ENGLISH AS A NATIVE LANGUAGE AND ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN/ SECOND LANGUAGE

ENGLISH AS A NATIVE LANGUAGE

AND

ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN/ SECOND LANGUAGE

English is a language which has great reach and influence; it is taught all over the world under many different circumstances. In English-speaking countries, English language teaching has essentially evolved in two broad directions: instruction for people who intend to live there and for those who do not.

a1.)      English as a native language.

A native language (also first language, mother tongue, arterial language, or L1) is the language that a person has learned from birth or within the critical period, or that a person speaks the best and so is often the basis for sociolinguistic identity. In some countries, the terms native language or mother tongue refer to the language of one's ethnic group rather than one's first language.

Sometimes, there can be more than one native or mother tongue, (for example, when the child's parents speak different languages). Those children are usually called bilingual. By contrast, a second language is any language that one speaks other than one's first language.

The term native language is used to indicate a language that a person is as proficient in as a native individual of that language's "base country", or as proficient as the average person who speaks no other language but that language.

From those definitions above, the writer can get the conclusion that English as a native language is that English has learned by the person from birth or within the critical period, or that a person speaks the best and so is often the basis for sociolinguistic identity. The area that is used the child learn English is from family first, and then from the environment around the child, like in school, etc.

b2.)      English as a foreign/ second language

English as a second language (ESL) is the use or study of English by speakers with different native languages. It is also known as English for speakers of other languages (ESOL), English as an additional language (EAL) and as English as a foreign language (EFL).

Other definition of the term 'English as Second Language' (ESL) has traditionally referred to students who come to school speaking languages other than English at home. The term in many cases is incorrect, because some who come to school have English as their third, fourth, fifth, and so on, language. Some individuals and groups have opted for the term 'Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages" (TESOL) to represent better the underlying language realities.

Teaching English as a foreign language is usually doing in some country which has no English language basically. For example Indonesia. In this country, the first language is Indonesian. Indonesian’s students usually study English in school (formal education) or in any course (non formal education), from elementary school until senior high school. They study English as a second language from Indonesian language. any course (non formal education).