An Intensive Course in Malayalam, prepared by Dr A.P. Andrewskutty under the cognate language teaching programme developed in the Linguistics Department of the University of Kerala under the leadership of Dr. Prof V.I. SUBRAMONIAM, Founder of DLA/IJDL/ISDL is a text book in great demand for over two decades.
Ever since the establishment of ISRO/VSSC like centres in Thiruvananthapuram the demand for the study material was greater. This was the background underwhich this was reprinted now with the concurrence of the Council of Direction of ISDL
I take this opportunity to thank the C.D for its permission. I am much obliged to Dr TP Sankarankutty Nair, Convenor of the Publication and Research Committee of the ISDL whose initiative made the reprint a reality.
Any human being who speaks a language should have been a learner as well as a teacher, consciously or unconsciously. If the language is his mother-tongue, he learns it in his early child-hood from his parents, siblings, and members of his society, and teachers it in his adulthood to his fellow beings of his village. If he knows another language its learning will have been more systematic than that of his mother-tongue. His experience in learning languages grows in proportion to the number of languages spoken by him. Learning a language, thus, is an experience shared by all members of the society. This has enabled everyone to evaluate and criticise any hypothesis formulated for learning. This again is the reason why any of the existing hypotheses do not completely satisfy any learner.
Complexity in Learning Languages
The factors involved in learning a language are many. The language proneness of the individual, his motives in learning, the teacher and his method, the lessons, the opportunities one gets in life by learning a language etc., are a few. Because of the involvement of complex-in contradictory-factors, 'no one educational method is a cure all'
Learning of Mother Tongue and Other Languages
Learning ones own mother-tongue and learning a language in addition to the mother-tongue are two related areas of learning with a difference. In learning ones own mother-tongue, interference of any other language is non-existent. In learning another language, interference of the mother-tongue in the process of learning is a factor to be reckoned with. In the first, only acquisition of a language is involved. In the second, in addition to acquisition, restraint of the mother-tongue is also involved. The number of languages learnt increases the efforts of restraining the languages already learnt, while acquiring a fresh language. The same method of teaching can be employed for both types of learning.
Methods of Teaching
Among the methods adopted in teaching languages one is the granimar translation method. This involves the grammatical analysis of the language taught, and the categories of grammar being defined in general terms with reference to meaning. The mother-tongue of the student is extensively used in teaching the foreign language through this method. Opposed to this is another method, the direct method, which abhors the use of the mother-tongue while teaching another language. Practitioners of this method engage the pupil in conversation and supply meaning by referring directly to objects and picture charts. They make signs or act out the meaning of sentences in order to make the students understand their significance. Grammar is used by some. Others give little importance to it. None of its followers use the grammatical analysis of the native language.
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