eBook downloads, eBook resources & eBook authors
The book is based on the assumption that the classroom program is a major resource for language development, and that a responsive program takes into account the fact that children are not only learning a new language, but that they are learning in that language as well.
Introduction. Foundations : language learning through cooperative learning -- Structures -- Social roles -- Getting to know you -- Making words mine -- Guided grammar experiences -- Writing skills -- Lesson designs -- References & resources
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • For anyone who wants to learn a foreign language, this is the method that will finally make the words stick. “A brilliant and thoroughly modern guide to learning new languages.”—Gary Marcus, cognitive psychologist and author of the New York Times bestseller Guitar Zero At thirty years old, Gabriel Wyner speaks six languages fluently. He didn’t learn them in school—who does? Rather, he learned them in the past few years, working on his own and practicing on the subway, using simple techniques and free online resources—and here he wants to show others what he’s discovered. Starting with pronunciation, you’ll learn how to rewire your ears and turn foreign sounds into familiar sounds. You’ll retrain your tongue to produce those sounds accurately, using tricks from opera singers and actors. Next, you’ll begin to tackle words, and connect sounds and spellings to imagery rather than translations, which will enable you to think in a foreign language. And with the help of sophisticated spaced-repetition techniques, you’ll be able to memorize hundreds of words a month in minutes every day. This is brain hacking at its most exciting, taking what we know about neuroscience and linguistics and using it to create the most efficient and enjoyable way to learn a foreign language in the spare minutes of your day.
Strategies in Learning and Using a Second Language examines what it takes to achieve long-term success in languages beyond the first language. Distinguishing language learning from language-use strategies, Andrew D. Cohen disentangles a morass of terminology to help the reader see what language strategies are and how they can enhance performance. Particular areas of research examined in the book include: - links between the use of task-specific strategies and language performance - how multilinguals verbalise their thoughts during language learning and use strategies that learners use in test-taking contexts In this fully revised and substantially rewritten second edition, every chapter has been reworked, with material either updated or replaced. Entirely new material has also been developed based on examples of specific strategies supplied by actual learners, mostly drawn from a website featuring these strategies in the learning of Spanish grammar.Strategies in Learning and Using a Second language will be an invaluable resource for language teachers and researchers, as well as for administrators of second language programmes and for students of applied linguistics.
Understanding what constitutes expertise in language learning and teaching is important for theoretical reasons related to psycholinguistic, and applied linguistic, enquiry. It also has many significant applications in practice, particularly in relation to the training and practice of language teachers and improvements in students' strategies of learning. In this volume, methodologies for establishing what constitutes expert practice are discussed and the contributions address the fields of listening, reading, writing, speaking and communication strategies, looking at common characteristics of the 'expert teacher' and the 'expert learner'.
Here is an informative introduction to language: its origins in the past, its growth through history, and its present use for communication between peoples. It is at the same time a history of language, a guide to foreign tongues, and a method for learning them. It shows, through basic vocabularies, family resemblances of languages -- Teutonic, Romance, Greek -- helpful tricks of translation, key combinations of roots and phonetic patterns. It presents by common-sense methods the most helpful approach to the mastery of many languages; it condenses vocabulary to a minimum of essential words; it simplifies grammar in an entirely new way; and it teaches a language as it is actually used in everyday life.
The Way of The Linguist, A language learning odyssey. It is now a cliché that the world is a smaller place. We think nothing of jumping on a plane to travel to another country or continent. The most exotic locations are now destinations for mass tourism. Small business people are dealing across frontiers and language barriers like never before. The Internet brings different languages and cultures to our finger-tips. English, the hybrid language of an island at the western extremity of Europe seems to have an unrivalled position as an international medium of communication. But historically periods of cultural and economic domination have never lasted forever. Do we not lose something by relying on the wide spread use of English rather than discovering other languages and cultures? As citizens of this shrunken world, would we not be better off if we were able to speak a few languages other than our own? The answer is obviously yes. Certainly Steve Kaufmann thinks so, and in his busy life as a diplomat and businessman he managed to learn to speak nine languages fluently and observe first hand some of the dominant cultures of Europe and Asia. Why do not more people do the same? In his book The Way of The Linguist, A language learning odyssey, Steve offers some answers. Steve feels anyone can learn a language if they want to. He points out some of the obstacles that hold people back. Drawing on his adventures in Europe and Asia, as a student and businessman, he describes the rewards that come from knowing languages. He relates his evolution as a language learner, abroad and back in his native Canada and explains the kind of attitude that will enable others to achieve second language fluency. Many people have taken on the challenge of language learning but have been frustrated by their lack of success. This book offers detailed advice on the kind of study practices that will achieve language breakthroughs. Steve has developed a language learning system available online at: www.thelinguist.com.
Second Language Learning and Language Teaching provides an introduction to the application of second language acquisition research to language teaching. Assuming no previous background in second language acquisition or language teaching methods, this text starts by introducing readers to the basic issues of second language acquisition research. It then examines how people learn particular aspects of the second language, such as grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation and the writing system, and at the strategies they adopt in their learning and the differences between individuals. Final chapters look at second language learning in a broader context – the goals of language teaching and how teaching methods relate to SLA research. This newly updated fifth edition builds on the comprehensive scope of earlier editions while also addressing more recent developments in the field, particularly multilingual approaches to language teaching.
A survey and analysis of second language theory discusses the development of ideas in this expanding area of language studies. It looks at the implications of these ideas and directions for future research. Contains study questions and activities as well as practical guidelines on the use of available research resources.
