My Account of Second Language Learning - Essay Example

My Account of Second Language Learning Introduction I began to learn English at the intermediate grade as a beginner, studying for one hour per day for three years, following my six years of study without English in primary school. Spelling and writing were the two major skills emphasized by my Egyptian teacher during our class sessions which would normally have more than forty students. English alphabets were the first to study before advancement to simple words. The need to excel prompted me to memorise a lot of English words and their rightful spellings. I advanced to three years of high level English in secondary school studying for an hour every day. Here, the inability of my teacher, a Bangladeshi, to speak in Arabic made it routine to speak in English. This is when I was greatly influenced to pursue English even to university level. The course I undertook at King Khalid University for four years was a specialisation in English. Much of skills on both pronunciation and writing at this level were acquired due to the interaction with a lot of people from various parts of the world who communicated mostly in English. Similarly, I put my own effort and did personal studies. Upon graduation, I got employed as an English teacher in a primary school in Al Jubail Industrial City. This was a good opportunity for growth from the basic level with the primary school children, most of who depended on visual aids for understanding. This being an industrial city, many inhabitants came from different parts of the world and would interact with the students outside school. English being a common language among most of them, learning English among these students was not a major challenge. After a year, I moved on to teach adults from varied technical faculties in a technical college. It is here that I got the opportunities to improve my teaching skills through the regular training sessions organised by the institution. Through this process of learning, there are two factors that greatly influenced my personal outcome; these are motivation and my learning strategies. Motivation Learning of the second language varies from one individual to another (Slevc & Miyake, 2006). Different internal factors contribute to the differential success in the outcome of the process. One of the factors that influenced my proficiency in learning English as a second language is my motivation since my experience with my Bangladeshi teacher who could converse only in English. According to Csizér and Dornyei (2005), motivation refers to the desire for achievement of an ideal language through reduction of the variation between the actual and the ideal states. It encompasses the subject that provokes action in a person, the period that such a person is willing to sustain it and the effort put towards its pursuance. This could be instigated by the desire to later attain some reward which pushes the learner towards the attainment of the anticipated reward. In my case, the desire was in reducing the gap between the actual incompetence in English language and the ideal state of being proficient in the language so as to communicate well with my teacher. There was a desire in me to excel academically through achievement of English proficiency which made me proceed to even specialising in the language at university level. Dornyei (2002) also points out that there is a reward that sustains motivation. Some of the rewards that second language teachers could use include encouragement and applause for achievement, which in general push the inner self of the learner towards attainment of the set goals. Having observed the close ties that Saudi Arabia had with the Western world, it was obvious that English would be an advantage to me when interacting with the people from those nations even in learning institutions. The Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia was introduced in 1942 and since then, English language has been taught among its citizens (Al Sadan, 2000). This language has been given a second priority after the Arabic language because of the strong relations that the country has established with its Western counterparts since the discovery of oil. The systems for male and female students have been separated both in public and private schools which are well distributed across the country. In public schools, English is taught for seven years before progression to institutions of higher learning. Together with Computer Science, English is a requirement for first elementary grade in private schools. In higher learning, English is compulsory in Humanities and is used as an instruction medium in Engineering and Medicine. This motivated me to work towards improving my proficiency in English so as to qualify to pursue some of these courses. Since my concern was in the achievement of practical values for utilitarian intentions, then this could be said to be instrumental motivation as argued by Csizér and Dornyei (2005). After graduation, the need for experience in teaching what I learnt which would boost my proficiency motivated me to teach in a primary school. While I used to understand more through spoken instructions, the pupils I taught were more affective with visual aids. This supports the argument by Karkanis (2008) that teachers should create such environments for young learners for inspiration of creativity and imagination. Having started my career in the City of Al Jubail, an industrial city occupied by many immigrants, most of these children communicated in English outside school as they interacted with foreign workers and their families. This gave me the desire to work with them as their previous English learning experience provided an opportunity for training them with ease. But a year down the line, the desire to develop my English proficiency pushed me to teach more elderly people. I landed a job of teaching English in a technical college, an institution that also provided me the opportunity to improve my proficiency through the various training sessions it organised. Learning strategies Second language learning could be compared to business where reward is directly proportional to the level of investment (Dornyei, 2005). Therefore, the learner invests time and attention in what is taught in anticipation for proficiency. According to Slevc and Miyake, “people exhibit substantial individual differences in second-language (L2) proficiency” (2006, p.675). In a similar manner, students would adopt different strategies with preference to strategies that would be considered affective. Even so, caution must be taken to ensure that effective strategies are adopted as Cabaysa and Baetiong (2010) argue that the strategy adopted directly affects the proficiency of second language among the students. There are various learning strategies from which second language teachers and learners could choose from in enhancing proficiency and Chamot (1987) talks of cognitive, metacognitive and social-affective strategies as the basic ones. The strategy to be chosen would be critical in the second language proficiency as Radwan (2011) established a linear relationship between the two. Cognitive strategy propagated my English proficiency. As a learner, I preferred being in a class during English lessons as I understood more with the teacher explaining as I listen and comprehend. Study groups also provided me the opportunity to listen from my peers from different parts of the world who inspired my spoken English. When studying alone, I would speak aloud so as to hear my spoken language. From the VARK model, this best fits the aural approach to cognitive strategy as my preference tended towards spoken information. But I was not only confined to aural strategy. After all, Rawdan (2011) argues that proficient students often use more than one strategy in learning the second language. I would take down notes from the teacher in class in a manner that would be easy for me to comprehend. Even in study groups, I would have a note book to jot down what I learnt for future reference. Perhaps, this describes the read/write approach to cognitive strategy according to the VARK model. Having employed both strategies to considerable extent, I fit the description of a multi-modal learner. These strategies were also applicable during my career as a teacher of the language as I preferred talking to my students, teaching them what I would then write down for them to put down in their note books for future reference as I would also comprehend whether what I said was right. Conclusion It was only until my intermediate grade that I started learning English. My desire to be proficient in English was inspired by the desire to excel in class and also communicate with my teachers, some who could only communicate in the language. The desire to communicate with people from the Western nations further boosted this desire. After graduation, I practised my skills as a teacher, both at the primary school level and in a technical college. Motivation and my learning strategies have been the key factors that contributed to the outcome in my proficiency in English. My motivation could be termed as instrumental as it was a result of the promise of a reward whereas the cognitive learning strategy adopted could be termed as multi-modal, having been a combination of both read/write and aural. References AL-Sadan, I. A. (2000). Educational Assessment in Saudi Arabia Schools, Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy &Practice Cabaysa, C. C., & Baetiong, L. R. (2010). Language learning strategies of students at different levels of speaking proficiency. Education Quarterly, 68(1), 16-35. Chamot, A. (1987). The learning strategies of ESL students. In A. Wenden & J. Rubin (Eds.), Learner strategies in language learning. Eaglewood Cliff, NJ: Prentice Hall. Csizér, K., & Dörnyei, Z. (2005). The internal structure of language learning motivation and its relationship with language choice and learning effort. Modern Language Journal, 89, 20-36. Dornyei, Z. (2002). Teaching and researching motivation. London, UK: Pearson Education Ltd. Dörnyei, Z. (2005). The psychology of the language learner: individual differences in second language acquisition. Mahwah, N.J.: L. Erlbaum. Karkanis, P. G. (2008). Thoughts for meaningful life. Bloomington, Indiana. Radwan, A. A. (2011). Effects of L2 proficiency and gender on choice of language learning strategies by university students majoring in English. Asian EFL Journal, 13(1), 115 -163 Slevc, L. R., & Miyake, A. (2006). Individual Differences in Second-Language Proficiency. Journal of Psychological Science, 17(8), 675 – 681. The Outline Introduction: This describes my experience when I began learning English as a student from the intermediate grade to university level. It then describes my experience as an English teacher both with primary school children and later with adults in a technical college where the difference in my experience with both sets explains motivators to my second language learning. It also introduces the influence that the Saudi Arabian government has had on my English proficiency, particularly because of its association with the West and its curriculum development. The factors that determined my learning experience and outcome: (i) Motivation and attitude This part adopts Dornyei (2002) definition of motivation and explains what my motivation was towards learning English as my second language. Because of Saudi Arabia’s association with the Western world, I developed the desire to learn English so as to ease my interaction these Western people. This produced positive results for me as it made it easy for me to interact with international students in my higher learning. (ii) Learner’s strategies Since each learner has own way of learning to be proficient in the second language, this gives a briefing on the strategies that I employed in the course of my learning. Cognitive strategy would be discussed as a strategy that always produced positive results in my English proficiency. A combination of aural and read/write as my preferred cognitive strategies describes my multi-modal approach according to the VARK model. Conclusion: A summary of the content in of the essay is given in this part. It includes my learning experience and the factors that affect proficiency in second language learning. These are my personal motivation and the learning strategies that I adopted to improve my proficiency. The cognitive strategy adopted herein discusses both aural and read strategies adopted. Reference was made to various texts and journals which have been appropriately referenced at the end of the essay. Read More