ENGLISH FOR VIETNAMESE 3

So referring to my previous article I maintain that the best way to master a language is by juxtaposing or rather by opposing different grammar structures in meaningful short speech exchanges or very short dialogues simulating a real life situation.

The traditional “step by step” learning implies that you should single out a certain separate grammar structure and focus all your attention and efforts on this particular fact by making a lot of substitution drills and other exercises in order to achieve automatic skills and habits in identification and reproduction of this particular speech pattern in your practice.

I am sorry, I am not quite right, actually there are some textbooks which really carry these opposition exercises.

What I mean to say that these oppositions are not exactly adequate sometimes and their interpretation is either traditionally obsolete or not correct at all. Besides, these opposition drills may be very dull and do not encourage students to use their own imagination and independent ability to make up their own speech exchanges which could be interesting for them in their content, not only in its form.

Step by step method is also very useful, I cannot deny that, but combination of different steps in your own independent and motivated speech may be more efficient for students’ learning process.

I have already published my article on Modeling Dialogues, so I will not dwell on it now but rather continue the previous article theme on juxtaposition and opposition of different grammar facts in short speech exchanges which can be close to real life situations.

Do you agree that your motivation for learning a language may be really enhanced by using adequate speech patterns in your real life situations?

Unfortunately I cannot speak the Vietnamese language and so I am unable to give a very good equivalent in your language, my Chinese is much better but it does not matter either because everyone will probably agree that English will also do for typical life situations irrespective of our own preferences to express everything in our mother tongues.

My native language is Russian but in an international environment I’d rather prefer to use English if I meet someone with adequate understanding of the standard patterns and common expressions.

Irrespective of our native languages we all have the common human logic and our life experience in operating with some general categories like PROCESS, FINAL RESULT, HABITUAL ACTIVITIES, WISHFUL THINKING OF THE FUTURE, PROMISE, PLANNING, INTENTIONS, TERMS AND CONDITIONS, SPECIFICATION OF DETAILS and so on.

If we have the common knowledge of these categories then we will understand that any grammar book is based on these categories rather than on dull labels like PRESENT CONTINUOUS, PRESENT PERFECT, FUTURE INDEFINITE and all that stuff.

By the way all these grammar labels very often do not reflect the true nature of things, for example, I can agree that any future is really indefinite because an expression like “I will do it” rather represents PROMISE and modality than any indicative mood tense with its face value but the label PRESENT INDEFINITE really embarrasses me because any present is quite definite and in this case we’d better name it HABITUAL as opposed to the PROCESS usually referred to as CONTINUOUS.

This way or other, as a Russian saying goes – “One cannot throw away any line or any word in a song” – if a song has been sung in a traditional way for many years you cannot change it arbitrarily, otherwise you will be called “an impostor”.

On the other hand, there are many people now who remake old songs and they sound very funny and innovative.

We can also remake any old grammar and tailor it to our own interests. If such a remake can help us expedite and improve our learning process, why not?

How?

Very simple. We can use the old grammar labels but interpret them in a different way, filling them with a new content regarded from different angles. We can also oppose different structures to each other, different speech patterns.

I have written several articles in Russian on “Speech Patterns and Interactive Models” where I oppose some traditional grammar tenses like present continuous, present perfect, present indefinite, past indefinite, future indefinite and other tenses in an arbitrary and mixed way which depends on real life facts and can be changed according to your own preference.

I am sure that there should be no monopoly in Methodology and what really matters for any learning process is EFFICIENCY.

If new interpretation of traditional grammar facts helps students acquire any foreign language better and more efficiently – then go ahead!

In my next article I will dwell again upon the opposition of UNINTERRUPTED PROCESS (ING) against NEW IMPORTANT RESULT. Traditionally this is the opposition of PRESENT CONTINUOUS against PRESENT PERFECT. They will be accompanied by such words as STILL, YET, ALREADY.

To be continued Instructor/ Trainer Alexander Khodovets