Researchers in the field of Second Language Acquisition （SLA） have been taking different routes. Some researchers make linguistic-cognitive issues their inquire object and pursue objectivity with quantitative resear...Researchers in the field of Second Language Acquisition （SLA） have been taking different routes. Some researchers make linguistic-cognitive issues their inquire object and pursue objectivity with quantitative research methods. Other researchers regard the social context of activity as an essential characteristic of learning and teaching. These groups of researchers make use of qualitative research methods like case study, grounded theory, narrative inquiry, and ethnography. There are many other routes that SLA researchers have taken, but the two just mentioned are perhaps the most predominant ones and the ones that are most easily contrasted. The present paper explores the disparity between the different research paths from the perspective of philosophy of science echoing the notion of incommensurability. In this paper the author argues that the differences between different SLA perspectives are not only commensurable but wholesome for the development of SLA.展开更多
How an articulated mammal learns a foreign language has been a mystery for many years to language researchers. Language scholars have put forward different ways to explain this problem. Yet all of them are not perfect...How an articulated mammal learns a foreign language has been a mystery for many years to language researchers. Language scholars have put forward different ways to explain this problem. Yet all of them are not perfect. Each of these theories has contributed both quantitively and qualitively to the different aspects of language learning. However, language learning and teaching doesn’t happen in a vaccum. It is affected by many factors. In vast rural areas in China, practically speaking, behaviorist approach fits in with the writer’s own experience. Some weaknesses of this approach are also discussed. Therefore what is important is to adapt, not to adopt blindly.展开更多
文摘Researchers in the field of Second Language Acquisition （SLA） have been taking different routes. Some researchers make linguistic-cognitive issues their inquire object and pursue objectivity with quantitative research methods. Other researchers regard the social context of activity as an essential characteristic of learning and teaching. These groups of researchers make use of qualitative research methods like case study, grounded theory, narrative inquiry, and ethnography. There are many other routes that SLA researchers have taken, but the two just mentioned are perhaps the most predominant ones and the ones that are most easily contrasted. The present paper explores the disparity between the different research paths from the perspective of philosophy of science echoing the notion of incommensurability. In this paper the author argues that the differences between different SLA perspectives are not only commensurable but wholesome for the development of SLA.
文摘How an articulated mammal learns a foreign language has been a mystery for many years to language researchers. Language scholars have put forward different ways to explain this problem. Yet all of them are not perfect. Each of these theories has contributed both quantitively and qualitively to the different aspects of language learning. However, language learning and teaching doesn’t happen in a vaccum. It is affected by many factors. In vast rural areas in China, practically speaking, behaviorist approach fits in with the writer’s own experience. Some weaknesses of this approach are also discussed. Therefore what is important is to adapt, not to adopt blindly.
