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From another point of view, learning a second language involves taking on a new identity. Thisalso correlates with the learner’s affect. Thebiggest step in taking on this new identity is to speak and to pronounce thesecond language in a more-or-less native speaker way. This is a very majorstep, because for all of us, as adolescents and adults, how we speak andpronounce our first language is an essential feature of our identity. Thus in China, for example, speaking with a Hunan or Beijingaccent is an essential part of a person’s identity as a Hunanese or Bejinger.When learners pronounce and speak the second language in a more-or-less nativeway, they temporarily lose their first language identity and take on a secondlanguage identity—they empathize. The ease with which learners are able toempathize depends on the flexibility of their own boundaries between twolanguage identities. The student who are more flexible and less inhibited than othersfind it easier to switch between two identities, the first language and thesecond language. For example, oneof my classmates can flexibly and naturally switch his identity as a Hunanesespeaker into that of an English speaker. In other words, his own languageidentity boundary is very flexible. So he can learn English well. 内容来自www.paper51.com Various experiments have been carriedout to try to measure the level of learner empathy and match it with theability to speak the second language. The results are very mixed. No definiteconnection between empathy and second language oral performance has beenestablished. It is likely that learners who are naturally open, flexible andadaptable and who are sensitive to and interested in other people, are morelikely to feel comfortable using the second language (taking on the secondlanguage identity) than learners who are very fixed and inflexible (Lightbown, 1993). 内容来自www.paper51.com 2.2.2 Classroom transactions paper51.com
Theclassroom is a communication place in which there is a complex relationshipbetween the teacher and language learners and among learners themselves.Effective learning depends on the cooperation and support from both teachersand learners. Cooperation and support are connected with emotions. Although many teachers may greatly valuetheir relationships with their students, they may take charge of all decisionsinstead of sharing some power and decision-making with students and guidingstudents towards becoming more self-directing in the classroom. Teachers’emotional cooperation also involves encouraging and assisting students ratherthan pouring information into students’ minds. In the classroom, the groupdynamic—that is, the emotional dynamic—is very important. Language teachersshould at all times be sensitive to the characteristics of students they areworking with and aware of the classroom dynamics. Teachers would know students better if they could collect information about students’feelings. As teachers get to know students on an emotional level, they arelikely to see similarities between their own feelings and students’ and betweentheir basic emotional needs. When teachers realize that students’ basicemotional needs are similar to their own, teachers are more able to identifywith, relate to, and empathize with them. By doing this, a warm and harmoniousteacher-student relationship can be established in the classroom. 内容来自www.paper51.com |