2014年に群馬大學で出題された問題です。月曜日と金曜日に、パラグラフ毎に解説して參ります。
次の英文を読んで、下の設問に答えなさい。
Most of what we learn, we learn through language. This is true even of our commonsense knowledge, all that we learn before, and outside of, our schooling; but it is especially true of educational knowledge. Language is so central to the whole of the educational process that its role was never even talked about, since no-one could conceive of education without it.
Traditionally the first task of the school has been to ensure that children (1) can read and write. Once a child is literate, it is assumed that he or she can use written language as a tool for learning, in the same way that he or she has always learnt through spoken language. In fact, until recently it would never have been expressed like (2) that; the spoken language was given little or no recognition in educational thinking, and was certainly not thought of as a (3) vehicle of learning. Even today, though speech has been given a place in the classroom, it is seen more as a skill desirable in itself (the need to be articulate, or ‘orate’, to get on in life) than as essential equipment for learning other things.
(4) At the same time in their practice teachers have always shown recognition of the learning potential of the spoken language, because they have expected their pupils to listen to them. ( A ) they have assigned a certain place to speech in their classroom activities. In part, this has been determined by the pattern of speech roles that the spoken language sets up: it is quicker and more effective to check whether a student knows the answer by asking a question orally in class than by setting a written test every time. But there is more to it than that. Anyone who teaches has a sense of what is communicated by speaking and what is communicated by writing; and (5) the two are not identical. If we start with the general notion of learning through language, then some learning takes place more effectively through the spoken language and some through the written.
Of course, there are individual differences in learning style － (6) some learn more through the ear, others through the eye. And there are differences in teaching style; a teacher may be (7) more at home in one or the other medium. But above and beyond (8) these differences are the different world views that are embodied in speech and writing. (9) Put from the learner’s point of view: reading / writing and listening / speaking are different ways of learning because they are different ways of knowing.
(10) The written language presents a SYNOPTIC view. It defines its universe as product rather than as process. ( B ) we are talking about a triangle, the layout of a house, or the organisation of a society, the written language (11) encodes it as a structure or, alternatively, as a chaos － but either way, as (12) a thing that exists. In principle we can freeze it, attend to it, and take it in as a whole. The cost of this perspective may be some simplifying of the relationship among its parts, and a lesser interest (13) in how it got the way it is, or in where it is going next.
(14) The spoken language presents a DYNAMIC view. It defines its universe primarily as process, encoding it not as a structure but as constructing － or demolishing. In the spoken language, phenomena do not exist; they happen. They are seen as coming into being, changing, moving in and out of focus, and as interacting in a continuous onward flow. The cost of this perspective is that we may have less awareness of how things actually are, at a real or imaginary point in time; and a lessened sense of how they stay that way.
We emphasised earlier that (15) these different properties are inherent in spoken and written language, in whatever form the text is actually presented to us. It is not because a written text is itself a fixed and static object that it represents things in this way; even if we never saw the text, and only heard it read aloud, it would still have the effect of a piece of written language. ( C ), spoken language is spoken language even if it is presented to us in the form of a transcription, as text in writing. ( D ) the special features of each variety clearly derive in the first place from the ( ア ) and the functions it serves, once it has evolved the variety becomes independent of the ( イ ) and can be transposed into the other form. We can all learn to talk in written language, and even (though this is harder) to compose conversation. [764 words]
(Halliday, M.A.K. (1985). Spoken and Written Language より抜粋. 一部書き換え・削除）
設 問
１．下線部(1) can read and write とほぼ同じ意味で使われている形容詞を一語、本文中から拔き出しなさい。.
２．下線部(2) that は何を指しているのか、日本語で答えなさい。
３．下線部(3) vehicle とほぼ同じ意味で使われている語を、同じパラグラフから一つ選んで書きなさい。
４．下線部(4)を日本語にしなさい。
５．下線部(5) the two are not identical とはどのようなことなのか、the two が指し示しているものがわかるように日本語で説明しなさい。
６．下線部(6) some learn more through the ear, others through the eye について、省略されている語句を補って書き直しなさい。
７．下線部(7) more at home とはどのような状態を示しているのか、日本語で説明しなさい。
８．下線部(8)these differences を日本語で具体的に説明しなさい。
９．下線部(9)を日本語にしなさい。
10．下線部(10)と下線部(14)はそれぞれどのようなことを言っているのか、本文に即して日本語で説明しなさい。
11．下線部(11) encode の意味を以下から一つ選び、その記号を書きなさい。
ア．To convert linguistic symbols into ideas in order to learn language.
イ．To try to understand the meaning of a word, phrase, or sentence.
ウ．To turn an idea into linguistic symbols as part of communication.
12．下線部(12) a thing that exists を文中の一語で書き換えなさい。
13．下線部(13) in how it got the way it is, or in where it is going next を同じ意味になるよう３語で書き換えるとすれば、in the の後にはどのような語が入るか、本文中の一語で答えなさい。
14．下線部(15)の内容を本文に即して日本語で説明しなさい。
15．（ ア ）（ イ ）には同一の単語が入ります。最もふさわしいものを以下から一つ選び、その記号を書きなさい。
a. culture b. medium c. significance d. history e. pattern
16．（ A )～( D )に当てはまる最もふさわしい語を以下からそれぞれ選び、その記号を書きなさい。
a. Similarly b. Whether c. Although d. Furthermore