scholarly journals Communication Strategies in English Second Language Acquisition

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-102
Author(s):  
Pasca Kalisa

This research aims to describe and analyze communication strategies used by learners in the acquisition of a second language. In this case, this research analyzes the use of communication strategies in which English is the language of instruction.This study involved 21 students at the Department of English Language and Literature, in one of the state universities in Semarang, Indonesia. These students are second year students in the English Language and Literature Department. This research is a case study in the purpose of investigating the communication strategies used when the participants are engaged when the learning activities take place. The participants are given a conversation project in pairs and exposed to a variety of setting such as in the restaurant, in the professor’s room, and in a company. Data collection was carried out through video and audio recordings. The data obtained are then categorized into 13 categories of communication strategies (Dornyei, 1995) and sorted to obtain the frequency of occurrence. The findings indicate that the students mostly use time-gaining strategy (36%) to overcome the problem in their communication with the interlocutors. It is then followed by the use of meaningless words which occurs very frequently (18%) from all utterances, “repetition” strategy which occurs rather frequently about 16% of the total, literal translation (13%), and “use of non-linguistics means” (10%). In conclusion, choices of communication strategies are highly influenced by the level of the conversation tasks given (Wongsawang, 2001). The occurrence of certain types of communication strategies depends on the tasks given to the students and the level of difficulty of those tasks.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francis Bailey ◽  
Ahmed Kadhum Fahad

Stephen Krashen has a long and enduring legacy in the field of second language acquisition. His “Input Hypothesis” was among the very first attempts to create a coherent theoretical account of second language learning. Krashen argued that learners can acquire language through the process of comprehending it. While elements of his model have been extensively critiqued, this idea has endured and offers teachers a clear mandate to provide learners with abundant opportunities to making meaning of the target language. Utilizing a case study of an English language learner, Krashen’s model is challenged and enriched by considering the role that motivation and identity play in learning. Teachers tapping into an important source of learner motivation, role models drawn from the local community or broader society, can inspire and energize students’ studies and help them visualize a life in which a second language plays a vital role. Building upon Krashen’s idea of the importance of language teachers and programs creating robust reading programs for a sustained engagement with second language print resources, the authors propose to expand his vision and include all manner of multimedia and technologies. However, such a program can only succeed if teachers mediate their learners’ social identities and motivations for sustained second language learning.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 540-550
Author(s):  
Francis Bailey ◽  
Ahmed Kadhum Fahad

Stephen Krashen has a long and enduring legacy in the field of second language acquisition. His “Input Hypothesis” was among the very first attempts to create a coherent theoretical account of second language learning. Krashen argued that learners can acquire language through the process of comprehending it. While elements of his model have been extensively critiqued, this idea has endured and offers teachers a clear mandate to provide learners with abundant opportunities to making meaning of the target language. Utilizing a case study of an English language learner, Krashen’s model is challenged and enriched by considering the role that motivation and identity play in learning. Teachers tapping into an important source of learner motivation, role models drawn from the local community or broader society, can inspire and energize students’ studies and help them visualize a life in which a second language plays a vital role. Building upon Krashen’s idea of the importance of language teachers and programs creating robust reading programs for a sustained engagement with second language print resources, the authors propose to expand his vision and include all manner of multimedia and technologies. However, such a program can only succeed if teachers mediate their learners’ social identities and motivations for sustained second language learning.


2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 1218-1224
Author(s):  
Ms. Aletta Mweneni Hautemo ◽  
Mr. Lukas Homateni Julius

Majority of Namibian learners are not native speakers of English, that is, they barely speak English in their homes. Yet English is the medium of instruction in many Namibian schools. Many Namibian learners therefore face the double challenge of acquiring the English as the language of teaching and learning (Medium of Instruction) and at the same time developing the appropriate reading and writing proficiency needed to meet the requirements of the curriculum. This situation has created numerous teaching and learning problems which ultimately contribute to poor literacy levels among many Namibian learners.This paper focuses on language acquisition and literacy. It explores factors that contributes to effective English language acquisition as well as investigate and evaluate how the school context supports English language acquisition of the Upper Primary learners at an urban school in Namibia. Since the study targeted young learners, it has covered their reading skills, reading tools and resources such as the library and classroom which provides a rich learning environment. A qualitative interpretive approach was used to explore the factors that contribute to effective learners English second language acquisition. The theoretical framework was informed by Krashens conception of acquisition (1981; 1982). Data collection methods consisted of questionnaires and interviews were used. The findings indicated that the provision of well-structured classroom activities containing comprehensible input structures a bit beyond the learners current level and a low affective filter to allow them to acquire the second language easily. Moreover, error-based activities help learners to test hypothesis, revise and modify them and in the process develop good language awareness skills that help them to acquire and learn the language consciously. This paper suggests that a good supporting environment for reading, which is scaffold by enough assistance by the teachers and peers helps learners develop good language acquisition and learning skills.


Author(s):  
Jumadil Jumadil ◽  
Emzir Emzir ◽  
Ninuk Lustyantie

This paper discusses the acquisition of English as a Foreign language on coachman of cidomob. In this study  the researchers applied a case study. The purpose of this study was to find deeper, how Cidomo coaches acquired English, the obstacles faced in acquiring English, and the strategy of English acquisition used. To get the data in these study researchers conducted observations in three months and in-depth interviews with two informants who had been previously chosen. After obtaining the data  the researcher conducted data reduction, data presentation and conclusions by using Mile & Huber man’s data analysis technique. The  result  it  found that  both of  coachman Cidomo  had acquired  English as  foreigners by listening to the native speakers, known through their native friends, imitating it and afterwards practicing with the tourist and their  native friends, while the obstacles faced by them were pronunciation, changing sounds of several phonemes such as phoneme F to P, V to  F and B to  P and the difficulty in memorizing vocabulary because they have been acquiring that second  language since they were  forty years old. Further, the strategy of English acquisition they applied respectively started from  memorizing utterances  such as  greetings, asking for permission, saying  goodbye, and after that they memorizing vocabularies related to their job ranging from objects to the natural environment around them to  complete and improve their second language acquisition.


Jezikoslovlje ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 447-473
Author(s):  
Mateja Hendrih ◽  
Stela Letica Krevelj

Due to their features of multi-modal presentation and their abundance in terms of availability and diversity, the media have been assumed to have a distinct effect on second language acquisition (SLA). Although their beneficial effect on overall SLA has been found in various studies, very few of them examined the characteristics of different types of media in relation to how they may influence second language (L2) vocabulary acquisition at an early age. We present a case study of a 9-year-old Croatian girl who had achieved high competence in the English language primarily through exposure to television (TV) content in English. We examined her production for the evidence that some features of television as a medium might have influenced the development of her vocabulary and the way she experienced and used the L2. The production data was collected in a series of unstructured conversations in the informal atmosphere of the participant’s home. Additional data on the participant’s language learning background were collected in interviews with the participant and her parents. The results suggest that exposure to TV as a medium, which provides opportunities for repeated exposure to rich input, contextualized language, and a combination of visual and aural stimuli, may have an important influence on L2 vocabulary acquisition. However, it has to be emphasized that the influence was evidenced in the production of a highly motivated language learner in an environment that was truly supportive of her language development.


2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 46-54
Author(s):  
Irmala Sukendra ◽  
Agus Mulyana ◽  
Imam Sudarmaji

Regardless to the facts that English is being taught to Indonesian students starting from early age, many Indonesian thrive in learning English. They find it quite troublesome for some to acquire the language especially to the level of communicative competence. Although Krashen (1982:10) states that “language acquirers are not usually aware of the fact that they are acquiring language, but are only aware of the fact that they are using the language for communication”, second language acquisition has several obstacles for learners to face and yet the successfulness of mastering the language never surmounts to the one of the native speakers. Learners have never been able to acquire the language as any native speakers do. Mistakes are made and inter-language is unavoidable. McNeili in Ellis (1985, p. 44) mentions that “the mentalist views of L1 acquisition hypothesizes the process of acquisition consists of hypothesis-testing, by which means the grammar of the learner’s mother tongue is related to the principles of the ‘universal grammar’.” Thus this study intends to find out whether the students go through the phase of interlanguage in their attempt to acquire second language and whether their interlanguage forms similar system as postulated by linguists (Krashen).


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 199-226
Author(s):  
Dan Jiang

AbstractThe roles of interaction have been studied for several decades. Recent studies have turned to investigate “the details of which components of interaction might be more or less effective in which contexts with which learners” (Loewen, Shawn & Masatoshi Sato. 2018. Interaction and instructed second language acquisition. Language Teaching 51(3). 285–329: 286). This case study, based on three unstructured interactions outside the classroom between two L2 Mandarin Chinese learners, investigates the learning opportunities these interactions brought about in terms of helping them to increase in control over forms that had already been encountered inside the classroom. Using the concept of the language-related episode (Swain, Merrill & Sharon Lapkin. 1998. Interaction and second language learning: Two adolescent French immersion students working together. The Modern Language Journal 82(3). 320–337), this study sets focus on learning opportunities for lexis- and grammar-related items. It finds learning opportunities arise as the two peers negotiate for meaning motivated by the need to comprehend, strive to use the L2 to express/co-express themselves, and improve their form through the other’s feedback. In addition, lexis-related learning is found to be very positive in this study. The dictionary played an indispensable role in facilitating the learners when they encountered lexis-related issues. Further, it enabled the learners to learn new vocabulary when driven by communicative needs. In comparison, the grammar-related learning is found to be relatively complicated. And the fact the learners had nowhere to resort to concerning grammatical issues attributed to it. In terms of the different types of interactions, compared to learning through negotiation for meaning and feedback, output and co-construction/collaboration were found to be most productive in promoting the learning.


2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-102
Author(s):  
Julia Albarracin ◽  
Guadalupe Cabedo-Timmons ◽  
Gloria Delany-Barmann

This article investigated the intrinsic, extrinsic, and integrative orientations shaping reading and speaking English skills among adult Mexican immigrants in two gateway communities in Illinois. Intrinsic orientations refer to reasons for second language (L2) learning derived from one’s inherent pleasure and interest in the activity. Extrinsic orientations refer to reasons that are instrumental to some consequence. In turn, integrative orientation refers to social identity issues that are addressed by neither the intrinsic nor the extrinsic orientations. Findings indicated that whereas extrinsic and integrative orientations influenced English language skills, intrinsic orientations did not. More specifically, immigrants had multiple extrinsic reasons to be motivated to learn the language, including succeeding in the United States, finding (better) jobs, and communicating with health providers, bank tellers, and grocery store employees. In turn, both quantitative and qualitative analyses showed that closeness and openness toward L2 group influenced the desire to learn the language.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Asieh Amini ◽  
Hiwa Weisi

PurposeGiven the significance of willingness to communicate and its integral role in the field of foreign/second language acquisition (F/SLA), this quantitative study intends to examine the relationship between sensory emotioncy types and teacher immediacy with second language learners' willingness to communicate (WTC).Design/methodology/approachA total number of 280 students majoring in teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL), and English Language and Literature completed three scales of Sensory Emotioncy Type (SET), Willingness to Communicate and Teacher Immediacy (TI). For data analysis, Pearson correlation coefficient, multiple regression analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM) were employed.FindingsThe results of SEM showed that learners' WTC was significantly predicted by emotioncy and teacher immediacy. Further, reports from correlational and regression analyses revealed a significantly positive correlation, first, between teacher immediacy and learners' WTC, secondly, between emotioncy and learners' WTC.Research limitations/implicationsThe main limitation of this study was that the participants were selected from one context with relatively a small sample which might restrict the generalization. Nonetheless, the present study findings might extend ancillary horizons and provided worthwhile insights into the perception of teacher immediacy and emotioncy on students' willingness to communicate.Practical implicationsThe significance of the current study lies in its theoretical contribution to the notion of WTC and its pedagogical implications and suggestions to the benefits of rejuvenating second language teaching and learning. Findings of this study help pre-service and in-service teachers in providing them more robust picture of learners' individual differences; and hence exert the most appropriate tasks which learners have the most degree of familiarity and better to say, emotioncy.Originality/valueIn the current study notable results were obtained which would be efficacious to the present literature on the EFL teacher immediacy, emotioncy and willingness to communicate. First and foremost, the findings added to a growing body of literature on emotioncy as a relatively novel concept in academic settings and teacher immediacy , and willingness to communicate which have gained scant attention in the field.


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 55-69
Author(s):  
Hafilah Zainal Abidin ◽  
Taufik Lock Kim Wai

Learning literature, as part of the English Language Syllabus, has been practiced in many countries. In Malaysia, literature is incorporated as a component and an authentic means of learning the language with the hope that students acquire the desired language skills. However, poetry, one of the genres in the component, is the least favourable among students. This paper investigates students’ attitude towards learning poetry and the challenges they encountered learning poetry. Data from 120 respondents were collected through questionnaire and interviews. The findings revealed that the selection of texts for poetry in the literature component and teacher’s methodology play a role in cultivating students' interest in learning not only the language but also the context, culture, and values as well as inculcating a positive attitude towards learning poetry in second language acquisition.


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