Common Beliefs about Language Learning and Teaching

Irttrodtr tt itt tt Populnr opinions about kngaage learning and teaching Indicateth e extentt o whichy ou agreew ith eachs tatemenbt y markinga n X at the appropriatep ointo n the lineb etween' stronglya greea' nd' strongly disagree'. I Languageasr e learnedm ainlyt hrough imitation. stronSly aSree t t l i i strongly disagree 2 Parentsu suallyc orrecty oungc hildrenw hent hey makeg rammatical strongly agree strongly disagree 3 Highlyi ntelligenpt eoplea reg ood languaglee arners. strongly agree t t t t l strongly disagree The most important predictor of success motivation. strongly agree in secondl anguagea cquisitronrs The earliera secondl anguageis introducedi n school greater the likelihood of success in learning. stronSrya Sree l l l l Mosto f the mistakesth at secondl anguaglee arnersm akea re duet o incerferencefr om their first language. stronSrya Sree t t t t t stronglyd isagree 7 The bestw ayt o learnn ew vocabularyis t hroughr eading stronSly agree l t t l t strongly disagree It ise ssentiaflo r learnersto be ablet o Dronouncea llt he individuaslo unos in the secondl anguage. stronglyagree I I I I I stronglydisagree Once learnersk now roughly| 000w ords andt he basics tructureo f a languageth, ey cane asilyp anicipatein conversationws ith natives peakers. stronglya gree t t t l l stronglyd isagree Teachers should present grammatical rules one at a time, and learners should practise examples of each one before going on to another. strongly agree t l l l l stronSl/0rsaSree strongly disagree programmes,t he strongly disagree t 0xviii Introduction t l t2 t3 t 4 t 6 l 7 Teachersh ould stronSrya Sree teachs implel anguagset ructuresb eforec omplexo nes. r t t t l stronglyd isagree LT E} LANGUA(;tl A ( l ( l t J aspectosf hunran, by a rhree-nr