< Second Language Acquisition Assignment>

김 선영(Amy)

480

Introduction

What is English and Language? I’ve thought about it quite often. In Korea, the English ability has been overly emphasized. From my perspective it’s not only considered to be a language but also something valued as necessary for jobs and success.

Despite the importance of English, the quality of the English education system in Korea appears to be lacking.

So let me make my voice heard about my English learning experience with my beliefs toward English education.

Body

I started learning English when I became a Middle school student and a little bit curious about it, but I soon lost my all interests in it. The teacher had a definitive typical lecture (explainer) style and used only the duller and more boring GTM. Also he forced us to memorize lots of vocabulary words without teaching any phonics. His class made me really thinking English was so difficult just like solving math problems. In my belief, he should have considered the class’s level and teach phonology first for the beginner and approach it with ALM which I consider as the best method after finishing Phonics. I strongly believe language should become a habit before students have to emphasize on heavy grammar and lexis.

I started studying English myself after traveling abroad since I had met foreign friends and had trouble communicating with them. I had heard memorizing English sentences is one of the best ways to improve speaking skills so I did repeating and imitating after listening dialogues which are similar with ALM method, because my intelligence tend to be verbal and intrapersonal. But I found out the memorized sentences are hard to be applied when used in communication.

I signed up for a conversation class. It was sort of a modern classroom. The teacher was humorous, an involver and sometimes an enabler more than explainer. She made students participate in a variety of communicative activities such as prediction activities, problem solving tasks and language games which made me more interested in English. Plus, she drew out students experience and knowledge which is relevant to the topics.

conclusion

English has been really a hot potato and still controversial issue in Korea. Some say Grammar should not be taught and the English tests are old fashion. Others say that the structure between Korean and English is so different that grammar should be taught first and there are no ways as good as grammar written tests to measure student abilities easily.

I believe that the teacher should teach the 4 parts of language skills properly but production skills such as speaking and writing should be focused on more. Also communication has to be concentrated on more than accuracy.

The teacher should try to make an effort to create the best environment where students can learn and study in a more enjoyable way.