A few observations:
The language teacher in us seems to be answering this
question with an ideal student who comes in at level zero and progresses
through all the skills. Shift that model to a student who is fluent in a
language and must learn to become literate in that spoken language.
I have met many such cases in the Gulf. (Yes, the one located between
The question then becomes "Has one learned a language if one can
communicate fluently with others?" Native
speakers themselves must be instructed to pass into the literate stage. One can
sound out and catch the meaning of a known language. For example, a student who
is totally fluent in spoken English of the
Grammar instruction is probably advisable for most second learners if the student is not actually fully fluent in the language. Also, if the grammar is significantly different than the first language, those differences should be highlighted. We can extend these conclusions to first language learners who are speaking a “dialect of their native language” which has alternate grammar structures.
I have come to these conclusions from my own personal
experience with the Arabic language.
At the moment, we simply do not have an agreed upon theory of how
knowledge about language might carry over into both reading and writing.
If we did, then we could measure the acquisition of knowledge as a
separate step.
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