Capstone Project Final - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages... Perhaps the most obvious challenges associated with learning English include grammar complexity, vocabulary, slang, colloquialism, pronunciation and spelling, and the variations that exist. Setting aside this obvious challenges, cultural challenges often cloud the path of learning to write in English especially if one’s background is not western affiliated. Some of the cultural challenges are examined in this paper, drawing resources from different linguistic experts and articles in a bid to demonstrate how the challenges affect learning to write in English.
In the article of Fan Shen The Classroom and the Wider Culture, Shen explores some challenges he faced while trying to learn English. Fan Shen being from a Chinese background and a Communist country of China. He grew up writing in accordance with the Chinese teachings; that bears significant variations from the Western style. Because of his background he faced a lot of challenges learning to write1. For example, Fan Shen had always known that the word “I” was not as good as we. The “we” phrase is more persuasive and influential “I” in China. The phrase “I” had negative implications and would suggest selfishness in China. In English writing, this is always not the case. Shen had to navigate a way to write according to English principles despite the cultural Chinese influences. He adopted a unique method to implement this, personifying himself to be born again as an English self-speaker2. The new self was distinct from his former self. By this, he was able to adopt the English writing customs without losing his Chinese self in linguistics.
Second English language learner’s beliefs are accorded negligible attention when considering cultural challenges of learning English. It is evident that English learners bear themselves with a complicated web of cultural experiences, beliefs, attitudes and expectations when ...Download file to see next pagesRead More