Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Assignment 10 : MIT course


In MIT OpenCourse website, I read throgh a course called Language Acquisition. Unfortunately, they didn't provide video in this course. However, I took a look at their assignment which gave me a really big surprise. One of the problems in their assignment goes as following:


Consider the following interchange.

Child: Nobody don't like me
Mother: No, say "nobody likes me."Child: Nobody don't like me.
(eight repetitions of this dialogue).
Mother: No, now listen carefully; say "Nobody likes me.
"Child: "Oh, nobody don't likes me."

Does this interchange argue for or against the usefulness of negative evidence in language learning? Be brief. Two or three sentences are enough to explain.


This dialogue exists in the textbook "Introduction to language".


MIT also provide the answer to this problem:
Answer: This interchange argues against the usefulness of negative evidence. First, it suggests that children do not pay attention to their parents' correction: the child in the example hears the correction eight times before even attempting to follow it.Second, the example suggests that children do not understand what their parents are correcting them for: the child here does not correct the appropriate part of the sentence, and the child's final sentence is in fact less correct than the original.In order to get full credit, you needed to state both points: that children ignore corrections, and that they don't understand what the correction is for. Both points are arguments against the effectiveness of corrections for language acquisition.


What really surprised me is that the question goes exactly the same as the one in the exam of 清大.If I have known this website earlier, I could write my answer in full credits!



From the Academic Earth Website, I see the video of The American Novel Since 1945 by Amy Hungerford in Yale University. During the first half part of the video, Professor Hungerford introduces the outline the the course in the semester. That is, they are going to read novels, iincluding Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita, Jack Kerouac's On the Road, Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior, Marilynne Robinson's Housekeeping and so on. What they will talk about in class contains war, race, sex, woman, etc.


From this video, I found that the sound of the lecturer is clear enough that I can understand the content easily.However, during the last 30 mins of the lecture, the literature content becomes difficult to catch on. That's why the scrip is necessary for us.


On the other hand, I think the resource from these OpenCourse websites are quite useful. First of all, I can practice my listening skill from the lecture. Lecturers pronounce clearly and loudly enough. Secong, I can try to do the assignment or exams oflinguistic courses so as to handle my future study in graduate school. But there is a disadvantage. Most of these courses are science and engineering related. There is only one kind of English literature course in Yale university and there is even no video provided in the linguistic course in MIT.


Monday, May 11, 2009

Assignment 9 : Share experience of RadioTime


I listened to the radio called WCBS Newsradio 880. As soon as I turned it on, I heared the weather forecast: it said that the weather will be good in the following few days. And it also gave the forecast of temperature. Then, News report comes. The host mentioned that there were 6 school shut down because of the swine flu. Fortunately, the children were not diagnosed with H1N1 virus. Finally, there were some adverisement of helping you to start your own career and etc.
I think that listening to the on-line radio is quite challenging. Since there is no subtitle on my screen, all I can rely on is my ear to catch the meaning. Also, when listening to News, I found it more difficult to understand because they speak faster and more professional. And the content of the News are various, including politics, health, sports and so on. It's really difficult to understand all of them.

Here is the introduction of WCBS New York Radio:

WCBS Newsradio 880 has been the source for News, Traffic & Weather for New York, New Jersey and Connecticut since 1967. The station delivers news, sports and business, along with traffic & weather on the 8's and is the flagship station of the CBS Radio Network and the radio home of the New York Yankees. When the Yankees are on the air, WCBS continues to provide news on line at WCBS880.com LISTEN LIVE and provides regular longer form and special programming on a second live streaming station at WCBS New York Radio.

Monday, May 4, 2009

Assignment 8 : An English song and lyrics - "Moon River"



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOByH_iOn88


Moon River, wider than a mile,

I'm crossing you in style some day.

Oh, dream maker, you heart breaker,

wherever you're going I'm going your way.

Two drifters off to see the world.

There's such a lot of world to see.

We're after the same rainbow's end--

waiting 'round the bend,

my huckleberry friend,

Moon River and me.




I think that Audrey Hepburn is the most beautiful girl in the world. Not just her look but also her warm heart for dedicating herself into charity work. This is a beautiful song and the movie "breakfast at Tiffany's" is also worthy seeing. It's the classic!!! By the way, you can also try Andy William's version singing Moon River. It's also beautiful with a different style. As in here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flm4xcOyiCo