SGRE3133 LINGUISTICS FOR ESL TEACHERS

NOOR ANATI BT NOOR LAJIS 210105

UNIVERSITI UTARA MALAYSIA SINTOK, KEDAH DARUL AMAN.

SGRE3133 LINGUISTICS FOR ESL TEACHERS

REFLECTIVE JOURNALS

NAME MATRIX NO TEL.NO LECTURER

: NOOR ANATI BINTI NOOR LAJIS : 210105 : 012-3162544 : PN.NORMA BINTI SAAD

SGRE3133 LINGUISTICS FOR ESL TEACHERS

NOOR ANATI BT NOOR LAJIS 210105

2ND MEETING REFLECTION: LINGUISTICS AND LANGUAGE TEACHERS Linguistics is important for language teaching because linguistics and language teaching can be likened to the relationship of knowledge about engine and the skill in driving a car. It will be better for the driver to support with some knowledge about the car or the engine so that he can drive it well and know how to overcome some engine trouble in case he has to face it. In the same way it will be better if language teachers have some knowledge about, for instance, the characteristics of language in general and the specific language they are teaching in particular. In this relation, teachers should know how language works and express meaning, and what structures are used in the particular language they are teaching. Teachers should get familiar, for instance, with the theory about the general mechanism of producing speech sounds, so that they will be able to tackle any pronunciation problem his students may encounter. By studying linguistics teachers will have deeper insights into the nature of language, and act accordingly in teaching the language. For instance, when teachers agree that the use of language is a matter of habits and practice, in teaching it to their students, they must implant the habit of using it for communication until it becomes deeply established. During the second meeting, Ive learned about Linguistics and Language Teachers. In this topic, there are three sub-topic which are Evolution of the Influence of Linguistics on Language Teaching: Historical Perspective, The role of Linguistics in Language Teaching and Advantages of possessing knowledge of description of language. In Evolution of Linguistics Influence on the Context of Language Teaching, Ive been exposed on methods used in teaching linguistics. There are Pre Modern Linguistics which is traditional grammar and Modern Linguistics Era. A grammar includes phrase-structure rules,

SGRE3133 LINGUISTICS FOR ESL TEACHERS

NOOR ANATI BT NOOR LAJIS 210105

lexical-insertion rules, and transformational rules. The grammar can be thought of as a machine which generates all the possible sentences of the language. A grammar containing such rules is called a generative grammar. When the rules include transformational rules, we have a transformational-generative grammar. Secondly is the role of linguistics in language teaching. Applied linguistics provides the bridge between the theoretical disciplines and language teaching. It is also a problem-solving enterprise, it is solving practical problems. It therefore performs an essential function in the language teaching process. For example, linguistics provides language descriptions of a particular language. The need for this is sometimes obscured, but becomes obvious as soon as we approach less commonly taught languages. Linguistics is the scientific study of language. As the scientific study, linguistics can applied in language teaching. Some branches of linguistics discuss some aspects of a language such as phones, phonemes, morphemes, words, meanings, and language in relation to sociocultural and psychological perspectives. All of the aspects are of course useful for language teaching. Linguistics provides important implications for the preparation of syllabuses, teaching programs, materials and methodology. The language teacher cannot proceed without the linguistic sciences. Its contribution in terms of second language acquisition, although useful, seems somewhat limited. Applied linguistics is therefore in the process of extending its horizons, turning to unfamiliar territory, such as cognitive psychology, for answers to problems which teachers have to face. A teacher will be able to give a rational explanation for some linguistics feature and decide on what language to teach and what language to describe.