VOA慢速英语2012 Education Report - Debating the Best Way to Learn a Language

 

Education Report - Debating the Best Way to Learn a Language

教育报道 - 讨论学习语言的最好方法

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

这里是美国之音慢速英语教育报道。

What is the best way to learn a new language? A small study of foreign language learning in adults compared two methods. One is known as the explicit¹ or classroom method. This is the kind of traditional classroom teaching where students are taught a lot of information about grammar rules.

什么是学习一门新语言的最好方式？一项针对成年人外语学习的小型研究对两种学习方式进行了对比。一种被称为外显学习法或课堂学习法，这是指传统的课堂教学，学生们被灌输很多和语法规则有关的信息。

The other method is known as the implicit² or immersion³ method. The idea here is to learn much the way children do when they learn a native language. That is, by being with native speakers and absorbing the language that surrounds them, generally without a lot of explanation.

另一种被称为内隐学习法或浸入式学习法。其观点是学习儿童学习母语的方式。也就是说，通过和母语人士接触，吸纳周边环境中使用的语言，这种情况下一般没有太多的讲解。

Teachers may combine these two methods into what Professor Michael Ullman calls immersion-style classroom teaching. But is that necessarily a better way to learn a language?

教师们可能会将这两种学习方法结合，形成迈克尔·乌尔曼（Michael Ullman）教授所说的浸入式课堂教学。但那一定是学习语言的最好方式吗？

Mr. Ullman was the senior investigator⁴ for the new study. He is a professor of neuroscience at Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington. He says he was surprised to find that combining the two methods might not help the brain in processing the new language.

乌尔曼先生是这项新研究的高级研究员。他是华盛顿乔治敦大学医学中心的一名神经学教授。他说自己惊讶地发现，将这两者结合可能不会有助于大脑处理这门新语言。

MICHAEL ULLMAN: "You know, if my life were on the line, and I had to learn a language, what would I do? I'm not sure. One possibility would be that, to start with explicit and then go to immersion, right? Start with classroom and then go to immersion. But there is this possibility that classroom could hurt later immersion. That's what, you know, one possibility of interpreting our data."

乌尔曼：“如果我的人生紧迫，我必须学习一种新语言，我会怎么做？我也不确定。一种可能性是，先是外显学习法，然后浸入式学习法，对不对？先从课堂学习开始，然后进入浸入式学习。但有可能课堂学习会伤害到随后的浸入式学习。这是解释我们这些数据的一种可能性。”

The Public Library of Science published the study earlier this year. The twenty-one adults in the experiment learned Brocanto2, a thirteen-word language created for the study. The words and grammar rules relate to a computer game similar to chess that the learners played. For example, "Blom neimo lu neep li praz" means "The square blom-piece switches with the neep-piece."

公共科学图书馆今年早些时候发布了这项研究。研究中被试的21名成年人学习了Brocanto2语言，这是为该研究创造的一门由13个字母组成的语言，其单词和语法规则和学习者玩的一种类似国际象棋的电脑游戏有关。例如，"Blom neimo lu neep li praz"意思是“方形的Blom部件由neep部件转换而来。”

The researchers tested the people three to six months after they had learned the language, to see how well they could remember it. The study found that those who had learned it with the immersion method had brain waves similar to those of native speakers of a language when speaking that language.

在被试者学习这门语言3到6个月后，研究人员对他们进行了测试，看他们记得如何。研究发现，使用浸入式学习法的被试者在说那门语言时，其脑电波同那些讲母语者类似。

Professor Ullman says those who trained with the classroom method also became more native-like in their brain processing. But only the immersion group showed full native-like processing of the grammar. Still, he says teachers should be careful how they use the results of his study.

乌尔曼教授表示，采用课堂教学法的被试者的大脑处理过程也变得更像母语人士。但只有浸入式学习组在处理语法时同母语人士完全相同。不过，他说，教师们应该谨慎采用他的研究结果。

MICHAEL ULLMAN: "You know I would not make any curriculum changes based on this. Nevertheless, it is suggestive, and I think it warrants further research to see whether in fact what kind of training might in fact be best not just for reaching the native brain bases but also for, you know, maximum proficiency⁵ in different aspects of language, like grammar, you know, syntax and lexicon⁶. So I think further research is warranted. And it may be, for example, that a combination of classroom and immersion might be best. But we don't know that."

乌尔曼：“我不会基于该研究结果做任何课程调整。它不过是一种启发。我认为值得进一步研究，看到底哪种教学法，不但对‘实现大脑母语人士化’，还对语言不同方面，像语法、句法和词汇的能力最大化最为有利。因此我认为值得进一步研究。结果可能是，例如说，课堂和浸入式学习结合是最好的，只是我们不知道而已。”

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Christopher Cruise. 

1 explicit   

adj.详述的，明确的；坦率的；显然的

参考例句：

• She was quite explicit about why she left.她对自己离去的原因直言不讳。
• He avoids the explicit answer to us.他避免给我们明确的回答。

2 implicit   

a.暗示的，含蓄的，不明晰的，绝对的

参考例句：

• A soldier must give implicit obedience to his officers. 士兵必须绝对服从他的长官。
• Her silence gave implicit consent. 她的沉默表示默许。

3 immersion   

n.沉浸；专心

参考例句：

• The dirt on the bottom of the bath didn't encourage total immersion.浴缸底有污垢，不宜全身浸泡于其中。
• The wood had become swollen from prolonged immersion.因长时间浸泡，木头发胀了。

4 investigator   

n.研究者，调查者，审查者

参考例句：

• He was a special investigator for the FBI.他是联邦调查局的特别调查员。
• The investigator was able to deduce the crime and find the criminal.调查者能够推出犯罪过程并锁定罪犯。

5 proficiency   

n.精通，熟练，精练

参考例句：

• He plied his trade and gained proficiency in it.他勤习手艺，技术渐渐达到了十分娴熟的地步。
• How do you think of your proficiency in written and spoken English?你认为你的书面英语和口语熟练程度如何？

6 lexicon   

n.字典，专门词汇

参考例句：

• Chocolate equals sin in most people's lexicon.巧克力在大多数人的字典里等同于罪恶。
• Silent earthquakes are only just beginning to enter the public lexicon.无声地震才刚开始要成为众所周知的语汇。