第二语言学习者的不同学习条件 - 英语教学法原著选读93（附家长指南和语音讲解）

原创不易、公益翻译，请随手转发，感谢！

导读与家长指南

今天的选文中，作者探讨的是不同年龄、不同情况学习者的“学习条件”。事实上，往往正是学习条件的巨大差异，导致了学习者的学习成果也有着千差万别。有些学习条件是人力无法改变的，比如在国内学习英语，一般来说缺乏英语的生活应用情景，这是肯定的，但也有一些条件是人力能够改变的，比如“被允许保持沉默，直到他们准备好去说”，这一点是老师和家长只要愿意就能做到的。但是，因为老师有着业绩的压力，家长有着“面子”的需求，经常会见到年幼的学生被大人要求说英语，特别是在人前。“来宝宝，唱首英文歌给XX听！”这话是多么熟悉。我想不管是在家还是在学校，这一条朋友们还是要谨记：耐心地等孩子做好准备，再开口说英语。

当然，也不能说永远等下去。一般来说，如果每天听英语的时间能够达到一个小时，那么最晚三个月，孩子应该就有了一定的准备，能够说英语了。如果这个孩子正好就是内向的性格，不喜欢说，那又怎么办呢？这时就考验老师和家长的智慧了。聪明的大人一般并不直接要求孩子说话，而是跳过“说话”这个要求，提出：来，我们比比看谁说得准确？或者，也可以夸大事实、改变策略，把孩子熟悉的内容加以戏剧化的更改，从而在一定程度上刺激孩子一下，让他们不得不说出来。

另一个关键点，modulated speech，或称modified input，即大人对孩子所说的语言，也很重要。在前面的几期选读中，我们不断强调大人的语言质量对孩童语言发展的极端重要性，这一期我们就看到作者说，“面向儿童的语言”也并不是每个人都擅长的，有的人就是有这样的能力，知道学习者需要怎样的语言调整才能弄懂对话的意思。

其实说起来玄乎，操作起来却并不难。我们只要记住，跟孩子沟通的时候主要关注意义的传达就可以了。有了这个基本原则，一切准备都可以围绕进行。当然，家长、老师自身语言水平的提高也非常重要，打铁还需自身硬，不但自己要有比较高的语言水平，而且要懂得一点儿童教育，懂得一点语言的可降解性——怎样用相对比较简单的语言来教会孩子比较复杂的概念和事情。每一个孩子都是特别的，他们的语言学习也要依靠父母的努力学习和提高。

最后需要指出的是，在儿童用语中，一旦孩子度过最初的单音节词阶段，——即只能说一两个字、并且往往会加以重复，如“爸爸”、“妈妈”、“臭臭”这样的词，过了这个阶段以后，或者这些词已经掌握纯熟以后，家长就要有意识地提升孩子的语言环境质量，不要继续停留在这个过于幼稚的阶段，即应该逐步过渡到正常的两字词、三字词甚至四字词。孩子的语言水平提高，在很大程度上和家长的有意识的引导是分不开的。

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以下英文原文取自上海外语教育出版社引进出版、授权转载的“外语教学法丛书”之九《语言学习机制》第一章“Learning a First Language”：

原文（作者：Lightbown & Spada）

译文（翻译：Liz）

Heading: Theoretical approaches to explaining first language learning 

母语学习的几种理论解释

Learning conditions

学习条件

Younger learners, in an informal second language learning environment, are usually allowed to be silent until they are ready to speak. Older learners are often forced to speak——to meet the requirements of a classroom or to carry out everyday tasks such as shopping, medical visits, or job interviews. Young children in informal settings are usually exposed to the second language for many hours every day. Older learners, especially students in language classrooms, are more likely to receive only limited exposure to the second language.

年幼的学习者在非正式的第二语言学习环境中通常被允许保持沉默，直到他们准备好去说。年长些的学习者常常被迫去说——以满足课堂教学的要求，或执行日常任务，如购物、就医或工作面试。幼儿在非正式的环境中通常每天接触第二语言许多个小时。年纪较大的学习者，尤其是在语言教室的学生，更可能只得到有限的第二语言接触。

One condition which appears to be common to learners of all ages—though perhaps not in equal quantities——is access to modified input. This adjusted speech style, which is called child-directed speech for first languages, is sometimes called foreigner talk or teacher talk for second languages. Many people who interact regularly with language learners seem to have an intuitive sense of what adjustments are needed to help learners understand. Of course, some people are better at this than others. We have all witnessed those painful conversations in which insensitive people seem to think that they can make learners understand better if they simply talk louder! Some Canadian friends recently told us of an experience they had in China. They were visiting some historic temples and wanted to get more information about them than they could glean from their guidebook. They asked their guide some questions about the monuments. Unfortunately, their limited Chinese and his nonexistent English made it difficult for them to exchange information. The guide kept speaking louder and louder, but our friends understood very little. Finally, in frustration, the guide concluded that it would help if these hopeless foreigners could see the information—so he took a stick and began writing in the sand——in Chinese characters!

有一个条件似乎是所有年龄段的学习者所共有的——但可能是不等量的——那就是调整过的输入。这种调整过的语言类型，对母语来说就是儿向语（面向儿童的语言），对第二语言来说有时被称为外国人用语或教师用语。许多定期和语言学习者互动的人似乎都有一种直觉，知道需要进行哪些调整来帮助学习者理解。当然，有些人比其他人更擅长于此。我们都目睹过那些令人痛苦的谈话，有些迟钝的人似乎认为，只要他们说话大声点，就能让学习者更好地理解！加拿大的一些朋友最近跟我们说了他们在中国的一次经历。他们当时在参观一些历史悠久的寺庙，想了解比旅行指南中更多的有关信息。他们向导游询问关于这些古迹的问题。不幸的是，他们中文水平有限，导游不会英语，很难交换信息。导游说得越来越大声，但我们的朋友却没听懂多少。最后，感到挫败的导游认定如果这些绝望的外国人可以看到他说的话，会有助于理解——于是他拿起树枝开始在沙子上写字——写的是汉字！

As we saw in Chapter 1, error correction in first language acquisition tends to be limited to corrections of meaning—including errors in vocabulary choice. In informal second language acquisition, errors which do nor interfere with meaning are usually overlooked. Most people would feel they were being impolite if they interrupted, and corrected someone who was trying to have a conversation with them! Nevertheless, they may react to an error if they cannot understand what the speaker is trying to say. Thus, errors of grammar and pronunciation are rarely remarked on, but the wrong word choice may receive comment from a puzzled interlocutor. The only place where feedback on error is typically present with high frequency is the language classroom. As we shall see, however, it is not present in all classrooms.

正如我们在第1章所看到的，母语习得中的错误修正往往只限于词义的修正，包括词汇选择上的错误。在非正式的第二语言习得中，不干扰意义的错误通常被忽视。大多数人会觉得如果他们中断并纠正了试图与他们交谈的人是不礼貌的！然而，如果他们不能理解说话者想说什么，他们可能会对错误作出反应。因此，语法和发音错误很少被评论，但词语的错误选择可以得到一个困惑的谈话者的评论。唯一对错误进行高频率反馈的地方通常是语言课堂。然而，正如我们所见，这并不存在于所有课堂。

Summary

A general theory of sla needs to account for language acquisition by learners with a variety of characteristics, learning in a variety of contexts. The emphasis in this chapter is on the theories which have been proposed to explain the learning mechanisms which are common to all second language learners. In Chapter 3, we will look at proposals for how differences among learners may lead to differences in their learning success.

小结

一个普遍的第二语言习得理论需要解释各种特点和在各种情境中的学习者是如何习得语言的。本章重点探讨已被提出来的、适用于解释所有第二语言学习者学习机制的理论。在第3章中，我们将谈谈关于学习者之间的差异可能会导致学习成功的差异的理论。