Page 389 - DENG504_LINGUISTICS

Digvijay Pandya, Lovely Professional University Unit 30: Language Teaching Analysis: Contrastive Analysis, Error Analysis

Unit 30: Language Teaching Analysis: Contrastive Analysis, Notes
Error Analysis

CONTENTS
Objectives
Introduction
30.1 Linguistics and Language Teaching
30.2 Linguistics with regard to its Role to Language Teaching
30.3 Contrastive and Error Analysis
30.4 Summary
30.5 Key-Words
30.6 Review Questions
30.7 Further Readings

Objectives

After studying this Unit students will be able to:
• Understand language teaching analysis.
• Discuss linguistics with regard to its role to language theory.
Introduction

Since the end of the Second World War much heat has been generated on the subject of the relevance
of linguistics to second language teaching. Many a time extreme views have been expressed. Some
over-enthusiastic neo-converts to linguistics, confusing language teaching with linguistics, say that
no perfect teacher of language could be made without a knowledge of linguistics. Others reject it
outrightly saying that teachers are born and not made. Some find only indirect applications of
linguistics to the teaching of second languages useful and acceptable; whereas some others still see
its direct applications. In a sense, such controversies are meaningless and unwanted. Neither are the
linguists technical hawkers nor are the language teachers ginger merchants. Both are sane people
engaged in an activity related to the development of human knowledge and human kind.
A lover of tradition may reject linguistics on the following grounds :
• Linguistic hunches about language acquisition are not well proved and verified. Linguistics
is not yet fully developed; it has not reached a mature stage to provide useful universal
insights and capability of practical application to language teachers. There is no concord,
agreement and uniformity in theories, terminology, methods, conclusions, classifications,
etc. among the linguists. Even in matters such as parts of speech, classification of sentences,
categories and sub-categories, kinds of meaning, branches of linguistics, scope of linguistics,
and linguistic levels, there are basic differences.
• Linguistics is a vast jungle of paradoxes : a messy and mazy discipline. Moreover, it is
getting extremely sophisticated and technical day by day.
• The forms of grammar, the linguistic theories of language analysis offered by the linguists
are not only inadequate and incomplete, but are pedagogically unsuitable.
• The amount of time and energy wasted in making the teacher linguistically knowledgeable
and adaptable is too large, and the net results gainable seem to be out of proportion.
• Since most of the early language teaching in many countries such as India is carried on by
undergraduate teachers, they are not mentally prepared to assimilate the linguistic acrobatics.

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