Learning the English language is a difficult process for many non-native English speakers. People who come from countries – where English is a second language – experience communication challenges with other people of the society. Great scholars of education recommend that such individuals should consider attending English language classes as a means of integrating with society. However, cultural diversity presents a challenge to ineffective learning of the English language. Cultural diversity is a great barrier to learning the English language as it presents challenges in comprehending vocabulary and phrases.
Written communication forms an important objective of learning the English language. Both formal and informal written communication plays a key in spreading information from a sender to a receiver. For instance, informal communication is common social media platforms where modern public discussions take place. Similarly, most profit-making institutions make use of formal communication using English as the main official language (Polloway, et al. 2013). Cultural barriers present effective learning of written communication in different ways. For instance, pronunciation is a key problem of learning new words for the English language. This limits the ability of an individual to express themselves irrespective of place, location and time.
Oral communication is another important objective of learning the English language. Oral communication is important for sending verbal messages. For instance, a motivational speaker should display public speaking skills using persuasive and convincing economies. Oral communication is hampered by cultural diversity in language barrier (Polloway, et al. 2013). Indigenous communities – who speak English as their second language – encounter challenges of understanding oral skills in communication. There are many instances where an individual interacts with other people from different cultural backgrounds. Understanding each other becomes difficult when oral communication creates confusion among participants of a communication process. In the workplace, it is common to find employee conflicts arising from misunderstanding due to ineffective skills of oral communication.
Language barrier presents a great challenge for individuals who learn English as their second language of communication. Language barrier is an element of cultural diversity which shows ancestral origins among the people. For instance, a Chinese individual would encounter communication challenges in a U.S. multicultural town of New York. The language barrier does not indicate defective communication when both participants understand each other (Polloway, et al. 2013). A Chinese individual would communicate efficiently to a fellow Chinese in a multicultural society in the U.S. However, the same Chinese individual cannot communicate efficiently with an American in the same streets of a New York. Language barrier affects both written and oral communication in English. Teachers should strive to create a socially-equal communication environment in schools; if all students have to communicate using English as the only permitted language.
Learning new words is a common challenge for most students who learn English as their second language. Use of new word requires an objective learning process which improves writing and oral communication skills among students (Polloway, et al. 2013). New words require frequent pronunciation tests coupled with implementation in a communication set-up. Teachers should consider strategies of ensuring that students are able to exercise applying new words in real communication set-ups.
The language barrier is an element of cultural diversity which affects learning English a complicated process for many individuals. Spelling and pronunciation of words is a great problem among students who learn English. Cultural beliefs also contribute to the challenges of learning verbal communication in English aside from the language barrier. There are cultural beliefs that contradict with basic communication concepts of English. For instance, some gestures of communicating oral English are perceived as a taboo in some indigenous communities in China and South Africa. This makes it a problem for students of the English language to comprehend meaning an acquire information from a conversation.
Work Cited
Polloway , E., Patton, J., Serna, L., Bailey, J. (2013). Strategies for Teaching Learners with Special Needs. 10th Edition. Pearson Education Inc. New Jersey.www.pearsonhighered.com ISBN: 13 978-0-13-262615-6