二语习得定义题

IV. Explain the following terms（整理成简答或填空）

1. Ferdinand de Saussure

2. Textual function

3. The London School of Linguistics

4. Surface structure

5. Transformational-Generative grammar

6. Language Acquisition Device(LAD)

7. Innateness hypothesis

III. Explain the following terms.

1. Applied linguistics

2. Interlanguage

3. Contrastive analysis

4. face validity

5. Error Analysis

1. Define the following terms briefly.

first language acquisition: behaviorist approach innateness approach

second language acquisition: contrastive analysis: error analysis

language aptitude: field dependence field independence

learning strategies

IV. Explain the following terms.

1. Interlanguage

2. Universal Grammar

3. contrastive analysis

4. Error Analysis

1. Define the following terms briefly..

applied linguistics grammar-translation method

audiolingual method

communicative language teaching testing achievement test

validity

reliability proficiency test subjective test

objective test

language aptitude test diagnostic test backwash

effect

II. Explain the following terms.

1. applied linguistics

2. the audiolingual method of language teaching

3. the direct method of language teaching

IV. Explain the following terms.

1. Ferdinand de Saussure is a Swiss linguist who is often described as “father

of modern linguistics”. The great work,

Course in General Linguistics

, which was

based on his lecture notes, marked the beginning of modern linguistics.

Saussure’s idea on the arbitrary nature of sign, one the relational nature of

linguistic units, on the distinction of langue and parole and of synchronic and

diachronic linguistics, etc. pushed linguistics into a brand new stage.

2. Textual function: The textual function is one of the three meta-functions

language is composed of. It refers to the fact that language has mechanisms to

make any stretch of spoken or written discourse into a coherent and unified text

and make a living message different from a random list of sentences.

3. The London School generally refers to the kind of linguistic scholarship in

England. The man who turned linguistics proper into a recognized distinct

academic subject in Britain was J.R. Firth.

4. Surface structure: It is a term used in generative grammar to refer to the

final stage in the syntactic representation of a sentence, which provides the input

to the phonological component of the grammar, and which thus most closely

corresponds to the structure we articulate and hear. For instance, “John is easy to

please.” and “John is eager to please.” are two sentences with the same surface

structure.

5. Transformational-generative grammar is proposed by Noam Chomsky. He

postulated a syntactic base of language (called deep structure), which consists of a

series of phrase-structure rewrite rules, i.e., a series of (possibly universal) rules

that generates the underlying phrase-structure of a sentence. The end result of a

transformational-generative grammar is a surface structure that is identical to an

actual sentence of a language, after the mediating of a series of rules (called

transformations) that act upon the deep structures.

6. Language Acquisition Device: LAD refers to an innate faculty of language in

general with which children are born. It is posited by Chomsky, who argues that

LAD probably consists of three elements: a hypothesis-maker, linguistic universal,

and an evaluation procedure.

7. The “Innateness Hypothesis” of child language acquisition was proposed

by Noam Chomsky, who states that language are somewhat innate and that

children are born with what he calls a language acquisition device, which is a

unique kind of knowledge that fits them for language learning.

III. Explain the following terms.

1. Applied linguistics: It is a branch of linguistics which studies the application

of linguistics in reality. For example, there are studies on multilingualism, language

acquisition, first and second language teaching and learning.

2. It refers to the type of language constructed by second or foreign language

learners who are still in the process of learning a language. It’s a language system

between the target language and the learner’s native language, and imperfect

compared with the target language, but not mere translation from the learner’s

native language. For example, when the Chinese student is learning English, he

may make errors like “to touch the society”.

3. Contrastive analysis is an approach to analysis of second language

acquisition, based on a belief that a more effective teaching pedagogy would

come out when the similarities and differences between native language and

target language are taken into consideration. By such an analysis, it is supposed

that some leaning difficulties could be predicted in terms of language transfer.

4. Face validity: Unlike the other three forms of validity, face validity is based

on the subjective judgment of an observer. If the test appears to be measuring

what it intends to measure, the test is considered to have face validity.

5 Errors are significant in telling the teacher what needs to be taught，in telling

the researcher how learning proceeds and those errors are a means whereby

learners test their hypotheses about the language to be learnt. They are worth

further probing Error Analysis involves，first independently or objectively，

describing the learners’ interlanguage (that is，their version of the target

language and the target language itself)，then a comparison of the two is followed

to locate mismatches. Different from contrastive analysis, Error Analysis, EA for

short, gives 1ess consideration to learners’ native language. The procedure of

Error Analysis consists of the following steps:

(1) Recognition

(2) Description.

(3) Explanation.

For example, explanation: the absence of an item that must appear in a

well-formed utterance: e.g. She sleeping. Type of error: Omissions.

1. First language acquisition: First language acquisition (L1 acquisition) is the

term most commonly used to describe the process whereby children become

speakers of their native language or languages, although some linguists prefer to

use the term language learning.

Behaviorist approach: Behaviorist approach holds that language is learned by

a process of habit-formation. It is a standard “stimulus-

response-imitation-reinforcement” approach.

Innateness approach: Innateness approach treats human being’s ability in

learning a language as a part of the biologically innate equipment and the infant is

born with a language acquisition device (LAD). It regards language acquisition as a

process of “hypothesis-deduction”.

Second language acquisition: Second language acquisition (L2 acquisition)

refers to the learning of a foreign language in addition to the mother tongue,

inside or outside a classroom.

Contrastive analysis: It is a method of analyzing languages for instructional

purposes whereby a native language and target language are compared with a

view to establishing points of difference likely to cause difficulties for learners.

Error analysis: Error analysis (EA) refers to the study and analysis of the errors

made by second and foreign language learners in order to identify causes of errors

of common difficulties in language learning. It is an alternative to contrastive

analysis.

Language aptitude: The natural ability for learning an L2 is termed as

language aptitude, not including intelligence, motivation, interest, etc.

Field dependence: Field dependence is a learning style in which a learner

tends to look at the whole of a learning task which contains many items. The

learner has difficulty in studying a particular item when it occurs within a field of

other items.

Field independence: Field independence is a learning style in which a learner

is able to identify or focus on particular items and is not distracted by other items

in the background and context.

Learning strategies: Learning strategies are the particular approaches or

techniques that learners use to try to learn an L2. They can be behavioral or mental

and they are typically problem-oriented.

IV. Explain the following terms.

1. Interlanguage. refers to the type of language constructed by second or

foreign language learners who are still in the process of learning a language. It’s a

language system between the target language and the learner’s native language,

and imperfect compared with the target language, but not mere translation from

the learner’s native language. For example, when the Chinese student is learning

English, he may make errors like “to touch the society”.

2. Universal grammar is a theory of linguistics postulating principles of

grammar shared by all languages, thought to be innate to humans (linguistic

nativism). It attempts to explain language acquisition in general, not describe

specific languages. Universal grammar proposes a set of rules intended to explain

language acquisition in child development.

3. Contrastive analysis is an approach to analysis of second language

acquisition, based on a belief that a more effective teaching pedagogy would

come out when the similarities and differences between native language and

target language are taken into consideration. By such an analysis, it is supposed

that some leaning difficulties could be predicted in terms of language transfer.

4. Errors are significant in telling the teacher what needs to be taught，in

telling the researcher how learning proceeds and those errors are a means

whereby learners test their hypotheses about the language to be learnt. They are

worth further probing Error Analysis involves，first independently or objectively，

describing the learners’ interlanguage (that is，their version of the target

language and the target language itself)，then a comparison of the two is followed

to locate mismatches. Different from contrastive analysis, Error Analysis, EA for

short, gives 1ess consideration to learners’ native language. The procedure of

Error Analysis consists of the following steps:

(1) Recognition

(2) Description.

(3) Explanation.

For example, explanation: the absence of an item that must appear in a

well-formed utterance: e.g. She sleeping. Type of error: Omissions.

1. Applied linguistics: Applied linguistics is the study of language and

linguistics in relation to practical issue, e.g. speech therapy, language teaching,

testing, and translation.

Grammar-translation method: Grammar-translation method refers to a

method of foreign or second language teaching which makes use of translation

and grammar study as the main teaching and learning activities.

Audiolingual method: Audiolingual method refers to the teaching of a

second language through imitation, repetition, and reinforcement. It emphasizes

the teaching of speaking and listening before reading and writing and the use of

mother tongue in the classroom is not allowed.

Communicative language teaching: Communicative language teaching

refers to the approach to foreign or second language teaching which emphasizes

that the goal of language learning is communicative competence.

Testing: It refers to the use of test, or the study of the theory and the practice

of their use, development, evaluation, etc.

Achievement test: Achievement test is a test which measures how much of a

language someone has learned with reference to a particular course of study or

program of instruction.

Validity: Validity (in testing) refers to the degree to which a test measures

what it is supposed to measure, or can be used successfully for the purposes for

which it is intended. A number of different statistical procedures can be applied to

a test to estimate its validity. Such procedures generally seek to determine what

the test measures, and how well it does so.

Reliability: Reliability(in testing) refers to a measure of the degree to which a

test gives consistent results; a test is said to be reliable if it gives the same results

when it is given on different occasions or when it is used by different people.

Proficiency test: Proficiency test is a test which measures how much of a

language someone has learned without bothering the syllabus, duration and

manner of learning.

Subjective test: Subject test refers to a test which is scored according to the

personal judgment of the marker, such as an essay examination or translation.

Objective test: Objective test is a test that can be marked without the use of

the examiner’s personal judgment.

Language aptitude test: Language aptitude test is a test which measures a

person’s aptitude for second or foreign language learning and which can be used

to identify those learners who are most likely to succeed.

Diagnostic test: Diagnostic test refers to a test which is designed to show

what skills or knowledge a learner knows or doesn’t know. For example, a

diagnostic pronunciation test may be used to measure the learner’s

pronunciation of English sounds. It would show which sounds a student is and is

not able to pronounce. Diagnostic test may be used to find out how much a

learner knows before beginning a language course.

Backwash effect: Backwash effect refers to the effect of tests on classroom L2

teaching and learning.

II. Explain the following terms.

1. Applied linguistics. It is a branch of linguistics which studies the application

of linguistics in reality. For example, there are studies on multilingualism, language

acquisition, first and second language teaching and learning.

2. It is the teaching of a second language through imitation, repetition, and

reinforcement. It emphasizes the teaching of speaking and listening before

reading and writing and the use of mother tongue in the classroom is not allowed.

3. The learning of a second language by using the target language directly and

associating speech form with action, gesture, objects and situations. Mother

tongue is never or rarely used in the classroom, and the students supposedly

acquire the second language in a way similar to the way they acquired their first

language.