TESOL-language barriers exist everywhere

While studying English or any second language, we will encounter many language barriers. As an international student, I have encountered many language barriers while studying or communicating with foreigners. For instance, since the university lessons are delivered in fully English, it is hard for an international student especially a first year student to follow the pace of the professor in a lecture. However, it is still possible to overcome these language barriers. According to Jin, Y., & Kling, J. (2009), language barriers are mostly related to literacy. People with better reading and writing skills tend to have more possibilities to overcome language difficulties and vice versa. This paper will illustrate that the language barriers which I have already encountered in foreign countries and how I overcome these language barriers based on my experience, this paper will also include some teaching methods which can be applied in TESOL teaching.

  As mentioned before, language barriers have a close relationship to literacy, however, there are almost no difficulties for native-English speakers and non-native-English speakers with high literacy to obtain at least high school diplomas (Jin, Y., & Kling, J. ,2009). Moreover, there are still challenges for non-native-English speaking students, especially for Chinese students to overcome language barriers in foreign countries. According to Ma, J. (2020), “The development process of higher mental functions is the cultural-historical theory. It mainly comprises with two parts: (a)mastering external materials of cultural development and thinking (b) development of special mental functions. Moreover, Chinese international students’ social adjustment mainly falls on the first section.”(p86) When I first went abroad,I was frightened to talk with foreigners, as a consequence, I chose to stay with people with the same nationalities. However, there are still some unavoidable difficulties in daily lives, language barriers is one of the most significant problems. In addition to lectures are fully delivered by English, assignments or even presentations are also required to finished by English. The general genetic law suggests in order to help Chinese students to get rid of language barriers, they need to facilitate social adjustments which will involve many contradictions( Ma, J.,2020). In other words, international students should try to walk out their comfort zones and try to embrace the culture differences which will help them to overcome language barriers.

  As for myself, I begin to walk out my comfort zone and try to communicate with foreigners. It is hard for me to understand some of slang and professional words, however, it is still possible to guess some of the meanings of the words by using morphemes and affixes. Apart from that, it is also useful to ask classmates or professors what the words mean and get an answer. When I was encouraged to talk with others by myself, I found that language barriers were not so difficult to overcome.

  Same as English learning, English teaching also needs to overcome language and communication barriers. In TESOL teaching, a new approach which is called multimodal pedagogy can be applied in class. Multimodal teaching approach is a kind of approach which combines with key concepts, terminology, or theories in teaching and learning and these concepts can be taken by English language learners(Yi, Y., & Angay-Crowder, T.,2016). In order to let the students gain more knowledge in a class, instructor must set a clear and precise teaching goal for a class. Moreover, teachers should create an enthusiastic learning atmosphere or specific scenario related to the teaching materials for learners which can help them to immerse themselves in classes. Apart from atmosphere, teaching tools can also become a significant factor for the quality of the class. Instructors can use various software and resources such as PowerPoint, YouTube videos and other kinds of virtual materials to help them enrich in class interactions with students(Yi, Y., & Angay-Crowder, T.,2016).

  However, it is also challenging for instructors to change their pedagogy according to the syllabus. For instance, in order to enhance the students abilities of critical thinking, instructors can ask students read the article first by themselves instead of teaching them first. So as the vocabulary, as mentioned first, some words’ meanings can be inferred according to their morphemes and affixes. Teachers should encourage learners to discover the disciplines in words. Even without help, the students are also able to discover new vocabularies independently. As long as the learners are encouraged to speak out the English aloud, they have overcome the language to a large extent.

  In conclusion, language barriers exist everywhere. It is still significant for both instructors and learners to overcome these difficulties. Moreover, overcoming language barriers in English learning needs both instructors’ and students’ effort.