This document discusses key concepts in language teaching and language acquisition. It covers 12 topics: 1. Language teaching involves teaching vocabulary, structures, pronunciation, and function. However, languages differ in their rules and conventions. 2. Language acquisition in children is remarkable in that it happens efficiently and without formal instruction, through natural interaction and exposure to language from a young age. 3. Both accuracy and fluency are important goals in language learning, but they require distinguishing between practices that emphasize correct usage versus effective communication. Interesting communicative tasks can increase student motivation.

1. ULUDAG UNIVERSITY
ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING DEPARTMENT
LANGUAGE
AND
LANGUAGE LEARNING
AYLİN AYDIN

2. 1. Language teaching is teaching language
A language is many things; it is a system, a code, a
set of conventions , a means of communication etc.
Language is a complex phenomenon; it can be
viewed as many different things.

3. Language is a system
The teacher who understands language as a
system will see the necessity for activities
which lead to understanding.

4. Language is a habit
Many pieces of language are learned in quite large
holes.
The emphasis is not on understanding, but on the
ability to respond automatically.
The teacher who sees language as a habit will see
the necessity for repetition and intensive oral
practice.

5. Language is a set of conventions
Social conventions vary from country to country.
Using the social conventions of one country in another
may lead to embarrassment, confusion or
misunderstanding.
The teacher who sees language as a set of
conventions will see the necessity of contrasting the
conventions of the language with the student‘s own
language and society.

6. Language is a means of communication
Language is used by one person to another
in order to communicate a message.
Teachers who recognise as communication
will see the necessity for interesting texts,
individualised teaching, pair work etc.

7. Language is a means to an end
Language is not used for its own sake; it is used
for a purpose – to convey information or emotion,
to help the memory in note taking, to entertain a
play, to explore feelings and understanding in
poetry.
The teacher who recognizes language as a means
to an end will see the necessity for looking at why
particular pieces of language are useful.

8. Language is a natural activity
People who study language sometimes talk
about language like behavior. It is language
often found in older textbooks or heard in
too may classrooms.

9. English is not in England
There is a temptation for many teachers to
tell about what they know about Britain
should form part of their English lesson.
But teachers should remember they are
primarily teaching language, not culture.

10. Language is not a syllabus
School systems either have an explicit
syllabus, often structurally arranged, or a
syllabus which is defined by an examination
system.
This doesn‘t mean that English can be
identified with the examination syllabus.
As far as it should be the students‘
needs and the real nature of language.

11. English is not ‘’my’’ English
Native teachers have a tendency to believe that
because they say it , a language ,tem could be
taught to students.
Non native teachers have a tendency to believe
that because they know something, their students
also need to know it.
But language teaching is about ‗‘selection’’.

12. English is not an aesthetic experience
There are lots of students studying English for
specific purposes. Such students are hardly likely
to be encouraged.
So, there are 2 decisive criteria:
1. Is this going to help these ss to achieve their
objectives?
2. Does the activity reflect the nature of language?

13. 2. Languages are different
Languages are different in the obvious
sense.
For example:
a table (in English)
ett bord (in Swedish)
ein tisch (in German)

14. Here are some more examples:
 Finnish doesn‘t use prepositions.
 Russian doesn‘t possess articles.
 Pronouns are frequently omitted in spoken
Italian.
In general, students tend to assume that the
language they are learning behaves similarly to
their own native language. But languages are
different.

15. 3. Language is what, how, and why
 What (vocabulary and structures)
 How (pronunciation, stress, intonation)
 Why (function)

16. Note :
Structures are frequently not equivalent from
language to language.
For example: English frequently indicates doubt by
a rising intonation at the end of a verb phrase; this
is not true in many other languages.

17. 4. Level is a complex idea
Students learning a foreign language follows a
syllabus. The syllabus lists and sequences the
structures the students need to know.
Be careful that the syllabus shouldn’t be
based only on structure.

18. Here are some of the factors which make
language difficult :
The occurence of a lot of words the reader or
listener doesn‘t know.
Reading text which is written in complex rather
simple sentences.
Reading a text written in a particular style –
newspaper headlines, official letters etc.
Listening to a non-standard or unfamiliar accent.
The destiny of new language or new ideas.
The lenght of the text, either written or spoken.

19. 5. Natural language has a place in all
courses
There is opportunity to provide a natural
and interesting basis for language learning
at all levels by introducing authentic
material.
It is important to pre-select and arrange
the materials for textbooks. If students are
ever to use the language outside the
classroom, pre-selection in not possible.

20. Real material show students that what
they are learning is useful outside the
classroom.
a foreign language is not something real;
it is a subject on the timetable three times
week, a strange intellectual game played
with one of the teachers.
It is good to introduce something real into
the classroom.

21. 6. Knowing the language is not enough
Every classroom activity should have a
specific purpose. All natural language use
has a purpose – to give information, to
express emotion, to advance an argument
etc.
Classroom activities should be planned so
that they do have a real, natural
communicative purpose.

22. 7. Most language skills can be divided into
sub-skills
As we know, level depends on more than the
structures used.
It depends on the length of the text and the
difficulty of the task. One of the skills of language
teaching, is to help students by breaking down
large tasks into smaller, more detailed, tasks and
selecting the correct length of text.

23. The ability to use a language, both
receptively and productively, implies an
understanding of the structure of small
units as phrases, and large units as
chapters.
The general problem of understanding the
text can be broken down into a sequence
of more specific problems.

24. 8. Hear, speak, read, write is a good
sequence
There can be no absolute rules for the ―best
order‖ for presentation of the four skills.
In general, for spelling is often confusing in
English, the sequence above is usually best.

25. How people learn their own language
shows us the obvious priority of listening.
Modern theoreticians make the distinction
between language learning and language
acquisition.
If this distinction is accepted it is obvious
that listening has particular significance.
Without being strict about a sequence it is
helpful to follow the above.

26. 9. Language learning is cyclical
Old fashioned syllabuses assumed that
language learning was linear. It means
that the structures of the language were
presented in a single sequence.
Nowadays nobody believes language
learning is linear; the same language item
needs to be studied again and again
throughout a course.

27. There are at least three reasons why this
needs to be done:
 Learners forget, so revision is necessary
from time to time.
 Additional uses of a structure need to be
studied. E.g. Irregular past tense forms
are needed in many conditional
sentences.
 As learners advance, they need to deepen
their understanding.

28. The cyclical nature of language learning is
not confined to structure; it relates to all
areas of language learning.
A simple example is pronunciation.
There is no guarantee that, once students
have produced a sound in the language
correctly they will never mis-pronounce it
again.

29. 10. Language learning is used for different
purposes in the classroom
Teachers should be aware of why they are
using a particular piece of language in the
lesson. If students are to use the language
item it must be suitable for their active
vocabulary.
The principle is that teachers need to be
aware of the function of what they are
saying. Otherwise,students will be exposed
to unnecessary and confusing language.

30. 11. Do not be afraid of the students’
mother tongue
There is a real danger in word-for-word
translation but to ban the students‘ mother
tongue from the classroom is not a good idea.
However, there are considerable advantages to
allowing both languages in the classroom.
Permitting both languages usually ensures that
much of the work is more interesting, and a
higher standard of English is achieved.

31. It can also be useful :
 If students need to discuss a difficulty with
the teacher
 If students are working in groups preparing
or discussing material, it is not essential
that the whole discussion takes place in
English.

32. 12. Motor skills need practice
Language learning involves skills of different types,
and some of these skills are purely physical. E.g.
Recognizing and making the distinction between /b/
and /p/ requires a lot of practice, if you are not
familiar with these distinctions in your own
language.
Students whose writing system does not use the
same alphabet as English may have difficulties in
the motor skills associated with writing.

33. 13. Distinquish clearly between accuracy and
fluency practices
Language learning has two distinct objectives:
 Learning to use the language fluently as an
effective means of communication
 Using the language accurately
The student who makes too many mistakes will
not communicate well. On the other hand, it is
possible to communicate effectively even if the
message contains too many formal errors.

34. Accuracy practices place the emphasis on
language learning. Thus, they are not very
exciting but are an important part of the
learning process.
In fluency practices, teachers must not correct
every mistake. They should encourage
students to use all means to get their message
across.
Teachers should also keep in mind a single
distinction:
Is the emphasis of this activity on accuracy or

35. 14. Interesting communicative tasks increase motivation
Communicative tasks enable students to use the language
actively and develop the skills necessary to find a
solution. These tasks may be of many different kinds.
For example:
 If there are tourists in your town, students can prepare a
questionnaire and interview people outside.
 Students can prepare a simple guide to their town or
region.
 If students are studying a particular area in another
subject, you can integrate the topic you are studying with
what they are doing in. E.g. History or physics
They can use English language material from the library
to gather information relevant to their other subjects.

36. Language Acquisition
Language acquisition is one of the central topics
in cognitive science.
Language is the main vehicle by which we know
about other people's thoughts.
Every time we speak we are revealing
something about language, so the facts of
language structure are easy to come by.
Nonetheless, learning a first language is
something every child does successfully, in a
matter of a few years and without the need for
formal lessons.

37. Children acquire language quickly, and
easily. It happens automatically, whether their
parents try to teach them or not.
Although parents don't teach their children to
speak, they do perform an important role by
talking to their children.
Children who are never spoken to will not
acquire language.
Children acquire language through
interaction — not only with their parents and
other adults, but also with other children.

38. All normal children who grow up in normal
households, surrounded by conversation,
will
acquire the language that is being used
around them.
And it is just as easy for a child to acquire
two or more languages at the same time,
as long as they are regularly interacting
with speakers of those languages.

39. Children acquire meanings with the use of
processes modeled by latent semantic
analysis; that is, when they meet an
unfamiliar word, children can use
information in its context to correctly guess
its rough area of meaning.

40. References
Pinker, S. (1995) An Invitation to Cognitive Science
L. R. Gleitman, M. Liberman, and D. N. Osherson
(Eds.),
( 2nd Ed. Volume 1: Language). Cambridge, MA: MIT
Press.
Birner, B. (2005) Linguistic Society of America
Language Acquisition
Washington, DC 20036-6501
Chomsky, N. (1975). Reflections on Language.
New York: Pantheon Books.