Improvement of Teaching Processes in Second Cycle Institutions in the Virgin Islands - Research Proposal Example

There is a more important need for language to ensure that instructions can be passed on from one person to another on the ship. The lack of a common language on a ship leads to isolation, complications, individualization as well as misunderstandings and conflicts.

Hanjo (2003, p3) identifies that the British East Indian Company failed in trading with China because it had no interpreter. This situation, led to serious misunderstandings between the Chinese and caused a diplomatic dispute that led to the Opium Wars fought between Britain and China.

Language is necessary for a person to integrate and have a meaningful life in a given society. Socialization comes about when a person internalizes the norms and values of a given society (Ellis & Fotos, 1999 p128). This can easily occur if a person speaks the language of the people in question.

In order to effectively communicate, one has to be able to manipulate language. The acquisition of language, whether the mother tongue, second or foreign language, is achieved through four basic skills which are listening, speaking, reading, and writing. These four basic skills form the foundation of formal education in our own time. It is the basis of literacy and the study of languages as it is transmitted through educational institutions and systems.

In the practical sense though, most educational institutions have arrangements that allow people who have previously studied a given language to go, live and interact with custodians of the language. This forms the second level of the teaching of a second language.

Therefore, it is critical that the “right” or appropriate approach is used by a given nation to transmit these skills to as many people as possible through the educational systems and institutions. There are several methods employed in foreign language instruction. These include traditional classroom instructions, private learning, the use of automated tools like computers, and practical use and interaction with other speakers of the language.

Through the author’s experience as a teacher and administrator working with foreign languages, it has been observed that it has become increasingly difficult to achieve competency and proficiency with the use of a single instructional method. According to Aitchison (1989 p14), there is a need to use various tools, systems, and concepts to get students of foreign languages to conceptualize and store principles of the new language in their memory. This, therefore, calls for an optimum blend of ideas, concepts, and systems in an educational system to ensure that new languages are understood and used competently and proficiently by new learners.

The study of teaching foreign languages is not a new phenomenon. Many experts in the field of research have explored and examined various aspects of this idea. Foreign language competency is crucial within the author’s community; both for educational as well as commercial and economic reasons.