Different methods of learning

OFFICIAL AND NON OFFICIAL AND SPECIFIC TEXT
When children learn to read and write in their first language, they generally do so as part of their formal education and as a result of conscious effort; and when adult migrants attend a course in the language of their host community, they are aiming to achieve a prescribed level of proficiency. In both cases, however, intentional learning is usually accompanied by incidental learning; and the effects of incidental learning in formal educational contexts are reinforced by informal and non-formal learning in the world outside. The literacy of young children benefits from their out-of-school engagement in the reading they undertake for pleasure or in pursuit of a special interest, and the proficiency of adult migrants in the language of the host community is likely to be enhanced when they have opportunities to interact informally with other speakers of the language.
These considerations prompt two questions. First, how can those responsible for organising language courses for adult migrants ensure that their learners have opportunities to use the language outside the classroom and thus benefit from informal/non-formal learning? One obvious answer is to arrange cultural visits and social activities that bring the learners into informal contact with members of the host community. Another is to encourage learners to participate in social activities, or to arrange such activities specifically for their benefit. Secondly, if adult migrants who have learnt the language of their host community “naturalistically” are required to demonstrate proficiency in that language in order to secure a residence permit or citizenship, can their informal/non-formal learning be recognised without requiring them to take a test? Any attempt to answer this question must consider alternative forms of assessment (the OECD has explored the recognition of non-formal and informal learning by adults in a three-year project).

GRAMMAR AND DISCOURSE
Discourse Grammar (DG) is a grammatical framework that grew out of the analysis of spoken and written linguistic discourse on the one hand, and of work on parenthetical expressions, including Simon C. Dik's study of extra-clausal constituents, on the other. Initiated by Gunther Kaltenböck, Bernd Heine and Tania Kuteva, the framework is based on the distinction between two organizing principles of grammar where one concerns the structure of sentences and the other the linguistic organization beyond the sentence.
In accordance with the perspective adopted in this framework, linguistic units such as formulae of social exchange, interjections, discourse markers and other prefabricated expressions, which tend to be assigned a more marginal status in many models of mainstream linguistics, are interpreted as playing an important role in structuring linguistic discourse.