人教版高三英语课文全册Unit 8 Learning a foreign language - Reading
LEARNING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE : TWICE AS HARD?
Learning a language is obviously more than just memorising words, phrases and structures. When we learnt our mother tongue, we did not receive much formal instruction. Few parents give language lessons to their children! Instead we learnt or acquired our mother tongue by communicating with the people around us. But how was it possible for us to learn all the sounds, words, grammar rules and structures through this communication? And, perhaps most puzzling of all, how were we able to make sense of what we heard and distinguish the mistakes and errors from "good" language?
Language experts have different answers. Some believe that we are equipped with a special ability to learn language and that our brain adjusts itself to the language we hear around us. Others think that we learn language in the same way we learn other things, such as walking or solving problems, and that what we are born with is a general ability to learn and adapt, not a language-specific part of the brain. Regardless of their theories, these language experts do agree that life is a very successful language school: virtually everyone learns to use a language and has mastered the basics by the age of five.
Learning a foreign language is different from learning one's mother tongue. The learning usually takes place in school and there are often few opportunities to communicate with other speakers of the language. As a consequence, some students think that learning a foreign language is slow and difficult. However, we actually learn a foreign language much faster than we do our mother tongue. That may not seem true to you -- think of all the hours of hard work you have spent learning English! But once you consider the situation further, you will re, alise that this is indeed the case. When you were learning your mother tongue, you spent all your waking hours communicating with the people around you; in other words, you were studying the language all day long! You did this for five years, so that is an awful lot of hours. We only spend a few hours a week and in a few years' time we can speak a foreign language. We also have textbooks, teachers and classmates to instruct and assist us in the process, and we can learn more about study methods and skills. That means we can be much more efficient.
Then why are some people better at learning a foreign language than others? Research has shown that successful language learners do share quite a few characteristics. The data suggests that what successful language learners have in common is, among other things, that they are interested in understanding their own thinking, curious about the world, willing to take chances and confident in their ability. Successful language learners also use different ways of learning and plan their studies in order to deal with academic challenges.
Successful language students gain confidence and are able to relax and enjoy the learning because they plan and evaluate their learning. With greater control and a stronger sense of achievement, active learners are able to acquire new skills faster and put what they know to better use. As a result, they do better in areas such as reading comprehension, vocabulary learning, writing and speaking. The less anxious and more relaxed the learner, the better their language acquisition. Self-confident, secure students are more successful language learners. They are more willing to take risks and to place themselves in new learning situations. If they were not, they would not be ready to experiment with new forms and to make mistakes, both of which contribute to their increased ability to learn.
The purpose of learning is important, too. Not all of us want to be translators or interpreters. Most simply want to learn English for everyday use. Some people probably have more interest and greater ability than others, but that does not mean that we cannot find ways to improve. It takes patience to learn a language. If we want to become successful language learners, we should try to adopt some of the study habits and characteristics described above. If we develop our study skills, we may find that learning a foreign language does not have to be twice as hard as learning our mother tongue, but can in fact be twice as easy and a lot of fun.
