In the past few decades, remarkable findings have been made in ethology, the study of animal social behavior. Earlier scientists had (21) that nonhuman social life was almost totally instinctive or fixed by genetics. Much more careful observation has shown that (22) variation occurs among the social ties of most species, showing that learning is a part of social life. That is, the (23) are not solely fixed by the genes (24) , the learn ing that occurs is often at an early age in a process that is called imprinting. Imprinting is clearly (25) instinctive, but it is not quite like the learning of humans; it is something in between the two. An illustration best (26) the nature of imprinting. Once, biologists thought that ducklings followed the mother duck because of instincts. Now we know that, shortly (27) they hatch, ducklings fix (28) any object about the size of a duck and will henceforth follow it. So ducklings may follow a basketball or a briefcase if these are (29) for the mother duck at the time when imprinting occurs. Thus, social ties can be considera bly (30) , even ones that have a considerable base (31) by genetics.Even among the social insects something like imprinting (32) influence social behav ior. For example, biologists once thought bees communicated with others purely (33) in stinct. But, in examining a "dance" that bees do to indicate the distance and direction of a pollen source, observers found that bees raised in isolation could not communicate effec tively. At a higher level, the genetic base seems to be much more for an all-purpose learn ing rather than the more specific responses of imprinting. Chimpanzees, for instance, gen erally (34) very good mother but Jane Goodali reports that some chimps carry the infant upside down or (35) fail to nurture the young. 34()
A. not
B. only
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D. solely
A number of researchers have examined the variables/strategies that affect students’ learning English as a second language. This report identifies some of the learner variables/ strategies used by two students in a Hong Kong Technical Institute. The instruments for data collection included observation, interviews and questionnaires. The findings are discussed and some implications highlighted.What makes a "good" language learner "good", and what makes a "poor" language learner "poor" What does this imply for the teaching of language in the Hong Kong context These are the central questions of this assignment. The existing body of research attributes the differences between language learners to learner variables and learner strategies. Learner variables include such things as differences in personality, motivation, style, aptitude and age (Ellis, 1986: Chap. 5) and strategies refer to "techniques, approaches, or deliberate actions that students take in order to facilitate the learning and recall of both linguistic and content area information" (Chabot, 1987: 71). It is important to note here that what we are considering is not the fact that language learners do and can learn, but why there should be such variations in speed of learning, ability to use the target language, and in achieving examination grades, areas which generally lead to the classification of students as being either "good" or "poor".Learner variables and strategies have been the focus of a number of research projects, (O’Malley et al, 1985, Oxford, 1989). However, to the best of my knowledge, this area has not been researched in Hong Kong classrooms. Since I am a teacher of English working in Hong Kong, gleaning a little of what learner variables and strategies seem to work for local students seems to be a fruitful area of research.In discussing learner variables and strategies, we have to keep in mind the arbitrary nature of actually identifying these aspects. As the existing research points out, it is not possible to observe directly qualities such as aptitude, motivation and anxiety. (Oxford, 1986). We cannot look inside the mind of a language learner and find out what strategies, if any, they are using. These strategies are not visible processes. Also, as Naiman and his colleagues (1978) point out, no single learning strategy, cognitive style or learner characteristic is sufficient to explain success in language learning. The factors must be considered simultaneously to discover how they affect success or failure in particular language learning situation.Bearing these constraints in mind, the aim of this assignment is to develop two small scale studies of the language learners attempting to gain an overall idea of what strategies are in use and what variables seem to make a difference to Hong Kong students. The reference to "Naiman and his colleagues (1978)" in Paragraph 4 is made ()
A. to point out the advantages of an analytical approach
B. to point out that language learning strategies can be identified
C. to point out that different learners learn differently
D. to point out the uniqueness of language learning situations
So at about eleven every night when he sat down for his 61 , I would come out of the kitchen and sit down 62 to him and read articles from the front page of the 63 . When I ran into a word I didn’tknow (and I didn’tknow half of the article, because any word 64 than a couple of syllables gave me trouble) he explained the 65 of the word and gave me the 66 .Then he’d send me 67 . to the sentences so I could understand the word in 68 . Then I would take the paper away with me, armed now with the meaning of those words, and reread and reread the article 69 that the meaning of those words would get_ 70 into my memory. Every evening we did that. 63()
A number of researchers have examined the variables/strategies that affect students’ learning English as a second language. This report identifies some of the learner variables/ strategies used by two students in a Hong Kong Technical Institute. The instruments for data collection included observation, interviews and questionnaires. The findings are discussed and some implications highlighted.What makes a "good" language learner "good", and what makes a "poor" language learner "poor" What does this imply for the teaching of language in the Hong Kong context These are the central questions of this assignment. The existing body of research attributes the differences between language learners to learner variables and learner strategies. Learner variables include such things as differences in personality, motivation, style, aptitude and age (Ellis, 1986: Chap. 5) and strategies refer to "techniques, approaches, or deliberate actions that students take in order to facilitate the learning and recall of both linguistic and content area information" (Chabot, 1987: 71). It is important to note here that what we are considering is not the fact that language learners do and can learn, but why there should be such variations in speed of learning, ability to use the target language, and in achieving examination grades, areas which generally lead to the classification of students as being either "good" or "poor".Learner variables and strategies have been the focus of a number of research projects, (O’Malley et al, 1985, Oxford, 1989). However, to the best of my knowledge, this area has not been researched in Hong Kong classrooms. Since I am a teacher of English working in Hong Kong, gleaning a little of what learner variables and strategies seem to work for local students seems to be a fruitful area of research.In discussing learner variables and strategies, we have to keep in mind the arbitrary nature of actually identifying these aspects. As the existing research points out, it is not possible to observe directly qualities such as aptitude, motivation and anxiety. (Oxford, 1986). We cannot look inside the mind of a language learner and find out what strategies, if any, they are using. These strategies are not visible processes. Also, as Naiman and his colleagues (1978) point out, no single learning strategy, cognitive style or learner characteristic is sufficient to explain success in language learning. The factors must be considered simultaneously to discover how they affect success or failure in particular language learning situation.Bearing these constraints in mind, the aim of this assignment is to develop two small scale studies of the language learners attempting to gain an overall idea of what strategies are in use and what variables seem to make a difference to Hong Kong students. In Paragraph 3 the writer uses the phrase "to the best of my knowledge..." because ()
A. she has good knowledge of this area
B. she is not sure if the area has been researched in Hong Kong
C. she thinks the area has been researched in Hong Kong
D. she does not wish to take responsibility for any omissions in the bibliography