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Most Recent Articles
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- English Practice
Just a few decades ago English learners had to travel to English native countries to improve their English knowledge. This way of English practice was quite expensive and those who could not afford travel expenses and foreign accommodation had to find cheaper and easier ways for their practice. They would satisfy with reading English books, journals, magazines and articles in origin and speak to their friends and relatives who could somehow communicate in English. The things had considerably changed with the new technologies innovations which immediately spread out the world and became the integral part of each person’s every day life. These new technologies have become a real gift for English learners because they could provide excellent opportunity to stay at home and have vital communications with hundreds of English native speakers. These new technological gifts are the Internet and DVDs. - New Language and How We Learn It
In this article I will try to discuss second language acquisition theories: compare and contrast L1 and L2 acquisition, introduce some key points, such as internal factors which include innatism/universal grammar, internal theories, to be specific I will discuss them in Krashen's acquisition, monitor, input, affective filter ways. Additional, as a language learner I will describe my own beliefs about language leaning. - Creativity and English Education
The development of the human civilization has depended wholly upon the creativity and ingenuity of mankind to bring about purposeful focus, change and order into our world. Human creativity is a very unique and powerful characteristic that lies at the heart of what it means to be human. For mans continual desire to fulfill the needs of the human race by creating and developing artifacts from the raw materials of our world has ultimately shaped the way we live, work, play and learn today. Creativity can therefore be said to be the most powerful and fundamental natural human resource that empowers us, as humans, to freely create what has never been seen. In Bronowski's 'The Ascent of Man', he described man as the species who's imagination and toughness make it possible for him not to accept his environment but to change it. - Benefits of Learning a Foreign Language
However, elementary schools should teach foreign languages due to the valuable benefits to the students. Not only is it easier to learn a foreign language at a younger age, but it also helps increase progress in academics as well as creative thinking skills. - # English Language And How It Varies
Spoken English is subject to more variations than written English since the standard forms of English that have been codified tend to come from written English. Therefore, I will focus on the discussion of the variation of spoken English in this essay. - Arbitrariness in Language
I have used Portuguese model just to illustrate that the words themselves do not have to be the same, or understandable for us, just that the tribesman needs to be able to understand. In the example I have just given, the words "tigre-dente-de-sabre" means the same as a "sabre tooth tiger" in English. These words are the sign or signifier. If you were to travel back in time and ask a tribesman were you could find a sabre-toothed tiger he would have absolutely no idea what you were talking about. That is because the words have no connection to the animal in question. How then are the words related to the animal, or signified? According to Saussure, all signs are arbitrary, and are wholly conventional associations that have been determined by social rule, or semiotic convention. At first you could argue that this absolute statement is flawed, especially in relation to onomatopoeic words. However, if you look in detail at specific languages you will see some differences. For example, in English a cock's crowing is represented in speech and writing as cock-a-doodle-doo, whilst in French it is cocorico. In my humble opinion it is unlikely that cock's in Britain and France sound different.
It can also be said that noises have no significance in and of themselves. A noise is just a noise, just as a piece of wood hitting another is just that, one piece of wood hitting another. However, when a judge hits his mallet against his desk it is accepted he is calling the court to order. How then are these sounds assigned meaning? Unlike in Mark Twain's "Diaries of Eve" someone has not gone around naming animals and objects for us. It has been argued that words are assigned meaning "by virtue of systematic differences between them" and only have significance "through relations through one another in a symbolic system" or language. - Standard English - What Is It
Therefore knowledge of Standard English is seen to be crucial.
Standard English is the country's universal language if you like, as speakers of all varieties of English can understand the standardized form therefore we generally hear Standard English spoken on the television and radio news shows. In its written form Standard English can be found in formal styles such as business letters and essays. Because of this unified understanding, this variety of English is taught to second-language speakers, which preserves its cultural value.
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