In contemporary society, English, which is studied as the second language, has become an international language. China is a typical example showing the popularity of English around the world. More specifically, Chinese students have even been studying English in their primary school. Because of different cultures, histories, and religious, the Chinese and English languages have a multitude of dissimilarities. Chinese students have enormous trouble in learning English. An ESL instructor, to be successful in teaching Chinese students, should understand these profound differences in terms of pronunciation, writing, and grammar. When the Chinese students learn a new vocabulary item, they always try to pronounce it correctly. However, the totally different pronunciations lead students to make a number of mistakes. Firstly, in Chinese, one word has one syllable, but one word can be separately pronounced in several syllables in English. Secondly, there are four tones and a toneless tone, and each word only contains one tone in Chinese. If the tone changes, the word’s meaning will change. H...
English as a communication tool holds prominent position in Chinese curriculum (Liu, 2012). Learning English as a Second Language (ESL) has seen its boost in China (Qiang & Wolff, 2007). Mastering English is an asset for students in job hunting and further education. As academic achievement is highly valued in Chinese culture, students are expected to achieve high marks in English tests (Liu, 2012). University students need to pass National English proficiency examinations, which are the part of the evaluation for obtaining degrees (Wolff, 2010). Students attend after-school English courses for enhancing their English because of the pressure (Liu, 2012). The majority of ELL students aim at improving the international English proficiency tests results, such as International English Language Testing System (IELTS) and Graduate Record Examinations (GRE). ELL students are more motivated in the after-school English courses because of the high-target learning environment. However, the teacher-centred learning procedure neglects the long-term enhancement of students’ English level. The ignorance of the long-term development is due to less student involvement during the teaching procedure (Mo, 2012). Some Chinese ELL students choose to attend ESL courses abroad. The reasons are that they can have a better language environment (Wolff, 2010) and can engage more in the learning procedure (Smith & Hu, 2013). The aim of the study is to compare the teacher-centred teaching in China and student-centred teaching in Canada and to examine efficient teaching methods for Chinese speaking ELL
China has gone through many changes in its history. Changes include economic, political, and social. In the early 1500 and throughout history, mostly all social classes followed Confucianism. Confucianism is a type of religion based on an ideal society (Chang 2012, 22). China was molded though Confucianism but that slowly deteriorated as years went on. One main group that has been a main part in these changes is the Chinese literati. The Chinese literati include the higher-class people such as officials and scholars. The Chinese literati were the dominant social class during the 1500’s but their power slowly decreased throughout history. Throughout my paper, I will explain the Chinese literati involvement as centuries passed.
Johnson and Newport used 46 native Chinese or Korean second language learners of English who were students and faculty members at an American university. The subjects were presented together because of their native languages dissimilarity to English and lack of difference in the results of two groups. The subjects' ages differentiate between 3 and 39, when they first arrived in the US and they had lived in the target language culture for between the age of 3 and 26. According to their age of arrival in the US, t...
33 adult upper intermediate-to-advanced ESL students and 31 ESL teachers from two different private English-language schools in Victoria, B.C., Canada
Born and raised in a small rural town in Taiwan, I never expected to be given the opportunity to be writing this essay today. All the more so, at one of the world’s leading research and teaching institutions in California, UC Davis. Being able to communicate in English fluently--speaking and writing--was something I never thought would happen, nor did I really care about. What would a local Taiwanese boy need to learn English for, in a country with less than 10% of an English speaking population? Being able to form your own sentences, or even write a few comprehensible words in English was already an extraordinary accomplishment for any native Taiwanese children. However, I was inspired to change my views as a language user and taught to be appreciative of the learning process. This change has brought me up from low expectations in learning English to becoming an American college student working my way towards a Bachelor 's degree.
For some reason, proper English has become very important. From elementary to graduate schools, English is stressed above mathematics, history, and the sciences. Whereas these disciplines are universal, English is limited. These subjects can be found all over the world, and beyond, while English remains contained to those who know it.
The teaching and learning design of ESL is much like the general education classroom. The classroom should entail structure, a sense of community, establish routines and procedures, and adequate resources. Some influential resources are classroom libraries, peer tutors, and basic technology. In addition, teachers need to recognize, research, and appropriately address any non-desired behavior. Teachers do have the power to make a difference in a student behavior. Lastly fluency, accuracy, and even error corrections should correlate to the objective of the lessons.
English Language Learners range from Newcomers learning survival English and developing foundational literacy skills to Long-Term English Learners who have had 6 years or more of their education in English yet continue have significant language gaps. These students may speak English with little or no accent and still lack the vocabulary, grammar and grade level literacy to be successful in school. English language learners may remain silent in the classroom as they adjust to a new school, environment, and culture unless he is a native language comrade to interact with. The English language learners are concerned about decoding verbal and non- verbal communication as well as understanding the social culture framework of the school. Most of the time English language learners are observing during instruction, trying to repeat words used by others, memorizing simple phrases and sentences, tired by midday or be frustrated attending long lectures unaccompanied by visual and gestures, relying on first language translation used peer translation or bilingual dictionary, as the students begin to learner they become more involved in the classroom, they can respond non-verbally to commands, statements, and questions in simple form. As their oral comprehension increases, they begin to use simple word and phrases and may use English spontaneously. They can understand short conversation on a simple topic when reading students can understand a narrative text and authentic materials, although they will be below
English as a second language (ESL) refers to people who have not learned English as their primary language. Some people may say that ESL is not a correct term, because there are many students who are learning English as their third or fourth language. Therefore, a better term to use would be Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). The main goal of ESL and TESOL programs are to, develop students' English-language skills, with a primary focus on communication, grammar, and vocabulary (America...
It is disheartening when the writing of even advances-level second language students often contain many awkward sentences and non-English like patterns. ESL writers face various linguistic challenges as they write, and they should be allowed to navigate through the writings of others to attend to the linguistic features they may need in order to accurately express their thoughts. ESL writing teachers can help students by providing language support, through models and prewriting activities that will encourage students to recognize certain linguistic forms and stock phrased used by native English speaking writers. They support of a writing center is also essential because a writing center not only introduces students to the academic community, but also serves as a forum where students can negotiate meanings and discover correct language forms so that they can then convey them (doi: 10.1002/tej.2). Most districts have implemented such programs to help students learn how to write in English, so they can be able to take the STAAR exam, which is required by the state of Texas in order to graduate High
As a teacher it is important to make sure that every student has an equal opportunity to learn and succeed. No student should be left behind and failing the class, especially when it is because of the teacher’s lack of effort not the student’s. The teacher should get to know each of their students on a personal and academic level, because this will help them to better understand the students’ backgrounds and knowledge of subject material. It is very important that ELL students feel comfortable and safe in their class and around their teacher. When working with ELL students, it should be a mandatory task for the teacher to learn all that they can about the students in greater detail. This relationship is an important step in helping ELL students succeed in a classroom with a majority of general education students who already speak English fluently, because the teacher is able to teach the student and class more effectively.
O’Neill,S., Gish, A. (2008). Teaching English as a second language. South Melbourne, VIC: Oxford University Press.
EFL students’ attitudes toward learning English language: The case study of English major students in Faculty of Education.
Studying in America made me realize that the “English” I have learned in China was not authentic. I still remember that the first essay I wrote in university was for my mythology class, and I got a C+ for that paper. My TA told me that my ideas were really good but my language was awkward and confusing. I did not know why. Starting learning English since I was four, I was always one of the top students on English test. I could not even imagine that my language was awkward. However, when I started to discuss it with my ESL professor and when I started to read more English readings, I found my problem. The problem was that what I have learned in China was wrong. In China, I learned “deprive something from somebody” but the truth is “deprive somebody of something”. I did not know there was difference between “thus”, “thereby” and “therefore”. I did even know “negro” was an insulting language because my Chinese teacher told me it just refer...
In most institutions of learning today, the classes are made up of students from different ethnic backgrounds. These have different traditions and also speak different languages. In a typical classroom, the majority of the students will speak the same language. The teacher must then employ strategies which will accommodate all the students in the class. This will ensure that every learner gets the best quality of education. This will enable them to be better prepared for career and expressing themselves. In this paper, strategies to assist learners of the English language in their literal development for third grade learners. In the paper, three strategies that can be used by the teacher will be discussed. New strategies and research that will help the English language learners to gain in depth mastery of the language will also be discussed. Due to the widespread learning of the English language in most schools, addressing issues of the language learners is of vital importance. Teachers should have the understanding that cultures are what give someone identity and therefore no student should leave their culture for another. Instead, there should be the blending of different cultures so that students can appreciate and learn from each other.