Learning English as a Second Language - Case Study Example

Most appropriate journals that are easy to find today are those that try to justify or reject different techniques instead of exploring ways through which refinement can be done on tried testing procedures in order to make them more relevant. Justice has not been done to English as a second language either. The main reason could be that this is one of the most studied languages and which people acquire for very practical reasons. The effectiveness of English tests has become a very important issue and institutions are increasingly assessing ways through which tests can be standardized.

In any field of education, testing presents challenges that easily degenerate into controversy. However, if the rate focus is given to a good test, a good evaluation of the effectiveness of the learning methods that were used will be arrived at. In general terms, perhaps the trickiest problem when a second language is being tested is that this language is often a means of communication as well as an object of assessment. This means that the teacher has to use language in order to measure one’s ability to use the language.

Methodologically, the biggest problem in testing English as a second language is assessing whether the tests chosen will accurately elicit English performance which is characteristic of the performance of the learner in non-test performance situations. In other words, this entails the ability to measure the extent to which the learner can make an ‘authentic’ use of language. This problem has led to the coinage and evolution of terms such as ‘pragmatic’ and ‘functional’ use of language.

These terms simply mean the use of language in natural communicative contexts. Many teachers have sought to solve testing problems by using testing as a teaching strategy. According to these teachers, testing as a learning strategy enables them to maintain a constructive and practical communicative context through which many opportunities for discussing different opportunities for language use arise.   Learning language and learning about language

Linguists are always interested in how language is acquired over and above how it is used for practical, communicative contexts. In most cases, one learns a language with a view to use it in natural communicative contexts. When learning a language, it is not a must that one consciously understands the grammatical rules governing it. For instance, a native English language speaker does not have to consciously learn all the rules of English grammar in order to speak it properly. The grammar is acquired unconsciously, courtesy of the innate capabilities of the human brain, what linguists call the language faculty.

In this case, one is said to be learning a language. In the case of second language learning contexts, one has to consciously learn and understand the rules of the language’s grammar. In this case, one is said to be learning about the language. The concepts of nature and nurture are used to differentiate two different language learning contexts for purposes of proper understanding among linguists. The nature approach is whereby one learns language in a natural context. A classical example of nature at work in the language learning process is child language acquisition.

This approach entails exposure to contexts of language use in communicative contexts, usually by first language speakers of the target language. Nurture refers to the classroom approach to the language learning. In this case, one learns about language by getting exposure to its grammar, syntax and semantics. To be able to use it in natural contexts, natural language usages have to be simulated. Another approach taken in understanding the distinction between learning a language as well as learning about a language is the approach taken in the learning process.

Linguists study language in a way that is different from non-linguists. Linguists are only interested in the internal structure of a language. They are also interested in understanding the dynamics of language use. In their analysis, they use what is known as metalanguage, a cache of terminologies that makes the task of describing and analyzing language easy. Communicative strategies Communicative strategies are considered by linguists to be manifestations of cognitive processes that language learners use in order to use language more effectively in communicative contexts.

Communicative strategies enable second language students communicate well despite language handicap caused by lack of adequate acquisition of the target language. Some commonly used communicative strategies include repetition, use of vague language, circumlocution, pauses and overuse of private speech. Communicative strategies are an important part of language acquisition since they make the learner gain confidence in putting whatever little he has learned in the language class into practice.

Through longitudinal analysis of different communicative strategies, Francisco, 2005, observed that with time, learners were able to obtain a more enhanced control of any language without having to improve linguistic aspects such as complex syntax, vocabulary and morphology. The implication of Francisco’s findings is that it is very possible that a student will seem as though he has reached a plateau in the process of acquiring a language merely because he has discontinued the use of new vocabulary, or that they continue making grammatical errors relating to such aspects like subject-verb agreement.

However, such a student will have gained a very impressive control of those aspects of the language that they have already understood. These aspects comprise what in linguistic terms is known as interlanguage. The impressive control manifests itself through fewer pauses as one tries to put thoughts, vocabulary and grammatical together, limited paraphrasing and reduced instances of self-corrections. Absence of communicative strategies presents a completely different scenario, whereby a learner learns just about everything to do with a second language but continues to feel that he is insecure because of minimal control of the language in communicative contexts.