Linguistic/Cultural Research Chart: Japanese, Hindi and Chinese

Linguistic/Cultural Research Chart

English contrasts with Japanese

Phonology 1.     The Japanese language contains only five vowels and 17 consonants which are pronounced basically with regular lengths, so Japanese speaker find the English sound system confusing (personal knowledge). 2.     Consonants in Japanese are always followed by a vowel (personal knowledge). “Most Japanese beginners of English therefore tend to attach vowels after English words which end in consonants” (Kavanagh, 2007). 3.     “English has nine phonemes, while Japanese has only five. This fact can be a major source of problems for Japanese students of English” (Kavanagh, 2007). For example, Japanese have difficulty saying the differences between /b/ and /v/ and /l/and /r/. 4.     Word and syllable stress and intonation are not so important in Japanese as in English, so English speech made by Japanese learners may sound flat (personal knowledge).

Morphology/Syntax (Grammar) 1.     The Japanese word order is subject-object-verb, so Japanese learners have difficulty constructing English sentences (personal knowledge). 2.     Japanese does not have articles so Japanese learners struggle with English articles (personal knowledge). 3.     In Japanese, each morpheme is represented by one Chinese character and alphabetic writing is not employed, so Japanese learners need to start with learning alphabets and often struggle with English spellings (personal knowledge).

Culture of Japanese Issues for teachers/students/parents 1.     “Japanese students often regard making mistakes in their communication in English as inappropriate” (Furuhata, 1999, p.140). Therefore, the teachers should have a positive attitude when they correct the students’ mistakes so that they do not feel embarrassed. 2.     “The Japanese tendency to avoid direct and plain statements, their inclination to silence, and the different way they use backchannels in conversation” (Cutrone, 2010), so teachers should explicitly explain how they should answer and give ample time.

English contrasts with Hindi

Phonology 1.     “Unlike English, vowel length and vowel nasalization are meaningful in Hindi” (Gambhir, 2009). Therefore, Hindi speakers may face several problems of English pronunciation, for example, distinguishing phonemes in words such as said/ sad; par/ paw etc. (Shoebottom, 2017). 2.     “Hindi script is largely phonetic (one sound per letter and one letter per sound)” (Gambhir, 2009) and “the pronunciation of new words can be reliably predicted from their written form” (Shoebottom, 2017), so Hindi speakers may take time learning English spelling. 3.     “The phoneme /ʒ / as exemplified by the s in pleasure is missing in Hindi and so pronunciation of such words is difficult” (Shoebottom, 2017). For example, “the s in pleasure is missing in Hindi and so pronunciation of such words is difficult” (Shoebottom, 2017).

Morphology/Syntax (Grammar) 1.     “The basic word order in Hindi is Subject-Object-Verb. The word order in Hindi is not fixed like English” (Gambhir, 2009). Consequently, Hindi speakers may face problems of word order in English sentences. 2.     “Hindi has postpositions and not prepositions, as they are placed after their nouns and pronouns” (Gambhir, 2009). Hindi speakers tend to struggle with choosing appropriate English prepositions. 3.     There are no articles in Hindi (Gambhir, 2009). Therefore, English article usage presents Hindi speakers some problems.

Culture of Indian Issues for teachers/students/parents 1.     “The concept of 'Indian culture' is a very complex and complicated matter. Because Indian citizens are divided into various ethnic, religious, caste, linguistic and regional groups. It makes the realities of "Indianness" extremely complicated” (Wikipedia, 2017). Understanding each Indian student’s difference is important.  2.     “Religion plays a central and definitive role in the life of many of its people” (Wikipedia, 2017), so teachers should know Indian students’ beliefs.

English contrasts with Chinese

Phonology 1.     In Chinese, the meanings of words are clarified according to four main tones. Therefore, Chinese speakers may struggle with acquiring English stress patterns and intonation (personal knowledge). 2.     Chinese does not have some English phonemes. Chinese speakers often have difficulty distinguishing the pronunciations of /l/ and /r/ (personal knowledge). 3.     The use of Pinyin, spelled sounds may confuse Chinese speakers when they pronounce English words, because Pinyin is the Romanization system of Chinese (personal knowledge).

Morphology/Syntax (Grammar) 1.     The Chinese language does not have articles, so the use of English articles is confusing to Chinese students (personal knowledge). 2.     Adverb phrases are placed differently in Chinese and English sentences. Chinese students may struggle with word order in English sentences (personal knowledge).

Culture of Chinese Issues for teachers/students/parents. 1.     “In China, arguing with the teacher is often considered challenging the credibility and authority of the teacher” (Yuan, 2011), so creating a welcoming classroom environment where Chinese students feel free to express their opinions is necessary. 2.     “English education in China mainly relies on written tests to evaluate students’ performance with less emphasis on speaking and listening skills. Hence, many Chinese students didn’t feel confident to speak English in class” (Yuan, 2011). Teachers should to try to provide instruction effective for developing their oral English skills.

The Four Stages of Language Acquisition

The Four Stages of Language Acquisition

Stage 1: Pre-Production

In this stage, students understand about 500 passive words in the second language (Dam, 2017) and need multiple opportunities to hear English being spoken, read, and written well (Holmes, Rutledge & Gauthier, 2009). This stage is also referred to as “the silent period” and teachers should not force students to speak up. Therefore, utilizing activities which promote students’ comprehensible input is necessary: Using single word or two-word phrases, yes/no responses, names and repetitive patterns (Robertson & Ford, n.d.) and Total Physical Response (TPR) consisting basically obeying commands given by the instructor that involve an over physical response (Krashen, 1995) are effective.

Strategy/Activity for Stage 1:

The goal of this stage is to gain the vocabulary words necessary to understand the relationship between the Sun and solar energy. Students will learn the definitions of each word and the correct pronunciations. The vocabulary introduced here are sunlight, solar, energy, mirror, reflection, shade, temperature, strong, weak, high and low. The teacher will stand up by the window and hold up a mirror in the area where sunlight will hit the mirror. While showing reflection of sunlight, the teacher will introduce the words. Some student volunteers can try making mirror reflection. Then, the teacher will take the temperature of both sunny and shaded areas in the classroom to introduce the difference of temperature caused by sunlight. To review the vocabulary words, the teacher will draw the pictures of the sun, sunlight, a mirror, mirror reflection and a thermometer showing temperature, spell out each word and make sure the pronunciations. Students will do internet research to find translations of the introduced words in their native language. After the research, the students make a list of vocabulary words in both languages.    

Stage 2: Early Production

In the stage of early production, students start to use a few words or short phrases from memory but errors may occur. Their listening comprehension is still developing so they still need to rely on non-verbal aids such as visuals. Their first verbal response in this stage will be a reply in yes or no and the next step integrates the use of “either-or” questions and may go on to ask for identification of items which have been introduced several times (Krashen,1995). In all case the students need to say a single word to answer the question (Krashen,1995).

Strategy/Activity for Stage 2:

The goal of the activity for Stage 2 is to consolidate students’ memory of the introduced words and to be enable students to use them in short phrases. Students will use flashcards which have a spelled word on one side and a picture of the word on the other side. In pairs, one student will hold up the picture side of a flashcard and the other student answers the word. After going through all the cards, the students take turns. The teacher pass out worksheets which will include short sentences with some blanks regarding the relationship between sunlight and temperature. The students will complete the sentences by filling in the blanks. Only the words introduced in the lesson will be used. 

Stage 3: Speech Emergence

In this stage, students have a 3,000-word vocabulary in the second language (Dam, 2017), are able to speak more fluently in longer sentences. However, they still have difficulty expressing themselves (Holmes, Rutledge & Gauthier, 2009) and rely heavily on context clues and familiar topics (Robertson & Ford, n.d.). Since they are more confident, teachers can start asking open ended questions. At this level, students can also build meaning from text when they have extensive background knowledge (Holmes, Rutledge & Gauthier, 2009).

Strategy/Activity for Stage 3:

The goal of this stage is to be able to build meaning from reading and use vocabulary in longer sentences. The teacher will read Curious George Discovers the Sun (Rey, 2015) and ask students some open-ended questions. If there are any words which students cannot understand, the teacher will clarify the meanings. After the question and answer session, the students will try to rewrite the story by creating their dual language book. The students will work in a small group but each student will make one book using both English and his or her native language. The use of the Internet will be allowed for word search.

Stage 4: Intermediate Fluency

Students at this stage have a 6,000-word vocabulary (Dam, 2017) and can communicate with fluency and fewer errors. They are also able to demonstrate higher order thinking skills by giving opinions or analyzing a problem (Ford & Robertson, n.d.) and locate specific facts within texts (Holmes, Rutledge & Gauthier, 2009) when they read.

Strategy/Activity for Stage 4:

The goal of this stage is to be able to use English in more complex manners. Therefore, small group activities will be useful to encourage students to listen, speak, write, and interact. At the beginning of the lesson, students will make a small group and create KWL charts describing what they know about the theme and what they want to know through the lessons. They will discuss what they have learned and fill up L section in the end of all the lessons. The teacher will pass out prediction worksheets about the relationship between sunlight and temperature and each student fill in the sheet in a small group. Still in the same group, they will conduct fieldwork: They will go outside and take the temperatures of sunny and shaded areas and spotted area by mirror reflection to find out whether sunlight affects temperature. Each group will wrap up its findings in a chart and discuss the relationship of solar energy and temperature. At the end of the whole lessons, each group will make a presentation using the chart. As an extra fun experimental activity, students will make a solar oven using a pizza box, aluminum foil and plastic wrap. They will cut a flap in the top of the pizza box leaving a two-inch border on the sides and front and wrap the bottom side of the flap and the interior of the box with aluminum foil and tape in place (Homer, 2012). They will cover the opening created by the flap with plastic wrap and tape into place and place food to be cooked in the solar oven, keeping the flap open with a ruler in position to reflect the sun into the oven (Homer, 2012). The students will enjoy the food after the experiment. 

Language Development 3: 25 months old

25 months old. Ai can utter  a word.

Language Development 2: 23 months old

Ai was 23 months old, copying her sister Lin (6yrs old), who studied in Hangzhou international school.

Language Development 1: 21 months old

My younger daughter, 21 months old. She seems to understand English.

Language and Early Childhood Education

According to Cheatham & Ro (2010), as children listen to or participate in conversations, they develop ideas about how language works. Even in a nonverbal period, they listen to and study the new language, trying to understand which rules apply (Cheatham & Ro, 2010). Research has shown that predictions for reading success can be made in children as young as age 3 (as cited in López, 2012) and that children’s language development thrives in preschool and is well developed by 5 (as cited in López, 2012). Therefore, linguistic environments in early childhood have an immense impact on one’s language development. In school, teachers should have high expectations for their young students and try to support their language development by using effective instructional methods.

Phonological awareness plays an important role in early-literacy development (Lopez, 2012) and Coleman & Goldenberg (2010) state that in the earliest stages of learning to read—when the focus is on sounds, letters, and how they combine to form words that can be read—progress by English Learners might be expected to be roughly comparable to that of English speakers. In addition, learning a second language earlier in life increases one’s ability to produce L2 phonemes more accurately (Morrow, Goldstein, Gilhool, Paradics, Schuele & Brice, 2014). Therefore, I strongly recommend that instruction should focus on phonological skills and try to connect the phonological knowledge to reading and writing in early childhood education.

My recommendations reflect what we do in our school. The school is an international kindergarten in Japan and one of its goals is to provide the children with the solid foundation of English skills. I currently teach Japanese and Indian children aged four and five and focus on English phonics. I see them become able to spell words using the sounds they have learned every day. Actually, the school is different from traditional Japanese kindergarten, most of which also started to provide English lessons but they usually teach only some English words and songs once a week. I like working in the school because it promotes bilingual education. This is one of the reasons why I changed my workplace from a traditional Japanese high school, whose English education pays little attention on English sounds, while focusing a lot on grammar.    

I have experiences related to this topic both as a learner and a parent. Since I started to learn English when I was 12 years old, it took me a long time to acquire English sounds. I still sometimes need to be careful about palatal movement when I speak English because the Japanese language is much more phonetically simple. Therefore, I strongly believe that phonological awareness should be acquired in early childhood and sent my daughters to international kindergartens. They seem to pronounce English sounds almost effortlessly.   

References

Cheatham, G.A., & Ro, Y. E. (2010). Young English learners’ interlanguage as a context for language and early literacy development. YC Young Children, 65(4), 18-23

Coleman, R., & Goldenberg, C. (2011). Promoting literacy development: Using interactive and direct techniques, classroom teacher can help English language learners develop their English reading and writing skills. The Education Digest. 76(6), 14-18.

López, L. M. (2012). Assessing the phonological skills of bilingual children from preschool through kindergarten: Developmental progression and cross-language transfer. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 26(4), 371-391. doi:10.1080/02568543.2012.711800

Morrow, A., Goldstein, B. A., Gilhool, A., Paradisc, J., Schuele, C. M., & Brice, A. (2014). Phonological skills in English language learners. Language, Speech & Hearing Services in Schools, 45(1), 26-39. doi:10.1044/2013_LSHSS-13-0009