Mohammed Alghenaim
Mr. Aren Sulfridge
ESL 109
January 6th 2012
The increasing numbers of any group of students from the same country or the same language
In my paper, I choose to consider having many students from Saudi Arabia in the United States will not deter them from learning English in any way. Some argue that since students from Saudi Arabia are many in the same area, they do never see the necessity of learning another language because as they will communicate with their native language. However, I differ with this because as Saudi Students who are foreigners they will eventually learn the language because they want to interact with the Americans. This way, the Americans also learn their way of life. In fact, English is clearly the national language in the United States, and it is also the mother tongue to a vast majority, so by deciding that one is not going to learn the good language they will be sentencing themselves to some kind of solitary confinement (McLaughlin 76).
According to Eli (103), the world is increasingly shrinking into a global village, which is characterised by a uniform language and lifestyle, additionally the internet is slowly changing the cultural front and general behvaour of man. The only enabler for these changes is a modern language spoken by everyone; English. In the light of the above argument, English is part and parcel of change. One way to manage change is to embrace it; this necessitates the need to learn English. Interaction in a global village is extremely useful, and English is the most common language of interaction in the global village.
The Saudis can only ignore the need to learn English at their own peril because; it is one of the GCC states that which offer the precise oil. In international trade, it is extremely difficult for two parties to trade, without having a modus operandi. Thus, learning English is necessary to the Saudi for trade, and relations.
Some of the possible situations that are likely to arise if the whole population did not learn English include lexical, syntactical and phonological mistakes and the general inability to communicate effectively with other communities. Other factors that necessitate the need to take in ELS include; the country being at the center of all the trade routes, English being the main language the drives the world economy and political issues. Besides, most of the Saudi seek better education for their children. Most of the schools in Saudi embraced the madras system, however, as time changes, the Saudis have learnt the importance of proper formal education going by their inclusive education policy. The Saudi parents have realized the importance of better education and have started taking their children to overseas university. Those students who study overseas learn how to bridge the gap existing between their linguistic competence in English and that of English interlocutors.
Conclusion
Communication is important in the modern civilized community; however, cross-cultural communication is much more important. The need to articulate issues might require people to embrace other cultures. This means people have to learn other languages to be able to interact in the globalised world. Therefore, it is important for students should learn other languages even if they live in the same area.
Works Cited.
Hinkel Eli. Handbook of Research in Second Language Teaching and Learning, Volume 2. New York, NY: Routledge Publishers Limited, 2011.
< http://books.google.com/books?id=kezFq-bi8K0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=Handbook+of+Research+in+Second+Language+Teaching+and+Learning,+Volume+2.&hl=ar&sa=X&ei=y8kMT_7uG4GHtweS0dWpBQ&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Handbook%20of%20Research%20in%20Second%20Language%20Teaching%20and%20Learning%2C%20Volume%202.&f=fals>.
McLaughlin Barry. Second Language acquisition in childhood: School age children. New York, NY: Routledge Publishers Limited, 1987. < HYPERLINK “http://books.google.com/books?id=nBuapS2SR9YC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false” http://books.google.com/books?id=nBuapS2SR9YC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false>.
Vigdor Jacob. From Immigrants to Americas: The rise and fall of fitting in. Lanham, MD: Rowman and LittleField Publishers Inc, 2000.
<http://books.google.com/books?id=U05BBbnZBI4C&printsec=frontcover&dq=From+Immigrants+to+Americas:+The+rise+and+fall+of+fitting+in&hl=ar&sa=X&ei=7MoMT6zVKsS4tweQhrmlBQ&ved=0CDoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=From%20Immigrants%20to%20Americas%3A%20The%20rise%20and%20fall%20of%20fitting%20in&f=false>.
