THE MOTIVATING FACTORS IN SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNING
In my personal narrative ' The Key to a Garden of Second Language', I described a brave conversation between my foreign English teacher Michael which encourage me to talk to people in the unfamiliar language. Combing with Sedaris's article ' We talk pretty one day', which talks about his experiences of learning French with a tough teacher, my narrative also raised questions about what motivate second language beginner to practice speaking more. As what Canagarajah says in his introduction to 'Translingual Practice', the common definition of language success is sounding like a native speaker. My shame of not reaching the 'common definition of language success' encourages me to practice English speaking more frequently and bravely with native speakers and imitate the 'normal English' they speak. My narrative complicates Canagarajah's idea about translingual and monolingual practice by showing another goal of using translingualism in teaching. The way of teaching which combine two languages together is actually aimed at achieving the monolingual normal tone of the second language. Also, my narrative shows the motivating effect of monolingualism. The monolingual environment Michael provides me persuade me to communicate with him with the language I am learning, the huge amount of practice and more flexible usage of the second language all contribute to the improvement in my English speaking skill.
Sedaris's and my motivation towards learning the second language confirms to the common assumption about language that Canagarajah holds in the opening paragraphs of his introduction to his book 'Translingual Practice'-- ' We believed that for communication to be efficient and successful we should employ a common language with shared norms.' (Canagarajah: Introduction to Translingual Practice, page 1) Successfully mastering a second language is defined here as sounding like a native speaker, and the shame of not sounding like a monolingual native speaker motivate both Sedaris and I to strive for more fluency in the second language speaking. Our language teachers, Sedaris's French teacher and my English teacher Michael, are both native speakers who speak a normal language which we are learning. Both of them make us feel shame of not sounding like a native speaker and motivate us in different ways. In Sedaris' case, the shame of being ridiculed by his French teacher of not speaking perfect French as native speakers do and the assumption held by his teacher that he is both stupid and lazy that push Sedaris to work harder. The extra learning he did, such as the notes on page and more hours spent on his homework, are used to erase the shame he had in some degree. And for me, I was first shamed of making mistakes in front of people and not sounding as a native English speaker. The shame limited my English speaking to merely repeating the correct phrase on textbook to make a false impression on others that I am not that terrible in English. But the first unsuccessful conversation between Michael and I made me realized the shame of sounding extremely different from the normal English which Michael speaks and persuaded me to accomplish the normal English speaking. I started with speaking translingual English-- combing some Chinese grammar and body language in English to get myself understood by Michael, and after comprehension of more English words and repeated practice, my English would improve that it gets closer to the normal English which native speaker speak. The desire of eliminating the shame and master the new language persuade me to talk more to Michael and practice my English speaking. The shame of not achieving the common assumption of language success motivate both Sedaris and I to study harder.
However, Canagarajah failed to acknowledge that many people in the world, especially second language beginner, practice translingualism in order to be able to speak monolingual way of the second language rather than facilitate the communication between each other. According to Canagarajah, the main reason people are employing translingual practice is to understand people with another native language better. For example, the child and parents in the Tamil family have different native language-- while her parents speak Tamil, Rajani adopted the language of her new home- English. So the translingual conversation between her parents and her help them understand each other well while speak the language they are fluent in. But for most language students, the goal of using translingual practice is to achieve the monolingual normal tone as the native speakers of the second language. Take my own narrative as an example. Before the conversation between Michael, my way of learning English is more like a translingual practice-- the textbooks which I used to learn the phrase of English are written in both Chinese and English. And the most usual way Chinese students as I practice English is simply remembering the Chinese translation of English phrase or short conversations. For instance, the English teacher will ask the question ' How do you say 'zai zhong jian' in English?' on quiz and let the students respond by answering ' in between'. The way of teaching and testing is translingualism in some way-- it combine the two languages together, but the goal of the teaching is to help students sounding like a native monolingual speaker by letting students remembering English words and phrases.
My own narrative also complicate Canagarajah's opinion about translingual and monolingual practice by showing the motivating effect of learning a second language in a monolingual environment. Learning a second language in a environment which the language beginners could only use the new language and force them to use the language can not only increase their exposure to the unfamilar language and improve their fluency by more practice. Like Sedaris was motivated by the monolingual environment because he could only respond and prove that he is better than what the teacher's imagine in French, And I was motivated by the monolingual environment Michael provided me because it force me to use the second language as the only means of communication. The conversation between Michael and I is a monolingual one-- I was only allowed to speak English since Michael had no idea about any Chinese words. Without the help of my native language, all I could do is trying to remember more English words and arrange them in a correct way to let Michael understand what I want to express. Unlike the family Canagarajah mentioned in his reading, the parents do not practice English well even they live in the U.S because they respond their child by their native language, I was forced to create my own sentences in English because the phrase I could recognize in classes are far from enough to communicate with a native speaker and express my thoughts. Moreover, the real conversation between native English speaker is more lively and interesting than merely reciting the phrase on textbooks since I could have exposure to multiple ways to express similar meaning. For instance, I can use either 'Cool' or 'Awesome' to express my mode instead of merely reciting the phrase on textbooks- 'Fine, thank you, and you?' Michael indirectly changed my way of learning English by change the environment of my English learning. By offering me a complete monolingual environment, Michael provided me the chance of fully indulge in the second language and overcome the barrier of speaking it.
It is also interesting to note that the shame of not sounding like a monolingual native speaker and triple the benefit of indulging in a monolingual second language environment do not motivate people separately-- they have some interconnection that could even their motivating effect by 'chain affection'. My shame of not speaking normal English is the key reason of practicing English speaking with Michael and creating the monolingual environment, and the monolingual conversation between Michael and I further imposing shame on me by the contrast of my poor 'Chinglish' and the standard English Michael speaks. Similarly, the desire of speaking standard French cause Sedaris to indulge himself into the monolingual environment-- the French school, but the school brought him more shame because the teacher is abusing him for not sounding like a native French speaker. The two motivating effects are not simply adding onto each other; they are also the catalyst of each other and could magnify their motivating effect to a larger degree. The 'chain effect' (a sequence of reactions where a reactive product or by-product causes additional reactions to take place(Wikipedia,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chain_reaction))of the shame of not sounding like a monolingual language speaker and the monolingual environment motivate second language learner more effectively when adding together.
Reading my narrative and Sedaris's experience of learning French in addition to Canagarajah's introduction to 'Translingual Practice' helps reader better understand the motivating factors in a second language learning. While the shame of failed to sounding like the common definition of native speaker pushes students to work harder, the monolingual environment can also benefit them by offering a chance of practice. The two factors are also interconnected that motivate more effectively than what they apparently look like. There might be some cases where the motivation factors work differently with other people, and more research and interview on other people's experiences of learning a second language can help us understand the motivation of leaning the language more clearly: How the motivations I discussed work on them? And is there any other motivating factors I did not talked about?
Sedaris's and my motivation towards learning the second language confirms to the common assumption about language that Canagarajah holds in the opening paragraphs of his introduction to his book 'Translingual Practice'-- ' We believed that for communication to be efficient and successful we should employ a common language with shared norms.' (Canagarajah: Introduction to Translingual Practice, page 1) Successfully mastering a second language is defined here as sounding like a native speaker, and the shame of not sounding like a monolingual native speaker motivate both Sedaris and I to strive for more fluency in the second language speaking. Our language teachers, Sedaris's French teacher and my English teacher Michael, are both native speakers who speak a normal language which we are learning. Both of them make us feel shame of not sounding like a native speaker and motivate us in different ways. In Sedaris' case, the shame of being ridiculed by his French teacher of not speaking perfect French as native speakers do and the assumption held by his teacher that he is both stupid and lazy that push Sedaris to work harder. The extra learning he did, such as the notes on page and more hours spent on his homework, are used to erase the shame he had in some degree. And for me, I was first shamed of making mistakes in front of people and not sounding as a native English speaker. The shame limited my English speaking to merely repeating the correct phrase on textbook to make a false impression on others that I am not that terrible in English. But the first unsuccessful conversation between Michael and I made me realized the shame of sounding extremely different from the normal English which Michael speaks and persuaded me to accomplish the normal English speaking. I started with speaking translingual English-- combing some Chinese grammar and body language in English to get myself understood by Michael, and after comprehension of more English words and repeated practice, my English would improve that it gets closer to the normal English which native speaker speak. The desire of eliminating the shame and master the new language persuade me to talk more to Michael and practice my English speaking. The shame of not achieving the common assumption of language success motivate both Sedaris and I to study harder.
However, Canagarajah failed to acknowledge that many people in the world, especially second language beginner, practice translingualism in order to be able to speak monolingual way of the second language rather than facilitate the communication between each other. According to Canagarajah, the main reason people are employing translingual practice is to understand people with another native language better. For example, the child and parents in the Tamil family have different native language-- while her parents speak Tamil, Rajani adopted the language of her new home- English. So the translingual conversation between her parents and her help them understand each other well while speak the language they are fluent in. But for most language students, the goal of using translingual practice is to achieve the monolingual normal tone as the native speakers of the second language. Take my own narrative as an example. Before the conversation between Michael, my way of learning English is more like a translingual practice-- the textbooks which I used to learn the phrase of English are written in both Chinese and English. And the most usual way Chinese students as I practice English is simply remembering the Chinese translation of English phrase or short conversations. For instance, the English teacher will ask the question ' How do you say 'zai zhong jian' in English?' on quiz and let the students respond by answering ' in between'. The way of teaching and testing is translingualism in some way-- it combine the two languages together, but the goal of the teaching is to help students sounding like a native monolingual speaker by letting students remembering English words and phrases.
My own narrative also complicate Canagarajah's opinion about translingual and monolingual practice by showing the motivating effect of learning a second language in a monolingual environment. Learning a second language in a environment which the language beginners could only use the new language and force them to use the language can not only increase their exposure to the unfamilar language and improve their fluency by more practice. Like Sedaris was motivated by the monolingual environment because he could only respond and prove that he is better than what the teacher's imagine in French, And I was motivated by the monolingual environment Michael provided me because it force me to use the second language as the only means of communication. The conversation between Michael and I is a monolingual one-- I was only allowed to speak English since Michael had no idea about any Chinese words. Without the help of my native language, all I could do is trying to remember more English words and arrange them in a correct way to let Michael understand what I want to express. Unlike the family Canagarajah mentioned in his reading, the parents do not practice English well even they live in the U.S because they respond their child by their native language, I was forced to create my own sentences in English because the phrase I could recognize in classes are far from enough to communicate with a native speaker and express my thoughts. Moreover, the real conversation between native English speaker is more lively and interesting than merely reciting the phrase on textbooks since I could have exposure to multiple ways to express similar meaning. For instance, I can use either 'Cool' or 'Awesome' to express my mode instead of merely reciting the phrase on textbooks- 'Fine, thank you, and you?' Michael indirectly changed my way of learning English by change the environment of my English learning. By offering me a complete monolingual environment, Michael provided me the chance of fully indulge in the second language and overcome the barrier of speaking it.
It is also interesting to note that the shame of not sounding like a monolingual native speaker and triple the benefit of indulging in a monolingual second language environment do not motivate people separately-- they have some interconnection that could even their motivating effect by 'chain affection'. My shame of not speaking normal English is the key reason of practicing English speaking with Michael and creating the monolingual environment, and the monolingual conversation between Michael and I further imposing shame on me by the contrast of my poor 'Chinglish' and the standard English Michael speaks. Similarly, the desire of speaking standard French cause Sedaris to indulge himself into the monolingual environment-- the French school, but the school brought him more shame because the teacher is abusing him for not sounding like a native French speaker. The two motivating effects are not simply adding onto each other; they are also the catalyst of each other and could magnify their motivating effect to a larger degree. The 'chain effect' (a sequence of reactions where a reactive product or by-product causes additional reactions to take place(Wikipedia,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chain_reaction))of the shame of not sounding like a monolingual language speaker and the monolingual environment motivate second language learner more effectively when adding together.
Reading my narrative and Sedaris's experience of learning French in addition to Canagarajah's introduction to 'Translingual Practice' helps reader better understand the motivating factors in a second language learning. While the shame of failed to sounding like the common definition of native speaker pushes students to work harder, the monolingual environment can also benefit them by offering a chance of practice. The two factors are also interconnected that motivate more effectively than what they apparently look like. There might be some cases where the motivation factors work differently with other people, and more research and interview on other people's experiences of learning a second language can help us understand the motivation of leaning the language more clearly: How the motivations I discussed work on them? And is there any other motivating factors I did not talked about?