Till the introduction of English in 1962 as the medium of instruction in the Bhutanese schools, Hindi was used to deliver the lessons, along with Dzongkha. Having foreseen the need to interact with the bigger international organizations for the nation’s economic growth, developmental support and security purposes in the near future, then the Hindi was replaced by English as the medium of instruction in the Bhutanese curriculum system. It was warmly accepted by all. In spite of English curriculum running smoothly in Bhutan, today the question is whether, grammar needs to be taught separately. Despite varied views, grammar being an inevitable part of English language has to be given due preference because; it is a second language, grammar has link with writings, it hones communication skills, certain time is allotted for teaching of grammar, good grammar makes a better speaker, and it enables the speaker to answer “why” and “how”.
To begin with, there is a wide gap with regards to the ease and pace at which English is learnt between the native learners and the L2 (2nd Language learners). According to the Rational Theory of Language Acquisition by Noam Chomsky, when a child is born, the seed of the language called LAD-Language Acquisition Device is already embedded in the brain of a child, so that one can learn on one’s own. Joanne Yatvin, in one of her visits to a grade 5 classroom, in her school noticed a group of girls reading out their first draft essays. One of
In the three articles “Do you Speak American” by Robert Macneil, “Why Good English is Good for You” by John Simon, and “Lost in America” by Douglas McGray they all share the same theme that Americans lack the motivation to be culturally diverse and broaden their horizons outside of the American Culture due to the lack of funds. This basically means that Americans lack the motivation to learn more about their culture and other cultures because they focus more on fitting in and doing the same thing as all other Americans. They lose the drive to be different and to educate themselves based on where they came from. In “Do You Speak American”, Macneil emphasizes how even though we have different cultures within America, we are all “Americanized”
According to Rong and Pressle’s, “…oral communication skills in English as a second language require two or three years… Four to twelve years of second-language development are needed for the most advantaged students to reach deep academic proficiency and compete successfully with native speakers.” (87). It is essential for tutors to understand the amount of work and time required for students who are not native speakers. A good strategy in helping students with their academic english proficiency is to help them build their vocabulary.
CHAPTER 2 French language French naturellement The French language is regulated by the Académie Française to prevent any non-French words from creeping into the True French Language. If in doubt a New French Word will be created, for example a Walkman (a trade name) became a Balladeur. Unfortunately for the Académie, many words are in common use, that are not of French origin: weekend; sandwich; parking; stop (stopper = to stop!) ; star; TOP-50 and OK, Jeep, jerrican, and nearly all names of sports except pétanque or boules.
Language acquisition, what is it? How does it promote Critical Literacy skills in Deaf children? Language acquisitions is the process of procuring or adopting “a firmly established first language” (Mayer, 2007, p. 5). There is a direct correlation between the early acquisition of a language, and a child’s ability later in literacy, “linguistic competence” (Small & Cripps, 2003, p. 4), and other developmental and cognitive abilities. This critical time when a child should have access to his or her first language “takes place most naturally and successfully in the first few years of life” (Humphries et al., 2014, p. 34), and a child’s “early experiences [of language access] correlate with [his or her] competencies in language and literacy” (Mayer, 2007, p. 1).
Sean Reardon, a Stanford scholar who worked along with SFUSD found,” growth [in test scores] by fifth grade… [surpassed] those in English only” (Myers). This is not to say that this development happened instantly, instead it took place over a few years. A non-native speaker whose only exposure to English is in an approximately forty minute session five times a week,should not be expected to reach fluency within a year. Despite this, the results of this study should not be ignored.
How Child Learn Language through Child Directed Speech (CDS) Acquiring the language requires fundamental elements in order to use language for communication in at least daily life effectively. In other words, vocabulary is the prerequisite component before using language in more complicated level. Krashen (1989) stated that comprehensible input can facilitate learners acquire L2. Since comprehensible input is important to learn language initially, baby learning the first language is assumed that they needs input from parents or from caregiver in order to be familiar with the L1 and can gradually use the language later.
2.0 INTRODUCTION Language development happens both inside the classroom (as part of a formal establishment, school or institute) and outside it. The classroom is generally considered a formal setting, and most other environments informal, with respect to language learning. “In environments where informal language development is adequate, it is possible to regard the formal classroom as supplemental, complementary, facilitating and consolidating”(Van Lier, 1988: 20). For second-language development in such environments the informal settings can be regarded as primary and the formal classroom as ancillary. The L2 lesson then becomes a language arts lesson, focusing on special language skills and cognitive/academic growth, much in the same way
Encountering the metalanguage of grammar guides the language instructors to: understand sentence structure, understand learning-resources like quizzes, E-books, tools, tests, understand learners needs and grammar deficiencies, understand own insufficiency. The metalanguage of grammar is inevitable for trainers of any foreign language for creating a symbiotic relationship between teacher and learner. Without acknowledging the importance of the metalanguage of grammar educators might drift to a teacher-centered, audio-lingualism approach, and generate an empathy and monotony in their grammar
All English language learners need to learn the language of instruction in English language schools at the same time as they are working towards meeting the curriculum expectations. Young children learn the system of a new language more effectively than older learners. They may acquire a local accent quickly, whereas their older siblings may always have an accent influenced by the system of their home language. But young children may well take five or more years to catch up to their age peers in vocabulary acquisition and the accurate use of grammar in both spoken and written English.
This realization about the different levels of English Language Learner’s discussed in chapter one of Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners, explains that there are a wide variety in the types of English Language Learners. As mentioned previously, as ELL’s can come from all different cultures, they can also come from different levels of educational experiences. The levels of experience do not diminish the educational
These authors consider that literacy has a real connection with second language acquisition processes; because, reading is the foundation of language education and the most powerful tool for increasing vocabulary and the abilities to read, write, spell, and comprehend in a second
DEDUCTIVE AND INDUCTIVE GRAMMAR TEACHING; According to Arnis Silvia (2013), grammar teaching is regarded to through two main dimensions; presentation and practice. Relatively, Ellis (2006) claims that grammar teaching contains some instructional techniques that pull and attract the learners to acquire some grammatical forms in a helpful manner that makes them understandable. Furthermore, Ellis (2006) has suggested some linguistic rules in teaching grammar. For the first time, some grammar instructions should be presented without any practice, however, other ones should be practiced without any presentation.
Academic English is important to college and university in academic writing course (Jet Writers Essay Writing Contest 2015). It is required students to reading, speaking and listening, while employing evaluating and sharpen their research and writing skills for college and university environment. At the college and university level is the ever-increasing need for students to focus on language and more specifically, the specialized language found both in substance areas and the Academic Language used in teaching that content. Academic Language as the name implies is importance the kind of writing that we are required to do in college and university. It differs from other kinds of writing such as annotated bibliographies, literature reviews,
We had many class discussions that brought on a few arguments, however I was so interested to hear everyone’s ideas on grammar. My Pedagogical Grammar class helped me to see my views on grammar and how I wanted to teach my students. While the traditional method of teaching grammar is important,
Second Language Acquisition- A literature review of the critical period hypothesis: are children more prone to learning a second language? The world human beings live in is rising due to an unstoppable tide of technology merging all cultures into one. This requires that individuals learn more than one language to fulfill their vocational and social duties in general.