Speaking Effectively in English
Assalamualaikum and good morning to Principal Puan Nur Azlina Mohamad, members of the School Alumni, teachers, parents and all ex students of Victoria Institutions, it is an honor to speak to all of you today and to present a paper titled ‘The Benefits of Speaking Effectively in English’.
If you are currently learning English in a school , college or university. Actually you join approximately one billion other people around the world who are engaged in the same pursuit. However as you may memorise and use proper grammar and try to avoid the mistakes common to most students of English, you may wonder why you are learning English in the first place.
• Important of English as the official second language.
So, why is speaking effectively in English important?
As stated by Baugh & Cable (2000), in numbers of speakers as well as in its uses for international communication. English is spoken by more people than any other language and is the native language of more than 350 million people worldwide which mean, more people speak English than those who speak the Arabic and French languages combined.
Moreover, English is the international language of Diplomacy, business, science, technology, banking, computing, medicine, aviation, engineering, architecture, tourism, Hollywood films and arguably the best pop and rock music in the world.
English has plenty of words to choose from. In fact, an English speaker is offered the biggest vocabulary of any language with a choice of 500,000 to 1,000,000 words, that including technical and scientific terms. But please don’t panic, most English speaker do very well with a vocabulary of around 20,000 words.
English can be fun too. For instance, the music of such stars as Elvis Presley, Micheal Jackson, The Beatles, Aerosmith and Madonna has encouraged fans to speak the language of their idols. Many others have enrolled in English classes just to improve their understanding of the dialogue in their favourite films
If you are currently learning English in a school , college or university. Actually you join approximately one billion other people around the world who are engaged in the same pursuit. However as you may memorise and use proper grammar and try to avoid the mistakes common to most students of English, you may wonder why you are learning English in the first place.
• Important of English as the official second language.
So, why is speaking effectively in English important?
As stated by Baugh & Cable (2000), in numbers of speakers as well as in its uses for international communication. English is spoken by more people than any other language and is the native language of more than 350 million people worldwide which mean, more people speak English than those who speak the Arabic and French languages combined.
Moreover, English is the international language of Diplomacy, business, science, technology, banking, computing, medicine, aviation, engineering, architecture, tourism, Hollywood films and arguably the best pop and rock music in the world.
English has plenty of words to choose from. In fact, an English speaker is offered the biggest vocabulary of any language with a choice of 500,000 to 1,000,000 words, that including technical and scientific terms. But please don’t panic, most English speaker do very well with a vocabulary of around 20,000 words.
English can be fun too. For instance, the music of such stars as Elvis Presley, Micheal Jackson, The Beatles, Aerosmith and Madonna has encouraged fans to speak the language of their idols. Many others have enrolled in English classes just to improve their understanding of the dialogue in their favourite films
References: Baugh, A.C. & Cable, T. (2000). A history of the English language.English. London. Bolton. K. (2008). English in Asia, Asian Englishes and the issue of profiency. Crystal, D. (1995). The Cambridge Encyclopedia of The English Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Ganakumaran S. (2007). The Changing Tenor of English in Multicultural Postcolonial Malaysia 13. 2007. Gill, S. K. (2005). Language policy in Malaysia: Reversing direction. Language policy, 4(3), 241-260. Pennycook, A. (1994). The Cultural Politics of English an an International Language. Ru.C.H (2010). Public speaking for English as a second language students. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology. Mahathir Mohamed. (1999). The Sun, 11 September, 1999. Mahathir Mohamad. (2002). New Straits Times, 11 May 2002.