A Psychological Perspective Of Foreign Language Teaching

Effective language (L2/FL) teaching is a topic constantly picked up in language learning and teaching area both at home and abroad. This field has seen a proliferation of experimental and theoretical studies in the past two decades in the western language learning and teaching circle. Several factors are responsible for this; one of them is the development of linguistics and psychologists' increased interest in language. More and more psychologists probe into the domains of the nature of language, language acquisition, principles of language learning, etc. Psychologists' research in motivational factors, cognitive growth, cognitive strategies, and information processing, memory, etc. can definitely shed insight on language instruction research.This study is to investigate the interfaces between psychology and foreign language teaching (FLT) and on the bases of synthesis and analysis propose a framework for effective FLT.The thesis is made up of seven chapters besides an introduction and a brief conclusion. It is organized into three parts.Introduction and Chapter One make up the first part. Introduction provides some fundamental knowledge and an overview of this research area. It helps to indicate the future trait of language learning and teaching research: a psychological perspective. During the late 60s and the early 70s, research work concerning effective language teaching were conducted under the principles of the then flourishing "humanistic psychology". In the late 1970s, psychological field experienced the "cognitive revolution" with the triumph of information processing. Cognitive psychology proposed a new perspective to language learning research. From the 1980s on, researchers in the field turn to investigate the learners' individual differences (IDs), including affective factors, age, personality, and learners' mental state, such as attention, awareness. This section presents a thorough review of the related literature. The Literature Review helps to build up the validity and feasibility of the Purpose of the Study and the Significance of the Study. Methodology states that this thesis is in essence atheoretical one and the conclusions are based on synthesis and analysis of authoritative, authentic research findings and exploratory work.Chapter One presents an overview of psychological perspective of language learning. SLA is a complex psychological process, which involves a variety of factors. The Subject of SLA research is the conscious and unconscious psychological process of learning or acquiring a second language. In this chapter, behavioristic learning theory and cognitive learning theory are discussed. Behaviorism is an approach to psychology, which has had a profound influence on language teaching throughout the world. There is no doubt that behavioristic and Skinnerian learning theory has a lasting impact on our understanding of the process of language learning. There is much in the theory that is true and valuable. Cognitive psychologists are not content with analyzing behavior in terms of simple stimulus-response connections but seek instead to understand the ways in which the mind processes the information it perceives through organizing, remembering and using the information. Two models of information processing are discussed and a comparative study is also made between serial processing and parallel processing. Serial models have been influential in the study of language and PDP model also promises certain implications for L2 learning theory.Part two consists of Chapters 2 to 4. This part deals with individual variables studied in relation to foreign language learning. There seems to be a broad consensus in SLA circle that learner variables play an important role in the learning process.Chapter Two deals with affective variables and personality variables. The theory, research and experimentation of recent years have led to increasing conviction of the importance of affective components in language learning. Affective .factors Such as motivation and anxiety, together with personality factors such as empathy and inhibition may contribute at least as much as and often more to language learning than the cognitive skills.Chapter Three and Chapter Four deal with some other individual differences (IDs) that interact as strongly with SLA and FLT, and these are called learning styles and strategies. Learning a L2 deeply involves various personal factors andthe study of learning styles and strategies brings very important variables to the forefront. Such styles and strategies can contribute significantly to the construction of a unified theory of SLA and FL learning and teaching.Chapter Three briefly considers four learning styles or tendencies that seem to bear direct correlations with successful language learning and teaching. Chapter Four research into language learning strategies. This chapter focuses on metacognition, metacognitive strategies and strategy training. Metacognition and metacognitive strategies have become the focus of study in the literature on both language learning and educational psychology. Some scholars hold that a focus on metacognition is key to getting students to learn with great understanding. Metacognition and metacognitive skills are essential for learners to learn how to learn and eventually achieve learner autonomy.Part Three contains the last three chapters. These three chapters, based on the above analysis strive to provide a theoretical framework for effective foreign language teaching.Chapter five researches into the underlying teaching principles of language teaching and these principles comprise some of the major foundations for teaching practice. The theoretical framework of these principles can help to identify and better understand the roles of the different participants in the classroom interaction, the impact that certain types of instruction may have on FL/SL learning, and the factors that promote or inhibit learning. People's understanding of the underlying principles that guide teaching and learning process increases with psychological research and classroom-based SLA research. Psychological (e.g. cognitive, educational) research has greatly enhanced people's understanding of the process of education. This complex process involves an intricate interplay between the learning process itself, the teachers' intentions and actions, the individual personalities of the learners, their culture and background, the learning environment and a host of other factors.Chapter six discusses the humanistic approaches to language teaching. Humanism had a great influence on educational practice in the 1970s and 1980s and humanistic approach is still highly influential in both educational psychology...