Part D
YOu are going to read a passage about using the native language in the clasroom of second language teaching.Decide whether the statements in the box agree with the information given in the passage.You should choose from the following:
A YES=the statement agrees with the information
B NO= the statement contradicts the information
C NOT GIVEN=there is no such information in the passage
Avoiding use of the L1 in the clssroom
While fashions in language ebbed and flowed during the twentieth century,certain basic assumptions were accepted byr most language teachers. Though these assumptions have affeeted many generations of students and teachers, they are rarely dicussed or presented to new teachers but are taken for granted as the foundation of language teaching
One of these assumptions is the discouragement of L1 use in the classroom. This Convention can be phrased in stronger or weaker forms. At its strongest, it is 'Ban the L1 from the classroom.' Only in circumstances where the teacher does not speak theThe students' L1 or the students have different L ls could this be achieved. At weakest, therule is 'Minimize the L1 in the classroom, that is to say, use it as little as possible. A more optimistic ersion is ‘Maximize the L2 in the classroom’ emphasxzing theusefuhaess of the L2 rather than the harm of the fhist. However the assumption is phrased, the L2 is seen as positive,the Ll as negative. The L1 is something to be utilized in teaching but to be set aside.
Most teactdng methods since the 1880s have adopted this Direct Method avoiance of the L1.The monolingual principle,the unique contriution of the twentieth century to classroom Ianguage teaching, remains the bedrock notion from. Which the others ultimately derive.Communicative language teaching and task-bae learning mehods have no necessary relationship with the L1, yet, as we shall see, the only time that the L1 is mentioned is when advice is given on how to minimize its use.The main theoretical treatments of task-based learning do not, for example, have any locatable mentions of the classroom use of the L1. Most descriptions of methods portray the ideal classroom as having as little of the L1 as posible, essentially by omitting any reference to it .Perhaps the only exception is the grammar-translation method, which has little or no public support.
Avoidance of the L1 lies behind many teaching techniques, even if it is seldom spelled out. Most teaching manuals consider this avoidance as so obvious that no classroom use of the L1 is ever mentioned. Even writers who are less enthusiastic about avioding the L1 take issue primarily with the extent to which this is imposed.Those arguing for the L1 to be mixed with the L2 on a deliberate and consistent basis in the classroom are few and far between.Thus , this anti-L1 attitude was clearly a mainstream element in twentieth-centruy language teaching methodology.
This in not to say that teachers d not actually ue the L1 every day. Like nature, the L1 creeps back in, however many times you throw it out with a pitchfork. Even in English-only US classrooms ‘the use of the native language is so compelling that it emerges even when policies and asumption mitigate against it ‘. The UK National Curriculum still needs to remind teachers 120 years after the Great Reform that ‘the target language is the normal meas of communication’. Teachers resort to the L1 despite their best intentions and often feeling guilty for straying from the L2 path. Yes No Not given
39 New teachers are always advied to avoid using L1
[A] [B ] [C]
In the classroom
40 Most people advocate maximization of the L2 in
[A] [B ] [C]
The classroom
41 Task-based language teaching bans the use of L1 [A] [B ] [C]
42 The Direct method requires that teacher use L2
[A] [B ] [C]
Only.
43 The grammar-translation metho is criticized for
[A] [B ] [C]
Using too much L1
44 Many writers are now arguing for a
reconsideration [A] [B ] [C]
Of the value of L1
45 The Great Reform discouraged the use of L1
Section III Translation (20 minutes,20%)
Section IV Writing (40 minutes,20%)
Section III Translation (20 minutes 20%)
Read the following text carefully and then translate the underlined segments into Chinese.
Who's Afraid of Math, and Why?
The first thing people remember about failing at math is that it felt like sudden death. [46] _Whether the incident occurred while learing “word problems” in sixth grade, coping with equations in high school, or first confronting calculus and statistics in college, failure came suddenly and in a very frightening way. An idea of a new operation was not just difficult, it was impossible! And, instead of asking questions or taking the lesson slowly, most people remember having had the feeling that they would never go any further in mathematics. [47] If we assume that the curriculum was reasonable, and that the new idea was but the next in a series of learnable concepts, the feeling of utter defeat was simply not rational. And yet ‘math anxious' college students and adults have revealed that no matter how much the teacher reassured them, they could not overcome the feeling. A common myth about the nature of mathematical ability holds that one either has or does not have a mathematical mind. [48] Mathematical imagination and intuitive grasp of mathematical principles may well be needed to do advanced research, but wh3! should people who can do college-level work in other subjects not be able to do college-level math as well? Rates of learning may vary. Competency under time pressure may differ. Certainly low self-esteem will get in the way. But where is the evidence that a student needs a 'mathematical mind' in order to succeed at learning math?
Consider the effects of this mythology. [49] Since onl a few eole are su osed to have this mathematical mind, part of what makes us so passive in the face of ou, difficulties in learning mathematics is that we suspect all the while we may not be one of ‘them,' and we spend our time waiting to find out when our nonmathemaical minds will be exposed. Since our limit will eventually be reached, we see no point in being methodical or in attending to detail. We are grateful when we survive fractions, word problems, or geometry. If that certain moment of failure hasn't struck yet, it is only temporarily postponed.
Parents, especially parents of girls, often expect their children to be nonmathematical. Parents are either poor at math and had their own sudden-death experiences, or, if math came easily for them, they do not know how it feels to be slow.[50] In either case, they unwittingly foster the idea that a mathematical mind is something one either has or does not have.
Section IV Writing (40 minutes, 20 %)
Some people think elderly people (say 60 - 70 years old) should retire, while others think they should continue to work. Write an essay to state your opinion on this issue in about 300 words.