ESL ; The Theories to Improve English Learning Achievement
By miftachudin arjuna - March 20, 2015
Abstract:
English language is a foreign language that is studied by
elementary up to College students. It is taught intensively and spent
proportional time allotment in every meeting. Practically, the expected
result has not yet shown significant improvement. Many factors causes
the underestimated effort in studying English, especially the point of
view that English is only a foreign language not a second language. This
view assumes that English is not so important to be studied seriously
because its benefit is less for their future.
Key Words: English Learning, Second language (L2), Achievement.
I. Introduction
Language is important for communication in this world. We need language to communicate each other. We learn language since we were child until we become man. Language is a system to communicate from one aspect to another aspects. Human has language and also the animals. Language is intimately tied to man’s felling and activity, it’s bound up with nationality, religion and the felling of self. It used for work, worship, etc.In linguistic Language is an arbitrary system of speech sounds or sequences of speech sounds which is can be used in interpersonal communication by an aggregation of human beings and rather exhaustively catalogs things, process and event in human environment. (Carrol 1953).
Learning is basic to human existence and fundamental to education. It is the base of operation for the study of psychology and to understand the human mind, indeed no other topic in psychology has been as thoroughly researched as that of learning.
Language acquisition of human being begins from their existence. In learning of first language / mother tongue, most or even all people learn and figure out the language acquisition without any learning process. The acquisition / learning hypothesis said that: Acquisition refers to an unconscious process that involves the naturalistic development of language proficiency through understanding language and through using language for meaningful communication. Learning, by contrast, refers to a process in which conscious rules about a language developed.
Formal teaching is necessary for “learning” to occur, and correction of errors helps with the development of learned rules. In accordance with research and experience, language learning as a second language is rather difficult. Term of learning such as Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) is used to teach as second language. The process of learning tend to emerge the elements; teacher, language learning, methodology and material to improve the achievement.
The most important role in the language learning as a second language is learners; there must be learners not teachers. Therefore it implies the philosophy of teaching and education that as named “student oriented or student centered.”
II. The Acquisition-Learning Hypothesis
The acquisition-Learning Hypothesis claims that there are two independent ways of learning a second language: acquisition and learning. As discussed earlier that acquisition is the subconscious process generally used by children to develop their first language. It is a result of participation in natural communication in which the focus is on meaning or content. In storage, the acquired system is located in the left hemisphere part of the brain in the language areas. It is available for automatic processing. In performance, the acquired system serves as the major source for initiating both the comprehension and production of utterances. According to Krashen (1981:99) “fluency in second language performance is due to what we have acquired, not what we have learned”. Adult second language learners, therefore, should do as much acquisition as possible in order to achieve communicative fluency.
Learning is a conscious process, which results in a separate system of simple grammar rules, or knowledge about the second language. It occurs as a result of conscious study of the grammatical system of the language. Learned knowledge is also stored in the left hemisphere, but not necessarily in language areas. This knowledge (explicit knowledge) is used to control the processing of utterances. It edits or monitors the performance.
III. Language Learning
A. GBPP of English Curriculum 1984
Key Words: English Learning, Second language (L2), Achievement.
I. Introduction
Language is important for communication in this world. We need language to communicate each other. We learn language since we were child until we become man. Language is a system to communicate from one aspect to another aspects. Human has language and also the animals. Language is intimately tied to man’s felling and activity, it’s bound up with nationality, religion and the felling of self. It used for work, worship, etc.In linguistic Language is an arbitrary system of speech sounds or sequences of speech sounds which is can be used in interpersonal communication by an aggregation of human beings and rather exhaustively catalogs things, process and event in human environment. (Carrol 1953).
Learning is basic to human existence and fundamental to education. It is the base of operation for the study of psychology and to understand the human mind, indeed no other topic in psychology has been as thoroughly researched as that of learning.
Language acquisition of human being begins from their existence. In learning of first language / mother tongue, most or even all people learn and figure out the language acquisition without any learning process. The acquisition / learning hypothesis said that: Acquisition refers to an unconscious process that involves the naturalistic development of language proficiency through understanding language and through using language for meaningful communication. Learning, by contrast, refers to a process in which conscious rules about a language developed.
Formal teaching is necessary for “learning” to occur, and correction of errors helps with the development of learned rules. In accordance with research and experience, language learning as a second language is rather difficult. Term of learning such as Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) is used to teach as second language. The process of learning tend to emerge the elements; teacher, language learning, methodology and material to improve the achievement.
The most important role in the language learning as a second language is learners; there must be learners not teachers. Therefore it implies the philosophy of teaching and education that as named “student oriented or student centered.”
II. The Acquisition-Learning Hypothesis
The acquisition-Learning Hypothesis claims that there are two independent ways of learning a second language: acquisition and learning. As discussed earlier that acquisition is the subconscious process generally used by children to develop their first language. It is a result of participation in natural communication in which the focus is on meaning or content. In storage, the acquired system is located in the left hemisphere part of the brain in the language areas. It is available for automatic processing. In performance, the acquired system serves as the major source for initiating both the comprehension and production of utterances. According to Krashen (1981:99) “fluency in second language performance is due to what we have acquired, not what we have learned”. Adult second language learners, therefore, should do as much acquisition as possible in order to achieve communicative fluency.
Learning is a conscious process, which results in a separate system of simple grammar rules, or knowledge about the second language. It occurs as a result of conscious study of the grammatical system of the language. Learned knowledge is also stored in the left hemisphere, but not necessarily in language areas. This knowledge (explicit knowledge) is used to control the processing of utterances. It edits or monitors the performance.
III. Language Learning
A. GBPP of English Curriculum 1984
Linguistic is defined as
“using language to communicate”, that is conveying the message or
definition from one to another. GBPP 1984 emphasizes the alternation
from stressing the structure of language into usage of language. The
intention is to achieve communicative skill through learning process
based on discourse and communicative function of language.
Syllabus as curriculum 1984 is multi centered, thus the dialogue and reading material are not used anymore to convey grammar and structure. And the components of syllabus; structure, reading, vocabulary, dialogue, writing, pronunciation, spelling, are used as experience of learning of English, enhance the knowledge and improve the skill of learner and English.
B. Curriculum Base Competence (CBC)
The intention of CBC is achievement of competence itself. Therefore the approach, method and teaching strategy belong to the stakeholder of learning process along with the capacity and resources they have.
This Learning tends to retain competence achievement that showed in students’ skill (Competence standard, Cognitive point of view, Psychomotor, Affective / attitude) and participation in the learning process.
IV. The Improvement Of English Achievement
A. Teaching Strategy
Syllabus as curriculum 1984 is multi centered, thus the dialogue and reading material are not used anymore to convey grammar and structure. And the components of syllabus; structure, reading, vocabulary, dialogue, writing, pronunciation, spelling, are used as experience of learning of English, enhance the knowledge and improve the skill of learner and English.
B. Curriculum Base Competence (CBC)
The intention of CBC is achievement of competence itself. Therefore the approach, method and teaching strategy belong to the stakeholder of learning process along with the capacity and resources they have.
This Learning tends to retain competence achievement that showed in students’ skill (Competence standard, Cognitive point of view, Psychomotor, Affective / attitude) and participation in the learning process.
IV. The Improvement Of English Achievement
A. Teaching Strategy
Those of us who teach English as a second
language today are faced with essentially the same problem. We are aware
of variety in language usage, and we want to teach the most effective
or most useful variants to our students. The most important function of
the teacher in a second language classroom: to supply a model and to
provide guidance for the students.
B. Learning Strategy
The affective filter hypothesis that is built on research is second language acquisition, which has identified three kinds of affective or attitudinal variables related to second language acquisition:
1. Motivation, learners with high motivation generally do better,
2. Self – confidence, learners with self-confidence and a good self-image tend to be more successful,
3. Anxiety, low personal anxiety and low classroom anxiety are more conductive to second language acquisition.
V. Closure
Second Language Acquisition (SLA) is a study of the process in which learners learn a second language. We, language practitioners, can take significant benefit from studying SLA. For one thing, we can gain insight of the way learning process of the learners takes place. With such insight we can modify and create different techniques of teaching learning process that can help learners acquire the target language. Understanding SLA is also beneficial for language learners. Their specific awareness to the way second language is acquired can facilitate their efforts in learning the target language. Their insight of SLA could strengthen and lead them to the correct path in mastering the language they are learning.
SLA aims at identifying how learners acquire a second language, what they really do when they try to accomplish the task. SLA also aims at identifying the external as well as internal factor, which influence the learners in acquiring the target language. External factors may include social environment as well as the language input itself. The internal factors may comprise the learner’s cognitive mechanism, the learner’s mother, and the learner’s learning strategies.
VI. References
Allen Harold B. and Russell N. Campbell. 1965. Teaching English As A Second Language A Book Of Readings. New Delhi: Tata Mc.Graw – Hill Publishing Company Ltd.
B. Learning Strategy
The affective filter hypothesis that is built on research is second language acquisition, which has identified three kinds of affective or attitudinal variables related to second language acquisition:
1. Motivation, learners with high motivation generally do better,
2. Self – confidence, learners with self-confidence and a good self-image tend to be more successful,
3. Anxiety, low personal anxiety and low classroom anxiety are more conductive to second language acquisition.
V. Closure
Second Language Acquisition (SLA) is a study of the process in which learners learn a second language. We, language practitioners, can take significant benefit from studying SLA. For one thing, we can gain insight of the way learning process of the learners takes place. With such insight we can modify and create different techniques of teaching learning process that can help learners acquire the target language. Understanding SLA is also beneficial for language learners. Their specific awareness to the way second language is acquired can facilitate their efforts in learning the target language. Their insight of SLA could strengthen and lead them to the correct path in mastering the language they are learning.
SLA aims at identifying how learners acquire a second language, what they really do when they try to accomplish the task. SLA also aims at identifying the external as well as internal factor, which influence the learners in acquiring the target language. External factors may include social environment as well as the language input itself. The internal factors may comprise the learner’s cognitive mechanism, the learner’s mother, and the learner’s learning strategies.
VI. References
Allen Harold B. and Russell N. Campbell. 1965. Teaching English As A Second Language A Book Of Readings. New Delhi: Tata Mc.Graw – Hill Publishing Company Ltd.
Departemen Pendidikan Nasional. 2003. Kuriklum 2004 Standar Kompetensi Mata Pelajaran Bahasa Inggris SMA dan MA. Jakarta: Departemen Pendidikan Nasional.
Lado, Robert. Language Teaching A Scientific Approach. Mew York: Mc, Graw Hill Inc.
Nababan-Sri Utari Subyakto. 1993. Metodolgi Pengajaran Bahasa. Jakarta: Gramedia Pustaka Utama.
Purwo Bambang Kaswanti. Pragmatik dan Pengajaran Bahasa Menyibak Kurikulum 1984. Universitas Kaltolik Atmajaya: Kanisius
Ramelan. 1984. Introduction to Linguistic. Semarang: IKIP Semarang,
Richards Jack S. and Theodore S. Rodgers. 1986. Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press
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