|
a learner's career is only that he be beginning to function at this level of
proficiency. This move toward sentence-level processing means that language
ability has become more generative, although at Intermediate-Low there is no
expectation of competence, merely the beginning of the sentence formation
abilities.
Topics at this stage are typically about self, but in the process of learning
one or two examples of nouns, adjectives, and verbs, learners are beginning to
acquire the structural framework that will allow for more rapid learning of similar
types of words and structures as they move along. Similarly, topics will be
nearly universally concrete in nature. As they acquire, for example,
prepositions and cases that describe location, they are becoming familiar with
types of structures that will later allow them to express more abstract ideas.
Structural knowledge is largely inchoate, meaning that, at best, much of it
will be at the level of recognition, not recall. Especially at first in a functional
approach, much of the material will be essentially unparsable for beginning
learners. It is important to note, however, that this framework does propose a
strong stand that the elementary stage include exposure to all major structures .
By this we mean, for example, all six cases, singular and plural, with nouns,
adjectives, and pronouns; and for verbs, the categories of tense, aspect, and
mood, and conjugation of all major verb types (in whatever system of analysis is
used). A full description can be found in chapter 4.
This proposal is consistent with our belief that we will not be able to
facilitate smooth articulation if we specify only levels of performance. At any
given point in the language learning continuum, to use a phrase from the study
Articulation and Achievement ,there is too much knowledge in a state of partial
formation to leave unspecified how this significant portion of the process should
be managed. The proposal that the elementary stage be characterized by
completion of the process of exposureto these major structures stems from the
belief that the acquisition process is too complex to leave this structural
knowledge to chance.
Much of a student's tenure at the intermediate stage should occur at
intermediate level of proficiency. A general goal, therefore, is to help the
student move from processing strictly at the level of words and unanalyzed
chunks to the sentence level, with its greater generative capacity.
The goals for the intermediate stage are, as with the elementary stage,
specified across three domains. A significant task for this stage involves
recycling--of topics, functions--in order that some of the idiosyncrasies that are
so characteristic of the elementary stage be reduced. In general, much of the
recycling has to do with the transition from talking about self to talking about
others. This will mean that topical vocabulary will be richer as the students
learn a wider range of words within a topic.
|
|
