Исследовательская работа по английскому языку "Языковой барьер при изучении английского языка"

Муниципальное бюджетное общеобразовательное учреждение

«Шахунская гимназия имени А.С. Пушкина»

Научное общество учащихся

«Языковой барьер при изучении английского языка»

Исследовательская работа

Секция – Английский язык

Автор работы:

Щукина Вероника

7а класс, МБОУ «Гимназия»

Руководитель:

Мухачёва Юлия Павловна,

Учитель английского языка, МБОУ «Гимназия»

г.Шахунья

2021 г.

Contents

Introduction…………………………………………………………………….…3

Chapter 1. The phenomenon of a language barrier in learning English

1. Barriers in learning a language.........................................................................5
2. What is a language barrier?..............................................................................6

Conclusion on Chapter 1………………….……………………………………...7

Chapter 2. Analyzing the causes of a language barrier…………………………...8

Conclusion on Chapter 2………………………………………………………....11

Chapter 3. The ways of overcoming a language barrier.

3.1. Interviewing the specialists……….…..……………………………………...12

3.2. Experiment. Overcoming the difficulties of speaking English………............13

Conclusion………………………………………………………………………..15

Resources…………………………………………………………………………16

Appendix 1……………………………………………………………………….17

Appendix 2……………………………………………………………………….18

Appendix 3……………………………………………………………………….19

Appendix 4……………………………………………………………………….20

Introduction

In the modern multicultural community, knowledge of foreign languages is obligatory. People increasingly travel abroad, host foreigners, participate in international projects, write e-mails in English or make video calls to other countries and organize conferences. Pupils learning a second language attend English classes almost every day, they memorize new words and grammar rules, write tests, read and watch a lot, have some speaking practice. However, nowadays a lot of students admit that when they need to express their thoughts in English they feel uncomfortable and come across some difficulties in communicating to the partner.

Why do people have such a fear when they need to speak English? In the articles on Psychology and Linguistics there were found a lot of mentions of a language barrier. It is described as a kind of psychological obstacle, caused by the inability of a person who knows the language at a certain level to communicate freely in it.

This allowed us to determine the object of the research. It is the phenomenon of a language barrier in the study of English as a second language.

So, the theme of my research work is «A language barrier in learning English».

The topicality of the research is relevant because the problem of students’ inability to speak English freely is the subject of lively discussions nowadays. There is a lot of information about the problem, but I haven’t found a common opinion on the issue. In the process of learning English, a lot of pupils have such a problem; they cannot formulate a thought quickly and convey it verbally in a foreign language. Students feel confused, helpless and frustrated. The problem leaves a negative impression about language learning. My classmates and I have faced this problem on our lessons of English too. Sometimes we occur in awkward situations when we need to answer a question or start a spontaneous dialogue with a partner, our phrases are simple and short or we even stay silent. The problem of free communicating in English is actual for me, personally, as I want to visit the international camp in Sochi this summer, where I will communicate with foreigners. I do not want to fail, that’s why I should find the reasons for the language barrier appearance and the ways to overcome it.

The novelty of the work is in the fact that we are going not only to explore the phenomenon of a language barrier, but also experimentally find efficient methods to cope with it. This research is based on the students’ experience and recommendations of the specialists in Gymnasia.

The aim of the research is to reveal the reasons and identify the ways of overcoming the language barrier for pupils studying English.

To achieve the aim of the research, the following tasks were stated:

1. Study the phenomenon of a language barrier in learning English;
2. Conduct a survey among students to analyze the reasons for speaking barriers;
3. Interview specialists and identify the ways of overcoming a language barrier;
4. Make an experiment on the effectiveness of the techniques.
5. Make a conclusion about the phenomenon of a language barrier in the study of English.

In the result of the research work we are going to confirm or deny the hypothesis. Pupils usually have some troubles when they need to speak English because of a language barrier. There are effective methods to cope with speaking barriers and improve communicative skills.

In the process of the research the following methods were used:

- studying various materials, articles in Russian and English;

- collecting information connected with the topic of the work;

- conducting surveys and interviewing people;

- analysis of the received data;

- making an experiment;

- asking the teacher for help if necessary.

The practical significance of the research work lies in the fact that it can be used by students and teachers in the lessons of English or as an additional material for extra courses. It can be applied for pupils who have difficulties in communicating in English.

Chapter 1.The phenomenon of a language barrier in learning English

1. Barriers in learning a language.

There are a lot of variations of barriers in Psychology. A famous Russian psychologist, L. L. Popova in her book «Modern techniques of communication» believes that «barriers are a psychological obstacle of various origins, which reveal themselves in the way of undesirable, tedious or dangerous information»^[1].A similar definition is given by V. G. Krysko in his work «Social Psychology», who understands a barrier as «a psychological obstacle that arises in the way of inadequate transfer of information between partners in communication»^[2].

Barriers that do not allow people to speak a certain language can be inborn or acquired over time. There are some inborn barriers that reduce the effectiveness of learning a foreign language. The first is Anglophobia, a learning disability which is revealed in rejection of English. Those who have anglophobia dislike communicating in English and show unwillingness to listen to English speech. Another problem is a short-term memory. Many students suffer from the problem of memorizing new words and activating linguistic knowledge stored in the mental lexicon. They are unable to hold verbal information for a long time in their working memory and prefer writing assignments to oral practice. Surprisingly, the majority of the girls are affected by this kind of psychological problem. Another obstacle is emotional interference, a feeling of sadness, fear, anger, anxiety which influences the reception and receptivity to other’s speech. Arousal of emotions makes it difficult to concentrate on the content of the message and affect your speaking skills negatively.

Stephen D. Krashen, a famous linguist and educational researcher, put forward a hypothesis according to which language skills are blocked in a person experiencing negative emotions. If you are nervous or frightened, it will be much more difficult for you to express your thoughts in English than in a calm state. In fact, your language abilities are partially “turned off” during strong excitement. This mechanism gives the foundation for the appearance of a language barrier.

2. What is a language barrier?

Online vocabularies give the following definitions of a language barrier:

1. It is a barrier to communication between people or groups of people who are unable to speak a common language, because they originally speak different languages or their dialects are different. ^[3]

This usually happens when a person travels abroad and don’t know the language of the country he visits. The problem is important because it can cause misunderstanding and hurt people’s feelings, even lead to a conflict, frustration and serious offense.  

2. It is a linguistic barrier for a student learning foreign languages, an obstacle to effective communication caused by the inability of a person who knows the language at a certain level to communicate freely in it. The information is distorted or loses its meaning, in some cases poorly formulated and does not reach the recipient at all. ^[4]

A language barrier in the process of learning English is very significant. It appears not only at the initial stage of language acquisition. It happens due to little life and speaking experience and lack of communication with the native speakers. We just cannot meet them in our everyday life. The language barrier is formed under the influence of two factors. They are a linguistic aspect and a psychological aspect.  

1. Linguistic aspect.

It is associated with the application of theoretical knowledge in practice. Your head stores information about grammar and words, but the mechanism for activating them in a particular situation is not built yet. The problem arises due to poorly developed listening skills, lack of speaking practice, the wrong approach to speaking (the desire to literally translate a phrase into a foreign language), and difficulty with pronunciation.

2. Psychological aspect.

It’s much harder to overcome, because itis a reflection of our inner fears and self-doubt. The main reason is the fear of failure or making a mistake, inability to understand your interlocutor, seem stupid and not educated.  There is a fear of the unknown, which is caused by lack of self-confidence and doubt about your knowledge. All of these fears provoke negative emotions like nervousness, shame, anger and block language skills.

Conclusion on Chapter 1.

Taking everything into consideration, it can be stated that the language barrier is a difficulty of expressing one's own thoughts or a difficulty of understanding a foreign language, associated with fear, shame or a lack of knowledge. A language barrier usually includes two aspects a linguistic and a psychological ones. In the process of communicating in English there are a lot of doubts about the correctness of this or that statement, phrase and sound, as a result the student has to make an effort to think over the speech course. It doesn’t happen naturally. The student tries to avoid communicating English at the lesson and outside it, uses short sentences and responds, very simple phrases like yes or no. The student is not familiar with the standards of foreigners’ behavior; therefore he doubts how exactly one should respond to phrases, compliments, refuse or accept invitations. In Russian it happens automatically, because we know traditions and foundations. But in English students have such a phenomenon as a language barrier.

Chapter 2. Analyzing the causes of a language barrier.

To find out the reasons for speaking barrier I`ve decided to conduct an opinion poll among my classmates. 20 respondents took part in the survey; they are seventh-grader of Pushkin Gymnasia and my classmates. They have been studying English for 7 years and have a certain level of the language. I’ve worked out the questionnaire and analyzed the received data with the help of diagrams (Appendix 1)

Table 1. Analyzing the causes of a language barrier

among the students of the 7th form.

As a result of the survey, the following facts were revealed:

• 95% of students study English for a long time and want to express their thoughts in English in an accessible way;
• 65% of students feel embarrassed and uncertain when they get in a situation of a sudden demand for speaking;
• 62% of students are afraid to make a mistake every time they speak English;
• 55% of students tend to think that other people would find their tempo of speech too slow;
• 65% of students have difficulty understanding spoken language;
• 70% of students find their knowledge of grammar good enough;
• 65% of students have insufficient vocabulary;
• only 40 % of students have enough listening and speaking practice;
• a half of the students are motivated to improve communicative skills.

Analyzing the answers of the classmates we have formulated the real reasons for the appearance of a language barrier. The information was systematized and divided into two categories: psychological and linguistic reasons.

Table 1.Psychological reasons for a language barrier

Table 2. Linguistic reasons for a language barrier

Conclusion on Chapter 2.

As a result of the research we have found out that absolutely all pupils want to express their thoughts in a foreign language and apply their knowledge in the future. The majority of them experience 1) a sense of embarrassment and shame, 2) uncertainty, especially, when there is a sudden demand for speaking and 3) a fear of making a mistake or say something wrong. These negative emotions influence the language skills when a pupil start speaking and block them. That is why we tend to think that these fears are basic in formation of a language barrier.

From the linguistic side of the question, the biggest percentage of students has difficulty in understanding spoken language and need more listening practice. More than half of the students don’t have enough speaking practice and have wrong approach to speaking, the reflex to literally translate a phrase from Russian into English. A significant part of them admit that they have insufficient vocabulary to support good communication, but grammatical knowledge seems to be good enough.

Chapter 3. The ways of overcoming a language barrier.

3.1. Interviewing the specialists.

To find out what ways will help students stop feeling frustrated, forget their fears and improve communicative skills, we have interviewed specialists, the teachers of English from Pushkin Gymnasia. They have rich experience in teaching English, we are sure they came across this problem with their students and know a lot of the methods to overcome the language barrier.

So, the ways of overcoming a language barrier are presented below.

1. Increase your vocabulary all the time by means of reading books and periodicals, learn new phrases not separate words (choose your favorite books in original, for instance)
2. Learn social English (idioms, phrasal verbs, colloquial phrases on different life situations)
3. Have listening practice every day. Listen to English radio, interviews, news, audiobooks and songs. Listen to native speakers with a standard pronunciation mostly and imitate them. Watch foreign movies, serials, video lessons and interesting you-tubers.
4. Practice speaking a lot with your teacher or friends, classmates, everyone who is eager to improve their communicative skills in English, befriend natives and take part in speaking clubs or debates.
5. Switch on your Russian language in the social network into English.
6. Shoot stories in English to your social network, tell about your daily events, your plans for tomorrow, the most interesting moments of the day.
7. Allow yourself to make some mistakes (losing articles, prepositions) do not interrupt your speaking flow. Being mistaken is a normal stage of studying a language.
8. Ask your interlocutor to say something again if you do not catch the essence, or do not understand any words.
9. Do not hurry. Speed is the result of practice, do not force yourself purposely.
10. Do not be afraid to "sound" wrong. Do not be shy or afraid of speaking with an accent. Look at the eyes of your fear and start a conversation in English first.
11. Dedicate time to English and stay focused. Always have a strong motivation. We have collected all the techniques and asked them to choose the most useful pieces of advice. The results are shown in the diagram.

3.2. Experiment. Overcoming the difficulties of speaking English.

The experimental part of the research is aimed at identifying the effectiveness of the above recommendations for overcoming the language barrier when learning English. For this purpose were involved the students of the 7th A form, a group with a profound knowledge of English (Volkova Varvara, Noskova Irina, Mohova Olga, Smirnova Arina, Kulemina Anastasiya, Vinogradov Konstantin). The students have different abilities in English. The experiment was held in three stages with the help of my English teacher.

Stage 1. At the first stage, the students were offered to increase the amount of listening practice in their process of learning English. They downloaded audiobooks in their gadgets at their own choice and listened to them for a certain period. At the lesson they made a presentation of the book and review on it. They performed an abstract from the book, imitating the standard pronunciation of the narrator.

Stage 2. At the second stage, the students were offered to memorize new words and phrases on the topic “Books”. There was a list of genres, types of books, authors, characteristics, phrasal verbs and colloquial expressions.

Stage 3. At the third stage, the students were offered to practice speaking with each other. Their communicative situation was «In a Book shop». A book is put up for a sale, the writer acquaints the audience with a part of the work. The 1st role is the author presenting his latest book. The 2nd role is an interviewer. Pupils had a recommendation not to correct mistakes of each other, not to interrupt the speaking flow, to ask the interlocutor to say something again if they do not catch the essence, or do not understand any words. They used a list of phrases. (Appendix 3 )

The assessment was carried out on a 5-point scale, the lowest score is 1, and the highest is 5. The criteria were 1) An ability to support a dialogue, not being silent; an ability to ask the interlocutor to repeat something if it is necessary; 2) Vocabulary sufficiency, using elements of social English; 3) The rate of the speech; 4) A fear of making a mistake. After analyzing the data of the students, we can say that for a short period of the experiment, the positive result takes place. (Appendix 4) All the students were able to support a dialogue and communicate in English well enough; some of them became more confident and faster.  The vocabulary increased, but the fear to say “something wrong” remained, although in a smaller amount. Thus, we can conclude that the language barrier is a temporary phenomenon and it can be overcome with the help of special methods.

During the experiment new information was revealed either. The best result was shown in a pair, where students chose the same favourite book. The theme appealed to emotions, personal background and experience of students and made communication in English better.

Conclusion.

Taking everything into account, I can state that the aim of the research was achieved. I have learnt that the language barrier in the process of learning English really exists. It is an obstacle to effective communication and an urgent problem for students nowadays. Analyzing the results of a survey I have found that the main reasons of its appearance are: 1) a sense of embarrassment and shame; 2) uncertainty, especially when there is a sudden demand for speaking; 3) a fear of making a mistake; 4) difficulty in understanding spoken language; 5) lack of speaking practice; 6) insufficient vocabulary.

As a result of the interviewing I have identified the effective ways to cope with these obstacles and improve communicative skills in English. Pupils need to 1. Enrich their vocabulary all the time by means of reading books and periodicals, memorizing new phrases, learning elements of social English; 2. Have listening practice of native speakers and imitate them; 3. Practice communicating a lot and allow themselves to make little mistakes not interrupting their speaking; 4. Not to be afraid or ashamed to "sound" wrong, look at the eyes of your fear and start a conversation in English first; 5. Dedicate time to English and stay focused.

The experiment showed that the students, after some recommendations, began to support a dialogue and communicate in English well enough; some of them became more confident and faster. The hypothesis was fully confirmed, there are a lot of successful ways to overcome the language barrier. Moreover, at the end of the research new interesting facts were revealed. When communication concerns personal experience, students show better results. The research work can be useful for pupils with communication problems, teachers, who are eager to help their students start speaking English, and for everyone who enjoys learning languages.

Working on research I improved my language skills greatly and I’m ready to use all the tips of overcoming a barrier myself.  I want to continue this research and write an article in English for a publication in a journal with a list of practical recommendations for students who face a language barrier.

Resources.

1. Попова Л.Л. Современные технологии общения [текст]: Учебное пособие / Л.Л.Попова. – Томск: Изд-во Томского политехнического университета, 2009. – 180с.
2. Крысько В.Г. Социальная психология [текст]: Курс лекций / В.Г.Крысько. -3-е изд. – М.: Омега-Л, 2006. – 352с
3. Камардина Г.Г. Психологические трудности общения: основы психотехнологии [текст]: Учебное пособие / Г.Г.Камардина. – Ульяновск, 2000. – 52с
4. English as a second and foreign Language: Barriers you faced and how to overcome them https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVPpGaE7qGY
5. How to Overcome The LANGUAGE-LEARNING BARRIER? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5ALAFalTd8
6. https://www.lexico.com/definition/language_barrier
7. https://en-academic.com/dic.nsf/enwiki/1567312
8. https://www.wallstreetenglish.ru/blog/
9. https://www.wallstreetenglish.ru/blog/
10. https://www.ef.ru/englishfirst/english-study/articles/barrier.aspx
11. https://englex.ru/how-to-overcome-language-barrier/
12. https://easyspeak.ru/blog/sovety-i-sekrety/kak-preodolet-yazykovoj-barer-v-anglijskom

Appendix 1

The causes of a language barrier among the students of the 7th form

Appendix 2

Interviewing the specialists

Уважаемые учителя английского языка,

Прошу вас принять участие в моем исследовании «Языковой барьер в изучении английского языка», ученицы 7а класса Щукиной Вероники. Исходя из своего профессионального опыта, прошу помочь определить самые эффективные способы преодоления языкового барьера ^[5] для учеников, изучающих английский язык. Оцените данные способы по результативности от 1 до 10. Благодарю за участие!

The ways of overcoming the language barrier for students

who have some obstacles communicating English.

Appendix 3

A list of phrases to ask interlocutor to repeat sth.

Appendix4

Исходные данные учеников 7а, сентябрь 2020

Экспериментальные данные учеников 7а, февраль 2021