Teaching ESL Learners with Different Background Culture Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays

Teaching ESL Learners with Different Background Culture

Executive Summary

The research paper is focused on the examination of the recent literature on the teaching of ESL learners in culturally different backgrounds and Second Language Acquisition. It is noted in the paper that culture fundamentally affects the acquisition of a second language and that ESL learners often encounter cultural shocks in new environments. The paper points out in detail the need for teachers of ESL learners to effectively understand both the cultural and linguistic backgrounds of the learners. Evidence obtained from research shows that learning a second language is influenced by the personal attributes of the learner, their prior language development and competence and the environmental factors. The literature provides justification for instructional strategies that aim at creating relationships with increased intra-cultural interactions and exposure while respecting the cultures of the individual learners.

Key Words: English as a Second Language (ESL), Second Language Acquisition, Culture Shock.

Introduction

Many immigrants from Asian countries and Africa have moved to live in the USA, Europe and Australia in the 21st century. The reasons for the high immigration include the escape from civil wars, political instability and in rare cases, legal and planned relocation (Pena, 2010). The United States has received a tremendously large number of immigrants with a high number of school going children. When they get to the new countries, the immigrants experience several challenges adapting to the new environments.

Immigrants living in other countries encounter various changes, some of which are drastic and others gradual. Of these changes, school going children face the challenge of a totally different culture and language (Fan 2010). It will be remembered that many people moving to the United States and Europe come from countries where English is not the official language. Robertson (2015) notes that in many cases, the majority of the immigrants learn English as a second language. Since English is used in schools as the language of instruction, many learners face difficulties learning the language in a new environment, with different cultures and values.

Second Language Acquisition has become a popular field of research for both psychologists and educational professionals (Pratt, 2011). It is worth noting that while the ESL learners encounter challenges and culture shocks in new environments, the teachers also face a similar challenge when teaching these learners. Robinson and Keogh (2014) explain that various scholars have carried out research in the field of Second Language Acquisition with the aim of establishing the appropriate response mechanisms and approaches when teaching the ESL learners and also seeking solutions to the challenges encountered by the second language learners.

According to Robinson and Keogh (2014), the majority of the ESL learners are children that have no knowledge of a single English word. These scholars identify the pure ESL students as being recent entrants into the country and the international school community. The ESL learners remain silent in classes for a significant duration that may range from a couple of days to some months (Spackman, 2011). The ESL learners have to take time and make an effort to adjust to their new schools, environment and even new cultures.

The silent period undergone by the ESL students has been identified as a time of tremendous discomfort for both the students and the teachers. During this period, the learners are concerned about decoding both the non-verbal and verbal communication as well as comprehending the socio-cultural framework of the new environment (Buttaro, 2013). The teacher’s concern is often the worry that may be not enough is done for the ESL learner when the verbal responses of the students are few and far between. In several occasions, the ESL learners experience a cultural shock during the second language development.

The research on teaching ESL learners with different cultural background forms an important aspect of research on Second Language Acquisition. The study on the impact of culture on the ESL learners has an invaluable contribution to the understanding of the appropriate methods of teaching the second language learners. As a result, it becomes increasingly easier to understand the challenges of culture shock and difficulties of adapting to new environments as faced by ESL learners (Scott, 2010). Within the realm of Second Language Acquisition research, appropriate response mechanisms have been developed with teachers and other stakeholders acquiring a better understanding of the factors influencing second language acquisition, areas of language use and the problems involved. These have resulted in an objective approach to teaching ESL learners with myths associated with learning a second language being demystified.

Review of Literature

Buttaro (2013) notes that English as a second language students face three main adjustments namely the cultural adjustment, educational adjustment and linguistic adjustment. Buttaro (2013) defines cultural adjustment as being a set of situations in which ESL learners make an attempt to address the shock of living in a new cultural environment. According to Gary (2013), the new cultural environment is often confusing and may sometimes seem hostile. Educational adjustment is a set of challenges that are faced by students without the basic knowledge of English when acquiring it as a second language and sometimes initial literacy in a classroom setting. Linguistic adjustment, on the other hand, is the formal process of literacy consciousness where the ESL students gain awareness of their daily conditioning to establish a firm foundation for their role in the new society.

Language difference has been identified in the past studies as being a major element that results in cultural shock. According to Fan (2010), cultural shock is the experience that is faced by persons in a new cultural environment. Fan (2010) further explains that cultural shock is a process that comprises various stages and is encountered during acculturation into a new culture. Cultural shocks are characterized by negative emotions ranging from fear, agitation, desperation and unrest. The negative emotions are mainly as a result of the unexpected cultural differences (Buttaro, 2013). Whether or not cultural shocks become constructive or destructive to ESL learners is depended on how the teachers handle the cultural shocks experienced by their students. However, language shocks are a less destructive component of the cultural shock to learners of a second language.

In learning a second language, the learners often treat the new language in the lenses of their first language. ESL learners experience the loss of perpetual reinforcements from their cultures. The new cultural stimuli in the new environment often have little or no meaning and can result in misunderstanding of new and diverse experiences (Pratt, 2010). The success of many ESL learners is significantly affected by the cultural shocks which they encounter. Pena (2010) notes that it is normal that people are more willing to understand, communicate, trust, enjoy and even play or work with people that have common salient features as them with language being one of them. Upon entering new environments where people have different language and cultural characteristics, communication and the ability to understand are affected. The level of trust and confidence may also decline if teachers don’t employ effort to ensure that students adjust to the new changes.

The cultural group to which a person belongs is often used as an element of identity and is visible on the individual. Therefore, many ESL students struggle with cultural shocks as they adapt to new ways of living which are different from their own (Robinson & Keogh, 2014). At times, the process is equated to the loss of one's cultural identity to accommodate or acquire another identity. Undoubtedly, the learners of English as a second language encounter challenges that require close monitoring to overcome (Pena, 2010). With the continued development of relevant literature that addresses the issues of culture and language shocks in Second Language Acquisition, it has become easier for teachers and educational stakeholders to help students survive different stages of shock with ease.

Robertson (2015) explains that ESL learners mainly undergo four different stages as they adapt to their new environments and eventually acquire the language. The first notable stage is that of discovering the cultural and language shocks. While such discovery may occur naturally, the help of teachers plays a significantly important role in ensuring that ESL learners easily discover the shocks they encounter and understand their interpretations. The second stage involves the actual experiencing of the shocks. In this stage, learners become aware of the existence of negative emotions that affect them. The third stage involves recovering from the cultural and language shocks and brings to an end the silent period experienced by the ESL learners (Spackman, 2011). The final stage involves acculturation in which students learn the new cultures and languages and fully adapt to the new environment.

According to Robinson & Keogh (2014), the learning of English as a second language and any other second language is influenced by several factors. While these factors cut across the second language learners, there remains a substantial uncertainty as to how the second language is learned as different students show varying rates, patterns and styles of second language acquisition. Notably, some ESL learners become quickly conversant with English while others take lengthy periods of learning. The factors that affect Second Language Acquisition greatly influence the success and learning outcomes of learners in school.

The three major categories of forces that influence learning a second language are personal or learner characteristics, environmental or situational factors and prior language competence and development (Gary, 2013). Whether any of the three categories of factors has a bigger influence than the others has not empirically been established. When teaching the ESL learners, teachers should seek to understand the aspects that fall in each of these diverse categories as they affect their students in order to offer the necessary support.

The characteristics of the learner are those elements that are specific to the individual ESL learner. These aspects include the learning strategies and styles, motivation, attitude and personality (Fan, 2010). For example, learners who are self-confident with extrovert personalities tend to learn verbal interactions in a second language more easily than their introvert counterparts. Highly motivated persons with an outgoing character and a positive attitude often experience a speedy social adjustment in new environments. The said learner characteristics fundamentally influence how students respond to various instructional styles and settings (Robertson, 2015). As a result, these factors should be at the core of a teacher’s primary concerns when teaching ESL students.

According to Pena (2010), the environmental or situational forces are those aspects external to the ESL learner and include the classroom setting, the teaching style, the school environment and the extent and quality of exposure to English. For example, where ESL students are given a thorough exposure to native English speakers in the academic setting, the rate of acquiring English as a second language will be exponential. Gary (2013) further explains that Second Language Acquisition requires that the learners get adequate exposure to the targeted language accompanied by a comprehensible input. A teacher’s understanding of how the environmental factors influence the learning of English as a second language significantly helps in offering the desired support and interventions.

Research shows that the prior language competence and acquisition of the learner in a way significantly determines how well students acquire English as a second language (Buttaro, 2013). ESL learners that have adequate cognitive and linguistic development in their first language easily learn the second language. Therefore, the quality of the first language of the second language students is of importance (Pratt, 2011). While these factors related to prior language acquisition are important, there is a likelihood that children that have had several years of practicing their home language may adopt their first language pronunciations when learning the second language.

It is clearly understandable that language and culture are tightly bound together to the extent that learning a new language requires that one should learn a new culture (Robinson & Keogh, 2014). Notably, English as a language has its cultural norms that may differ significantly from other acceptable norms of other languages. While some teachers do not expose the ESL learners to these cultural norms in the fear that students will encounter a cultural shock, it is significantly important to introduce learners to these norms if they are to develop mastery of the second language. Learning English as a second language when living in a culture different from your requires that one must come to terms with the new way of viewing the world.

When teaching ESL to learners with a different cultural background, teachers must exercise caution between advocating for acculturation and assimilation. Acquiring a second language does not require that one should completely give up their culture to adopt the new culture as the case in assimilation (Spackman, 2011). Instead, acculturation requires that one can learn the other culture while still retaining the elements of their culture. Laying emphasis on assimilation or even accommodation can sometimes delay the second language learning process. Therefore, the right focus and objective should be adopted to avoid a situation that puts learners in an avoidable confusion.

Scott (2010) notes that how much a teacher knows about the linguistic and cultural backgrounds of the ESL learners is essential for successfully teaching the students English. An effective literacy instruction is built upon the linguistic and cultural backgrounds, prior knowledge of the learner and the ways of making meaning. Therefore, the instruction model adopted should acknowledge the importance of culture in both literacy and language learning. Instructors should be able to understand and respect the different languages and cultures represented in their classrooms (Gary, 2013). As a result, the instructors can adopt strategies that support teaching English as a second language and encourage student achievement. The material used for literacy and language learning should be culturally relevant and accessible.

An instructor’s ability to communicate cross-culturally remains imperative for English language learners. Consequently, the instructor should aim to effectively understand the role played by culture in the multi-cultural classroom setting (Buttaro, 2013). Importantly, teachers should be able to understand how culture touches and alters various aspects of the learners including how they express themselves, their personalities, and the way they think and solve problems (Fan, 2010). A focus on improving and supporting a healthy cross-cultural interaction between the learners can help improve the rate of discovery and recovery from shocks among the learners.

Although it is essential for teachers to understand the cultural background of their students, it also remains equally important for the instructors to position themselves strategically through establishing relationships with the learners. When teaching ESL learners in a multi-cultural setting, it is important that the teacher ensures that they win the confidence of their students through relationships that are built on trust (Robertson, 2015). The ESL learners need to feel a sense of belonging by being accepted, appreciated and loved. Therefore, all interactions in the varying cultural backgrounds should be founded on politeness, fairness, kindness, friendliness, respect and empathy (Pratt, 2011). Besides using the available resources such as books, music and films, teachers should locate cultural interpreters.

Conclusion

Culture has a fundamental influence on the learning of a second language. Language is a primary component of culture. As a result, learning a second language is firmly depended on the capacity to understand the culture associated with the target language. In instances where ESL learners have different cultural backgrounds, the models of instruction adopted should be informed by a clear understanding of the cultural and linguistic backgrounds of the learners. Research regarding the teaching of English as a second language to students with varied cultural backgrounds has been extensively conducted by scholars in both education and educational psychology.

The purpose of the various studies has been to establish the factors that affect the learning of a second language and the challenges encountered. ESL learners in different cultural backgrounds often suffer cultural and language shocks from which they recover over time. ESL learners require adapting in environments and cultures different from theirs in order for them to successfully learn and master the target language. How well a teacher can understand and adopt a relevant instruction strategy when teaching ESL learners is depended on their understanding of the personal characteristics of the learners, the environmental factors influencing learning and prior language competence of the learners.

Teaching ESL Learners with Different Background Culture - Research Paper Example

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