The Importance Of Learning English As A Second Language Is A Silent Way

Language Teaching Methods Silent Way

In this video, the context is learning English as a second language (ESL). In an ESL situation, the learner is learning English within an English environment and needs to understand and speak English outside the classroom too. Until he learns enough English, he will find it very difficult to keep up with his work. He might even find it difficult to make friends.

In an ESL setting, the class is usually multilingual and living in the culture of the target language. In an ESL classroom, students are likely to have a higher intrinsic motivation because English is relevant to their daily lives. By being in the target language community, they have more opportunity to use English and see immediate results from using it. The typical students in ESL classes wanted to learn English for personal reasons, such as to communicate with a variety of people from other countries, or they wanted to learn the language for professional reasons, perhaps to get a better job.

Whether or not they want to assimilate, many of these students have a need to improve their English in order to function in an English-speaking country. The ESL context requires students to use only English when they are speaking to students who do not share their language. In fluency practice activities, the teacher can rest assured that the students will not resort to their native language. This classroom scenario also gives the teacher an opportunity to sometimes focus more intensively on accuracy in speaking because many of the students have ample opportunities for English fluency practice outside of the