My Account of Second Language Learning Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

My Account of Second Language Learning - Essay Example The course I undertook at King Khalid University for four years was a specialization in English. Much of skills on both pronunciation and writing at this level were acquired due to the interaction with a lot of people from various parts of the world who communicated mostly in English. Similarly, I put my own effort and did personal studies. I got employed as an English teacher in a primary school in Al Jubail Industrial City. This was a good opportunity for growth from the basic level with the primary school children, most of whom depended on visual aids for understanding. This being an industrial city, many inhabitants came from different parts of the world and would interact with the students outside of school. English being a common language among most of them, learning English among these students was not a major challenge. After a year, I moved on to teach adults from varied technical faculties in a technical college. It is here that I got the opportunities to improve my teachin g skills through the regular training sessions organized by the institution. Through this process of learning, there are two factors that greatly influenced my personal outcome; these are motivation and my learning strategies. Learning of the second language varies from one individual to another (Slevc & Miyake, 2006). One of the factors that influenced my proficiency in learning English as a second language is my motivation since my experience with my Bangladeshi teacher who could converse only in English.... One of the factors that influenced my proficiency in learning English as a second language is my motivation since my experience with my Bangladeshi teacher who could converse only in English. According to Csizer and Dornyei (2005), motivation refers to the desire for achievement of an ideal language through reduction of the variation between the actual and the ideal states. It encompasses the subject that provokes action in a person, the period that such a person is willing to sustain it and the effort put towards its pursuance. This could be instigated by the desire to later attain some reward which pushes the learner towards the attainment of the anticipated reward. In my case, the desire was in reducing the gap between the actual incompetence in English language and the ideal state of being proficient in the language so as to communicate well with my teacher. There was a desire in me to excel academically through achievement of English proficiency which made me proceed to even spe cialising in the language at university level. Dornyei (2002) also points out that there is a reward that sustains motivation. Some of the rewards that second language teachers could use include encouragement and applause for achievement, which in general push the inner self of the learner towards attainment of the set goals. Having observed the close ties that Saudi Arabia had with the Western world, it was obvious that English would be an advantage to me when interacting with the people from those nations even in learning institutions. The Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia was introduced in 1942 and since then, English language has been taught among its citizens (Al Sadan, 2000). This language has been given a second priority after the