III Understanding Key Concepts

1 Language system

A language has four components: phonetics (the study of the sound system), syntactics (the study of the structure or grammar), semantics (the study of meanings of individual words), and pragmatics (the study of language use in contexts). (Martin & Nakayama, 2018)

2 Pronunciation

In China, Mandarin/Putonghua is the standard Chinese pronunciation.

Quiz Time!

• What is the standard English pronunciation in the UK?

• What is the standard English pronunciation in the US?

• What does it mean by world Englishes?

Time to Think!

Which model of pronunciation will you choose to emulate?

3 Vocabulary

(1) How important is vocabulary?

Research indicates that there is a strong positive relationship between vocabulary and foreign language proficiency, with correlation of vocabulary knowledge with reading at 0.64,grammar at 0.64, listening at 0.61–0.65, and writing at 0.70–0.79. (Alderson, 2005)

(2) Receptive vocabulary vs. productive vocabulary

Receptive vocabulary refers to words you understand in reading or listening.

Productive vocabulary refers to words you use to express yourself in speaking or writing.

(3) Vocabulary size

• Do you want to find out how big your receptive vocabulary size is?

If yes, take a test on the website http://my.vocabularysize.com.

• Do you want to find out how big your productive vocabulary size is?

If yes, read the article “A vocabulary-size test of controlled productive ability” by Batia Laufer and Paul Nation (1999), and finish the tests at the end of the article.

Make a Guess!

• What size of receptive vocabulary do you need for effective reading and listening?

• What size of productive vocabulary do you need for fluent speaking and writing?

4 Lexical chunks

Time to Reflect!

Take a minute to reflect on the way you learn new vocabulary. Is it more in the form of Column A where words are learned as individual words, or more in the form of Column B where words are learned as multiword units?

(1) Definition of lexical chunk

Lexical chunk is “a sequence, continuous, or discontinuous, of words or other elements, which is, or appears to be, prefabricated: that is, stored and retrieved whole from memory at the time of use, rather than being subject to generation or analysis by the language grammar” (Wray, 2002: 9).

(2) How important are lexical chunks?

According to Foster (2001), lexical chunks account for 32% of the English language.

Time to Think!

A good command of lexical chunks leads to more accuracy and fluency when we express ourselves in speaking and writing. Why?

5 Pushed output

Input is language which a learner hears or receives and from which he or she can learn(Richard, et al., 2000: 227). In his Input Hypothesis, Krashen (1985) claims that learners progress by understanding input that is slightly above their current level of competence. Listening and reading activities are important means of receiving input. However, Swain(1985) finds in her immersion programs in Canada, in which her English-speaking students are immersed in French learning for two years, that students’ speaking and writing proficiency is lagged behind although their listening and reading proficiency is comparable to their native speaking counterparts. She argues in her Output Hypothesis (1985) that comprehensible input alone is not sufficient to ensure that learners develop competence in productive skills such as speaking and writing. Students need to be pushed in their output to develop those productive skills, in other words, ample opportunities should be created for language learners to cultivate their speaking and writing.

Time to Think!

Have you ever thought of English learning in terms of input and output? Do you have sufficient input in English learning? Do you push yourself to produce as much output as possible in English?

6 Communicative competence

(1) Deaf and dumb English

Did you and your classmates in the middle school learn the so-called “deaf and dumb English”, that is, not being able to hear or speak the language in spite of many years of English learning?

If no, congratulations!

If yes, you have got to change your method of English learning.

(2) Communicative language teaching

Communicative language teaching, or communicative approach, advocates that the ultimate goal of foreign language learning should be the development of communicative competence, the key components of which are identified as: linguistic competence, pragmatic competence, discourse competence, strategic competence and fluency. (Canale & Swain, 1980; Hedge, 2000)

• Linguistic competence means having knowledge of pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary, and being able to apply them.

• Pragmatic competence means having social knowledge, and being able to use it to produce language forms that are appropriate to the social context.

• Discourse competence means having knowledge of cohesive devices, and being able to create coherent conversation or written texts.

• Strategic competence means having knowledge of strategies available to cope with breakdowns in conversation, and being able to use it effectively to “keep the communicative channel open” (Canale & Swain, 1980: 25).

• Fluency means being able to produce the language readily without undue hesitation.

Time to Think!

Which components of communicative competence do you need to work hard on?

7 Learning style

Have a Go!

• Choose one answer from the following three choices (A, B, or C).

You had ordered a little bookshelf online. When the package arrived, you opened it and_______.

A. read instructions before you started the assembling work.

B. called out to your father right away to ask him to explain how to go about the assembling work.

C. started the assembling work right away without bothering the instructions.

• Find out your preferred learning style by choosing one answer from the following three choices (A, B, or C).

I am a(n) _______ learner.

A. auditory (learn better by listening)

B. visual (learn better by reading)

C. kinesthetic (learn better by doing)

Time to Think!

If you are an auditory learner, maybe you learn a foreign language better by recording the new vocabulary and listening to them. Rethink about your preferred learning style.

• How can you make better use of your preferred style?

• Is your preferred style adequate in coping with all the learning tasks you have to perform?

• What other learning styles do you need to develop?

8 Effective memorizing strategy

Have a Go!

Please read each statement and circle the figure (1, 2, 3, 4, or 5) that tells how true the statement is and find out your learning strategy. (Note: 1 = Never or almost never true of me; 2 = Usually not true of me; 3 = Somewhat true of me; 4 = Usually true of me; 5 = Always or almost always true of me)

The questionnaire is to test your frequency of using effective memorizing strategies. Add up the figures you have chosen for the nine statements, divide the sum by nine, and you will get the average. If your average is more than 3.5, it means you have a high frequency of using those strategies to learn new English words. If your average is between 2.5–3.4, it means medium frequency. If your average is below 2.4, it means low frequency. (Oxford, 1990)

Time to Act!

There are 50 items in Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) (Oxford,1990), covering seven categories of second language learning strategies including remembering more effectively, using all your mental processes, compensating for missing knowledge, organizing and evaluating your learning, managing your emotions and learning with others. Take a test in its full form, and find out your strengths and weaknesses in terms of foreign language learning strategies. Then take actions!

9 Bottom-up / top-down strategies

Bottom-up / top-down strategies are cognitive strategies we often use to comprehend a text. Bottom-up strategy means “we employ lexical knowledge to assign meanings to words and use logical reasoning to infer relationships between them” (Hedge, 2000: 230). Top-down strategy involves using the prior knowledge that is stored in the listener or reader to comprehend unfamiliar information in a text, in another word, a listener or reader “brings to a text… ‘inside the head’ information, as opposed to the information that is available within the text itself ” (Hedge, 2000: 232).

Have a Go!

Cloze test: Use the two strategies you have just learned to fill in the blank.

Pollution is caused by man—by his desire for a modern way of life. We make“increasing industrialization” our chief aim. For this sake, we are willing to sacrifice everything: clean _______, pure water, good food, our health and the future of our children.

Time to Share!

After you have filled in the blank, share with your partner your bottom-up and top-down thinking processes.