The Motivating Factors that Encourage Japanese to Learn English - Term Paper Example

Name : xxxxxx Tutor : xxxxxxx Title : The challenges of using English articles for Japanese background learners as their Second Language (L2) Institution : xxxxxxx @2010 The challenges of using English articles for Japanese background learners as their Second Language (L2) Languages involved 1. English 2. Japanese Introduction Foreign language mastery demand scrutiny of linguistic features and transformations with a view of understanding the nuance that emanates from the specific expressions. This exigent subject calls for attention from scholars to attain the mastery of the language aspects. This research tries to shed light on the hurdles faced by the Japanese-speaking learners to adopt English as their second language. There are great linguistic disparities between these two languages that have to be grasped by a learner. The urge to learn new language has gained ground in the contemporary global village due to advancement in technology leading to fast communication systems and expeditious travelling. The choice of the two languages is because Japan is developing into a technological giant and finds immense interaction with the English community. English learning by Japanese students has become more rampant than ancient times. In lieu to this, it is being taught for at least three years at junior level and another three years at the high school level. English grammar and reading are given precedence by the Japanese educators at the expense of listening pronunciation and speaking. Some of the great setback of this process is that the educators do not have any English exposure and thus lack most of these skills that they are expected to pass on to their students. Research questions In this study, some of the questions that were formulated to act as the guidelines include: 1. What are some of the motivating factors that encourage Japanese to learn English as their second language? 2. What are the difficulties that are encountered by the Japanese students and instructors as they teach and learn English? 3. What are some of the differences and similarities between the two languages in question? 4. What are some of the recommendations that should be embraced to make English an interesting experience for the Japanese? Background research Japanese are believed to have a myriad of difficulties in reading and writing English (Matsumura 1984). However, contrary to this popular belief very many Japanese people can read and write well in English. It is further argued that they find it easier to read English well than speaking it. This study focuses on the methodologies embraced by Japanese students in order to gain a command of the English language. This is done with the sole purpose of developing some of the recommendations that will go a long way in alleviating his predicaments. Reading is the meaningful interpretation of written texts or symbols the writer uses to communicate. It is through reading therefore that we are able to perceive the mind of the writer through interaction with his articles (Harris & Sipay 1975, p.5). This is not a simple task since many readers still find it difficult to comprehend what the writer intends for them leave alone in foreign language but also in their native language(Ortega & Gasset 1959). Research shows that vocabulary is considered one of the most important aspects in learning a new language and therefore spends a substantial amount of time to master vocabulary (Chi & Chern 1989). Despite the acknowledgement of vocabulary as a crucial part of learning a new language, it is neglected in the teaching of a new language in class (Krashen 1993a).In most high schools, language grammar and pronunciation was given precedence as opposed to vocabulary. Grammar translation method is the most common method of teaching that is embraced in most high schools or college level. The study focuses on the key areas, which include vocabulary, grammar, listening, pronunciation, mannerism, reading and writing. Language data and summary of the findings The attitude of Japanese students towards English is very positive since they cooperate with their teachers fully in class. This is attributed to the rich ethical background in which they are brought up. They are also taught to esteem their teachers and follow their instructions. However, this ethical behaviour has its setbacks since it makes Japanese students numb in class and do not ask questions in class with the belief that this is a show of pride and therefore resort to memorising whatever they are being taught. This is a great challenge to the teacher since there is uncertainty in the students’ comprehension of the subject. He or she is then charged with the responsibility of encouraging the students to participate in class hence inculcating leadership responsibilities in them. Another impediment that a foreign tutor faces is the cultural background that deters student’s response to some of the teaching gestures such as compliments, which are not accepted by the Japanese (Terrell 1977). English has more sounds than Japanese does and therefore the students have to learn and differentiate closely sounding words, which is not an easy task for them. Some of the sounds that do not exist in Japanese language are [f] [v] [s] [d] [r] and [l] which are commonly substituted by [h] [b] [] [d] [r]. Despite the fact that [s] and [z] sounds are used they change when they are preceded by [i] or [I] into [] and [d], where [] imply no sound. The other biggest challenge to Japanese students is in both in hearing and production of sounds [l/r], [hw/f] and [y/e] when they are followed by [i] or [I]. All Japanese words have a vowel ending and thus the students will always attach a vowel at the end of English words with a consonant ending hence confusion. Persistent practice has proved to wear down these obstacles. Some of the examples of the replacements include [buku] book -[k] [tapu] top -[p] [naifu] knife -[f] [hvu] have -[v] [praizu] prize -[z] [nouto] note- [t] [a] and [] all sounds as [a] in Japanese and “o” on the other hand attracts a lot of attention and thus words like top are mispronounced as “tope”. Generally, in speaking English the students also make several grammatical errors such as violation of the subject- verb agreement rules. Most of the listening obstacles are due to the native English teachers who mispronounce the words. This is because the native English speakers omit most of the vowel sounds to sound as [] (Ken 2003) Articles such as “a” and” the” are functional words in Japanese language having no meaning at all but have functional purpose and therefore often escapes their ears during speech. This complicates the use of the articles to the extent that even the native English teachers cannot explain. In Japanese, the verb comes at the end of the sentence that I used to determine the tense of the sentence unlike English where all the tenses in the sentence are matched in order to ascertain the tense of the sentence. Relative pronouns are also hectic for Japanese students to learn their use. An example is the relative pronoun, ‘which’, is nonexistent in Japanese sentences and therefore is often neglected by the students. Contrary to the English convention for affirmative verb demanding a “no” and a negative verb demanding a “Yes” it is not the case in Japanese and therefore this is a very confusing subject to them. Further the meaning of some words such as “come” and “go” which are almost opposite in English are almost the same in Japanese. Japanese often omits the subject in their sentences such as “Since Peter is sick, _ will not come” where the subject ‘I’ has been omitted. The Japanese native teachers restrict themselves in traditional grammar and therefore teach limited rules neglecting all the rules therefore their English is limited. The time and effort required to read and write English is heightened by the fact that most of the Japanese writing is written in Japanese characters which represents specific meaning unlike English that represent various sounds. Despite the fact that there is no relationship between English and Japanese, Japanese use English words in the names of foods, medical terms, technological terms, ideas and concepts such as; coffee- koohii television -Terebi maniac- mania Although the students can master the linguistic skills, they still pronounce English words in Japanese accents (Clay & Imlach 1971). Answers to your research questions 1. The contemporary word has been reduced by technology and English seems to be paramount in most of the parts of the world making it the commonly used tool for exchange of information between various nations. This is the reason that Japanese have had to learn English to communicate with other parts of the world effectively. 2. Japanese students face plenteous predicaments in learning English as L2 because of their cultural background and the fact that they do not get exposure to foreign education makes the linguistic challenges hereditary from the native teachers to the students. 3. The two languages have very many differences both in pronunciation and in writing. Japanese uses Chinese characters that have a meaning while English uses characters to form sounds. The grammatical differences that exist between the two languages are not conclusive. Omission of vowels and subjects are some of the disparities. Moreover, English has more characters than Japanese language. The only small similarity between the two languages is in the vocabulary where a number of English words are borrowed especially those that are commonly used in technology, health and business sector (Ken 2003). 4. From the study, the learning can be made more interesting with international teachers who have English background to limit the cases of a common problem. The scope of English grammar taught to the Japanese should be made inclusive. It is also important to invest in foreign education to allow interaction between Japanese students and those from English speaking countries. Recommendations The books that should be used by Japanese students should have only English to avoid substitution of some words, which causes confusion in learning the new language. Further Japanese words will distort the cultural meaning and translation will slow the rate of reading. When choosing the texts to be used keen consideration should be put in the class of the students who are going to use them (Krashen & Terrell 1984). The number of the new terminologies that should be adopted by new students should be learnt bit by bit and no new terms should be introduced Carrel 1985). It is also recommendable that more teachers of English origin be involved in the dissemination of the linguistic skills to the Japanese students. The teaching methodology may be diversified to ease the grasping of concepts. Some of the methods that are handy include activation of students thinking perspective using background material such as lectures, predictions about the texts, slides and class discussions (Carrell 1984) Conclusion The fact that different languages have strictly distinct rules makes it taxing for one to adopt a new language. The technological changes that seem to condense this global village have necessitated the urge to adopt a universal language. English language is therefore one of the most common and widely used language in the world and therefore most of the other languages are gathering all their muscle to learn English language. References Carrel, L 1984, Classroom implications and applications: Schema theory and ESL reading. Ken, B 2001, japaneseforeveryone.com: Butler Consulting, Inc. Ken, R 2003, Krashen and Terrell’s “Natural Approach” Krashen, SD & Terrell, TD 1983, the natural approach: Language acquisition in the classroom, Prentice Hall Europe, London. Krashen, S D 1993a, Teaching issues: Formal grammar Instruction: Another educator comments Harris, A & Sipay, E 1975, How to increase reading ability, Longman, New York. Ortega Y Gasset, J 1959, The difficulty of reading. Carrel, P. L 1985, Facilitating ESL reading by teaching text structure. Matsumura, M 1984, Eigo no reading [Reading English], Taishukan, Tokyo. Terrell, TD 1977, "A natural approach to the acquisition and learning of a language", Modern Language Journal. Read More