WHY YOU SHOULD LEARN OTHER LANGUAGE
THE CONCEPT OF LANGUAGE
According to Gimson (1980), language is defined as a system of conventional signals used for communication by a whole community. It is also means the systematic tools or symbols used to communicate through or intention. It is the method of human communication, either spoken or written, consisting of the use of words in a structured and conventional way.
Language is the most important aspect in the life of all being. We use language to express inner thoughts and emotions make sense of complex and abstract thought to fulfill our wants and needs as well as to established rules and maintain our culture. Language also found in medical, legal, financial economy, and idioms. The study of language is called Linguistics
NATURE
OF LANGUAGE
Natural language is human language. For the
most part linguistics is a study of natural language. One of the ways
linguistics has approached this task is to identify various levels of language
and give them names.
Why
should I learn a language?
There are many reasons to
learn a foreign language, from working in another country to discovering your
roots, through intellectual curiosity, romance, travel, and secret
communication.
Emigration
When
you move to a different country or region, learning the local language will
help you to communicate and integrate with the local community. Even if many of
the locals speak your language, for example if your L1 is English and you move
to the Netherlands, it's still worth your while learning the local language.
Doing so will demonstrate your interest in and commitment to the new country.
Family and friends
If
your partner, in-laws, relatives or friends speak a different language,
learning that language will help you to communicate with them. It can also give
you a better understanding of their culture and way of thinking.
Work
If
your work involves regular contact with speakers of foreign languages, being
able to talk to them in their own languages will help you to communicate with
them. It may also help you to make sales and to negotiate and secure contracts.
Knowledge of foreign languages may also increase your chances of finding a new
job, getting a promotion or a transfer overseas, or of going on foreign
business trips.
Many
English-speaking business people don't bother to learn other languages because
they believe that most of the people they do business with in foreign countries
can speak English, and if they don't speak English, interpreters can be used.
The lack of foreign language knowledge puts the English speakers at a
disadvantage. In meetings, for example, the people on the other side can
discuss things amongst themselves in their own language without the English
speakers understanding, and using interpreters slows everything down. In any
socialising after the meetings the locals will probably feel more comfortable using
their own language rather than English.
Travel
Many
English speakers seem to believe that wherever you go on holiday you can get by
speaking English, so there's no point in learning any other languages. If
people don't understand you all you have to do is speak slowly and turn up the
volume. You can more or less get away with this, as long as you stick to
popular tourist resorts and hotels where you can usually find someone who
speaks English. However, if you want to venture beyond such places, to get to
know the locals, to read signs, menus, etc, knowing the local language is very
useful.
IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHING OF LEARNING THEORIES
Learning is a process of active
construction: learning is the interaction between what
students know, the new information they encounter and the activities they
engage in as they learn. Students construct their own understanding through
experience, interactions with content and others and reflection.
Student’s prior knowledge is an important
determination of what they will learn: students do not come to your class as a blank slate. They use what they
already know about a topic to interpret new information. When students cannot
relate new material to what they already know, they tend to memorize learning for
the test- rather than developing any real understanding of the content.
Learning is a social phenomena: student learn with greater understanding when
they share ideas through conversation, debate and negotiation. Explaining a
concept to one’s peers put knowledge to a public test where it can be examined
reshaped and clarified.
Learning is context specific: it is
often difficult for students to use what they learn in class in new contexts.
Some of our learning occurs in formal setting where what we learn is packaged
and prepared for us but much learning also occurs in non-formal settings and
informally as well. Information literacy in crucial in all three types of
learning situation. Becoming information literate will involve a drastic change
from the way many students are accustomed of learning. First of all, it
requires students to more self directed in their learning. This kind of
independent active learning prepares students for real-life problem solving.
Language
acquisition
Language
acquisition is the process by which humans acquire the
capacity to perceive and comprehend language, as well as to produce and use words and sentences to
communicate. Language acquisition is one of the quintessential human traits,[1] because non-humans do not communicate by
using language.[2]
Language acquisition usually refers to first-language acquisition, which
studies infants' acquisition of their native language. This is distinguished
from second-language acquisition,
which deals with the acquisition (in both children and adults) of additional
languages.
The
capacity to successfully use language requires one to acquire a range of tools
including phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics,
and an extensive vocabulary.
Language can be vocalized as in speech, or manual as in sign.
The human language capacity is represented in the brain. Even though the human
language capacity is finite, one can say and understand an infinite number of
sentences, which is based on a syntactic principle called recursion.
Evidence suggests that every individual has three recursive mechanisms that
allow sentences to go indeterminately. These three mechanisms are: relativization,
complementation and coordination.[3]
Furthermore, there are actually two main guiding principles in first-language
acquisition, that is, speech perception
always precedes speech
production and the gradually evolving system by which a child
learns a language is built up one step at a time, beginning with the
distinction between individual phonemes
General approaches
A
major debate in understanding language acquisition is how these capacities are
picked up by infants
from the linguistic input.[11]
Input in the linguistic context is
defined as "All words, contexts, and other forms of language to which a
learner is exposed, relative to acquired proficiency in first or second languages".
Nativists
such as Noam Chomsky
have focused on the hugely complex nature of human grammars, the finiteness and
ambiguity of the input that children receive, and the relatively limited cognitive
abilities of an infant. From these characteristics, they conclude
that the process of language acquisition in infants must be tightly constrained
and guided by the biologically given characteristics of the human brain.
Otherwise, they argue, it is extremely difficult to explain how children,
within the first five years of life, routinely master the complex, largely
tacit grammatical rules of
their native language.[12]
Other
scholars, however, have resisted the possibility that infants' routine success
at acquiring the grammar of their native language requires anything more than
the forms of learning seen with other cognitive skills, including such mundane
motor skills as learning to ride a bike. In particular, there has been
resistance to the possibility that human biology includes any form of
specialization for language. This conflict is often referred to as the "nature
and nurture" debate. Of course, most scholars
acknowledge that certain aspects of language acquisition must result from the
specific ways in which the human brain is "wired" (a
"nature" component, which accounts for the failure of non-human
species to acquire human languages) and that certain others are shaped by the
particular language environment in which a person is raised (a
"nurture" component, which accounts for the fact that humans raised
in different societies acquire different languages). The as-yet unresolved
question is the extent to which the specific cognitive capacities in the
"nature" component are also used outside of language.
The Relationship Between Language
learning
The
relationship between language and culture is deeply rooted. Language is used to
maintain and convey culture and cultural ties. Different ideas stem from
differing language use within one’s culture and the whole intertwining of these
relationships start at one’s birth.
Written
by Aubrey Neil Leveridge for TEFL. The relationship between language and
culture is deeply rooted. Language is used to maintain and convey culture and
cultural ties. Different ideas stem from differing language use within one’s
culture and the whole intertwining of these relationships start at one’s birth.
When
an infant is born, it is not unlike any other infant born, in fact, quite
similar. It is not until the child is exposed to their surroundings that they
become individuals in and of their cultural group. This idea, which describes
all people as similar at birth, has been around for thousands of years and was
discussed by Confucius as recorded in the book by his followers, Analects (Xu,
1997). From birth, the child’s life, opinions, and language are shaped by what
it comes in contact with. Brooks (1968) argues that physically and mentally
everyone is the same, while the interactions between persons or groups vary
widely from place to place. Patterns which emerge from these group behaviours
and interactions will be approved of, or disapproved of. Behaviours which are
acceptable will vary from location to location (Brooks, 1968) thus forming the
basis of different cultures. It is from these differences that one’s view of
the world is formed. Hantrais (1989) puts forth the idea that culture is the
beliefs and practices governing the life of a society for which a particular
language is the vehicle of expression. Therefore, everyone’s views are
dependent on the culture which has influenced them, as well as being described
using the language which has been shaped by that culture. The understanding of
a culture and its people can be enhanced by the knowledge of their language.
This brings us to an interesting point brought up by Emmitt and Pollock (1997),
who argue that even though people are brought up under similar behavioural
backgrounds or cultural situations but however speak different languages, their
world view may be very different. As Sapir-Whorf argues, different thoughts are
brought about by the use of different forms of language. One is limited by the
language used to express one’s ideas. Different languages will create different
limitations, therefore a people who share a culture but speak different
languages, will have different world views. Still, language is rooted in
culture and culture is reflected and passed on by language from one generation
to the next (Emmitt & Pollock 1997). From this, one can see that learning a
new language involves the learning of a new culture (Allwright & Bailey 1991).
Consequently, teachers of a language are also teachers of culture (Byram 1989).
The
implications of language being completely entwined in culture, in regards for
language te aching and language policy are far reaching. Language teachers must
instruct their students on the cultural background of language usage, choose
culturally appropriate teaching styles, and explore culturally based linguistic
differences to promote understanding instead of misconceptions or prejudices.
Language policy must be used to create awareness and understandings of cultural
differences, and written to incorporate the cultural values of those being
taught.