English Education

A positive teacher-student relationship is the fundamental and necessary building block for learning. Students will want to learn when they respect and trust you, and when they believe you have their best interests in mind. A welcoming environment will also help students feel a sense of security and belonging. Respect for the primary language and culture Your goal is to help your students learn English and grade-appropriate subject matter. At the same time, it is important to show your students that you respect their primary language and to model for them that you, too want to learn phrases in a new language. For example: • Learn to say their names correctly. • Avoid the temptation of giving your students English language names unless they make this request. • Invite your students to share basic phrases in their language— good morning , good-bye , see you tomorrow , and other phrases that everyone can learn and enjoy using on a daily ba...

Of course, many factors affect an individual’s ability to learn English. The most important ones are age of acquisition, amount of education in the student’s primary language, motivation to learn English, and language learning aptitude. Age of acquisition Children under the age of about eight learn language differently from older learners. Younger children use innate language learning abilities and can acquire native-like fluency, including pronunciation. Older learners rely on general cognitive learning strategies. They can learn to speak, read, and write perfectly well; however, after about the age of 13, they will begin to lose the ability to completely acquire standard English pronunciation (Lightbown & Spada, 1999). Education in the primary language Schooling and literacy level in the primary language influence a student’s ability to learn English. Take the case of a high school student from Mexico who had a strong background in the ...

Family plays important roles in the process of students’ learning . Students have much time in their family and of course will influence their learning process. Every teacher should consider their students conditions. Every student may has different family situation. Family expectations and socioeconomic status play a large role in your students’ English development . Typically, the more education the parents have, the more they will encourage and directly support their children in learning English and doing well in school. Keep in mind, however, that many immigrant parents with limited education are eager for their children to learn English and obtain a good education in hopes of bettering their lives. Learning and literacy are generally linked to the level of education of the parents, but not necessarily to the parents’ current line of work. Consider this example from Carmen’s teaching experience: Antonio busses dishes in a restaurant. At a p...

Language is influenced by purpose and context . This article is the last element of language. Click here to read my first posting about eight elements of language . Maybe you have noticed that the way you use language differs depending on the person you are talking to and maybe even the context of the conversation. For example, you use language differently with your dentist versus how you speak with your students. You speak with close family members in a casual manner, which is different from conversing with someone you meet for the first time in a formal setting. Sociolinguists have even studied the different ways in which men and women use language. Classroom language varies as well. An important distinction is language that is used for social purposes versus academic purposes. Social language is here-andnow language, whose meaning is context-linked and obvious. Playground or lunchtime language are examples of social language. Similarly, written la...

This posting is a continuation of the previous posting, the eight elements of language. The seventh will be explained here. Language is learned in social contexts . We stated above that social interactionists believe that language learning resides in meaningful social interactions within a supportive environment . Humans are social and curious, and we want to be included when we’re interested in what’s happening around us. So, an environment that sparks a desire to be involved and to know what is going on is critical. Another important element for the learner is a guide who knows how to listen, how to explain, how to answer questions, and how to negotiate meaning in that environment. For young children, caretakers are the guides who interact in meaningful ways. For English learners, the teacher and friends are the guides who construct meaning through comprehensible language input. Of course, the learner is not a passive recipient. Negotiating meaning is a joint venture.  Learner a...

Language has varieties . That’s our topic. Before discussing about language variaties, we should know the definition of language variety first. We can think of language variety in two different ways. First, variety can refer to the scope of sounds and sound systems that are humanly possible. Some languages spoken in southern Africa incorporate different types of clicks. There are languages that include nasal sounds, throaty guttural sounds, and variations on tone and pitch of a single sound. Humans have included an amazing array of sounds found in languages around the world. A second way we can think about language variety is within a single language. Spoken English varies across regions and even socioeconomic class. Every language has such varieties. A regional variety is usually referred to as an accent and implies a difference in pronunciation. A regional variety may also be called a dialect. Note, however, that dialects may include grammatical and lexical (or word) variations, as...

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