English As A Second Language

“Intrinsic arguments describe the English language as providential, rich, noble and interesting. Such arguments tend to assert what English is and what other languages are not”. As mentioned previously, notwithstanding that the english language is widely-spoken around the world, diversity is important and for many individuals language is the basis of their culture. Making english the global language is essentially

English has become the most widespread and powerful language on Earth. The imperial English Empire spread English across the globe; from America to Asia. English’s position in the world was cemented by US cultural and diplomatic dominance; evident in American movies, fast food, and clothing. English has proven it is not moving anywhere anytime soon, as English only grows in use over time. Thus a debate has arisen: Should English be the official Universal Language? On one hand, English can harm other cultures, international relations, and scientific development; however, English is very flexible and widely used, making it the perfect candidate for a global language.

English as we know it is indeed the dominant language, but does that mean everyone should learn it? Should English be the global language? Should you have to know English to communicate if you are someone that lives in a place where the native language is something different? The answer is no. However, first you must consider the statement “It is a fact that English is the dominant language in the world today. Everyone, in every country, in order to participate in the modern world, should learn English. After all, a language is just a random collection of words, so how hard can it be”. Personally, I believe it is tremendously difficult to learn a new language as an adult, but in order to make the world go round, we all should know more than one language; no one language should rule. Barbara Wallraff, David Crystal, and John Tagliabue share a few words that connect to the statement to show their personal mindset behind English being a global language. In this essay, I will extract statements from each of the authors that explain their views on a global language to support my overall perception.

In this context, English language inherits the credential of a Universal language that can be nearly understood almost each and every part of the world. The English Language; that has been evolving over centuries, has found its spot under the beam light and is used all over the world as a mode of communication. However, just like any other spoken

There are around 7,000 languages found in the 192 countries in the world (Grosjean 2010). The humans’ different way to communicate with each other according to the environment setting is called a language. The U.S is a diverse country and people who live in the U.S speaks many different languages. “Even with its large immigrant population and a long history of immigration, the general public in the united states does not support the use of multiple languages” (Freeman and Freeman 142). When immigrants come to the Unites States with different first language, the teachers provide them instruction in English which they don’t know. When they don’t understand anything in English, they start failing their classes. Their teachers put them into special needs program because they think that they need special and disability services.

English, which is spoken by 1.9 billon of the world’s population as their first language (Redman, 2004), has been spreading rapidly in the world since the British Industrial Revolution and colonialism in many continents such as Asia, Africa and North America during the 18th century (Lavot, 2000). As the influence of English is increasing, some linguists think that it is a natural process of successful international communication. However, many other languages are also dying out at an accelerating rate because of the expansion of the English language. In discussing the issue of the growing influence of English; arguments, both for and against, should be considered, particularly, in the economic, the information exchange, the linguistic

There have been many disagreements where things have gotten worse or even unsolved simply because individuals did not understand one another. A language is part of each culture’s individual personality. The way that words are grouped together, the meanings of each word, and the distinct passion that words have, all play a role in the way that cultures identify themselves. However, because of the hundreds of languages spoken there are many problems that having only one universal language, such as English, may resolve.

One thing bilingual education critics forget is that people come from different backgrounds that have differing cultures and language. If everybody was to speak his language, then no communication would ever be realized is this fast globalizing world. With globalization the world is becoming a one small village. This calls for a dear need to have a unified language that will ease communication among different people from different parts of the world. In that regard, you find that bilingual education is an inevitable thing if globalization is expected to be effective. For this purpose, a language has to be developed. Out of the many languages available, English seems to be taking the lead in becoming the global language. The reasons behind English’s international presence are but though influence from Britain and USA has made the language dominate. Thus, it is unarguable that all non-English speaking countries must put efforts into place that ensure everybody resident in their country

English is a very important language as it is used frequently at international level as a means for people from different countries to communicate with one another . However, English significance as a communication tool has grown and expand not just as an international language but also used as the language in international relations, and in exchanging knowledge and technology. In the early phase, English hd been spread internationally through colonization, migration and settlement, but as the years passed, English quickly gained a high prestige in cultural, scientific, technological and other fields that contributed to English becoming global (Leitner, 1992). Nowadays, it is generally acknowledged that

Language is oftentimes perceived as intrinsic to human nature which while true to an extent, ignores the way human behaviour today has affected our communication with one another. Since the end of the twentieth century, globalization changed the way people in the globalized countries are understood through language in ways that have both strengths and weaknesses. Languages have switched from being simply indicators of cultural background to being a commodity in the economic sphere. This reworking of the purpose of language has affected the growth of English worldwide and given it new ways to develop. Unfortunately, Standard English has largely become the focus of the international world at a cost for many people not born in English-speaking countries. Despite its shortcomings, globalization has provided different languages, and minority dialects, meaningful spaces in which they can develop their own worth. There are still important studies to be done into the effect of globalization on multilingualism and I propose doing multiple case studies to compare the progression of language in countries around the world. To start, it is important to looked at how that progression changed to begin with.

Vocabulary plays a significant role in English as second language learning process. For the majority of English as Second Language(ESL) learners, the ultimate goal of learning the language is to understand (read and listen) and communicate (write and speak) with little difficulty and the lack of sufficient vocabulary may be the constraint of such goal (Folse, 2004). As the bedrock of English and as well as language, vocabulary also facilitates the development of other language skills: lexical richness leads to the progress in the use of language, namely listening, speaking, reading and writing skills (Nation, 1994). Reversely, The improvement in such skills may enhance learners vocabulary size as the exposure to more learning materials improves the capacity to acquire new vocabulary. (The importance of learning vocabulary/ why vocabulary?)

Learning English has become primary necessity in this era, for the better or worse, by choice or force, English has ‘traveled to many part of the world and has been used to serve various purposes’ (Sharifian in Naji Pishgadam, 2012 : 84 as cited in Setiawati , 2015 :1). According to Chang as cited in Setiawati, “English has been the prevailing foreign language in the curricula of educational institution and in foreign language learning”. By the end of the twentieth century English was already well on its way to becoming a genuine lingua franca, that is language use widely for communication between people who do not share the same first (or even second) language (Harmer, 2007).

Traveling to another country to take a course which would certify me to teach English as a second language is something I did not picture myself doing. I always knew I wanted to work with students, but I was never certain as to what career path I would take. Working with international students who were eager to learn English helped me make my decision to teach English. Taking this course has shown me that I have the ability to teach English. Throughout the course I saw that it is not an easy task. There are many challenges that come with teaching English, but I am ready to face these challenges.

ESL students are students that speak English as a second language. Presently, there is many different system to characterize this type of students (qtd in Shi, Steen 63). For example, they can be seen as “English Language Learners (ELL), English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), English Language Development (ELD), English Language Service (ELS), and

For me, learning a language is a complicated process. It is different from learning other subjects. It involves a lot of practices and follow up. When I talk about my personal experience, I would say that I have a rich experience in learning English as a second language. English was taught to me for ten years starting from grade seven till graduation from university. After graduation, I felt that I should improve my language skills. Therefore, I did a lot of efforts personally to increase my fluency. Until now I still learn the language. Indeed, learning a language takes a lifetime.