Language Analysis and Language Teaching

Shaping the Discourse of a Practice: The Role of Linguistics and Psychology in Language Teaching and Learning

“…To conclude, though there are some enthusiastic endorsements of the "new approach" (e.g., Diller, 1962;Haden, 1954), these tend to be in a "take it or leave it" tone that gives new meaning to Hill's (1956) admonition that linguists should work with humility if they wish to have their work accepted in the classroom. By comparison, most voices seem to sympathize with Politzer's (1958) assessment that "linguistic analysis is not a method of instruction .…”

“…Among the tell-tale symptoms are: (a) the number of articles falling under what we would now call applied linguistics, with a particular interest in classroom-related issues (Politzer, 1958, in fact uses that term); (b) the articles' substantial similarity to contemporary practice, in terms of content and format, length, topic focus, increasingly specialized vocabulary, rhetorical organization, and ways of establishing believability; and (c) the direct testimony by the writers themselves regarding what they, too, experienced as the dramatic changes affecting the field. If repeated explications about what "really" happened and why it happened indicate that even those individuals living at the time could not always readily understand it, then this period was indeed one of momentous change (Blayney, 1947;Haugen, 1955;Hill, 1956;Politzer, 1964).…”

Chapter VI: Foreign Languages

“…The application of the findings of linguistics (13,19,36,59,87) to the teaching of a second language occupied the Sixth Round Table Conference on Language and Linguistics at Georgetown University (115). Lado (53) devoted an entire publication to the practical techniques used by the classroom teacher in comparing sound systems, grammatical structure, vocabulary, writing, and cultural systems.…”

Foreign Languages

“…The application of the findings of linguistics (13,19,36,59,87) to the teaching of a second language occupied the Sixth Round Table Con Meaning discrimination should be in the same language and placed before the target word in a bilingual dictionary. Since most monolingual dictionaries have different meanings numbered, these could be used as meaning discrimination points of reference by the bilingual dictionary according to Iannucci (42) who examined 30 bilingual dictionaries to see how they could be of greater help to the beginning language student.…”