Introduction
Due to better global education opportunities that students have during the current century, it has become increasingly common for students from various continents to interact with each other through education. International scholarship programs have been essential in enabling students to travel from their native countries to foreign ones in search of educational opportunities for a better future career.
Yet, the challenge of language learning among foreign students still remains unsolved within the context of international learning. There is no doubt that learning a new language does not basically entail having an understanding of the language’s lexicon concepts. Therefore, it is important for foreign students to consider the sociocultural factors that influence their language learning, which also impacts and shapes the teaching philosophy of teachers.
The Sociocultural Factors that Influence Language Learning
One of the sociocultural factors that significantly affects the ability of students to learn a new language is peer interaction. It basically involves communicative interaction that occurs among students without the participation of a teacher. In order to achieve an effective learning of a language, learning environments must have the ability of providing meaningful social interactions among learners.
The restructuring of conversation during peer interaction to ensure that a mutual understanding is created is the driving factor in the effectiveness of this process in language learning. Since students may develop an intrinsic idea to understand each other during peer interaction, it is possible for them to request clarification on various useful concepts attributed to language learning. Furthermore, students are able to check the comprehensiveness of the language productions by natives during such interactions. On that account, they develop a better understanding of the new language concepts.
Racial discrimination is another sociocultural factor that significantly influences the ability of students to learn a new language. For centuries, it has been one of the greatest hindrances to the social, economic, and political organization of continents. The effect of racial discrimination in language learning is undoubtedly negative. As a matter of fact, it is mainly reflected on the degree of socialization of students. Having recognized that peer interaction is essential in enhancing the ability of a student to learn a new language, it is important to note that racial discrimination mainly hinder peer interaction. Students who face some form of racial discrimination are less likely to participate in various classroom practices than those who do not. Furthermore, they probably will not engage in healthy socialization, which is essential in the learning of a new language. For that reason, they are less likely to improve their mastery of a new language concepts.
Ethnic stereotyping is another sociocultural factor that has been researched to have a significant effect on language learning abilities. One of the major factors that improves the ability of students in a foreign country to learn a new language is social motivation.
However, ethnic stereotyping hinders the motivation of students to achieve an integrative orientation necessary for language learning. As a matter of fact, foreign students lose both a sincere and personal interest in properly understanding the various language concepts of the natives. As a result of the loss of an integrative orientation and motivation to learn a new language, ethnic stereotyping negatively affects language learning. Consequently, just like racial discrimination, ethnic stereotyping may also have a negative effect on the ability of students to learn the concepts of a new language by decreasing their interest and motivation in doing so.
The Impacts on My Teaching Philosophy
The recognition of the various sociocultural factors that affect language learning is essential in improving my enthusiasm towards peer interaction among students. Based on the above findings, peer interaction is undoubtedly core towards the development of better language skills among foreign students. As a result, by emphasizing on peer interaction as a teacher, it is possible to ensure that students can achieve a mutual understanding of each other, which builds their language skills. Apart from the improvement of my enthusiasm towards peer interaction, the above findings are essential in shifting my efforts towards equality in teaching.
By enhancing my recognition of the effects of racial discrimination and ethnic stereotyping towards learning, it is possible to develop a learning culture that is exclusive of such social and cultural limitations. As a result, teaching students to avoid racial discrimination and ethnic stereotyping would improve the achievement of better language learning processes within my setting of teaching.
How My Teaching Philosophy is Shaped by Language Learning
Language is undoubtedly important in achieving proper teaching and learning. Teaching mainly depends on proper communication between a teacher and students. That is to say, a teacher must properly articulate the concepts being taught through spoken language and complement it with written language in an appropriate manner. Similarly, students must engage in learning processes and build a classroom life through mastering the art of speaking, writing and representing their ideas. However, to achieve proper communication for an effective learning, the development of language skills must become part of the learning process. Consequently, language learning is essential in improving my ability to teach, listen to, and view the ideas of students.
Language learning has also shaped my teaching philosophy by enhancing my creativity that the teaching profession demands. The transition between home and school learning should not only be smooth but also sped up by the development of literacy skills. However, to develop such skills that enable students to properly understand the contents being taught, it is important to become creative in the presentation of academic content. Since language enables teachers to become creative in presenting academic content that is essential in improving the intellectual and mental capability of students, it is instrumental to the teaching process. Consequently, my teaching philosophy is based on the fact that language learning must be undertaken by teachers to ensure that they are creative in presenting the academic content required by students.
Conclusion
The effectiveness of language learning mainly depends on encouraging the sociocultural factors that positively affect it and avoiding those that negatively affect it. Due to the importance of language learning, especially in international education, it is essential for educational institutions to commit towards peer interaction among students. In addition, racial discrimination and ethnic stereotyping negatively affect students’ ability to learn new languages and, thus, should be avoided at all costs.
In order to ensure that proper language learning is achieved within educational set-ups, teachers must shift their teaching philosophy towards addressing such sociocultural factors. Since communication and creativity, which are enhanced by language learning, are vital to the teaching process, the teaching philosophy of teachers must support the language learning process by all means.