Foreign Language Learning And Teaching

To many people, the most obvious way of reducing some of the power of the language barrier is to promote the teaching and learning of foreign languages in a variety of child and adult educational settings. This widely practised approach is undoubtedly very successful, as can be judged by the millions who succeed in mastering a foreign language.

English-speaking monoglots often express amazement at the linguistic proficiency displayed by foreigners and conclude that foreigners must have a “gift” for language learning, which they lack, or that English must be a particularly easy language to learn.

There’s no basis for these suggestions. A few gifted language learners do exist, but most people arrive at their fluency only as a result of hard work, expended over a considerable period of time.

On the other hand, there is also a great deal of educational failure and lack of achievement in the language-learning field, which also requires explanations.

Many people, from a variety of linguistic backgrounds, are acutely embarrassed by their linguistic inadequacy when travelling abroad, and wish to overcome it. Many have tried to learn a foreign language, but have made little progress in it.

It is therefore important to study the factors that govern success or failure in this field ---such as the soundness of teaching methods, the attitudes and motivation of the learner, the availability of time and opportunities to learn, the adequacy of resources, and the chance to put the language to active use.

Category:     Education
Source:        Adapted from: The Cambridge Encyclopaedia, published by Cambridge  University Press, 2001
Words:        250

外语的教与学

对许多人来说，减少某些语言障碍影响的最明显方法就是在各类儿童及成人的教育环境中促进外语的教与学。这种被广泛采用的方法无疑是非常成功的，这一点可以从许许多多成功地掌握一门外语的人身上得到证明。

以英语作为单一母语的人士经常赞叹外国人的语言能力，并以次得出结论，认为外国人一定有学习语言的“天赋”而他们自己却没有，或者认为英语是一种特别容易学习的语言。

这些想法是没有根据的。语言学习天才确实是有一些，但大多数人是通过相当一段时间的努力学习才熟练地掌握了外语。

另一方面，在语言学习领域里也存在着大量教育失败和缺乏成果的现象，这也是需要作出解释的。

许多来自不同语言背景的人士出国旅行时，因存在着语言上的缺陷而深感尴尬，希望能加以克服。许多人努力学习外语，但进步甚微。

因此，对决定这个领域成败与否的因素进行研究是非常重要的---例如：教学方法的合理性、学习者的态度与动机、学习时间与学习机会的利用、材料的充裕情况以及积极应用语言的机会。