Please, post an opinion whether you agree or disagree with this statement:
The act of teaching a first or second language is supported by many theories. In those theories, many aspects are taken into account like the importance of meaningful input, the effect of the emotions in the learning process or the role of teaching structures in the acquisition of a language. However, an aspect that we should consider relevant is not even mentioned: the necessity to use what you learn in a real situation. In our opinion, the most relevant aspect in the acquisition of a language is to have the necessity to speak. You can be stuffed by rules and books or have comprehensible input, but if you don't have the necessity or urge to use what you learn in a real life situation ,if there is nothing that forces you to speak, the process of learning will be useless in a long-term period.Therefore, we think it is impossible to reach the native speaker level if the students are not forced to use what they have learned in a real life situation as being abroad in a country where the target language is spoken or having the language as a mean for working.So,the classroom is an over- controlled environment where most of the time the language is simplified and unsufficient.
I totally understand your point but I do not complete agree. I agree with you when you state that practice the language in real life situations is the one that let us achieve a higher level of fluency (speaking) as a native speaker but I do not agree when you say that the urge to speak is the one that defines significant and long-term learning. I have met so many people who speaks another languages and they were not forced to speak, they just wanted to know the culture, or to understand some content (programmers, people who love to read) or they just studied at a bilingual school for example.
ResponderEliminarYou have a point there, but I disagree with you, because when you say "if the students are not forced to use what they have learned" either in the classroom or in the country where the language is spoken on a daily basis, why is there a need to force someone to do it, everyone learns at their own pace, but if you put pressure on someone to do it, it can result in a counterproductive effect of students learning the language but only as extrinsic motivation and end up forgetting it altogether.
ResponderEliminarYelina Perez
I do not agree with the word "force" I think we should create more awareness that we must learn a language in its two ways, active and passive, since if we focus on one there can be great deficiencies as people who understand everything but at the same time moment of speaking they cannot do it in the same way.
ResponderEliminarYou have a point, but I disagree a lot. Learning a second language doesn’t mean that we must associate with native people or we have go to a English speaking country in order to develop our learning. There are several reasons why someone wants to speak a language, it might be because they want to understand books that can not be found in their first language or it is a personal accomplisment, and yes, going to a country that they find interesting or they are amazed by the culture, might be a common reason but is not always the case. Also, language development shouldn’t be force whatsoever.
ResponderEliminar