allAfrica.com: Namibia: 2nd Language Learning (Page 1 of 3)

Some Namibian students learning English as L2 (second language) are inclined to make specific types of errors both in spoken and written form, usually regional bound. It appears that each region has its own specific types of errors.

The north of Namibia is but one area where English second language learners make similar or typical errors. My former colleague Margaret Goverde was lecturer for English at the University of Namibia Northern Campus Access Course, and she has collected some of the errors her students make.

I looked at her collection of errors and compared them with errors contained in the Newsletter produced by learners of one of the local high schools - Oshakati Secondary School. In the light of the above, I would like to pay attention to the typical errors these L2 learners make and further look into how they make them.

Northern Namibia is home to more than 60 percent of the entire Namibian population and this literally means a populous learning community expanse. The Oshiwambo consists of eight languages (some people call them dialects), however people have no problems of understanding one another, nor do they have any difficulty in speaking one or more of the regional languages.

Since English is the official language in Namibia, it is also the medium of instruction in education. As such, students learn it as a subject from grades 1 to 3, and from Grade 4 it takes over from a local language as medium of instruction and it continues to be the second language throughout the learning career up to tertiary level.

Given the vastness of the northern regions, the dominance of the local languages, the scarcity of both ESL teaching-learning materials and well-trained staff to teach English, there are mountains of ESL teaching learning problems, especially in the rural primary schools where material needs are more acute.

It is in this understanding that I would like to present this topic in the light of the literature review; revisiting ESL - building the situation/context, the problem errors, the combating methodology and then conclusion.

ESL Perspective

The theory of English Second Language learning is an art in itself for both the teacher and the learner, viewed from a positive perception. Lightbown & Spada (1999,p. 31) state that a child or adult learninga second language is different from a child acquiring a first language in terms ofboth personal characteristics and conditions for learning.

It is obvious, but as Lightbown & Spada say, all second language learners regardless of age, have by definition already acquired one language.This prior knowledge may be an advantage in the sense that the learner has an idea how languages work, but on the contrary, knowledge of other languages might also lead learners to make incorrect guesses about how the second language works.

This may cause errors which such learners would not make in their first language (p. 32). The errors being referred to here are typical of those that will be presented in this paper. This view has been watermarked by De Houwer (1995, p. 220), saying that bilingualism helps learners particularly those at the early years to focus more on formal aspect of language as well as fine-tuning inunderstanding rules of both languages as compared to the monolinguals (ibid).

Ellis (SLA 1997, p. 3) explains second language learning as referring to any language that is learned subsequent to the mother tongue in the classroom or naturally acquired. Various ways have been used to find out how L2 learners acquire and learn the target language, which includes analyses of samples of learners' L2 use of language in written or spoken communication.

That the degree of ability and progress in use of the target language is better monitored over a lengthy time in order to identify their categories of weakness and strengths.

SLA researchers try to discover factors (e.g. external-input or internal-language aptitudes) L2 learners possess as individuals, influencing L2 learners to do what they do in the SLA situation (p. 5).

I want to make a point here that although acquisition and learning seem to be used synonymously at times, I would like to align myself more to learning since English second language acquisition is still a less viable option in the region under discussion.

Lightbown & Spada (1999) outline an interesting comparison on second language between young learners and adults. They point out that young second language learners do not have much content of language and world knowledge in the shelves of their mind as compared to older ones.

The two authors say children are nevertheless not shy to use the new language in spite of limited proficiency.This is perhaps the reason why young second language learners, generally speaking, improve much faster than older learners.

There is one condition which appears to be common to second language learners of all ages, according to Lightbown & Spada, and that is during the in-class, the 'foreigner talk' or 'teacher talk' (p. 34).

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