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SPEECH MAKING AND NOTE TAKING AS AN AID TO LANGUAGE LEARNING
Author(s) -
Anthony Edward M.
Publication year - 1948
Publication title -
language learning
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.882
H-Index - 103
eISSN - 1467-9922
pISSN - 0023-8333
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-1770.1948.tb00896.x
Subject(s) - citation , linguistics , psychology , computer science , library science , philosophy
N INABILITY to handle longer utterances is a frequent difficulty A of foreign students of English. In many laboratory classes in the practice of the patterns of English, the emphasis is on short sentences unrelated in meaning. There is little attempt to have the student organize and present a long speech. The stress is on the automatic reproduction of certain basic patterns of the English language. This practice is, of course, of the utmost importance, especially to the beginner, and should be continued throughout the student’s English courses. However, there is also a need for practice in longer speeches, particularly for professional men who will be continuing their studies after acquiring English. Another necessity for this type of foreign student is experience in taking accurate notes in a language other than his own. The student who translates an English lecture in order to take notes in his own language has a two-fold task. After taking such notes, he must then translate them back into English for purposes of later research, examination, or recitation. If he has had no practice in note taking in English, he must spend valuable time learning to do it, and ma$ miss important points of his course. Note-taking practice is thus legitimate material for any course which purports to orient a student into an American academic environment. One method of accomplishing both these objectives has been used with success in some of the classes of the English Language Institute of the University of Michigan. Of the five class hours per week spent in vocabulary class, one was set aside for four-minute speeches by the members of the c1ass.l Such general topics as “My Trip to the United States,” “Industry in My Country,” “Agriculture in My Country,” were assigned for the early weeks of the course. Later the student was encouraged to choose his own topic from his particular field. He was also allowed to lengthen the time of his speech until he could handle longer connected discourse. The student