1. INTRODUCTION
For a long period of time, the teaching of dictionary skills has not been included in textbooks as apparently that they did not play an important role in foreign language learning. As a consequence, the use of dictionaries was discouraged in the English classroom setting.
A similar situation happened with the use of translation in EFL classes when communicative approaches started being established. However, nowadays the situation has changed and both, dictionaries and translation, are starting to be recognised again as useful skills in language teaching and learning.
2. USE OF DICTIONARIES IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING
From my point of view, dictionaries are valuable learning tools as they offer students the opportunity
…show more content…
This is the reason why language instructors should teach students how to use dictionaries adequately, making them aware of the information they contain (pronunciation, definition, type of word) and their usefulness. This will provide students with the opportunity of becoming autonomous language learners and practitioners. For instance, dictionaries offer a fast way to know the meaning of an unknown word when reading a text as well as they are an essential tool when writing assignments in order to check the spelling of uncertain words. Nevertheless, dictionaries do not only help students in their language process but also in their educational …show more content…
2. USE OF TRANSLATION IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING
The inclusion or exclusion of students’ native language in English language classrooms has been a controversial issue for a long time (Brown, 2000). The use of translation in EFL lessons has been questioned for many years. However, recently, the use of the mother tongue has been further acknowledged that its use can have a positive impact in foreign language teaching and learning.
As Shiyab and Abdullateef (2001) stated, translation is extremely important for foreign language teaching because it allows conscious learning and control of the foreign language. Furthermore, it reduces native language interference.
Although foreign language teachers should use the target language as much as possible making the effort of adopting an appropriate speech style easily understandable for students, it is a real fact that not everything can be explained and that students will not always comprehend what teachers are explaining. In these situations the use of translation would be a valuable solution. Additionally, some experts consider that “translation should yield useful information as it brings up the similarities and differences between one language and another. It is in this particular way that translation facilitates and
“Mother Tongue” is an essay that show the power of language and how Amy Tan uses the many forms of English and the different ways in which the language she knew impacted her life. I feel connected to Tan’s essay because I also come from a multilingual home. I have smart emigrant parents who are educated, but even though they are educated they still need my help with communicating with people occasionally. I believe the most important idea in Tan’s “Mother Tongue” is the limitation that an imperfect English can cause in a society and the richness that such English can bring to
Because America is such a diverse country, public schools are faced with the challenge of providing students from all over the world with a quality education. As Chen points out “public schools have embraced the linguistic challenge presented by immigrant students” (¶1). Then, No Child Left Behind law was approved, and it required every public school should have an English Secondary Language (ESL) program that will provide the “academic support” for English Language Learners (ELLs). ELL parents are happy that their children are getting education help from the school, but it has raised the question of how successful are the ESL programs? Do ESL programs provide enough “academic support” to all ELL students? Do ESL programs have enough tools to help students learn English? Some ELL parents complain that ESL programs do not help their child learn English. A successful ESL program is not based solely on the test scores, but also the ability to connect parents, teachers, and students together to strengthen tools that will help ELL students to learn a new language in reading, writing, and speaking.
First, if you copy the dictionary page by page, you may remember the words, but you won’t know how to use them in a sentence. And it is so easy to forget the meaning of the words! Here, I take myself as an example, when I was a high school student, my English teacher always made us copy the vocabulary list at the back of the book. I just write the words and its Chinese meaning. On the exam, the way did not work very well. I just know the meaning of it, but I can’t use it to make a sentence. So, I still can not improve my grade of English, I can’t recognize the word
When visiting just about any school across America, students who attend come from all over the globe. This raises the question across America about bilingual education. This can create many challenges in and out of the classroom. The classroom should be a safe place for all students regardless of what native language they speak. In the essay Lost in translation written by Eva Hoffman, describes a foreign student who tries hard to fit in. Instead, Eva begins to feel angry, hurt and confused because people laugh at her. In Guiding Principles for Dual Language Education by Elizabeth R. Howard, Julie Sugarman, Donna Christian Center for Applied Linguistics Kathryn J. Lindholm-Leary San José State University David Rogers Dual Language Education of New Mexico. Guiding principles gives great ideas to educators to stop kids from making other students feel the way that Eva felt. After reading several articles about bilingual education, it is evident that all children in school should learn English but never lose their native language. When all the students speak one language, students will be less likely to make fun of each other. A good educator should learn enough foreign languages to aid them in effective communication in their classroom although; if an educator does not speak a foreign language, they should recruit within the classroom students to be peer mentors. However, a teacher should be willing to listen and encourage the students. Above all a good educator should be a good role model to their students by respecting their heritage and their language.
Vocabulary knowledge is highly correlated with reading comprehension and general academic success. Oxford Dictionaries defines vocabulary as “the body of words used in a particular language” (Oxford Dictionaries, 2013, para. 1). Vocabulary knowledge can be demonstrated in two ways: receptively or expressively. Knowledge of the words we see and hear would be described as the individual’s receptive vocabulary. Expressive vocabulary consists of the words that are used to convey information, by either writing or speaking. Typically, receptive vocabulary is larger than expressive vocabulary. Although individuals may understand the general idea of a word in their receptive vocabulary, they might lack the knowledge of the true definition that would be needed in order to use the word in their expressive vocabulary (Kamil & Hiebert, in press). Vocabulary development is important for a variety of reasons.
In order to enhance their vocabulary, to improve their comprehension of the text, students much first have background knowledge of basic definitions that will help them connect and build new vocabulary with former vocabulary. The students must also have the ability to look at the context of an unfamiliar word and be able to decipher the meaning based on the words or phrases that surround it. The foundational skills of accomplishing this is through studying early fundamental vocabulary words and then connecting new words with priorly known words of similar meaning. (Center for Research on Education, n.d.)
Another thing that you should remember is that it’s impossible for you to follow the process of teaching and learning in the class while you are busy looking up each word in your dictionary. Your coach is a living dictionary in the class. that is always open in front of you. Because of that, so that the process of learning and teaching in the class can run smoothly and provide much benefit, it is better for you to ask your coach rather than busy turning pages in your dictionary while the process of learning and teaching is continueing. Beside wasting a lot of time and energy, it cause you can not study and learn at a maximum level.
...ns. I know the students will have to hear how that word is used several times before remembering it, whether it’s heard at home or school. Even though these are 1st graders, I would introduce the dictionary to them and explain that it contains meanings of words in it. I would chose two vocabulary words a week for them to learn out of the book I would read to them for that week. I would also provide them with worksheets and have them to write short sentences with the words to help them learn the meaning of the word.
The idea to include L1 as part of the language teaching system has been debated upon in recent years. The strong anti-L1 suggest on a complete prohibition of L1 in classrooms, while many others see L1 as a tool to better students’ learning of the TL. This section will highlight the pros and cons arguments for using the L1 in classrooms, along with further evidence supporting the advantages mother tongue bring to the language learning, and teaching process.
Richards, J. C., Platt, J., & Plat, H. (2000). Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied linguistics. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.
The increasing impact of globalization has, in recent years, caused a significant shift in the goals of foreign language education from communicative competence to a requirement for intercultural communicative competence (Byram, 1997). He defined intercultural competence as the ability to establish and maintain relations with members of other culture but not necessarily linked to foreign language proficiency while intercultural communicative competence implies that the learner can do this in a foreign language (Helm & Guth, 2010). However, in a traditional language classroom, the focus of language teaching is to develop reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills. If the focus on language teaching is to improve this set of
To begin with a brief definition of translation, it can be stated that it is basically transferring the words included in one language to the other by making necessary changes and sticking to the source language taken from either the source text or source speech. With the help of rapid technology and the network among countries, the significance given to translation has become an indispensable part of wide range of business and communication purposes. The source determines whether it will be a job of translators or interpreters. It is important to refer each of them by explaining the differences between them at this point.
If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his own language that goes to his heart.” ‒ Nelson Mandela. Since the 1960’s learning a second language has decreased by 30 percent in today’s society. People who wish to learn an additional language often do so to communicate with people who reside in different countries. With an increase in today’s globalization, it is forcing companies throughout the world to break the language barrier. However, with the advancement of technology, numerous citizens find it unnecessary to learn another language, as a translation is at the tip of their fingers. The methods of learning a foreign language can differentiate between people. Nevertheless it has been
As time goes by and as the global community develops, the world grows more and more international, making second or third language acquisition become necessary to the majority. With the growing importance of multiple language ability, more and more parents think of bilingual or multilingual education, which means acquisitions of two or more languages, for their kids. In fact, we do have many reasons showing why multilingual education is important and beneficial, such as aspects of interpersonal relationship, employment, brain health, and so on.
The issue focused on importance of learning of foreign languages. Many people ask "Why should I learn foreign languages?" Learning a foreign language takes assiduity and free time. In order to understand this importance we need first to understand benefits of knowing and learning foreign languages. I offer several groups of these benefits below, which may help to convince you to take the plunge, if you need such persuasion. One groups of benefits represent economic and practical reasons, others have intellectual and even sentimental content, but whatever reasons you choose, you will have a clear idea of why learning foreign language so important and how it can help to motivate you in your studies.