2010년 3월 30일 화요일

Do we have U.G. in our mind?

According to Chomsky, we all have universal grammar (U.G.). That is, all human beings are generally equipped with abilities that enable them to acquire language. Does U.G. really exist in our mind?

I’ve wondered how children acquire language so fast in spite of the lack of stimulus. A baby who does not say any words can suddenly utter very simple and basic words. In an instance, the baby begins to say his daily life with perfect sentences. How can we explain the developmental process of the language ability of children? Furthermore, how can we account that children can utter quite complex sentences in a relatively short space of time? The key point is that we have U.G. in our brain.

There is a marvelous case which is about Christopher, a linguistic savant. A linguistic savant is a kind of metal disorder that someone has very low non-verbal I.Q. but he can communicate in a number of languages. Also, the linguistic savant can read, write and hear on a number of languages even though he cannot utter fluently in those languages. There is a guy whose name Christopher, one of the unique linguistic savants. He could comprehend and distinguish more than 20 languages. Neil Smith, a researcher, tried to make an experiment to prove U.G. through his case. He made a language which was out of U.G. theories or rules, but the manipulated language was completely rational and logical. Many people who had an average or high verbal I.Q. could learn the manipulated language and even make a past tense or negative sentence. However, Christopher could not do that.

I think that this is an obvious evidence for U.G., Chomsky’s theory. Christopher could acquire those languages not because of high rational and logical intelligence but because of biological endowed innate system in his some part of brain.

2010년 3월 24일 수요일

L2 Learning Autobiography

How long have I studied English? I have almost learned English over twenty five years!! Twenty five years is way too long.

When I first encountered the English alphabet, I was five years old. My mother emphasized the importance of early English education. From memory, the first institution to learn English was like a kindergarten. I still remember that I sang in English with dance routine and how much I liked to do that. I am pretty sure that I did not know what the songs meant at that time. However, I was willing to participate in the activity.

After that time, as most students around my age, I started learning English as a regular curriculum when I attended a junior high school. Like anyone who was a student at that time, I focused on developing my English grammar and reading comprehension so I tried to memorize the certain grammar books and vocabulary and get the knack how to solve the problem. Even though I did well in English at school, I had no confidence of speaking in English.

When I turned twenty years old, I realized that studying English is not just focusing on grammar and reading comprehension but focusing on all four domains; speaking, writing, listening, and reading. At that time, I went to Canada to study on the advice of my parents. When I arrived, I did not know anybody in Canada. I cannot forget the first day I approached Canada. A beautiful blond who was affiliated to language institution came out to meet me at Toronto Pearson International Airport. For driving down to London where I planned to study, we barely talked to each other. My head was in a whirl. I felt pathetic. Although I had studied English over 10 years, I could not speak in English at all in front of a native speaker.

During first two months, I was very quiet. Looking back upon those days, I spoke less than 10 sentences in a day because I had pressure to utter grammatically correct sentences. Naturally, I nearly had no chance to get along with my homestay family. Over time, I lost my confidence. At that time, there was a teacher who gave me a chance to change my life. Her name is Cathy. In our Language school, her class was famous for tough assignments. I just remembered that I had really hard time; I had a listening and speaking test once a week, writing journals about TV program which I like and a reading comprehension test after reading articles about Canada, and so on. However, I am sure that I have improved English through her class. The most importantly, she gave me confidence.

Among various assignments, I have some memorable ones.
First, we had a class trip once a month. Because she was a huge sports fan, we went various stadiums; ice hockey, soccer, baseball and basketball and do on. Whenever we went to field trip, we had a mission. We had to give an interview to Canadian. And then, we had to present who was the interviewee in the next class. It helps me to be used to speak in English in front of other people.
Second, we needed to write journals about TV program that we liked to watch. At first, I was difficult to write something because I barely understand what was going on in the show. It was really stressful. Fortunately, in Canada, most channels’ schedules were filled with repeats. I realized the more I watched the reruns, the more I wrote something on my journal. Even though I returned my journal covered with red proofreading marks, I enjoyed writing in English.
Third, we had a listening and speaking test every week. Every time, she prepared 15 minutes of listening materials. After we listened to the record tape, she asked us some questions. At first, she hardly corrected what we spoke in English. She more focused on whether we understood the content rather than whether we uttered grammatically correct sentences. Some student complained that she was too slipshod. Later, we could know why she did that. It was a tactic to encourage us to speak in English. As time passed, she more put into our grammatical construction.

Thanks to teacher Cathy, I could entrance into a university in my eighth month in Canada. Of course, I had more difficult times at university. However, I could start my school life more delightfully and graduate without any problem. Even now, I have learned English. And I have a long way to go. However, based on Cathy’s teaching, I can know how to improve my English fluency.

2010년 3월 16일 화요일

Corder (1967)

According to Corder(1967), we need to regard errors conducted by the learner of a second language not as a subject removed but as information showing how much he or she knows. And also, Corder(1967) tries to distinguish between errors and mistakes.

Making mistakes like slips of the tongue are things of infrequent occurrence. And also, when the learner recognizes what is wrong, he or she can correct them. In contrast, errors seem to be systematic and repetitive form. And also, the learner cannot be aware of what he or she does wrong.

In conclusion, Corder(1967) argues that errors are best not regarded as the persistence of old habit, but rather as signs that the learner is interesting the systems of the new language.

After reading this article, I realized that we need to examine errors to understand leaning a foreign language. However, I wonder whether we can exactly explain why we make the specific error. For example, suppose that the learner say the following example;

* The book discovered on the desk.

It is certain that this sentence is wrong. To correct the sentence, we need to insert ‘be verb’ between the word ‘book’ and the word ‘discovered’. However, there are two possibilities to explain why the learner makes this kind of error. First, the learner might not be able to distinguish between the active and the passive. Secondly, the learner might not know differences between transitive verbs and intransitive verbs.

And also, is it possible to say that we know every language rule if we say correct sentence?

Therefore, to understand the learner of second language, I think that we need to know not only errors but also something else.