The Impact of Teacher-Student Relationship on Learning a Second Language, Essay Example

Introduction

Learning is a process that does not only involve the capacity of students to understand. When it comes to learning a second language, what possible influences does teacher-student relationship have on the matter? In the 40-minute video presentation on Second Language Acquisition Learning [located at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=larmndpgBpU], it is imposed that teacher-learner relationship plays a key role in establishing good attitude towards learning and getting properly acquainted with a new language other than one’s original tongue. It also imposes on the need of a student to have contemplation on why he is undergoing such a process and for what he is placing his efforts forward for such process.  On the other hand, it also involves the willingness of teachers to become focused on how they respond to their students’ needs and demands. Taken from here, it could be analyzed that there is a relationship that connects student motivation and teacher motivation when it comes to measuring the successful outcome of a particular aspect of learning.  Undoubtedly, human intervention in the process of learning creates a great new realm of defining how the proper way of studying should be handled. In the presentation that follows, a deeper and more detailed discussion on how second language learning could be improved or better defined through the strengthening of teacher-student relationship shall be deciphered. Along with this, several aspects that make up a strong teacher-student relationship in relation to learning a second language shall also be explored accordingly.

Motivation is a primary component of learning. In the case of acquiring a second language the motivation of both the teachers and the students on the matter affects the process so much. Notably, each student and teacher has a different point of view and agenda in relation to their involvement in the learning process. While the students are in the receiving end of the process, the teachers are often at the “giving-end” of the matter. This implicates that the teachers are often the ones at command. Nevertheless, in relation to new aspects of learning theories, the students are now being better recognized as the managers of the process. Noting that the students are the ones in need of support, their commanding power in a classroom setting or in a learning environment has a great deal of indication on how a learning process would progress towards its completion. It has been learned from this part of the discussion that motivation branches out to two different aspects of the issue when consideration about the condition of role that students and teachers play in the process of learning.

According to Matsuda, most students study because they need to (372). Some need to acquire a new language due to the social demand; they may have been immigrants in a new country and “fitting in” would require the effort of learning a new language. On the other end, some study a new language as part of the curriculum. Only a few students study new language due to their personal desire of just adding up a particular language expertise as part of personal development. These conditions of motivation could affect students’ attitudes accordingly. When it comes to learning out of “need”, the students are pushed, head-on straight to the condition of actually becoming masters of the language. However, pressure would always be a part of the said process. On the other end, personally motivated students might be fully attentive on the matter, but might also lose sight of their desire later on in the learning process. And since learning was a personal decision, stopping the process would also be a personal case that needs to be decided by the learner alone (Matsuda, 370). In this section, it has been understood that students have different sources of motivation. Nevertheless, it could be realized that the personal decision of the students to learn become the primary source of decision of whether or not the learning process for a second language should be pursued.

Teachers are motivated through the utilization of two particular factors of personal drive. One is that of the drive to teach because of financial needs and another is the drive to teach due to the desire of making a mark on their students’ being. When it comes to the financially based motivation, teachers often simply follow the curriculum provided to them and teach whatever it is that they are expected to impart to the class. On the other end, a motivated teacher who wants to make a mark on his or her students often do beyond what is suggested in the curriculum. These teachers often find ways to know more about their students hence allowing them to become more involved in the process of learning. Constructively, there are instances when both aspects of teacher-motivation result to more successful endings of the learning process. The financial needs often create a sense of pressure while the desire to make a mark on a student’s being create a sense of fulfillment that needs to be responded to. This works specifically effective in pushing the teacher to look for better ways to serve their students through understanding what they need in relation to what level of student-learning development they are under (Marcus, 1992). Language learning is a process that would demand teachers to dig deeper on what interests the students better hence utilizing such matters as effective tools of improvement in creating more acceptable procedures of instruction that the students would be able to appreciate. It has been learned herein that teachers are motivated too and it depends on such motivation on how they are going to handle their teaching responsibility towards their students who are aiming to acquire a mastery of a second language.

Learner and teacher motivation are two separate branches of the matter that are expected to work hand-in-hand to create a chain reaction that improves the process of language acquisition as a whole (Hooks, 297). In this regard, learning is expected to take an improved pattern that is based upon behavioral conditioning which would influence learners not only during the process of studying but also all throughout the process of immersing themselves into the conversational process of utilizing the language in practical communication (MacWhinney, 2010). It must be remembered that learning a second language goes beyond the four walls of the classroom. It goes beyond the teaching patterns that instructors take into consideration during the learning process. Its application in the actual world naturally makes it convincing that learning a second language makes a respective impact on how an individual realizes the worth of a second language towards his personal being and the professional course of work that he takes into consideration to define him as a person. From this part of the discussion, it has been understood that learning a second language could be better acquired if the students and teachers do not subject themselves into boundaries as they let the culture and understanding of the second language be a part of practical learning.

As shown in the video presentation mentioned earlier, teacher-student relationships imply a great impact on the learning process of international students hoping to acquire a second language as a form of their speech. A crucial part of these relationships is that of the separate motivation of teachers and students towards learning a new language.  Teaching procedures contribute a lot on how such learning impacts that student as a whole. The condition of behavior that the learner has towards the process makes it easier for him to become more acquainted with the language thus allowing him to use the said form of speech in practical forms of communication and conversation. Overall, it has been shown here that a change of attitude on the part of the learners and the teachers could resolve the issue of imbalanced results that have been causing professional and personal learners of second language at present. Proper motivation on the part of the teachers and the students affect the outcome of the learning process that makes an impact on how a new language is acquired successfully by individuals for practical utilization in conversations and communication.

References:

Hooks, B. From Teaching to Transgress: Education as the practice of freedom.

Matsuda, A and Matsuda, PK. World Englishes and Teaching of Writing.

Marcus, G.F. (1992). Negative evidence in language acquisition. Cognition. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge. http://www.denizyuret.com/ref/marcus_gf/marcus93.pdf. (Retrieved on November 2, 2012)

MacWhinney, B. (2010). Rethinking the Logical Problem of Language Acquisition. http://www2.uni-wuppertal.de/FB4/anglistik/multhaup/methods_elt/pdf_files/MacWhinney_Rethinking_Logical_Problem.pdf.  (Retrieved on November 2, 2012)

Second Language Acquisition Learning [located at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=larmndpgBpU]. (Retrieved on November 2, 2012)