As anything in life, practice makes us better, and English is not the exception. This blog has been designed to help you improve your language skills in English, so please feel to explore it and contribute with your posts and comments. Remember to read the instructions first. You can also send suggestions to aariosvel@gmail.com.
I liked the article because it mentions the reasons, factors, why students cannot achieve native-like competence. Personally I think that one big disadvantage that we face as students is that we do not have many opportunities or chances to practice all input we receive in our classes. Taking one hour and a half, on weekdays, is not enough to achieve high expectations. We have limitations, not as students, but as citizens of a city that do not receive too many foreing people, or where foreing people do not see our city as a place to visit. So, we cannot practice in real communication with real native speakers. We can just practice with classmates, or with teachers, but even teachers commit mistakes. What I mean, is not the same!.
this topic is something that many students , especially the ones who are in advanced leves have ask their selves . many of us had the idea to speak as a native speakers and some students feel frustrated when they finish their studies and they can't speak as a native speaker. but after reading this article we as a students can realized why we didn't get to that competence. i like this article because now i as student of advance level know why i can't speak as a native speaker.also i 'd like to say that in my opinion it'd be imposible if we just speak english in a country where it is not spoken.on the other hand it'd be possible to talk like a native if we live in a country where the language is spoken.
This topic it's interseting for most of the students that study english, because they have an advantage which is speaking english; however, if srudents want to speak or like to be as though they were native speakers, they have to study and practicea lot to achieve that goal. On the other hand learning english it's interesting, but students aren't too able to speak as native speakers on account of the fact that they don't have too much opportunities to learn english as children who lives in U.S. , in Canada, or in England. Moreover, in an Institute, we cannot develop as much as we want, yet we talk with our friends, and with the teacher, but that's not enough for learning a second language. Renzo García A11
I agree with this article because language students have to take in count that there are many factors which intervene in learning a language. Consequently, they are not going to feel anxious, desperate and nervous when they won’t do correctly some worksheets that are in the book, but it doesn’t mean that they will be conformist students; which is a negative attitude in order to learn a language because those students won’t create strategies which help them to achieve the goal of learning a language. Well, if people want to learn a language, they have to put their best efforts which help them to create strategies to overcome some problems in order to have a very competent level of language.
I have to say that this was an interesting article and I really enjoyed it. I totally agree that there are some things that make a second language a little bit hard to learn and one of those things is the interfierence of the fisrt language. It's useful to interact with authentic material because it's useful in the learning process. Finally, I have to admit that it was hard to learn English for me ,but I used to watch a lot of videos in English and now I'm better speaking English. Robert Sobrevilla a11
I am sure that the learning of not only a language, also depends on many different aspects such as age, emotions, aptitudes, etc. It is nice to see the point of view of a real techer who has experience. However, for me a native-like communicative competence is possible. By the way, many times not only depends on us since many other aspects like society, family, etc affect our life directly. Any way, i do agree with the rest of the aspects like the negative effect translating from one the language we are trying to lear to our native language. it happens to me many times too. In a hypothetical situation, i want to learn a third language; but using the second new language i have just learned, it will be very difficult because i would have to first translate to the second language, in this case English, and then to my native language Spanish. I belive that the method used in learning one language will be deferent from the methos used in learnig a third or fourth language. Other important aspect is the age of the learners. i belive that the best age to learn other languages or new things, in general, is when they are in their childhood (5-13 years). I say this from my personal experience, because i've lived in the USA for one year when i was 9-10 years old. attending to a public school a developing as a native kid. you could not imagine how much my English improved, the problem is that when i came back, i didn't practice as there. That is why i think that the constant practice with native speakers could help you to achive a native-like communicative competece. Javier Manrique Vial. A11
Having read your article, I would say that I do agree with your ideas because of some reasons. For one thing, as you, I believe that learning a foreign or a second language does depend on how old a student is. For example, I have seen many times that children are the ones who are more likely to learn not only languages but also everything. I think this thing happens since children and young learners learn by imitation and they can copy many things easily. Secondly, I agree that affective emotions are really important when learning a second language. I think that as Daniel Goleman says, the emotional intelligence plays an important role for learning something ( Emotional Intelligence, 1995). I think that if students' family, friends, society and teachers give them enough motivation for learning a language, students will be able to learn it successfully on account of the fact that their affective filter will be low. Last but not least, I think that it is almost impossible to make students speak as native apeakers. I believe so since native speakers learn to speak their first language when they are children. Besides, I think that factors as customes or way of growing up determine the way students will speak. All in all, I think you do have good and interesting ideas, and I agree with them because of the reasons explained above.
Your article could make us think about a lot of aspects we should consider when teaching and learning a second language,in this case English.I could agree with you in part,emotions,age and first language pre-knowledge are important when developing skills,but it is not all.As we studied lasth month, the way teachers teach and teh methodology they use are important too.When using the CLL or the suggestopaedia we are helping student develop basic skills in English competences:listening and speaking.I think students can develop native-like competences with effort, but also with teacher's support.On one hand,we could conclude that if native-like competences were impossible to develop,as you claimed,neither could teachers have developed them.Perhaps learners won't be able to interact with others just as a native speaker can at first, but is not impossible.
I have to say that your article make me thing about my period of L2 student. Although I'm almost finishing my three years of English as a second language, I have to say that I feel that something is missing. I don't know if that happens for the age that I have now or because I would like to practice my English with a native speaker to have in my mind which kind of level I have. It's obvious that the motivation for each student is totally different, but at the end the purpose is the same(to increase our knowledge). No matter how hard we have to push ourselves to achive for our goal, in this case; being a good second language speaker, we will do this for our future. I'd like to know if students who start studing English as a second language at the age of 11, but they have external problems that intervine in the process of learning will have the level of understanding as you said? because I guess that external factors change persons minds, even if we talk about children, teenagers, or pubers well, I hope that you can answer my question.. BTW, the article is really interesting By, Vane Vasquez A11
Hi teacher I need to say that I don´t agree with some comments that you have; for example, you mention that "attitude" is an important key to learn L2 effectively. I think that the most important key here is the "aptitude" because if a student does not have this ,probably when he/she wants to stop do something, he/she probably do it (learn L2, but when you have attitude most of the time otu feel so confident that he/she becames to be pedantic. Another comment that I have it`s that when I read your comment I feel a little confuse on account of tha fact that I have been learning english for 6 years and I do not know if I learned english in its totallity or I just contiune learning english because I´m in A11 and it would be silly if I leave Icpna now. I`m pretty sure that most of us have the same problem ;moreover, we have other problem that it`s when our L1 interfere with the learned of the L2. It`s a good article teacher ,maybe you can check my comment aobut it, and you can improve it. bye carmen zarate azparrent A11
After, I finished to read the article I can say that I'm totally agree in many aspects that are mentioned in the article, for example, I' m agree with the factors why students can't achieve to native-like competence,especially with the affective and cognitive factors, because as you mentioned in the article we are humans and most of the times we are influenced by our emotions, especially by motivation, I said that because personally I think that if a student has the enough motivation to achieve to native-like competence that student can be sure that he or she is going to obtain wthat they want, but if a student doesn't have the enough motivation maybe this student is not going to be able toachieve to native-like competence.
On the other hand, I am not totally agree with the age factor, because, during the time that I have been studying, I saw that sometimes the ones who were learning more were adults, not the young ones, so I have a doubt respect that.
In my personal opinion everything in the article is ok, but maybe there could be included some expeptions for the factors.
Congratulations teacher¡, you wrote a good piece of article.
When I finished reading the article I was so surprised, because I was totally agree in many aspects that are mentioned in the article. For example, I’m agree with many factors but especially with the one that says "We humans are emotional creatures; consequently, our emotions influence our thinking and acting”. So I’m totally agree with this, personally i think that everyone who are sure what they want, they can obtain whatever they want, but the ones who are not sure only lose their time. In my personal opinion about the article I think that this article is fantastic for all students, because it makes us to know the factors that influenced in learning a foreign language. Good article! Congratulations!
Nice article! It helped me to understand why it is difficult for me to achieve native-like communicative competence. As you wrote there are many factors that limit EFL students to achieve this competence. On my personal experience I can say that the factors that affected my learning were the affective factor, my native language transfer and the age. When I was studying en elementary school and high school I didn't have interest and motivation for studying English even if my parents and teachers told me how important it was, I used to say that I was so busy studying in school to enter to the university that I didn't have time to study English. I realized the importance to know English when I started to study at university so I decided to study at ICPNA. I was 16 when it happened. Now I really regret about my decision. I must have studied when I was ten or more young.Nonetheless, there are thing that I can do to improve my English and I will try them. Neryeling Valverde Apfata A11
Well, As soon as I finished reading this article many things came to my mind. Most of us, as student of English as a foreign language, think that it is just to study the language so we don't matter that there are other factors to be aware to get a high level of competence on it. First, I agree with your opinion about ages. I think students' age is a huge factor to learn a foreign language, also in other things. Since children have more capacity to do many things at the same time, so it seems that they are doing another thing but they are completely paying attention to you. So that, they are able to get easily a foreign language. Then, I also believe that students have to be encouraged by teacher or people that are surrounding them, to achieve their goals and not to quit while their learning. Finally students have to have self-motivation to continue working hard and become better and better by the time. Just to finish, as teachers or students, don't forget to keep practicing almost every day, everywhere and every time the language. It is true that with practice all your skills will improve and increase your level of a second language speaker, as well. Let me congratulate you it was an amazing article!.
Sincerely, I have found the article really interesting since I agree with the part that says that learning a language might depend on how old the students are. From my experience, I have been working with some children and I have noticed that they always want to learn more and more since they find everything interesting. Also, I think that students should always be motivated on account of the fact that it will help us practice extensive listening or reading, for instance.
I liked the article because it mentions the reasons, factors, why students cannot achieve native-like competence. Personally I think that one big disadvantage that we face as students is that we do not have many opportunities or chances to practice all input we receive in our classes. Taking one hour and a half, on weekdays, is not enough to achieve high expectations. We have limitations, not as students, but as citizens of a city that do not receive too many foreing people, or where foreing people do not see our city as a place to visit. So, we cannot practice in real communication with real native speakers. We can just practice with classmates, or with teachers, but even teachers commit mistakes. What I mean, is not the same!.
ReplyDeletethis topic is something that many students , especially the ones who are in advanced leves have ask their selves . many of us had the idea to speak as a native speakers and some students feel frustrated when they finish their studies and they can't speak as a native speaker. but after reading this article we as a students can realized why we didn't get to that competence. i like this article because now i as student of advance level know why i can't speak as a native speaker.also i 'd like to say that in my opinion it'd be imposible if we just speak english in a country where it is not spoken.on the other hand it'd be possible to talk like a native if we live in a country where the language is spoken.
ReplyDeletejosias cartagena A11
This topic it's interseting for most of the students that study english, because they have an advantage which is speaking english; however, if srudents want to speak or like to be as though they were native speakers, they have to study and practicea lot to achieve that goal. On the other hand learning english it's interesting, but students aren't too able to speak as native speakers on account of the fact that they don't have too much opportunities to learn english as children who lives in U.S. , in Canada, or in England. Moreover, in an Institute, we cannot develop as much as we want, yet we talk with our friends, and with the teacher, but that's not enough for learning a second language.
ReplyDeleteRenzo García A11
I agree with this article because language students have to take in count that there are many factors which intervene in learning a language. Consequently, they are not going to feel anxious, desperate and nervous when they won’t do correctly some worksheets that are in the book, but it doesn’t mean that they will be conformist students; which is a negative attitude in order to learn a language because those students won’t create strategies which help them to achieve the goal of learning a language. Well, if people want to learn a language, they have to put their best efforts which help them to create strategies to overcome some problems in order to have a very competent level of language.
ReplyDeleteMilagritos Ambrosio Coz A11
I have to say that this was an interesting article and I really enjoyed it. I totally agree that there are some things that make a second language a little bit hard to learn and one of those things is the interfierence of the fisrt language. It's useful to interact with authentic material because it's useful in the learning process. Finally, I have to admit that it was hard to learn English for me ,but I used to watch a lot of videos in English and now I'm better speaking English.
ReplyDeleteRobert Sobrevilla a11
I am sure that the learning of not only a language, also depends on many different aspects such as age, emotions, aptitudes, etc. It is nice to see the point of view of a real techer who has experience. However, for me a native-like communicative competence is possible. By the way, many times not only depends on us since many other aspects like society, family, etc affect our life directly. Any way, i do agree with the rest of the aspects like the negative effect translating from one the language we are trying to lear to our native language. it happens to me many times too. In a hypothetical situation, i want to learn a third language; but using the second new language i have just learned, it will be very difficult because i would have to first translate to the second language, in this case English, and then to my native language Spanish. I belive that the method used in learning one language will be deferent from the methos used in learnig a third or fourth language. Other important aspect is the age of the learners. i belive that the best age to learn other languages or new things, in general, is when they are in their childhood (5-13 years). I say this from my personal experience, because i've lived in the USA for one year when i was 9-10 years old. attending to a public school a developing as a native kid. you could not imagine how much my English improved, the problem is that when i came back, i didn't practice as there. That is why i think that the constant practice with native speakers could help you to achive a native-like communicative competece.
ReplyDeleteJavier Manrique Vial. A11
Having read your article, I would say that I do agree with your ideas because of some reasons. For one thing, as you, I believe that learning a foreign or a second language does depend on how old a student is. For example, I have seen many times that children are the ones who are more likely to learn not only languages but also everything. I think this thing happens since children and young learners learn by imitation and they can copy many things easily. Secondly, I agree that affective emotions are really important when learning a second language. I think that as Daniel Goleman says, the emotional intelligence plays an important role for learning something ( Emotional Intelligence, 1995). I think that if students' family, friends, society and teachers give them enough motivation for learning a language, students will be able to learn it successfully on account of the fact that their affective filter will be low. Last but not least, I think that it is almost impossible to make students speak as native apeakers. I believe so since native speakers learn to speak their first language when they are children. Besides, I think that factors as customes or way of growing up determine the way students will speak. All in all, I think you do have good and interesting ideas, and I agree with them because of the reasons explained above.
ReplyDeleteGian Carlos Javier A11.
Your article could make us think about a lot of aspects we should consider when teaching and learning a second language,in this case English.I could agree with you in part,emotions,age and first language pre-knowledge are important when developing skills,but it is not all.As we studied lasth month, the way teachers teach and teh methodology they use are important too.When using the CLL or the suggestopaedia we are helping student develop basic skills in English competences:listening and speaking.I think students can develop native-like competences with effort, but also with teacher's support.On one hand,we could conclude that if native-like competences were impossible to develop,as you claimed,neither could teachers have developed them.Perhaps learners won't be able to interact with others just as a native speaker can at first, but is not impossible.
ReplyDeleteI have to say that your article make me thing about my period of L2 student. Although I'm almost finishing my three years of English as a second language, I have to say that I feel that something is missing. I don't know if that happens for the age that I have now or because I would like to practice my English with a native speaker to have in my mind which kind of level I have. It's obvious that the motivation for each student is totally different, but at the end the purpose is the same(to increase our knowledge). No matter how hard we have to push ourselves to achive for our goal, in this case; being a good second language speaker, we will do this for our future.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to know if students who start studing English as a second language at the age of 11, but they have external problems that intervine in the process of learning will have the level of understanding as you said?
because I guess that external factors change persons minds, even if we talk about children, teenagers, or pubers
well, I hope that you can answer my question..
BTW, the article is really interesting
By, Vane Vasquez A11
Hi teacher I need to say that I don´t agree with some comments that you have; for example, you mention that "attitude" is an important key to learn L2 effectively. I think that the most important key here is the "aptitude" because if a student does not have this ,probably when he/she wants to stop do something, he/she probably do it (learn L2, but when you have attitude most of the time otu feel so confident that he/she becames to be pedantic.
ReplyDeleteAnother comment that I have it`s that when I read your comment I feel a little confuse on account of tha fact that I have been learning english for 6 years and I do not know if I learned english in its totallity or I just contiune learning english because I´m in A11 and it would be silly if I leave Icpna now. I`m pretty sure that most of us have the same problem ;moreover, we have other problem that it`s when our L1 interfere with the learned of the L2.
It`s a good article teacher ,maybe you can check my comment aobut it, and you can improve it.
bye
carmen zarate azparrent A11
After, I finished to read the article I can say that I'm totally agree in many aspects that are mentioned in the article, for example, I' m agree with the factors why students can't achieve to native-like competence,especially with the affective and cognitive factors, because as you mentioned in the article we are humans and most of the times we are influenced by our emotions, especially by motivation, I said that because personally I think that if a student has the enough motivation to achieve to native-like competence that student can be sure that he or she is going to obtain wthat they want, but if a student doesn't have the enough motivation maybe this student is not going to be able toachieve to native-like competence.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, I am not totally agree with the age factor, because, during the time that I have been studying, I saw that sometimes the ones who were learning more were adults, not the young ones, so I have a doubt respect that.
In my personal opinion everything in the article is ok, but maybe there could be included some expeptions for the factors.
Congratulations teacher¡, you wrote a good piece of article.
Osores Fernandez Karen A07
When I finished reading the article I was so surprised, because I was totally agree in many aspects that are mentioned in the article. For example, I’m agree with many factors but especially with the one that says "We humans are emotional creatures; consequently, our emotions influence our thinking and acting”. So I’m totally agree with this, personally i think that everyone who are sure what they want, they can obtain whatever they want, but the ones who are not sure only lose their time.
ReplyDeleteIn my personal opinion about the article I think that this article is fantastic for all students, because it makes us to know the factors that influenced in learning a foreign language.
Good article! Congratulations!
Nice article! It helped me to understand why it is difficult for me to achieve native-like communicative competence. As you wrote there are many factors that limit EFL students to achieve this competence. On my personal experience I can say that the factors that affected my learning were the affective factor, my native language transfer and the age. When I was studying en elementary school and high school I didn't have interest and motivation for studying English even if my parents and teachers told me how important it was, I used to say that I was so busy studying in school to enter to the university that I didn't have time to study English. I realized the importance to know English when I started to study at university so I decided to study at ICPNA. I was 16 when it happened. Now I really regret about my decision. I must have studied when I was ten or more young.Nonetheless, there are thing that I can do to improve my English and I will try them.
ReplyDeleteNeryeling Valverde Apfata A11
Well, As soon as I finished reading this article many things came to my mind. Most of us, as student of English as a foreign language, think that it is just to study the language so we don't matter that there are other factors to be aware to get a high level of competence on it.
ReplyDeleteFirst, I agree with your opinion about ages. I think students' age is a huge factor to learn a foreign language, also in other things. Since children have more capacity to do many things at the same time, so it seems that they are doing another thing but they are completely paying attention to you. So that, they are able to get easily a foreign language.
Then, I also believe that students have to be encouraged by teacher or people that are surrounding them, to achieve their goals and not to quit while their learning.
Finally students have to have self-motivation to continue working hard and become better and better by the time.
Just to finish, as teachers or students, don't forget to keep practicing almost every day, everywhere and every time the language. It is true that with practice all your skills will improve and increase your level of a second language speaker, as well.
Let me congratulate you it was an amazing article!.
Luis Miguel Bernal A11
Sincerely, I have found the article really interesting since I agree with the part that says that learning a language might depend on how old the students are. From my experience, I have been working with some children and I have noticed that they always want to learn more and more since they find everything interesting. Also, I think that students should always be motivated on account of the fact that it will help us practice extensive listening or reading, for instance.
ReplyDelete