由“外语”与“第二语言"两个术语讨论引起的思考

Thoughts on the Discussion about "Foreign Language" and "Second Language"

当代外语教学理论文献中,“第二语言”与“外语”两个术语的使用很混乱,容易使人产生误解。广义第二语言和狭义第二语言对外语有不同的界定。本文通过对两个术语的讨论指出:英语在中国的定位是外语而不是第二语言,本文还对国外语言教学理论的引进、中国外语教学现状以及如何看待传统外语教学法提出一些思考。

The fact the two terms ＂foreign language＂ （FL） and ＂second language＂ （SL） are used quite confusedly in current literature of foreign language teaching and research is liable to cause misunderstanding. There are two different interpretations of SL, one is SL in a narrow sense and the other is SL in a broad sense. SL in a broad sense embraces both FL and SL, and FL in this case, is defined, as part of SL. English in China is a FL instead of a SL. The discussion about these two terms leads us to think of questions such as how to look on the language teaching methods introduced abroad, the actual foreign language teaching in China, and the attitude we should take towards traditional language teaching methods.