English as a Global Language - Case Study Example

Second Language Acquisition Order No. 358805 No. of pages: 19 Writer: 653 Introduction Classroom teaching has always posed a challenge where the teaching of a second language is concerned. By second language we mean the language we learn in addition to our native language, or mother tongue. A second language is also called the target language or L2. The acquisition of a Second language is by no means an easy task for the new learner and hence there is a dire need for steps to be taken in the right direction to help L2 learners with the problems they face while trying to make progress in the learning of a second language. This research study attempts to get a clear understanding of the pit falls faced by L2 learners the learning of different linguistic forms such as grammar and pronunciation. This research paper will also analyze the reasons for such difficulty and how they could be remedied. Most of the research undertaken on the acquisition of a second language is new and includes not only the acquisition of the language but also its usage by its learners. In the article ‘Great Expectations: Second Language Acquisition Research and Classroom Teaching”, Patsy M. Lightbrown, states that there are expectations on the part of the teacher as well as the student. These expectations are of two kinds – 1) Teachers and researchers are of the opinion that there are implications involved on how and what to teach in acquiring a second language. 2) Expectations by teachers of the impact their teaching has on students learning a second language. This research study is going to make an investigation on the difficulties faced by the learner with a special focus on one area of specific difficulty. In this paper, the area of difficulty chosen is ‘eliciting the third singular present tense.’ Second language learners find this area particularly difficult to master and this stands as a stumbling block for further progress in the skills of conversation and writing. Therefore, there is a dire need for linguists and researchers to understand the difficulties that arise when trying to elicit the third singular present tense. This research study would examine those areas of difficulty faced by the L2 learners and try to find ways to remedy them based on the theories presented by different researchers. Case Study The subject chosen for my case study was a girl named Meera, who was nineteen years of age and came from a middle – class background. Meera’s parents we’re not doing too well economically and friends had to send her to a small local school. Meera’s mother tongue was Tamil and therefore the main language in school was Tamil. (L1) However, her second language (L2) was English. Since her parents knew only Tamil, they were in no position to help Meera to study her second language which was English. Meera was an average student and found it very difficult to cope with her second language English. The circle of friends was small and they too went to the same local school and faced the same difficulties of speaking and writing English correctly. This study comprises of an adolescent Meera, who is an L2 learner and having difficulty in picking up and making use of the ‘third singular present tense.’ This research study would look into the hows and whys of the difficulty faced by the individual in our case study and try to come up with an analysis or remedies based on all the data that is collected. The study would also look into the background of the individual’s life in relation to the exposure experienced in learning a new language. The study would also gauge the progress made over the years with regard to L2 acquisition. Some researchers are of the opinion that the role of the previous or the first language would be minimal and the target language is affected by the native language Mace-Matluck 1979, Schumann1979, Wode 1981) of the learners. In addition, the acquisition of language sequences may vary considerably according to the strategies used while teaching and learning the language. Language Feature Generally people find Grammar tough and a bore to learn even when it is their own mother tongue and this attitude is all the more evident when it comes to people learning a new language. Learning the different features of a new language is an uphill task for the new learner and is an area that needs a certain amount of dedication on the part of the learner if any progress is to be made. In our study, we are going to examine one of those features and see how it impacts on the learner in terms of both writing and conversing. The language feature we have chosen for our study is ‘eliciting the third singular present tense.’ Theoretical Framework Recent studies undertaken on the acquisition of second language have a sure linguistic approach and are based on theoretical linguistics framework. The studies are broadly categorized three groups which are as follows – 1) Descriptive studies In these studies, researchers collect samples of ‘natural’ or ‘spontaneous’ speech from second language learners, while some of them use the procedure of elicitation where the learners are induced to speak on topics involving ‘ certain linguistic forms.’ (Dulay and Burt, 1974) the studies are both longitudinal (Lightbrown, 1980) (followed over a period of time) or cross sectional Bailey, Madden and Krashen, 1974) (groups targeted at one point of time) after the raw data is collected then the procedure of description takes place. The topic chosen for our study comes within the frame work of the Descriptive Studies explained above. In ‘eliciting the third singular present tense’ our subject was prompted to give a description of his friend. The description included his friend’s name, age, gender, the location of his residence, his family members, education and all his likes and dislikes. The description of the friend was elicited by means of an oral and written questionnaire where questions were put forward to be answered. The following were some of the questions from the questionnaire – 1.) What is your friend’s name? 2.) What is your friend’s age? 3.) Is your friend male or female? 4.) Where does your friend live? 5.) How many members are there in your family? 6.) Give a brief description of each of them. 7.) In which school does your friend study? 8.) In which class does your friend study? 9.) What does your friend like best? 10.)What does your friend dislike most? In answering the first question of - ‘What is your friend’s name?’, The answer given was ‘My friend name was Jasmine.’ Here it is clearly noted that the apostrophe and ‘s’ was not used to show ‘belonging to’ or ‘possession’. The second mistake made by her was using the wrong tense. According to Meera, the ‘s’ was used only when there were many friends together. (For the plural form) Being an L2 learner, she had still not grasped the concept of making use of the apostrophe just before the ‘s’ to depict ‘belonging to.’ The difference of making use of the ‘s’ with and without the apostrophe should be clearly shown by the teacher through examples - The teacher explains that when using the plural form of words, the ‘s’ is added at the end of the word – E.g. pencil – pencils or table – tables and so on. It should be stressed that the apostrophe and ‘s’ is never used for nouns that are plural. On the other hand, the teacher should explain the importance of the apostrophe for depicting possession or belonging – For example – a) Mary’s bag – means the bag belonging to Mary b) Peter’s coat – means, the coat belonging to Peter. In the same way ‘friend’s name would mean, the name belonging to the friend. In L2 learners, speaking in the right tense seems to be a huge problem they face. Either they use the present tense for everything or the past tense. In the case of our participant, it is the past tense. When asked the question “Who is your friend? The answer was “My friend was Jasmine. The concept of using ‘is’ for the present and ‘was’ for the past was somehow not learned correctly. The use of the future tense of ‘will’ and ‘shall’ is almost absent in L2 learners. To make sure that this concept of tense is learned well, the teacher can draw up a table with the different verbs and get them to randomly give the right tense. E.g. Verb Present Past Future Talk Talks Talked will talk Play Plays Played will play Many such sets of tenses could be drilled and then they could be given exercises both oral and written to fill in sentences with the right tenses. 2) Hypothesis – testing Studies In another approach to research in the acquisition of Second language is by using specific hypothesis based on the knowledge of the language learners and ‘seeks to test them, through various procedures like comprehension tasks, judgments of grammaticality, or translation. (Long, M.H. 1985) The hypothesis is taken from Descriptive studies as well as from theoretical frameworks. In a study Schachter, Tyson, and Diffley (1976), the reaction of learners to correct sentences were compared to the learner’s reaction to sentences with errors. The study which came under the framework of contrastive analysis showed that the native language of the learners had a great influence in their perception of the targeted language. In the hypothesis framework, Krashen (1981) came up with an interesting hypothesis which stated that there should be an atmosphere conducive to the learning of a second language, where learners are exposed to a language they can understand, but at the same time contains linguistic structures which are just a little beyond their present knowledge. In the case of Meera, as stated earlier, she had very limited exposure to English because her parents did not speak English at all and even her classmates belonged to the same category as herself. Since exposure to the language is what makes it easier to pick up a language, not getting adequate exposure impacts on the progress of the L2 learner. Meera had a very limited vocabulary and answered most of the questions in monosyllabic answers. E.g. 1) Where does your friend live? Chennai 2) In which school does your friend study? Gandhi Higher Secondary School. It was clearly noted that due to poor exposure, Meera had acquired a very limited vocabulary and was not in a position to use complete sentences with proper grammatical structure. Therefore Krashen (1981) is quite right in stating that there should be an atmosphere conducive to learning for the L2 learner to make good progress. Experimental Pedagogical studies In a third approach of research in the acquisition of a second language which has great significance in classroom teaching, learning of linguistic structures are manipulated much more than the others. (Gass 1982, Pienemann 1982, in press, Zobl 1983, 1985) In this approach, the language of the learners is compared by making use of academic sources and thereby reducing its complexity. These studies are quite difficult not only to plan but also to carry them out. The three above mentioned approaches to language acquisition are very useful in the field of research not only where language learning is concerned, but also in the areas of medical research on the proper functioning of the brain, in psychology, child language learning, linguistics and cognitive psychology. Findings As mentioned in the earlier chapters, the knowledge obtained by native speakers is much beyond the amount of input they put in or receive when they are young. As clearly seen in Meera’s case, the poor background from which she comes, the lack of good exposure has served to limit her progress drastically with a very narrow vocabulary and poor grammatical structures. In the acquisition of L2, learners face logical problems involving subtle and minute grammatical properties that are not: only abstract but also highly complex. However, L2 learners have the experience of grammar in their own mother tongue and could associate the learning of grammar in their mother tongue rather than the grammar in L2. It is not possible to learn grammar explicitly by rules or instructions. Interacting with others through conversation and experience would lay a much better foundation of grammar which would help them progress at a faster rate in the learning of L2, than by just learning a set of grammatical rules. Meera is a good example of this problem because neither did her parents speak English nor her friends who also came from the same type of background. Therefore, interaction through conversation with others was partly responsible for her slow progress. Restrictions involving input poses a major challenge not only for the L1 learner but also for the L2 learner. For example, certain pronouns seem to have overlapping contexts and therefore may not be understood by the L2 learner. In this respect, classroom teaching may not be particularly helpful and only the frequency of occurrence and interaction on a regular basis would be more helpful to the L2 learner. Discussion Different researchers making use of different methods and approaches for their research studies, have come up with a number of generalizations based on the native and target language of their learners. Some of these generalizations are that adolescents as well as adults are capable of learning a second language by internalizing the rules that underlie the target language. Secondly, there is evidence to show that the process of acquisition of a second language is more or less the same for both groups. For those who are literate, they also benefit from the formal learning of the language. Learners also learn to create an inter- language between their mother – tongue and the new language. The role of the first language and its influence has led to more sophisticated research. (See Wode 1981, Zobl 1983, 1985, and Gass, 1984 for a review of recent research) Other generalizations are predictable grammatical sequences in language acquisition. Some researchers are of the opinion that the role of the previous or the first language would be minimal and the target language is affected by the native language Mace-Matluck 1979, Schumann1979, Wode 1981) of the learners. In addition, the acquisition of language sequences may vary considerably according to the strategies used while teaching and learning the language. It is not guaranteed that ‘Practice makes perfect’ and by repeatedly practicing the same sequences does not mean that the patterns or sequences are permanently established. It happens so because language learning is in no way linear, but instead it is a system that is complex and hierarchical in nature. Besides, knowing the rules, doesn’t imply that one knows the language because sometimes it is easy to know the rule but difficult to integrate it. On the flip side of the coin, making use of a rule does not imply that one could explicitly state the rule governing it. Therefore, We could say, that the learner’s task of the earning the new language is enormous because of the complexities involved in it. According to Rutherford (1980) All the studies that are founded on linguistic theories….. are particularly helpful in illustrating the complexity of the learner’s task and the inadequacy of the best pedagogical grammar to deal with.’ Most researchers recommend a slow and careful procedure in the acquisition of a second language. Though expectations on the part of researchers and teachers are high, yet caution has to be used when dealing with learners because much of the research over the years are based more on intuition, over interpretation of the collected data, quite premature and narrow in its outlook. In her 1978 article on second language learning, titled ‘Apply with Caution’, Evelyn Hatch (1978) states that the only question the researcher should answer is the one he asks’ (p. 138) where adult learners are concerned ‘ fossilization’ occurs even before the achieve native like mastery over the second language because they need for communication is satisfied to a certain extent. Recent studies in the area of second language acquisition have been very interesting but the same time contradictory in some areas. Pienemann (1982) is of the opinion that teaching should be taken a step beyond the present level of performance of the learner. On the other hand, (Gass 1982, Zobl 1983, 1985) feel that it is better to move several steps ahead of the learner’s present level of performance. However, whatever be the approach, the methodology for the teaching of second language should be creative as well as productive and should have a healthy linguistic environment which gives full freedom to the learner and in no way should be restricted. There are many components that are vital to Second Language Acquisition (SLA) such as and aptitude for learning, good motivation and clear-cut strategies for learning. One such important factor is ‘attention.’ The role of attention has a major part in the learning process because it decides how successful a learner is and how fast the language could be picked up. Attention Includes factors such as awareness, alertness, orientation and selection, usage or facilitation and inability to interact during the process of communication. Whether ‘learned’ knowledge can become knowledge that is ‘acquired’ is an important question that often makes its presence felt. Another question that crops up is whether the ‘conscious hypothesis of the learner could become internalized. (Krashen, 1982; R. Ellis, 1993) ‘Attention and awareness are two sides of the same coin (Carr & Curran, 1994; James 1890; Posner, 1994) so it is almost impossible to separate the two. The solution for this problem is that instead of trying to gain the learners attention, it is much better create an ‘awareness’ and get the learner to ‘notice’ the meta-linguistic changes brought before them. According to Peters (1998) every area of language learning such as vocabulary, Grammar, phonology and semantics, the learners are expected to notice the variations that occur and thereby the changes in their meanings. Sometimes, the syntax may change but not the meaning. For Example – “I turned the offer down” and “I turned down the offer.” Both the sentences have the same meaning. The meaning of the sentence depends largely on the placement of the direct object. In the opinion of Van Patten (1994) ‘attention is crucial and sufficient for learning L2 structure. Therefore, by replacing processes that are role based or algorithmic in nature by the more quicker memory based processes, the transition of fluency in learning a new language can be achieved. Fluency is therefore is the ability to focus on one’s attention on a problem and arrive at the solution; ‘it is also an ability that develops overtime, experience, practice and bilingualism.’ (Bialystok, 1994a; Bialystok & Mitterer, 1987) Attention is also very useful for the understanding of individual differences in SLA. According to Tremblay and Gardner (1995) motivation often leads to higher proficiency and performance in language learning. By identifying the viable mediators among the models of motivation, language learning can be enhanced. Research has found motivation and learning strategies such as cognitive and meta- cognitive, have a strong connection with each other. In this context Gardner proposes a three pronged approach to ‘motivational behaviors’ which include attention, effort and persistence. In the opinion of Gass and Varonis (1994) interaction during communication helps learners to focus their attention on the form and structure of the sentence. Swain (1985, 1993; Swain and Lapkin, 1995) state that, the main reason that the learner finds difficulty in picking up the language, even after immense effort, is because they are not given the platform to produce much. They say that ‘producing the target language may be the trigger that forces the learner to pay attention to the means of expression needed in order to successfully communicate and understand the language.’ Swain 1985: 249) in this respect alertness and orientation plays a major role in SLA. Pavlov, (1927) refers to orientation as a ‘reflexive response’ to stimuli which occurs during the process of visualization. Orientation and alertness are ‘determined by environmental events and current goals and concerns.’ (Posner, 1994; 620) In the field of research, pragmatics is considered a prominent and useful research tool, but is rather neglected in classroom research. One of the most common notions is whether instruction influences the development and progress of language learning, yet pragmatics, which is a potent tool for gauging L2 acquisition, is ‘absent.’ (Larsen- Freeman & Long, 1991; Ellis, 1994) In a classroom set up, the teacher in the use of pragmatics through ‘classroom talk’ and role plays which results in a lot of interaction and thereby enhanced the learners speech and functions of discourse. When comparing the teacher fronted method of classroom interaction to that of discourses out of the classroom, researchers found that the teacher fronted atmosphere was more restricted, because the interaction among the learners was much less when compared to the outdoor discourse atmosphere which offered more freedom to the learners. The teacher – student interactional atmosphere is best suited for a pragmatic approach at the primary, elementary, High school and Higher secondary levels because it has a better impact on the student’s learning by the teacher engaging in simplification of words and their meaning and the framing of phrases and sentences in conjunction with the learners. Conclusion In Second language acquisition there are both mental and psychological constructs that contribute towards the learning process. In the aspect, attention is a vital component that entails of a variety of other mechanisms involving alertness, orientation, selective attention, facilitation and inhibition. Learning a new language right from the primary stage makes it much easier as children move on towards the more complex structures of language as they go higher towards the secondary level. Social and cultural constructs a closely related to gender identity and therefore femininities and masculinities differ widely across a cross- sectional framework. Behavior within these gender concepts vary between them and become dominant in the areas of higher articulation. Especially in the case of immigrants, class, ethnicity and gender play a major role in the learning of L2. In minority communities, tensions arise due to the cultural adaptation process and this in turn has a major impact on the processes of second language acquisition. 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(2002) Cross – language speech perception: evidence for perceptual re-organization during the first year of life. In ten behavior & Development, 24, 121 – 133. Wode, H. 1981. Learning a Second Language: An Integrated View of Language Acquisition. Tubingen: Gunter Narr.PATSY LIGHTBOWN 189 Zobl, H. 1983. ‘Primary Data and Learners’ Rule Projections’ Paper presented at the Seventeenth Annual TESOL Convention, Toronto. Zobl, H. 1985 – ‘Grammars in search of input and intake’ in S. Gass and C. Madden (eds.) Input in Second Language Acquisition. Rowley, M.A: Newbury House. Appendici 1) Questionnaire Read More