VOA慢速英語:Debating the Best Way to Learn a Language

討論學習語言的最好方法

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.
這里是美國之音慢速英語教育報道。

What is the best way to learn a new language? A small study of foreign language learning in adults compared two methods. One is known as the explicit or classroom method. This is the kind of traditional classroom teaching where students are taught a lot of information about grammar rules.
什么是學習一門新語言的最好方式？一項針對成年人外語學習的小型研究對兩種學習方式進行了對比。一種被稱為外顯學習法或課堂學習法，這是指傳統的課堂教學，學生們被灌輸很多和語法規(guī)則有關的信息。

The other method is known as the implicit or immersion method. The idea here is to learn much the way children do when they learn a native language. That is, by being with native speakers and absorbing the language that surrounds them, generally without a lot of explanation.
另一種被稱為內隱學習法或浸入式學習法。其觀點是學習兒童學習母語的方式。也就是說，通過和母語人士接觸，吸納周邊環(huán)境中使用的語言，這種情況下一般沒有太多的講解。
 
Teachers may combine these two methods into what Professor Michael Ullman calls immersion-style classroom teaching. But is that necessarily a better way to learn a language?
教師們可能會將這兩種學習方法結合，形成邁克爾·烏爾曼（Michael Ullman）教授所說的浸入式課堂教學。但那一定是學習語言的最好方式嗎？

Mr. Ullman was the senior investigator for the new study. He is a professor of neuroscience at Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington. He says he was surprised to find that combining the two methods might not help the brain in processing the new language.
烏爾曼先生是這項新研究的高級研究員。他是華盛頓喬治敦大學醫(yī)學中心的一名神經學教授。他說自己驚訝地發(fā)現，將這兩者結合可能不會有助于大腦處理這門新語言。

MICHAEL ULLMAN: "You know, if my life were on the line, and I had to learn a language, what would I do? I'm not sure. One possibility would be that, to start with explicit and then go to immersion, right? Start with classroom and then go to immersion. But there is this possibility that classroom could hurt later immersion. That's what, you know, one possibility of interpreting our data."
烏爾曼：“如果我的人生緊迫，我必須學習一種新語言，我會怎么做？我也不確定。一種可能性是，先是外顯學習法，然后浸入式學習法，對不對？先從課堂學習開始，然后進入浸入式學習。但有可能課堂學習會傷害到隨后的浸入式學習。這是解釋我們這些數據的一種可能性。”

The Public Library of Science published the study earlier this year. The twenty-one adults in the experiment learned Brocanto2, a thirteen-word language created for the study. The words and grammar rules relate to a computer game similar to chess that the learners played. For example, "Blom neimo lu neep li praz" means "The square blom-piece switches with the neep-piece."
公共科學圖書館今年早些時候發(fā)布了這項研 究。研究中被試的21名成年人學習了Brocanto2語言，這是為該研究創(chuàng)造的一門由13個字母組成的語言，其單詞和語法規(guī)則和學習者玩的一種類似國際 象棋的電腦游戲有關。例如，"Blom neimo lu neep li praz"意思是“方形的Blom部件由neep部件轉換而來。”

The researchers tested the people three to six months after they had learned the language, to see how well they could remember it. The study found that those who had learned it with the immersion method had brain waves similar to those of native speakers of a language when speaking that language.
在被試者學習這門語言3到6個月后，研究人員對他們進行了測試，看他們記得如何。研究發(fā)現，使用浸入式學習法的被試者在說那門語言時，其腦電波同那些講母語者類似。

Professor Ullman says those who trained with the classroom method also became more native-like in their brain processing. But only the immersion group showed full native-like processing of the grammar. Still, he says teachers should be careful how they use the results of his study.
烏爾曼教授表示，采用課堂教學法的被試者的大腦處理過程也變得更像母語人士。但只有浸入式學習組在處理語法時同母語人士完全相同。不過，他說，教師們應該謹慎采用他的研究結果。

MICHAEL ULLMAN: "You know I would not make any curriculum changes based on this. Nevertheless, it is suggestive, and I think it warrants further research to see whether in fact what kind of training might in fact be best not just for reaching the native brain bases but also for, you know, maximum proficiency in different aspects of language, like grammar, you know, syntax and lexicon. So I think further research is warranted. And it may be, for example, that a combination of classroom and immersion might be best. But we don't know that."
烏爾曼：“我不會基于該研究結果做任何課程調整。它不過是一種啟發(fā)。我認為值得進一步研究，看到底哪種教學法，不但對‘實現大腦母語 人士化’，還對語言不同方面，像語法、句法和詞匯的能力最大化最為有利。因此我認為值得進一步研究。結果可能是，例如說，課堂和浸入式學習結合是最好的， 只是我們不知道而已。”