Methodology in Language Learning: What Can Possibly Go Wrong?
Why are you studying a foreign language? There are probably nearly as many answers to that question as there are students in your classroom. Take a look at some of the reasons other students have given for studying a foreign language. Very likely, your reason(s) can be found among them:
Þ Gaining skills for a job
Þ Gaining access to foreign bodies of knowledge
Þ Traveling abroad
Þ Studying abroad
Þ Working abroad
Þ School requirement
Þ Personal edification
Þ Interest in linguistics
Þ Parental influence
Þ Becoming familiar with your heritage
Þ Understanding people in your neighborhood
Þ Maintaining knowledge
There are many different kinds of jobs that require foreign-language skills. The number of jobs that require language skills is growing as the world becomes smaller. Moreover, many jobs that do not require language skills do benefit from workers who have them. In other words, having a high level of foreign-language proficiency can sometimes help you get the job you want over other highly qualified candidates. Some of these jobs are in your own country; others are abroad. Some jobs in your own country require a low level of language skills. These might be jobs that require you to ask repetitive questions and understand a range of standard answers in a second language. One example would be the position of security guard in a setting with a diverse language population. Other jobs require a very high level of language skills.
An example of the former would be an interpreter at an intergovernmental negotiations table; an example of the latter would be a secretary in the headquarters of an international company. Some positions do not require foreign-language skills, but the employers consider the skills to be of value to the company or organization. In these cases, the employee with language skills is more likely to be promoted or given coveted assignments. Sometimes, too, the employer considers language skills important enough to pay a bonus of some sort to employees who reach specified levels of language proficiency.
While some students decide to take foreign-language courses because they want to study abroad, others learn of work-abroad opportunities once they are in foreign-language classes. Historically, a number of companies based in English-speaking countries have offered internships abroad, and a number of foreign companies have opened their doors to interns who speak their language sufficiently well to assist with various business activities. More and more businesses with foreign offices are requiring that an increasing portion of their personnel be fluent in the local language. General Electric, for example, considers foreign-language skills to be very important for its employees and language proficiency can often be the key ingredient as to why one employee gets hired over another.
Traditional foreign-language majors often end up in literature or linguistic tracks. For both of these areas of study, language skills are needed. If you really like foreign literature, you will find your enjoyment much enhanced and your understanding greatly refined if you can read the literature in its original language without impediment. If you enjoy linguistics and the science of how languages are constructed and evolve, you will find greater understanding and a stronger base for generalizations if you have a very good understanding of the structure and evolution of at least one language other than your own. If you can also speak that language, you will gain insights into linguistics that theory alone will not give you. Non-majors who have studied a foreign language in depth are students who want greater insights into foreign research, theory, and contributions in any number of disciplines.
While many people do travel abroad without knowing the language of the countries that they will be visiting, most will tell you that they wished they had learned some of the language before going there. If you are simply a tourist abroad, it is often possible to get by with English alone, given that English is typically the language used for international business and tourism. However, under such circumstances, you will see mostly the surface phenomena of a land – its architecture, its museums, and perhaps some of its customs. Needing an interpreter to communicate with citizens significantly reduces the amount of communication and kind of relationship that is possible. It is having a shared language that leads to a true understanding of a country by a foreigner. Further, even the person who is only interested in tourism may still find the need for access to the local language from time to time. After all, not everyone everywhere speaks English, and unforeseen circumstances do swallow up a tongue-tied tourist from time to time.
Some students are very interested in foreign cultures. The more they study these cultures, the more they realize that in order to understand them, they need to have access to their literature, art, music, and other cultural mentifacts and sociofacts (and maybe even to plan one or more trips there). The deeper you go, the more you will need foreign language skills. Knowing about the world and the people in it can be fascinating in and of itself. In this case, it is difficult to say whether the language is a tool (instrumental motivation) or a mechanism for understanding and being accepted by natives of the foreign culture (integrative motivation). Integrative motivation pushes students to bond with members of the foreign culture; it is, in many cases, a desire to act like and be accepted as a member of the culture. Some students are fascinated by linguistics and languages. They study one language after another, develop really good language learning skills, and with time become polyglots. Of course, some languages of polyglots will be strong, and other languages will be weak.
Some students study a particular foreign language “because my parents made me do it.” Parents have a number of reasons for wanting their children to study a foreign language. These include the enhancement of career options that comes with foreign language skills, the parents’ own enjoyable experiences in foreign-language learning, and family heritage, among many other reasons. Even if you feel that you are being “forced” to study a language that was “picked out” for you by your parents, this book can help you be a successful language learner. In the process, you might even find that you really do like the language you are studying. (After all, you do have some of your parents’ genes in you!)
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· University of Oxford - post gradual studies 2009 'English Language Teaching'
· Maastricht University – ‘Methodological courses for Teachers of English’- 2012
· Tilburg University – ‘ Methodological courses for Teachers of English’ – 2014
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