Four approaches to language learning based on learning style

 Language and identity

Language and identity are closely intertwined and are constantly under discussion.

Introduction

Your language learning experience will be more enjoyable, motivating, and successful if you take your preferences into account. You can choose from four approaches to language learning, based on your overall learning style. These approaches are designed to include activities and techniques that should be more enjoyable for you. On the other hand, you may sometimes need to operate outside your comfort zone in order to make the best progress in your learning.

Guidelines
	Here are some general guidelines to follow when you decide on an approach to language learning based on your overall learning style:
	Be sure your approach includes the following essential conditions for language acquisition: Lots of exposure to language you can understand A chance to negotiate meaning with speakers of the language A chance to observe and participate in a variety of real communication situations A chance to get to know what people who speak the language think and believe If your learning style is a combination of two or more learning types, incorporate elements of the corresponding approaches to make your own customized approach.

In this module group
	Here are the modules on approaches to language learning based on your overall learning style:
	The Relational approach to language learning The Analytical approach to language learning The Structured approach to language learning The Energetic approach to language learning

Tip

It is possible to use your learning style as an excuse to do only what feels comfortable to you, leaving out activities that could greatly enhance your learning. Sometimes it is necessary to do things that do not come naturally in order to progress. For instance, you may find it hard to get out and talk to people if you are an introvert. You can find ways to reduce this stress, but you must listen to people and talk with them to gain real communicative competence in a second language. This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 3.5, published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 1999.

When do we use the words credible, creditable and credulous?

These words all derive from the Latin verb 'credere', meaning 'to believe or entrust'.

Credible and credulous both have the notion of believing, but in different ways. 

CREDIBLE means 'believable' or 'reliable':

• A credible account of the event, credible alibi, credible act.

Credible is also used in extended sense, 'authentic, convincing, sound' :

• She doesn't seem to be a credible candidate for this post.
• She makes a credible mother.

The opposite of credible is incredible, means only 'unbelievable' and, informally, 'wonderful, marvelous':

• an incredible performance.

CREDULOUS is used exclusively of humans and human behaviour, never for things. 

It is applied to people who are, as it were, on the receiving end of a credible story, and means 'believing too readily, gullible':

• She is a credulous naivete.
• A credulous simpleton.

There are also signs of stupendous naivety-Feigenbaum and McCorduck, for example, are limitlessly credulous about the ability of the Japanese to achieve their immoderate objective.

-John Naughton, The Observer.

The opposite of credulous is incredulous which means the opposite, 'disbelieving, sceptical' or 'expressing disbelief'.

The feeling persisted for long when in front of her incredulous eyes he enacted a drama of betrayal.

CREDITABLE,finally, has lost its connection with the notion of disbelief, believing, and means 'worthy of credit, deserving praise and admiration':

• His creditable attempt to save the clan was appreciated.
• The companies were on cloud nine after their creditable collaboration.

Polk-Mowbray threw himself into the arrangements with great abandon....It promised to be the most original party of the year...All in all it was most creditable to those concerned.

-Antrobus, in Lawrence Durrell's Esprit de Corps.

The difference between 'lie' and 'lay'

In nonstandard English, both British and American, the verb 'to lay' is often used for to lie. However, in standard English the two words are kept distinct.

'To lay' is transitive, having a direct object. The primary meaning of 'to lay' is to cause( something or someone) to lie down, to place something or someone in a reclining position.

• Kindly lay the fingerbowls on the table.
• Lay your head gently on my arm.

We have some phrases in which the verb to lay is used in an extended sense: 

• to lay the table
• Now I would like to lay me down to sleep.
• to lay the blame on someone.
• to lay a ghost. 

Exceptions:

The verb 'to lay' can also be used intransitively without any direct object.

• The hens won't lay eggs unless they get a warm place.
• The ships are laying aft.

So 'to lay' has become standard way of saying to lay eggs, and in the nautical sense it means to drift or float in certain position.

'To lie' means to be stationary, reclined on a flat surface, or to move into such a position. To lie is always used in the intransitive sense and takes no direct object.

The verbs 'to lay' and 'to lie' are often confused. The major reason for this confusion between the two verbs is that the past of 'to lie' is lay.

• The boys lay in the grass all morning.

However, the forms of two verbs are quite distinct:

lay, laid, laid.

lie, lay ,lain.

Please note that there is not any word like 'layed'---x

and we also know of a regular verb to lie meaning to tell a lie, which is not related to the verbs discussed here, and whose forms are lie, lied,lied, lying, lies.

We will discuss some nonstandard English usage of lie and lay:

• Lie it along the wall.---incorrect.
• Lay it along the wall.----correct.
• He laid down on the grass.---incorrect.
• He lay down on the grass.----correct.
• Please let it lay.----incorrect.
• Please let it lie.----correct.
• Lie the baby in the cradle.----incorrect.
• Lay the baby in the cradle.----correct.
• Victoria was laying on the grass.----incorrect.
• Victoria was lying on the grass.---correct.
• Your book has laid there for a month.----incorrect.
• Your book has lain there for a month.---correct.
• When were the railway lines lain by the company?----incorrect.
• When were the railway lines laid by the company?----correct.

'To lay' is a sexual innuendo, having origins in America, as in, to get laid, meaning 'to have sexual intercourse.

In American and British English, to lay has been replaced by the word 'put' which is considered to be standard nowadays.

• Please lay the bowls on the table.
• Please put the bowls on the table.

Failure as a tool

I love these quick lessons in using failure as a tool by Vinod Khosla, founder of Sun Microsystems.

The usage of elder,eldest, older, oldest

Elder and eldest are more restricted terms than older and oldest. They can only be applied to people, whereas older and oldest can apply also to buildings, mountains, newspapers, customs, and so on. They can be used in only a limited range of grammatical constructions.

Both elder/eldest and older/oldest can be used either as adjectives-

Sam is the elder/older brother; Molly is my eldest/oldest child.

As nouns, Sam is the elder/older of the two boys; The eldest/oldest of my two children is Molly.

However, elder and eldest can't be used as adjectives detached from their nouns. If detached adjectives are used, then older and oldest have to be used.

• Is Sam older than Tim? No, Tim is older.
• The child who is oldest is Molly.

Elder and eldest can't be used in these sentences. If they are detached from the nouns then they do not function as adjectives and become like nouns themselves, preceded by the, my, and so on.

• Tim is the elder; The eldest of the two is Molly.

Older and oldest are equally appropriate here.

Where an or my, for instance, is used immediately in front, rather than the, then elder and eldest are preferable.

• He has to shoulder family responsibilities-after all he is an elder son; Molly is my eldest.

Older and oldest would sound awkward here though they are not altogether impossible. Yet another difference is elder can never follow than, whereas older can:

• Tim is elder than Sam-----incorrect.

There are a few common cases in which elder is used outside the context of family relationships.

As an adjective, elder can mean 'senior' when referring to two specified people:

• Mr. Kapoor is the elder partner, I believe-not Mr.Sehgal. 

Here, elder probably means 'older', though it could also mean 'senior', I.e in the sense of serving long.

An elder statesman is an elderly person or retired politician, who acts as an advisory.

As a noun, elder can be used, usually in the plural, to refer to anyone who is older than the person addressed or referred to:

• That young lad has no regards for his elders.
• He is my elder by a good five years.

Village elders, usually limited to men, are the elderly and influential members of a small community.

A church elder is a parishioner, usually unpaid and a layman, who shoulders various responsibilities in the church's affairs and proceedings.

Owing to & Due to

Due to and owing to can be considered adjectival.

• The strike is owing to/due to dismissal of the workers.
• Symptoms due to/owing to dengue can be easily identifiable.

Explanation:

Here, owing to and due to can be considered as it relates to preceding noun in each case- strike and symptoms.

Owing to also functions on its own as a preposition, relating directly to a noun or noun equivalent that follows it ( and forming with it an adverbial phrase of cause and explanation)

Owing to the low price of gold, countrymen are reported to come in volumes to purchase the metal.

Due to can also function like owing to, however, grammarians and purists frown at the use of due to as a preposition.

There is a very good reason for this objection-due to seems to have as much or as little right to an extended grammatical function as owing to- but it is strongly disapproved of, and knowledge of it is often cited as a good test of a person's grasp of standard usage.

The difference in range between due to and owing to can be summed up in this way:

Owing to can usually replace due to, but due to cannot replace owing to. 

You can read due to as- 'CAUSED BY', 'RESULTING FROM, 'ATTRIBUTABLE  TO' 

& 

owing to can be read as ' BECAUSE OF'.

You can use due to only when you can answer the question- What is due?

Look at the following sentence:

•  Dan was barely 48, but due to an unexpected ailment, he was forced to take voluntary retirement.---- incorrect.

Explanation:

In this example 'Due to' DOES NOT relate directly as an adjective to any noun or noun phrase; if you try to replace due to by its equivalent caused by, it becomes clear that there is error in the construction.

Now, look at the following sentence:

• Due to an unexpected ailment, Dan was forced to take voluntary retirement.--- incorrect.

Explanation:

Due to can not be used at the beginning of a sentence- not in this sentence, since it doesn't qualify the noun Dan; again, the substitution of caused by shows how incorrect the sentence formation is.

• Dan's demise, due to/owing to a heart attack, occurred on the very day that he announced his retirement.----correct.

Explanation:

Due to here relates directly to the noun phrase Dan's death, and the substitution of caused by produces a perfectly idiomatic sentence: Dan's death, caused by a heart attack, occurred.......owing to is acceptable too.

Due to a heart attack, Dan's death occurred on the very day that he announced his retirement----somewhat acceptable.

Here, the possibility of a paraphrase beginning caused by a heart-attack, Dan's death....this is one of the rare cases in which due to can begin a sentence correctly-though frowned upon.

• Owing to a heart attack, Dan's demise occurred on the very day he announced his retirement.-----unacceptable.

Explanation:

Even though, owing to is frequently is used at the beginning of a sentence, it is awkward to put it before the relevant noun or noun equivalent, as here, rather than after it.

• All the remaining meetings at the conference are unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond control, postponed until further notice.-----unacceptable.

Explanation:

The verb to be does occur in front of due to, but is not related to it at all; if we substitute due to with caused by, we will understand the faulty construction.

It is not a good idea to ignore the purists' objection to the use of due to as a preposition. Whether it is a fair objection or NOT, it remains a touchstone of people's usage. Careful users of English  adhere to the rule--owing to means because of, due to means caused by - and continue to frown on the breach of it by others, no matter how numerous they may be.

What successful people do differently?

Inspirational Quotes from A to Z graphic to get started.

Inspirational Quotes from A to Z graphic below to get started.