The role of the native language when learning a foreign language

Content 
 
Introduction 3 
Chapter 1. The role of mother tongue in learning foreign language 5 
1.1. Foreign Language and Mother Tongue 7 
1.2. Empirical data on foreign language acquisition at pre-school age 8 
1.3. The mother tongue as a base of reference 9 
Chapter 2. The techniques of using the mother tongue in learning foreign language  
2.1. Techniques of using the mother tongue in learning foreign language 10  
2.2. Bilingual techniques allow teachers to bypass the grammatical progression of textbooks.  
Conclusion 15 
The list of literature 4

Introduction

The main argument of this diploma is that people with more than one language have different knowledge of their first language (L1) than do monolingual people, and this difference can mainly be due to the effect of subsequent languages on the development and use of L1 skills. According to Grosjean (1992), Cook (1992), research on bilingualism has been under the influence of a monolingual view for decades although several researchers, including Meara (1983), Grosjean (1992), and Cook (1993), disagreed with this view because it treats both languages as if they were the first language. Meara 
argued that "there is no reason why a person who speaks 
both English and Spanish should behave in the same way as a monolingual 
speaker of either language." Grosjean suggested that the 
bilingual is a "specific speaker-hearer" and not two monolinguals in one 
body. Bilinguals and multilinguals have a unique competence that Cook 
called multicompetence, which in some respects contains a 
state of L1 knowledge different from that of monolinguals. Having 
reviewed the evidence for these differences, Cook concluded that 
people who know more than one language have a distinctive state of mind, 
multicompetence, that is not the equivalent to two monolingual states. He 
argued that multicompetence is not a final state of mind as the native 
monolingual's competence is but covers all stages of second language 
acquisition. 
The actuality of the chosen theme of the diploma work is caused by that that foreign language teaching is always connected with intercultural education, teaching of the language of international communication or the language of a neighboring country and it also means the absence of natural language environment. Very often the language atmosphere has an artificially modeled character and is limited by the walls of the classroom where the teacher creates language environment.

The reseach  interest

Learning of languages: from  elitism to general  accessibility

Learning  foreign languages  has  become  more important  over the last

decades.  Due to internationalisation and  globalisation  it  has  become important

for  everybody to master more languages  than one's mother tongue. Language

studies that  used to  be available only to a  select  group  of pupils are  now

considered  to be of importante to al1 pupils.We are  thus witnessing  a  change

of focus  in the  teaching  and  learning  of languages towards  making foreign

languages  more accessible,  an issue  which  is  also  a  main concern  of the

Council of Europe.

This  is,  however,  not merely a  quantitative, but also  a qualitative change.

We have developed  a  new  awareness  of the  nature of languages  and  language.

cornpetence.  Language in use  includes  both cultural  exposure and  cultural

expression.  This  means that  language  cornpetence  is a  social  and  cultural

cornpetence.  Accordingly the  new  perspective  of language aquisition  is less

concerned with  the  learning  process as an individual  developrnent,  and more

concerned with  the  learning  process as a  socialising  one  where  the  learner

gains  cultural cornpetence which enables hirn  or her  to  participate in society.

This  is  where  foreign language and  rnother tongue learning  rneet  in the  sense

that, on the  one  hand,  cultural insight, seen asan intrinsic  part  of rnother tongue

cornpetence,  rnay be influenced  and  broadened through  foreign  language

cornpetence,  and,  on the  other hand,  developing  cultural awareness  through

rnother tongue cornpetence,  seen as text  cornpetence, rnight  support the  learner

in the  process of acquiring a  foreign  language.  This  qualitative  change which

is embedded  in new  requirernents  of language cornpetence,  legitirnises the  new

ernphasis  on  diversity  as  well  as  on  general  accessibiliiy of language

cornpetence.  Today  we encounter new needs  for  language cornpetence,  needs

that  are  closely related to the  necessity of cultural cornpetence in society.

Communicative competence

The  definition of communicative  competence is  still  an urgent topic of

discussion  in the  language  classroom.  We have been witnessing a  narrow

understanding of the concept that  puts  limitations  on both the understanding  of

communication  as complex  human interaction  and on teaching  and learning

situations in language classrooms.

Communicative  competence is oral  as well  as written competence and

it  is often developed  through  correspondence beiween  these  iwo  traditions of

language  in use.  Oral communication  manifests itself in a  number of different

genres, informal  and  formal with  varying functions, and  so does the  tradition  of

writing. As  participants in society we  are  perpetually  confronted  with this

complexity  of textand the  complexity  becomes even more obvious in the process

of internationalisation.  We communicate with other people and  with  texts and

we take part in textual  traditions  by reading,  writing, talking,  listening  and

observing.  Communication is  interpretation  and  interaction  and  we also  have

to deal with this  in foreign languages  and foreign cultures.

A  redefinition of communicative  competence  is  necessary for  iwo

reasons.  First  it  is  important to  broaden  the  concept  so that  it  includes  al1

lingual-cultural  forms.  This  reduces  the  danger of defining language learning

as a  utilitarian and  one-dimensional activity. Secondly it  is not enough to widen

the  definition of the  concept.  We also  have to  reconsider  the  objective of

language learning  as being exclusively related to communication.  An important

function  of language  learning  is  to  be found  in the  connection  between

language and thought. Thinking is  to a great extent  a  linguistic  activity and  thus

we  form  our  thoughts  and  meanings in  language.  Speaking or writing,

therefore,  is not merely a  result  of previous thinking, it  is  shaping thoughts. This,

conseqiuently,  means that language forming  is  also an activity of thinking,  and

that  we develop our thinking  through  the  same  process as we develop  our

linguistic  competence.  Developing speaking  and thinking can  thus  be regarded

as simultaneous  and  interdependent  processes.  This  simple point is  generally

understood in  mother  tongue  teaching,  but  is  traditionally  given  less

consideration  in foreign language  teaching.

Cornrnunicative  cornpetence is not  solely  a  question  of a relationship

between  the  text  and  the  recipient  of the  text,  it  is as  rnuch  a  question  of the

relationship between  the  sender and  the  text.  The  struggle  of cornrnunication

has  to  do  with  the  lack  of control we  have over language.  Words  rnean

sornething,  independent  of what our  intentions rnay be.  We rnay easily  say  less or more  than we intended. The  conventions of language  rnay connect  our  text to systerns of rneaning  that  we are not consciously  aware  of. We rnight  in other words  risk  expressing  something  different frorn  what we wanted to express.  To cornrnunicate can  never  be a skill  learnt  once and  for  all,  it  is a  risky activity always connected  with insecuriiy  and  uncertainty. It  is  a  cornpetence  that develops  through  use  during  participation in the  arena  of hurnan interaction. To gain comrnunicative  competence  is,  therefore,  a  continuous  process  of experience  and  investigation  in the landscape of language and  rneaning.

When Henri Holec (1 996) rnaintains that learning  language,  including

foreign  languages,  is to construct one's  own language,  he seerns  to take into

account that language aiways has  a  context. But teaching  conventions that  still

flourish  in rnany  foreign language classrooms, tend to overlook this fact.

The study of personality, whether it is an observation or experiment, is a means of collecting information or evidence that may shed light on the complex issues related to behavior. The relationship between research and theory, just like a continuous interaction. As a result of careful observation or experiments establish the exact facts. Empirical or scientific method, have the exclusive right to the truth. There are many different methods, which can be used to study issues of vital importance, and they sometimes give conflicting results. Also, there is no single method that would be a perfect fit for all purposes and situations. In this respect, empiricism is perhaps the most balanced: through careful and painstaking collection and analysis of data, it is better equipped to successfully address issues under study. The empirical approach has two advantages. The first, and perhaps the greatest of his dignity - is intolerant of error. The second advantage of the empirical approach - is the clarity and precision of ideas about how to describe people and their behavioral responses. There are three main types of research strategies used by psychologists to study men: study of clinical cases, correlation analysis and formal experiments. Differing from each other with regard to specific methods, all of these strategies involve careful observation of the fact that the subject does or says. Observation is a fundamental defining characteristic of empirical research in any discipline, including personology.

The native language and a foreign one

I. The native language and attitudes to a foreign one.

1. Mastering the native speech when studying a foreign language:

a) the native language as a sum-total of adapted (routine) movements, ideas, notions (denotations - connotations);

b) a foreign language (at the fresh start stage) is not routine; every one reads in a foreign language more attentively than in the native one:

- reading in the native language involves missing mistakes, superficial understanding, shallow perception, easy shifting to mechanical reading;

- reading in a foreign language involves excessive grammar analysis; while reading in the native one vice versa lacks it;

- the criterion of the skill as the mechanical mastering of speech patterns is taken for actual speaking;

- the context of customs and traditions, of the national character, of the cultural environment and background.

2. Drawing closer together the instrumentalities of both languages:

a) taking into aware and unaware account of various linguistic and cultural phenomena and the ones indirectly connected with the language;

b) the gravitational field of the language (moral ways and habits, ethic customs, local characters). The language employs not only itself but also the semantic systems from the subconscious.

3. Practical usage of extralinguistic knowledge when getting acquainted with a foreign language.

II. Intralanguage processes and their perception by a native speaker both in the native and foreign languages.

Enlargement of semantic blocks in the native language on the one hand, and reduction of a semantic sign to a signal, on the other.

- Premonition of a certain word or phrase.

- Pleonasms and repetitions as both expressive means in a language and surrogates of new semantic expressions.

- Usage of interjections and particles as the footholds in speech.

III. Purism and a conceived mistake.

Overpurified speech as a symptom of restrained speaking in a foreign language:

1. Standards of impurity admissible in a language.

2. Words introduced as violators and colourings of time (parasite words). The positive and necessary role they play.

3. Language cliches and colourful metaphoric speech.

IV. Rhythm and language.

1. Link between an image and rhythm.

2. Rhythm and semantic (foothold) accents in the native and foreign languages.

3. Speech intonation and perception of music.

V. Sphere of intonation.

1. Language as a system of intonations with conceived phonetic barriers.

2. Undetailed speaking in the native language.

3. Comprehension of the principles of careless literary colloquial speaking in a foreign language.

The mother tongue as a base of reference

I present a theory that restores the mother tongue to its rightful place as the most important ally a foreign language can have, one which would, at the same time, redeem some 2000 years of documented foreign-language teaching, which has always held the mother tongue in high esteem. The mother- tongue is, for all school subjects, including foreign-language lessons, a child's strongest ally and should, therefore, be used systematically. In contrast, methodological thought throughout the 20th century has been dominated by a negative metaphor: Foreign language teachers build islands that are in constant danger of being flooded by the sea of the mother tongue. They have to fight back this sea, build dams against it, stem its tide.

This much is true: Every new language is confronted by an already-existing mother tongue. All languages are competitors in the sense that if they are not used, they may be lost, and there is only a limited amount of time that can be shared between them. Precisely because the mother tongue is always available, it is so easy to avoid using a foreign language - a constant temptation for pupils and teachers. We do not learn any language by using another one. This is a truth that has nonetheless led to false beliefs. And, in contrast to this view, I present the following theory:

The theory predicts that the mother tongue as a cognitive and pedagogical resource will be more important for pupils of seven or eight upwards, by which time the mother tongue has taken firm root, and it will be more in evidence in the conventional classroom, where exposure to the FL is inevitably restricted, than in immersion situations.

Techniques of Learning Foreign Languages

Today more and more people are interested in learning foreign languages all because of the expanding economies following globalization. There are many institutions teaching foreign language courses. This article is meant as a guide to help you understand basic techniques of learning foreign languages.

Increasing competition has resulted in many businesses going global and this in turn has increased the need for multi lingual work force. Learning languages can not only be a fun activity but also give you the added edge when you look for a job. It is a well accepted fact that a person who is well versed in a foreign language earns more than one who is not. There are several companies offering foreign language learning courses and several learning techniques are also propounded by industry experts that allow people to learn foreign languages easily. If certain techniques of learning foreign languages are followed then mastery of different languages can be easily achieved.  
 
How to Learn Foreign Languages:

The most basic technique of learning a foreign language is to repeat a word in your own language and the associated word for it in the foreign language again and again.

One of the effective learning strategies include using images so as to associate or link between the words in your language and the foreign language. E.g.: For the English word rug the French counterpart word is tapis. In this case the learner can use his imagination by thinking of a carpet with a picture of a tap on it. This technique called as the ‘LinkWord’ technique is among the most effective learning techniques and was developed Dr. Michael Gruneberg.

Learning vocabulary in any language can be simplified by using items for association that are easily found in the city or town. E.g.: To recollect the word for vegetables in the foreign language one may use the image of the vegetables put on display in the greengrocer’s shop in your town. This technique allows you to find associations for adjectives, verbs and even genders since you use associations and images in your town and are most familiar with them.

Learning new words is easier when you understand their context and meaning. Likewise grammar is best learned through examples and practice so that the learner can distinguish between what is right and what isn’t.

While learning vocabulary it is important to understand that there are around 100 words that are actually used and these cover about 50% of the words used in the foreign language. This aspect was pointed out by Tony Buzan in his book ‘Using your Memory’. Learning these 100 words can help you to understand and put to practice the basics of the foreign language.

Foreign language learning can become a fun activity if you have some friends that are native speakers of that language. That way you can understand the culture of the country and the language itself. You can also put to practice your understanding and your friends can always guide you about the ways to authentically master the foreign language.

Foreign language learning can of course become easy if you enroll in some part time or full time course. With professional guidance, learning languages becomes easier since you often have tutors who provide instruction along with several tools such as notes, audio tapes and so on. Regular feedback is also provided along with tests and assignments so that an appraisal of the progress can be done.

You can also choose to study the language in the country where it is spoken. The biggest advantage in this is that you can be completely immersed in understanding the language and learning the language will be a full time activity and not just for a few hours like that in a class.

There are also several online courses offering foreign language learning. These paid courses come equipped with tutors that interact with the students through email, chat and even video conferencing. There are also several books and other self study material available for learning languages. CD's, cassettes and videos are also available in the market that aims to teach languages.

It is important to understand that foreign language learning can prove to be effective only when the learner spends adequate time in listening, studying, reading, speaking and writing in that language. Patience and a love for that language is equally important because it takes time to learn a new language.

Bilingual techniques allow teachers to bypass the grammatical progression of textbooks. No postponement of the subjunctive.

"Gestern war Sonntag" is just as easy for a five-year-old to understand as "Heute ist Montag", but not for two-year-olds given their undeveloped understanding of temporal space. English pupils who have been encouraged early on to say things like "Ich habe leider mein Buch vergessen" [I'm sorry I forgot my book] have a reference point from which to make sense of the form when it comes to be formally taught. The reluctance to introduce the past tenses very early on does not take into consideration the pioneering work that the mother tongue has already done, much to the benefit of the foreign language. Similarly, English pupils could easily handle a subjunctive such as "Ich hätte gern eine Cola" in their first week of lessons. Again, this will make it easier to choose authentic texts. The appreciation of this point alone could revolutionize foreign-language teaching worldwide.

In an English grammar book, we read something like: "Together with the infinitive of the perfect, needn't assumes past meaning, thus negating, or questioning, the necessity of an already-completed action." Of course, it starts to make sense with an example. But it makes even more sense if the example is accompanied by an idiomatic translation. Now the explanation is superfluous:

The more difficult it gets, the more we need the MT. Here, oral utterance equivalents as used by Dodson are best (intonation!):

This example is by no means far-fetched. The problem of meaning-conveyance has mostly been discussed in terms of individual words - whether a word equivalence such as "la paix"= "peace" can be avoided by means of a monolingual explanation. This leaves out a large number of the greatest problems learners have with FL meanings, namely those which are largely determined by context. This becomes obvious when using comic strips in the classroom.

Apart from clarifying grammatical functions and nuances of grammatical meanings by idiomatic translations, we can clarify grammatical structures through literal translation or the "Technik der Spiegelung" (mirroring), although perhaps only for learners whose MT is firmly in place. This is a time-honoured technique and frequently used in modern grammars of "exotic" languages. It is a shame that it is so little used in classrooms. Thus, for example, "... we may note a disconcerting logic about German which, putting the adjective before the noun, like all Germanic languages, puts the whole of an adjective phrase there, too. English has 'buttered bread', but 'bread spread with butter and jam'; German has 'with butter and strawberry jam spread bread'. In other words, in speaking German, one must have the entire content of one's adjective phrase ready before the noun which it qualifies makes its appearance." (Burgess, 1992: 110). So this is how German word-order could be explained, again just once, at a first encounter:

German compounds, if they are not transparent at first sight, could also be clarified: Germans say Handschuh "hand-shoe" for "glove", and "Faustregel" , i.e. "rule of fist" instead of "rule of thumb". That way, the foreign word has a familiar ring to it, and has become less foreign. At the same time, we might refer English learners to Shakespeare (Lady Macbeth: "O! Never shall sun that morrow see!") or the Authorized Version of the Bible: "Woman, why weepest thou?" [Weib, warum weinst du?] (John 20,13;).

Finally, a serial verb construction from a remote (West-African) language:

The language learner needs to understand both what is meant (the message) and how it is said (syntactical transparency). If the phrases he uses remain structurally opaque he will produce errors such as voici sont les livres and Rebecca j'aime le EastEnders (= Rebecca likes East-Enders).

I have always found word-for-word and sometimes morpheme-for-morpheme translations an elegant and economical way of helping learners see through unaccustomed and odd-sounding FL structures without resorting to grammatical terminology. So have countless language teachers in past centuries. Grammatical explanation by imitation, not by analysis.

Leading German textbooks have bilingual grammar and vocabulary sections (must not = nicht dürfen). Here, common sense has prevailed, but only part of the problem has been solved since the practice remains without a solid theoretical underpinning. Moreover, many countries still favour purely monolingual textbooks. It is in these countries, where purely English-language textbooks are widespread, that pupils truly suffer.

Bilingual practice

Does the theory work in practice? There are a variety of bilingual practices. They do not, however, in any way belong to the standard repertoire of techniques used in the schools. Some 'historical' teaching techniques only need to be revamped a little. In addition to the techniques mentioned above I will name five more ways of using the mother tongue that appear to be particularly important - all have historical precedents, and accomplish different objectives in different teaching contexts. Deller & Rinvolucri (2002) contains more than a hundred teaching suggestions involving the use of the MT.

1. In some bilingual nursery schools and elementary schools, for instance, in Alsace, children spend half of their time being looked after by one teacher, speaking only French, and the other half of their time with another, speaking only German. Since the teachers only ever use their mother- tongue, the technique gives the impression of being a monolingual (or a bi-monolingual) one; however, the children are perfectly free to answer in their mother tongue throughout the first year, and only slowly grow into the second language (Petit, 1999).

2. A teaching technique that uses the generative principle of language acquisition; a new form of bilingual structure exercise (bilingual cue drills, translation pattern practice; Butzkamm 1973; 2002b).

3. Teaching the intelligent use of bilingual dictionaries first, and introducing monolingual dictionaries later (Thompson, 1987)

4. Adult students prepare special topics in their MT before transferring to the FL. There were clear gains in precision and clarity, reports Tudor (1987).

5. Translations of short passages into the MT can be turned into an imaginative and highly interactive exercise (Edge, 1986).

It should be added that the direct method is not obligatory with linguistically mixed classes. If there is some continuity, we can ask former pupils to provide translations of excellent basic texts we might want to use again and again. These translations are then given to newcomers to help them digest the new material at home before it is dealt with in class. Thus we work with "linguistic informants" like the missionaries who did everything they could to find bilingual helpers, and had no trust at all in a monolingual approach which they knew from experience made linguistic survival so much harder.

Conclusion

The teaching of foreign languages has yet to reach that point where answerable, empirical questions can be solved convincingly by empirical studies, and for everybody alike. In my opinion, however, the theory on offer is concrete and elaborate enough to merit serious consideration from now on. The pupils of today are not being well served by stalling tactics. The evidence that is available calls monolingual approaches into question and opens up new paths in teaching methodology and materials production. Hammerly (1991: 151) estimates that the judicious use of the MT in carefully crafted techniques "can be twice as efficient (i.e. reach the same level of second language proficiency in half the time), without any loss in effectiveness, as instruction that ignores the students' native language."

We should finally free ourselves of a fundamental misconception and re-establish the more than two-thousand-year-old productive alliance between the mother tongue and foreign languages - without repeating the mistakes that were made that first time round.