CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

Transcription

1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1. The Need for Language Learning Language is the dress of thought and the acquisition of language is the gift of Gods to mankind and mankind alone. Man s ability to acquire as many languages as he wants is one of the wonders of creation. He alone of all creations has the freedom to choose the language he wants to use in communication. As a child, he/she acquires the language of his/her parentshis/her First Language (L 1 ). This, he/she acquires without the aid of any formal instruction. He/she develops the four skills of Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing gradually as he/she grows up. The Skills of Listening and Speaking are acquired more or less naturally. The Reading Skill and Writing Skill have to be taught and need a certain amount of deliberate practice. But, it is in the acquisition of a new language- Second Language (L 2 ) (normally acquired after a few years of L 1 learning) that problems arise for the learner. It is in this context that the teacher of a Second Language (L 2 ) plays a major role. Language is taught in those communities whose culture has reached a certain level of progress. The main purpose of language

2 2 learning is to satisfy the need to communicate and the desire for historical permanence- for the record of the achievements of the community. Ancient writings have done just that. Each language has preserved for posterity the tradition and beauty of the ancient culture it represents. Examples are found in the Vedas and other Sanskrit books. Greek and Latin cultures have been preserved in the classics of Homer and Virgil. A study of these texts will reveal the cultural traditions of those times. In modern times, the study of modern languages has been prompted by the desire to keep abreast of modern progress. Commercial prosperity also has had a major role to play. Historical chance has given the English Language the coveted position of the most sought-after Second Language in the world. The fact that English is taught and learned by speakers of most of the languages of the world, namely- Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Spanish, Vietnamese etc, has given the language an International status. So, the demand for English is rather high all over the world. As a corollary to this, the need for English teachers who can effectively teach the Language as a Second Language is very great. Problems are faced by adult learners as a result of their having already learnt another language which in most cases is the Mother Tongue (MT). The language

3 3 already in the learner s repertoire has a sound system, pattern of sentence and structural devices which are at variance with those of the Target Language (TL) Motivation for the Study Most learners come to study L 2 (in this case, English) after having acquired the Mother Tongue (in this case, Malayalam). Therefore they face many difficulties in their attempt to study the English Language. It is therefore the English Language teacher, who has to play a tremendous role. The present investigator s past experience of teaching English in Colleges has shown the areas of difficulty, the Malayalam speaking learners face, when they attempt to use English. The areas of difficulty are numerous. This researcher proposes to concentrate on the following areas: i. Articles ii. Concord iii. Prepositions iv. Tense v. Word Order vi. Vocabulary Advantage of a Pedagogically Oriented Study

4 4. A pedagogically oriented Error Analysis will help identify these errors. The first stage of Error Analysis is identification of errors, the second stage is description of errors, the next phase is explanation of errors, and the final stage is the remedial process. Using the system of comparison and contrast (a Contrastive Analysis), the similarities and differences can be brought out. This will satisfy the main purpose of a study of this kind, as it gives an objective and scientific base for language teaching Second Language Acquisition (SLA) This is a process which consists of a chain of stages which begins at the input stage, moves on to acquisition stage and ends in language use. The acquisition stage is the stage that lies in between. For successful language acquisition, learners need access to input that is meaningful and comprehensible in nature. All learners have the capability of taking information from the input and organizing it within the framework of their current linguistic system and modifying and restructuring that system Distinction Between Learning and Acquisition Krashen (Krashen s Monitor Model 1 of Second Language 1.Krashen s Monitor Model Krashen uses the term Monitor to refer to the learner s capacity for modifying utterances through the application of consciously learned rules. He believed that

5 5 this capacity operates under these conditions- time, focus on form and knowledge of rules. Performance- 1976, 1977) makes a distinction between Learning and Acquisition. He refers to Learning as conscious learning of language rules and Acquisition refers to the internalisation of language rules and information. Both these processes occur in the development of a Second Language. The Second Language learner is faced with the grammar of the Second Language and the responsibility to develop the ability to put that knowledge to use. The learner first gets exposed to the surface structure. The learner will then have to know the rules underlying the syntactic, semantic and phonological patterns of the language. In the next stage, the learner has to develop the Skills necessary to translate the knowledge he/she gains, fluently in the Second Language Difference Between L 1 Acquisition and L 2 Acquisition Bernard Spolsky, in his paper Attitudinal Aspects of Second Language Learning, says that a major difference between the First and Second Language Acquisition is in the degree of variation in the levels of proficiency attained by learners. In the case of Second Language, proficiency ranges from no knowledge at all to nativelike ability.

6 The Significant Factors Among the factors that are signified are: i. Method ii. iii. iv. Age Aptitude Attitude Method Method is the most easily controllable factor. John Caroll s investigation of Foreign Language proficiency achieved by College Language Majors has shown that, the child as well as the adult learns a language better in a natural environment than in a classroom. Caroll (1967) found that students were generally poor at speaking and understanding the language they had been studying for four years at College. He also found that the time spent overseas produced better results Age Age is another factor to be reckoned with. Evidences suggest that, up to puberty children can acquire more than one language at once, going through a stage of confusion, but usually separating the two ultimately. Beyond puberty, there is more difficulty and a

7 7 much greater degree of variation in the speed of level of acquisition Aptitude Caroll (1962, 1967) and Pilmsleur (1962, 1963, 1966) have found that aptitude can be measured to some degree as a learner s ability: i. to remember Foreign Language material ii. to handle phonetic aspects of the Language iii. to make grammatical analysis of sentences iv. to find elements with analogous functions in his Language Attitude Attitude is the fourth factor that accounts for variations in the level of achievement in Second Language Acquisition. The Attitude of people to each other in a Second Language learning situation is very significant. The relationships that influence are those between: i. the learner and the teacher ii. iii. the learner and his peers the learner and the speakers of the language.

8 8 These relationships count a lot in the achievement of the learner. Each relationship has been shown to be a factor controlling the learner s motivation to acquire the Target Language. 1.4.Motivation Successful Language Acquisition depends on another very important factor, viz, Motivation. Wallace Lambert and his colleagues have drawn attention to the importance of what they call Integrative Motivation to the learning of Foreign Language. Students are most successful when they study a new language because they admire the culture of which the language is a part and, therefore, wish to become familiar or become a part of the culture. Another type of motivation is Instrumental Motivation, where the purpose of language study is utilitarian. Reasons are considered instrumental, if they suggest that the language is being used for such a purpose as to fulfil an educational requirement, to get a better position, or to read material in the language. Second Language situations, which permit greater contact with the language and which provide extensive exposure, contribute to success in learning the Language. The most successful language teaching programmes utilize all the three factors: i. Integrative Motivation ii. Instrumental Motivation

9 9 iii. Extensive Exposure to the language in a Second Language learning context Differences Between Adult Language Learners and Children Adult language learners differ from children in that i. Adults have already mastered one language, and, therefore, they already know a large number of linguistic rules and forms. ii. Adults nervous systems, and muscles of their vocal tracts, are accustomed to transmitting and carrying out instructions for particular sets of phonetic features. iii. Adults have acquired certain strategies for acquiring new materials. iv. Second Language learning is both easier and more difficult for an adult. It is easier in that adults are more knowledgeable about the world and about the language and this knowledge may permit concentration on the task of language learning. So adults can succeed in becoming fluent speakers of a new language in a short period of time. Language Acquisition is more difficult for an adult as many adults have an accent even after prolonged contact and use of the Second Language.

10 The Teacher s Role In learning / teaching a new language, the chief requirements are: a. the achievement of mastery of the sound system of the language b. mastery of the features of arrangements of sounds that constitute its structure c. a sufficient vocabulary to operate the structure d. the ability to use structural devices in an automatic manner. Mastery over the Target Language (TL), which in this case is English, can only be achieved by making use of a scientific approach with the aid of selected and organized materials. With the desired materials, the learner must give himself/herself wholeheartedly to learning the new language. Mastery of any language is always at the levels of Production and Recognition, which constitute the two main aspects of language control. An adult who has learnt one language can learn another within a reasonable time if he/she has sound guidance, proper materials and if he/she co-operates thoroughly The Material Used The material used for analysis consists of samples of written composition of students studying in various classes in Arts and

11 11 Science Colleges. The material used gives first hand information on the difficulties faced by L 2 learners, and the common errors committed by them. The subjects of the study are those, who have had fewer hours of English language teaching when compared to that of the Mother Tongue (Malayalam). Further, the language of communication is for the most part Malayalam, with English being very rarely used The Framework As the purpose of this study is pedagogical, the study makes use of the structural approach. The structural approach provides for a structural description of the grammatical categories involved. It also gives adequate support for a pedagogically oriented Contrastive Analysis (CA). Further, it also provides adequate techniques for remedial teaching.