LANGUAGE ACROSS THE CURRICULUM-BEd Notes
Unit 1 – Knowing language across the curriculum
Prepared by
Sabarish P
Contents
Need for acquisition of English as foreign/second language.
Professional opportunities
Becoming a global citizen
Entertainment and cultural understanding
Education
Access to knowledge
Why you should learn English
Second language acquisition (NCF 2005)
Need for acquisition of English as foreign/second language.
The world is an increasingly globalized place where individuals are communicating among and between multiple cultures each day. Today, an individual has access to a vast array of information from a variety of world cultures at the touch of a button. English is now the world’s most widely spoken second language, surpassing all others. In fact, more people now speak English as a second language than as their first language. Learning a second language helps you to communicate across cultures and to conduct business in lands you may never have previously considered viable markets.
It also helps you to address customers in the language that they understand best and in which they are most comfortable communicating.
The importance of learning a second language is emphasized every day when we see the diversity of earth’s cultures and the amazing array of people that make up our global community.
Professional opportunities
Being bilingual is something that more and more businesses all over the world require from their employees.
Besides the US and Great Britain, English is the main language in countries like Australia, New Zealand, Canada, parts of Africa, India, and many smaller island nations, as well as the commonly adopted second language in Germany, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and the Netherlands.
Speaking English opens these countries and cultures up to you, the English learner. English is also the language of technology and science, especially computer science, genetics, and medicine.
If you are interested in these fields, then learning English should be a priority.
Being able to speak English will make it easy to contact experts and scientists from other countries, participate in international conferences, visit academic centres abroad, and learn about new scientific discoveries by reading papers, books, magazines and journels.
Social networking and relationships – becoming a global citizen
English is not only the main language of business, but also the main language of social interaction that unites the entire world. Knowing English is the most important step towards becoming a global citizen – a person that can live anywhere, thrive anywhere, and speak to anyone & overcome all communication barriers and be able to exchange thoughts and ideas with someone of your age, or from your field of work, from say China or Brazil? One can form lasting relationships, not only for business, but also for friendship or for romance.
Entertainment and cultural understanding
The majority of films and entertainment programs in the world is in English. Not to mention that the primary language that books are published in is English. It always feels like an accomplishment for an English learner to be able to watch a movie in English with no subtitles, or read their first book entirely in English. English makes it easy to access and understand other cultures. When the language barrier is lifted, there is more space for cooperation, for empathy, and for common ground.
It would seem that having one language that most people understand and speak actually offers an opportunity for everyone to participate, to let their voice be heard, to actively exercise their freedom.
Education – research and academics
The US alone offers an incredible array of opportunities to those who are able to function in an English only environment (2000 universities and colleges and more than 400 billion dollars spent every year on research).
Knowing English also opens doors for study abroad – there are over 750,000 foreign students in the US (according to an USA Today article), and over 430,000 in the UK (according to the UK Council of International Student Affairs).
Access to knowledge – the Internet
The percentage of web pages with English content is estimated to be over 50%, while the next language most used is German and amounts to less than 10% of pages. The incredible amount of information on the Internet (some estimate it to a trillion pages, compels us to consider English as a language more than worth learning. Learning a foreign language can be both challenging and rewarding.
f. Whys should we learn English as a second language?
1. English is one of the most widely spoken languages
2. English will open up more opportunities for you.
3. English will make you more desirable to employers.
4. English gives you access to some of the world’s best universities.
5. English is the language of some of the world’s greatest literature.
6. English allows you to get more from popular culture
7. English allows you to attend international conferences and events
8. English has a simple alphabet
9. English gives you wider access to knowledge
10. English is a fantastic intellectual challenge.
g. Second language acquisition (NCF 2005)
English in India is a global language in a multilingual country. The goals for a second-language curriculum are twofold: attainment of a basic proficiency, such as is acquired in natural language learning and the development of language into an instrument for abstract thought and knowledge acquisition through (for example) literacy. This argues for an across-the-curriculum approach that breaks down the barriers between English and other subjects, and English and other Indian languages.
At the initial stages, English may be one of the languages for learning activities that create the child's awareness of the world. At later stages, all learning happens through language. Higher-order linguistic skills generalise across languages; reading, (for example) is a transferable skill. Improving it in one language improves it in others, while reading failure in one’s own languages adversely affects second-language reading.
The aim of English teaching is the creation of multi-lingual’s who can enrich all our languages; this has been an abiding national vision
The gift of a second language is a window onto a new world, bringing into focus a wealth of conversation, information, and understanding that would otherwise be forever closed to the students who seek to learn a new language. We therefore look forward every day to giving our students the tools to succeed in all their dreams.
Prepared bySabarish P
