Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Compiled by
Compiled by
Ahmad Fadhli
1408066004
Class 3-B-1
Education is one of the ways for people to move out of poverty as they
continue to get better life. For instance, children who receive a good educational
foundation at primary school levels are in a much better position when they are in
the process to be adults.
Most of the time, materials in the school are separated from the reality of
learners. Some primary teachers seem trained in promoting the nurture theory
which is promoted by Skinner (1957), they deliver the curriculum where the
language is not used in context within the childs surrounding so that the difficulty
in making meaning from it is far greater. Expecting children to do something great
,like doing rote memorization, under these conditions is extremely unrealistic,
particularly when they may also be affected by hunger and poor nutrition, poor
health, or even their parents are unable to help them with the learning process. It
would be preferable to develop teaching practices which make learning easier for
children rather adding extra levels of difficulty. Examining or assessing a child in
a language which they do not use outside school is likely to generate misleading
knowledge about a childs real level of skills and capabilities. Such tests are
simply testing how good the child is at second language, they are not deciding the
fate of children at all. The children need support to develop their mother tongue
although, new second language vocabulary or structures should also be introduced
after a child has learned the corresponding concepts in their first language, so that
they can link meaning across to the new language easily. It is also beneficial for
the education of children who live in communities that regularly speak one local
language, and do not have access to second language materials. They may also
face other difficulties in education, such as poverty, living in rural areas or having
illiterate parents. Adults can believe those young children are good at picking up
language, and that children need to be surrounded by a language for not very long
time if they are eager to be success and taught properly. Chomsky (1959) states
that children are actually programmed in order to use language. He argues that the
ability to learn language is innate, distinctly human and distinct from all other
aspects of human cognition. It completes the previous theory that language is
learned from experience or habit (Skinner: 1957). The combination between the
theories encourages the process of socialization through language that does not
need to involve a lot of burden for children.
There is no research that already examines the relationship between positive
thinking development and the study of language. But language education can be
delivered in ways which make learners study with eagerness or curiosity to always
learn something new. In order to make learners be able to master second language
skills, it is essential to transform the school environment to provide lots of
exposure for learners as early an age as possible since it is easier than older age.
Hoff (2001) says the pre-puberty brain is like a sponge all learning knowledge
and experience can be absorbed. So in the classroom practice, teachers do not
need to overwhelm learners with language rules. The absorption of language in
the brain makes the learning of a language, first or second, easier for children than
for adult learners. Principally, learners need practices and gradual exposure to the
language as soon as possible. Language is learned through active interaction
between the childs innate capacity and environment. It should be noted that the
concept of the native language ought to be mastered before learning another
system so learners can link meaning across the new language easily. I believe that
with the mother tongue, learners can develop their critical thinking in the best
way. The need to mix two or more languages in producing language may not be
happened if both foundation of native and second language are established
successfully. Information in the lesson can be started from the context of a
childs reality. In the beginning, it is not needed to learn materials which are too
far from learners environment. Hence learners will not think or feel their study is
useless in the future implementation but as the opposite, it develops learners life
concretely.
REFERENCES
Chomsky, Noam. (1995). The Minimalist Program. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Djonhar, S. C. (2012). Introduction to Language Acquisition: the Acquisition of
English as a Foreign Language.Jakarta: UHAMKA PRESS.
Ellis, Rod. (2003). The Study of Second Language Acquisition. Oxford University
Press.
Keraf, G.(1980). Composition: An Introduction to Language Kemahrian. Ende:
Nus
Beautiful.