Methodology in Language Learning: Countermeasure

 

The concept of language aptitude is related to the broader concept of human abilities, covering a variety of cognitively-based learner differences. Aptitude is a strong predictor of academic success, which warrants a closer look at what components this notion subsumes, how it is measured, and what its role is in the SLA process. The general term (human) mental ability is typically used in psychology to refer to a variety of human traits that are involved in thinking, reasoning, processing information, and acquiring new knowledge. In other words, mental abilities reflect cognitive processes and skills. When describing such processes and skills, experts and non-specialists alike use several terms, most notably

Ø ‘ability,’

Ø ‘aptitude,’

Ø ‘intelligence.’

Intelligence is yet another synonym for ‘ability’ but when it is used on its own (i.e., not in a phrase such as ‘spatial intelligence’ or ‘verbal intelligence’) it usually has a broader meaning, referring to a general sort of aptitude that is not limited to a specific performance area but is transferable to many sorts of performance. This general usage is explained by the fact that scores on all subtests of abilities measured by intelligence tests are positively intercorrelated, which makes it possible to compute a single higher-order factor, usually labeled as ‘g,’ that describes the commonalities of the various abilities.‘Intelligence’ in the scientific sense is not a unitary construct and several theories have been proposed in the past to describe the hierarchical organization of the many constituent abilities identified. Crystallized intelligence consists of knowledge and skills acquired by experience and education, and is specific to certain fields and domains, such as knowledge of history or mathematical skills

 

 

There is no universally accepted theory or definition of intelligence and neither is there a canonical list of ‘real’ mental abilities. The multicomponential nature of mental abilities implies, by definition, that we can expect some variation within individuals with regard to their specific abilities; that is, for example, someone with a superior verbal ability may be relatively weak at reasoning tasks.

 

 

©

Bibliography:

1)  Blundell, Lesley and Stokes, Jackie, Task listening, Cambridge University Press, 198r.

2)  Gore, Lesley, Listening to Maggie, Longman, 1979.

3)  McClintock, John and Stern, Borje, Let's listen, Heinemann EducationalBooks, 1974.

4)  Maley, Alan and Moulding, Sandra, Learning to listen, CambridgeUniversity Press, 198 I.

5)  Scott, Wendy, Are you listening?, Oxford University Press, 1980.

6)  Stokes, Jacqueline StClair, Elementary task listening, CambridgeUniversity Press, 1984.

7)  Underwood, Mary and Barr, Pauline, Listeners (series), Oxford University Press, 1980.

8)  Abbs, Brian and Jones, T., Cloudsongs, Longman, 1977.

9)  Abbs, Brian and York, N., Skyhigh, Longman, 1975.

10)         Jones, Christopher, Back home, Longman, 1980.

11)         Kingsbury, Roy, and O'Shea, Patrick, Seasons and people and other songs,Oxford University Press, 1979.

12)         Wilson, Ken, Mister Monday and other songs for the teaching of English,Longman, 197r.

13)         Wilson, Ken and Morrow, Keith, Goodbye rainbow, Longman, 1974.

14)         Seidl, Jennifer and McMordie, W., English idioms and how to use them, Oxford University Press, 1978.

15)         Wilson, F. P. (ed. ), Oxford Dictionary of English Proverbs, Oxford University Press, 1970.

16)         Brown, Gillian, Listening to spoken English, Longman, 1977.

17)         Brown, Gillian, 'Understanding spoken language', TESOL Quarterly 12:2, 1978.

18)         Brown, Gillian and Yule, George, Teaching the spoken language, Cambridge University Press, 1983.

19)         Byrne, Donn, 'Listening comprehension', Teaching oral English, Longman, 1976.

20)         Crystal, David and Davy, Derek, Investigating English style, Longman, 1969:

21)         Curfs, Emile, 'Listening deserves better', Modern English Teacher 9:3, 1982.

22)         Geddes, Marion, 'Listening', inK. Johnson and K. Morrow (eds. ),

23)         Communication in the classroom, Longman, 1981. Geddes, Marion and White, Ron, 'The use of semi-scripted simulated authentic speech and listening comprehension', Audio-visual Language journal, 1978.

24)         Littlewood, William, Communicative language teaching, Cambridge University Press, 198 I.

25)         Maley, Alan, 'The teaching of listening comprehension skills', Modern English Teacher, 1978.

26)         Porter, Don and Roberts, Jon, 'Authentic listening activities', English Language Teaching]ournal, 1981.

27)         Richards, Jack C., 'Listening comprehension', TESOL Quarterly, 1983.

28)         Rivers, Wilga, 'Hearing and comprehending', Teaching foreign language skills (revised edn.), University of Chicago Press, 1980. Widdowson, Henry, Teaching language as communication, Oxford University Press, 1978. The teaching of listening comprehension, British Council, E.L. T. Documents Special, 1981.