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Monday, October 17, 2011
Friday, August 26, 2011
A look into Japanese MONEY and BANKS
If you plan to travel or stay in Japan, this information give you a brief tour to Japanese money and banks.
By: Ira Rasikawati
Dealing with money and banks could be a serious problem for a first time traveler in Japan. Considering Japan is a developed country, most of us may think that it would be easy to find ATMs and safer to travel with either debit or credit cards. You might be unaware not only that many Japanese ATMs do not accept foreign cards, but also English menu is seldom available; especially if we travel to small cities or the countryside. International ATMs that accept foreign debit and credit cards are usually found limited in post offices, a few department stores and airports. The following information may be worth reading if you are unfamiliar with Japanese money and banks.
Yen
Coins in the unit of Japanese currency Yen (¥) are available in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 50, 100 and 500 yen and bank notes in denominations of 1,000, 2,000, 5,000 and 10,000 yen. It is wiser to carry enough cash in Yen if you travel to Japan especially outside big cities. A customs declaration is usually required if you carry currencies or other types of money exceeding one million yen worth in Japanese currency into or out of Japan.
Coins in the unit of Japanese currency Yen (¥) are available in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 50, 100 and 500 yen and bank notes in denominations of 1,000, 2,000, 5,000 and 10,000 yen. It is wiser to carry enough cash in Yen if you travel to Japan especially outside big cities. A customs declaration is usually required if you carry currencies or other types of money exceeding one million yen worth in Japanese currency into or out of Japan.
Source: Japan National Tourism Organization Website
You also have the option of buying yen at foreign exchange banks or other money changers. They are usually located in big shopping areas, famous department stores or railway stations. It is easier to exchange US$ than any other foreign currencies. Although nowadays the number of English speaking bank officers have increased, it is advisable to have a Japanese speaking friend come with you when you need to go to banks or other money changers.
Banks
The number of financial institutions in Japan is not as many as in Indonesia. Mizuho Bank, The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ and Sumimoto Mitsui Banking Corporation are three leading banks in Japan. Yucho (Japan Post Bank) also serves as a financial institution. It offers services such as international ATM and remittance from overseas to Japan Post Bank account.
Source: Japan Post Bank Website
Banks are usually open in the weekday from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. If we stay longer than 90 days in Japan, we can acquire an alien registration card, which is required to open an account at a Japanese bank. Another important item to have to open a bank account is an inkan (personal stamp) that is equal to our signature. This inkan consists of our names in kanji or katakana character.
Saving and interest rates in Japan are very low.
There are two types of machines that we can use to withdraw money, automatic teller machine (ATM) and cash dispenser (CD). We can only withdraw money from a CD, but ATM provides additional services such as depositing and transferring money and paying bills. Many ATM and CD are only available during working days. 24 hour ATMs that are also available on weekends are limited.
Another recommended option to withdraw money is through Seven Bank ATMs. There are numerous Seven Bank ATMs placed at 7-Eleven convenience stores in Japan that are open 24 hours a day. The service is also available in several languages such as English, Korean, Chinese and Portuguese for cash cards from the PLUS and Cirrus networks and credit cards from VISA, Master Card, American Express, JCB and China UnionPay.
You are recommended to contact your credit card company to learn about the location of each ATM and its availability prior to travelling. Hopefully you will find the information useful before your trip to Japan. (iraras)
References:
Japan Guide http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2226.html
Japan National Tourism Organization http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/
Japan Post Bank http://www.jp-bank.japanpost.jp/en_index.html
English Language Learning:
Get More Benefits through English Debating Practice
By Ignasia Yuyun
By practising debating in English, you ‘kill two birds with one stone’. It means that you succeed in doing two things at the same time. Why? Through debating practice in English, you can enhance your critical thinking, communicative abilities, and English proficiency at the same time. Double benefits? Absolutely.
English as an international language is absolutely to be mastered by college students. Nowadays, in this globalization era, the communication among the people with different background of countries, languages, and cultures, will run well by using English as communication language. Based on the reality, we realize that the need of enhancing English ability by accommodating those who are enthusiastic in English so that they can actualize their English ability. Therefore, in line with this, some schools and universities in Indonesia recently have been trying hard to facilitate students’ needs in English through debating activities.
Debate is a communication process in which participants argue for and against a given topic. It is considered as something formal, an activity involving two teams of three speakers each, with a set topic and an adjudicator (Quinn, 2005: 1). In academic context (in schools and universities), the debate is carried out as a game with rules ("format"), a clear and tight between the two parties, each of which support and oppose a statement. The debate was witnessed by one or several judges appointed to determine the winner of a debate. The winner of the debate is a competitive team that successfully demonstrated the knowledge and ability to debate the better.
Some research findings show that there is a lot of benefits got from debating practice. First, when it is conducted in English, debating opens opportunities to share views on a global basis. Especially in this global era where we, as a nation, will face challenges that greater than ever.
Second, English debating practice is thus to help develop your language skills of efficient listening, convincing public speaking, and debate (argumentation) in relation to extensive reading and follow-up writing. When the two teams are debating, instead of just using speaking skill, at the same time, you are also using your listening skill (because you have to hear all of the detail of the opponent team's argument), and before the debate you are also have to prepare your material of debate, in which when doing so, you often have to search the information related to the topic/motion in the internet or other sources, this activity automatically trains your reading skill too, since you have to search for information that would be relevant to support your argument. After that you will have to write down all of the information and arrange it into the most suitable way that can persuade and can be easily understood by the audience and the adjudicators (judges/juries). So, basically by practicing English debating, you will be facing a situation and condition in which you have to use and have to train all of those English skills (Speaking, Listening, Reading, and Writing) at the same time.
Third, practicing English debating is also a chance to improve such valuable skills as logical thinking, argumentation and critical thinking since debating improves argumentation skill (Freely, 1990; Snowball, 1994; Sather, 1999; Quinn, 2005). You will learn to be a persuasive speaker that can prove your argument. You will acquire the ability to see the lie and to analyze the speech of your opponent. In general, you will be perfect at developing arguments, finding conclusions and presenting you speech persuasively to the audience. Moreover, you will be trained to analyze every national and international issue around the world in a critical way and logical way of thinking (e.g. Politics, social, economics, cultures, law, war, Middle East, global warming, etc). In addition, Altman (2002), in her Business English class at University of Washington, stated that debating practice leads her students through all six categories of thinking skills (Bloom’s Taxonomy: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation) systematically.
Moreover, once you improve your logical thinking, argumentation and critical thinking, this is of course will also change you into a person that more and more aware on every issue (problem/conflict) that happen in the national or international region. Again, you get the fourth benefit from English debating practice. Here, the debating activity stimulates your intellectual capacity to solve various problems that you may encounter in life. By developing your debating aptitude, you also learn to be open-minded while simultaneously being critical in acknowledging a variety of perspectives.
The last but not least, English debating practice also enhances your confidence to speak in front of public since it is considered as a speaking activity that offers profound and lasting benefits for your effective communication. More importantly, practice makes perfect, the more often you speak in English, the more you will feel confidence to use it in any occasion, either in a conversation or in a public speaking.
REFERENCES:
Altman, J. (2002). Critical Thinking, Interaction, and Debates. Washington: University of Washington.
Chaffee, J. (2000). Thinking Critically 6th Edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.
Fisher, A. (2001). Critical Thinking: An Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Freely, A. J., & Steinberg, D.L. (2009). Argumentation and Debate: Critical Thinking for Reasoned Decision Making. Boston: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
Quinn, S. (2005). Debating. Brisbane: Australian Electronic Publisher.
Snowball, D. (1994). Theory and Practice in Academic Debate. Illinois: Augustana College.
(published in UKRIDA Newsletter | No. 71 - Year IX, April- May 2011)
Second Language Learning Strategies:
A Reflection of First Language Learning Theories and Second Language Learning Experience
By Ira Rasikawati
Sometimes we might wonder whether there is anything we can learn from the first language (L1) learning process to help us be proficient in another language. Children learning their native language have to undergo several stages of development prior to comprehending and producing the language. It is widely accepted that speech comprehension precedes speech production and both stages are un-interchangeable. On the basis of these processes, there are two practices that are common in the first language learning that could possibly be replicated in the second language (L2) learning. The use of Parentese and the absence of correction in L1 learning may turn into effective L2 learning strategies.
Understanding the target language meanings is the most fundamental task to be achieved in L1 learning. Children must have the opportunity to hear and comprehend words, phrases and sentences in meaningful contexts before they can produce them (Steinberg, Nagata, & Aline, 2001). Rich exposure to the target language is therefore essential for children’s’ language development. L1 learners not only have to hear speech sounds but also make connections between the sounds they hear and the objects, situations, or events in the environment (Steinberg, Nagata, & Aline, 2001). Parents or caregivers usually attempt to provide relevant environmental stimuli to facilitate better comprehension.
L2 learners also undergo a similar period in which they only listen to the language they are exposed to in the early stage of L2 learning. Krashen and Terrell name this stage as the pre-production period (Krashen, S.D. & Terrell, T.D., 1983) or referred to it as the silent period (Ellis, 2008). At this stage L2 learners listen to the language they are exposed to and attempt to discover the language meaning. A practice in the L1 learning that can be implemented in the L2 learning context is making use of the Parentese, the type of speech that the children receive when they are young (Steinberg, Nagata, & Aline, 2001) such as talking aloud, repeating useful words, talking more slowly, using the same phrases for the same situations, and adding facial expressions and gestures to assist understanding (Dunn, 2008).
I personally experienced the use of Parentese eased comprehension in young children and adult L2 learners. Teaching children in L2 contexts has taught me not only to make use of concrete objects when speaking but also to talk aloud by using simplified repetitive language. During lunch time for example, I will have to enunciate the word “lunch” several times and show my lunch box to inform the students that it is time to go to the dining area. Another example, when I studied Japanese language about three years ago, my Japanese friends and instructors usually used short sentences and simple speech structures when speaking to foreigners. In Japanese contexts it is even easier to do Parentese as it is commonly acceptable to say only the predicator of an utterance instead of a complete sentence. One can simply say “taberu” or “tabemasuka” which mean “eat” (v) with a raising intonation to invite someone to have a meal.
When children’ speech production has emerged significantly; they begin to comprehend and express themselves more effectively. At this point it is important to remember that paying too much attention and correction to grammatical correctness is pointless as children eventually notice their own mistakes and make effort to revise them (Steinberg, Nagata, & Aline, 2001). The same practice should also be applied in L2 learning contexts. Corrections usually have greater negative impacts in L2 learning as they may increase the learners’ level of anxiety.
Based on my L2 learning experiences, many of my instructors do corrections when they find mistakes in their students’ utterances. In spoken utterances particularly, I can hardly remember the corrections that my instructors attempted. This correction eventually turned to a burden instead of language accuracy as a result. I usually felt guilty and embarrassed if I made the same mistakes in spite of repetitive corrections the instructors pointed out to me. In my opinion, the corrections slowed down my L2 production.
Research findings show that the effect of Parentese depends on the interaction between the child and the parent (Yoder & Kaiser, 1989; Hoff-Ginsberg, 1990 in Steinberg, Nagata, & Aline, 2001). Teachers and students interactions may be more meaningful if the teachers employ the practice of Parentese in the classroom at the early stage of L2 learning. At the emergence of speech production, L2 learners might be able to communicate more effectively when grammatical correctness is not the main concern. The absence of corrections will reduce the L2 learners’ anxiety and help them develop their speech production. Further research should be conducted to examine the effectiveness of the strategies proposed in L2 learning contexts.
References:
Dunn, Opal. (2008). What is parentese language? British Council. http://www.britishcouncil.org/vietnam-english-learning-together-is-fun-what-is-parentese-language.htm
Ellis, Rod. (2008). The Study of Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Krashen, S.D. & Terrell, T.D. (1983). The natural approach: Language acquisition in the classroom. London: Prentice Hall Europe.
Steinberg, D. D., Nagata, H., & Aline, D. P. (2001). Psycholinguistics: Language, Mind, and World. 2nd Edition. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited.
(published in UKRIDA Newsletter | No. 70 - Year IX, February-March 2011)
Christmas is here again. People might celebrate Christmas differently across the universe. One thing certain is the message it brings. Christmas brings the message of love, hope, and peace. May Christmas grant us love, give us hope, and peace wherever we are. Have a merry Christmas and a happy holiday! (Ira Rasikawati)
Christmas in the Tropic
Before I came to Indonesia, I experienced Christmas in a very different way. The chilling weather of early December announced the arrival of the holyday season. People begin protecting themselves from the cold weather by wearing light sweaters, but as the winter progresses, one must take a pick at the closet in search of more suitable attire. Thick jackets, scarves and warming gloves are the most common items used for protecting oneself from the merciless and inclement cold weather. The phrases “Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas” are used to greet family members, coworkers and even strangers. In the United States, the atmosphere is entirely transformed by the Christmas season. Houses are decorated inside and out with Christmas lights. Entire families go out of their way to be with love ones to eat, laugh, give and receive presents. Early shoppers storm the malls and gift shops to buy the presents they will give to their families and friends. Mothers begin to plan what will be cooked to feed armies of family members. Every time you turn the radio stations, Christmas songs serve as a reminder of the spirit one must have during the month of December. In Indonesia, Christmas is celebrated indeed, but in a totally different setting. When December arrives, the weather is not an indicator that the holiday season (Christmas) is near, at least not to me. It is true that life is about perceptions, but from my point of view, I do not perceive that Santa is coming to town. I ask myself -is he supposed to be wearing hot weather clothes as he delivers presents to children? Nevertheless, as different as I may feel the Christmas season in Indonesia, one thing is worth mentioning, that is, the Christmas celebration should not only be about Santa delivering present, or about the weather, or even about families gathering to share food and laughs. It should be primarily, a time for us to remember and celebrate the birth of our king and savior Jesus Christ. (David Lopez)
It’s Only You
Our very brief moment of meeting
Had left a deep feeling between us
If only you could feel my heart is beating
Maybe you are not just another crush
The rainbow shows its charm in the sky
Giving peace to everyone who sees it
I can’t bear to see you cry
For I just want to make your day complete
Don’t care if I’m feeling a little blue
I still like to spend my life enjoying the beautiful view
Oh God please give me a clue
‘Cause I always dream to be with you.
(Abraham Massie - 10-2007-201)
(published in UKRIDA Newsletter | No. 69 - Year IX, December 2010 - January 2011)
English for Academic Purposes (EAP)
By Ira Rasikawati
The number of students learning English for Academic Purposes (EAP) has expanded internationally due to the growing number of students taking tertiary education in English. UKRIDA students are also required to learn EAP in the first semester of their undergraduate study. To do well in a particular course, it is important for the students to know at least some basic information about the course. We might have been familiar with other types of English courses such as General English or Business English; but, what is EAP? Why do we need to learn it? How can we be successful in an EAP course?
Based on its purposes, English teaching is divided into three categories: English for general purposes, English for social purposes, and English for specific purposes. EAP is a branch of English for Specific Purposes (ESP). While ESP is the umbrella term for any English Language Teaching designed to meet the learner’s specific needs related to particular disciplines, occupations or activities; EAP refers to the teaching of English related to a study purpose (Dudley-Evans and St. John, 1998). The following figure introduced by Dudley-Evans and St. John explains the position of EAP on a continuum from General English courses to ESP:
EAP falls either in or between the positions 3 or 4. In position 3, the course is recognized as English for General Academic Purposes (EGAP). EGAP prepares students to acquire the skills they need during their study such as listening to lectures, participating in seminars, reading textbooks, writing reports or essays, etc. (Dudley-Evans and St. John, 1998). In reading textbook for instance, students learn to identify main ideas and supporting details or use reading skills such as skimming and scanning to obtain the information they need in a specific text. In position 4, the course is known as English for Specific Academic Purposes (ESAP). ESAP also consists of study skills learned in EGAP but with the addition of tasks to understand the actual lectures, reading texts, or to write the essays and reports related to the students’ actual study department (Dudley-Evans and St. John, 1998).
In an Indonesian university context, the needs for learning EAP may not be as great as those in English speaking countries or in other ESL situations in which English is used throughout the education system such as in Malaysia or Philippines (Jordan, 1997). Today there are many universities in Indonesia that offer certain subjects in English. This type of class is usually known as an International class and is characterized by the use of English as the medium of instruction. Although English is not yet used in subject courses in UKRIDA, students need to learn EAP since many textbooks are in English. In the Medical Faculty for example, English is essential considering almost all medical knowledge is in English. Another need that usually arises later, either in the final year, future study or work, is that students may be required to demonstrate their proficiency in English by taking a standardized proficiency test such as TOEFL or IELTS. In UKRIDA Faculty of Economics, students are obliged to take the TOEFL test prior to registering for their thesis. Learning EAP will help students to prepare for this type of test that measures the students’ English skills in the academic context.
To be successful in an EAP course, students need to make connections between the study skills they have acquired in their first language with the study skills in English. If the students already possess study skills in Bahasa Indonesia, they can actually transfer their skills into English. In their first language for instance, students do not have to read every word but do skimming instead when they are reading magazines to find the articles they want to read. They can apply the same strategy in reading in English. Another important key to success is by understanding well and meeting the EAP course expectations. At the beginning of the course, most instructors, including EAP instructors explain their expectations for the course. I have observed that students often take for granted the course syllabus and fail to meet the expectations set for them. One of the specific expectations for EAP 1 course this year is; students are expected to identify the main idea of a reading text. If students do a lot of practice finding the topic sentence in a text, they will be able to identify the main idea of a text easily. Paying attention to the classroom rules and policy is another important aspect to perform well in an EAP course. Finally quoting Mr. Ardi’s recommendations, students need to read, read, and keep reading to gain success in learning EAP. Good luck with your study!
Glossary:
tertiary education (noun, uncountable): education at a college, university etc
branch (noun, countable): one part of a large subject of study or knowledge
common core (noun, countable): (in language teaching) those basic aspects of a language (e.g. vocabulary and grammar) which a learner needs to know whatever his or her purpose is in learning the language.
continuum (noun, countable): a scale of related things on which each one is only slightly different from the one before
discipline (noun, countable): an area of knowledge or teaching, especially one such as history, chemistry, mathematics etc that is studied at a university
EGBP (noun): English for General Business Purposes
IELTS (noun): International English Language Testing System: a test of English for academic purposes, used widely to measure the English language proficiency of international students whose native languages are not English and who intend to enter universities in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK and elsewhere
occupation (noun, countable): a job or profession
TOEFL (noun): Test of English as a Foreign Language: a standardized test of English proficiency administered by the Educational Testing Service, and widely used to measure the English language proficiency of international students wishing to enter universities in America, Canada and elsewhere.
umbrella term (noun, countable): a word whose meaning includes many different types of a particular thing
References:
Harding, Keith. 2007. English for Specific Purposes. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Dudley-Evans, Tony and Maggie Jo St John. 1998. Developments in ESP: A multi-disciplinary approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Jordan, R.R. 1997. English for Academic Purposes: A guide and resource books for teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English. 4th Ed.
Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics. Richards, Jack C and Richard Schmidt. 3rd Ed.
(published in UKRIDA Newsletter | No. 68 - Year VIII, October-November 2010)
Achievement Strategies for Speaking
By Yunias Monica
For beginner learners, speaking in English as the target language, can be challenging and daunting. Beginner learners often find it frustrating especially when, in a conversation, meaning seems to go to the wrong direction, which is when the other speaker interprets one’s thought differently from what is meant. In this case, lack of language mastery such as vocabulary knowledge and inadequate grammar can create a communication breakdown. However, learners cannot look up their dictionary every time they want to put across their ideas. For that reason, learners can use the language learning strategies, and one of them is the so called communication strategies. These strategies are open to change, can be modified, and learned (Wenden and Rubin, 1987).
In speaking, communication strategies are divided into two big parts; achievement strategies and reduction strategies. Achievement strategies are far more helpful because they help learners to face a communication breakdown. Achievement strategies, or also called as the compensation strategies, help learners to keep using the target language due to some limitations such as lack of appropriate vocabulary and grammatical knowledge. Coughlin (2006) defines the achievement strategies as the tools that help learners to compensate language disparity by providing a replacement. In line with Coughlin, Monika (2008) explains that these strategies enable learners to keep trying in passing on their ideas, messages, and thoughts in a conversation. There are eight achievement strategies, but I will explain at least four strategies that can be employed by beginner learners of English, they are circumlocution/paraphrase, restructuring, appeal for assistance, and subsitution.
Sometimes, learners might forget a particular word that they intend to say. In this case, learners can use circumlocution strategy; it is by defining the properties of the intended object, for example, the color of the object, the function, the size, or the shape. For example, when a learner forgets the word ‘ladder’, he/she can describe it by saying “The tool that you use to climb up and down”. Oxford (1990) gives an example of a learner saying “What you use to wash dishes with?” as a description of ‘dishrag’.
As cited by Ellis (1986), Faerch and Kasper explain restructuring strategy as a strategy used by learners when they have to develop a substitute feature plan. Learners restructure their sentences until they feel that they have transmitted their intended meaning in a conversation. Faerch and Kasper give an example of this strategy when a learner said “I have two …”, and the leaner stopped and restructured the sentence with “I have a brother and a sister”. The learner did this because he/she was unable to find the word ‘sibling’ at the time when the word was required in the conversation. Learners usually reorganize sentences until the sentences sound right.
The third strategy that begginer learners can use is the appeal for assistance strategy. When begginer learners are engaged in a conversation, and they cannot recall the desired English vocabulary, learners may ask the help of another speaker to provide the absent expression by saying “What is this?” or “What is the tool we use to open the cane?” When the other party is able to provide the desired word(s), this strategy will be the fastest and the easiest one to use for begginer learners. However, to use this strategy, learners will have to observe some factors. Other factors such as the relationship between the participants and the location of the conversation will influence.
The last but not least strategy is the substitution strategy. Based on a research conducted by Monika (2008), begginer learners resort to this strategy when they explain an object or activity by using a different word. This word, however, is the one that shares semantic meanings with the target language vocabulary. As cited by Ellis (1986), Faerch and Kasper give an example of this strategy when a learner replaced the word ‘rabbit’ with ‘animal’. Though learners might omit some information of the intended word, learners still manage to pass on the idea to the interlocutor.
So, the next time you find difficulty in transferring your meaning, ideas, and thought to your interlocutor, try to use the achievement strategies. The idea of using the strategies is to help you to stay in a conversation, to tackle your challenge, to achieve your goal in a conversation, and finally to sharpen your spoken English skills. Good luck!
References:
Coughlin, M. (2006). Teaching Speaking and Conversation. http://www.usingenglish.com/teachers/articles/teaching-speaking-conversation.html. Retrieved July 27, 2010.
Ellis, R. (1986). Understanding Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Monika, Y. (2008). Achievement Strategies Used by Students of Speaking 1 Class in Story Telling and Informative Speech Presentations in the English Department of Satya Wacana Christian University. Unpublished Thesis. Salatiga: Faculty of Language and Literature of Satya Wacana Christian University.
Oxford, L.R. (1990). Language Learning Strategies: What Every Teacher Should Know. Boston: Henle and Heinle Publishers.
Wenden, A., & Rubin. J. (Eds). (1987). Learners Strategies in Language Learning. New Jersey: Prentice Hall International
(published in UKRIDA Newsletter | No. 67 - Year VIII, August-September 2010)
Improving Your Spoken English
By Ira Rasikawati
Many English Language Learners (ELLs) consider speaking skill as the hardest skill to acquire. The learners’ high level of anxiety might be one of the explanations for the difficulty. Different from other skills such as reading and writing, speaking requires direct response as it takes place in real time (Bailey, 2003). The speakers are often anxious as they have no time to prepare, edit or revise whatever they want to say. Some language courses promise prospective students instant methods to help them speak English fluently; however I believe that there are no shortcuts to learning a foreign language. Depending on the learning objectives and preferences, there are at least several strategies we can employ to improve our speaking skills.
The main goal of speaking is to deliver a message to and be understood by the person we are talking to. It is therefore crucial for us to make sure that the person we talk to understand our language easily. ELLs might often find it challenging to attain near native speakers’ fluency. In fact we do not need to worry about sounding like a native speaker. It is more important for us to speak clearly than fluently so that people understand what we say. To be understood, we need to speak with correct pronunciation. Reading aloud will help us to remove our mother tongue influence and improve our pronunciation. Knowing how to speak with correct pronunciations will also make us feel more comfortable and increase our confidence level drastically. Recording our own voice and listening for pronunciation mistakes are ways to improve our pronunciation.
Many learners know English grammar and vocabulary well; however they often have difficulty expressing their ideas orally. One of the problems is due to the difficulty in constructing proper phrases or sentences. Keeping journals or diaries in English will help us to develop phrases and sentences both in writing and speaking. There are many resources we can use to construct words that naturally go together to create phrases or sentences when we write entries in our journals or diaries. In addition to dictionary, corpora can also assist us to build sentences.
Nowadays we can easily find dictionary online for a quick definition search. A good dictionary however, provides us with more than just definitions of words. It is highly recommended for English learners to use monolingual English learner dictionary (English-English dictionary for learners). This type of dictionary is recommended because the explanations provided in the English learner dictionary are aimed for people who are learning English as a second language (Szynalski). It consists of sample sentences, pronunciations, phrasal verbs, idioms, word frequency information, etc. The sample sentences are real English sentences with appropriate grammar. If we use our dictionary regularly as we learn to write, we will learn and remember the grammar and the words at the same time.
Another tool we can use to help us build sentences is a corpus. Corpus is a collection of real samples of spoken or written language that is available via internet or software installed in our computer. For beginner users, we can use corpora to look at the language samples that are meaningful to us and keep those samples in our diaries. We will be amazed at how much we can explore the various language contexts of a word. The two corpora that we can access online to see the samples of English phrases and sentences are Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) http://www.americancorpus.org/ or British National Corpus (BNC) http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/
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| Coca Interface |
Exposing ourselves to English music, television, and movies is not only fun but also effective to develop our listening, pronunciation, and speaking skills. Listening to English music and news and watching English movies will make us familiar with the English sounds, improve our comprehension, and help us to think in English. When we listen to the English songs, it is better for us to find the song lyrics and sing along. We can practice reading the lyrics as the artists sing. There are many internet sites where we can find the words for most songs. We can even find links to free online karaoke in which we can sing along and record our voice. Watching English films and news can also be a great way of expanding our vocabulary and comprehension. Try not to watch movies with our mother tongue subtitles to practice our listening skills. We can also imitate the actors’ flow of speech and mouth movement when we watch the movies or news.
The most important way to improve the spoken English skill is by speaking the language. There are many situations we can engage ourselves in to practice speaking. Being a member of an English club will definitely provide you with the English speaking environment. Finding foreign friends also gives us good chances to practice and evaluate our speaking ability, whether or not we are well conversant in the language. With the development of technology at present, it is easy for us to find friends overseas. We can easily find friends online through social network such as Facebook and Twitter. Other chat engines such as Skype, Yahoo or MSN Messengers are great tools to build friendship and develop our English speaking and writing skills.
Finally use every opportunity you have around you to practice English and most importantly have fun!
Glossary:
acquire (verb): to gain knowledge or learn a skill
anxiety (noun): the feeling of being very worried about something
appropriate (adjective): correct or suitable for a particular time, situation, or purpose
conversant (adjective): able to hold a conversation in a foreign language, but not able to speak it perfectly
corpus (noun): a large collection of written or spoken language, that is used for studying the language
crucial (adjective): something that is crucial is extremely important, because everything else depends on it
employ (verb): to use a particular object, method, skill etc in order to achieve something
engage (verb): to be doing or to become involved in an activity
journal (noun): a written record that you make of the things that happen to you each day
monolingual (adjective): speaking or using only one language
References:
Bailey, Kathleen M. (2003). Speaking. In David Nunan (Ed.). Practical English Language Teaching. New York: McGraw-Hill/Contemporary.
English for Students http://www.english-for-students.com/Fluency.html
Hunston, Susan. (2005). Corpora in Applied Linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Improve Your English Speaking and English Pronunciation Skills. LEO Network.
Lloyd, Garret. How to Improve Spoken English? Ezine Articles.
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English. 4th Ed.
Szynalski, Tomasz P. How to buy a good English dictionary. Antimoon.com. http://www.antimoon.com/how/dictionary.htm
7 Tips for Speaking English Fluently. Englishforum.com. http://www.englishforums.com/English/7TipsSpeakingEnglishFluently/wbjxk/post.htm
(published in UKRIDA Newsletter | No. 66 - Year VIII, June-July 2010)
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