Teach English in Xinyang Nongchang - Yancheng Shi

Languages have two basic forms they appear in – written and spoken form. As much as spoken language is what people encounter more often and find it easier to learn and acquire, at no point should we neglect the importance of written language since that is mainly the way languages are preserved. How else could we know about history and past times if, for example, somebody had not written about it for us to read it now? We read on daily basis and for various reasons. Most people read news, great number of them enjoy reading books, in the business world almost all correspondence is in written forms: e-mails, contracts, offers; people also read instructions, ingredients of products they want to buy, so reading is an essential part of our lives in general. In all these reading activities, we come across new words which we later use in every day communication because we learn and acquire them. But how does reading affect learning and, more importantly, foreign language acquisition? The first question arising here is when reading as an activity can be introduced. Contrary to popular belief that students can start reading only when they learn the alphabet, I am of the opinion that it can easily be introduced from a very early age through story cards and books with pictures aimed at the youngest learners. If this activity is carried out from the very beginning of the learning process, young students get used to storytelling which later develops into reading themselves. What may greatly contribute to what is the main purpose of reading –language acquisition is the summary of the story or encouraging children to tell it in their own way, using both, words they know at that level and new vocabulary learnt based on what they see in pictures. At this point, accent is also easily acquired since teachers usually read to young learners. The second very important question regarding this topic is what students really learn from reading besides the very content of the text. If we think about how we generally learn new words and acquire vocabulary, we certainly come to a conclusion that we either see or hear that word somewhere. Thus, reading inevitably leads to being exposed to new vocabulary which, if repeatedly revised, will result in the acquisition of language. Apart from vocabulary, there is another benefit from reading which is acquiring correct grammar structure. Bearing in mind that students usually read authentic texts with rich vocabulary and accurate grammar, it can easily happen that students use a complex grammar structure even when they have no previous knowledge about that one in particular. Another crucial thing when we talk about the relation between reading and language acquisition is certainly word order in a sentence. Since word order is not the same in many languages, students are more likely to acquire the knowledge on this language feature more easily when they read. When reading, we actually open a ’treasure chest’ and the treasure we find inside is all language features. What I mean by this, apart from other things, is that in spoken language we use the most frequent words, the ones that first come to our mind. We rarely opt for synonyms and when speaking, for example, we usually forget that fantastic can easily be replaced with unbelievable, magnificent, sensational or breathtaking which is undoubtedly achieved mainly through reading. Reading consequently leads to better fluency. If we think of the moment when students actually become fluent in a foreign language, we can easily notice that it is when they are completely sure which word and which grammar rule they should use meaning that they not only learnt it but have achieved language acquisition. However, there is an obstacle that usually prevents students from truly enjoying reading and understanding the importance of it in language acquisition. Reading appears to be a frustrating experience since reading itself takes time, then looking for unknown words in a text and finally understanding the text in general. So, how can students overcome this obstacle? In my opinion, it is essential to start reading activities from the very beginning of learning a language and that way students see it as an integral part of the whole process. Teachers carry out this activity gradually, first through very easy material which is, at each higher level, replaced with more complex and demanding texts. That way reading becomes an activity students really adore and then it plays an essential role in language acquisition. Considering all the facts about how reading is connected with language acquisition, there is just one more crucial thing about it: language acquisition through reading occurs only when we read for pleasure. We should mention here that teachers play the key role in choosing texts which, first of all, must be at the right level – not too easy because students get bored and see no point in reading them but not too difficult as well because they will find it frustrating and give up before even starting. Secondly, they must be interesting enough to get students motivated to continue reading. It is achieved only if, as I have already mentioned, they are suitable for the ability of students and if they are in the scope of their interests. Once we understand that, when learning a foreign language, it is better to spend time reading than rote learning words without context, we will also understand how valuable the process of reading is to language acquisition. What happens when language acquisition occurs is not only that we have a rich vocabulary, correct grammar and great fluency but we also start thinking in the language we learn and that is indisputably the greatest experience we can get on the ’language learning journey’ which is largely achieved through reading – reading for pleasure, of course.