Preview

Article on Second Language Fluency Essay Example

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
660 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Article on Second Language Fluency Essay Example
Article on Second Language Fluency This article discusses second language fluency. How do you acquire fluency in a second language? Language acquisition learners are taught in structured English immersion classrooms. No other language is taught. In order for students to become fluent in the second language, which is English, they must speak, read, and write in English. I interviewed a coworker whose second language is English. She is fluent in Spanish. During my interview we discussed how she learned English as a second language. I will give a summary of this interview at the end of this article.
Students are given lessons that enhance vocabulary and comprehension in English. These lessons are developed using three theories that can be used by teachers to help second language learners to acquire fluency in English. One such theory is Behaviorist theory. This theory is directed by the teacher and is structured. The learner is given objectives and usually works independently. This theory uses repetition and correction immediately. The second language acquisition theory is innatist. The innate theory state children learn from the environment. The learning is not structured. Language acquisition is placed on the student and biological components. Correction is not immediate but the teacher does monitor the progress of each student. The third theory is interaction theory. This theory uses social interaction among students who do not speak the same language. Emphasis is on communication which is vital in language acquisition. Parents play an important role in the social environment as well as the student. I interviewed a person questions about how she learned a second language during her years in school. She states she was five years old when she learned English. She also stated her biggest challenge was learning the sounds of the alphabets. She states her teacher did not speak Spanish and majority of the students in her classroom were white.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    Living with Mexican or American people would be perfect if both of them knew one another’s language. School, jobs, and traveling are a big part in why people should know how to speak and understand more than one language. These three topics go well together because your start off with school to get a good job and then having money to travel to places you always dreamed of going to. The interesting thing about this paper is the fact that knowing more than one language has more advantages than disadvantages. Although some people would not be interested to learn, they should recognize the fact that when they do learn to speak a different language more opportunities come their way and they will feel proud for what they accomplish. To this end, hopefully if people read this essay it will convince them on why it is important to speak and understand different people from all races speaking another language when they are around them. They might be talking trash about them and they would not have a clue in how to respond back. Although, it is like learning anything new because it will take time and reflection until people master…

    • 1361 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    It is a struggle to adapt to a new culture and language, which may be completely different from the ones young child may have already learned. This can lead to inner conflict, confusion, and even anger. One way to handle the conflict is to cut ties with the first culture including language. But is this the answer? Doing so can create a sense of loss. In the essay “Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood”, Richard Rodriguez shares his personal experience with learning English as a second language. In his linguistic journey, the author feels a disconnect between Spanish, the language used at home by his Mexican immigrant parents, and English, the language used in the public world. He raises an important question…

    • 1381 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    On my first day of school, I was not able to communicate with my peers as Spanish was all I knew. Learning English became my priority and I worked meticulously every day to close the barrier between my peers and me. Fortunately, there was a bilingual teacher, Mrs.Verburg, who became the only person who could…

    • 656 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Ece 315

    • 1996 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Second language acquisition is the process of learning other languages in addition to the native…

    • 1996 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Impact in Your Life

    • 333 Words
    • 2 Pages

    When my sisters and I first came to the United States I had trouble understanding American English. Though we had been taught English in our school in the camp we were not prepared to learn in a completely English environment in a completely new culture. The transition was quite a challenge for us, not to mention starting well into the second half of the school year, but we pressed through and managed to get good grades.…

    • 333 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The increasing number of English language learners (ELL) has presented a myriad of challenges for the educational system. On the backdrop of federal mandates and guidelines, schools have the added pressure of implementing instructional practices for ELL that would ensure that each student is making significant academic yearly progress. Also fueling the controversy are the trends in instructional strategies which have continuously evolved as the dramatic flow of ELL increase. In an effort to better understand second language learners, various studies have been conducted on the processes of second language acquisition. Second language theories have provided the framework for which relevant data can be deduced to enhance the way educators formulate effective instructional practices. There is a foundational premise among second langue theorists that learners acquire second language by building upon their existing native language knowledge. However, each theory that has been formulated approach second language acquisition from differing perspectives.…

    • 1378 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Dolati, R (2012) Overview on three core theories of second language acquisition and criticism, Advences in natural and applied sciences,vol6,issue 6, p 752…

    • 6976 Words
    • 24 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Society’s outlook on the native language of the student is also a factor to consider. If society looks down on their native language and culture, students may feel ashamed of their first language, thinking they need to lose it to gain English and to fit in (Walqui, 2002). “The societal and cultural contexts of the second language development have a large impact on second language learning” (Walqui, 2002). Immigrant children, especially, must face these challenges. This is linked…

    • 751 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    I lived in a household where everyone spoke Spanish. At three, I was speaking these long Spanish sentences but I was not proud. My sister, a year older than me, had already started school. She would come back to confuse my family. Ordinarily, my parents with the first years they spent in Florida soon caught up with the language. I would sit by the television and pound my heart out to Dora, where I soon asked my sister for help and she would help me. I would also go to my cousins help, I remember being in elementary school where I wanted to go to the park after but instead, her mom had us sitting on a bench for one hour learning how to fathom grammatical structures. Kids flailed their arms around the playground, while I dedicated that time for…

    • 190 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    English as a second language is an issue now days. Many people that don’t speak or write English, life tends to be a bit harsh on them. I personally have experience how difficult it is when one is not born in a family where English is not the native language. I came across two great essays, written by Amy Tan and Richard Rodriguez. These two great authors wrote about the challenges they faced while growing up in families that English was not their native tongue. Tan from an Asian family, and Rodriguez of a Mexican family. While reading these two essays I notice that they are related to each other in similar ways, although they have different outcomes. In both essays school plays a huge role, for their success…

    • 1280 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Language Acquisition

    • 1321 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Refer the theories of language acquisition (Behaviorist theories, nativist theories and interactionist theories) and write an evaluation of them.Consider the stages of language acquisition in the evaluation of these theories.…

    • 1321 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Anyone involved in language teaching will know that “pleasure for its own sake” (Richards, 1969) has been an important element of language learning no matter of the level of language proficiency. In this paper we will focus our attention to young learners of English as a foreign language at the pre-school and early primary school level. Our main concern will be directed towards such qualities of teaching materials which bring enjoyment into the classroom through pleasant sensory images, beautiful words, and subtle descriptions. To enter the children’s world of expectations, ideals, visions and images, one must enter the world of song, play and dance, the world of rhymes and games, the world of bright-colored books with beautiful illustrations full of surprising, mysterious and fantastic elements interwoven with the elements of everyday life. We need language sources that will help develop children’s imagination through rhymes, laughter and happiness. We also need the narrative side of the story which stands beyond any rhyme only if we, teachers, know how to get the story out of a rhyme. Stories are necessary because they satisfy a child’s curiosity about what is and what appears to be. Children tend to seek a story in any rhyme or a game played with rhymes. There is an incredible urge to imagine the things, to sense the imagination, to act according to the imagination. “Don’t tell me of a man’s being able to talk sense. Can he talk nonsense?”(William Pitt). Children need stories with characters created by the imagination where fantasy and magic intermingle. They want to dramatize, illustrate, play with puppets and tell stories their way, followed by the desire arising from their imagination and dreams. They must be emotionally attached to the characters of the story in order to become co-actors in the dream-like setting.…

    • 3600 Words
    • 15 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Before starting to talk about the place of games in the grammar description and whether it can contribute effectively to the mastery of a language, it is suitable here to start with a definition or two of grammar:…

    • 4235 Words
    • 17 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mercer, N. (1998).English as a classroom language. In N. Mercer & J. Swann (Eds.), Learning English…

    • 6418 Words
    • 28 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    After reading the first and second chapters, in How Linguistics are Learned, I am interested by what Lightbown and Spada (2006) argued. The authors claimed that “The development of bilingual or second language learning is of enormous importance” (p.25). They argued also that acquisition of more than one language in our new global world is rewarding for bilingual individuals socially and economically. The authors stated that most children nowadays are exposed to more than one language during their early childhood and schooling time. Some may learn two languages at the same time ‘simultaneous bilinguals’ while others may learn the other language later ‘sequential bilinguals’. There are situations where children are cut off their family language while they are very young. They may stop speaking their family language. This might represent a reason for concern. Researchers have recently devoted a considerable amount of their time and energy to investigate children’s abilities to learn more than one language at early age. The goal is to help students to learn a second language at early age and facilitate that for teachers and educators.…

    • 573 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays