Contributions of Linguistics to Foreign Language Teaching and Acquisition

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Topic 6: Contributions of Linguistics to Foreign Language Teaching

The Process of Linguistic Learning: Similarities and Differences Between First and Foreign Language Acquisition

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1. Introduction
2. Contributions of linguistics to foreign language teaching
   • Grammar translation approach
   • Natural or direct method
   • Audio-lingual method
   • Basic
   • Situational method
   • Humanistic approaches
     • TPR
     • TPR
     • SUGGESTOPEDIA
     • SILENT WAY
   • Communicative approach
   • Imitation
   • Cognition and sociocultural
3. The process of linguistic learning.
   • Inatism
   • L
   • Behaviourism
   • Monitor model Acculturation
   • Cognitivism
   • Constructivism

Theories of Second Foreign Language Acquisition

1. Similarities and differences between first and second foreign language acquisition.
2. Conclusion
3. Bibliography

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Theories of First Language Acquisition

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Introduction to Language Learning Theories

The way in which children learn their first or second language has always been an object of study and controversy among different sectors of the teaching community. A great number of theories have been put forward trying to answer this complex process. In this way, linguists and linguistics have played an important role in trying to cast some light on the complexity of the aforementioned process by providing tools for learning. Over the last century, the models, methods, approaches, and theories for teaching languages have substantially evolved to make the learning of languages easier for students. Likewise, school curricula and laws of education have adapted throughout time to the different methods and approaches for teaching a foreign language.

Current Educational Frameworks and Language Teaching

Our current law 3/2020 issued on the 29th of December and the Royal Decree 157/2022, 1st of March known as LOMLOE support and promotes the implementation of a child- centered perspective that favors the learning of a language as a tool for communication as opposed to those methods that called for teaching grammar structures as a means of achieving communicative competence. Besides the C.E.F.R.Linsists on the need to adopt student-centered approaches and action-oriented lessons to develop communicative competence, which means using language purposefully. Similarly, the structure and the contents of the foreign language curriculum issued by the Xunta compile lots of directions that reflect the importance of methodologies, techniques, and activities that develop communicative competence and language skills, namely oral and written. As well, the current curriculum mandates to design of learning situations in which both key and specific competences are developed always taking into account objectives, basic knowledge, and assessment criteria to give answers to nowadays world challenges. Communication strategies need to be used to improve students' knowledge of the target language and the cultural background it holds, they support the acquisition of language patterns and back specific competences up as well.

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Linguistics' Influence on Foreign Language Teaching

In this topic, we will analyze how linguistics has been of great influence in foreign language teaching. We will study the influence of linguistics in foreign language teaching as well as the differences and similarities in the acquisition of first and second languages. An understanding of these processes will enable teachers to be more sensitive to the factors involved.

Contributions of Linguistics to Foreign Language Teaching

Linguistics is the science that studies language. This science is divided into three main fields: the study of language form, language meaning, and language in context.

Language Form: Grammar and its Components

The study of language form corresponds to grammar. A common contemporary definition of grammar according to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, is the underlying structure of a language that any native speaker of that language knows intuitively. The systematic description of the features of a language is also a grammar. These features are phonology (sound), morphology (system of word formation), syntax (patterns of word arrangement), and semantics (meaning). Depending on the grammarian's approach, grammar can be prescriptive (i.e., provide rules for correct usage), descriptive (i.e., describe how a language is used), or generative (i.e., provide instructions for the production of an infinite number of sentences in a language). The traditional focus of inquiry has been on morphology and syntax, and for some contemporary linguists (and many traditional grammarians) this is the only proper domain of the subject.

Phonology: Sound Patterns in Language

Phonology is the study of the sound patterns that occur within languages. Some linguists include phonetics, the study of the production and description of speech sounds, within the study of phonology. Diachronic (historical) phonology examines and constructs theories about the changes and modifications in speech sounds and sound systems over some time. For example, it is concerned with the process by which the English words "sea" and "see," once pronounced with different vowel sounds (as indicated by the spelling), have come to be pronounced alike today. Synchronic (descriptive) phonology investigates sounds at a single stage in the development of a language, to discover the * \ PAGEequipo laura TOPIC 6 sound patterns that can occur. For example, in English, dm and nt can appear within or at the end of words ("admit," "rent") but not at the beginning.

Morphology: Internal Construction of Words

Morphology, in linguistics, study of the internal construction of words. Languages vary widely in the degree to which words can be analyzed into word elements, or morphemes (q.v.). In English there are numerous examples, such as "replacement," which is composed of re-, "place," and -ment, and "walked," from the elements "walk" and -ed. Many American Indian languages have a highly complex morphology; other languages, such as Vietnamese or Chinese, have very little or none. Morphology includes the grammatical processes of inflection (q.v.) and derivation. Inflection marks categories such as person, tense, and case; e.g., "sings" contains a final -s, marker of the 3rd person singular, and the German word "Mannes" consists of the stem Mann and the genitive singular inflection -es. Derivation is the formation of new words from existing words; e.g., "singer" from "sing" and "acceptable" from "accept." Derived words can also be inflected: "singers" from "singer."

Syntax: Arrangement of Words in Sentences

Syntax is the arrangement of words in sentences, clauses, and phrases, and the study of the formation of sentences and the relationship of their parts. In a language such as English, the main device for showing the relationship among words is word order; e.g., in "The girl loves the boy," the subject is in an initial position, and the object follows the verb. Transposing them changes the meaning. In many other languages, case markers indicate grammatical relationships. Sentences are constructed from phrases or groups of words that have a closer relationship to each other than to the words outside the phrase. In the sentence "My dog is playing in the yard" there is a closer relationship between the words "is playing," which together form the verb, than between the words "playing in the," which form only part of the verb and part of the phrase indicating the location of the playing.

Semantics: The Study of Meaning

Semantics, also called semiotics, semiology, or semasiology, is the philosophical and scientific study of meaning in natural and artificial languages. The term is one of a group of English words formed from the various derivatives of the Greek verb semaino ("to mean" or "to signify"). The noun semantics and the adjective semantic are derived from \ * PAGEequipo laura II TOPIC 6 sēmantikos ("significant"); semiotics (adjective and noun) comes from semeiotikos ("about signs"); semiology from sema ("sign") + logos ("Account"); and semasiology from sēmasia ("signification") + logos.

It is difficult to formulate a distinct definition for each of these terms because their use largely overlaps in the literature despite individual preferences. The word semantics has ultimately prevailed as a name for the doctrine of meaning, of linguistic meaning in particular. Semiotics is still used, however, to denote a broader field: the study of sign- using behavior in general.

Communicative Competence and Sub-Competences

All the components of language have to be mastered to achieve communicative competence the C.E.F.R.L and the curriculum 155/2022, 15th of September requires. The mastery of Communicative competence implies the following sub-competences according to Canale and Swaim in their book Approaches to Communicative Competence (1980)

• Grammar competence: learn to use the rules of the language.
• Discourse competence: the capacity to use different types of discourse depending on the different communicative situations.
• Strategic competence: the capacity to correct, define or make adjustments in any situation, the teacher must provide students with strategies.
• Socio-linguistic competence: the ability to adapt the language to the situation.
• Socio-cultural competence: to recognize the social context of the language.

Applied Linguistics and Language Teaching

Finally, applied linguistics is worth mentioning since it is an interdisciplinary field that analyses how language is used and defines how children learn a foreign language. For this reason, it constitutes the basis of the foreign language teaching process.

The study of how a language is learned has been greatly influenced by linguistics from which several approaches and methodologies were developed. We will now review the most significant ones that Richard and Rodgers compiled in their book Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching (1986):

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Grammar Translation Approach

This method is derived from the traditional approach to the teaching of Latin and Greek, which was particularly influential in the 19th century. It is based on a meticulous analysis of the written language, in which translation exercises, reading comprehension, and the written imitation of texts play a primary role, as the aim of learning a foreign language is to be able to read its literature. Learning mainly involves the mastery of grammatical rules and memorization of long lists of vocabulary, related to texts chosen for their prestigious content. Reading and writing are the major focus; little or no systematic attention is paid to speaking or listening. Accuracy is emphasized and grammar is taught deductively, that is, by presentation and study of grammar rules. The student's native language is the medium of instruction.

Evolution and Decline of Grammar-Translation

Grammar-Translation dominated European and foreign language teaching from the 1840s to the 1940s, and somehow it continues to be used in some parts of the world today, but the majority of teachers recognize that this approach does little to meet the spoken language needs and interests of today's language students. In the mid and late 19th century, opposition to the Grammar-Translation method gradually developed in several European countries, and this Reform movement laid the foundations for the development of new ways of teaching languages. Nowadays, the curriculum and the decree 155/2022 15th of September estate in its pedagogical principles that students' language can only be used occasionally to as a support, so translation is no longer accepted as a teaching tool.

Natural or Direct Method

Towards the mid-19th century, increased opportunities for communication among Europeans created a demand for oral proficiency in foreign languages that the Grammar-Translation method did not offer. Educators recognized the need for speaking proficiency rather than reading comprehension, grammar, or literary appreciation as the goal of foreign language programs. New approaches to language teaching were developed by individual language teaching specialists and together they became known as the Reform movement.