There are many reasons why Shakespearean Drama,English Poetry and Prose are neglected these days both in Universities,Colleges and also by the People. Phonetics and Linguistics have usurped the position of poetry, prose and drama.English Language has almost become a scientific language with different sounds and symbols, transcriptions and pronunciation etc. The English Language has been made more complicated and is interesting only to the minority lot. Students especially in Asian Countries find Phonetics and Linguistics very difficult to follow and understand. They are of the opinion that English has lost its charm.
Dear Stephen Politzer-Ahles,
Your concern over the importance of linguistic subjects like linguistics and phonetics in the English curricula is quite justified since metalinguistic knowledge, even though useful, does not prepare the learners for life-like language situations and real encounters. Literary resources , as you have rightly observed, provide realistic situations for the students like Asians, who are far away from actual encounters with the native speakers. Literature on the use of literary texts as the teaching content is now available. Literature mirrors the realities of a language and it is a medium for which you cannot find any other substitute.
Best regards,
R. Biria
Pyidimarri: I did not give any opinion whatsoever (and thus I could not have given a biased one), I merely pointed out that in your rant above you did not actually ask a question.
Reza: I don't know why your message is addressed to me, as it discusses a "concern" that I don't have and an "observation" that I did not make.
Sir
I feel all Asian languages are letter based languages.when a student trained in his mother tongue to speak sounds through mother or others. Their phonetics study is in built in all Asian languages. No separate study on it. Chinese, Mandarin, sanskrit or any other Asian language Linguistics,phonetics are inside the alphabet. English case is different . It is sound based language. It's spelling, pronunciation, meaning, morphology.symtax every thing is different. So it takes a lot of time to Asian students to study English phonetics. Finally I believe that English is not a scientific language.where as all Asian languages are systematic and scientific
Sorry, Mohana, but everything you've said is either factually incorrect (the claim that all Asian languages are "letter-based", with phonemic of phonetic alphabets) or just plain nonsense (the claim that there is a distinction between "scientific/systematic" vs. "non-scientific/non-systematic" languages).
Dear StephenThere are many sources and evidences that show that only Asian languages are scientific, systematic, suitable to learners.you didn't read & understand my reply go through once again
No, there is definitely no such evidence, and if any source makes such a claim it is wrong. No language is inherently better or worse than another language, no language is inherently more or less scientific than another language; every language is capable of expressing anything (indeed, this is one of the defining characteristics of human language) and every [natural] language is learnable.* Frankly I am shocked that I need to provide references for this statement, as it is one of the most basic points in linguistics, and anyone who has studied linguistics ought to already know it. But here are a few:
- http://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/12/magazine/the-way-we-live-now-9-12-99-on-language-dialects.html?n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/People/F/Fox,%20Margalit
- http://www.abebooks.com/book-search/isbn/0312247389/
- http://www.cambridge.org/gb/academic/subjects/languages-linguistics/english-language-and-linguistics-general-interest/introduction-language-and-linguistics-2nd-edition?format=PB&isbn=9781107637993
If you are interested in this topic, I recommend you read an introductory linguistics textbook; just about any will do.
*There are, however, certain structures or patterns that are difficult or impossible to learn and that do not appear in any known natural language; see, e.g., Hunter & Lidz 2013 [http://jos.oxfordjournals.org/content/30/3/315.short]
Asian languages are letter based languages & systematic and scientific .when a student trained in his mother tongue to speak sounds through mother Their phonetics study is in built in all Asian languages.
I think we have to follow ESP approach in this particular case. Some other value added tasks are right selection of content, contextualization and comparative study. On top of that devising our own prose, poetry and drama will help a lot. I hope this will benefit TESOL teaching and learning. Things are there but we have to customize them for better understanding, performance and improvement. You may like to refer to my postings especially, I can do it! series. I hope it helps!
I absolutely agree with the statement that many of the students feel difficult to learns phonetics and linguistics compared to literature. In my perception its mainly because of the reason that the rules and principles in phonetics are difficult to remember and its difficult to practice and utter the sounds which are quite new and different to the mother tongue.
Poetry, and prose are more palatable because they are interesting and display emotion and a story to relate to.
2 things. Without phonetics you can't have correct pronunciation. You are asking students to learn pronunciation by memorization only. That is an almost infinite amount to memorize. With phonetics they learn how to pronounce. with memorization of a finite set of rules correctly creating a structure they can build with that then opens the door to INFINITE ability to speak correctly. "Give a man a fish you feed him for a day, teach him how to fish and he will feed himself for life"
Secondly make the phonetics as interesting as the prose and combine the two, Our job as teachers and curriculum writers is to make ALL the lessons as enjoyable as possible, even phonetics! The attainment of any skill requires discipline and learning of the sometimes boring but ALWAYS immutable rules.
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