Many teachers have experienced frustration in the dealing with not a few second language learners who are almost always silent in the classroom, they seldom volunteer to answer questions . When called to recite, they merely give short answers. They feel very insecure about their English, hence, they prefer not to say anything rather than goof with what they have to say . How should teachers encourage these learners to be more active participants in the learning process ?
Learning can be conceived of as a process in which the learner gradually develops his/her interlanguage system by hypothesis formation and hypothesis testing . Depending on the feedback obtained , hypothetical rules either get rejected or incorporated into the interlanguage system as fixed rules. Learner language as interlanguage refers to the dynamic and evolving system which the learner has constructed from second language input. The process of the L2 is likened to a series of steps as a staircase: on any given step, the learner exhibits the error characteristic of that step. These errors disappear as the learner moves up to the next one, and he/she does this when he/ she is ready. In other words the learner passes through a sequence of developmental stages. No amount of error correction will move him/ her to the next stage until he/ she is ready for it. What the learner uses at every stage of language development is an interlanguage he / she uses to communicate. In the process they goes through a creative construction where they gradually builds their language system. This process of approximating the new language results in utterances characterized by errors as evidence of non mastery. Error provide proof of the system of the language learner which is using a particular point in the learning continuum. Describing and analyzing the language through error analysis can account for a certain classes of errors which are made by the second language learner in their attempt to express their message in spontaneous speech with an inadequate talk is the speech of the learner. In the classroom interlanguage talk, although fractured or faulty, provides comprehensible input.
Input is extremely important not only for the maintenance and development of the language. The input hypothesis claims that humans acquire language in only one way – by understanding messages or by obtaining comprehensible input .Outside the classroom language learners hardly even use the second language. What is important then is the negotiation of meaning that is said to promote language acquisition. This is manifested in the classroom where interaction is usually characterized by a degree of reciprocity and shared involvement. It is a cooperative enterprise in which the participants engage in a process of negotiations to who will speak, what will be discussed, and how the discussion will proceed.
Language learning is frequently described in terms of strategies activated by interlanguage users in developing their interlanguage. Two general types of strategies have been mentioned in the literature of language acquisition, learning strategies contribute to the development of the interlanguage system. Analyses of learner errors have revealed instances of overgeneralization, hypothesized false concepts, incomplete mastery of the target language. These are the learning strategies which the learner uses in their attempt at communication.
For the teacher to get the learner to use risk taking strategies, the learners ego must be protected. Helping them to relax and getting then to focus on the content of what they say rather than on the language errors. To much concern for the formal correctness is incongruent with the promotion of independence, openness, and risk-taking behavior. The existence of an effective of an effective filter that screens incoming language . the higher the level of anxiety and feeling of insecurity, the greater the amount of affective filtering, which keeps potential language input from reaching the learner, thus , interfers with his learning ,sometimes the learner is feeling anxious or insecure will determine how open he could be to a new language and how he willing to take risks that could result in further learning. This brings into focus the need to provide for a non threatening, supportive learning environment, which recognizes the important role that affective filtering plays.
By: Roma S. Dumandan | T-II | Luakan National High School | Dinalupihan, Bataan
