Tuesday, May 5, 2020
English learning in Jordan-Free-Samples-Myassignmenthelp.com
Question: Highlight the Various Socio-Cultural Implications and affects in the Use of English Language as Well as the Various Linguistic Issues that have a major Influence on the English Learning in Jordan. Answer: Introduction In present world, there is no doubt that English is regarded as the international or global language. English is considered as the language which has been spread across the globe in an extensive and dominating manner in almost all the fields comprising communication, education and international commerce. Jordan is not an exception to such a worldwide trend. There are several countries that have included English as the compulsory subject in the school curriculum so that it can contribute to the cultural, social, linguistic and personal development of the students. In countries like Jordan, English language is given high priority in the policy of foreign language. There are increasing numbers of issues which are faced by the EFL teachers in order to teach English in Jordan. Teaching English language in a foreign nation is a tough job and had to face a number of challenges too because of diverse cultural backgrounds, shorter time duration, different learning preferences and various othe r issues (Alhabahba, Pandian AND Mahfoodh, 2016). But with the increasing involvement of the Government and supporting policies, there are practices for resolving all these issues and to give English language as the status of national language of Jordan. History The official language of Jordan is Arabic and is spoken even by the various ethnic minorities who usually maintain their personal or own languages for their day-to-day lives. But there is continuous spread of English too looking towards the history of English in Jordan. There is a continuous spread of English language in Jordan both at the school as well as the university level which can be analysed by various reports and data in context with the continuously increasing number of students to be registered yearly in the department of English across the nation. In the period of early 1962, there was only a single department of English in Jordan country established at the city of Amman. Later to this in the period of 1976 to 1985, there was an increase in the number of departments of English and it reached to 3 (Drbseh, 2013). After that, in the period of 1986 to 2013, there was much interest developed for English language and the number raised to 30 of the total English departments in Jordan. Steaming appeared as an essential aspect as the flow of ten students ass continuously widening wishing to be registered under the English departments in comparison with the administrative expectations in respect with the students to be enrolled in English departments. With the increase in the number of graduates in the English subject, there was a corresponding increase in the teaching staff at the various Jordanian secondary schools as the demand for the EFL teachers kept on increasing with a faster pace. If the overall population is considered of the total English teachers present in Jordan, it is identified that there were around a total of 22 teachers in the year 1962 in the secondary schools of Jordan (Drbseh, 2013). But in the period of 1962 to 2013, there was a dramatic increased in the overall number of English teachers. In other words, it can also be illustrated that there are presently thousands of teachers who are currently teaching English in Jordanian universiti es and schools. There has been a sudden increase in the rate of individuals enrolling themselves in the departments for learning English as their first and prior language because of the key reason that maximum of the employment opportunities required the candidates to be efficient in English language. But in order to give importance to English, there are several issues comprising political,, socio-cultural and linguistic issue which are occurring and acting as the barricades in the faster reach and development of English language in Jordan (Drbseh, 2013). Political Background According to reports and data published by the statistics department of Jordans Ministry of Education, the total numbers of schools have increased to 6,614 in 2014 with a total of 1,846,963 students. There is a significant and vigorous role of the Ministry of Education of Jordan in the country in context with the delivery of education to the students ranging from Kindergarten to the 12th Grade. The compulsory stage of basic education at Jordan comprises of 1 to 10 grades and in that all the students are permitted to have free of cost education. But in the later stages which are after the Basic Education, the total scores of the 10th, 9th and 8th grades are calculated for determining that on which track the individual students are qualified to apply for (Alhabahba, Pandian and Mahfoodh, 2016). The vocational elementary and the academic elementary education are few of those academic tracks. Before the process of calculation of the grades, the students have to submit an application in r espect with the track to be selected by the students. But the final decision is in the hands of the Ministry of Education fob Jordan. The power is also in the hands of the Vocational Training Corporation and the Ministry of Education regarding the teaching and learning of English languages. But there is increased level of political uncertainty in Jordan which is one of the biggest challenge for English language in Jordan. The nation is a constitutional monarchy and is highly governed and ruled by the Islamic Action Front, the only political party of Jordan and thus there is a huge emphasis of having Arabic language as the most prominently used and the official language of the country (Alhabahba, Pandian and Mahfoodh, 2016). Socio-cultural impacts on English language and linguistic issues There is a strong association among the culture, society and the language to the sociolinguistics field. Sociolinguistics studies the association between the society and the language. The inseparable and strong links among culture, society and they language ensures the societys economic subsistence and is significant in regards with the cultural and social impact of English (Bannier, 2016). The emphasis on developing EIL i.e. English as International language concerns the association among the global spread of English language across the global borders and various groups of individuals within the communities, each with a diverse traditional and ethnic culture and language, since the period of colonialism to the present age of globalisation. The spread of EIL as exploitive not only substitutes other languages but also displaces them as in Jordan; the uses of English are displacing the existence of Arabic language as well as impose a new mental structures on the individual learners (Ch oi and Lee, 2008). Such mental structures are considered as the ideologies that the Westerners take use of for justifying their individual culture and pose these ideas on other people. With the continuous globalisation and modernisation, the culture of the society and English learning is inseparable. There are several negative implications upon the socio-cultural factors and that become the reason of criticism for English language teaching in Jordan as for not comprising if the cross-cultural studies as a central part as well as for not having any kind of principled consideration which results in claiming the English language as guilty for promoting linguistic imperialism in the country (Crystal, 2012). The culture is considered as similarly significant as communication for the individual idemtity of the people are both of them are relayed to the economic subsistence as the key consideration, therefore the colonization objects to the displacement of the individual identity of the colonized. It had to restrain their resistance by marginalizing and forcing people to learn English as the language of the colonizers (Dalton-Puffer, 2011). And this is one of the reasons behind the people of Jordan to consider English learning as inseparable from the culture and resulting economic inequality with increased development of EIL. The observation of the people of lack of cross-cultural studies is also considered as true with increasing use of English. Perhaps the most disturbing and violent outcome among all the impacts of English is to develop the arrogance of the English-speaking leaders (Elyas and Picard, 2010). English is no doubt a status symbol of various nations in comparison with their official language and sadly in respect with Arabic language in Jordan. It is an increasing realisation that English as an International language is becoming adopted by the individuals who usually speak it as a second language (Hanafi, 2011). The non-native individuals who speak English are more than the two-thirds of the potential speakers of English in the country. English language is presently recognized as the most principal international language of the world. In the upcoming future, there are extreme chances of increasing number of people learning and speaking English as their first language which will ultimately pose a number of issues and threats to the socio-cultural factor and thus resulting in restraining people from taking use of English (Garton, Copland and Burns, 2011). It is fair to illustrate that English is no longer considered as a language of any particular or specific group of individuals and that it is not merely the consumer of the tradition of Western-Anglo-Sax on. English is one of the most adaptable and fastest growing languages across the world and in Jordan also and this is a major factor behind the various socio-cultural issues and challenges due to the loss and displacement of they official language of the country from various parts of the nation (Gndara and Hopkins, 2010). There are number of issues which are there in English language and the first and the foremost issue is the amount of officially allotted time which is there for education of English language, specifically in the secondary and the primary schools. The limited time for English learning is one of the major causes behind the restricted development of English language. There is no specific agreement behind the initiating of foreign language learning in the schools (Hinkel, 2011). There are various linguistic issues as the teachers take use of English only in teaching the English language and it results in a number of issues. English is now considered as a global language and there are several negative aspects also which give rise to a number of issues and challenges. An international language might develop an elite class with the native English speakers who take benefit of the possibility to work faster their specific mother-tongue (Huwari and Aziz, 2011). If this was the situation then i t may result in their benefits at the expense of those individuals who have some other language as their mother-tongue and in such a manner that there develops a linguistic gap (Ilieva, 2010). The English language posses a history which is sometimes violent and cruel in context with war and colonialism and the countries assumes a threat of future dominance in Jordan as the use of English as a global language. Being an international language, it becomes difficult and unwilling for the individuals to learn any other language as well as having increased use of the official language i.e. Arabic. Making a single language as the global language i.e. English becomes difficult, impoverished and technical for the non-native speakers of Jordan and expressing of oneself becomes difficult due to the use of a single language (Jobo, 2013). English is posing a dominant and increasing pressure upon the Arabic language and there are number of sectors in Jordan where English is placed at the first position in use. The places or the sectors that have vibrant use of English are at the airports, in businesses, scientific studies, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and tourism sector. All these areas have a significant and dominant use of English language which is offering a unique position to English language in the country and as a result there is also upsurge spread of the English language across the country (Khati, 2011). But at a number of places there are challenges and issues that are rising with a constant speed restricting and limiting the use of English because of a number of factors. There are also various ethnic diversities which are there in the field of education that impacts the use of English language. There are various cultural groups as well as individual preferences which impacts the learning of the English language as people with distinct learning preferences have a diverse set of ability and skills towards learning EFL as well as it also results in a number of issues for the EFL teachers in making the individuals learn (Liou, 2010). In spite of the various potential affordances of number of quality instructional programs which helps in promoting the English language, the new standards impose a number of challenges which are required to be considered at the time of preparing the teachers for the English education programs (Pradhan, 2013). The various researches has identified that the successful teachers of English language require effective knowledge of the learners, the effective practices, language and the content so atht there can be offered adequate learning. There is also an issue related to the understanding as the teachers are required to have a great experience of the second language learning so that there can be positive attitudes toward the various other learners of English. The various New Standards impose an additional requirement and demands (Mitchell, Myles and Marsden, 2013) There is a need of well-prepared teachers who can demonstrate complete knowledge of the English language to various levels a ccording to the demand and standards. They are required to support the learners at the time of analysing As well as producing the texts of linguistic demand they are required to take use of the language of the various content areas so that there can be a support to the scientific, historical and mathematical conversations and to comprehend and produce texts in those specific content areas (Mamo and Yigzaw, 2016). Conclusion English language is no doubt the most preferred, recognized and commonly sues languages across the globe and had also attained the recognition of the global language. In almost all the nations including them various Asian countries too, there is a continuous use of English language in the various sectors as well as in industries. In the primary and secondary schools there is increasing phase on English learning in order to have a status symbol as well as to compete in the global world and take use of enormous opportunities available in the business world. From this report, it can be concluded that there is a set history of the use of the English language but in present toe there is a need to have effective learning of English in almost all the countries. They report states that the political background does not support entirely to the use of English in Jordan but have both a positive as well as a negative side. From the report and the analysis, it can be stated that there are number of socio-cultural impacts as well as linguistic issues that are required to be overcome fore having successful learning of English as well as its use in the foreign countries. References Alhabahba, M. M., Pandian, A., Mahfoodh, O. H. A. (2016). English language education in Jordan: Some recent trends and challenges.Cogent Education,3(1), 1156809. Bannier, B. J. (2016). Global trends in transnational education.International Journal of Information and Education Technology,6(1), 80. Choi, Y. H., Lee, H. W. (2008). Current trends and issues in English language education in Asia.The Journal of AsiaTEFL,5(2), 1-34. Crystal, D. (2012).English as a global language. Cambridge university press. Dalton-Puffer, C. (2011). Content-and-language integrated learning: From practice to principles?.Annual Review of applied linguistics,31, 182-204. Drbseh, M. M. H. (2013). 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