TEFL Entrance Exam

I. Acquisition: 1. Second language acquisition refers to the process of learning a language by an individual who already mastered a language or native language. This process is always unreflective and therefore the second language enters our in brains in an unconscious way. The second language acquisition does not involve tutelage and is more dependent on the amount of exposure to language and interaction. 2. I think when students learn a second language they do it gradually. They start with simple words and grammar constructions and proceed to more complex structures. The methods that are most frequently used to teach foreign languages stress that certain factors in the process resemble the process of the first language acquisition. I others words, the innate human ability to acquire language in a systematic way, applies to both first and second language acquisition. On the other hand, research evidence ha shown that second language learners, regardless of what native language they speak, tend to make similar errors and go through similar stages in second language acquisition. These stages are the following: a. Preproduction/Comprehension: Students go through a silent period. They can respond non-verbally and they will be able to understand more than they can produce. b. Early Speech Production: Students can understand more than they can produce. Then they can produce one or two words at a time, they will make lots of errors and interlanguage occurs (a mixture of vocabulary and structures from both languages). c. Speech Emergence: Students will be able to understand more than they can produce. Interlanguage continues to occur, utterances are longer and errors decrease. d. Intermediate Fluency: In this stage oral fluency appears, errors are same errors native speakers make. Students struggle with the content area of reading and writing.

II. Critical reading: 1. According to first extract, there is no need to learn grammar in order to learn a language. But it is perhaps, a little misleading, and misses the point. The important question is not whether teaching and learning grammar is necessary or sufficient for language learning, but whether it helps or not. In my opinion, I disagree that learning grammar rules inhibit the development of students' language skills. If we think of using them as a means of learning a second language, we must consider that students are not exposed to learn in an artificial manner, or consciously and deliberately, rather, I think they should be taught in context through different strategies, methodologies and topics. The study of grammar can help to improve the acquisition and learning of a second language if it is properly taught. 2. According to the second extract, learners do not need the knowledge of grammar in real- life discourse. The implication is that the learners need to learn how to make meaning within real context, and how to create longer unit of language than single sentences. From my point of view, Widdowson's critique of the traditional study of a language does not indicate that we should not teach grammar to learn a language. On the other hand, I think that the author claims that teaching grammar in isolation is meaningless unless it is taught in an appropriate contextualization.

Essay: When I started studying to become an English teacher I had the opportunity of studying different subjects that have influenced my interest in learning about language acquisition and applied linguistics was one of the subjects of my great interest. Moreover, in my opinion, one of my biggest motivations and interest in learning applied linguistic was one of the teachers who taught me different perspective of it as well.

Over the years I have worked as an English teacher and bilingual teacher too. I have gained a vast knowledge about how teachers can make possible that students acquire a second language. At the same time, I have developed with other colleagues a bilingual programme and a linguistic policy for our school where we could indentify three important aspects of language and learning development. These aspects are operating at any one time and they are: learning language, learning through language, and learning about the language. We also emphasized that language development is a process of constructing meaning. After working on that, I could realize that I need to deepen my knowledge about the acquisition of a second language and language learning and use them in schools as disciplines that are not isolated from other learning. Moreover, I am searching for an effective methodology for teaching English as a second language to my students and share that experience with others teachers.

Finally, I can say that my expectations in this Diploma and Master programme are that they can enable me to deepen the understanding of different point of view of linguistic, methods of research, analyze the structures, functions and interrelationships of the different linguistic stratus, investigate the nature and structure of language, and the processes related to learn a second language. I also seek to specialize and update my language skills, increase my capacity to reflect on the role of English as a vehicle for international communication in the multicultural and multilingual picture of our time in order to improve my performance and conduct research on specific issues to my field of work.