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Example research essay topic: Ultimate Goal Target Language - 1,809 words

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... ion experience coupled with the amount of exposure to the foreign language assures that students have the necessary language skills to deal with the curriculum in the upper elementary grades. (Met) Bill Snyder, a graduate student of TEFL program at Bilkent University in Turkey also pointe's out one crucial advantage of an immersion: no language is a direct translation of any other, and if you really want to get the feel of the target language, you have to learn the target language in the target language. An immersion atmosphere usually shows that is possible to use the target language as a vehicle of communication (with all its frustrations) rather than an object of study. (Snyder) Looking at the learning path of English I have traveled on, I had an experience of a six-week immersion in English that totally changed my life. I started taking English lessons at the age of nine. In class, I did not speak much because I thought I spoke really terrible English. I still remember being embarrassed when being asked to read a passage or a sentence or two.

I did not like English much at that time and I was always reluctant to go to the classes. At the age of about eleven, I went to a different English class. Because of the previous classes I had, and because I knew vocabulary such as blackboard or classroom, I could probably surpass everyone in class when it comes to grammar and spelling. But still, I did not speak much English. In fact, I even had problems pronouncing my own English name, Catherine. In the summer of 1992, some time before my elementary school graduation, my mother knew from one of the teachers at school that a professor from the States was visiting the Teachers College in my hometown.

He was arranging a homestay program, hoping to bring back some students to the States to spend the summer in Kokomo, Indiana. My mother signed me up and sent me onto the flight along with 12 kids to Indiana to spend the summer. Each of us was assigned an American family to stay with. From about 8 A. M to noon, we had classes at a church and learned vocabulary and grammar. Since the teachers were Americans and they did not speak any Chinese, the only way to communicate with them was to speak English though a lot of body language was used.

In the afternoon, we were taken to the town to visit the library, the city hall, the fire department, the supermarket, and to use the vocabulary we learned in the morning. Even though I did not speak much English during the six-week period, when I came back from the States to attend junior high school, to my surprise, I found that not only did I have more confidence in using English to convey my thoughts and feelings, but also my accent had changed. Moreover, I have ever since then realized that English is a living language. During the six-week program, I seem to have undergone a process of language acquisition. For some of the linguists, we acquire L 1 but we learn L 2. However, Stephen Krashen, who is a very famous professor at the University of Southern California believes that L 2 can be acquired.

According to Krashen, there are two independent systems of second language performance: the acquired system and the learned system. The acquired system or acquisition is the product of a subconscious process very similar to the process children undergo when they acquire their first language. It requires meaningful interaction in the target language - natural communication - in which speakers are concentrated not in the form of their utterances, but in the communicative act. The learned system or learning is the product of formal instruction and it comprises a conscious process which results in conscious knowledge about the language, for example knowledge of grammar rules.

According to Krashen learning is less important than acquisition. (Schtz) The concept of second language acquisition can be supported by other linguists such as Chomsky, who suggested that children had an innate Language Acquisition Device (LAD) (Lyon 14. ) Krashen once said: "Acquisition requires meaningful interaction in the target language - natural communication - in which speakers are concerned not with the form of their utterances but with the messages they are conveying and understanding. " (q. In Schtz) Holzman in his The Language of Children raises a notion of whole language for second-language acquisition. He noted that it is called whole language because listening, talking, reading, and writing are undertaken as they are naturally needed to address the students goals. All aspects of language are viewed as acquired rather than as separate skills (Holzman 224. ) Second language acquisition is possible only under the circumstances when L 2 is instructed naturally like the way we acquire L 1. When we acquire L 1, we do not use another language as the medium. By the same token, to create a natural environment of L 2 learning, we do not necessarily need L 1 to be the medium.

One possible perspective to approach the problem of whether to use L 1 or L 2 is to look at the ultimate goal of learning and teaching a second language. Are students learning a second language to pass exams, to get good grades, or to be able to communicate with people who speak the language they are learning? Are teachers teaching a second language to accumulate fortune, to complete the work they are assigned, or to introduce a concept of communication to the students? Even though it is a fact that most of the junior high and senior high school students in Taiwan are under a great deal of pressure to earn good grades, it is still crucial for the teachers to stress a healthier attitude towards language learning.

A language is not only a subject like mathematics or science, it is a form of art with which people with different tongues convey their thoughts, feelings, cultures, and their life styles. As some scholars in the field of cultural studies might say that word is the death of real, sometimes a language does not seem to be so dependable as it appears. That is, the language that we receive or produce does not always promise the function we wish. This explains why people encounter misunderstandings through languages and why there are so many unexplainable aspects in each language. However, it is yet the magic that we use to break down the barriers between people of different life styles and cultures. With this purpose, the learning of languages does stand out to be distinct from all other studying we do at school.

While teachers might have to run through a certain amount of teaching materials within a short period of time, using L 1 helps complete the activities at a rapid rate. Nevertheless, it does not cater to the ultimate goal of language learning; the most significant part of language learning, which is the concept of communicative competence is thus erased. Keeping the notion in mind, the teachers should be asking themselves a question: What am I going to accomplish in the language classroom? To be done with the teaching materials within a period of time appointed? Or to help students achieve the goal of language learning? Being said that it is worth trying to use L 2 in a L 2 classroom, however, L 1 does hold its value under the following circumstances.

Just like a doctor treats his or her patients, or like most of the other vocations, a teaching job requires not only technical skills and professional knowledge, it also requires that teachers be aware of the students emotional needs. As we go through a process of therapy conducted by an experienced doctor, he or she should be taking our feelings into consideration along with our physical condition to facilitate the treatment. A doctor who knows only how to treat disease, to prescribe medicine is but an artisan. A doctor who knows also how to console patients with soft words counts a real doctor. This concept also applies to a teacher. As we learn something, we inevitably have to encounter some degree of emotional frustration.

For example, a student might be coming to the class with a stomachache and the pain irritates him so much that he is not able to concentrate in class. Another student might be coming to the class with a depressed mood because of some kind of family problem happened the night before. Still another student might be coming to the class with a special personality that makes him too shy to try anything in class. A language teacher will need to take heed of the feelings of his or her students throughout the learning process.

In this kind of case, L 1 might be needed to comfort the students since everyone seems to be more comfortable to describe their sickness or frustrations in their mother tongue. Piaget explored the development of childrens language learning and he said: language was a reflection of thought and not a shaper of thoughts. (Piaget) He believed that language is a series of assimilation's which accelerates the proofs of cognitive development. () It would be unreasonable for us to treat language learning as learning of any other subjects. We are not producing translation machines of a second language. The ultimate goal for us to achieve is to use the language as a real language, to use it to exchange thoughts, feelings with others. Taking reality and ideal both into consideration, no one should go to extremes in the debate of the use of L 1 or L 2.

However, if we clarify the goal we want to reach in the L 2 classroom, the decision should not be too hard to make. Since school-aged students usually cannot choose what to learn or how they would like to be taught at school, no matter how tough a reality they need to deal with, the teachers should always keep the ultimate goal of teaching and learning in mind so that the students will not be deprived of the opportunity to true learning. They should always know by hearts that when they are with the students in the classroom, they are introducing a concept of communication to the students; they are focusing on the communicative competence of the students. Moreover, they also bear the responsibility to acquaint their students with a healthier learning attitude towards language learning, which is to be able to communicate with people who speak the language they are learning.

If all of these notions come first in language teaching and learning, the teachers will realize that it is worth trying to use L 2 in their L 2 classrooms to fulfill the goal.


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Research essay sample on Ultimate Goal Target Language

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