Summary 31 and 32: Prof Samokhina Research Assignment

Shen Cheng (Kyle)
Prof Samokhina
WRIT 26
2017/5/12
31. Phillips in her article, How has our thinking about language learning changed through the years? Explains how language learning has evolved over the years. In the 1800s, acquiring a new language was for communication and survival in a foreign land; there was no formal education about language learning. With the emergence of modern languages, French, German, Italia and Spanish, people still studied languages with the aim of communication to the locals of the tongue. Some individuals thought learning a language was for the benefit of reading books written in these languages and for interpersonal communication. A century later, people studied languages with the main aim of learning how to read, and understanding grammar e.g. in America learners read, translated and analyzed languages, including Latin, Greek, and modern languages. During World War 2, U.S needed people who could communicate with individuals around the world in a variety of languages; this changed teaching of language to Audiolingual, where teachers used stimulus and response to imprint language patterns in student minds and the learners were to memorize and respond to all kinds of oral drills. Audiolingual worked, as more people became fluent in different languages, the same learning approach of learning was used during Cold War, to learn Russia, and these emerging languages diminished the popularity of Greek and Latin in America. In the 1960s, the look of language learning as an evolution process saw people change from the Audiolingual method of learning to practical methods. In recent years, with the knowledge of how language is acquired for communication, teaching changed further, the learners too are taking on real-world tasks, of knowing the cultures of languages they are learning. Today Greek and Latin popularity has diminished, and students are learning a variety of languages with well-developed skills.
32. In Long’s article, Why study languages abroad? She argues that learning a language is an effort and doesn’t necessarily depend on going abroad. Going abroad to study a language requires readiness, the learner is to endow him/herself with a formal study of the target language, and to continue learning the language in the destined country and finally go to places where the individual can practice speaking the language. Studying the language abroad helps in understanding the cultural context of the tongue especially when you hear the locals speak it, care is to be taken to avoid "dreaded-anglophile", where instead of learning the language you end up teaching them your language. Learning a language abroad requires minimizing socialization with English speakers, spending enough time with the locals and embracing TV channe...