外語學習以及語言習得理論，各有強調的觀念。有的重視語言輸入，或情感的重要；有些談及有意義的語文情境、語意協商；或從腦神經網絡的學習連結角度來解釋語言學習現象。還有一些心理語言學家，如俄國的維高斯基（Vygotsky）以著名的「近端發展區」（zone of proximal development）理論，來解釋兒童的學習與認知發展關係，對語言教育更是影響深遠。應用「近端發展區」於教育情境中的「鷹架理論」指出學生的內在能力發展，有賴於更具能力的父母，或老師之協助。學生學習時就像是在蓋房子，大人提供的協助像是搭在房子旁邊的鷹架。隨著學生搭建好房子(能力發展完成)，大人也就把鷹架給拆掉。
我的孩子現在已經上研究所了。我仍記得在他小時候，自己也曾運用這些原則，引領他進入英文園地。彩杏提到的一些童書，如《The Very Hungry Caterpillar》等知名作品，他也曾看過。當時與孩子共讀的樂趣，至今仍歷歷在目。他令我印象深刻的英語能力成長，更印證了我學過的語言學習理論與觀念。想必彩杏也充分享受到親子共讀的喜樂，與孩子英語能力成長的喜悅。
Tsai-Hsing Liao’s Listen Up!!! is a book to be cherished not only by English-learner children but, and perhaps particularly so, their parents. Tsai-Hsing, whom I know as Ivy, began forming the foundation for her method over twenty years ago as she took courses and wrote her M.A. thesis in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature at National Chung Cheng University. I was fortunate enough to be her instructor in some of the courses and subsequently her advisor for the highly successful thesis she completed on a feng-shui reading of Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death.” From the beginning I found her exceptionally enthusiastic and dedicated in her studies. Especially during her writing of the thesis I became aware of her love of language acquisition as well as the magic of story itself. She brought Poe’s work to life in ways I’d never experienced before, partly because of her unique interpretation based on Chinese culture but also because of her extended efforts to reach an understanding of what made the narrative so powerful despite its having been written by a writer so far removed from her own personal life experience. Looking back at it now, I believe it was this desire to reach a close personal relationship with the story that inspired the literature-based language-learning method that she would employ with her own children, the twins Sabrina and Keith, born just a few years after she completed her degree.
As the children grew, along with the development of Ivy’s method, I was able to spend time with them enough to marvel at their obvious love of English learning, something I had not often seen among my university students, most of whom had apparently come to think of their English studies as an obligation and in some cases almost as a punishment. This past academic year (2015-2016), after not seeing them for a number of years, I spent time with the twins again but in this case as the instructor of two university courses I agreed with Ivy to let them audit as an experiment in how they would perform in a more demanding academic environment than they had yet experienced. My first reaction was sincere astonishment at the English conversational facility they had achieved by the age of 15 years. Both spoke to me privately and in class in an English that was not merely correct but also characterized by near-native fluency and ease. My greatest surprise was that they had attained an English speaking ability beyond that of any of my university undergraduates and even most of the graduates. Sabrina’s written English was more natural and sophisticated than that of any other student in any of my courses on any level. I was shocked, to tell the truth! Now of course we know that both twins obviously possess exceptional innate language-acquisition aptitude--that goes without saying. What must be said, however, is that their mother’s teaching had clearly advantaged that aptitude most effectively and in such a way that both teenagers experienced and expressed genuine delight in reading and discussing literary works. The courses were more fun and games than work for them, fun and games in the most positive, life-enriching sense.
With Ivy’s book in hand, parents with children pursuing English as a second language can achieve comparable results by turning language acquisition into recreation rather than a difficult, oppressive duty. They can give their children the opportunity to develop a genuine love of literature and its attendant arts through experiencing the magic of story. At the same time, their young English learners can attain a mastery of English speaking and writing that will impress all who spend time communicating with them in that tongue. Perhaps even more importantly, Ivy’s method can serve as a foundation for a life of reflection on and understanding of other cultures and other peoples as well as one’s own.
外語學習以及語言習得理論，各有強調的觀念。有的重視語言輸入，或情感的重要；有些談及有意義的語文情境、語意協商；或從腦神經網絡的學習連結角度來解釋語言學習現象。還有一些心理語言學家，如俄國的維高斯基（Vygotsky）以著名的「近端發展區」（zone of proximal development）理論，來解釋兒童的學習與認知發展關係，對語言教育更是影響深遠。應用「近端發展區」於教育情境中的「鷹架理論」指出學生的內在能力發展，有賴於更具能力的父母，或老師之協助。學生學習時就像是在蓋房子，大人提供的協助像是搭在房子旁邊的鷹架。隨著學生搭建好房子(能力發展完成)，大人也就把鷹架給拆掉。
我的孩子現在已經上研究所了。我仍記得在他小時候，自己也曾運用這些原則，引領他進入英文園地。彩杏提到的一些童書，如《The Very Hungry Caterpillar》等知名作品，他也曾看過。當時與孩子共讀的樂趣，至今仍歷歷在目。他令我印象深刻的英語能力成長，更印證了我學過的語言學習理論與觀念。想必彩杏也充分享受到親子共讀的喜樂，與孩子英語能力成長的喜悅。
Tsai-Hsing Liao’s Listen Up!!! is a book to be cherished not only by English-learner children but, and perhaps particularly so, their parents. Tsai-Hsing, whom I know as Ivy, began forming the foundation for her method over twenty years ago as she took courses and wrote her M.A. thesis in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature at National Chung Cheng University. I was fortunate enough to be her instructor in some of the courses and subsequently her advisor for the highly successful thesis she completed on a feng-shui reading of Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death.” From the beginning I found her exceptionally enthusiastic and dedicated in her studies. Especially during her writing of the thesis I became aware of her love of language acquisition as well as the magic of story itself. She brought Poe’s work to life in ways I’d never experienced before, partly because of her unique interpretation based on Chinese culture but also because of her extended efforts to reach an understanding of what made the narrative so powerful despite its having been written by a writer so far removed from her own personal life experience. Looking back at it now, I believe it was this desire to reach a close personal relationship with the story that inspired the literature-based language-learning method that she would employ with her own children, the twins Sabrina and Keith, born just a few years after she completed her degree.
As the children grew, along with the development of Ivy’s method, I was able to spend time with them enough to marvel at their obvious love of English learning, something I had not often seen among my university students, most of whom had apparently come to think of their English studies as an obligation and in some cases almost as a punishment. This past academic year (2015-2016), after not seeing them for a number of years, I spent time with the twins again but in this case as the instructor of two university courses I agreed with Ivy to let them audit as an experiment in how they would perform in a more demanding academic environment than they had yet experienced. My first reaction was sincere astonishment at the English conversational facility they had achieved by the age of 15 years. Both spoke to me privately and in class in an English that was not merely correct but also characterized by near-native fluency and ease. My greatest surprise was that they had attained an English speaking ability beyond that of any of my university undergraduates and even most of the graduates. Sabrina’s written English was more natural and sophisticated than that of any other student in any of my courses on any level. I was shocked, to tell the truth! Now of course we know that both twins obviously possess exceptional innate language-acquisition aptitude--that goes without saying. What must be said, however, is that their mother’s teaching had clearly advantaged that aptitude most effectively and in such a way that both teenagers experienced and expressed genuine delight in reading and discussing literary works. The courses were more fun and games than work for them, fun and games in the most positive, life-enriching sense.
With Ivy’s book in hand, parents with children pursuing English as a second language can achieve comparable results by turning language acquisition into recreation rather than a difficult, oppressive duty. They can give their children the opportunity to develop a genuine love of literature and its attendant arts through experiencing the magic of story. At the same time, their young English learners can attain a mastery of English speaking and writing that will impress all who spend time communicating with them in that tongue. Perhaps even more importantly, Ivy’s method can serve as a foundation for a life of reflection on and understanding of other cultures and other peoples as well as one’s own.
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