¡Descarga ACQUISITION OF ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE - READING 1 y más Ejercicios en PDF de Idioma Inglés solo en Docsity! 1 SAMY BRUGES ACQUISITION OF ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE : READING 1 READING 1: Schmitt, N. and M. Celce-Murcia (2002) An Overview of Applied Linguistics. In Schmitt, N. (2002) An Introduction to Applied Linguistics. London: Arnold. (Ch.1. pp. 1- 16). 1. What is the dominant application in Applied Linguistics? Applied Linguistics tries as much as possible to solve problems when it comes to language. With the help of knowledge of language, its use and how it is learned, it increases the understanding of its role in human affairs. It is also interested in cases where languages go wrong. The dominant application has always been the teaching and learning of second or foreign languages. More and more people around the world speak more than one language which is why mastering the learning process can come in handy. It is not just about learning a second language for the sake of learning anymore, but a necessity when the population of a country speaks different L1s. English is then used as a lingua franca: a language that people use when they do not speak the same language. 2. What were the problems of the Direct Method? The Direct Method first appeared back in the 20th century as a means of learning a language the same way a first language is learned: first you learn through listening and hearing that language, then you speak (repeat what was previously heard) and only later reading and writing. However, the Direct Method had its downsides. Teachers needed to be highly proficient in the target language, which could not always be the case. The aim was to mimic L1 learning but the method did not take into account major differences such as the exposure to the target language. While L1 learners have a massive amount of exposure to the target language, people learning with the help of the Direct Method could never reach that kind of exposure. 3. When and why did language pedagogy and language assessment develop? Language pedagogy first appeared in the mid-1970s which was deemed more communicative. This new approach was first brought by Michael Halliday, who developed the systemic functional language (SFL) and had a more communicative type of pedagogy. However, the idea was developed by a Council of Europe project. This new pedagogy attempted to create a Europe-wide language system which was based on a survey of L2 learner’s needs and was based on semantic categories related to those needs, including relevant concepts (notions) and uses of language (functions). Language assessment began to develop around the same time language pedagogy did: the 1980s. Up until that time, tests were evaluated according to three principal criteria: validity, reliability and practicality. However, these tests were not suitable for everyone. They are made for particular purposes and particular sets of learners. Since every learner is different, there is always an alternative way of assessing, which can be individualized to suit particular situations.
