Month: October 2017

Learning vs Acquisition

This week I answered a question on Quora and am sharing it with my readers here.

Language acquisition and language learning are used in similarly [sic] senses. However they are not the same, right? But how are they different?

First, let’s make a distinction between general usage and technical usage. Most people who are not linguists, second language acquisition researchers, or individuals otherwise involved in a technical discussion of language are most often inexact in their usage of terms and will use terms such as “learning” and “acquisition” interchangeably when they are different things. So, the context and intent of the writer have an affect on terminology.

When a researcher or other expert is speaking or writing in a technical setting, Continue reading “Learning vs Acquisition”

Food for Thought – or Food and Thought?

Yesterday I had pizza and sayings for lunch.

The pizza shop where I ate has quotes on their wall, and I always read them when I am waiting in line to order. Not that I go out for pizza all that often.

Usually I take something in with me to read while I’m waiting for the pizza, but yesterday I didn’t have anything. So, I sat where I could read Continue reading “Food for Thought – or Food and Thought?”

Organ or Piano?

Have you ever considered some of the differences between a piano and an organ?

The piano is a tuned percussion instrument. While I can play melodies and harmonies on the piano, the instrument produces sound by percussion; that is, the hammers strike the strings to set them vibrating. With 188 keys, this is a variation on the kettle or steel drums. The idea is the same: produce sound by striking something. Percussion instruments are those that are played by being struck by an object or the hand.

The organ, on the other hand, produces tones by blowing air across a pipe, similar to the way that you make sound blowing across the top of a Coke® bottle, except that in an organ the air crosses the bottom of the pipe rather than the top of the bottle. It is a completely different method of producing sound from the piano, and the two instruments Continue reading “Organ or Piano?”

Wandering Without Being Lost

What Does It Mean to Wander but not be Lost?
5 Key Principles

Do you wander?

Why do you wander? Do you wander because you are lost? Or do you wander because you are exploring?

What does it mean to wander?

Not all those who wander are lost

observes Bilbo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings, talking about “Strider”, the Ranger who is Aragorn, true king of Gondor.

In a society and profession (education) that is obsessed with planning, pre-planning, and even post-planning, with collecting certain kinds of data, and with standardizing procedures, performance, and people, those who don’t “fit in” – who don’t conform to the dominant paradigm – often seem to wander and may be perceived as lost by those in the Continue reading “Wandering Without Being Lost”