What is the Key to Learning English Successfully? Tomomi

What is the Key to Learning English Successfully?
Tomomi Masumoto
SN: 99021XXX
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What is the Key to Learning English Successfully?
Introduction
One of my foreign friends once said, “I thought I didn’t need to learn Japanese before I
came here, because I thought everyone could speak English after studying it for years.” It is true
that most of us study English for at least 6 years as a
required subject in junior high school and high school, but
actually how many of us can make ourselves understood in
spoken English? We just speak Japanese because Japanese
is all around us. Many people, however, have a dream to be
able to use English, but they often give up before they reach
Picture 1: Japanese is all around us
their goals. On the other hand, there are many people who
have achieved their goals under the same circumstances. Then, what is the key to learning English
successfully? I believe it is not so much about teachers or methods, but it is something strongly
connected to something within us.
The situation of learning English in Japan
First of all, let us look at the current situation of learning English in Japan. How do we
learn English in junior high school and high school? The method is mainly based on the so-called
Grammar Translation Method (Picture 2). It was once called the Classical Method, which,
according to Brown (1994), “focuses
on grammatical rules, memorization of
vocabulary and of various declensions
and conjugations, translations of texts,
doing written exercises” (p. 52). This
method played a significant role in the
development
of Japan
during the
post-war era, when reading skill was
Picture 2: Many schools still rely on translation
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important in order to absorb a great deal of knowledge from overseas within a short period. This
method is, however, still in use because teachers who teach this way do not need to speak English in
the class and they need only a few specialized skills, and also the grammar rules and translations are
easily examined (Brown, 1994).
What, then, is the public opinion toward this way of teaching English? Since the situation
has changed and what we need more than ever is the ability to communicate, Japan’s English
education often becomes the focus of great criticism. There is a stereotypical judgment that
inadequate language education contributes to insufficient English competence of the Japanese
people (Torikai, 2000, p. 5). This view has been widely spread because of the mass media. Now
many Japanese people are thinking, according to Torikai (2000), that “grammar is not only useless,
but actually harmful in acquiring speaking ability” (p. 5). Some people even claim that English
should have a limited emphasis or be eliminated from the college exams, so that students do not
need to concentrate on elaborate grammatical rules and can concentrate on improving their spoken
English competence.
If they get rid of English tests and change methods, however, will we all become good
speakers of English? My answer is, “No.” Indeed the Grammar Translation Method is not effective
alone, but still there are many Japanese people who have achieved respectable English competence
with it. In that case, there must be some other factors to learning English successfully.
Motivation and learning English
What exactly do we need to be successful learners? I think one of the most essential things
is motivation. As Anderson (1999) writes:
It has been proven time and again that whether or not you have a great instructor, and
whether or not you have the best materials and texts, or just the basic resources, a student
will learn only if he or she is motivated enough to do so. (p. 2)
In my opinion, motivation is important to learn English because it stimulates our enthusiasm. As
Caudery (1999) notes, “Good language learners appeared to use a larger number and range of
strategies than poor language learners” (p. 5). Highly motivated learners also study in positive ways,
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and they can always find good points in any teaching
methods with any teacher and can make the most of the
situation (Picture 3). Could you find some good points
in the Grammar Translation Method when you were a
student? I did! I believe it is now helping me a lot
achieve
a
higher
level.
Of
course,
learning
speaking-listening skills is important, but learning
Picture 3: Studying in positive ways
grammar rules is inevitable when we learn another language. The grammar rules I studied hard in
junior high and high school now help me a lot produce the language when I speak English as well.
In my opinion, it is totally wrong to say, “Grammar is harmful.”
On the other hand, those who have low motivation study English in passive ways.
Consequently, they would learn little even if the teaching method changes. All they can do with this
attitude is find fault with their learning environment and complain that they do not fit into the
system. It is obvious that they are greatly influenced by the criticism in the mass media. As a result,
they just keep fault-finding and complaining and do not make any effort to make the best of their
situation.
I have confidence in this view from my experience. I go as far as to say that those around
me who are complaining about the English education of Japan do not seem to have made a great
effort to learn English. They are prejudiced by the mass media and are completely against the
education system. I would like to say, “Let us look at the facts!” It is not really the education system
that has made you fail in learning English, but it is your attitude and lack of motivation that has
prevented you from being successful.
Purpose for studying
Although I mentioned the importance of a good attitude and motivation, how can we
continue to encourage ourselves to study hard? One of the effective factors is having purposes.
Gurrey (1972) said, “It is important to know what one’s aims are. If one knows his aims, he can
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choose the best way to get there” (p. 6). Let us think of what our aims are. Passing an English test
can be a wonderful aim. Making friends all over the world is fascinating. Going abroad is brilliant.
If we know for sure why we are learning English, we are already highly motivated. Now we can
study for our own sake.
Then, is there nothing for us to worry about any
more? Unfortunately, learning English is not that simple.
On the way to fulfilling our goals, we must overcome
many obstacles. I would especially like to mention that we
are destined to fight with anxiety and frustration along the
way. Those feelings annoy us because we tend to think the
more we study, the more we improve. This idea is correct
in a sense. More progress follows in the long run, of course,
Picture 4: Learning has ups and downs
if we study harder. As Murphey (1998) stated, however, progress in learning is usually not steady
but goes up and down (Picture 4). It is important for us to keep in mind that “we all have
progression, plateauing, regression and backstepping in our learning” (Murphey, 1998, p. 2). As it is
natural for us to suffer from the repeated slumps, we should not be beaten by those anxious fee lings.
We should be patient and keep in touch with English during the slumps, and each time a dramatic
progress will be waiting for us.
In order not to be knocked down by those unwelcome feelings, belief is also important for
language learners. Have you ever heard the phrase self-fulfilling prophecy? It means, “the act of
predicting that certain behavior will take place helps cause that behavior to occur and the prediction
or prophecy is fulfilled” (Watson & Hill, 1993, p. 168). In other words, if we believe that we can be
good learners and that we can definitely achieve our goals, we can actually make our beliefs come
true. Therefore, we should never forget to maintain our belief, although we experience various
feelings from happiness to depression in the course of learning English.
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Conclusion
We have seen so far that what is most needed in learning English is not methods or
teachers but our strong feelings. First, we should be highly motivated to encourage ourselves to
keep learning. Second, we should have strong mind to overcome the anxiety caused by ups and
downs of progress. Third, believing in our success is crucial to make our dreams come true. In short,
it is our positive attitude that holds the key to learning English successfully.
I believe the ultimate attitude is to love English (Image 1).
In this relationship, it is a learner and English that are in the center,
and teachers and methods are only playing a role of Cupid and his
arrows. Under the circumstances how can we blame the education
system? Unless we try hard, we can never acquire English. If we
have such strong feelings toward English, we can endure the anxiety
during the slumps because we know after the slumps the distance
Image 1: Love English!
between English and us becomes closer. For those reasons, although
there are various hypotheses and methods in learning English, I believe the key to success is to love
English.
— 1,510 words
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References
Anderson, D. (1999). Introduction. The English Teaching Forum. 37, 2.
Brown, H. D. (1994). Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy.
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall Regents.
Caudery, T. (1999). Book review: Strategies in Learning and Using a Second Language. Retrieved
December 4, 2000 from: http://www.kyoto-su.ac.jp/information/tesl-ej/ej12/r10.html
Gurrey, P. (1972). General and particular aims of language teaching. In Nasr, R. T. (Ed.), Teaching
and Learning English, (pp. 6-10). Harlow: Longman.
Murphey, T. (1998). Language Hungry! An Introduction to Language Learning Fun and
Self-Esteem. Tokyo: Macmillan Languagehouse.
Torikai, K. (2000, July 24). The question is, What’s English for? The Daily Yomiuri, 5.
Watson, J., & Hill, A. (1993). Self-fulfilling prophecy. In a Dictionary of Communication and
Media Studies (3rd ed). New York: Routledge, Charman, and Hall.
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