Effects of Identity
on
Second Language Learning
Introduction:
The main goal of the annotated bibliography is to explore the effects of second language students' identity, their first language and students' own culture on the learning of a second language. The first language plays an important role in second language students' reading and presenting of the second language. In the first article, The Role of First Language in Foreign Language Learning, Paul Nation shows readers that first language can help second language learners comprehend the tasks written in second language more effectively.But he failed to explain the drawbacks of involving first language in second language learning. In another article, Composing in English: effects of a first language on writing in English as a second language, the author Alexander Friedlander illustrate how the first language help second language writing by retrieving more information. Though he also failed to acknowledge the limits of planing second language writing in first language. Besides language, second language learners' own culture also affect their learning of the second language. In chapter 1 of Culture in Second Language Teaching and Learning, Not to waste words or students: Confucian and Socratic discourse in the tertiary classroom, Suzanne Scollon shows that the different ancient philosophy of the east and west result in modern students' distinct way of learning a second language. But the differences are vague during recent decades because of the improvement of technology and globalization. Reading these three sources together with some narratives of my classmates' help us have a better comprehension of the effect first language and culture would have on the learning of second language.
The Role of First Language in Foreign Language Learning, by Paul Nation
Summary:
In the article, linguistic researcher Paul Nation explore the very positive effects the first language can have on students' learning of second languages through four strands- meaning focused input, meaning focused output, language focused learning, and fluency development. Using the first language helps students to comprehend the meaning of meaning focused second language tasks fully and gets students more involved in the discussion of their ideas. The use of first language in learning a second language can also convey a more accurate definition of the meaning of the tasks because students are more familiar with the first language translation of the tasks. First language could also help students with second language fluency development since it prepare them for the tasks they are learning until they are familiar with the tasks. When the first language is used in an appropriate extend, it could serve to enhance second language learners' comprehension and familiarity of new vocabularies and tasks, thus help them study the language better. The article does not include a effective summary of the argument the Nation made.
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In the article, linguistic researcher Paul Nation explore the very positive effects the first language can have on students' learning of second languages through four strands- meaning focused input, meaning focused output, language focused learning, and fluency development. Using the first language helps students to comprehend the meaning of meaning focused second language tasks fully and gets students more involved in the discussion of their ideas. The use of first language in learning a second language can also convey a more accurate definition of the meaning of the tasks because students are more familiar with the first language translation of the tasks. First language could also help students with second language fluency development since it prepare them for the tasks they are learning until they are familiar with the tasks. When the first language is used in an appropriate extend, it could serve to enhance second language learners' comprehension and familiarity of new vocabularies and tasks, thus help them study the language better. The article does not include a effective summary of the argument the Nation made.
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For Chinese version of summary click here
Composing in English: effects of a first language on writing in English as a second language, by Alexander Friedlander
Summary:
In the book, Composing in English, rhetoric and communication professor Alexander Friedlander illustrate how second language learner's first language can help assist their second language writing by helping them retrieve valuable information. When language learners write about a topic which has a context related to their first language, say, if a Chinese student is asked to write about his hometown, he tend to draft the writing in his head in Chinese. Writing these topic in first language before translating them into second language can actually enhance the quality of the writing because of the increased retrieval of information. A research which require a group of Chinese students plan a writing about Qingming( a Chinese festival) in either English or Chinese proves Friedlander's words. The research shows both a quantitative superior (the plan is shorter) and a qualitative superior( the plan is more effective) planing Chinese subjects in Chinese than planing Chinese subjects in English. Friedlander summaries the effectiveness of drafting in first language when writing about the topics related to the first language.
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For Chinese version of summary click here
In the book, Composing in English, rhetoric and communication professor Alexander Friedlander illustrate how second language learner's first language can help assist their second language writing by helping them retrieve valuable information. When language learners write about a topic which has a context related to their first language, say, if a Chinese student is asked to write about his hometown, he tend to draft the writing in his head in Chinese. Writing these topic in first language before translating them into second language can actually enhance the quality of the writing because of the increased retrieval of information. A research which require a group of Chinese students plan a writing about Qingming( a Chinese festival) in either English or Chinese proves Friedlander's words. The research shows both a quantitative superior (the plan is shorter) and a qualitative superior( the plan is more effective) planing Chinese subjects in Chinese than planing Chinese subjects in English. Friedlander summaries the effectiveness of drafting in first language when writing about the topics related to the first language.
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For Chinese version of summary click here
Not to waste words or students: Confucian and Socratic discourse in the tertiary classroom, Culture in Second Language Teaching and Learning, by Suzanne Scollon
Summary:
In this chapter, sociolinguist Suzanne Scollon mainly discusses how students in the east and in the west differ in their way of learning based on the analysis of Socratic and Confucian discourse. While dialogue is at the heart of Socratic western discourse, the ancient Chinese “made no division between dialect and rhetoric”. Socratic and Confucian also differ in their goal of education. Socratic is more concern about the universal truth while the Confucian is more concern about the correct action people need to conduct. The roles of teachers are also different in eastern and western culture. Western teachers emphasize on pursuing a line of inquiry by asking questions, but eastern teachers are always the one who act like a role model and offer absolute correct answers. Also, Confucius always rely on written texts while Socratics tend to use spoken arguments. Although Confucian and Socratic are ancient philosophers, students and teachers in modern time are still influence by them and differ from each other in the way they learn. In the concluding paragraphs, Scollon includes a effective summary of the way traditional philosophy influence the way eastern and western students learn.
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For Chinese version of summary click here
In this chapter, sociolinguist Suzanne Scollon mainly discusses how students in the east and in the west differ in their way of learning based on the analysis of Socratic and Confucian discourse. While dialogue is at the heart of Socratic western discourse, the ancient Chinese “made no division between dialect and rhetoric”. Socratic and Confucian also differ in their goal of education. Socratic is more concern about the universal truth while the Confucian is more concern about the correct action people need to conduct. The roles of teachers are also different in eastern and western culture. Western teachers emphasize on pursuing a line of inquiry by asking questions, but eastern teachers are always the one who act like a role model and offer absolute correct answers. Also, Confucius always rely on written texts while Socratics tend to use spoken arguments. Although Confucian and Socratic are ancient philosophers, students and teachers in modern time are still influence by them and differ from each other in the way they learn. In the concluding paragraphs, Scollon includes a effective summary of the way traditional philosophy influence the way eastern and western students learn.
For further analysis click here
For Chinese version of summary click here
Conclusion:
All these three sources describe the possible effects students' identity, their first language and their native culture could have on their second language learning. Reading them together with Ruoran Wong's, Josephine's and my own narratives gives us a more clearly understanding of the pros and cons of incorporating first language in the learning of second language, and shows us that different identity will result in distinct way of learning. Further research could be done on exploring the specific way eastern and western language and culture have on the learning of a second language, and how these differences change over time due to globalization.
All these three sources describe the possible effects students' identity, their first language and their native culture could have on their second language learning. Reading them together with Ruoran Wong's, Josephine's and my own narratives gives us a more clearly understanding of the pros and cons of incorporating first language in the learning of second language, and shows us that different identity will result in distinct way of learning. Further research could be done on exploring the specific way eastern and western language and culture have on the learning of a second language, and how these differences change over time due to globalization.
Citation:
Nation, Paul. "The Role of First Language in Foreign Language Learning." Asian EFL Journal: n. pag. Web. June 2003
Ruoran Wang. " Studying English in Exam-Oriented Way". n. d. <http://rachelwang.weebly.com/project-work.html>
Friedlander, Alexander. "Composing in English: effects of a first language on writing in English as a second language." Second Language Writing: Research Insights for the classroom. Ed. Barbara Kroll. Cambridge(England); New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990
Josephine Alford. "Hablando Desde Experiencia." n. d. <http://josiealford.weebly.com/hablando-desde-experiencia.html>
Scollon, Suzanne. "Not to waste words or students: Confucian and Socratic discourse in the tertiary classroom." Culture in Second Language Teaching and Learning. Ed. Eli Hinkel. Cambridge, U.K; New York : Cambridge University Press, 1999.
Ningxin Zhou. "The Key to a Garden of Second Language". n.d. <http://pariszhou.weebly.com/personal-narrative.html>
Sedaris, David. "We Talk Pretty One Day." We Talk Pretty One Day. Ed. David Sedaris. United States: Little, Brown and Company, 2000
Nation, Paul. "The Role of First Language in Foreign Language Learning." Asian EFL Journal: n. pag. Web. June 2003
Ruoran Wang. " Studying English in Exam-Oriented Way". n. d. <http://rachelwang.weebly.com/project-work.html>
Friedlander, Alexander. "Composing in English: effects of a first language on writing in English as a second language." Second Language Writing: Research Insights for the classroom. Ed. Barbara Kroll. Cambridge(England); New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990
Josephine Alford. "Hablando Desde Experiencia." n. d. <http://josiealford.weebly.com/hablando-desde-experiencia.html>
Scollon, Suzanne. "Not to waste words or students: Confucian and Socratic discourse in the tertiary classroom." Culture in Second Language Teaching and Learning. Ed. Eli Hinkel. Cambridge, U.K; New York : Cambridge University Press, 1999.
Ningxin Zhou. "The Key to a Garden of Second Language". n.d. <http://pariszhou.weebly.com/personal-narrative.html>
Sedaris, David. "We Talk Pretty One Day." We Talk Pretty One Day. Ed. David Sedaris. United States: Little, Brown and Company, 2000