學語言學到了什麼？從語言的多面向樣貌探討語言教學的新路徑

What do We Acquire when We Acquire a Language? Implications for Language Learning and Coaching

我們拿握紙杯子和陶瓷杯子的方式不會相同，這是因為兩者的樣貌與構造不同的緣故。如果把語言想像成一種物體，那麼我們認為這是一個什麼樣的物體，也會影響我們如何攫取掌握它。換句話說，我們問如何習得語言之前，要先思考語言是什麼。現有的語言習得理論都有其假定的語言樣貌。本文從八個面向探討語言的樣貌，及其對應的語言習得理論。然後嘗試加以歸納整合出一個比較合乎人類生態的語言習得觀點，本文借用Atkinson （2011）提出的名稱，稱之為社會認知取向。這個觀點對語言教學提出了新的路徑，可供教學者思考與研究新的教學方案。

The way we grasp a paper cup necessarily differ from the way we grasp a mug or a glass. This is because the two types of container have different shapes and structures and these affect how we handle them. If we metaphorically think of a language as an object with a predictable shape and structure, we must handle (use) different languages differently. In terms of language acquisition or learning, this means that we need to determine ahead of time what we think a language is before exploring how to acquire it. Theories of second language acquisition all presume a specific answer of what a language is. In this paper, I discuss eight different facets of a language and their related SLA theories. I also try to synthesize these different views and propose an ecological approach to SLA, which I call the Sociocognitive Approach, borrowing from Atkinson's (2011) recent proposal. The sociocognitive approach offers a possibility for designing new programs of second language learning.