LINGUIST List 12.2718

Wed Oct 31 2001

Disc: Review: Toohey, Learning English at School

Editor for this issue: Karen Milligan <karenlinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. Ronald SHEEN, Re: 12.2711, Review: Toohey, Learning English at School (2nd rev)

Message 1: Re: 12.2711, Review: Toohey, Learning English at School (2nd rev)

Re: Linguist 12.2711


Jo Tyler in her review of Toohey, Learning English at School states that 
one of the purposes of the study is to describe the development of the 
linguistic competence of the children studied. However, what is a little 
puzzling is that the reviewer provides no substantive details of that 
development. Is that because Toohey does not really address the problem or 
is it because Toohey does but Jo Tyler does not provide any account of it.?

One of the major issues concerns the nature of SLA based on comprehensible 
input without additional language instruction. Which situation applies 
here? And more specifically, does Toohey address the problem of the 
difference between aural comprehension and oral production?
There is little doubt that exposure to meaningful language may result in 
good comprehension skills. However, whether it leads to accurate language 
production is another matter and a crucial one for it is oral production 
which is the best indicator of the learners' internal grammar.". This being 
so, the issue needs to be addressed in any account of the development of 
linguistic competence.

So my questions are as follows:
a) Does Toohey provide any linguistic details of the developing linguistic 
competence?
b) Does Toohey address the difference between the acquisition of aural 
comprehension and oral production?
c) Did the children receive any language instruction? If so, what type?

Ron Sheen, U of Quebec in Trois Rivieres, Canada.