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.
Petra Alicia Lagarda Villaseñor is seventy years old. She was born in Cananea, Sonora, Mexico. It is a small town in the northern part of the country--not too far away from the United States. She is number nine of twelve children. Alicia’s first language is Spanish. Growing up, she was exposed to very little English. She has been to the US more than once in her life, and she has relatives who live there. Her son and her daughter, who is my mother, both speak English. My father and my sisters also speak English, many times at her house. However, she understands only a fraction of what we say, especially if we are speaking at a normal speed (she has asked for translations in the past). She likes to say short phrases and words in English, combining the English language with Spanish at times, in a jest. Cananea, https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cananea. TTC 2017 pp. 43-44. . My
In “Why Foreign Language Education Matters” Representative Rush Holt expresses the idea that the average American is generally deprived of what is known as cultural enrichment in their day-to-day lives, even though others believe that English should be the primary and only language Americans should speak. Holt conveys the overall concept that being bilingual, trilingual, or multilingual is a benefit not just for oneself but for our society. Rush Holt presents the argument with extreme concern for our upcoming generations and the consequences it may cause our nation’s economy to decrease in federal funding’s for education programs, as well as our global marketplace and national security who is highly dependent of translators, specialist, and
Language has been in the world since humans began to exist on the Earth. Language is an important part in constructing people’s perception and cultures. It is the reason that aggressors tried to teach their language to the victims who were invaded. People in the world, nowadays, interact with foreign people who speak different languages, so the possibility that people meet foreign people is increasing. As time goes, the society where people live requires them to learn a second or third languages. Some people think that they do not feel like they need to learn a foreign language, such as America and China. They claim that people can use the time better instead of learning a second language. In fact, this is the truth that we can survive even if we don’t know other languages. However, since the trend of our world has been changing, people make an effort to learn a foreign language for different purposes. Becoming a bilingual person(or multilingual person) gives an opportunity for people to gain more and better skills and abilities than other people who do not learn a second language. For these reasons, many researchers study and search benefits and necessity of learning a foreign language. Thus, many schools in the world have formally started a class which is learning a second language because of getting the positive things even though we are able to live in our world without knowing another country’s language. We will have a lot of advantages if we know how to speak and
Australia is an extremely culturally diverse country, therefore many different languages are spoken in homes and communities across Australia. Consequently many primary school students are learning English as an additional language. EAL/D is an acronym used to refer to students whose first language is a language or dialect other than Standard Australian English; that is English is an additional language or dialect. In Australian schools it is essential students are able to speak and read English in order for them to understand and succeed in all content learning areas.
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
Many researchers have hypothesized that language could be acquired only within a critical period, which is from early infancy to puberty. If this is true, this should be extended to second language acquisition as well, and, if so, young children should be better at acquiring the second language than adults, and the individuals who started to learn the second language in their early childhood should reach higher levels of proficiency in the second language compare to those who started to learn the language in their adulthood. If this prediction is true, it would importantly demonstrate that children should be exposed to language with rich vocabulary and grammar within the critical period, and foreign language exposure at school should take place in early grades in order to maximize their opportunity to learn the language effectively. However, the self-motivation and the value of learning the language may differ depending on the individuals and those factors can limit or expand the exposure to the target language. In this paper, I would like to discuss the correlation between the age that bilingual individuals are exposed to the second language as well as their motivation, and the value of learning the second language. I would like to suggest that regardless of the age that individuals are exposed to the second language, if one values the importance of learning the target language and maximize their exposure to it, they can reach to the native level of
It's undoubtedly true that motivation in second language acquisition ( SLA) hints to the learner's attempt and desire to learn a language and their attitude toward learning language (Dornyei, 1994) . Motivation is regarded as a vital element in the develop of any activity . It plays a pivotal role in obtaining the desired goals. Motivation in SLA has been crucially investigated in variety contexts such as (Feng & Chen ,2009; Wu & Wu, 2008;Melendy,2008; Wang,2007; Lamb, 2007). As the components believe motivating EFL students to develop in the target language is extremely complex. In many cases , these students confront with problems in learning English and they are often demotivated to learn .the inquiry in the field of motivation has triggered an intense controversy among
In Learning the Second Language, motivation is an essential perspective. Many researchers have assumed that learners who are more motivated are more likely to progress in learning the language. Whether the motivation is internal or external, it plays a major factor in language acquisition.
Student motivation and engagement is crucial for success in language learning. Motivation has been widely discussed by leading scholars like, Dornyei and Gardner (use first names) of Second Language Acquisition (SLA), particularly focusing on how it affects English Language Learners (ELLs) performance in various aspects of the L2 language and learning process. Teachers and students commonly use the term motivation to explain what causes success or failure in learning (Guilloteaux & Dornyei, 2008). Without sufficient motivation, even learners with the most remarkable abilities, excellent teachers, and curriculum, still cannot accomplish long-term goals.
Krashen placed the variables affecting second language acquisition into three categories: motivation, self-confidence, and anxiety (Schutz, 1997). According to Kocher, motivation of an ESL student is “primarily connected with the desire to become part to the L2 speaking community (2013, pg. 14). This is primarily known as integrative motivation, an orientation that is socially and culturally oriented (Brown, 2014). Kocher outlines that motivation is often negatively impacted in a classroom setting due to embarrassment in messing up the second language (Kocher, 2013).
Learning a language is quite possibly one of the most difficult and time-consuming endeavors a person could ever undertake. Therefore, it comes as no surprise, that a limited number of second languages are taught in schools across the western world, and languages are sometimes failed to be passed on to children growing up in a different country than their parents did. Conversely, by remaining monolingual, skills and knowledge will become concentrated only in certain countries and as the transfer of knowledge will cease the rate of human advancement will slow. This report intends to discuss the interpersonal and personal benefits of learning a second language, and investigate different ways of learning. To accomplish this, I have conducted into the interpersonal and personal benefits of learning another language.These particular areas were chosen for two reasons: first, it is speculated that since spoken and written language are how people communicate, there must be benefits for those who can speak more than one. Second, the process of learning a language is the ultimate test of mental fortitude. It is a medley of memorization and application that to even suggest it has no effect on one’s mental capacity or ability is absurd. This is necessary since it will confirm the existence of benefits to adopting alias lingua. It may be that there is no benefit, and either the world adopts one language, or each country focus on its own tongue. For this report, this paper has been
Foreign languages are a must in today's world. There are many needs for a second language to be learned by everyone. The growing need to learn more languages is becoming more apparent in the public world today. In order to fix this problem, the school system needs to teach multiple foreign languages in order to grow as a nation both mentally and culturally.
In this article, Karmos and Csizér illustrate the way acquisition of language in different age gaps through incentive to learn English language as a second form of communication. The study offers a description of learning English in three different learner populations in Hungary. The population included university students, secondary school students, and adults. The researchers used questionnaires that were given to the population of the study to evoke their feeling on learning the second language so that they could understand the difference between the acquisitions of English as their second language.
Language remains an integral part of human culture that our brains instill before we are born. Scientists have known for years fetuses can hear inside the womb, but they have discovered newborns possess the ability to cry in a way which mimics their native language (Cox). Scientists also recognize that as humans age learning a new skill―like a language―proves increasingly more difficult. Adults’ brains do not possess the same absorbency skills that children do (Baer). For this reason, I would advocate for high schools and colleges requiring students to take at least two years of a foreign language. Numerous studies have linked learning a second language to increased cognitive function, heightened global awareness, and understanding foreign cultural traditions.
“The land flourished because it was fed from so many sources-because it was nourished by so many cultures and traditions and peoples” (Johnson). In today’s society, immigration is a controversial topic. Regardless of current views towards immigration, the nation is experiencing a daily influx of immigrants, particularly those with Hispanic heritage. To address this dramatic increase, a new program, The Influential, is effectively working to educate both U.S. citizens and immigrants. Instead of students taking two years of Spanish in high school, students will be mandated to take Spanish in the fifth grade and above. The Influential program focuses primarily on school aged children, affecting change in the mindsets of the nation’s youth that will carry the country into a more culturally aware future.
A few years ago there was an Egyptian woman whose son was sick and she took him to the hospital in Qatar. The problem was when the doctor asked her in English about the problem with her son, she could not answer the doctor’s question because she does not speak any other languages than Arabic. Unfortunately there was not anyone who can speak Arabic in that private hospital so she started to use sign language to explain the problem, but that did not work. There are many people who face this problem everyday and everywhere not just in hospitals but also in banks, restaurants and shops. The best solution is that English should be the main language spoken in all the schools in the country because English plays a major role in many departments in Qatar like education, medicine, engineering and business so its importance should not be denied in our life.