquisition that are now current over a hundred years later? Would the Series Method or the Direct Method work for you as a teacher? Discuss pros and cons.
Key: I think Gonin reflected some ideas that are now current, because Gonin came to the following conclusions:
1) Language learning is primarily a matter of transforming perceptions into conceptions.
2) Children use language to represent their conceptions.
3) Language is a means of thinking, of representing the world to oneself.
The Series Method taught learners directly (without translation) and conceptually (without grammatical rules and explanations) a “series” of connected sentences that are easy to perceive.
The Direct Method presupposes that second language learning should be more like first language learning: lots of active oral interaction, spontaneous use of the language, no translation between first and second large, ages, and little or no analysis of grammatical rules.
Both would work well for me as a teacher in the teaching of speaking and communicative skills, but not in the teaching of reading and writing.
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