SEMINAR
PSYCHOLINGUISTIC PRINCIPLES
JITHIN P MTHEW
ENGLISH
INTRODUCTION
Psycholinguistics or the psychology of language is the study of the psychological and neurobiological factors that enable human beings to acquire, use, comprehend and produce language. Psycholinguistics in simple words can be defined as a marriage or bond between psychology and linguistics which finds application in education and therapy.
To teach a language effectively, the teacher should bear in mind some important principles of language teaching. These necessary principles are called psycholinguistic principles in language teaching. Psycholinguistics is an interdisciplinary field. It investigates the mental mechanism underlying language processing. It includes how to perceive words, and store them in the mind, how to understand a sentence, how to learn to read, how language and writing system influence mental organizations. To teach a language effectively, the teacher should bear in mind the following important principles of language teaching.
Importance of Habit Formation and Intensive Practice
As Palmer says, “language learning is essentially a habit forming process, a process during which we acquire new habits.” When the child learns a foreign language, he has already acquired the habit of speaking his mother tongue and his muscles of speech are set in a particular way. Since the sound of the new language are different from his mother tongue, the child has to keep at bay the habits of speaking his mother tongue and has to cultivate a fresh set of habits. For this purpose, the child needs sufficient practice and drill. In fact constant and accurate practice is the basis of habit formation. Language is a skill subject and not a knowledge subject. Like other skills as dancing and painting sufficient practice is needed in language learning also.
In most classrooms we find that the pupils are not given any practice in using the language. Consequently, though they may read English for a number of years, yet they do not have grasp over the fundamentals of the language. It is important for the teacher to help the student to master the sound and structure of the language. The pupils should establish the pattern practice.
The teacher should always remember the value of repetition at regular intervals of time for the reinforcement of items and their permanent retention by the pupils. With the passage of time, pupils tend to forget things. It is important, therefore that their knowledge is brushed up every now and then. The pupils should be exposed to the new language for the maximum amount of time in the classroom. The use of mother tongue should be minimized. The mother tongue in fact should be used only when absolutely essential.
Oral Approach To Language Teaching
The Importance of oral work in learning a language is now increasingly recognized. Language is primarily speech: written symbols are secondary. So in teaching language, listening and speaking come first, reading and writing next. If a person has command over the spoken word, he has a sense of achievement which is an incentive for further progress. Language becomes real and meaningful for him. It facilitates reading and writing. If the child knows the spoken language, he has only to learn the written symbols for reading and only to learn spelling for writing.
E C. Kittson remarked that, “learning to speak a language is always by far the shortest road to learning to read and to write…” By using the language as speech the pupil will cover something like twenty times as much ground in a given time as he would by doing written exercises. The acquiring of a language is the acquiring of an art, the art of expressing oneself in that language: this art like every other art must be acquired by practice that is by using the language. The most satisfactory manner of using the language from the practical point of view is as speech, and it is also theoretically, the most natural; it follows therefore, that a language should be learnt by speaking it.
Teaching Basic Sentences and Graded Patterns
Since language is a structure, pupils should be taught basic sentences and graded patterns. Practice alone enables the learner to acquire the habit of speaking the language.
Situational Approach to Language Teaching
A foreign language should be taught in situations, which is the natural way in which the child learns his mother tongue. Items of vocabulary and structure should be taught in appropriate situations. The teacher should show the various objects either by presenting them actually before the class or by bringing pictures or by drawing on the blackboard. He should be fully conscious of his surroundings and should make full use of them.
The teacher should point to the objects not only in the classroom but also outside it, like the sky, the sun, the building, the road etc. The teacher should perform actual actions and also make the pupils to do likewise for as many action words as possible like, sitting, standing, reading, writing, walking etc. the quality words such as tall, small, big, hot, cold etc. may similarly be demonstrated. Conversation should be encouraged because, they present in context different kinds of sentence structures.
Selection and Grading Language Material
It is a fundamental principle of teaching that we should proceed from simple to difficult and from more useful to less useful. Accordingly a proper selection and grading should be made of the language material, that is, vocabulary and structure. The principle for the selection and gradation of language items are frequency, usefulness, range, productivity, simplicity and teachability. The material should be selected and graded according to the capacity and level of the students.
After six years of learning English at the school stage, a school leaver is expected to know about 280 structures and 2500 words. These items have to be selected judiciously and later selection has to be made for language material to be taught in each class. The items may be further graded for teaching
Natural Order of Learning
The natural order of learning a language is listening, speaking, reading and writing. This is hoe the child learns his mother tongue. He first listens to sounds and then produces them himself. He starts reading the language when he is five or six years old. Then he learns how to write. Likewise, in teaching a foreign language sufficient practice should be provided in listening and speaking the language before teaching the pupil how to read it. It is generally agreed that reading should be introduced after two months of purely oral work. Moreover the language material which the pupil is called upon to read should be the same which he has already mastered orally. Writing comes last of all, and the child should not be asked to write anything which he has not mastered orally or which he has not read. Moreover due weightage is given to all aspects of language, that is, listening, speaking, reading and writing. No skill of language learning should be neglected or over emphasized.
Maintenance of Interest
The teacher of language should create interest among the pupils to learn the language. This he can do by making his lessons lively and purposeful. Some of the ways of creating interest are adequate use of audio-visual aids like flash cards, pictures, charts, tape recorder, power point presentations etc. blackboard drawing, involvement of the pupils in various activities to create teaching situations, games in teaching and variety in instructional works. Variety is not only the spice of life, but it is also needed in an English lesson to hold the attention of the pupils.
The teacher should not do only one type of activity in the class. Ideally, there should be scope for listening, speaking, reading and writing practice in every lesson. Only the emphasis will differ from each lesson. Some lesson will be predominantly speech lessons, others will be reading or writing lessons. Moreover, the activity of the pupil is very important. ‘Learning by doing’ is a good maxim even in the case of English. The main thing is that the lessons should be made interesting so that the students may derive pleasure from their study rather than feel bored. The pupil should not fear the teacher of English. He should be given a sense of achievement. The teacher should acquire standard pronunciation and be familiar with the usage of the language, stress, intonation and rhythm. He should be a model for the learners in the spoken form in the classroom.
Correct Language Standards
Teach the language as it is used by its native speakers at present and not as somebody thinks what the language ought to be. The only basis of correctness in a language is the use by its native speakers.
Attitude Towards Target Culture
The teacher should impart to the students a sympathetic attitude towards the culture of the pupil whose language he is teaching.
CONCLUSION
In order to make the teaching learning process fruitful, the teacher should bear in mind the psycholinguistic principles. A teacher who is well aware of these psycholinguistic principles can easily his his/her students to learn a new language. The students should be exposed to the new language for the maximum amount of time in the classroom. The use of mother tongue should be reduced and in fact should be used only when absolutely essential. Practice alone enables the learner to acquire the habit of speaking a new language. The teacher of language should create interest among the students to learn a new language. In short, to teach a language effectively, the teacher should bear in mind the various principles of language teaching or the psycholinguistic principles. To sum up, regular and rigorous practice alone enables the pupils to acquire the habit of speaking a new language.
ASSIGNMENT
STORING INFORMATION
Submitted By,
Jithin P.Mathew
English Optional
INTRODUCTION
The ideal of English language learning is to develop all the major skills and the supplementary skills in the most balanced manner so that both linguistic and communicative competencies are nurtured to the maximum level. Education does not simply means transfer of information at all, it means undisputably “learning to learn” from the learner’s point of view. The most important factor for developing study skills is to create a humanistic environment for study and motivate the students in language learning.
Storing of information is possible mainly through summarizing, note making, note taking and information transfer. Summarizing, note making and note taking are complex functional skills which have several features in common.
NOTE-TAKING AND NOTE-MAKING
Note-taking and note-making are related to supplementary skills like referencing, paragraphing etc. They are some of the tasks in language organization set to enable students to function effectively. They are not purely language oriented.
There is a general conception that they are one and the same. But they are to be viewed in different angles. The difference is with regard to purpose, input and output. A text material spoken or written is the input for note-taking, whereas thoughts are the input for note-making. The purpose of note-taking may be examination, later reference or documentation. But the purpose of note-making is usually to reproduce an essay or to get ready for a speech etc.
There are two patterns for note-taking and note-making. They are: (1) the Linear pattern and (2) the Brain pattern. In the Linear pattern points are noted down in horizontal lines and so it is called linear pattern. Tony Buzan in his book Use Your Head (1974) challenges the linear pattern. He argues that we do not think linearly, but we constantly think referring back to the central topic just as different part of the body react in tune to the brain. The various points radiate from the central topic. Hence the brain pattern is the more apt one. We can identify two types of texts- (1) chronological and (2) non-chronological. Narratives, biographies, instructions, processes etc. are chronological and can follow linear pattern. Descriptions, comparison, contrast, argument etc. are non-chronological and therefore the brain pattern is more important.
Note-making is to be done carefully and systematically as the notes that taken down while research are a record of readings. It is later used to develop essay and to locate information easily. Lack of clarity, use of obscure abbreviations, random jotting of points, illegible writing, etc. render useless the time spent in note taking.
There are various reasons for making notes such as to note down facts, to contrast similarities and differences, to summarize main points, to help pay attention and to review and revise. There are several methods of taking notes:
Prose or Linear: basically written paragraphs. This type can provide a summary.
Outline: it is more visual and allows for the imposition of structure. It forces the note taker to create main points.
Mind Maps or Patterned: referred to as spider diagram. The note starts in the middle of a page and explode out towards the edge of the page. It is very visual, allows for the structure and displays relationships. They are very useful for review and recall. A lot of information can be condensed into a small area.
Cornell or Split page: it involves drawing a line down the page. The right side is used to record notes. The left side is reserved for key words and main points. It forces the note-taker to select main points. It also provides a basic for self-examination.
SUMMARIZING
A summary is a short statement that gives only the main points of something without its details. Among the several supplementary skills, summarizing is a study skill which students ought to master during their schooling. There are two traditional approaches to summarizing:
The text reduction approach has been very common but is uncreative. In this approach the important parts are underlined and the unimportant ignored. It involves the process of contraction following the structure and phraseology of the paragraphs.
In the paragraph approach, the paragraphs are closely surveyed and the topic of each paragraph is identified. Write one or more sentences which carries the whole meaning in brief, of all the paragraphs.
Summarizing can be described as “the maximum in the minimum”. It requires comprehension skills, writing skills and specific skills related to the ability to express ideas concisely and precisely. A summary can be of a passage, a letter, a speech, a chapter or a book. Summarizing is just a type of composition. As it requires the use of several skills like comprehension skills and other specific skills related to the ability to express ideas concisely and precisely, it is a highly functional skill which students and adults need to develop.
Surveying with understanding is to be confirmed before summarizing. We can summarize a written passage carefully by reading it. But this is not possible with a live speech, because we cannot survey the whole speech before it is finished. In such cases first take notes and then summarize. Though summarizing is also type of composition there is a little difference between the two in their inputs. The text types that we summarize can be divided into two types in general:
Chronologically sequenced: that is, narratives, instructions, process, biography etc.
Non-chronologically sequenced: that is, description of a country side, advantages of computers, arguments, comparing and contrasting etc.
In the initial stages through discussion of the text material for summarizing should be done in the classroom and gradually the students may proceed to independent ways of summarizing.
INFORMATION TRANSFER
Transfer of information from one medium to another medium.
CONCLUSION
Study skills are mainly surveying the relevant text material and collecting information with comprehension and retrieving the stock of information and knowledge in proper context. We cannot expect study skills such as summarizing, note-making and note-taking to be acquired biologically, they are to be acquired consciously and purposefully. Study skills have to be developed in any pursuit of knowledge. Study skills in one subject will definitely have its positive influence in other subjects also. The English teacher has a great role in developing study skills in English which will be unconsciously transmitted to other subjects also. General principles and clues regarding study skills can be taught to the students but it will be better, more effective and lasting if the students make out their own methods of study skills.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Anderson, Merlyn (2008), Critical Thinking, Academic Writing and Presentation Skills. Pearson Logman Indian Subcontinent Adaptation.
Dr. Sivarajan, K (2007), English Language Education. Central Co-operative Stores Calicut University.
PSYCHOLINGUISTIC PRINCIPLES
JITHIN P MTHEW
ENGLISH
INTRODUCTION
Psycholinguistics or the psychology of language is the study of the psychological and neurobiological factors that enable human beings to acquire, use, comprehend and produce language. Psycholinguistics in simple words can be defined as a marriage or bond between psychology and linguistics which finds application in education and therapy.
To teach a language effectively, the teacher should bear in mind some important principles of language teaching. These necessary principles are called psycholinguistic principles in language teaching. Psycholinguistics is an interdisciplinary field. It investigates the mental mechanism underlying language processing. It includes how to perceive words, and store them in the mind, how to understand a sentence, how to learn to read, how language and writing system influence mental organizations. To teach a language effectively, the teacher should bear in mind the following important principles of language teaching.
Importance of Habit Formation and Intensive Practice
As Palmer says, “language learning is essentially a habit forming process, a process during which we acquire new habits.” When the child learns a foreign language, he has already acquired the habit of speaking his mother tongue and his muscles of speech are set in a particular way. Since the sound of the new language are different from his mother tongue, the child has to keep at bay the habits of speaking his mother tongue and has to cultivate a fresh set of habits. For this purpose, the child needs sufficient practice and drill. In fact constant and accurate practice is the basis of habit formation. Language is a skill subject and not a knowledge subject. Like other skills as dancing and painting sufficient practice is needed in language learning also.
In most classrooms we find that the pupils are not given any practice in using the language. Consequently, though they may read English for a number of years, yet they do not have grasp over the fundamentals of the language. It is important for the teacher to help the student to master the sound and structure of the language. The pupils should establish the pattern practice.
The teacher should always remember the value of repetition at regular intervals of time for the reinforcement of items and their permanent retention by the pupils. With the passage of time, pupils tend to forget things. It is important, therefore that their knowledge is brushed up every now and then. The pupils should be exposed to the new language for the maximum amount of time in the classroom. The use of mother tongue should be minimized. The mother tongue in fact should be used only when absolutely essential.
Oral Approach To Language Teaching
The Importance of oral work in learning a language is now increasingly recognized. Language is primarily speech: written symbols are secondary. So in teaching language, listening and speaking come first, reading and writing next. If a person has command over the spoken word, he has a sense of achievement which is an incentive for further progress. Language becomes real and meaningful for him. It facilitates reading and writing. If the child knows the spoken language, he has only to learn the written symbols for reading and only to learn spelling for writing.
E C. Kittson remarked that, “learning to speak a language is always by far the shortest road to learning to read and to write…” By using the language as speech the pupil will cover something like twenty times as much ground in a given time as he would by doing written exercises. The acquiring of a language is the acquiring of an art, the art of expressing oneself in that language: this art like every other art must be acquired by practice that is by using the language. The most satisfactory manner of using the language from the practical point of view is as speech, and it is also theoretically, the most natural; it follows therefore, that a language should be learnt by speaking it.
Teaching Basic Sentences and Graded Patterns
Since language is a structure, pupils should be taught basic sentences and graded patterns. Practice alone enables the learner to acquire the habit of speaking the language.
Situational Approach to Language Teaching
A foreign language should be taught in situations, which is the natural way in which the child learns his mother tongue. Items of vocabulary and structure should be taught in appropriate situations. The teacher should show the various objects either by presenting them actually before the class or by bringing pictures or by drawing on the blackboard. He should be fully conscious of his surroundings and should make full use of them.
The teacher should point to the objects not only in the classroom but also outside it, like the sky, the sun, the building, the road etc. The teacher should perform actual actions and also make the pupils to do likewise for as many action words as possible like, sitting, standing, reading, writing, walking etc. the quality words such as tall, small, big, hot, cold etc. may similarly be demonstrated. Conversation should be encouraged because, they present in context different kinds of sentence structures.
Selection and Grading Language Material
It is a fundamental principle of teaching that we should proceed from simple to difficult and from more useful to less useful. Accordingly a proper selection and grading should be made of the language material, that is, vocabulary and structure. The principle for the selection and gradation of language items are frequency, usefulness, range, productivity, simplicity and teachability. The material should be selected and graded according to the capacity and level of the students.
After six years of learning English at the school stage, a school leaver is expected to know about 280 structures and 2500 words. These items have to be selected judiciously and later selection has to be made for language material to be taught in each class. The items may be further graded for teaching
Natural Order of Learning
The natural order of learning a language is listening, speaking, reading and writing. This is hoe the child learns his mother tongue. He first listens to sounds and then produces them himself. He starts reading the language when he is five or six years old. Then he learns how to write. Likewise, in teaching a foreign language sufficient practice should be provided in listening and speaking the language before teaching the pupil how to read it. It is generally agreed that reading should be introduced after two months of purely oral work. Moreover the language material which the pupil is called upon to read should be the same which he has already mastered orally. Writing comes last of all, and the child should not be asked to write anything which he has not mastered orally or which he has not read. Moreover due weightage is given to all aspects of language, that is, listening, speaking, reading and writing. No skill of language learning should be neglected or over emphasized.
Maintenance of Interest
The teacher of language should create interest among the pupils to learn the language. This he can do by making his lessons lively and purposeful. Some of the ways of creating interest are adequate use of audio-visual aids like flash cards, pictures, charts, tape recorder, power point presentations etc. blackboard drawing, involvement of the pupils in various activities to create teaching situations, games in teaching and variety in instructional works. Variety is not only the spice of life, but it is also needed in an English lesson to hold the attention of the pupils.
The teacher should not do only one type of activity in the class. Ideally, there should be scope for listening, speaking, reading and writing practice in every lesson. Only the emphasis will differ from each lesson. Some lesson will be predominantly speech lessons, others will be reading or writing lessons. Moreover, the activity of the pupil is very important. ‘Learning by doing’ is a good maxim even in the case of English. The main thing is that the lessons should be made interesting so that the students may derive pleasure from their study rather than feel bored. The pupil should not fear the teacher of English. He should be given a sense of achievement. The teacher should acquire standard pronunciation and be familiar with the usage of the language, stress, intonation and rhythm. He should be a model for the learners in the spoken form in the classroom.
Correct Language Standards
Teach the language as it is used by its native speakers at present and not as somebody thinks what the language ought to be. The only basis of correctness in a language is the use by its native speakers.
Attitude Towards Target Culture
The teacher should impart to the students a sympathetic attitude towards the culture of the pupil whose language he is teaching.
CONCLUSION
In order to make the teaching learning process fruitful, the teacher should bear in mind the psycholinguistic principles. A teacher who is well aware of these psycholinguistic principles can easily his his/her students to learn a new language. The students should be exposed to the new language for the maximum amount of time in the classroom. The use of mother tongue should be reduced and in fact should be used only when absolutely essential. Practice alone enables the learner to acquire the habit of speaking a new language. The teacher of language should create interest among the students to learn a new language. In short, to teach a language effectively, the teacher should bear in mind the various principles of language teaching or the psycholinguistic principles. To sum up, regular and rigorous practice alone enables the pupils to acquire the habit of speaking a new language.
ASSIGNMENT
STORING INFORMATION
Submitted By,
Jithin P.Mathew
English Optional
INTRODUCTION
The ideal of English language learning is to develop all the major skills and the supplementary skills in the most balanced manner so that both linguistic and communicative competencies are nurtured to the maximum level. Education does not simply means transfer of information at all, it means undisputably “learning to learn” from the learner’s point of view. The most important factor for developing study skills is to create a humanistic environment for study and motivate the students in language learning.
Storing of information is possible mainly through summarizing, note making, note taking and information transfer. Summarizing, note making and note taking are complex functional skills which have several features in common.
NOTE-TAKING AND NOTE-MAKING
Note-taking and note-making are related to supplementary skills like referencing, paragraphing etc. They are some of the tasks in language organization set to enable students to function effectively. They are not purely language oriented.
There is a general conception that they are one and the same. But they are to be viewed in different angles. The difference is with regard to purpose, input and output. A text material spoken or written is the input for note-taking, whereas thoughts are the input for note-making. The purpose of note-taking may be examination, later reference or documentation. But the purpose of note-making is usually to reproduce an essay or to get ready for a speech etc.
There are two patterns for note-taking and note-making. They are: (1) the Linear pattern and (2) the Brain pattern. In the Linear pattern points are noted down in horizontal lines and so it is called linear pattern. Tony Buzan in his book Use Your Head (1974) challenges the linear pattern. He argues that we do not think linearly, but we constantly think referring back to the central topic just as different part of the body react in tune to the brain. The various points radiate from the central topic. Hence the brain pattern is the more apt one. We can identify two types of texts- (1) chronological and (2) non-chronological. Narratives, biographies, instructions, processes etc. are chronological and can follow linear pattern. Descriptions, comparison, contrast, argument etc. are non-chronological and therefore the brain pattern is more important.
Note-making is to be done carefully and systematically as the notes that taken down while research are a record of readings. It is later used to develop essay and to locate information easily. Lack of clarity, use of obscure abbreviations, random jotting of points, illegible writing, etc. render useless the time spent in note taking.
There are various reasons for making notes such as to note down facts, to contrast similarities and differences, to summarize main points, to help pay attention and to review and revise. There are several methods of taking notes:
Prose or Linear: basically written paragraphs. This type can provide a summary.
Outline: it is more visual and allows for the imposition of structure. It forces the note taker to create main points.
Mind Maps or Patterned: referred to as spider diagram. The note starts in the middle of a page and explode out towards the edge of the page. It is very visual, allows for the structure and displays relationships. They are very useful for review and recall. A lot of information can be condensed into a small area.
Cornell or Split page: it involves drawing a line down the page. The right side is used to record notes. The left side is reserved for key words and main points. It forces the note-taker to select main points. It also provides a basic for self-examination.
SUMMARIZING
A summary is a short statement that gives only the main points of something without its details. Among the several supplementary skills, summarizing is a study skill which students ought to master during their schooling. There are two traditional approaches to summarizing:
The text reduction approach has been very common but is uncreative. In this approach the important parts are underlined and the unimportant ignored. It involves the process of contraction following the structure and phraseology of the paragraphs.
In the paragraph approach, the paragraphs are closely surveyed and the topic of each paragraph is identified. Write one or more sentences which carries the whole meaning in brief, of all the paragraphs.
Summarizing can be described as “the maximum in the minimum”. It requires comprehension skills, writing skills and specific skills related to the ability to express ideas concisely and precisely. A summary can be of a passage, a letter, a speech, a chapter or a book. Summarizing is just a type of composition. As it requires the use of several skills like comprehension skills and other specific skills related to the ability to express ideas concisely and precisely, it is a highly functional skill which students and adults need to develop.
Surveying with understanding is to be confirmed before summarizing. We can summarize a written passage carefully by reading it. But this is not possible with a live speech, because we cannot survey the whole speech before it is finished. In such cases first take notes and then summarize. Though summarizing is also type of composition there is a little difference between the two in their inputs. The text types that we summarize can be divided into two types in general:
Chronologically sequenced: that is, narratives, instructions, process, biography etc.
Non-chronologically sequenced: that is, description of a country side, advantages of computers, arguments, comparing and contrasting etc.
In the initial stages through discussion of the text material for summarizing should be done in the classroom and gradually the students may proceed to independent ways of summarizing.
INFORMATION TRANSFER
Transfer of information from one medium to another medium.
CONCLUSION
Study skills are mainly surveying the relevant text material and collecting information with comprehension and retrieving the stock of information and knowledge in proper context. We cannot expect study skills such as summarizing, note-making and note-taking to be acquired biologically, they are to be acquired consciously and purposefully. Study skills have to be developed in any pursuit of knowledge. Study skills in one subject will definitely have its positive influence in other subjects also. The English teacher has a great role in developing study skills in English which will be unconsciously transmitted to other subjects also. General principles and clues regarding study skills can be taught to the students but it will be better, more effective and lasting if the students make out their own methods of study skills.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Anderson, Merlyn (2008), Critical Thinking, Academic Writing and Presentation Skills. Pearson Logman Indian Subcontinent Adaptation.
Dr. Sivarajan, K (2007), English Language Education. Central Co-operative Stores Calicut University.
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