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English has become a widely accepted language of the modern world with many of those individuals speaking it, having learned it as an additional language. The demand to learn English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in societies where it is not the native language increases as most societies today have recognized it is a vital language for educational (Samson and Collins 4), legal, and business success. A teacher living abroad and teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) experiences unique challenges; different from those encountered whilst living and working in their home country. Since parents are the first teachers that children have (Torres and Castañeda-Peña 156), they can assist an ESL teacher in training learners for English literacy and proficiency. The roles of parents in promoting ESL literacy include, but are not limited to, facilitating learning conditions, materials and other resources as needed by the English language learner (ELL) (Torres and Castañeda-Peña 161). Time is a requisite condition for any learning to occur. Parents can help by creating time at home for ELLs to exercise the reading, listening, and speaking skills acquired at school. Insufficient time allocation for English teaching and learning is a challenge for ESL teachers for various reasons. McGrath (2013) explains that most programs for ESL learning are test-based, with learners eager to achieve English proficiency within a short duration (p. 177). The ESL teacher is, therefore, under immense pressure to deliver extensive syllabus content within the stipulated time. Allocating time at home for ELLs to practice learned skills improves their academic readiness for when they have to sit for their exams (Samson and Collins 7). Parents also bridge the cultural gap between learners and the non-native ESL teacher to promote the teaching-learning experience. Cultural sensitivity towards ELLs is necessary (Samson and Collins 2) and parents are instrumental in bridging this cultural gap between the teacher and students. By investing the time to investigate the cultural peculiarities in a foreign country, an ESL teacher gains insight on possible challenges learners might face. For instance, sounds such as /f/, /r/, and /v/ are in English but do not appear in Korean (Choi 7). Hence, the teacher can recommend read out loud exercises at home to improve communicative competence of EFL learners and ease anxiety about speaking in English (p. 13). Reading out loud is imperative when learning a foreign language since it develops word-sound recognition. Speaking is part of language proficiency and it involves pronunciation. When parents provide an active audience for ELLs to read out loud, two areas of reading processing are developed: word recognition and comprehension (Shinozuka, Shibata and Mizusawa 7). Furthermore, prosodic features of language such as intonation, tone, stress, and rhythm are developed as a learner vocalizes reading material. In conclusion, when parents voluntarily participate in their child’s EFL development, language literacy outcome is improved; much to the satisfaction of learners, parents, and ESL teachers. Works Cited Choi, Jeongtong (Justin). "Pronunciation Lesson Plans for Korean EFLUniversity Instructors." Master's Projects and Capstone. San Fransisco, CA: University of San Fransisco, 12 December 2014. Accessed at: https://repository.usfca.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1089&context=capstone Harji, Madhubala Bava, Kavitha Balakrishnan and Krishnanveni Letchumanan. "The PaCT: Parents, Children and Teacher Partnership in Developing ESL Literacy." English Language Teaching (2017): 150-160. DOI: 10.5539/elt.v10n9p150 Hosseinpour, Vida, Saeed Yazdani and Mojgan Yarahmadi. "The Relationship between Parents’ Involvement, Attitude, Educational Background and Level of Income and Their Children’s English Achievement Test Scores." Journal of Language Teaching and Research (2015): 1370-1378. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17507/jltr.0606.27 McGrath, Ian. Teaching Materials and the Roles of EFL/ESL Teachers: Practice and Theory. London: A&C Black, 2013. Samson, Jennifer F. and Brian A. Collins. "Preparing All Teachers to Meet the Needs of English Language Learners: Applying Research to Policy and Practice for Teacher Effectiveness." April 2012. Center for American Progress. 28 December 2019 . Shinozuka, Katsumasa, Setsue Shibata and Yumiko Mizusawa. "Effectiveness of Read-aloud Instruction on Motivation and Learning Strategy among Japanese College EFL Students." English Language Teaching (2017): 1-14. DOI: 10.5539/elt.v10n4p1 Torres, Sergio Aldemar Hurtado and Harold Andrés Castañeda-Peña. "Exploring the Roles of Parents and Students in EFL Literacy Learning: A Colombian Case." English Language Teaching (2016): 156-165. DOI: 10.5539/elt.v9n10p156
