Why social and academic English plays a vital role in second language development
There is a difference between social and academic English. Academic English is the English language that is usually used in school, and it is necessary for the success of a child. It considers the standards that are stipulated by the ministry concerned. The standards are in terms of contents of the various subjects and the art of the English language ( Hall, 2017) . Through academic English, learners gain literacy competence that is necessary for formal education success. In most educational settings, academic English is used for facilitation.
On the other hand, social English is the English language used day to day communication in different environments. Social English is used for communication in written or oral forms nut in the un-informal setting ( Nunan, 2015 ). Social English is not complicated or demanding when compared to academic English. Social and academic English is very crucial for a child to understand the acquisition of the second language. Children who have not mastered the social and academic English may have difficulties when sharing information with other people; they will not be able to comprehend the information given.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Students with well developed social and academic English language skills and competencies tend to have the ability to acquire a second language more quickly than those poor in social and academic English. The developed social and academic English language skills can be easily transferred to support the process of second language acquisition hence making the learning process easier for both teachers and students.
A strategy that promotes literacy development in young English language learners
One strategy that can be used to support literacy development among young English language learners is the enhancement of the language. Language enhancement can be done by providing systematic instructions to the learners. The exposure to different English words will help the learners to understand the use and meaning of vocabulary, and in doing so, the literacy of the learners will develop. The trainers should also ensure that the learners have opportunities to interact with the environment socially, peers, and adults. This will make them build confidence that will support their literacy growth. Young learners need enough time to interact and play, and this can be enhanced by ensuring there is an enabling environment to interact.
According to Early, Kendrick and Potts (2015) during the early age of education, a leaner plays a considerable role in ensuring learners have proper literacy development and success in terms of the English language in the future. Children who are given an excellent foundation to develop their language skills their literacy normally face fewer challenges in understanding the concepts of various vocabularies that are used.
In a study by Gilakjani and Sabouri (2016) young English learners should be exposed to using rich language and vocabulary. The vocabulary can be acquired and enhanced by reading and sharing books or by having a social interaction talk between the students and the teachers. The National Early Literacy Panel (2017) noted that social interaction and conversation between the students and the teachers help in ensuring there is proper oral language development.
Teachers should also be in a position to identify the similarities between the mother languages of the children and English. This can be used to know the kind of instructions that can be imposed on learners. It was observed that many students were having difficulties when they came across sounds that are not present in their first language. Thus, the teacher should start training young learners using sounds that are familiar to their first language.
References
Early, M., Kendrick, M., & Potts, D. (2015). Multimodality: Out from the margins of English language teaching. Tesol Quarterly , 49 (3), 447-460.
Gilakjani, A. P., & Sabouri, N. B. (2016). The significance of listening comprehension in English language teaching. Theory and Practice in Language Studies , 6 (8), 1670-1677.
Hall, G. (2017). Exploring English language teaching: Language in action . London: Routledge press, p. 33.
Nunan, D. (2015). Teaching English to speakers of other languages: An introduction . London: Routledge press, p. 41.
