Learning English In The Vietnamese Context

Learning English In The Vietnamese Context English has become a vital and mandatory communication language in Vietnam since the opening of its doors to the world in 1986. Many English-speaking foreigners from across Asia, Australia, America and Europe started coming to invest in Vietnam. This has motivated the people of Vietnam to learn English to facilitate efficient and effective communication among their counterparts. The importance of English was immediately acknowledged by the Vietnamese government and as a result the English language programs were made compulsory beginning with the secondary schools and subsequently the high schools and finally university. The teaching of English in secondary and high schools strongly focus mainly on grammar, sentence structures and vocabulary. In such a teaching format, conversational English was not taken into consideration. In addition, English learning and teaching is purely examination-based. Examinations were mainly grammar-focused. As a result, the teachers and academicians teach only the bare necessity which is required to pass the examination and is not linked to the learning needs of individual students. This has caused students to become de-motivated because English is just another subject at school, not part of their life. Many students eventually fail to see the importance and pride in being able to speak fluent English. At university level, students who are motivated to develop their competencies in English can pursue a Bachelorà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s degree in English Language Teaching or a Bachelor of English degree. After graduation, they can work as teachers of English within the Vietnamese education system or as an English translator/interpreter depending on their capacity and proficiency. Students in these programs normally study for four years, course subjects among others include lessons about language structures, linguistics and teaching methodology. While this may sound theoretically sufficient, the learning and teaching of English in Vietnam today is purely limited to teacher-focused classrooms or in other words teaching methods that do not create opportunities for learners to satisfy their communicative needs. The English syllabus in Vietnam is very Grammar-focused. Therefore, it is very difficult for Vietnamese learners to communicate fluently and effectively in English sinc e it is rarely spoken in Vietnam with the exception of some special places and events such as offices of multinational corporations and English language clubs. In fact you will hardly see Vietnamese speak English unless absolutely necessary. This is a far cry from neighboring countries like Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines where English is spoken even during casual conversations with friends and family. In recent years, the teaching methodologies of English has been through an enormous amount of changes and improvements especially in the areas of how the communicative approach is being widely applied and integrated into the English learning language classrooms. In classrooms of today, we see more and more learner response taking place. As a result, the English curriculum has also been revamped to generate youths which are able to communicate holistically in English and not merely in grammar theories. Problem statement The result of poor learning and ineffective teaching methodologies of English in Vietnamese classrooms today (due to the lack of genuine communication experience and examination à ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ centric lessons) are generating many students that achieve relatively good grades in their exams but on the other hand unable to communicate effectively in the real world. According to Cunningham Una (2009) Vietnamese-accented speech in English has been informally observed to be notably unintelligible for native English-speaking listeners and even for Vietnamese listeners. There are extremely limited opportunities for proper hearing and speaking of English in Vietnam. It is undeniable that the pronunciation of English presents severe challenges to Vietnamese learners but they were not trained on how to pronounce English phonetics accurately and nobody corrected their mispronunciations in the early years of learning English. In addition, students mainly learn English pronunciation from Vietnamese English teachers who sometimes encounter difficulties themselves. Students are likely to imitate their teachersà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢ pronunciation. This is somehow a kin to the Blind man leading another Blind man across the street. The concern here is that we are unsure if Vietnamese students can recognize common pronunciation errors which they make on a regular basis. The purpose of the study This paper explores to what extent Vietnamese learners recognize common pronunciation errors in their spoken English and the reasons why they do not or are unable to correct their own mistakes. Suggestions will be made on how to improve the methods of teaching and correcting English pronunciation flaws in the Vietnamese context. The significance of the study This study will paint honest picture of the difficulties in learning and improving the English pronunciation of Vietnamese students. The students will have opportunity to self-assess their own English speech and recognize their mispronunciation with support from a native English-speaker. In the event a native speaker is unavailable, an equally competent and qualified speaker of English will be invited to observe and act as a point of reference. The scope of the study The primary focus of this study is to present an overview on the major difference between English and Vietnamese phonology and the capacity of a Vietnamese speaker to recognize common English pronunciation errors in his/her own speech. The students for this study will consist of English Language undergraduate students from the Foreign Languages Faculty at the Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City. The correlation between theory and practice in the learning of English pronunciation will also be studied. The study will contribute some suggestions that will further enhance the accuracy in pronouncing the English phonetics. Methodology The experiment will be conducted using qualitative methods. The speech of three students during a speaking test at the Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City will be recorded and analyzed. All three students will get to listen to their own speech again respectively to see if they are able identify their pronunciation errors. A native/competent English speaker will also get listen to the studentsà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢ speech to identify their mistakes in pronunciation.

John Updike :: essays research papers

Evolution of Sirenia   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Many scientists believe that sirenians evolved around fifty-five million years ago from small hoofed animals. The closests living relatives today are elephants and small asian mammals called hyraxes. Although there are vast differences between elephants, hyraxes, and sirenians, fossil evidence shows that all three evolved from a common ancestor. The manatee’s physical characteristics are visible remnants of their ancient heritage. The dugong’s tusks are another link to elephants. Like elephants, sirenians are enormous animals.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are five species of Sirenia, but scientists theorize that there were many more in the past. Early forms of manatees are thought to have originated near the Amazon basin in South America. Some remained there to become the Amazonian manatee, while others migrated up through the Caribbean, giving rise to the Antillean and Florida manatees. Another group managed to swim or where carried on currents across the Atlantic and became the West African manatee.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Dugongs thought to have evolved along with mantees once ranged from Europe to Africa, and along the East and West coasts of the Americas. At the present time, they are only found in the Eastern Hemisphere in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Steller’s Sea Cow, another species of Sirenian became extinct by fisherman within 25 to 30 years of its discovery in the 1700’s. Physical Characteristics   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  An adult manatee has a rounded body, usually light to dark gray or black, that tapers to a horizontally flattened, rounded tail, which provides propulsion and also serves as a rudder. Manatee’s range in length from 8 to 14 ft. long, depending on the species and can weigh 440 to 1300lbs. Although males can grow larger than the females. The small head includes a straight snout and a cleft upper lip with bristly hairs. Whiskers can be found on the surface of the lips, each attached seperatly to nerve endings and its own blood supply in the follicle. A manatees only teeth are 24 to 32 molars located in the back of the mouth, in addition to molars, manatees have horny, ridged pads at the front of the upper and lower jaws. The manatees upper lip is cleft with two lobes this isn used for gathering food. There small eyes are located on the sides of the head. Its nostrils, set on the upper surface of the snout are closed tightly by valves when the animal is under wa ter. Their lungs and diagphram run lengthwise along the body, unlike other mammals, in which they run crosswise.

Weimar Germany – The effects of the Depression

A-1) By 1928, the economies of the world had become very interdependent on each other. Through the Dawes and young plan, Germany greatly relied on American loans to keep their economy running smoothly. When the Wall Street crash took place in 1929, it had disastrous effects on Germany as their economy was so dependent on American loans. This intern also affected Germany politically. The impact on Germany was disastrous. The depression caused major unemployment; jobs were being lost due to all the factories and industries being shutdown. In 1930 there were two million people who were unemployed but day by day the numbers kept increasing, resulting in six million people being unemployed between 1931-1933. Apart from unemployment banks collapsed and were unwilling to give out loans, the Americans wanted their money back. The loans given to Germany by American were short termed and called in quick, quicker than they could manage to repay them. All the economic prosperity in Germany was dying out. The Americans along with asking for their money back withdrew all their investments from Germany, this affected trade and exports. Exports fell from 630 mil pounds to 280 mil pounds causing the economy to falter even further down. The drastic economic affects the depression had on Germany soon began to create wavering in the government of the Weimar. Due to the horrifying rates of unemployment, jobless men were turning towards more extremist political parties like the Nazis and the communists as they had immediate solutions to the problems the current government could not fix. 55% of all working class recruits who joined the Nazi party from 1930-33 were unemployed and there were 1300 Nazi Party demonstrations during 1930, The Nazi Party benefited most from this slump. Ultimately creating substantial revival of extremism. Austere measures taken by Bruning also resulted in the unemployed being driven towards extremist parties as he was focused on removing burdens of reparations and tackled Germany’s domestic problems with orthodox, deflationary economic tactics which reduced social service and unemployment benefits when they were needed the most. This was done to try and get the international community to cancel their debts. Germany’s economy was suffering though the USA introduced the ‘new deal policy’ to sort out the mess they had created but to do so put them selves into economic isolation for a period of time. Other than that, the depression led to dramatic growth of influence for those parties that offered extreme solutions to contemporary problems, while playing a very important role in Hitler becoming chancellor.

Practical Classroom Strategies to Promote L2 Oral Fluency Free Essay Example, 2000 words

Collocation phrases, phrasal verbs and idioms are the most commonly used chunks in teaching of second language to promote oral fluency. Other chunks that are used include common polite expressions like ‘take a seat’. These polite expressions are used in everyday communication and when the L2 teacher uses them in teaching a second language, the fluency of the learner is greatly improved (Birch, 2014). Moskal & Camille (2006) characterize chunks that can be effectively used to promote oral fluency in a second language. Some of the characteristics of the chunks include phonological coherence, repeated use and greater complexity as compared to the other learner’s output. Chunks are also repeatedly used and are always in the same form. This is in addition to the fact that their use is situation dependent. In order to promote oral fluency, L2 learners can be made to listen to a recorded tape in that second language and be asked to identify the various commonly used chunks. This allows them to understand and appreciate how the common chunks are used in various contexts, rather than focusing on the meaning of the words in the language. Focusing on Fluency Instead of Grammar Many students are afraid of making grammatical mistakes in the language that they are learning. We will write a custom essay sample on Practical Classroom Strategies to Promote L2 Oral Fluency or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now The reason why this is the case is due to the fact that they are afraid of making a mistake under the watch of their peers or fellow learners. This can be avoided by the teacher explaining the error patterns of the natives, minimizing grammatical error correction and taking errors as a skill that the L2 learners need to master in order to be fluent in the second language. Teaching oral fluency in a second language is quite different from teaching the various other aspects of a language. In teaching and promoting fluency, the L2 teacher should be willing to let go some of the control in the classroom (Derwing et al. , 2004). This allows for the setting up of a situation where fluency can be developed and also encourage the students to be communicative. Unlike the teaching of language knowledge, promoting and teaching fluency is considered to be the ‘automatization’ of the language knowledge. Being fluent is something that is automatic, and that does not require much attention. This is because it is a process that is characterized by psycholinguistic processes associated with that particular language. This automatically occurs when the teacher focuses on the fluency of the speaker rather than on the grammar of the sentences that are made or constructed by the speaker or learner.