This approach has been in existence for a number of years and it has been commonly used for a number of language development courses. One recent study confirms the approach, stating; "the vast majority of language development studies have relied on written transcripts of the speech young children hear around them" (Goodrich, Kam, 2009, p
Other much more common gestures take place on a regular basis every minute of every day. One recent study determined that "90% of what people say and feel is communicated through their actions, not their words" (Hansen, 2010, p
Both the CLT method and grammar translation offer advantages and disadvantages to the teachers and students. Since "language has been shown to attribute meaning to an individual's understanding" (Kramsch, 2006) it makes perfect sense that the exact opposite is true as well; that an individual's understanding gives meaning to the language
Agresto. "You know your exact career for the rest of your life once you enter university" (Krieger, 2007, p
Another aspect to schooling in Australia, from the international student's perspective, is acquiring a language that is not even close or similar to their native language. A study of international students in Finland found that people who lived in countries whose official languages were not commonly spoken in other countries put a lot of emphasis on knowing other foreign languages (Lehtonen, Karjalainen, 2009)
83). Additionally, Li wrote that "one's thinking style or understanding is influenced by cultural values and childrearing processes" (Li, 2005, p
One recent report determined that such a situation might be found in Australia, at least concerning Iraqi, or other international students. The article reported that some universities in Australia were being blamed for allowing students whose first language was not English to graduate with communication skills that were insufficient (Maslen, 2008)
There have been a wide number of studies and experts that agree that such assimilation should take place, but the progress is slow. One expert described the risk of not doing so in the following terms; "If, because of rheir Muslim identities, Muslim-Australian youth are not receiving as strong and inclusive an educational experience as they could be, there is a danger that their educational outcomes will suffer, in turn impacting their ability to access the labour market and participate fully in civic life, two of the main avenues for active citizenship" (Mansouri, Kamp, 2007, p
One web site that provides readers with a definition of grammar translation may have presented it in the best conceivable manner when it stated "for left-brained students who respond well to rules, structure and correction, the grammar-translation method can provide a challenging and even intriguing classroom environment. For those students who don't respond well to such structures, however, it is obvious that the grammar-translation method must be tempered with other approaches to create a more flexible and conducive methodology" (Thuleen, 1996)
524). Since is generally accepted that "appropriate problem solving is achieved by effective communication" (McWhirter, Voltan-Acar, 2000) it lends to reason that as these young children grow and blossom, it is extremely important that they learn how to effectively communicate not only with teachers, instructors and administrators, but with their classmates and colleagues as well
Whether it has been in existence for decades or not is not the real question, the question that really should be asked is whether it is the most effective manner in which to present English as a second language, especially regarding immigrated Iraqi high school students now immersed in the Australian educational system. After all, there is such a thing as differential item functioning (DIF) which is a statistical methodology that focuses on whether items have an equal probability of a particular response for examinees from different language groups (Wei, Wolfe, 2010, p
In fact, language universals appear in each language. This means that while every language has different words, sounds, and meanings, all share similar parts of speech, a concept that allows a great deal of insight into the human mind (Fromkin, Rodman, and Hyams (17)
Language is best seen as a tool that evolves with man and the emergence of the technological age is just one example of how this occurs. Albert Baugh notes that the English language is "subject to growth and decay which characterize all forms of life" (Baugh 2)
One common understanding is that the English is a conglomeration of many other languages including Greek, Latin, and Sanskrit. Language was what Charles Champneys describes as "inflectual" (Champneys 52) in that it "marked the relation of words to each other" (52)
This brings us to the spelling of words, which seems to be another aspect of the English language. Ernest Classen notes that while the runic script was the earliest form of script for the English language, the Norman conquest had a profound "influence on the English vocabulary" (Classen 266), including spelling of English words
Language was what Charles Champneys describes as "inflectual" (Champneys 52) in that it "marked the relation of words to each other" (52). Oliver Emerson agrees, noting that the English language is far from an "isolated language in any sense" (Emerson 1) and it is best to consider it as Indo-European when considering its heritage
He points out how we, as a society have drifted from using the past participle of many verbs, using a common menu reference as an example. Denny's should offer a smaller-sized portion rather than a "smaller-size portion (Safire 30)," Safire contends
One of the most insidious responses to the popularity of the novel comes from Anna Letitia Barbauld, because her essay "On the Origin and Progress of Novel-Writing" purports to laud novels while actually serving to neuter them of any critical or ideological power. Barbauld begins by discussing what is arguably the most important role of novels, and fiction more generally: "if the end and object of this species of writing be asked, many no doubt will be ready to tell us that its object is, -- to call in fancy to the aid of reason, to deceive the mind into embracing the truth under the guise of fiction" (Barbauld 119)
One can, however, note that the mere fact the authors under discussion here found publication for their work demonstrates that they were a part of "the hierarchical nature of a world where higher learning and the upper classes had a naturally harmonious relationship" ("Towards a romantic literary professionalism" 628). Before moving on to the analysis, it is necessary to define one more crucial concept; the public sphere, which was first described by Jurgen Habermas in 1962, connotes a "an overtly commercial 'high' or 'polite' culture," and John Brewer convincingly argues that the emergence of a public sphere in England occurred during the Romantic period, with the waning of the royal court and ecclesiastical power and the emergence of a popular literary fascination with the novel (Brewer 341, 342)
While the specific details of these responses are clearly rooted in their own specific historical era, they also constitute specific iterations of a more general tendency to disparage, disregard, and divide any new forms of media and expression that threaten the oligarchical control, and to see how this is the case, one may consider Guy Debord's 1968 book The Society of the Spectacle. While Debord's book has since become a mainstay of twentieth-century Marxist criticism, and does include a number of useful insights, his criticisms of the supposed "decline of being into having, and having into merely appearing" is ultimately a criticism of the newly emerging media that allowed for more widespread dissemination of information and culture (namely television) (Debord 11)