Teaching And Learning Of A Second Language

Learning a second language is something that numerous people have attempted to do throughout the years. The motivation for doing this, be it intrinsic or extrinsic, varies from student to student. Learning a second language becomes effective when teachers are able to identify students’ individual learning problems, apply diverse methods and approaches to solve them, and nourish students’ learning motivation.

My seminar provided an overview of chapter 4- explaining second language learning. During my introduction, key points from each of the 5 perspectives were discussed. The cognitive perspective was given priority as it contained many subcategories within itself. This section also allowed my group mates to connect theory and practice of second language learning. My group mates were able to connect to the noticing hypothesis, processability theory and the three principles of practice through their own personal experiences while learning a second language. The first discussion question asked my group members to evaluate their own understanding of how language learning occurs and compare it with the perspectives we covered. The second discussion question provided them a chance to assess each perspective and think of one weakness and one strength for each. Overall if I were to re-do my seminar, I would like to provide more attention to the other perspectives. I would add more discussion questions in order to stimulate more in-depth discussions. Similarly, adding supplemental information from an outside source to further discussion and connect the theories to pedagogy. Additionally, I would create an activity that focused more on teaching of a second language and how these theories have influenced the current practices used.

Often, immigrant parents will push for their children to learn the official language of the country they live in. These parents claim that their children will be more successful in life if they acquire that second language, because of the pressure of versatility in society. By quickly enforcing second language, the children find themselves taken over by this incoming force. Constant exposure is the most efficient method of learning, but requires an immense amount of time and effort. Due to frequent subjection of practice, the second dialect will outweigh the original, taking its place as the most proficient language a person uses. Most importantly, the learner must have the eagerness within themselves to truly acquire a second language. Non-native speakers can be uncomfortable with residing in a country whose official language is not their primary. Virginia Gonzalez’s and Ana Celia Zentella’s reports analyze Latinos’ standard of living and the possible outcomes of children of immigrant families in an English governed community. Other works such as Aria by Richard Rodriguez reveals advantages from learning English, such as being able to communicate confidently and feeling included. However, the risk of losing the first language outweighs the advantages. The negative effects are often overlooked and unexpected as shown through the scholarly works of Lily Wong Fillmore, Monique Bournot-Trites and Ulrike Tellowitz. As I will argue in the paper, the common notion that learning a

Living in such a diverse nation containing nearly over 350 languages, does it make sense ignoring all but one? The study of foreign language in America is on the decline as English becomes the language most spoken. The English languages is prominently used in economics, finance, politics and so on. However, this monolingual plague that's affecting America presents an issue, those who are being affected are at a disadvantage. They are at a disadvantage because numerous business practice contain the benefit of knowing multiple languages, they miss out on culture, the secret doors of doors the world has to offer and better mental wellbeing.

In the video titled The Four Stages of Acquiring Language, in which I observed. The first stage is “Babbling” one syllable sounds. I observed an infant at 4 months of age babbling. According to the CDC, at 4 months of age infants begin babbling, they can babble with expression and copy sounds he/she hears. Infants at this age can cry in different ways to express hunger, pain or being tired.

Hola, yes all U.S. students should be required to learn a second language. There are many benefits of learning a new language. You can grow your vocabulary skills and learn about a whole new culture! As a matter of fact, we should all be equal.

Krashen, S. (2014). Does Duolingo" trump" university-level language learning. International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching, 9(1), 13-15. Retrieved from http://www.sdkrashen.com/content/articles/krashen-does-duolingo-trump.pdf

Although there are approximately 7,097 languages spoken around the world, 75 percent of the United States of America’s population cannot speak a second language. Twenty-eight percent of Americans feel that they do not need to know a second language because everyone they know speaks English or they expect all those they encounter to speak English. Because such a large percentage of Americans are monolingual, they often struggle to communicate with those in foreign countries because they do not know the native languages. This is largely due to the lack of language classes offered through the American school system, and not starting languages early in education. The solution to help close language and cultural barriers for Americans is starting foreign languages earlier in schools around the United States.

The researchers argue that it is more helpful for these students to continue to communicate in their home language while learning a second language. Everyone obtains the language of their surrounding environment and is comfortable with that form of communication. The success comes, it is said, when the second language is acquired. In effort to put this into action, the solution that researchers Cummins and Kenji Hakuta recommended was to use teachers who were bilingual

In our everyday lives, the origin of our ability to communicate is usually not often taken into consideration. One doesn't think about how every person has, or rather had at one time, an innate ability to learn a language to total fluency without a conscious effort – a feat that is seen by the scientific community "as one of the many utterly unexplainable mysteries that beset us in our daily lives" (3).. Other such mysteries include our body's ability to pump blood and take in oxygen constantly seemingly without thought, and a new mother's ability to unconsciously raise her body temperature when her infant is placed on her chest. But a child's first language acquisition is different from these

Language is a key part of any family, community, culture and the human race. Without language the world today would be much different. From cavemen, to the Egyptian use of hieroglyphics, to Old English, to more than 6,500 languages spoken around the world today, the advances that humans have made in language is remarkable and inspiring. The ability to speak, read, write and understand more than one language is also remarkable and expands the liberties in life, especially for young people. High school students should be required to take at least two years of a foreign language class in order to graduate, as many recent studies support the benefits of doing so. Students who have learned a foreign language in high school have proven to have a

Teaching students with English as their second language comes with its own set of challenges. To effectively teach I first need to understand what the students already know. Through my class Assessment for Learning I was taught not all assessments yield the same information. Formative assessment guides instruction because it is a quick snapshot which identifies what the student has mastered or still needs to work on. Summative assessments are what we stereotypically think of as a test, they are graded and measured to let us know if a student has met a benchmark or standard. When I first started teaching, I corrected homework and did exit slips not realizing how important they were. Now they drive and guide my teaching. These formative assessments are the foundation of the next lesson or small group work.

Several recent studies illustrate that student disaffection in English Language classrooms is a very real problem in many counties. In the following studies various terms are used to describe English Language Learning. The abbreviations: ESL (English as a Second Language), EFL (English as a Foreign Language), and ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) are used within the context of each of the following studies in keeping with the original authors’ terminology. The common thread among these studies is a focus on disaffection and/or motivation of students learning English as a second or foreign language.

Second Language learning process will start after learning the first language or native language. It involves a special purpose or some cause. For example in India people acquire English after the native language as it involves day to day communication also. And some people learn French or Latin in order to survive France or Latin American Countries. Second language learning may or may not involve class room instructions. Both are not one and same.

* In the educational field, the teaching learning cycle is a model used in contemporary teaching in both school and adult educational settings. Rothery (1996 in Derewianka & Jones 2012, pg 43) who originally developed the model used this to aim at disadvantaged children for teaching literacy and writing in the KLA (Key learning areas) who were from socially disadvantaged areas. Over time the model has been phased across other areas of the English language such as listening, speaking, reading as well as writing. The key involvement of the teacher also known as ‘expert other’ in the teaching learning cycle is guiding the learner to understand key concepts in academic literacy through use of scaffolding strategies to transform students