Saudi English Second Language Learner - Case Study Example

Case study of a second language user This case study is on a Saudi ESL (English second language) learner. It would delve on concrete experiences of the learner relevant to his acquisition of his second language. Some background information on him especially about how he experienced learning English in his home country and how he has gone through ESL in the UK where he’s now will be provided. With these data as a backdrop, and as this paper tries to make sense out of the learner’s experiences, this case study would then touch on the broader context of language acquisition by providing information on individual learner differences particularly in such aspects as of motivation, attitude and learning styles – among others. Though sketchily, other affecting second language learning such as learning strategies, teaching strategies for ESL teachers, and the use of modern technology will be considered as well. The ESL Saudi learner The focus of this case study is a Saudi English language learner. A young man of twenty years of age, he’s currently in UK for his tertiary degree. But, before he gets accepted to the university, he further needs to improve his command of English language. From the city of Hafar Al-Batin, in the northeastern region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, he grew up in a family of elementary-schooled parents and five siblings. He attended an Arabic elementary school for six years, and moved on to complete the junior (3 years) and senior (3 years) high school (see Reima 2009). In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, English is taught to the elementary and secondary students. In fact, in all government schools, it is a compulsory subject at the intermediate stage (from 12 to 15 years of age) through the secondary stage (15 to 18 years of age) (see English Language Teaching Profile 1986). And, throughout these levels, English is taught for four 45-minute periods a week (see Saad [n.d.], pp. 4). Observably, though, gauged with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), he’s still in B1 or the threshold level – a level below the levels 4 (B2 Vantage) and 5 (C1 Effective Operational Proficiency) that qualify one to admittance by university. For, as such, his language skills – which include the ability to understand the main points of clear standard input on familiar matters regularly encountered in work, school, leisure, etc., his capacity to deal with most situations likely to arise while traveling in areas where the language is spoken, his skill to produce simple connected text on topics that are familiar or of personal interest, and his facility to describe experiences and events, dreams, hopes and ambitions and briefly give reasons and explanations for opinions and plans – are still short of the required skills for academic venture (see Council of Europe [n.d.]). English as taught in Saudi Arabia The case of the language learner in this paper would not be totally understood should a general sketch, at least, of how English is taught in Saudi Arabia is not made. Interestingly, six years of study proved to be not enough to make the language learners master English. What would account for this? Sultan (2003) sees as principal reason the non-systematic and inadequate EFL teacher preparation in the Kingdom. It is inadequate because EFL teachers are mainly mere graduates of colleges of education and faculties of arts affiliated with Saudi universities offering bachelor’s and associate’s degrees in English language and literature. The colleges of education stress the educational aspects in the preparation of the students, while the colleges of arts prepare the students to be English or English-Arabic translation specialists. Thus, they are no producers of English teachers. It is similarly not systematic as it does not have pre- and in-service education for EFL teachers (pp. 341). Saad (n.d.), offers a similar observation. Noting that Saudi Arabia is taking in English teachers from other Arab countries, he reveals that the county does not get the adequately qualified ones. And because they are not really adept in teaching English as second language, the Saudi English teachers employ the traditional, audio-lingual method and cannot come up with effective teaching methods. They just make their students memorize syntactical rules, passages of written English, and vocabulary as their ticket to passing the grade level (pp. 4). When these problems of ESL system in Saudi Arabia are compounded by the poor study methods of the students and the little chance that Saudi English learners have little chance to learn the language through day-to-day interface, the principal result is understandably the fumbling of the students in their writing skills. Too, most of them are observed to have poor oral communication skills as they usually commit gross lexical errors. And, as exemplified by the ESL learner of this case study, most Saudi English students are weak in tenses (tense substitution, tense sequence, deletion of tenses, tense marker and uncertainty of perfect tenses), verb structure, and subject-verb agreement. They also have issues with proper pronunciation, morphology and spelling (see Bersamina 2009). Learner’s experience with ESL in UK The learner has moved to the UK to pursue his college degree. He has come on his own as he draws financial and moral support from his family in Saudi Arabia. But he keeps his plan to apply for scholarship the moment he is accepted by – or qualifies for – university studies. Actually, he sought for university admission the first day he arrived in UK. However, after his English competency level was ascertained to be below the required standard by the university, he settled for English course first. He once shared that he almost couldn’t believe that the English he learned in his country would not put him in tertiary education in UK. His general experience with his English course has been completely new to him. He said that his motive now is totally different from what his intent was in his country. He said he used to study English in Saudi just to pass the subject. Everyone uses Arabic as medium of communication in his family and hometown, anyway. Here, in UK, his study of English has taken on a different twist. He now needs to acquire a decent command of the language for his academic pursuit, and more basically for everyday communication. And, he finds himself communicating seldom with his fellow Saudi nationals, but more often with Englishmen and women. The improvement of his command of English language is very well captured by the improvement of his writing skill. In the first two weeks of his English classes, it was observed that he was having difficulty in reading and – especially – writing in English. Manifestly, while he has no problem writing from left to right, he finds spelling, word breaks, and punctuations – among others – too hard to master. As it turned out, although he needed less time to read a 250-word article, he would need more than a couple of hour just to write a hundred word paragraph(s). The very first writing task that was assigned to him was about him and his personal identity. Entitled “Who am I?,” this writing task was meant for beginners since it was a very easy topic to write on; the number of words that he would write was likewise minimal – i.e., measly two hundred (200) words. And, he indeed found it an easy task to do; but, he confessed that he ran short of words to express what he wanted to say about himself. He was, then, allowed to have by his side an Arabic-English dictionary. It was also observed that his sentences are very often disconnected – i.e., his expression of ideas does not flow freely. It was pointed out to him that his thought expression in English, as evidenced by his writing, was choppy – meaning, it was varied, and even swiftly shifting. His experience on his first writing task was almost completely similar to his three other subsequent assignments which dwell on subject matters that are deemed to be commonplace to him and his identity as Saudi Arabian. In one of these, he was made to translate an Arabic letter to English. As in the first assignment, he was visibly short of words. His Arabic-English dictionary proved again to be very handy. However, as patterns of expression differ in Arabic and in English, he found the task very hard to accomplish. He was again writing variably, and was not able to provide smooth connections between and among his sentences. From the aforementioned state of writing skill, after a good number of months doing ESL, he moved on to take more complicated tasks. The topics, however, of his writing assignments were ensured to be very close to his experience and/or interest. All throughout these months of studying English language, he was taught such skills for the writing process as brain storming, outlining, clustering, drafting, proofreading and revising. Too, the number of words that were required gradually increased from two hundred to two hundred fifty and until it is made to reach five hundred. In addition to the writing skills that he was made to learn (and master), he was also assigned to read articles on topics that are close to his heart and, on numerous occasions, about local news. Currently, he is observed to be more confident doing his writing assignments. He is observed too to have lessened his dependence on his dictionary. He has known some connectors that facilitate the flow of his ideas from sentence to sentence. And he has at least halved the time required for him to finish a 200-word composition. It is very significant to point out in here that the use of Internet has been found to be very helpful to the learner. Not only was he directed to read materials that are available online – e.g., local news and other articles – but the exchanges of e-mail messages between the ESL teacher and the language learner is arguably a factor that helped the latter to be more familiar with communication in English language. While much may still be wished for him pertinent to second language acquisition viz. his impending university education, a general evaluation of the learner would point to the positive fact that he’s indeed improved in his command of English. What could have effected this improvement? Discussion The primary factor that is observably contributing to the improvement of the learner’s language acquisition is the level and quality of his motivation. In the case of the learner in this case study, motivation does not only come from the way the language learning is facilitated. More obviously, he now has more pressing reason to learn the language. For, he is now up not only to pass his examinations. As his admission into university is founded on his competence to use English, it is his entire future that is at stake now (see Gardner’s [1983, pp. 203] instrumental motivation). This motive usually translates into choices that one may make as to what course of action a person pursues or avoids, and tells about the intensity of effort one exerts in that respect (Brown 2000, pp. 160). Along this line, Sultan (2008) is keen to suggest that educators need to concentrate highly on students’ motivation while they organize activities especially for language learning. And, learners, in particular, need to be motivated to engage with language learning methodology and acquire the necessary skills and resources to participate in the process of second language acquisition effectively (pp. 15). The second contributing factor is actually an element of the first (see Gardner 1985, pp. 10). But, even when attitude is broadly defined as consisted of three components – i.e., cognitive, affective and behavioral – attitude towards language is closely linked to how well language is learned (see Starks & Paltridge1996). That is, one’s positive opinion about the English language, or when one likes the language, or when one exhibits favorable actions towards it – all of these constitute one’s positive orientation towards ESL. As such, attitudes play a critical role in language learning and appear to influence either the success or failure of one’s learning (Atef & Munir 2009, pp. 33). Understandably, the learner in this case study harbors an encouraging view on English – i.e., he views it as indispensable means to realize his pursuit of college degree. Individual differences – such as motivation and attitudes, which according to Schumann (1987) are constitutive elements of social and affective or psychological factors of acculturation (see also Athari [n.d.]) – determine the learning process of second language. Primarily, individual differences not only moderate but often determine how stimuli are perceived and processed. But, what is better studied in the field of applied linguistic is the best methodology for language teaching and learning (Khalid 2005). It is also significant to note that, insofar as non-native English learners are concerned, Arabic ESL learners are said to show multiple preferences for learning styles. Reid (1987) reports that of the four basic perceptual learning channels, Arabic ESL learners are principally kinesthetic learners – i.e., they are experiential learners or are totally physically involved with their learning situation. Second to kinesthetic learning, they resort to tactile, or hands-on, learning where they build models or do laboratory experiments. Their third channel of learning is auditory – i.e., listening to lectures and audiotapes. And their least used learning channel is visual – e.g., reading, or studying charts (pp. 89; 96). These findings by Reid run parallel with the explanations provided in the preceding about why English instruction in Saudi Arabia is practically ineffective. In their home country, ESL learners do not have daily interface with English speakers. Too, they are taught by under-qualified English teachers – who, very probably, would not experiment on their methodologies and even stick to pedagogical strategy that is convenient for them to use but proves to be ineffective to the learners. Because they are kinesthetic learners, the movement from the Kingdom to the UK by the learner proves wise. Now, he faces English speakers in every nook and corner of his place of residence. Thus, he is somehow forced to learn the language as he finds it very essential for his social survival. Besides, the teaching style that he has encountered in UK appeared to him to be completely different from what he encountered in Saudi Arabia. In UK, he is not asked to memorize. He is asked to read and to write. And his outputs are checked and commented on; the comments on his work are also discussed with him. His learning may be termed “hands-on” – i.e., as he writes, he comes to know the rules of grammar (oftentimes, that he violates) and applies them to the next writing assignment. He is also asked to read. And, he reads aloud as his mentor listens and, eventually, tries to correct his spacing, pronunciation – among others. Similarly, teaching strategies are as equally important as factor in ESL. Numerous as they are, teaching strategies are made practical by different ways of organizing the classroom where ESL is being done, designing a curriculum and presenting a lesson. However, effective teaching strategies have common basic elements. These elements are interactive lessons with hands-on activities and cooperative learning, encouragement of creativity and discovery, versatility and flexibility, enhancement and support of the mainstream curriculum, opportunities for all students to feel successful, accommodation of the needs of students at different levels of ability, and integration of language skills, thinking skills and content knowledge (see Strategies for ESL Teachers, 1993). Notably, the Saad’s (n.d., pp. 4) observation that the ESL methodology that English teachers in Saudi, who cannot come up with effective teaching methods as most of them in the first place are not really qualified English teachers, are following the traditional audio-lingual method. This process of teaching simplistically presupposes that ESL consists of memorization of rules of grammar, rote familiarization of English passages, and recital of vocabulary words. But, as the experience of the learner, it was never effective. For, essentially, this method hardly has the elements of aforementioned pedagogical strategies. Ideally, teaching strategies are designed to complement the learning styles of learners. At least, it results to – in a manner of speaking – a (round) peg for a (round) hole. Otherwise, the learning process gets distorted. The learners start to harbor misguided motives for learning language, employing ineffective learning strategies just to meet the presently perceived needs of the learners – e.g., the students begin to simply intend to merely make the cut or pass the exam, and which gets possible mainly by memorization. Language learners go through the process of ESL but only because they are required to do so (see Cheah, Choy & Lam 2008). And, the whole process becomes self-defeating. Finally, there is a factor of modern information and communication technology. As mentioned among the observations in the preceding, the use of Internet has proved to be very useful in facilitating ESL. The exchange of emails between the teacher and the learner is another – and a hybrid method of pedagogy – instructional instance. As in this case study, the use of Internet and what it can offer to ESL does not and cannot replace face-to-face instruction. But, when integrated into classroom instruction, the use of modern technology is undoubtedly facilitating (see Osman 2009). Conclusion This case study has brought to the fore significant thoughts on second language acquisition. The ESL learner is able to know for himself – as he goes through the different processes of second language learning in his own country and in the UK – the difference between an effective and an ineffective language pedagogy. With the former, he has learned; with the latter, he was frustrated to know that he did not learn altogether. Teaching strategies are very crucial – hence, the need for truly qualified English teachers. But, the peculiarities of the individual learner also need to be factored in. Individual learners learn differently; and, individual learners manifest varying attitudes and different levels of motivation towards a language. These manifestations of individuality of every learner greatly determine how well they learn and master a given language. Finally, there is modern technology that proves to be an effective tool for second language learning. References: Atef Al-Tamimi & Munir Shuib. 2009. Motivation and attitudes towards learning English: a study of petroleum engineering undergraduates at Hadhramount University of Science and Technology. GEMA Online Journal of Language Studies, 9 (2), pp. 29-55. Athari Almuraikhi. [n.d.]. Social factors affecting the acculturation attitude of young Saudi children in the Australian context. Asian EFL Journal [Online]. Abstract from Asian EFL Journal database. Available at: http://www.asian-efl-journal.com/Izmir-Almuraikhi.php [Accessed 18 March 2010]. Bersamina, F.V.2009. 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Sultan Al-Hazmi. 2008. ESL learners’ perceptions and practice in self-directed language learning. South Asian Language Review, 18 (1), pp. 1-16. Read More