歷史背景與淵源 第二次世界大戰對美國境內的語言教育有著極大的影響。為了培養大批具有翻譯、解讀L2密碼的專業人才，美國政府於1942年成立了”Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP)”。
隔年，美國55所大專院校也加入了這個訓練外語人才行列。之後，受到1957年蘇聯第一枚衛星發射成功的刺激，美國更是深感外語之重要，於是在1958年通過了國防教育條款(The National Defence Education Act)，提撥經費以供研究語言、改進語言教材，以及鼓勵教師進修之用。)
語言教育專家於是結合了軍方培育外語人才的課程、結構派語言學理論、行為心理學和口語-聽力訓練，共同發展出所謂的ALM教學法。
教學觀
傳統上，研究語言的重心都著重在心理學與邏輯層面的討論，但在達爾文〝物種原理〞等實證主義的影響下，語言學家們不再緊緊擁抱被視為正統／貴族的拉丁文，而開始對各國語言之語音、聲韻、構詞、句法等結構進行田野調查與分析研究，興起了所謂的語言學結構學派（structuralism）的風潮。
在結構學派的理論中， 〝語言 〞被視為一組在聲韻、構詞、句法上彼此關連，又能用來傳情達意的結構體。在這個結構體中，每個組成份子之間都有直線性的關連，

 Historical linguistics

1,Historical linguistics

Historical linguistics is the subfield of linguistics that studies language change.历史语言学是研究语言变化的一个语言学分支。

Historical linguists are concerned with the historical development of languages and the processes involved in language change. Historical linguists study the nature of language change and the causes that lead to language change.历史语言学家研究语言的历史发展和语言变化的过程。历史语言学家们研究的对象为语言变化的本质及导致这些语言变化的原因。

2,The purpose and significance of the historical study of language对语言进行历史研究的目的和意义

The historical study of language is of great importance to our understanding of human languages and human lin

 Pragmatics

1,What is pragmatics? 语用学

Pragmatcs can be defined as the study of how speakers of a language use sentences to effect successful communication. As the process of communication is essentially a process of conveying meaning in a certain context, pragmatics can also be regarded as a kind of meaning study.语用学研究语言使用者是如何运用语句进行成功的交际。由于交际过程本质上是一个在一定的语境内传递意义的过程，语用学也可以看作是一种意义研究。

Pragmatics is a comparatively new branch of study in the area of linguistics; its development and establishment in the 1960s and 1970s resulted mainly from the expansion of the study of linguistics, especially that of semantics.语用学是语言学领域中一个比较新兴的研究分支；发展形成于20世纪60年代和70年代，主要是语言学，尤其是语义学研究延伸的结果。

 Semantics

1,What is semantics?

Semantics can be simply defined as the study of meaning in language.语义学可定义为对语言意义的研究。

Meaning is central to the study of communication.意义是交际的核心。

2,Some views concerning the study of meaning

The naming theory:命名论

One of the oldest notions concerning meaning, and also a very primitive one, was the naming theory. It was proposed by the ancient Greek scholar Plato.古希腊学者柏拉图

According to this theory, the linguistic forms or symbols, in other words, the words used in a language are taken to be labels of the objects they atand for. So words are just names or labels for things.根据这种理

 Semantics

1,What is semantics?

Semantics can be simply defined as the study of meaning in language.语义学可定义为对语言意义的研究。

Meaning is central to the study of communication.意义是交际的核心。

2,Some views concerning the study of meaning

The naming theory:命名论

One of the oldest notions concerning meaning, and also a very primitive one, was the naming theory. It was proposed by the ancient Greek scholar Plato.古希腊学者柏拉图

According to this theory, the linguistic forms or symbols, in other words, the words used in a language are taken to be labels of the objects they atand for. So words are just names or labels for things.根据这种理

 Syntax

1,Syntax

Syntax is a subfield of linguistics. It studies the sentence structure.句法学是语言学的一个分支，它研究的是语言的句子结构。

2,Syntax as a system of rules

As a major component of grammar, syntax consists of a set of abstract rules that allow words to be combined with other words to form grammtical sentences.句法学是语法的重要组成部分，它由一套抽象的规则组成，这些规则能够使词相互结合构成合乎语法的句子。

Linguistic competence: Universally found in the grammars of all human languages, syntactic rules comprise the system of internalized linguistic knowledges of a language speaker known as linguistic competence.句法规则在所有人类语言中都普遍存在，这些规则包括讲某种语言的人内在的语言知识体系，这种语言知识体系被

 Morphology

1,The definition of morphology

Morphology is a branch of grammar which studies the internal structure of words and the rules by which words are formed.形态学是语法学的一个分支，它研究的是单词的内在结构及单词的构成规律。

Morphology is divided into two sub-branches: inflectional morphology and lexical or derivational morphology.屈折形态学和词汇形态学/派生形态学

Inflectional morphology studies the inflections.研究单词的屈折变化。

Lexical morphology is the study of word-formation.研究构词法。

2,Morpheme

Morpheme ----- free morpheme

         ----- bound morpheme----- roots

 Phonology

1,What is phonetics?

Phonetics is defined as the study of the phonic medium of language; it is concerned with all the sounds that occur in the world’s languages.语音学研究的对象是语言的声音媒介，即人类语言中使用的全部语音。

There are three branches of phonetics. They are articulatory phonetics, auditory phonetics, and acoustic phonetics.发音语音学，听觉语音学，声学语音学

2,Orthographic representation of speech sounds----broad and narrow transcriptions语音的正字标音法----宽式标音法和严式标音法

There are two ways to transcribe speech sounds.

One is the transcription with letter-symbols only. This is called broad transcription. (it is normally used in dictionaries and