English as a Second Language Learning - Essay Example

ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNING and PART ONE; THE PROPERTIES OF LANGUAGE AND THE PSYCHOLOGY OF LANGUAGE LEARNING (UNIT 1) 1(a).Outlining the property of language and what makes language different from animal communication. According to Yule (2010) as quoted by Cutting (2010) language is very different from animal communication. As a matter of fact, language can be said to be human specific. This simply put, means that although animals undisputedly have a special way of relaying information among themselves, their system of communication is not as well developed as the human language and consequently fails to meet the threshold of a language. Humans on the other hand, use a very well organized intricate system of communication that is known as language. Therefore, it is only human beings that are capable of using language. This is attributed to their physiological anatomy. For instance, humans have a much elongated vocal tract than animals. This accommodates the larynx which is normally referred to as the voice box that resonates the sounds which helps in attaining various phonations making it possible to enunciate a variety of distinctly significant sounds for different words. In addition, anatomically, human beings posses a unique dental formula consisting of evenly spaced set of teeth and a complex powerful muscular system that controls and manipulates the movement of the lips. This is helpful in producing labial sounds like [p] and [b] together with dentals like [ɵ] as they are produced with the lips and the teeth respectively together with the tongue. Yule also outlines six traits inherent in language but are not all realized in animal communication. Therefore, animal communication may exhibit some of them but not all of them. This includes the following: First of all is the notion of duality in which language is organized at two distinct levels which makes it possible to produce different meanings from combining same segments. For instance, b ,a , and d can be combined to produce dab and bad which have totally different meanings.(…ibid) Secondly, animals have a bistratal communication system while humans have a tristatal one. The bistratal system unlike its counterpart cannot be manipulated to produce different messages. A case in point is the mowing of a cow. This could be interpreted differently depending on the context. It could mean it needs grass, or water or calling out for its young one. Human language on the contrary as seen before combines different segments uniquely in order to vary the meanings. Displacement also indicates a variation because unlike animals, humans have the ability of expressing events that are far removed from time. Their grammar is developed and expresses the past through past tense and the future time aspect for things to come. Animal communication does not allow for such. Moreover, human language is arbitrary. There is no natural relationship between a word and its meaning. For example, preacher, vicar and clergy all refer the same person but there is no relationship between the sign and the signified. To add on that, human language is productive owing to its ability to produce new forms which are infinite using finite rules. For instance new lexemes are constantly being added. For instance facebook, tweet among others. (b). ‘L1 acquisition’ and ‘L2 learning’; what are the main differences? L1 acquisition refers to knowing a language through exposure in natural setting.L2 learning on the other hand is being taught a language in a formal setting. Firstly, According to Cook as quoted by Cutting (2010),L2 learning is pegged on an analysis and understanding of the target language as a whole.Conversely, L1 acquisition it is the speakers who create the language structures that they employ in the process of acquiring language. Babies begin all the way from babbling and eventually with exposure ably distinguish marked segments from unmarked segments of their language. They later on isolate the unmarked ones as phonemes of their language, consequently treating the marked ones as different phonetic realizations of their phonemes. Secondly,L2 learning is affected by transfer from L1 whereas the vice versa does not hold for L1.For instance a learner whose first language employs voiceless phonemes at most will have problems handling the voiced sound segments. As a result, they will tend to devoice all or most of the voiced sounds due to generalizations. (Cutting;2010) In addition, L1 language acquisition is usually the first language hence the child is said not to have any previous language experience. The L2 language learner on the other hand clearly has a past experience based on the earlier acquired language which as we saw previously has an effect on the learning of the L2 due to the various structural and functional interferences especially where there is a considerably high number of differences ranging from the phonetic inventory to the language grammar structures.(…ibid) (c). How the knowledge of how individuals acquire the mother tongue (L1) can help the teacher of English as a second language (L2) The knowledge of how individuals acquire their mother tongue is very useful for the teacher of English as a second language as it forms the basis for learning other languages. Using their knowledge about the two languages, teachers can be able to begin by a contrastive analysis to find out the similarities and differences. They would for instance gradually begin from the shared structures then introduce the new structures. This therefore means that they would be in a position to locate and predict possible areas of difficulty for the English second language learner. This information is particularly relevant in devising drills for the learners. It also comes in handy especially as far as the moral support for the learner is concerned. They are for instance better placed to understand the best extrinsic motivational strategies to spur interest among the students who might shy off due to their limitations in learning new structures of language which they were not previously accustomed to. Also they can predict the probable success rate in the language learning as it is generally known that students who are competent in their L1 perfom better in learning L2 language. In conclusion, English Second language teachers can largely benefit from the knowledge of their student’s first language acquisition as it provides a tentative measure of their entry behavior based on similarities and differences between their first language and the target language. PART TWO; PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY 1. a) Comparing the phonology of the majority of my current students (or students in my previous teaching / learning context) with the English language in terms of phonemes and allophones. Using the observations to discuss the extent to which the differences cause problems for the students in producing and perceiving sounds. Phonetics refers to the scientific study of the physical properties of sounds in general as it extends beyond languages. The basic unit of phonetic analysis is the phone which is usually transcribed within square brackets. Phonology on the other hand refers to the study of the structures and functions of speech sounds. This means that it is mainly concerned with how the sound segments function in a language to differentiate various meanings. Unlike phonetics, the basic unit of phonology is the phoneme which clearly distinguishes word meaning. Phonological studies also tend to be language specific, for instance researchers may focus on the structure and function of English language alone. To add on that, phonemes which are the basic units of speech in phonology are transcribed within slanted slashes. Allophones are basically the different phonetic realizations of the same phoneme and since they are just variants, they do not signal a change in the meaning of a particular sound segment. Kiswahili which is a Bantu language spoken in the East and parts of Central Africa shares quite a number of sound segments with English. English on the other hand is a Germanic language with native speakers spread well across the United Kingdom, America and Australia among others as characterized by a distinct dialect. The English language is endowed with a large inventory of allophones when compared with Kiswahili. As a result, speakers of Swahili language often tend to generalize rules that operate in their language to English sound segments. In English for instance, the vowel a is variously realized as æ in the word cat, in the open mid unrounded vowel in the word ‘but’. It is also manifested in the open back unrounded vowel in the word ‘hard’ and as the open mid central unrounded vowel in the word ‘shirt’. In addition the same vowel is realized as the schwa which is a mid central vowel. Swahili on the other hand only has the same vowel represented and realized as ‘a’. Consequently, speakers whose L1 is Swahili cannot be able to differentiate among the various forms expressed in English given that their language lacks them and so they never acquired them during the critical period of language learning. There is also no distinction among Swahili speakers in the long i and short I. This is because in Swahili they tend to use the long close front rounded vowel or the intermediate equivalent of English. As a result, they cannot be able to easily bring out the differences occasioned by vowel length in the words slip and sleep whereby ordinarily the former is short while the latter is long. There are also other differences which are manifested in the English consonants. This is where certain phonological inventories are clearly absent in the Swahili language thereby prompting speakers to resort to sounds in their language. Engish language for instance has both the voiceless and the voiced palato alveolar fricatives. This means they can easily distinguish between the distinct phonemes in fish and vision. The former is a voiceless palato alveolar fricative whereas the latter is the voiced palate alveolar fricative. But since Swahili speakers do not have the voiced palato alveolar fricative, the devoice all the palate alveolar fricatives they encounter. From the above few examples, it is clearly evident that the phonetic and phonological inventories of different languages largely constraint future language learning as the second language learners resort to generalizing rules from their earlier languages to solve immediate deficits they are faced with in the course of language learning. b) Describing how I would explain to them the differences and outlining 4 activities of my own devising to help them overcome their problems. In order to correct the mistakes occasioned by the generalization of all the different manifestations of the vowel ‘a’ I will first need to play audio recordings of the correct sounds and ask them to imitate them. This will be vital in establishing if the problematic sounds are absent in their phonetic inventories or are constrained by what Chomsky called the poverty of the stimulus which deals with exposure. (Chomsky; 1976). Next, I would demonstrate the pronunciation of the problematic sounds clearly indicating the jaw opening and closing in relation to the position of the tongue in the oral cavity.They also will be expected to simulate that severally until they are in a position to get it right. Moreover, those with voicing problems will be asked to check on the voicing in their sounds by feeling their voice box or completely closing their ears and watching out for any sign of vibration therein. Lastly, to help in clearly discerning the vowel length I would recommend a drill on minimal pairs for the same. Activities; I will ask them to practice correctly pronouncing the following words with a specialfocus on the contrasting vowel sounds. a)Slip Sleep Dip Deep b) Fish Mirage Flash Garage c)Hat Hut Cat Cut d)Man Shirt About Verse References Chomsky, N. (1976). Reflections on language. London: Temple Smith. Cook, V. (2008) Second Language Learning and Language Teaching, 4thd edn. London: Arnold. Cutting. (2010). MA Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages Linguistics for TESOL. Sunderland:University of Sunderland Yule, G. (2010) The Study of Language. 4th ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Read More