2015-08-21
270
Indicate the differences between the two dialogues. One of them has been created with the language structures in mind. The other one is “authentic like” and has been created by a native speaker for teaching purposes
| Non-authentic text | Authentic-like text |
| · Do you like this bird? · Yes I like it very much · Where do they live? · They live in the trees · In what country do they live? · They live in America · Oh. You know very much | · Gosh! How gorgeous! · Yeah! · Where do they live? These birds? · In trees, of course · I mean where in the world? · Oh, in America, North or South … · Oh, you’re clever, aren’t you … |
| Comments |
On the whole there are three different theoretical views of language. The first, and the most traditional of the three, is the structural view, the view that language is a system of structurally related elements for the coding of meaning. The target of language learning is seen to be the mastery of elements of this system. They are generally defined in terms of phonological units (e.g., phonemes), grammatical units (e.g., clauses, phrases, sentences), grammatical operations (e.g., adding, shifting, joining, or transforming elements), and lexical items (e.g., junction words and structure words). The second view of language is the functional view, the view that language is a vehicle for the expression of functional meaning (e.g. how to give or to request information, to give commands or to explain etc). This theory emphasises the semantic and communicative dimension rather than merely the grammatical characteristics of language, and leads to a specification and organisation of language teaching content by categories of meaning and function rather than by elements of structure and grammar. A teaching syllabus would include not only elements of grammar and lexis but also specify the topics, notions, and concepts the learner needs to communicate about. The third view of language can be called the interactional view. It sees language as a vehicle for the realisation of interpersonal relations and for the performance of social transactions between individuals. Language is seen as a tool for the creation and maintenance of social relations. Teaching includes training learners to interact in the authentic-like conversations and to produce authentic-like discourse (After " Theory of Language" in: Richards, L. and Th. Rodgers. Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching. Cambridge University Press. 1995. P. 16-17)
