Post by Admin on Jun 16, 2014 14:03:13 GMT
Michael Halliday is a British-born Australian linguist who developed the internationally influential systemic functional linguistic model of language (Wikipedia). Halliday articulated three ways a child learns language:
Learning Language - Acquiring language, and putting to use. An example of this in the EFL classroom might be learning vocabulary associated with a given topic.
Learning through Language - Learning by doing. This is the belief which underpins project-based and task-based learning. Refers to language in the construction of reality: how we use language to build up a picture of the world in which we live... the part played by language in shaping and transmitting the world view of each and every human culture.
Learning about Language - Coming to understand the nature and functions of language itself. An example might be studying grammar.
In an age in which the 'fluency vs accuracy' argument continues to divide language teachers, these distinctions seem particularly helpful. Which of these should be the focus of language teaching?
[the body of this text was adapted from 'Thinking learning and teaching' blog]
Learning Language - Acquiring language, and putting to use. An example of this in the EFL classroom might be learning vocabulary associated with a given topic.
Learning through Language - Learning by doing. This is the belief which underpins project-based and task-based learning. Refers to language in the construction of reality: how we use language to build up a picture of the world in which we live... the part played by language in shaping and transmitting the world view of each and every human culture.
Learning about Language - Coming to understand the nature and functions of language itself. An example might be studying grammar.
In an age in which the 'fluency vs accuracy' argument continues to divide language teachers, these distinctions seem particularly helpful. Which of these should be the focus of language teaching?
[the body of this text was adapted from 'Thinking learning and teaching' blog]