影响外语学习的两大因素与外语教学

Two major factors influencing L2 learning and their effect on L2 teaching

本文作者指出，影响外语学习最主要的因素有两个：一是情感，一是母语。情感是学习的发动机，出现障碍会导致学习的停顿。学外语并非从头开始。外语与母语相同之处不用学，要学的是不同的地方。外语与母语不同之处因母语的固化而造成外语学习困难。判断外语教学法的优劣在于看它能否有效地克服两个因素引起的学习障碍。

The author argues that affect and mother tongue are the two most important factors influencing L2 learning. Affect is a starting machine that is responsible for setting the learning mechanism in motion and learning will run into difficulty if affect does not work properly. The existence of the L1 means that the L2 is not learned from scratch. No learning is required where the two languages are the same. Learning is entailed where L1-L2 differences exist and this learning becomes difficult as the L1 system is strengthened. Thus, effectiveness of a teaching method can be judged by its ability to overcome the barrier caused by the two factors.