TOK LINKS WITH LANGUAGE B

What follows are some questions that could be used to investigate the link between the four ways of knowing (reason, emotion, perception and language) and additional language acquisition.

• Do we know and learn our first language(s) in the same way as we learn additional languages?

• When we learn an additional language, do we learn more than “just” vocabulary and grammar?

• The concept of intercultural understanding means the ability to demonstrate an understanding of cultural diversity and/or similarity between the target culture(s) and one’s own. To what extent is this definition true?

• “Those who know nothing of an additional language know nothing of their own” (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, playwright, poet, novelist, dramatist, 1749–1832). By learning another culture are we able to enrich our own?

• We can learn grammar intuitively, without conscious thought, or formally, by stating rules. What are the strengths and weaknesses of each approach? Are these the same for learning in other areas of the curriculum?

• To what extent does membership of a group (a cultural group, a gender group or another group) affect how we come to linguistic knowledge? Are there factors to consider between individuals within a group and between groups?

• To what extent does the learning environment (the physical setting) have an impact on the way an additional language is acquired?

• If you were to learn a language from a textbook only, how would this differ from learning through interaction only?

• Do you understand the world differently when you learn another language? How (for example, time, humour, leisure)?

• How is perception encoded differently in different languages (for example, colour, orientation)? What does this tell us about the relationships between perception, culture, reality and truth?

• How are values encoded differently in different languages (for example, family, friendship, authority)?

• When, if ever, is it possible to make a perfect translation from one language into another? What might “perfect” mean in this context?

• What is the relationship between language and thought? Do you think differently in different languages? If so, does it make a practical or discernible difference to how you interpret the world?

• If mathematics is a language, it is clearly different from natural languages. In your experience, do we learn the two differently? What does your answer tell us about the nature of mathematical and linguistic knowledge?