4.3 Developing comprehension skills in a foreign language

Question 1

What does it involve to understand text and speech?

Answer 1

involves a series of complex
processes that need to interact in order to make comprehension possible.

Question 2

***What’s is the main advantage between a native speaker and a person that doesn’t speak the language well?

Answer 2

native speakers are generally able to manage the processes that make comprehension possible both effectively and efficiently because they can rely on a wide knowledge of grammar and vocabulary, which enables them to decode more words and draw more inferences

Question 3

What is the main disadvantage of a person that is not familiar with the language vs a native speaker?

Answer 3

***When you are learn in a foreign language, the processes cannot
run as smoothly because your knowledge bank is more limited, and because some of the skills that native speakers would normally use automatically (through many years of practice) have not yet become automatic in the new language. This is most apparent in the early stages

Question 4

*** List some things you can do to develop the knowledge and skills you need to make the this processes run smoother. (page 142)

Answer 4

-Familiarise yourself with the phonological system

-Learn new vocabulary
The more words you know, the more you will be able to recognise when
you read or speak. When you cannot recognise enough words it becomes
more difficult to infer the meaning of a message because there are too
many gaps in your decoding. Learn as much vocabulary as you can and
make sure that you also learn how the words are pronounced.

-Learn the syntax
Knowing how sentences are formed helps us to predict what words come
before or after another. Your knowledge of syntax will build up gradually as you study the language and are exposed to the language in texts, conversations and recordings
-Read and listen to lots of authentic language Seeing words and sentences in context will help you become familiar with the ways in which typical conversations and written texts are organised in
the target language. Gaining experience in this area will help you predict what is likely to be said ataparticular point and to make accurate guesses. This aspect of language, known as ‘discourse’, will be explored in Section 4.4.
-Develop cultural knowledge
The more you know about the cultures related to a language, the better you will be at guessing meaning from context. In Book 3 you will see that professional interpreters routinely read up on the topic of a conference in
Book 1 Language and culture
142 advance to improve their ability to understand speakers’ contributions. Use every opportunity to learn about the countries where the target language is spoken, and remember you can also read up about them in your own language, so you can do this right from beginner’s level.

Question 5

What is syntax?

Answer 5

the arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language.

Question 6

How can it help to familiarise yourself with the phonological system?

Answer 6

Language learners are more easily put off by non-standard pronunciation than native speakers because they are not familiar enough with the new language’s sounds. Language courses usually feature recordings in the target language. Subtitled videos can also help you make the link between
the sounds you hear and the words you already know. Talk to as many
speakers of the language as you can.

Question 7

How can it help to learn new vocabulary?

Answer 7

The more words you know, the more you will be able to recognise when
you read or speak. When you cannot recognise enough words it becomes
more difficult to infer the meaning of a message because there are too
many gaps in your decoding. Learn as much vocabulary as you can and
make sure that you also learn how the words are pronounced.

Question 8

How can it help to learn the syntax

Answer 8

Knowing how sentences are formed helps us to predict what words come
before or after another. Your knowledge of syntax will build up gradually as you study the language and are exposed to the language in texts, conversations and recordings.

Question 9

How can it help to read and listen to lots of authentic language

Answer 9

Seeing words and sentences in context will help you become familiar with the ways in which typical conversations and written texts are organised in the target language. Gaining experience in this area will help you predict what is likely to be said at a particular point and to make accurate guesses. This aspect of language, known as ‘discourse’, will be explored in Section 4.4.

Question 10

How can it help to develop cultural knowledge?

Answer 10

The more you know about the cultures related to a language, the better you will be at guessing meaning from context. In Book 3 you will see that professional interpreters routinely read up on the topic of a conference in Book 1 Language and culture 142
advance to improve their ability to understand speakers’ contributions.
Use every opportunity to learn about the countries where the target
language is spoken, and remember you can also read up about them in
your own language, so you can do this right from beginner’s level.

Question 11

Phonology

Answer 11

describes the system of sounds that are used in a particular language. (For example, in Japanese the sounds /r/ and /l/ are
interchangeable, so they are phonologically the same.)

Question 12

Phonetics

Answer 12

describes all the sounds that humans are able to make with
their bodies when they speak. (For example, the sounds /r/ and /l/ are
phonetically distinct because they are pronounced differently.)

Question 13

what’s the difference between phonetics and phonology

Answer 13

Phonology: describes the system of sounds that are used inaparticular
language. (For example, in Japanese the sounds /r/ and /l/ are
interchangeable, so they are phonologically the same.)
Phonetics: describes all the sounds that humans are able to make with
their bodies when they speak. (For example, the sounds /r/ and /l/ are
phonetically distinct because they are pronounced differently.)

Question 14

Lexicon

Answer 14

the collection of words a person knows (their vocabulary).

Question 15

Syntax

Answer 15

the set of rules that are used for constructing sentences in a
particular language. (For example, ‘boy likes girl’ has a different
meaning from ‘girl likes boy’.) Knowledge of these rules is referred to as ‘syntactic knowledge’.

Question 16

Discourse

Answer 16

the set of rules that are used for connecting sentences or
utterances together into meaningful texts or conversations. For example,
on a typical French menu the dishes are organised in the following
order: 1. Starters, 2. Mains, 3. Desserts. Inatypical English
conversation, the expected answer to ‘How are you?’ is ‘Very well’,
often followed by ‘thank you’ and/or ‘and you?’.

Question 17

Utterance

Answer 17

this term has two meanings. In phonetics, it describes a unit
of speech bounded by silence; in conversation, the term may refer to
each turn spoken by one of the speakers. Speech is made up of
utterances.