Learning Strategies in Second Language Acquisition - Research Paper Example

? (Second Language acquisition) Data Collection Assignment (Second Language acquisition) Data Collection Assignment IntroductionLearning a second language can be a grueling task. With the current globalization and increased interaction in the world, learning a foreign language has become sort of a necessity for populations all over the globe. The challenge is the apparent difficulties that one may face in his attempt to learn his second language of choice. It is a proven fact that the ease of learning and grasping a language is a function of the relationship between one’s first language and the second language (Trimnell 2005, 76). However, in a bid to overcome barriers that could hinder one from acquiring new markets and opportunities, people have strived hard to beat all odds and perform feats previously considered impossible by their peers (Zaraysky 2009, 32). To understand the concept of second language acquisition, it is necessary to comprehend some factors that make a language harder to learn than another. The first of these factors is difference in grammatical structure of a language from another. Different languages have varied use of grammar. Whereas one language could demand that the verb comes before the subject, another could require that the subject comes before the verb. This causes initial confusion to the learner, slowing his pace and probability of grasping a new language. Second, a difference in pronunciation requirements of a language hinders one’s ability to articulate in speech a language he may have mastered its vocabulary. In addition, language learners are usually used to their local accents and tone, and managing to cope with a foreign accent is sometimes nightmarish. Cultural differences between different language speakers influence their native language and the ease with which they can adapt to another cultural language (Blake 2008, 43). It is, therefore, important for a second language learner to understand the culture of the people he is learning their tongue. Aims and Objectives of the Research This inter-language data analysis aims at creating an understanding of differences between two sample languages. Upon gathering, analyzing and understanding these facts, there will be a clearer understanding of the difficulties one should expect while learning any of the two languages. In this case, German and English languages are compared and contrasted. Analysis of the languages is based on two samples of short essays (essay 1 and essay 2 available at the appendix). The objective of this comparison and contrast is to make learning the languages easy. Other than the vocabulary aspect of the two languages, this research goes further to dissect each language in details and reveal their fine linguistic differences. Data pertaining to several aspects of the languages is a crucial facet of the research. Issues to do with pronunciation of English words against German language are considered at length. In addition, the research labors to find out grammatical differences between the two languages. The chief characteristic of this grammatical analysis is the order of verbs, subjects, nouns, pronouns and adjectives. Collected data is also used to create an awareness of the cultural differences, if any. It thereafter tries to offer solutions to the difficulties one observes in learning either English or German as a second language. Clearly, data collection and analysis of learning a second language will make the process of grasping German as a second language to a native English speaker easier. The research aims at lessening the time and effort one puts in learning a new lingo. By preparing one for the challenges to expect in learning a language and providing possible solutions to the hurdles, a learner is placed in a good position to learn fast. Data Collection Methods Methods used to collect data for this research was informed by several factors. It was necessary to put into consideration the data collection strategy, accuracy requirements of the research, skills of the enumerator and the types of variables involved in the research. Enumerators scrutinized all the above available aspects and settled on interviews and questionnaires. Interviewing the respondents was deemed to be the best data collection method since respondents’ immediate rejoinder was needed. The research used structured as well as open ended interviews. For structured interviews, enumerators prepared survey forms that had fixed questions for all respondents. Most of these questions required YES/NO responses. Open interviews were used to supplement additional information that the structured interview could not yield. The notes taken during the interviews formed basis for analysis. The survey also made use of questionnaires to obtain response from respondents who could not be talked to directly. Some respondents were approached physically to fill questionnaires while others were emailed. A total of 120 responses were obtained from the process. 27 were from email responses, 53 were as a result of face-to-face interviews while the remaining respondents filled physical questionnaires that were collected at the point of filling. The interviewed were learners of German as a second language and native speakers of English and vice versa. The research involved people of all races, age and gender. Such specifications of the respondents were not given weight in the research as they were not the primary variables under study. Some of the questions answered by the respondents in interviews and questionnaires included: What is your greatest challenge in learning German/English as a second language? What do you consider the main difference between German and English? For how long have you been studying German/English? Which learning resources do you find to be the most useful to your studies? The data collected from 120 participants at different locations and occasions provided good grounds to make sensible analysis and conclusions about inter-language interpretation and second language learning. Given the range of data and accuracy with which the data was collected and analyzed, the research provides a reliable ground to support its claims. Once the information had been received from each facilitator the data was uploaded into the MAXQDA in order to retrieve the data analysis. The researcher identified each component as it may include an implementation of new theory from the collective data. Findings of the Research 1. Upon analyzing the data collected from the participants, the research revealed that 89% of the respondents spent less time and effort to learn English than German. More native German speakers found it easy to master English (its vocabulary and speech) than did native English speakers in learning German. 2. On average, it took a native German speaker 6months to be able to communicate in English. Native English speakers, however, struggled for an average of 1 year before being in a position to communicate sensibly in German. English speakers attested to having pure German-speaking friends who were able to speak English at an alarming speed. 3. In addition, more German learners admitted to having more problems adopting the German accent than English learners. During the face-to-face interviews, 67% of new German speakers had extremely poor accent as compared to 43% of new English speakers. The said speakers affected by accent had their ability to be understood affected by their pronunciation of words and phrases. 4. A twist to the above observations, however, was obtained when vocabulary knowledge was analyzed. German learners had wider vocabulary knowledge than English learners. Data Interpretation Basing argument on the available essay 1 and essay 2 (in the appendix) as evidence, the data presented above are productively interpreted and analyzed. Both essays are writings of English learners who are native German speakers. The findings and analysis of sought data is coherent with the common knowledge that English is perversely used in German popular culture and media. Both languages belong to a broader category called Indo-European. A number of aspects of German language interfere with its interpretation and reproduction in English. It is, therefore, rare to find German dominating English media and culture. This research attempted to find out the reasons why this has been the case. One of the reasons for English dominance in German culture and media while German is difficult to understand by English speakers is because of German alphabet. It contains the same number of alphabetical letters as English language with additional umlauted letters. These include a, o, u, and ?. ? is known as Scharfes S or double-S (O'Malley & Chamot 1996, 94). It becomes challenging for beginners to spell words as the instructor teaches. Often, German language learners write i or a when their instructor dictates e or r. This leads to learners taking longer time to learn what they could have learnt in shorter periods of time. Phonology is the other aspect of German language that could have led to the observations mentioned before. German and English languages have similar sounds. The two languages have the same intonation pattern and stress as well. However, /th/ sound as pronounced in words like the, theme and thing do not exist in German language. A number of speakers have difficulties pronouncing these words. In addition, most German words begin with /w/ which is pronounced as /v/. These different pronunciations from English explain why the Germans pronounce we as ve and vine for wine. Phonology elucidates the 47% of German speakers adversely affected by pronunciation and accent as found out in the research results. Grammatical differences are the other aspect that would hinder inter-language interpretation and make difficult a native speaker of one language learning the other language. One of the major grammatical differences is that German lacks continuous tense. A new German speaker will, therefore, be heard speaking phrases and sentences like “I go home tomorrow” without giving a thought that he could be wrong. Another problem that new German speakers have is choosing which verb to use for past tense. This is because German language uses the present perfect tense to narrate past happenings. For example, Dann habe ich ein Bier getrunken would translate to English to mean “Then I have drunk a beer”. Such differences make it harder for a protocol oriented English speaker to learn German, depicting the findings of the research (Blake 2008, 43). English and German share vocabulary. Several words exist in both languages but do not mean the same thing. Some of the shared vocabulary are Haus/house, Winter/winter, trinken/drink among others. These cognates are “false friends”, for instance, the word also in German means so in English. Another English related word is a German word aktuell which means current instead of would be expected actual. Furthermore, German has very strict punctuation rules. To a native English speaker, the punctuations seem unnecessary. It makes learning German quite a difficult task as extra punctuations bring forth an extra learning task. German nouns are capitalized. In addition to being a strange aspect to English speakers, consistent use of this form of capitalization confuses learners. In the long run, they find it hard to resist capitalizing English nouns as well (O'Malley & Chamot 1996, 54). Definite and infinite articles is the other area that makes learning German by English speakers hard these articles exist in English too, but are extremely complicated in German. Definite article in English is the while indefinite article are a and an, depending on the first sound of the noun after it. In German, however, definite article depends on whether the noun is masculine, feminine or neutral. The article becomes der for a masculine word, die for a feminine word and das if the noun is noun is neutral (Trimnell 2005, 92). Recommendations No matter the difficulties involved in learning a second language, some steps can be taken to achieve desired results. One needs to keep practicing what he learns in a session in his head. A language learner needs to carry a pocket dictionary whenever he goes for practice. This need has been made simpler with different language applications integrated in phones. If possible, one needs not to rely on class lessons alone. They can be a waste of time if a learner does not go an extra mile to use additional sources such as the internet. An effort should be made to learn the first one hundred most common vocabularies. In addition, one needs to accept the fact that they will ever make mistakes initially. Making mistakes is the process of learning. References O'Malley, J. M., & Chamot, A. U. (1996). Learning strategies in second language acquisition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Blake, R. J. (2008). Brave new digital classroom: Technology and foreign language learning. Washington, D.C: Georgetown University Press. Zaraysky, S. (2009). Language is music: Over 70 fun & easy tips to learn foreign languages. Cupertino, CA: Kaleidomundi. Trimnell, E. (2005). Why you need a foreign language & how to learn one. Cincinnati, Ohio: Beechmont Crest Pub. Appendix Essay 1 The Difference between Physics and Economics by N. Otime From http://www.google.co.ke/search?q=sample+poor+essays&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a I don’t think the Hiesenberg principle can be relevent to economics because its a phisics principal. Phisics and economics are two different subjects, phisics being a natural science, and economics being a social science. I don’t think that economic predictions have anything to do with the events that they predict. The article compares economists to meteoroligists. Meterologists’ predictions don’t change the whether, so economists predictions don’t change the economy. This means that the Hieisenburg isn’t appliable. Essay 2 Texting and Driving by Kenne From http://www.google.co.ke/search?q=sample+poor+essays&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-b Distracting to a drivers occurs when a driver attention are taken away from his primary role of navigate the vehicle and respond to the necessary maneuvers require during the journey there are many types of distraction that a driver came across. These include visual distraction hearing distracting which may be refer to as hear, manual distraction that distracting driver in other interest apart from wheel and thinking about something else or day dreaming while one is driving. As the country top automote safety official there is needed to reducing this distraction further to save more life of our people. Cell phones use and text account for most accident causeing by distracting. Most of the driver is aware that text while drive is wrong but is still go on doing it risking not only their lives but also the lifes of their loved ones Read More