Advantages Of Learning English As A Second Language

In our modern education system many students are faced with the challenge of learning English as a Second Language (ESL). This can be a difficult transition period for students and a challenge for the educator as well. According to the U.S. Census in 2010 more than 55 million U.S. residents speak a language other than English at home (U.S. Census Bureau), the growing number of students who are learning English as a Second Language forces educators to become familiar with how we acquire and process language and develops new strategies for teaching English as a second language. Learning English as a second language is a barrier that must be overcome if the student is expected to progress through the American education system. It can have definite impacts on learning all other subjects, because if the student doesn’t have a mastery of English mechanics it affects the ability of that student to master other subject areas due to the language barrier.

Some school districts have implemented programs for teaching English Language Learners (ELL) but there isn’t a one size fits all approach that will work for all students. The problem we have discovered is in language acquisition; “the amount of time required for English proficiency depends on multiple factors such as age, prior schooling experiences, parents’ education level, the instruction provided, exposure to English, and teacher quality” (Johnson et al.,175). A popular debate centers on whether or not to use the students’ native language in the instruction or to immerse the student solely in English for instruction.

Understanding how language is acquired and processed can be beneficial to the learning process, and possibly find better way to teach ESL. ESL students face the dual c...

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...e to assist the students if the need arises. Once the ESL instructor has the weeks lesson plan they can begin developing content based instruction around whatever particular concepts are being covered. The ESL instructor should focus on core concepts and ideas and focus instruction on those areas, the ESL instructor should use vocabulary at grade appropriate level that is applicable to the subject matter. The content should be organized according to a theme, for maximum retention and the weekly instruction should be constructed in a way to have a series of related lessons on the same topic (Brown).

In conclusion, we have discussed the merits and flaws of several different methods of ESL instruction and found that the content based approach to ESL seems to be the most effective. We have examined different learning styles and how they are affect the learning process.