Methodology in Language Learning: Concept

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Language aptitude testing was originally motivated by exactly the same reasons as the testing of intelligence, namely to identify hopelessly untalented students in state schools. Two labels of English learning emerged - analytical and synthetic The former involves constructing tasks that tap specific cognitive abilities that are assumed to play a significant role in language learning; these tasks are in the students’ first language and usually concern some aspect of verbal intelligence. In contrast, the synthetic approach involves devising mini learning tasks that the students have to carry out as part of the test-taking process, and based on their achievement in learning certain aspects of an artificial language or a rare existing L2, generalizations are made about the learners’ likely performance in a real language learning program.

 

Ever since the MLAT(The Modern Language Aptitude Test) and the PLAB (the Pimsleur Language Aptitude Battery) were introduced, language aptitude has been equated in most research studies with the scores of one of these (or some other, similar) tests and the tacit understanding in the L2 research community has been that language aptitude is what language aptitude tests measure. Although such a pragmatic test-based definition might appear rather unscientific, the fact is that the study of cognitive abilities has often been characterized in the past by such an atheoretical and assessment-based approach in psychology.



These observations are good illustrations of the fact that if properly conducted, the trial-and-error method can produce instruments with adequate psychometric capacities, yet these outcomes are somewhat ad hoc with two separate attempts in our case resulting in two rather different instruments that also contain certain theoretically questionable elements. The other side of the coin is, however, that reliable instruments that appear to tap into some psychological construct can subsequently be used to define the content and the boundaries of the construct in question. This has been, for example, the dominant route in intelligence research: By submitting various intelligence test scores to complex multivariate statistical analyses, researchers were able to specify a number of underlying cognitive abilities

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University of Oxford - post gradual studies 2009 'English Language Teaching'

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 Educational Books, 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

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