Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

An Alternative Approach To Second Language Teaching, Carol Yorkievitz

Honors Papers

Language, as a universal human trait, is so second-nature to mankind, that its subtleties in interaction have often been taken as a matter of course. Deeply ingrained folklore about language has existed from the days of the ancients and persists into so-called ‘rational’ modern civilization. The affect associated with language and its role in distinguishing in- and out- groups can be annotated by historical reference; for example, the ancient Greeks used the word ‘baba’ to describe the babblings of those unfortunates not gifted with the gods’ own Greek tongue - hence the origin of the word ‘barbarian’. The supposed magical …