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Neologisms for Language Learning Reviews

 Language Learning Forum : Lessons in Polyglottery Post Reply
DaraghM
Diglot
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Ireland
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1947 posts - 2923 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish
Studies: French, Russian, Hungarian

 
 Message 1 of 4
26 May 2008 at 8:41am | IP Logged 
Prof. Arguelles,

Your review of various language series are thoughtful, thorough and unique. You've identified a trend in language instruction, from the earlier grammar intensive structured approaches to the more haphazard phrase book approach of the later Colloquial and Teach Yourself series. In light of this, and being one of the worlds only language series experts, would you create suitable neologisms or nomenclature to describe these approaches, and the other methods that self instructed language courses use ?

D.Malone.

Edited by DaraghM on 26 May 2008 at 9:41am

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ProfArguelles
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foreignlanguageexper
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 Message 2 of 4
26 May 2008 at 1:18pm | IP Logged 
I believe I know what you are getting at, and, if so, it is an intriguing idea to which I will give some thought, but please do add some more details and perhaps some examples to your request so that I can be sure that I am not going off on a tangent.
AA
1 person has voted this message useful



DaraghM
Diglot
Senior Member
Ireland
Joined 5911 days ago

1947 posts - 2923 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish
Studies: French, Russian, Hungarian

 
 Message 3 of 4
27 May 2008 at 4:27am | IP Logged 
Prof. Arguelles,

Thanks for the feedback. I believe the categories that were used to describe the different approached to classroom instruction, could be extended to cover the paradigms used in self instructed courses. Taking the existing classroom methodologies,


  • Grammar Translation Method

  • The Direct Approach

  • Total Physical Response

  • The Silent Way

  • Functional-notional Approach



we could extend these in a systematic way, to describe the various approaches that the language courses have taken. There is also the potential to derive new terminology to describe the changes that some of these course have undergone over time, rather than using the colloquial 'dumbing down' description. Given your extensive knowledge of world languages, it may be possible to derive neologisms that aren't necessarily based on the traditional Greek or Latin roots, but other languages which capture some of the concepts better.

E.g. Taking the Russian (передумать - to change one's mind), we could label some approaches as peredumatic, when they change their techniques or methods. This isn't a good example, but I hope it conveys the idea.

D.Malone.

Edited by DaraghM on 27 May 2008 at 4:46am

2 persons have voted this message useful



ProfArguelles
Moderator
United States
foreignlanguageexper
Joined 7016 days ago

609 posts - 2102 votes 

 
 Message 4 of 4
03 July 2008 at 7:00pm | IP Logged 
Mr. Malone,

I am sorry, I have not given this the consideration I promised. Finding your interesting query again right now and jotting of thoughts from the top of my head, I would go about answering your question thus:
It seems to me that, about 50 years ago, there was a set of four assumptions behind many language courses, viz.:
1)     The course should introduce the culture, history, literature, etc. of the language
2)     The course could use grammatical terms for grammatical explanations
3)     The course could expect the student to study, i.e., apply himself to the task.
4)     The course should be substantive and thorough enough to introduce an adequate vocabulary of several thousand words.

Today, on the other hand, the opposite assumptions generally prevail, viz.
1)     The course should focus purely on functional daily conversations
2)     The course must avoid grammatical terminology in favor of “learning how to” phrasing (e.g., instead of calling the future tense the future tense, one should say “in this chapter, you will learn how to say that you will do something.”)
3)     The course cannot expect the student to study but should promise effortless acquisition of abilities
4)     The course must not be intimidating or overwhelming, so it is best to present fewer and fewer words.

Given that I obviously prefer the first set of assumptions, I will label them +, and the second set -. Thus, I would characterize a course that has all four of the first as a +4 course, whereas one that has all of the latter would be a -4 course.
I hope this helps!
Alexander Arguelles



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