TRAN KIEU MY AN, Ph. NGUYEN THI THU HANG, M. - HO THI HIEN, M. DOAN MINH HUE, M.
PRACTICAL GUIDES TO ENGLISH LEARNING HO CHI MINH UNIVERSITY OF INDUSTRIAL PUBLISHING HOUSE TRAN KIEƯ MY AN, Ph. - NGUYEN THI THU HANG, M. HO THI HIEN, M. - DOAN MINH HUE, M.
- NGO THI THUY NHU, M. PRACTICAL GUIDES TO ENGLISH LEARNING TRƯỜNG ĐAI HỌC CÔNG NGHIỆP TP.HCM ị THƯ, VIÊN MÃ VẠCH. I HO CHI MINH UNIVERSITY OF INDUSTRIAL PUBLISHING HOUSE Table of Contents PREFACE.3 CHAPTER 1 HOW DO PEOPLE LEARN LANGUAGES?.7 IL How do people learn languages?. What is students’ responsibility for their own learning?.
Activities and assignments.9 CHAPTER 2 LEARNING VOCABULARY. What should we learn?. How can we practice vocabulary?. Activities and assignments.
20 CHAPTER 3 LEARNING GRAMMAR. What should we learn?. How can we practice grammar?. Activities and assignments.
26 CHAPTER 4 LEARNING PRONUNCIATION. What should we learn?. How can we practice pronunciation?. Activities and assignments.
33 CHAPTER 5 LEARNING READING. What should we learn?. How can we practice reading?. Activities and Assignments.
37 CHAPTER 6 LEARNING LISTENING. 39 IL What should we learn?. How do we practice listening?. Activities and Assignments.
44 CHAPTER 7 LEARNING WRITING. What should we learn?. How to learn writing. Activities and Assignments.
51 CHAPTER 8 LEARNING SPEAKING. What should we learn?. How can we learn speaking?. Activities and assignments.
57 6 CHAPTER 1 HOW DO PEOPLE LEARN LANGUAGES? I. Introduction “Learning a language requires the operation of an innate capacity possessed by all human beings. The term ’’Learning” can be defined as; The way through which the art of using skill and practice is given to learn it than it is learning.) This chapter explains the process that people learn a language and the situation of learning English. Furthermore, the learners’ responsibility in their learning process is also mentioned.
With a sufficient understanding of the learning process, learners can use appropriate strategies and activities in language classes to enhance their language skills and knowledge. How do people learn languages? Learning a language is a process after which learners would be able to use the language to communicate with the minority of errors. During their learning process, Stephen Krashen (1982) believed that the role of the language teacher in the classroom was to provide comprehensible input. Then, learners will recognize the aspects of language, study the way it works, practice and use it.
The progress for a learner when learning a new item can be described as follows: Figure 1. Language Learning Process As mentioned above, the teacher is the one who provides input. However, the learners, after the process of recognizing, studying the rules, and practicing, will produce different types of output. Kumaravadivelu (2006) claims that that result is caused by several factors such as: 1.
individual factors: age and anxiety 2. negotiation factors: interaction and interpretation; 3. tactical factors: learning strategies and communication strategies; 4. affective factors: attitudes and motivation; 5.
knowledge factors: language knowledge and metalanguage knowledge; 6. environmental factors: social context and educational context (Kumaravadivelu, 2006, p. Learning English Discussion: Many people believe that, in order to succeed in learning English, learners should choose to learn “British English" or “American English". Do you agree with this view? Explain your choice.
Nowadays, the use of English has spread in many societies with many people using it alongside their mother tongue. According to Boampong, (2010), it is estimated that around a quarter of the world's population is already fluent or proficient in English (that's about 1. The first reason for this situation is because some countries are former British colonies. Second, a lot of scientific and technological information is published in English than any other languages in the world.
To access science and technology development, people should have knowledge of English. This leads to an increase in the number of people learning and using English for such purposes. And finally, the fact that some countries choose English as their second language also expands the use of English as a global language. The result of that situation is the increasing variation of the English language.
There are American English, British English, Malaysian English, Singlish (Singapore English), Filipino English etc. Then, which “English” should we learn? In any case, it is noted that despite the differences among different Englishes, they remain remarkably similar in their “standard” forms - the form used by educated speakers in each of their contexts. Then, choosing a particular English as a model to be learnt and used seems to be unnecessary unless the aim of learning English is to come and live in the community that uses that type of English., you do not need to learn American English unless you want to come and live in America. What is students’ responsibility for their own learning? In order to succeed in learning a language, according to Nation (2014), there are 4 principles you need to do when you are learning a foreign language: 1.
Think about your purpose of learning the language and learn what is most useful for you; Generally, the ultimate goals when learning English can be as follows: a. To speak English properly b. To read English with ease c. To listen English with ease d.
To write English properly 2. Spend an equal amount of time on the 4 skills (listening, Reading, speaking and Writing), on the language materials (grammar, pronunciation, lexis) and on developing fluency; 3. Apply the conditions that help learning such as varied meeting, repetition, attention etc. Keep motivated and work hard.
To sum up, students, with guidance from teachers, are the ones who take responsibility for their own learning. Their learning process is more likely to be successful if they actively set their goals, participate in many classroom activities and continue studying outside the classroom. Activities and assignments Take a few minutes to think about your purposes of learning English and answer the following questions: • What are your aims? I w ant to learn English in order to. • What level do you want to reach in English? I expect that I would be able to communicate well in English.
/1 will try to be able to speak English fluently. /1 intend to reach level C2 in English. • How can you achieve your goals? I’m going to practice listening for 30 minutes a day. / I’m going to write my diary in English to practice writing.
Conclusion We know that learning a language is a process. This chapter has described the process that people learn a language and the situation of learning English. Furthermore, the learners’ responsibility in their learning process has also been mentioned. Determining the particular goals for learning English, learners will be able to enhance their language skills and knowledge.
(2010), The Colonial Expansion of English - English as a global language. GRIN Verlag Kumaravadivelu, B. Understanding Language Teaching. London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publisher Krashen, s.
Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: Pergamon Press Nation, p. What do you need to know to learn a foreign language?. New Zealand: Victoria University of Wellington Patel, M.
English Language Teaching. Sunrise Publishers & Distributors 9 CHAPTER 2 LEARNING VOCABULARY I. Introduction In this chapter, we look at the concept of vocabulary, the significance of vocabulary in learning English, and the elements of vocabulary which learners should consider when learning English, some methods learners can try to improve their English vocabulary along with some suggested self-study activities. What is vocabulary? When it comes to “vocabulary” the learners would normally think of the number of English words they know.
According to the online Oxford Learners dictionary, “vocabulary” means all the words that a person knows or uses and all the words in a particular language. However, in learning a language, the learners should not only know single words (e., rain, smile, beautiful, usually) and compounds (e., blackboard, rush hour) but also need to learn about lexis- a bigger concept than that of vocabulary. According to Scrivener (2011), lexis “refers to our ‘internal database’ of words and complete ‘ready-made’ fixed’/semi- fixed/typical combinations of words”. He also stated clearly that lexis includes single words and lexical items like collocations (e., break a promise, make trouble) and chunks (e., To be honest with you, at the end of the day).To avoid the repetition in using vocabulary and lexical items, from now on in this chapter, the term “word” will be used as a representative term for both vocabulary and lexical items.
Why do we have to learn vocabulary? Wilkins (1972, p. Ill) states that without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed. The reasons for a language learner to learn vocabulary are obvious. Learners cannot express what they think if they lack the proper amount of vocabulary, even if they can manage with other ways like using nonverbal language - their ideas might not be able to be conveyed thoroughly.
In their process of acquiring receptive skills, the lack of vocabulary will lead to the failure in comprehending what they hear and read; it will lead to the failure in building and improving reading and listening sub-skills. What should we learn? It is undeniable that a learner’s vocabulary is critical to the understanding of the language. Does it mean that the more words and lexical items you know, the better you are as a language learner? And how does “knowing a word” truly mean? Linguists have stated that there are three main aspects of vocabulary knowledge including 10 meaning, form, and use. Each of these aspects contains smaller ones, some of which are presented as follows: 1.
Meaning The meaning of a new word is the first and foremost thing in getting to know a word. That is the definition(s) given in dictionaries. Almost all words have multiple meanings, some of which might vary slightly, while others can carry a completely different meaning from the I others. Harmer (2014) states that “What a word means is often defined by its relationship to ! other words” and these relationships include polysemy, synonym, antonym, hyponymy, connotation.
When first encountering an unfamiliar word, the learner might see that word in its written form or hear it spoken. In any case, to really know a word means the learners need to master both forms. Spelling/ written form Learners might make some spelling mistakes because of the length and complexity of a word’s written form. Some examples of the most frequent mistakes in spelling are “all together vs.
altogether, kindergarten, accommodation, convenience.” To avoid making confusing messages in written texts, learners should master as many spelling rules in English as possible. ị Some basic spelling rules in English: ị • Rules of making regular and irregular plural nouns. - add s to the end: pen- pens; tree-trees to make regular nouns plural; - add es to the end: watch- watches; kiss- kisses if the singular noun ends in -s, -ss, -sh, - ch, -x; - change the ending to ies'. company- companies if the singular noun ends in a consonant +y; - add an s to make it plural: day-days if the singular noun ends in vowel +y • letter “i” often goes before letter “e” when the sound is a long “e” -except after “c” (e., achieve -conceive) and “e” sounds like “a” in “neighbor" • doubling consonant rules (e., big- bigger; stop - stopped.) *Notes: there are always exceptions to those rules.
Learners can go to http://taurangagirlsenglish.eom/uploads/2/l/2/l/21215426/500 most misspelt wor ds.pdf to download the alphabetical list of common spelling mistakes. Spoken form/ pronunciation Clear pronunciation is one of the keys to effective communication. Negative impressions and misunderstandings might occur if words are not properly pronounced. Some learners, especially young learners, are able to pronounce words perfectly only by imitating English native speakers.