HMS Warrior (1860) in the Royal Navy

What Is a Second Language (L2)

Any language that a person uses other than a first or native language (L1). Contemporary linguists and educators commonly use the term L1 to refer to a first or native language, and the term L2 to refer to a second language or a foreign language thats being studied. Vivian Cook notes that L2 users are not necessarily the same as L2 learners. Language users are exploiting whatever linguistic resources they have for real-life purposes . . . . Language learners are acquiring a system for later use (Portraits of the L2 User, 2002). Examples and Observations: Some terms fall into more than one category. For example, foreign language can be subjectively a language which is not my L1, or objectively a language which has no legal status within the national boundaries. There is simply a semantic confusion between the first two sets of terms and the third in the following instance in which a certain French Canadian said I object to you speaking of learning French as a second language in Canada: French is as much a first language as English. It is indeed perfectly true to say that for most French Canadians French is the first language, L1, or mother tongue. For them, English is a second language or L2. But for English native speakers in Canada French is a second language or L2. In this example, the confusion has been created by equating first with national, historically first or important, and second with less important or inferior, and thus mixing up the third set of objective terms which attributes a position, value or status to a language with the first two sets of subjective terms which relate individuals and their use of languages. . . .The concept of L2 (non-native language, second language, foreign language) implies the prior availability to the individual of an L1, in other words some form of bilingualism. Again, the use of the L2 set of terms has a dual function: it indicates something about the acquisition of the language and something about the nature of the command. . . .To sum up, the term second language ha s two meanings. First, it refers to the chronology of language learning. A second langauge is any language acquired (or to be acquired) later than the native language. . . .Second, the term second language is used to refer to the level of language command in comparison with a primary or dominant language. In this second sense, second language indicates a lower level of actual or believed proficiency. Hence second means also weaker or secondary. (H. H. Stern, Fundamental Concepts of Language Teaching. Oxford University Press, 1983) The Number and Variety of L2 Users Using a second language is a commonplace activity. There are few places in the world where only one language is used. In London people speak over 300 languages and 32% of the children live in homes where English is not the main language (Baker Eversley, 2000). In Australia 15.5% of the population speak a language other than English at home, amounting to 200 languages (Australian Government Census, 1996). In the Congo people speak 212 African languages, with French as the official language. In Pakistan they speak 66 languages, chiefly Punjabi, Sindhi, Siraiki, Pashtu and Urdu. . . .In a sense L2 users have no more in common than L1 users; the whole diversity of mankind is there. Some of them use the second language as skillfully as a monolingual native speaker, like [Vladimir] Nabokov writing whole novels in a second language; some of them can barely ask for a coffee in a restaurant. The concept of the L2 user is similar to Haugens minimal definition of bilingualism as the point wher e a speaker can first produce meaningful utterances in the other language (Haugen, 1953: 7) and to Bloomfields comment To the extent that the learner can communicate, he may be ranked as a foreign speaker of a language (Bloomfield, 1933: 54). Any use counts, however small or ineffective. (Vivian Cook, Portraits of the L2 User. Multilingual Matters, 2002) Second Language Acquisition Whereas L1 development happens relatively fast, the rate of L2 acquisition is typically protracted, and contrary to the uniformity of L1 across children, one finds a broad range of variation in L2, across individuals and within learners over time. Invariant developmental sequences, on the other hand, have been discovered for L2 as well, but they are not the same as in L1. Most importantly, perhaps, it is obviously not the case that all L2 learners are successful--on the contrary, L2 acquisition typically leads to incomplete grammatical knowledge, even after many years of exposure to the target language. Whether it is in principle possible to acquire native competence in the L2 is a matter of much controversy, but if it should be possible, the perfect learners undoubtedly represent an extremely small fraction of those who begin L2 acquisition . . .. (Jà ¼rgen M. Meisel, Age of Onset in Successive Acquisition of Bilingualism: Effects on Grammatical Development. Language Acquisition Ac ross Linguistic and Cognitive Systems, ed. by Michà ¨le Kail and Maya Hickmann. John Benjamins, 2010) Second Language Writing    [In the 1990s] second language writing evolved into an interdisciplinary field of inquiry situated in both composition studies and second language studies simultaneously. . . .[J]ust as theories of writing derived only from first language writers can at best be extremely tentative and at worst invalid (Silva, Leki, Carson, 1997, p. 402), theories of second language writing derived only from one language or one context are also limited. For second language writing instruction to be most effective in various disciplinary and institutional contexts, it needs to reflect the findings of studies conducted in a wide variety of instructional contexts as well as disciplinary perspectives. (Paul Kei Matsuda, Second Language Writing in the Twentieth Century: A Situated Historical Perspective. Exploring the Dynamics of Second Language Writing, ed. by Barbara Kroll. Cambridge University Press, 2003) Second Language Reading One general implication, in considering the wide range of contexts for L2 reading, is that there is no single one size fits all set of recommendations for reading instruction or curriculum development. L2 reading instruction should be sensitive to the students needs and goals and to the larger institutional context.When L2 students read specific texts in classroom contexts, particularly in academically oriented settings, they will engage in varying types of reading that reflect differing tasks, texts, and instructional objectives. Sometimes students do not fully understand the goals for a given reading text or reading task, and perform poorly. The problem may not be an inability to comprehend but a lack of awareness of the real goal for that reading task (Newman, Griffin, Cole, 1989; Perfetti, Marron, Foltz, 1996). Students need to become aware of the goals that they might adopt while reading. (William Grabe, Reading in a Second Language: Moving from Theory to Practice. Cambridge U niversity Press, 2009)

Shades of Gray Free Essays

Shades of Gray Characters Will Page – Will is a twelve year old boy who has brown hair and eyes. He is pretty clever and tries to outwit others. He is very loyal and compassionate. We will write a custom essay sample on Shades of Gray or any similar topic only for you Order Now He is very sad and angry. He had lost his whole family due to the Civil War. He is the last surviving member of his immediate family as a result he comes to live with his aunt and uncle. Meg Jones – Meg is a ten year old girl and she is Will’s cousin. Meg is very curious and she is always asking questions. Meg does a lot of chores to help her parents care for their home. Meg has not been to school because of the war so she can not read. Uncle Jed Jones – Uncle Jed is a tall strong man with a broad chest and muscular arms. He has dark hair with a full dark beard. He is a wise man who believes in himself and doesn’t worry about what others think. He gets Will to think for himself and teaches him many lessons. He chose to not fight in the war with the Confederate soldiers. He did not feel that there was a reason for the war. Many people think he is a coward because of this. Summary Twelve year old Will Page is a grieving and angry boy when Doctor Martin takes him to his relatives in the Piedmont region of Virginia. Will’s family lived in Winchester, Virginia and had been wiped out in the Civil War. His father fought bravely in the Confederate Army, his sisters died of a disease that Will is convinced was carried by the Yankees and his mother died soon afterward. Will is grieving for the lose of his whole family. He is angry with the Union Army for causing the war that took everything from him. Will’s Mom had asked that Will be sent to live with her sister. Uncle Jed refused to take sides in the war and Will’s family considered him a traitor and a coward. He does not to live with someone he does not respect. But he must follow his mother’s wishes. When he first sees his aunt he is reminded of his mother. Aunt Ella resembles his mother. Then he meets Meg his younger cousin and she looks like his younger sister. He thinks it may be okay here and then he meets hi uncle the coward who wouldn’t fight for Virginia. How is he ever going to be able to live in this man’s home? Will lived on a plantation in the city of Winchester. He lived in a comfortable home. Will’s family had slaves and the slaves did all the real work on the plantation. Will is not used to manual labor and now, living with his aunt , uncle and cousin he needs to work hard everyday. His pride will not let him admit to weariness or dismay in how hard the work is on the farm. His uncle can sense the feelings Will has towards him. Uncle Jed has Will work along side of him and he gives him responsibility. Working along side his uncle, Will comes to a begrudging admiration of his skill and wisdom. Will also learns to trust his own instincts. Meg can be Will’s salvation from his uncle. She loves to talk and ask a lot of questions. He admires what a hard worker she is. Meg also doesn’t act like most girls Will has known. He begins to like walking and talking with Meg. Will finds out that Meg can not read. There has not been a school since the war started. Will begins to teach Meg to read. Throughout the book Uncle Jed teaches Will little lessons on how to be an honorable man. Will begins to understand that the price his uncle and his family paid for their beliefs was almost as great as the one Will’s family paid. Will was so wrapped up in what he lose that he didn’t see what his uncle lost. Will has the opportunity to move back home to his city. At first he really wants to go but then he realizes he is home. His mother was right when she sent him there to live. Setting This story is set at the end of the Civil War. Around the year 1867 in the Virginia Piedmont. Will moves from the city of Winchester in the Shenandoah Valley to a farm in the Virginia Piedmont. Will had lived a life of leisure with slaves that cared for the home and grounds and did all the cooking. When he moves in with his aunt and uncle he needs to learn how to work. The family has a lot of chores that need to be done to take care of the farm. They also have traps for catching rabbit and gardens to grow vegetables. Will fishes so they can have fish for dinner. The family does not have a horse so they must walk everywhere they go. They do not wear shoes because it is summer time. They have a pasture and a buckwheat field. But a lot of the area is woods. They have a springhouse that keeps things cool. Will needs to chop wood for the fire so they can cook dinner. How to cite Shades of Gray, Papers

Minerals Essay Example For Students

Minerals Essay Mining is one of the largest commercial jobs. The word mining doesn’t sound very important to ordinary peoples who doesn’t know geology. After I read this book, I knew our culture need industrial minerals more than they need anything else except food, but even food could not be produced without minerals. There are only a few of the world’s five billion people who don’t rely on mineral everyday. Unfortunately, there is many factors concerning these industrial activities. Will it make profit or is it not economically feasible. Minerals can be found in every part of the earth’s crust, but with two important needs; the concentration of mineral and the size of the deposit. We want to make sure the mineral is high grade and large enough to repay the investment and make profit. Of the many mineral found, there is only a few mineral will appear to have good potential. So it must be tested widely, which costs a lot of time and speed is one of the critical factors. If the construction is financed by loans, it leads up to high interest costs. The economics of a mine depends upon ore reserves, grade, type of ore, and the location. In order to mine, many months and millions of dollars have to spend in construction. There are only a few mines are discovered in convenient places, this costs a lot on transportation and labor on such an atmosphere. Construction includes food, health, accommodation and recreation facilities for the hundreds of working man. Water, power, communication, equipment, etc†¦ So in a construction site is almost the same as a little empire. In able to build this, the Industry Company has to make sure the ore they are getting is worth it. Environmental concerns are global concerns; cost advantages may increase by having higher environmental impacts from mining. This creates air pollution and global problems. In the other hand, the skill of mining delivers benefits to all of the earth’s population. Such as medicine, communication, etc†¦ all provide benefits to human by metals and minerals. So the public has mixed points, they want to protect the environment, but also wish to maintain the present quality of their lives. In general, mining is something that can’t be missing out from the society we are now at. Even the international financial system depends at least one metal – gold. There are still many zones of minerals are waiting for us to discover under the crust and oceans of our globe.