语言学功能转向对英语教学的启发

语言学功能转向对英语教学的启发【摘要】20世纪70年代，戴尔·海姆斯提出交际能力一词，逐渐引起人们对语言的认识的改变，由认为语言是一个结构的、抽象的系统到认为语言是一个社会的、语义系统。

这种认识转向对语言学转向至关重要，从此不同语言学流派迅速发展带来学术繁荣。

同时，语言学的功能转向给语言教学及二语习得带来启发。

在语言教学上，交际教学法兴起并在教学上取得卓越成就。

在二语习得上，更加注重语言输入与环境的互动，学生对同伴老师反馈有效策略的选择，对提高学生的交际能力有重要意义。

【关键词】语言学功能性转向；语言教学；二语习得；交际能力０Introduction1）Shift from the formal view to social and semantic view of languageAccording to Noam Chomsky [1], there is the ‘ideal’language system in man’mind that makes it possible for speakers to produce and understand an infinite number of sentences in their language and distinguish grammatical sentences from ungrammatical sentences. Chomsky called it ‘Competence’which was first introduced by Noam Chomsky[1]as part of the foundations for his Generative grammar.In 1970s, linguists started to shift their view of language as an abstract system to view it as a social and semantic system for they think language is not only formal but also functional, especially social functional, which underpins the social development. It is a great change. Many different researches on this aspect emerge and complement each other.2）The main principles of the social and semantic view of languageCommunicative competence is a term in linguistics which refers to a language user’s grammatical knowledge of phonology,morphology,syntax, and the like, as well as social knowledge about how and when to use utterances appropriately.This term was first coined by Dell Hymes (158)[2] in 1966, reacting against the perceived inadequacy of Noam Chomsky[1]’s (1965) distinction between competence and performance. Latter, in 1970, Dell Hymes defined communicative competence as consisting of four sectors:(1) the ability to judge whether something is formally possible(2) the ability to judge whether something is feasible(3)the abilityto judge whether something is appropriate(4)the ability to judge whether something is done. Latter, Canale and Swain[3](1980) made a further definition and Canale(1983) put forward that communicative competence includes four competence, namely,grammatical competence, discourse competence, sociolinguistic competence, and strategic competence. People begin to pay attention to language using and educators and teachers emphasize more on cultivating students with communicative competence than linguistic competence. Communicative language teaching which occurred in the United States during the 1970s began to be applied in different classes throughout the world.１The application of this view in language teachingThe shift of view on language promotes the pedagogical reform in language teaching. Communicative language teaching gains more and more attention, which aims to develop students’ability in appropriately using language so as to have an effective interpersonal or intercultural communication. Communicative language teaching is an approach to the teaching of second and foreign languages that emphasizes interaction as both the means and the ultimate goal of learning a language. There are several advantages in adopting a communicative language teaching: firstly, communicative teaching approach combines teaching language itself with language’s function. Students are given more opportunities to use language in a social context which is created by communicative activities. They get access to know the particular meaning of utterance in particular context and learn to use language appropriately according to social context. Secondly, communicative language teaching focuses on student-centered teaching mode rather than teacher-centered teaching mode. It is very interested in the needs and desires of their learners as well as the connection between the language as it is taught in their class and as it used outside the classroom.Thirdly, in a communicative teaching class, the teacher consciously raises students’awareness of cultural background so as to cultivate students’intercultural communicative competence. Finally, the application of communicative teaching approach motivates students’interest and motivation in a relaxing atmosphere so as to learn effectively.2The application of this view in language learningRod Ellis[4](1985) preferred the interactionist view of language acquisition that the acquisition of language is a result of an interaction between the learner’s mental abilities and the linguistic environment. In other words, language acquisition derives from the collaborative efforts of the learner and his interlocutors and involves a dynamic interplay between external and internal factors. Similarly, the quality of the input affects and is affected by the nature of the internal mechanisms.Communicative language teaching also emphasizes both the learners’internal linguistic mechanism and external linguistic environment given that the learners possess linguistic competence that encompasses knowledge of lexical items and of rules of phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and the like. What the learners should do is to participate actively in various communicative activities. The student firstly should imagine the situation which is created by teacher, think and analyze what utterance should be used in that situation, and seek appropriate strategies to copewith different feedbacks from their partners or problems emerging from interaction. Through this interaction, the students’thinking is enhanced as well as their awareness of communicative competence.3ConclusionWith the further research on language, linguistics has integrated language itself with interdisciplinary research, sociolinguistics, psycholinguistic and nerolinguistics etc. Learning language is not simply learning abstract linguistic system with rules but emphasize more on learning how to use language in different context. Since the born of the term—communicative competence, communicative language teaching approach has always experienced reform from the audio-lingual methods to present Task-based methods. In a sense, viewing language as meaningful in social context brings about profound effect on language teaching and learning and this effect is still continuing to a wide and deep landscape.【参考文献】［１］Noam Chomsky. Syntactic Structures[M]. Mouton & CO, SFravenhage, 1957.［２］Hymes, D.H. Two types of linguistic relativity. In W. Bright (ed) Sociolinguistics[M]. The Hague: Mouton, 1966.［３］Canal, M,Swain.Theoretical bases of communicative approaches to second langauge teaching and testing[J].Applied Linguistics,1980.［４］Rod Ellis. Understanding second language acquisition[M]. Oxford University Press, 1985.［５］Stern, H. H. Issues and Options in LanguagenTeaching[M]. OUP, 1996.［６］Brown, H. D. Principles of Language Learning andTeaching: Chapter 9[M]. Prentice Hall, Inc, 1994.［７］洪岗.英语语用能力的调查及其对外语教学的启示[J].外语教学与研究, 1991.。