基于心灵主义理论的英语教学若干问题讨论

基于心灵主义理论的英语教学若干问题讨论
Mentalist View of Adult SLA and Its Implications for English Language Teaching

>2001年 第17卷 第01期
作者: 王治琴,

期刊 ISSN : 1006-4729(2001)01-0069-07
心灵主义理论认为学习者的语言知识是一个不断向目的语方向改进的内在系统.成人习得第二语言的序列与儿童是相同的,但是由于成人有自身的特点,习得的顺序与儿童习得的顺序是不同的.成人能够较儿童进行更为复杂更为抽象的思维,而且具有第一语言知识及习得第一语言的技巧.因此,成人似乎应该比儿童更容易更迅速习得语言.然而,由于情感等因素,成人习得第二语言的成就往往不及儿童.基于该理论,本文提出成人英语教学若干建议.


The Mentalist Theory of Language Learning
Wallace K. Ewing1

1WALLACE K. EWING (Ph.D., Univ. of Illinois) is Assistant Professor of English in the Division of English as a Secondary Language at the University of Illinois. Widely traveled, he has served as a Fulbright Professor of English, University of Tehran, Iran, Field Director for the Teacher Training Program in Puerto Rico, and as Specialist Consultant for the Peace Corps, Sierra Leone (1968) and for the U.S. Office of Economic Opportunity (1969–70). He is a member of TESOL and ACTFL.

Copyright 1972 American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages
ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT The behaviorist theory of language and language learning fails to account for the innovative and creative nature of language use, phenomena that the mentalists claim they can account for. Language, the mentalists say, is internal, rule-governed, and abstract. The human organism has an innate predisposition toward language acquisition, being in a sense programmed for language. This predisposition accounts for the rapidity and uniformity with which the child learns his native language. The organism\'s innate ability to process language input gradually deteriorates and seems to be totally inoperative by the time that physical maturity is reached. In terms of second language acquisition, the mentalist theory invites revaluation of present classroom procedures and materials. Specifically, greater emphasis needs to be put on the student\'s competence as opposed to his performance.


文章基于经验主义、心灵主义哲学,探讨语言共性和个性;通过对比经验主义与心灵主义,阐明语言共性的内容及证据以及语言共性和个性的辩证关系.结论是:经验主义和心灵主义都不是语言理论得以建立的完美的哲学基础,在语言实践中,经验主义继续得到广泛应用,而心灵主义则受到语言哲学界的欢迎.建立在经验主义基础上的布隆菲尔德语言理论在教学实践中仍有很大应用价值;而建立在心灵主义哲学基础上的乔姆斯基语言理论对自动翻译等人工智能的发展有指导作用.经验主义和心灵主义并非完全对立,二者在数理语言学中得到了统一,成为数理语言学的哲学基础