Importance Of English As A Foreign Language

English as a foreign language

The main aim of learning English as an international language is to effectively communicate with those from other cultures. English should therefore be taught as a means of cross-cultural communication.

Scarcella & Oxford, (1992) defined foreign language as a “language studied in an environment where it is not the primary vehicle for daily interaction and where input in that language is restricted”.

Foreign language teaching and learning is not always pleasurable and considered to be very difficult and uninteresting. Learning the major language skills of English poses many difficulties for its learners (Pathan, )

There are various factors affecting the language teaching and learning processes of language learners.

(Ebrahimi, and Azhideh 2015; Hatch and Brown, 1995). Napa (1991) indicated that vocabulary is one of the language components whereas no language exists without words. Vocabulary plays a fundamental role in communication as it is a basic competence that must be reached by students in order to get other language skills (Ebrahimi, and Azhideh, 2015; Nation, 2001). Ratnawati, Bindarti, and Rofiq (2013) investigated that vocabulary plays an important role in supporting the four language skills; listening, speaking, reading and

(2002); Mourão, S. (2009; Rokni 3013). Shu et al (1995) claimed that vocabulary learning can be achieved by reading or listening to stories. In addition, Penno et al. (2002) investigated that listening to stories is an effective tool in vocabulary learning for children in the early years of school, and they found that learning outcome could be enhanced by repeated story presentations. According to Sorrel (2001), learning to listen and to hear the main essence of a story are critical skills for all students to acquire. As well, communicate and shared stories together, orally and in writing creates a unique pedagogical interaction between teacher and