ARTICLE CRITIQUE

Teaching English Language as a Second Language

Teaching English Language as a Second Language

Article 1

Teaching English can be a pleasant experience if one gets a chance of going abroad to teach English to people of different origins. This gives one a chance to be familiarized with their culture and tradition. Teaching English Language in any of the foreign nations on the globe is a mind-boggling experience. It is truly an experience that inculcates in a person a profound knowledge of another culture and perhaps a better perception of life.

TESL is universal

The assumption, as stated above, explains the global prevalence of English language. Therefore, the assumption is tautological and must be avoided. Moreover, the assumption is no more than the repetition of the statement to be made as the desired probable position. As far as the function of an assumption is concerned, it should provide a ground on which to place the purpose. For example in the statement, “I think; therefore, I am”, thinking is the assumption for the second part to be realized. That TESL can serve as an assumption for TESL is simply a problem of circularity in the justification of that position. To make it clear, there is just one single proposition in the claim, namely, English as an International/ universal Language, which is expected to serve both as the assumption and result (Jenkins, 2000).

Also, the description of the assumption cannot help much with the TESL as the substitute for the TESL. That English is widely used for a wide variety of purposes and by a larger number of non-native speakers is not debatable at all, but the point is TESL view has no claim to limit the use of the language so that the substitution, namely, the counter claim is justified.

Interactors in TESL are Unpredictable

This justification is also built on some self-created assumption. As discussed above, TESL explains situations where English taught or learned; the former refers to the context of language learning without the actual social use of the language whereas the latter represents the conditions with the widespread use of the language in society.

Although, in both conditions, (TESL) the frame of reference is a native speaker, the authors do not specify the target interactors as the native or non-native speakers whatsoever (Jenkins, 2000). Therefore, it seems unlikely that any approach to language learning makes a strong claim as to the nature, terms and conditions of ...