Mother Tongue Vs Second Language 3/11/2017

Mother Tongue Vs Second Language  3/11/2017

        It should be clear to everybody now that if English is your mother tongue.  The language is so dominating and that you get connected to it round clock.  And you are the end-user like a licensed car driver who drives without any knowledge of the mechanical parts of the car or the users of smartphone or any electrical appliances.  BUT if you study English as a second language and as a single subject supplemented with some literature, well, you are just like a car mechanic who needs to know every part of the car or a technician who must know the machine well to do the repair.

        I repeat once more, we study English like Geography, History, Science, Mathematics and the like here in my homeland, Sarawak and else in the Federation of Malaysia.  Thus, we had better know every part of the language like a mechanic or technician so that we can do the repair of the English language that we use in speaking and writing, especially.

        With a good understanding how language works also helps us greatly in understanding a reading passage and listening text.  For example, the sentence

[You] are /the end-user/ *like (a licensed car driver){ who drives *without (any knowledge) *of (the mechanical parts) *of (the car)} or (the users) *of smartphone) or (any electrical appliances). 

[Subject] Finite Verb /subject complement/*

*Preposition/Prep + Noun/Noun Phrase/Noun Clause/ P3/P4/P5/F2

Personal Pronouns 

P1             P2             P3             P4             P5                    

I               my            me            mine          myself

Forms of the Verb

        F1             F2             F3             F4

        talk           talking       talked        talked

        go             going        went         gone

(Object) of a transitive verb or a Prep

Conjunctions/Conj

For reading and listening texts, you have to meet another condition, i.e. you must have enough stock of vocabulary and prior knowledge to understand the text well. 

What is communicative English after all?

What is communicative English after all?

        Language is meant for communication, be it in a spoken or written form.  The merits of communicative English teaching approach are the emphasis and focuses on teaching and learning topics related to learners’ life, involving learners as much as possible in classroom activities and the shift from teacher-centred to student-centred teaching and learning.

        But can the communicative English teaching approach really help our learners to become more communicative in speaking and writing?  Well, again it is the question of information that a learner possesses and how much grammatical knowledge s/he has to communicate on call.  I see it as speech records / registers in one’s head that decides.

        Limited classroom learning in the input helps learners very little in speaking or writing if s/he has not launched his/er extensive texts reading and listening activities in the environment where English is learnt as a single subject.  S/he must try to use English as much as possible outside the classroom.

        With the limited time in the classroom, I still strongly believe that learning grammar item by item and communicative English in whatever manners should co-exist side by side to help our learners.    

What is Grammar after all?

What is Grammar after all?

Grammar is all about forms and functions.  Of course, it is also about punctuation.  Therefore, grammar is like a skeleton that support a body.  Without it, the body just crumples down into a mass like a dough.  Grammar is also like a mould which gives the shape. 

Hence a good knowledge of grammar does not guarantee you to speak on any specific topic.  To speak on any specific topic, you need the knowledge or to be well-informed of the concerned topic.  For example, if you know nothing about the mole rat, can you talk about this animal?

Hence, being able to engage yourself in the conversation or not should not mix up with the knowledge of grammar.  Those who advocate communicative English to learn English claims that  grammar is not to be learnt deductively or explicitly.  Am I right?  Hence learning grammar is more or less ditched out from most of the English classroom scenario.

        In the federation of Malaysia, there are only ten marks allocated to the context tested on grammar in the PT3 public examination.  I wonder if there is any school in the whole-wide world still teach grammar item by item.  Then allocate at least 30 marks on grammar.   Ever since the introduction of communicative English twenty over years ago, grammar learning has been marginalised and losing out in the English learning environment. 

        Well, are the students who have gone through this process able to communicate better in speaking and writing English?    

Is Grammar Awareness important? 30/10/2017

Is Grammar Awareness important?     30/10/2017

The English language is learnt as the second language in Sarawak.  Our pupils /students  do not have the environment to immerse themselves in this language but at least spare an hour out of four hours or more a week to drill them grammar item by item.  At least let them learn the language with the awareness that how the language works. 

If every teacher drill them since primary three some basic rules they learn in context and drill them of the correct form in not so isolation but with close reference to the context:  Introducing yourself.

Let’s say, they are learning:

Simple Present Tense ---Verb-to-be

I am Aminah.  (Name/noun)

I am a girl.      (Gender)

I am a pupil.    (Occupation)

        I am seven years old.  (Age)

        I am polite and hardworking.   (Adj.)

        I am at the canteen now.  (Prepositional Phrase—Adv.Place)

        It is 10 o’clock now.   (Adv.Time)

        This is the Sibu town.   (Adv. Place)

Learn the rules

I               am                    We

You           are                    You          are

He/She/It  is                      They

([S] am/is/are + N/Adj/Adv.P|T/PP)

Action Verbs in Simple Present Tense

  I study in SK Sungai Merah, Sibu.   (Action-Verb)

  I study hard every day.

  I have many friends in school.     (Possession)

  We talk and play during recess every day.

  I really enjoy myself so much in school.

  I always listen attentively in class.

Rule for Action in Simple Present Tense

[He/She/It]                        F1+s/es

[I/We/You/You/They]                  F1

Forms of the Verb

Regular Forms of the Verb   F1+ed to form F3 and F4

Irregular Forms of the Verb  --different forms for F3 and F4

F1             F2                     F3             F4

talk           talking               talked        talked

walk          walking             walked       walked

go             going                went          gone

speak        speaking           spoke         spoken

        Studying with the awareness of language forms is advisable or many learners learn them in great confusion.  It is not surprising when students in Form Five or Six are not able to distinguish Present Perfect Tense from Past Perfect Tense.  Is it not appalling to see that 70% of our Form Five or Six pupils cannot write accurately after years of learning English through communicative way.  Majority can hardly use the language properly though there is so much emphasis on communicative learning of English.  What has gone wrong?  They just simply write without following any grammatical rules as few take learning of grammar seriously nowadays. 

Let’s test those who have learnt these rules and those who have not in order to find if learning of English grammar is necessary or not.

Use the word ‘sing’ in twelve tenses.

1.    Abu _________ every day.

2.    He __________________ now.

3.    He ________________________ since he woke.

4.    He __________________________ the sone, “A Happy Wanderer” at

 least fives times since he woke up.

5.    He _________________ for two hours by 10 o’clock. 

(continuous action)

6.    He ________________ ten songs if he sings again.

7.    Yesterday, he __________ loudly to record a song.

8.    When he ________________, a thunderstorm came.

9.    He ____________ a few songs before he went out with Peter.

10. He ___________________ for some time before Peter came.

11.  Next Saturday, he ______________ in a concert.

12.  He __________________ the song  that he has been practising all the

       time.