Intrinsic Motivations To Learn English As A Foreign Language

What do you think of the requirement to learn English? Did you know you can find English speakers in almost every country around the world? English is the world’s most commonly spoken language because it allows its speakers to be more poised while facing difficult situation in their lives. Knowing English can able you to manage a wide variety of your difficulties. English can assist you in discussions with people of all backgrounds and ethnicities. Knowing English helps you learn new things and understand other’s opinions.

The day I stepped off the plane and landed in America, I knew that I’d have to face a great challenge. Being a first generation immigrant from Vietnam, I would have to learn English as quickly as possible. Although I’ve arduously prepared for this transition by learning basic vocabulary and grammar in my native country, I quickly realized that my practical aspect of using the language such as listening, conversing, pronunciation to be insufficient. By immersing myself in an English-speaking world, I finally addressed my lingual deficiency within a year.

Doctors Ana Iddings and Mary Combs are Associate Professors from the University of Arizona who conducted research on how to help English language learners become successful in grades Kindergarten through 12 along with Dr. Luis Moll who is a Professor Emeritus from the named university. Dr. Iddings has conducted individual research on many topics, one being the education and professional development of teachers to work with English language learners (ELLs) and their families. Dr. Combs currently teaches courses in bilingual and English as a Second Language (ESL) courses on the graduate and undergraduate levels. Dr. Moll’s main research was conducted in education of Latino children in the United States.

Each lecture has an important message for the readers. One of the most interesting and motivating readings found in “Prose Reader's book by Kim and Michael Flachmann” is “Public and Private Language by Richard Rodriguez”. In this reading the author narrates the experiences of his life when he emigrated to a foreign country and the difficulties and challenges he had to face. It is a huge challenge, occasionally people are afraid of changes and start a new life. This essay has a sentimental and realistic purpose, because the author illustrates how people who immigrate face the language barrier and how difficult is learning another language. The author faced a few challenges in this reading from the educational, social and family point of view.

Every day new students arrive in classrooms around the United States. Some come with little or no ability to speak and understand English. This was Osea four years ago. Attending school has helped Osea develop his English in the areas of reading, writing, speaking and listening. While Osea is making great progress, there are still areas in which teachers can support him so that he continues to progress toward proficiency in English.

Lucero de “Belén" Juarez Duran is a 16 year old student attending IMAC language school in Guadalajara, Mexico. She is interested in learning English in order to pass the TOEFL and to assist her later on in securing a high paying job. To meet this goal she feels all aspects of English are important . Currently she has several concerns.

Teachers positively affect young minds. One of the greatest achievements a teacher can experience is watching all students, including Enlgish Language Learners, expand their knowledge to their full potential. I want to become a teacher because I want to make a positive impact on a person’s life. Once, I obtain my own classroom, I know that not all students will know how to speak English, therefore as a teacher I plan on using various tips and methods in order to teach them English.

While living in the Dominican Republic, I studied English every Saturday in an institute. Since I only got to exercise and strengthen my English skills once a week and had no one else to practice with, I didn’t excel in the language until I arrived to the United States. As a result, when I started school in the United States, despite being in ELL classes, I struggled academically and socially. I became frustrated since I wasn’t excelling in school as I had done previously, and I felt lonely because I had a limited group of friends. The language barrier, I concluded, was holding me back. This realization made me determined to find ways in which I could enhance my skills in this new language.

The following Global assessment is for Mrs. Elizabeth Flores and includes a Learner Profile (Appendix). Emigrating from Puebla, Mexico 14 years ago, Mrs. Flores is married with two children. According to Elizabeth, learning English is essential to improving her ability to communicate with, government agencies, medical professionals, and support her children in learning. Regrettably, she has limited opportunities to use English outside of the classroom, living in a Spanish-speaking insulated ethnic community.

We believe that everything in our life is usually fine with no problems but that are times that we tend to realize the difference in our life, “But, I do think that the language spoken in the family, especially in immigrant families which are more insular, plays a large role in shaping the language of the child” (Tan P.199). The family plays a major language modeling role onto the child. The author contradicts sociologists and linguists on the influenced by peers of developing language skills. She believes it is through family that affects how the child interprets language. In addition, the quality of speech is at home. Steele’s quote conveys to readers that life observations are based on a particular person’s perspective. Tan provides ample evidence on sociologists and linguists research on developing language skills, their research points out that children’s language skills are influenced by classmates. Yet Tan’s belief is that immigrant families have greater impact on the child due to their grasp of the english language. Ultimately, it is Tan’s personal experience that lead to her idea on with developing language skills compare to the sociologist and linguist whether than by family. Tan indicates that her life experiences with language developing skills are influenced by

Although the narrator’s parents are keeping him from learning or speaking their native languages, which is what most of his family members speak, in order to stabilize his English proficiency, there are many negative effects of doing so. The narrator constantly feels

For most of the ESL institutes and Universities in Panama, which bid English as a second language, this is their main goal, developing critical thinking in their students who can express it through either orally or written English language. However, stating this as their aim does not ensure that ESL Panamanian students will enhance their English proficiency. There are a number of administrative problems in those places, which influence their failure in getting their aspirations. Specifically, it has to do especially with the organization and development of their teaching programs. Another reason is the fact of teaching second language learners without a real input. Finally, there is a reality in our educational system,

TESOL QUARTERLY Vol. 39, No. 4, December 2005 609 Motivators That Do Not Motivate: The Case of Chinese EFL Learners and the Influence of Culture on Motivation JUDY F. CHEN The Overseas Chinese Institute of Technology Taichung, Taiwan, Republic of China CLYDE A. WARDEN National Chung Hsing University Taichung, Taiwan, Republic of China HUO-TSAN CHANG National Changhua University of Education Chunghua, Taiwan, Republic of China It is a capital mistake to theorize in advance of the facts. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventure of the Second Stain (1930, p. 657) Language learning motivation plays an important role in both research and teaching, yet language learners are still largely understood in terms of North American and

As mentioned before, my early interaction with people and the upbringing made me confident with my language, French. Despite the fact that learning the first language sounds to be more natural, it is worth noting that the environment stands in as a motivating factor. The Cognitive Evaluation theory explains the impact of external consequences especially on internal motivation. The theory is

For the purpose of this assignment I chose Feruza, an Eritrean high school graduate. She was born and raised in Eritrea and came to live in Jeddah only five years ago. She studied English in an elementary school in Eritrea and continued studying it in an Eritrean International High School. She is not happy at all with what she has learnt during those years. She explained that during her elementary school years her teachers heavily focused on writing while neglecting speaking. When she continued her learning process here in Jeddah, her high school teachers focused only on speaking but not at the level she was expecting.