intuitive labels for verb conjugations

[Benjamin Rifkin]

Katya Hirvasaho wrote:

>I was arguing rather from the perspective of the end
>result of student learning, whether these classifications are of any help
>in the actual acquisition of the language.
>I would even question whether we are not in fact only needlessly burdening
>the student with additional--and possibly useless--information.  It is not
>at all certain that there are universally applicable methods or even
>concepts, or that these categories exist outside of (the largely) Western
>man's insistence on organizing the world into definite and controllable
>categories (postmodernist notions).  We know that these grammatical systems
>exist only because we are taught to think about Russian in these terms, but
>the beginning student does not have such categories in place.

The systems are helpful for those who want systems.  I believe that the
systems are not necessary in and of themselves -- the most important thing
is that the students learn to use the verbs in their speech and writing and
understand the verbs in their listening and reading.  Everything else is
secondary.  However, some students want such information, for better or for
worse, and for some students such information helps them achieve the
ability to use and understand the verbs.  I agree that beginning students
have special needs and are less likely to benefit from extensive discussion
of the structure of the language, but even so some of these students may
seek such discussion and may find it quite productive.

Katya Hirvasaho wrote later:

>  Why continue to force
>them when we now have the technological means (Internet, satellite
>television and audiovisual materials) to expose students to large amounts
>of input of the actual language and culture. It is a fact that all people
>listen and read their native language every day vastly more than they
>speak.  It seems to me that this should be the premise for foreign language
>teaching also.

I am not suggesting that there should be any reduction in the input that
students receive, or even in the output we require them to produce (in
speech or writing), because everything we know about the acquisition of
language tells us that these are the single most important factors in the
learning process.  I merely suggest that it may be useful to provide those
students who seek additional information a means to classify, organize, or
systematize the grammatical matrices which they are asked (required) to use
to communicate in Russian.  I am not advocating that the grammatical
classification system itself become the primary focus of foreign language
instruction (in Russian or any other language) in the context of a 4-skills
foreign language program.

Ben Rifkin







        ++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Benjamin Rifkin, Assoc. Prof. of Slavic Languages, UW-Madison
Coordinator of Russian-Language Instruction
1432 Van Hise Hall, 1220 Linden Dr., Madison, WI  53706
voice:  608/262-1623; fax:  608/265-2814