How can we help our students think in English?

Student: “Depend of how people is”.

Professor: “Oh, you mean IT DEPENDS ON how people ARE?”

Student: “Yes, depend of how people is”.

Later on…

Professor: Guys, remember you must not think in Spanish when speaking in English; otherwise you make mistakes.

Student: But professor, how can we think in English?

Whenever a situation like this occurs in my EFL class, I remember when I was a student. I kept hearing my professors saying: “You have to think in English”, but I always wondered: “How can I do that?” Now my students are the ones who ask me that, and although I try to recall the exact moment when I finally managed to do so and how I did it, it is difficult. Is it probably because this fascinating instant happens without us noticing it? Can someone realize when he or she is thinking in the language being learned?

Thinking in English while learning it is definitely a challenge for students, especially the ones immersed in an EFL environment. Since learners practice the language mainly in class, the process of acquiring English demands more time, effort and persistence. Nevertheless, this goal can certainly be achieved; we have all experienced it ourselves, regardless of having been in an ESL or EFL context. So, what about our students? Can we explain to them how to think in English?

Beginners are, by far, the ones who experience more difficulty when having to think in another language since they lack a good command of grammatical structures, pronunciation, and their vocabulary is usually limited. However, this does not imply that students in other proficiency levels do not experience this challenge; it might occur but to a lesser extent. Given that students at the beginning levels struggle more with having thoughts in English, they need to be encouraged to monitor their speech, realize when they use the wrong structures, be able to correct them and avoid making the same mistakes again. Obviously, they must be aware of how necessary it is to think in the second or foreign language and how this helps them improve their level.

But, is it really crucial to think in the language being learned? What are the consequences of thinking in the L1? Are they merely negative? Teaching English to Spanish speakers has made me realize students make fewer mistakes in grammar and pronunciation if they avoid thinking in their mother tongue. If they speak or write in English while thinking in Spanish, their ideas would probably be confusing because of the many mistakes. When this occurs in my EFL class, I can immediately notice it as a result of being a Spanish speaker myself. This means that speaking the same language our students do, either as an L1 or L2, is an advantage for us teachers in terms of identifying errors.  

During my college years I learned to think in English; I rarely had any contact with native speakers of English, though, and all my professors were Costa Rican. But I do remember them telling me some tips on how I could manage to think in the foreign language: thinking in English 24/7, reading extensively, keeping a journal, watching TV, listening to music, talking to others, and so on. I am certain that helped me a lot. The experience of successfully learning English as an EFL student was truly beneficial when studying my third language, Portuguese. I can say it was much easier for me to be aware of not thinking in Spanish when speaking Portuguese, despite of how similar these two languages are.   

Some people might say that in order to think in another language, it is essential to live in a country where that language is spoken. I cannot deny that being surrounded by English helps in an incredible way, it does without a doubt; however, it is not the only way to reach that goal. We as ESL and EFL teachers should make our students understand the importance of thinking in English, especially at the beginning level, since this will make the teaching and learning process very effective. A way to do this is by creating awareness, offering ideas for thinking in English, encouraging them to practice the language at all times, monitoring them and teaching them how to monitor themselves, among others.

What are your insights regarding this matter? Do you recall not being able to think in English or other languages? Do you remember the moment when you did? Would you like to share any experiences with students on this topic? What do you do to help your students think in English?

Nuria Villalobos was born and raised in a Spanish-speaking family in Costa Rica and currently teaches English as a Foreign Language there, at Universidad Nacional.

Do you want to sound like your L2 teacher? (Samantha N.)

As TESOL-trained teachers, we are also programmed to believe that it is not necessary to sound like a “native speaker” to be proficient in a second language (L2).  What then does it mean to be orally “proficient” in a language, and what value does learning a language from a native speaker add?  Who is a “native speaker” in this globalized age which has made human capital transfer so permeable?  More importantly, do students necessarily want to model after their L2 teacher?  Specifically, do you want to sound like your L2 teacher?

I have taught English in several cities in Asia and the US, and am widely considered a proficient user of the English language or even a “native speaker” because of my internationally intelligible English accent but for my oriental face.  I am sought after as a result of my teaching qualifications and experience, especially when students want a familiar Asian face with an inimitable accent, in particular someone acquainted with their cultural norms and yet “western” enough in outlook and practices.  I try to understand this phenomenon in the context of myself as a typical L2 learner.

The first foreign language I learned to a relatively high proficiency was German.  I had wanted to learn German after knowing my German penpal at 15.  When I finally took the plunge in 1997, I learned that my beginner German teacher was a Taiwanese who had studied in Germany for a number of years.  She was my first non-native language teacher, and although somewhat surprised, I enjoyed learning with and from her and did very well.  As a self-confessed perfectionist however, I wanted to sound like someone whose first language was German after several years of lessons.

I was “fortunate” that I had native German-speaking teachers after that because it still means a lot to me when a German compliments me on my “native-like” accent when I speak the language.  Perhaps many institutes offering L2 are organized in close conformance with student demand so that they cannot help but hire native speakers, trained or untrained, to teach that language, and to look the part.  In my experience, this is quite true of Asian learners of European languages.  Why this is so is, regrettably, beyond the scope of this blog, and I invite readers to contribute their thoughts, after which I will respond to them.

I have gone on to learn a few other foreign languages, and remain partial when it comes to accents.  I have my favorites and a so-called “native speaker’s” is not necessarily what I want to acquire eventually, so long as I think I sound mellifluous enough.  That said, I would still prefer to be trained by a qualified teacher who speaks and uses my target language clearly and appropriately…and who sounds like music to my ears, native speaker or not…which brings to mind my first German teacher.

What about you?  What are your own experiences with learning and/or teaching a second or foreign language?  Have you experienced discrimination both positive and negative in teaching a language that you did not grow up with on your mother’s lap, like they say?  Write to us and share!

Samantha N. was born and raised in a multilingual English-speaking family, and is currently based in Singapore, where she teaches academic English.

Welcome to the NNEST onlilne discussion blog (Icy Lee)

Dear NNEST IS members,

Welcome to the NNEST online discussion blog!

This is a new endeavour to make our online discussions more vigorous and  organized.

My plan is to have discussion leaders lead online discussions in April, June, August, October, December 2011 and February 2012. The discussion leaders will publish a post on a selected topic, which provides a springboard for discussion. You are welcome to respond to the topic by posting comments.

I have already got three discussion leaders, who have agreed to lead online discussons. More discussion leaders are needed to keep the online discussions going.

This online blog is NOT meant to replace our listserv. You are still encouraged to ask questions and raise issues for discussion there. This blog aims to invigorate our online discussions. Let's see how it works.


Looking foward to blogging with you!

Icy