Treść książki

Przejdź do opcji czytnikaPrzejdź do nawigacjiPrzejdź do informacjiPrzejdź do stopki
26
1.Foreignlanguageteachinginahistoricalperspective
HenrySweet(1845–1912)wasadistinguishedBritishphoneticianandpolyglot,the
manwhotaughtphoneticstoEurope(Howatt1984:180),thoughttohavebeenpor-
trayedbyShawasProfessorHigginsinPygmalion.Hismostimportantworkonforeign
languageteachingThePracticalStudyofLanguagesisnotonlyanoutstandingcontribu-
tiontothereforminlanguageteachingbuttoabalancedframeworkfirmlybasedon
linguistics.Thisbookstartswiththestatementthatalllanguagestudymustbebased
onphonetics,whichprovidesthebasisforacquiringaccuratepronunciation,andon
asystemofnotation.Phoneticsmustbelearnedasatooltoaccuratepronunciation.He
stressedtheroleofintelligibilityofcross-linguisticcontrastsbetweensounds(now
calledphonemes).Literarytextswereconsideredoflesservaluetothelanguagelearn-
erthanthecolloquialspokenlanguage.Sweetbelievedinusingtextswhichwouldbe
naturalyetsimpleenoughtobecomprehensibleasopposedto‘monstrosities,aimed
atillustratingpointsofgrammar.Thecontentorthestorylinewouldholdthetext
togetherasaconnectedwhole.Hiscriteriaforgradingtextdifficultywerebasedon
theirtypologyaswellassubjectmatter,startingwithdescriptions,thennarrativesand
finallydialogues.Asfarasthelearningcomponentisconcerned,hefollowedtheprin-
ciplesofassociationisminpsychologyandstressedtheneedofrepetitionandlearning
byheartafterthematerialhasbeenstudiedthoroughly.
HeopposedtheNaturalMethodwhichattemptedtoimitatenativelanguagelearn-
ingbyachildbecauseitputthelearnerinanunderprivilegedposition:theadult
couldnolongermakeuseoftheabilitiesofthechildyetwasnotallowedtousethe
intellectualfacultiess/hehadasanadult.Sweetstressedtheneedtocontrolthenum-
berofvocabularytobepresented(3,000commonwordswouldbesufficientforgen-
eralpurposes)healsogroupedthemthematically.Therewerefivestagesinhis
approach:1)themechanicalstageaimedatlearninggoodpronunciationandphonetic
transcription,2)thegrammaticalstage,focusedonbuildingtheknowledgeofgram-
marandbasicvocabulary,3)idiomaticstage,devotedtothelexicalmaterial,andfinally
4)theliteraryand5)archaicstages,devotedtoliteratureandphilology.
1.5.TheReadingMethod
Anothermethodwhichstressedtheneedoflearningthelanguagefromtextwas
theReadingMethod.Itwassupposedtoprovidetheanswertothecriticisms
addressedtotheDirectMethod,especiallyitsattemptstoattaintheimpossiblein
theschoolcontext.TheReadingMethodofferedasolutiontoproblemsofforeign
languageteachingbasedonthereevaluationoftheteachinggoals:thefocuswas
notonoralworkororalpracticebutonthewrittenlanguage.Itsprimaryaimwas
comprehensionofthewrittentexttodeveloptheabilityofrapidsilentreading.
Thetextswerebasedoncontrolledandlimitedvocabularybutsincereadingisan
individualmatter,theteachersintroducedsomespeakingactivitiestotalkabout
thetargetlanguageandculture(Mackey,1965).Amuchmoremodernversionof
theReadingMethodistheComprehensionApproach,asexemplifiedinthevol-
umeeditedbyHarrisWinitzTheComprehensionApproachtoForeignLanguage
Instruction,NewburyHousePubl.,RowleyMass.,1981.Thefeatureswhichthis
approachshareswiththeReadingMethodinclude,firstandforemost,theempha-
sisonlanguagecomprehensionandretardationofspeakingactivitiesuntilthe
learnerhasbeenexposedtoasufficientamountofinputforproductiontoemerge