Teaching a second language

Learning a second language can be hard and daunting. It requires students to learn new vocabulary, syntax, and cultural aspects that tie to the new language. In order to facilitate this education, teachers must have adequate knowledge in both languages. The two papers by Rickford and Lupyan shed light on two important problems in second language education: failure to point out common errors when learning a particular language, and interpreting synonyms of another language.

Rickford had stated the failure of teachers to point out common errors and create a smooth transition when a student native to a language or a dialect tries to learn another language. In his example of communities speaking Creole English, which 70-80% had failed a Standard English test, he suggested that linguists should make studies about the differences between the two dialects, and train teachers to make clear distinctions between Standard English and Creole English to the students. Applying this idea to the teaching of a second a language, there should be a linguistic study on the common errors that students in the community tend to make. For example, Thai students who study English tend to forget determinants, and using singular nouns in plural contexts, since Thai does not have determinants or plural forms. Teachers could then use data from linguistic studies to create diagnostics for common problems, and make sure that the students have a correct understanding of the new language.

Another important part of learning a second language is to understand the subtle differences of synonyms. In the research by Lupyan, changing words that have the same meaning might be understood differently in real life. In his example, “triangles” are interpreted differently from “three sided polygons” despite being the same thing. Similarly, when teaching a second language, some words are interpreted as the same meaning in the student's language, but interpreted differently in second language. For instance, monolingual Thai speakers tend to have problem understanding the difference between “commitment” and “promise,” since the two words are translated as the same word, and does not have any difference in Thai culture. A teacher must point out these subtle differences that is not obvious to the students, and make sure they have the right understanding to avoid miscommunication with native speakers.

Second language educators require more than mastery of the language. They need to be aware of the common errors, and subtle differences of synonyms that are not obvious to the students of each native language. These examples signifies the importance of linguistic research and analysis to enhance the success rate of language learning.