How to Be a Good English Learner I . Categories of 【T1】 encountered by non-nati

How to Be a Good English Learner
   Good morning, everyone. Today, we’ll look at how to be a good English learner. Some people seem to have a gift for learning languages. They can pick up new words, master rules or grammar, and learn to write in the new language more quickly than others. They do not seem to be any more intelligent than others, so what makes language learning so much easier for them? Before a detailed discussion about language study, I’d like to talk about some related problems. (1) These problems are encountered by students who follow a course of study through the medium of English—if English is not their mother tongue.
    (2) The problems can be divided into three broad categories: psychological, cultural and linguistic. The largest category seems to be linguistic. Most students, in their own countries, will have little opportunity to practice using English. (3) When foreign learners first have the opportunity to speak to an English-speaking person, they may have a shock: they often have great difficulty in understanding! I’ll just mention three of the possible reasons for this.
   First, it seems to students that English people speak very quickly. (4) Second, they speak with a variety of accents. (5) Third, different styles of speech are used.
    (6) For all of these reasons students will have difficulty, mainly because they lack everyday practice in listening to English people speaking English.
   So what does a successful English learner do?
    (7) First of all, successful English learning is active learning. Therefore, successful learners do not wait for a chance to use the language: they look for such chances. They find people who speak English and they ask these people to correct them when they make a mistake. They will try anything to communicate. They are not afraid to repeat what they hear or to say strange things: they’re willing to make mistakes and try again. It is more important for them to learn and to think in the language than to know the meaning of every word.
    (8) Secondly, successful English learners are independent learners. (9) They do not depend on the book or the teacher: they discover their own ways to learn English. Instead of waiting for the teacher to explain, they try to find the patterns and the rules for themselves. They are good guessers who look for clues and form their own conclusions. When they guess wrong, they try to learn from their mistakes.
    (10) Finally, successful English learners are learners with a purpose. They want to learn English because they are interested in it and the people who speak it. It is necessary for them to learn English in order to communicate with these people and to learn from them. They find it easy to practice using English regularly because they want to learn with it.
   Now, to sum up today’s lecture, we have analysed the problems encountered by non-native English learners as well as the possible reasons for this, and then we have discussed three learning methods of a successful English learner.
   OK, this brings us to the end of today’s lecture. I hope what we’ve discussed will help you in your future learning. Thank you for your attention.