Tema Inglés 6 LOMCE

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TEMA 6:

Aprendizaje Lingüístico

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Aportaciones de la lingüística a la enseñanza de las lenguas extranjeras. El proceso de aprendizaje lingüístico: semejanzas y diferencias entre la adquisición de la primera lengua escolar y de la lengua extranjera.

Contents: 1. Introduction.

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2. Language teaching before the 20th century. 2.1. Ancient times and the Middle Ages. 2.2. From the 16th to the 18th century. 2.3. The 19th century. 3. The 20th century: from linguistics to language teaching 3.1. First philological and linguistic approaches: Sweet, Jespersen and Palmer. 3.1.a. Henry Sweet (1845-1912). 3.1.b. Otto Jespersen (1860-1943). 3.1.c. Harold E. Palmer (1877-1949). 3.2. Structural Linguistics: a methodology of linguistic principles. 3.2.a. A linguistic and psychological approach. 3.2.b. The ‘Army Method’. 3.2.c. The ‘Audio-lingual Method’. 3.2.d. The ‘Audio-visual Method’. 3.2.e. The main contributions of Structural Linguistics. 3.3. Generative Grammar: linguistic evolution and methodological transition. 3.4. Pragmatics and the t he ‘Communicative Approach’: a global, interdisciplinary view of teaching and learning. 3.4.a. Theoretical foundations. 3.4.b. Innovations and contributions. 4. The contributions of Applied Linguistics. 4.1. First and Second Language Acquisition. ‘Language learning’ versus ‘language acquisition’. 5. Conclusions. 6. Bibliography.

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1. INTRODUCTION. It is an established fact that language is a distinctive human capacity. Hence the interest language has always attracted as an object of study in all cultures and civilisations. People acquire language, that is also a fact. Languages can be taught and learned, and used as a means of communication. However, how we acquire a language remains an unsolved mystery. There have been many theories and possible explanations, all of which seem true or have some truth in them. But, far from anyone of them explaining satisfactorily the process of language acquisition, these theories rather complement each other and provide some insights on why, how and when a language is acquired by a human being. In practical terms, it is probably easier and more effective to focus our attention, as teachers, on how to teach a language and try to find immediate solutions, methods and materials by looking at results. However, knowing different principles and understanding previous didactic approaches and experiences can also illustrate our views and help us to design the syllabus and techniques that can bring about the best results in our personal teaching-learning experience. Moreover, Linguistics, the systematic study of the language through the observation of particular languages, provides some valid and useful studies that can be applied to language teaching, and that is the field of another important modern discipline: Applied Linguistics. Applied linguistics can be defined as a ‘mediating area of inquiry’ which interprets the results of theoretical and descriptive studies developed within the scope of Linguistics in order to reveal their relevance and potential uses, in practical terms, for teaching a language. There is no need to say that this is a most immediate area of interest for language teachers so as to develop an appropriate methodological approach in whatever teachinglearning experience they work: Primary School, Secondary School, Business English, Secretarial English, Scientific English, etc. 2. LA NGUAGE TEACHING TEACHING BEFORE THE THE 20 20TH CENTURY. 2.1. 2.1. Anc ient tim es and and t he Middl Middl e Ages. Languages were already studied in ancient civilisations. Egyptians, Babylonians, Assyrians, etc. had fairly developed diplomatic systems PREPARADORES DE OPOSICIONES PARA LA ENSEÑANZA


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which required experts in foreign languages to deal with foreign representatives in order to make advantageous agreements, negotiate peace and so on. In Rome, wealthy families got Greek teachers to teach Greek to their offspring. The first Christian missionaries learnt the native language of the people they would try to convert. In the Middle Ages, however, only Hebrew, Greek and Latin were considered worth learning, as most important writings were written only in these classical languages. The Church, in particular, preserved the use of Latin as a means of cultural interchange. The methods used to teach languages throughout many centuries were based on conversation, grammar, writing and, especially with classical languages, reading and translation. 2.2. From t he 16th to t he 18th century. During the Renaissance, due to the influence of Humanism, classical philosophy, science, art and languages became again a main object of study. Latin was a first requirement to enter University, and continued to be the basic language of Law and Science well into the 17 th century. From the 16th century onwards, as, little by little, Latin starts to become a dead language and is confined to grammar books and dictionaries, modern languages tend to be taught as if they were dead languages too. Soon, there appear experts who react against those methods. Thus, Erasmus recommended that Latin should be taught in a direct conversational manner, according to the students’ characteristics. Martin Luther also suggested emphasising content over formal grammar. Juan Luis Vives and Montaigne also defended the idea of learning through contact with native speakers in a natural environment. Since classical languages were learnt basically in order to read Greek and Latin authors, special emphasis was laid on the reading skill and translation. For example, Roger Ascham, William Bath and other humanists developed learning methods based on authentic texts and the study of vocabulary in context. Later, Czech educator Comenius (1592-1670), who has been traditionally considered one of the first defenders of the ‘Direct’ Method, proposed the idea of understanding words in connection with reality, rather than translating them. He already introduced the idea of using drawings and pictures to give proper contexts to words, and recommended the study of morphology and syntax in advanced stages. PREPARADORES DE OPOSICIONES PARA LA ENSEÑANZA


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It was not until the 18th century, thanks to the cultural movement known as the ‘Enlightenment’, that the study of modern languages became a quite established discipline. John Locke rejected a purely grammatical methodology, in favour of a ‘natural’ approach. He also thought that grammar should be taught when the learner has a reasonable command of the language, not before. He based the study of grammar rules on the analysis of real texts, and also introduced interlinear translation. This type of translation was well received by many 18th century experts like Dumarsais or Weitenauer, who tries, probably for the first time in the history of language teaching, a phonetic transcription, also interlinear, of the text used. 2.3. The 19th century. During the 19th century and well into the 20th, live languages were taught very much like classical ones, mainly through grammar and translation, even though the ‘Direct Method’ had already been advocated by a few innovators in the previous centuries, as we have seen above. In the early 19th century, new manuals appear, full of paradigms and grammar rules followed by exercises of translation and application. Thus, the so-called ‘Grammar-translation’ or ‘Traditional Method’ was fully shaped and established. Its main features are: a) learning grammar rules; b) memorising lists of vocabulary with their translation; c) making sentences by applying the rules and the vocabulary learnt; d) translating sentences and texts from literature, history, etc. However, some well-known literary figures and philologists reacted against the ‘Traditional Method’. For example, in the United States, H. W. Longfellow (1807-82) and George Ticknor (1791-1871) criticised grammatical methodology and conceived languages as live entities which were learnt essentially through listening and speaking. Gouin also proposed, with considerable influence in Britain and the United States, the use of an audio-oral method, which adapted better to a new context of social and economic growth in Europe. In was David Maximilian Berlitz (1852-1921), founder of the Berlitz schools, who took advantage of the innovations and put the ‘Direct’ Method into practice. He believed that the mother tongue was a source of interference and went to the extreme position of forbidding its use in the language class. Around the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, therefore, two methods competed in language teaching: the ‘Traditional’ or ‘Grammar-translation Method’ and the ‘Direct Method’. The former was still the dominant tendency, while the latter tried to advance with difficulty among teachers who often thought it was a waste PREPARADORES DE OPOSICIONES PARA LA ENSEÑANZA


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of time not to resort to the mother tongue to explain concepts and translate vocabulary. Some kind of adaptation was needed so as to make the ‘Direct Method’ a more reasonable and sustainable alternative. 3. THE 20th CENTURY: TEACHING.

FROM LINGUISTICS TO

LA NGUAGE

3.1. First philological and linguistic approaches: Sweet, Jespersen and Palmer. 3.1.a. Henry Sweet (1845-1912). English philologist Henry Sweet (1845-1912), an expert in dead and live languages and in phonetics, proposed a scientific study of languages in his work The practical study of languages (1899). His model of learning gave priority to oral skills, and started by the descriptive study of the phonetic system. Sweet criticised ‘Direct Methods’ because they treated adult learners and children alike. For example, they relied on some capacities the adult had already lost (imitation of sounds, repetition, spontaneity) and forgot abilities the adult had acquired: intellectual capacity, contrast of native and foreign languages, abstraction of rules and meanings, etc. According to Sweet, language learning must be based on association of concepts and repetition. Thus, materials should be graded and related to one another, intuitive knowledge comes before formal study of grammar, the sentence is the essential linguistic unit (not words) and must always appear in a proper context, never as an isolated item. Sweet’s proposals are still valid and in current use nowadays, though his emphasis on phonetics is not shared by many professionals. 3.1.b. Ott o J esper sen (1860-1943). Danish scientific linguist Otto Jespersen (1860-1943), in his How to teach a foreign language (1904), offers an approach similar to Sweet’s. For instance, Jespersen also thinks of languages as live entities and defends that the teaching method must be flexible and have a linguistic basis, particularly phonetic. He remarks the importance of contextual learning in communicative situations. Grammar and vocabulary should be subject to the general understanding and assimilation of the language as a whole. The use of texts, graded according to their difficulty, helps students to learn vocabulary and grammar inductively before rules are PREPARADORES DE OPOSICIONES PARA LA ENSEÑANZA


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explained. Morphology and syntax should be taught together. In general, Jespersen’s model shows a solid methodological approach in which oral language is the fundamental aspect, and theoretical contents are always combined with adequate practice. 3.1.c. Harold E. Palmer (1877-1949). Harold E. Palmer (1877-1949) was not an academic linguist, but rather a teacher whose capacity for practical application and innovation was more important than his theoretical work, though he also elaborated important research works on phonetics, intonation and grammar. He worked in the Berlitz school in Belgium. Then, he designed his own methodology and set up his own school. Later he worked in Japan, invited by the Education Ministry of Japan. In his work The scientific study and teaching of languages (1917), Palmer presents the following didactic principles: a) In the initial stages of learning, phonetics, spelling, grammar, etc. must be taught separately, while such isolation is not advisable in more advanced stages; b) passive recognition and assimilation by the student should invariably come before active production of any linguistic material; c) meaning must be conveyed and understood through direct association with the concept, through the context, through translation (as a fast useful means, never as an end in itself); d) memorising structures and ‘pattern practice’ (in this respect, Palmer anticipates structural methodology). Palmer published again his ideas in The principles of language study (1921), which is considered a classical work on language teaching. The main principles he established were: a) Preparation through initial practice. b) Formation and acquisition of linguistic habits, in order to reach the level of “automatic” speech. c) Accuracy in linguistic use and reference. d) Proper sequence of learning in easy stages. e) Proportion, equal attention to different linguistic aspects. f) Concretion and use of appropriate examples, rather than teaching rules. g) Examples should be interesting and arouse curiosity. h) Orderly progression, starting from big units, for instance, sentences and paragraphs. Palmer’s main contribution was probably his interdisciplinary approach to language teaching. In this sense, he recognised the importance of PREPARADORES DE OPOSICIONES PARA LA ENSEÑANZA


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linguistics, psychology and pedagogy, and criticised both the ‘Grammartranslation Method’ and the ‘Direct Method’ for not offering a comprehensive view of language as a ‘system of systems’ and a live creative entity. Nowadays, Palmer’s views are still alive, though we could criticise the strange terminology he used and his vague notion of ‘conscious’ and ‘unconscious’ assimilation of language. 3.2. Structu ral Linguistic s: a methodolog y of ling uistic p rincipl es. 3.2.a. A ling uist ic and psyc holo gical approach. Methodological confusion prevailed in the period between the two world wars also after the Second World War. Despite the innovations introduced by Sweet, Jespersen and Palmer, the ‘Grammar-translation Method’ continued to be generally used. Structural linguists, such as Saussure and Bloomfield, were highly influenced by Skinner’s psychological theory, known as ‘Behaviourism’. Skinner understood behaviour as ‘response’ to a given ‘stimulus’. Skinner also defended the idea that the human mind was like an empty space (tabula rasa) on which learning was “written”. Learning consisted in “shaping” the appropriate ‘responses’, in acquiring certain “desirable” behaviours or habits through a process of ‘trial and error’ and reinforcement of “right” responses. This theory was the basis for the typical structuralist language exercises, known as ‘drills’, in which certain linguistic ‘stimuli’ were provided in order to obtain adequate ‘responses’ from the student through a process of repetition and correction. Structural linguists claimed that language possessed an internal, permanent and abstract structure (Saussure’s langue) which was reflected in its everyday use (parole). The main objective of anyone who learned a foreign language would be, therefore, to assimilate that abstract structure (language), without paying attention to the multiple variants and deviations of its common use (speech), which would be practised in later stages. According to the structuralist school, the sentence is the basic unit of study. Sentences follow certain established models which form the general structure of the language. When we learn a second language (L2), we transfer the structures of our first language (L1), or mother tongue, to the sentences we make in the foreign language. When the structures are identical, there is a ‘positive interference’ between both languages, which makes learning easier. On the other hand, when the models do not match, there will be a ‘negative interference’, which is the PREPARADORES DE OPOSICIONES PARA LA ENSEÑANZA


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first and main cause of errors in the second language. Structuralist methodology establishes oral and written repetition as an essential learning principle. Systematic repetition of patterns, the socalled ‘drills’, which derives directly from the behaviourist conception of learning through ‘trial and error’, will be the central type of activity for the student of a foreign language. Other crucial elements in this methodological approach will be the detailed description of structures, IC (Immediate Constituents) analysis at different levels (phonological, morphological and syntactic), and also the study of categories such as linguistic signs, their form, contrasts, grammar functions, usually forgetting the importance of Semantics, that is, the study of meaning and how it is produced. Structuralism has often been applied to language teaching, rather successfully on some occasions. It has established the basis for wellknown methods, such as the ones explained below. 3.2.b. The ‘Ar my Method ’. The ‘Army Method’ was put into practice in the 1940s in the American army with some satisfactory results. It was based on the ‘Direct Method’, combined with structuralist elements. Thus, this method required an essentially oral teaching, exclusive use of the foreign language in the class, etc. Other fundamental characteristics of this method, which made it particularly successful, were: intensive training, small groups, conversational practice and ‘drills’, grammatical instruction, extensive use of mechanical recordings, radio broadcasts and films, careful selection of highly motivated and intelligent students (according to IQ tests) to enter the courses. 3.2.c. The ‘Audi o-lingu al Metho d’. The ‘Audio-lingual Method’, associated, for instance, to Charles Fries and Robert Lado, has been quite influential in Europe. It was inspired in the good results of the ‘Army Method’, and based on the influential American psychological and linguistic theories of the time: Skinner’s behaviourism and Bloomfield’s structuralist views. Bloomfield himself, in his Outline guide for the practical study of foreign languages (1942), presents some didactic views. He defends the priority of formal aspects, the structures of the language, and does not consider meaning as an object of scientific study. In the ‘Audio-lingual Method’, language teaching should follow the order PREPARADORES DE OPOSICIONES PARA LA ENSEÑANZA


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listening-speaking-reading-writing. Language learning implies acquiring “good” linguistic habits in a systematic manner: ‘pattern practice’ or repetition of structures, correction and reinforcement. Only the foreign language is spoken in the language class. Structures and rules are presented through analogy and examples. Vocabulary is learnt in controlled phases. The language laboratory is a central teaching device in this method. 3.2.d. The ‘Au dio-vis ual Method’ The ‘Audio-visual Method’, which appeared in France, is quite similar to the ‘Audio-lingual’. Here, structures are presented through dialogues, in well-defined contexts. These dialogues are recorded materials: films or slides with their corresponding sound records. Dialogues are explained in the foreign language (never translated) and then memorised by the students. Students do structural exercises, drills, in class and in the laboratory, in order to reinforce their linguistic learning. 3.2.e. The main contr ibution s of Structural Ling uistics . In general terms, the contributions of linguistic Structuralism to language teaching methodology are obvious. First, the study of syntactic functions, phrasal and paradigmatic relations within sentences are crucial in order to provide students with some tangible base upon which they can construct and structure their linguistic productions in the second language. Second, the concept of ‘correction’ or, at least, ‘acceptability’, derived from the systematic application of the rules and patterns established by structural linguistics, is also quite satisfactory. ‘Automatic’ production and correction are acquired through repetition (guided by the teacher, a book or a recording) of certain patterns which are completed, implemented or modified by the learner by using also new words gradually introduced in the exercises. The structuralist approach also has some disadvantages. For example, it does not pay much attention to the study of semantic values, particularly to the interaction of text and context to create meaning. As a result, the student’s creativity is restricted to the limits of the sentence, and those specific features of ‘speech’ which escape grammatical analysis tend to be forgotten. Materials, in this method, often lack authenticity. Exercises or ‘drills’ are usually prepared for mechanical repetition. Inductive learning (abstracting the rule from repetitive examples) is normally mixed with deductive learning (applying the rule, explained beforehand, in a number of sentences). The typical evaluation instrument PREPARADORES DE OPOSICIONES PARA LA ENSEÑANZA


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is the multiple-choice test, which tends to evaluate correction rather then the actual command of the language. In general terms, structuralist methods offer many tangible concepts and activities which undoubtedly help and motivate the students. In the long run, however, due to constant repetition and lack of creativity, the foreign language can be perceived as something to be memorised, mechanical and monotonous. 3.3. Generative Grammar: linguistic evolution and methodological transition. Noam Chomsky published in 1957 his study on Syntactic Structures. It has been argued that Noam Chomsky (the “father” of Generative Grammar) was a “double structuralist”, since he distinguished two levels in the structure of language: ‘surface structure’ and ‘deep structure’. It is true that Chomsky was clearly influenced by linguistic Structuralism and by psychological theories such as Behaviourism. However, ‘Generativism’ starts from a different conception of language learning. First, Chomsky claimed that all human languages have some common structures and functions: ‘linguistic universals’. Second, the human mind is not a tabula rasa. From birth, it is “equipped” with a kind of “programme”, ready for the acquisition of language. This is the LAD, or ‘Language Acquisition Device’, which distinguishes human learning from animal learning. Chomsky criticised Structuralism because it did not account for the capacity that allows a native speaker to ‘generate’ an infinite number of grammatical utterances from a limited set of acquired inner rules. This capacity will be known as ‘linguistic competence’. He also argued that structural grammar dealt only with ‘surface structure’ and not with ‘deep structure’. Chomsky perceived language as a fundamentally creative activity. Thus, a native speaker can create an infinite number of sentences that he/she has never heard before, yet they are grammatically correct. The objective of any language learner will be to acquire ‘linguistic competence’ in the foreign language. This competence will be reflected in actual ‘linguistic performance’, which is, at the same time, the means through which competence can be modelled and improved. ‘Linguistic competence’ is, therefore, a mental capacity, both the product and the origin of ‘linguistic performance’. PREPARADORES DE OPOSICIONES PARA LA ENSEÑANZA


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Chomsky describes grammar as a limited concrete number of structures from which the individual, by means of his/her creativity, ‘generates’ infinite messages. Human languages are live, stimulating and creative entities. It follows from these ideas that teaching materials should be authentic and reflect linguistic reality, with all its variations and individual contributions. The use of the video is one of the novelties introduced by this approach. As regards evaluation, apart from traditional exercises like composition, dictation and translation, there is a new one: the ‘cloze test’, that is, filling in the gaps created by removing certain words from a text. This exercise is easily adapted to evaluate contents. However, it cannot be so easily adapted to evaluate procedures and skills (reading, writing, listening, speaking). It is not very reliable as it reduces linguistic competence to a fairly limited series of grammar and vocabulary cases. As a result, the ‘cloze test’ cannot be considered, by itself, an evaluating instrument. In fact, it should work together with other types of exercises (usually, the ones mentioned above). Among the most important contributions of Generative Grammar to language teaching, we can mention the fact that it established a distinction between ‘language learning’ and ‘language acquisition’. As we will see later in this work, acquisition takes place in a natural nativespeaking environment, while learning does not. Another remarkable contribution is the introduction of ‘error analysis’. While structuralist methods normally avoided explanations (in search of inductive learning) and invariably rejected errors in language teaching, the Generative Approach considered errors as basic steps from which a lot can be learnt and explained. 3.4. Pragmatics and the ‘Communic ative Appr oach’: a gl obal, interdisciplinary view of language teaching and learning. 3.4.a. Theoretic al f ound ations . This is a compound of different theories, all of which sound close and familiar to us, at least in practical terms. They all share the view that the objective of anyone who learns or acquires a second language is not a purely linguistic one. The objective is what we now will call ‘communicative competence’, with all its complexities and implications. The most prominent of these modern theories have appeared in the socalled Linguistic School of London. For example, Dell Hymes opposed the term ‘communicative competence’ to Chomsky’s ‘linguistic competence’. Firth and Halliday developed the notion of ‘situation and language use’. Wilkins established the ‘notional-functional approach’ in PREPARADORES DE OPOSICIONES PARA LA ENSEÑANZA


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order to cope with the so-called ‘Threshold level’, a term that referred to the fundamental ‘common core’ of language that all students would need before going into their particular areas of interest or communicative needs. Howatt criticised behaviourist theories and brought forward the notion of ‘cognition’: language acquisition does not result from simple responses to the environment, but rather from a complex process of learning to create meaning and interact by using the language. To all this corpus of theories and research, Corder added the importance of motivation as an essential factor in language learning. Now we realise that there is a global, enormous reality, essential to the individual and to society, which is called Communication. Within this global activity, linguistic matters are important, but, by no means, unique. Through the “filter” of Applied Linguistics (to which we will refer later), communication theory borrows and adapts studies from relevant disciplines such as Anthropology. Psychology, Sociology, Artificial Intelligence studies, Philosophy, Discourse Analysis, Macro-linguistics, Micro-linguistics, Sociolinguistics, etc., in order to develop a pragmatic view of language teaching. For example, the process through which the mother tongue and the second language are acquired, the difference between learning and acquisition... are particularly interesting to that purpose. 3.4.b. Innovations and contributions. The ‘Communicative Approach’ will be primarily concerned with Semantics: how meaning is produced, negotiated and interpreted. All factors that take part in the ‘communicative event’ are important: knowledge of the world, social and cultural aspects, the general context, the setting, the participants, the code they use, the channel or contact, the intentions, the purposes, the form and tone of the message, linguistic aspects (phonological, morphological, syntactic, semantic), etc. All these elements that take part in the process of production and interpretation of a text (discourse sample or communicative act) are modelled and organised according to the so-called ‘co-operative principle’. This principle appears as a result of the interlocutors’ will to communicate effectively, that is, to share their common knowledge so as to successfully interchange some information about the world. In a ‘communicative act’ we can observe what experts often call ‘negotiation of meaning’, whose main purpose is essentially concrete and pragmatic: to inform, to cause a certain behaviour or reaction, to obtain a PREPARADORES DE OPOSICIONES PARA LA ENSEÑANZA


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response... . The basic unit of study is not the sentence, but the text. It is necessary to develop some kind of “text grammar”, that is, a systematic analysis that enables us to identify the elements that make communication possible, and also those which determine the meaning of the message. For instance, why does the form or the meaning of a message vary, according to the type of relationship between the participants, because of a change in the context, etc., while the communicative function is the same? For example: the words and tone we use to ask a favour from a friend are probably different from the ones we use when we ask something from our boss; a single expression like “That’s great!” can have different particular meanings according to the context where it is said. Apart from these cognitive aspects that surround any ‘communicative act’, experts who study texts and discourse as a process (Halliday, Widdowson) establish the formal factors that regulate production and comprehension of a text or a fragment of discourse: cohesion and coherence. These elements are essential components of a text, which cannot exist without them. The analysis of a text will, therefore, try to identify its elements of cohesion (conjunction, anaphora, cataphora, semantic fields, deixis) and coherence (semantic material that makes interpretation possible). Other remarkable contributions of Pragmatics are, apart from text analysis (mentioned above), the arrangement of linguistic patterns according to communicative ‘notions’ and ‘functions’, that is, according to what we actually represent, do or get through language use. These functions are universal in all languages: ask, hesitate, advise, complain, command, inform, argue, explain, agree... . Notions are also universal: distance, temperature, possession, frequency, spatial location, time location, etc. . Thus, the objective of second language students will be to become able to express such notions and functions, that is, to acquire ‘communicative competence’. This objective will be achieved through a varied and dynamic process, through exposure to the ‘use’ of language, rather than through the study of language ‘usage’ and mechanical repetition of models. Didactic materials have to be authentic as far as possible, at least ‘authentic-looking’ in initial stages. The use of computers in language teaching is also an innovation that has occurred within this modern approach. Computer programmes and internet offer good possibilities for interaction and self-teaching, though they may not be a self-sufficient method on their own. New methodologies are quite eclectic, they use all kinds of resources, PREPARADORES DE OPOSICIONES PARA LA ENSEÑANZA


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traditional and modern, depending on the needs of the student, their learning style, the learning context and so on. Evaluation will try to measure the learner’s ‘communicative competence’, which is quite difficult, in fact. It requires the use of all kind of exercises (dictation, cloze test, multiple choice questions, translation, composition, interview, reading and listening comprehension activities...). Finally, let us remember that the ‘communicative approach’ does not imply breaking up with the past, but rather opening our mind to old and new methods, and applying them in proper ways to suit particular purposes. At the same time, the objectives tend to be better defined, that is, more concrete and pragmatic, according to the situation and to the needs of the learner. 4. THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF APPL IED LINGUISTICS. Like many other disciplines, language teaching needs to rely on a corpus of data and information. This information helps to regulate the practice of teaching and makes it more rational and effective. Teaching, in general, depends on scientific material provided by Pedagogy, Psychology, Sociology, etc… Apart from these, language teaching, in particular, will use developments achieved by Linguistics, or rather, Macrolinguistcs, which would include, at least, Psycholinguistics, Sociolinguistics and Microlinguistics (Phonology, Morphology, Syntax and Semantics). All data and knowledge from these disciplines can help us to understand processes, make decisions and identify problems in language learning. But how can we take advantage of those contributions if we are not specialists in any of them? This “gap” should be covered by Applied Linguistics. Studies of this kind began to appear around the 1960s, with the aim of applying the categories and descriptions of structural microlinguistic analysis, straightaway, to language teaching. However, many aspects have changed since them. Nowadays, we understand Applied Linguistics in quite a different and much more comprehensive way: this speciality collects data, information and advances from all language-related disciplines and then arranges and directs that knowledge towards the understanding of every factor and difficulty in language teaching. It covers fields such as mother language teaching, linguistic planning, speech therapy, etc. . In this sense, Applied Linguistics acts as a “mediating filter” between different theories and teaching practice. Although Applied Linguistics is still probably rather theoretical, its projects always include practical experimentation of the theories and information collected, in order to anticipate results and PREPARADORES DE OPOSICIONES PARA LA ENSEÑANZA


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apply this material effectively. There are some typical areas of inquiry in Applied Linguistics, for example: 









Previous research on the nature of human languages and microlinguistic systems of analysis. In this field, Applied Linguistics has to be eclectic and start from a global view, so as to carry out a kind of ‘pedagogic filter’ and retain those aspects particularly relevant to language teaching. Linguistic tests and their statistic analyses. ‘Measuring instruments’ have to actually select and evaluate the intended competence, according to the needs of students and their purposes in language learning. There are also studies of texts, their legibility and text-summarising techniques, elaboration of pedagogic grammars, etc. . Works on the literacy of population, regional and social varieties, first language teaching in Primary and Secondary School. One of the most interesting areas is probably the research that is being carried out in second language learning and second language acquisition, their similarities and differences, their processes, the results obtained, etc. .

4.1. First and Second Language Acqu isit ion. ‘ Language learni ng’ versus ‘language acquisition’. Research and studies in this field are particularly interesting for language teachers. Based on these insights and illustrated by of our own teaching experience, we can identify the differences and see how children acquire their mother tongue and how they acquire or learn the foreign language. Then, we should decide whether those are essentially similar processes or quite separate ones. Our conclusions will provide valuable clues on how to design the language syllabus, how to define the objectives, prepare activities and select materials, how to distribute time and spaces, determine the sequencing of didactic contents in adequate didactic units, etc. . As we said in previous pages, Structuralism, following Skinner’s behaviourist theory, considered the human mind as a ‘tabula rasa’, and language acquisition as the acquisition of a set of habits through a process of ‘stimulus and response’. The “right” habits were acquired through ‘trial and error’, by reinforcing the right responses. Later, Chomsky argued that the human mind possessed an innate PREPARADORES DE OPOSICIONES PARA LA ENSEÑANZA


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linguistic capacity: the ‘Language Acquisition Device’ (LAD). Thus, we are able to generate an infinite number of sentences from a limited set of rules. Statistically, it was proved that all children acquired the linguistic elements of their mother language in the same order. In the ‘pragmatic’ view, language is understood as a more functional and social entity. ‘Communicative competence’ is the aim of language acquisition. It has been found that children use the language long before they are able to produce their first recognisable word. Their system is peculiar and simpler than the adults’ one, but it is gradually developed into the mother language system. The reasons for such development are their communicative needs within the environment. This motivation is strong enough for children to acquire their first language. What about the second language? Structural methods established the concept of ‘linguistic interference’. They assumed that the second language was learnt on the basis of the first. ‘Positive interference’ occurred when their structures where identical; ‘negative interference’ when they were different. However, not all the errors in the second language can be explained in terms of its differences with the first. It is necessary to look for reasons within the very nature of the process of language acquisition. In this respect, it is quite clear that the process is the same for the first and second language: hypotheses are formed in the mind about the still unknown rules of the system, these hypotheses are applied and modified according to the ‘feedback’ received, which confirms or denies their communicative efficiency. More recently, it has also been found that the elements of the system of the second language are acquired roughly in the same order and in the same way as those of the mother tongue. According to Pit Corder, in the mind there is some kind of ‘built-in syllabus’ that allows the system to be acquired in a progressive manner, always in, more or less, the same order. Another interesting phenomenon is the formation and use of ‘communicative strategies’. The need and the effort to communicate are the ultimate reasons for anyone to learn a second language. The learner, due to his/her knowledge of the world in the mother tongue, is fully aware of what he/she wants to communicate. If that content cannot be expressed through his/her command of the second language, the learner will use some kind of what is known as ‘communicative strategies’. For example: gestures, reducing the content of the message, inventing words and structures, borrowing them from the mother language, trying PREPARADORES DE OPOSICIONES PARA LA ENSEÑANZA


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to explain in a longer way what he/she wants to communicate, etc. . If the feedback received proves this attempt has been successful, the ‘strategy’ used will become part of the learner’s second language system. This phenomenon is, again, parallel to children’s natural acquisition of their mother tongue. As we can see, the process of language acquisition is always very much the same, no matter whether it is the first or the second language. However, it is very difficult to decide on the nature of what we will call ‘language learning’. Acquisition implies a natural process of linguistic interaction with native speakers, without any formal teaching, usually in the cultural context of the target language. Learning involves conscious contact with some kind of formal teaching (the teacher, a book, records, etc.), usually without a direct contact with the cultural context of the target language. Generally, one of the main differences between acquisition and learning is the amount of exposure to the second language. This exposure much more intensive in language acquisition, as a result of the continuous contact and interaction by means of the language. A mixture of both (acquisition and learning) is usually an effective method, especially with adult learners, who take great advantage of conscious learning together with continuous unconscious exposure to the language. In a situation of ‘language learning’, our aim will be to make language learning as efficient and fast as possible. In this respect, Corder suggests that if we could get to know the order of the student’s ‘built-in syllabus’ (mental programme), we would be able to arrange the linguistic elements, objectives, contents, activities, abilities... in a proper manner, so as to obtain the best results from learning. It is very important to consider errors as valuable and concrete evidence of the state of development of the learner’s system. Thus, we should always try to provide the necessary and appropriate ‘feedback’, so that the student can modify, correct, replace or add those “attempts” to his/her language system. Let us remember that students learn through a communicative process, both receptively (listening and reading) and productively (speaking and writing), so those who take greater “risks” will eventually learn faster. As we have hinted above, there seem to be some remarkable differences between adult and young students in acquiring or learning a foreign language. For instance, it has been commonly observed that in a bilingual situation, on a long-term basis, children learn more effectively. This suggests that there might be a slow loss of the inductive capacity PREPARADORES DE OPOSICIONES PARA LA ENSEÑANZA


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with age. Children also acquire the sound system more easily, which can be explained in neurological terms. On the other hand, older learners can use more and better learning abilities than children. For example they tend to exploit many deductive and analytical techniques that young learners have not acquired yet. Adults can make a mental effort and keep motivated over longer periods. They are also able to exploit a much wider range of strategies for learning and communication, as a result of their greater knowledge and experience of the world. Moreover, we will always find that each individual has a particular ‘learning style’ which derives from his/her interests, capacities and needs. For example, some students are very good at retaining vocabulary, sometimes related to special fields they are interested in. Other learners show extraordinary capacity for using new grammar structures with accuracy and correction. Pronunciation is quite connected with musical abilities such as fine hearing, imitation of sounds and tones, intonation, etc. . There are quite a lot of theories about ‘language acquisition’ (the ‘Acculturation Model’, the ‘Accommodation Theory’, the ‘Discourse Theory’, the ‘Monitor Model’...) and also many works on ‘language learning’. All of them are useful and offer “true” perspectives of these matters. The most useful for language teachers, nevertheless, are probably those that contain practical materials and real examples to follow in everyday practice. Because, after all, as Pit Corder points out in his article “The significance of learners’ errors” (from Error Analysis and Interlanguage): “Let us say therefore that, given motivation, it is inevitable that a human being will learn a second language if he is exposed to the language data. Study of language aptitude does in some measure support such a view since motivation and intelligence appear to be the two principal factors which correlate significantly with achievement in a second language.”.

5. CONCLUSIONS. It is quite clear that language teaching has advanced rather slowly throughout the centuries. It is also apparent that no method can be classified as intrinsically ‘good’ or ‘bad’. All of them have provided positive results and not-so-positive ones. The choice depends on the type of programme we have to follow, on our personal perspective on language teaching and, especially, on the balance between the aims we pursue and the results we obtain. PREPARADORES DE OPOSICIONES PARA LA ENSEÑANZA


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Nowadays, there is a general tendency to eclecticism. All methods present some valid aspects and useful types of activities. Each learner has a personal learning style and individual capacities, as well as learning interests and communicative needs. Whatever the method, we should have access to, provide and design the adequate materials to suit those needs and compensate capacities and difficulties. The ‘communicative approach’ seems to be the most comprehensive and realistic approach to language learning, probably because it offers the most modern views and, to a great extent, covers all the previous methods. However, there will always be doubts and unanswered questions, such as: Should the teacher follow the programmes contained in books? or, on the other hand, should we try to “place” the students in a communicative environment without a particular order and wait for their systems to develop through a natural acquisition process stimulated by communicative needs? Will errors be considered as a mere reflection of the state of development? or, will we impose correction and “punish” mistakes? Some of these problems may have a solution in the contributions of Applied Linguistics, which, as a rather new discipline, ought to work hand in hand with pedagogy and methodology to offer global insights and solutions to particular situations. In this sense, the objectives of Applied Linguistics will be pragmatic and applicable: instruction of teachers, elaboration of programmes, materials, books... able to cope with different learning situations and needs.

6. BIBLIOGRAPHY. •

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Chomsky, N. . Aspects of the Theory of Syntax. Cambridge, Massachusetts, MIT Press, 1965. Corder, Pit. Introducing applied linguistics. Harmondsworth, Penguin Books, 1973, p. 142. Corder, Pit. Error Analysis and Interlanguage. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1981. Crystal, D. . Linguistics. Harmondsworth, Penguin, 1971. Ellis, R. Understanding Second Language Acquisition. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1985. Halliday, M. A. K. . An Introduction to Functional Grammar. London: Edward Arnold, 1985. Hyde, John. “Teoría y práctica: el papel de la lingüística aplicada” (Compilación de artículos, junto con otros autores). Hymes, D. “On Communicative Competence”, Pride and Holmes (eds.), Sociolinguistics. Harmondsworth, Penguin, 1972.



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Izquierdo Olalla, Javier. Enseñanza y aprendizaje de idiomas en personas adultas: el enfoque metodológico. 1995. Pujante, Angel Luis. “La enseñanza de las lenguas a través de la historia” (Compilación de artículos, junto con otros autores). Richards, J. . Error Analysis. Longman, 1974. Widdowson, H. G. . Teaching Language as Communication. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1985. Wilkins, D. A. Second Language Learning and Teaching. London: Edward Arnold, 1974. Wilkins, D. A. . Notional Syllabuses. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1976.

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