[B-Greek] online Greek texbook and classes - help and advice sought
Randall Buth
randallbuth at gmail.com
Tue Apr 12 08:37:54 EDT 2011
On Tue, Apr 12, 2011 at 1:49 PM, Randall Buth <randallbuth at gmail.com> wrote:
> Shirley,
>
> I appreciated reading 'how to learn a language.' Thank you for sharing.
> One sentence caught my eye as on target but needing some further
> clarification:
>
>> It is IMPOSSIBLE to develop fluency or comprehension if we do not
>> hear a language, and the main way online students get to hear a
>> language is by speaking it themselves.
>
> The first statement would receive general agreement in the Second
> Language Acquisition (SLA) field as referring to internalized, rapid
> comprehension. Amen.
> However, the second half is not really supported. Vocalizing does
> not 'internalize', even if it's understood. There is a fairly universal
> consensus that speaking and listening must be done in the framework of
> meaningful communication. It is that rapid give and take with a focus on
> meaning that puts a language and structures deep inside a person. That
> is why we're doing the Fresno Greek Immersion Workshop. Both
> teachers and students need an opportunity to rapidly and continuously
> interact in the language at times. If reading outloud worked,
> most Greek teachers and second language learners would be quite
> fluent and SLA would have a delightfully easy time.
>
PS:
We had a related conversation last week and I append two points from the
article by Rod Ellis that illustrate the above:
"1. In the eyes of many theorists (e.g. Prabhu 1987; Long 1996) , only
when learners are engaged in decoding and encoding messages in the
context of
actual acts of communication are the conditions created for acquisition to
take place.
2. To develop true fluency in an L2, learners must have opportunities to
create pragmatic meaning (DeKeyser, 1998)."
ERRWSO
IWANHS
--
Randall Buth, PhD
www.biblicallanguagecenter.com
Biblical Language Center
Learn Easily - Progress Further - Remember for Life
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