Comments on: Carnival of Education http://www.joannejacobs.com/2008/09/carnival-of-education-61/ Free-linking and thinking on education by Joanne Jacobs Thu, 18 Mar 2010 04:56:41 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Amritas http://www.joannejacobs.com/2008/09/carnival-of-education-61/comment-page-1/#comment-82969 Amritas Thu, 11 Sep 2008 17:27:18 +0000 http://joannejacobs.com/?p=5830#comment-82969 <i>"Education issues being debated today were hot issues 100 years ago"</i> I'm not surprised if that was true on a macro level, because it appears to be true on a micro level: namely, in language learning. "On the mortality of language learning methods" describes how language learning trends have been coming and going in cycles since the 19th century with new technological twists: http://webh01.ua.ac.be/didascalia/mortality.htm <i>"History is indeed repeating itself ... "Of all disciplines, language learning is one that is the most ignorant of its own past. Theories and techniques are presented as new, while in truth they had already been invented decades before, had blossomed and then died ... "Motivated people nowadays learn a foreign language just as successfully as 2000 years ago. Successful language learning comes only partially from the method; it depends so much on the student. "</i> The debates will be not ending any day soon. People want a one-size-fits-all solution, but learners are as diverse today as they were a hundred or two thousand years ago. “Education issues being debated today were hot issues 100 years ago”

I’m not surprised if that was true on a macro level, because it appears to be true on a micro level: namely, in language learning.

“On the mortality of language learning methods” describes how language learning trends have been coming and going in cycles since the 19th century with new technological twists:

http://webh01.ua.ac.be/didascalia/mortality.htm

“History is indeed repeating itself …

“Of all disciplines, language learning is one that is the most ignorant of its own past. Theories and techniques are presented as new, while in truth they had already been invented decades before, had blossomed and then died …

“Motivated people nowadays learn a foreign language just as successfully as 2000 years ago. Successful language learning comes only partially from the method; it depends so much on the student.
“

The debates will be not ending any day soon. People want a one-size-fits-all solution, but learners are as diverse today as they were a hundred or two thousand years ago.

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