The Challenges Of Teaching English As A Second Language

My summer abroad in Guatemala, showed me the challenges and implications that come with teaching English as a Foreign Language. A specific challenge was to teach students who were Kaqchikel dominant instead of Spanish dominant. The challenge to reach students culturally and linguistically was a new experience I overcame by getting to know my students on a personal level. After

After reading chapters 6 & 13 in James Crawford’s book Educating English Learners, two political events that affected the education of English language learners stood out: Proposition 227 also known as the English for the Children Initiative and The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) also known as The Elementary and Secondary Education Act. In 1997, Ron Unz organized the creation of Proposition 227 with the help of prominent Latinos. The main objective of the Proposition was to meet conflicting political and policy goals. Unz sought to outlaw a program that many parents wanted without appearing to restrict parental choice; to tie the hands of the school boards that favored bilingual education without seeming to usurp their authority; and to eliminate

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?)

The art of teaching English as a second language is a natural and intrinsic blend of the student, the facilitator and the four language skills.

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.

As a well-balanced bilingual linguist both in English and Korean, who has an ESL background, I have overcome numerous challenges that an ESL student must confront. Besides having an experience of learning English as a second language, I have taught English/Korean to Korean and Korean-American students from a wide range of age and level of fluency in both Korean and English for many years in a form of tutoring and as a class room instructor. English and my mother tongue, Korean, I‘ve learned Japanese and Japanese culture for several years. I have studied linguistics for consecutive six years as my major at the both undergraduate and graduate level program. I graduated from Hofstra University with MA in linguistics in May 2016. . My passion, commitment and talent in learning foreign languages and linguistics have earned me being listed on dean’s list for every semester that I have taken and rewarded me with graduating as an honor student.

English plays a significant role in the whole world from the last few decades. For all the students whose mother tongue is not English, which as a second language (ESL) is much difficult to study than those students who study English as the first language. Therefore, the ESL classroom becomes more and more significant. A successful ESL lesson includes several aspects: the teacher’s questions, the interaction between teacher and students and the task-based learning, etc.

I obtained a bachelor’s degree in English Language and Translation from the University of Al Qassim in Saudi Arabia. The notion of completing my studies in the United States is an objective of mine since I was in middle school. It is not my first time leaving home to study abroad. In the summer of 2007 before I started college, I studied English in Great Britain for 6 months; combined I have studied in ESL schools for the past two and a half years. During that time, learning the language was not my only objective. Next in importance is learning how instructors instruct and what are the methods that work best for students, which I believe gives me an advantage over other applicants. In addition, I had a great deal of responsibility to my family whom decided to move to the United States in order to find a better life for my mentally psychotic brother. It is these obligations that help shape me to be the person I am today.

Language is everything; by using it we can show our happiness, sadness, wishes, all of things in our mind and heart, etc. Language also can be a bridge to connect one information to the others. We can use it in every session, it means that language is very important. According to Wardhaugh (2006: 1), “A language is what the members of a particular society speak”. There are many languages in this world, one of them is English. It is also as an international language.

This paper will be discussing how one can go to Serbia and teach English as a second language. This paper will include important information such as basic education system, visa, demographic and more things about Serbia.

since conducting a review towards it. This action is taken after the discovery that many

Theories abound reporting the most effective method of teaching English as a language, and the two methods that people tend to subscribe to are 1) primarily focus on the technical side of the language or 2) primarily focus on the content. Stephen Krashen believed that “subconscious acquisition” of a language “is separate from conscious learning and is superior in the long run,” as H. Douglas Brown paraphrases in Principles of Language Learning and Teaching (289). As one of his hypotheses of language acquisition, he insisted that immersion into the language is the best way to acquire a language and that focusing on the linguistic side of the language does not contribute to acquisition. Krashen also insists that language acquisition is based on comprehensible input and that production of the language is not necessary to acquisition; however, Merrill Swain theorized that comprehensible output is more important to language acquisition, as it requires learners to try various methods of communication, “[pushing] them ahead in their development” (Lightbown and Spada 115).Swain and Krashen’s theories intersect in the fact that both theories do not necessarily require corrective feedback, but that is the extent of the similarity. Swain’s theory of comprehensible output supports the idea of content-based instruction in that a CBI classroom requires learners to produce language that has meaning. Moreover, as Ausubel theorized, information (e.g. language) is best retained “meaningful

Grammar teaching has an irreplaceable place in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) because of the fact that without grammar learners can use the language in a limited way; they may not achieve to fully express their intentions or meaning of the messages in a communication activity. It has been seen that throughout the history, the attention given to grammar teaching has differed from time to time. In the beginnings of the twentieth century, grammar teaching was regarded so essential that other aspects of language were ignored as it was thought that it was necessary to know the grammatical rules in order to communicate appropriately. This idea was criticized in 1970s and it was argued that knowledge of the grammatical system of the language was one of the many components which lies beneath the idea of communicative competence (Richards & Renandya, 2002). And in order to use a language competently, it is not enough for a learner only to know the grammar rules as she should also know how the rules are used in real communication. During this period, grammar teaching began to lose its popularity and even abandoned in some cases. Recently, grammar teaching has risen again in language curriculum by receiving considerable attention. It is regarded as a very crucial part of language which should not be overlooked by the researchers. Today, it can easily be asserted as true that the necessity of teaching grammar is not questioned; instead, issues such as the most effective ways and

importance for me. Although I have been practicing English for ten years, I need to

EDUCATION 2017 M.A. in Applied Developmental Psychology George Mason University 2016 B.A., Cum Laude, in Teaching English as a Second Language Liberty University with Chinese minor and Certificate in TESOL 2012 B.A. in Elementary Education University of Iowa PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE 2017 LIVINGSTONE ACADEMY Academic Advisor/ Manager 2016-2017 STT PELITA DUNIA English teacher/ Program Coordinator Bridge Builders Global, Indonesia 2015-2016 ENGLISH LANGUAGE INSTITUTE Small Group Coordinator/ Tutor Liberty University, VA 2015 NIBC of NZ English Teacher Bridge Builders Global, New Zealand 2014 APTUS Teacher Workshop Activity Coordinator/ Lecture Assistant & Intensive