[简答题]Some language teachers argue that we should "teach the language" rather than "teach about the language". What are the major differences between these two approaches to language teaching

参考答案: In linguistic studies, there are two general approaches: descriptive and prescriptive. If a linguistic study describes and analyzes the language people actually use, it is said to be descriptive; if it aims to lay down rules for "correct" behavior, i.e., to tell people what they should say and what they should not say, it is said to be prescriptive. Consistent with the two approaches, there are two approaches to language teaching: "teaching the language"and"teaching about the language".
"Teaching the language" means teaching the language as it is. In other words, learners should only be taught how language is used, such as its meaning, pronunciation, and context. That is, learners just need to do as what native speakers do with their language.
"Teaching about the language", however, means that learners should know why language is used in that way. In other words, learners should know the grammatical rules, word formation methods, how sentences are formed, etc. That’s to say, it refers to the traditional approach to language teaching which involves the presentation of numerous definitions, rules and explanations. Usually a teacher- centered grammar-translation method is adopted. In the view of many modern linguists, such an approach is damaging to language learning. They argue that one should teach the language, not teach about the language. In communication, one should learn first to "speak" the language, not to "read" the language.
答案解析: [解析] 本题考查教学法中的“teaching the language”和“teaching about the language”的区别。传统