Teaching English as a Foreign Language in Chinese Classroom

Teaching English as a Foreign Language in Chinese Classroom Student’s Name Institutional Affiliation Teaching English as a Foreign Language in Chinese Classroom Introduction Second language learning or the second language acquisition is a process through which people learn to communicate in a foreign language. Second language learning is also a discipline in science that aims at studying the foreign language learning process. This field is mainly categorized in linguistics but also draws from various other disciplines such as education and psychology. The primary theme in the second language acquisition study is that of interlanguages. This means that the second language is totally different from their first language, and it has different systematic rules from the first language. The second language is gradually acquired by a learner as he or she is continuously exposed to rules and instructions about the targeted language. However, the first language and culture can have a significant language transfer influence to the learners when acquiring the second language. The central factor that appears to influence the learning of the second language is the language input received by the learner. The learners become more equipped with the second language as they spend more time doing more voluntary reading and practicing the language. Various other factors play part in the second language acquisitions which include the internal and the external factors. The internal factors refer to those things that are within the learner such as age, personality, motivation and the native language. External factors are those that surround the second language learning situation which includes instruction, culture, status, curriculum, and access to the native speakers. Chen, J. J., & Yang, S. C. (2014). Fostering foreign language learning through technology-enhanced intercultural projects. Language Learning & Technology 18(1), 57–75. Retrieved from http://llt.msu.edu/issues/february2014/chenyang.pdf This article notes that the main aim of learning and teaching the English language today is to communicate effectively with people from different cultures. Cheng and Yang concluded that people of Taiwan origin have difficulties in expressing cross-cultural communication using the English language. The authors of the article carried out an action research study using three different collaborative projects which were intercultural using web-related tools. The web-based tools included online forums, email, and Skype which were used on the 7th grade English as a Foreign Language class. The conducted project was aimed at improving the language skills of the students as well as their intercultural communicative ability. The authors also noted that technology plays an important role in foreign language learning among foreign language students. To make the findings more viable, Yang and Cheng used both qualitative and quantitative research methods in the collection of data. The foreign language learner’s response to the learning process was assessed using the questionnaires, document analysis, and the interviews. The results of the study showed that participants of the study had a strong positive notion or attitude towards technology-based teaching of the foreign la...