A

RESEARCH
ABOUT
ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS
IN EFL COUNTRIES (LATIN AMERICA)

Cruz, John Louie

Fernandez, Alea Trisha

Morales, JV Andrew

Orga, Ma. Ericca

Vasquez, Marielle Jasmine

I. Introduction

ESL is based on the premise that English is the language of the community and
the school and that students have access to English models.EFL is usually learned in
environments where the language of the community and the school is not English. EFL
teachers have the difficult task of finding access to and providing English models for
their students.

This research aims to exhibit the status of language learners in EFL speaking
countries and how they approach in language learning. EFL or English as a Foreign
Language is the teaching of English to people whose first language is not English. ESL
and EFL instructional approaches differ in significant ways.

In Latino American countries, It is indeed a struggle to learn such language

because their culture is a mixture of a lot of races and tribes. Due to the fact that the
name “America” is present in it, it did not hinder the fact that they still have a hard time
learning the language because of cultural differences and Latinos are deemed as
minorities in the United States. A lot of them see learning English as an advantage or
edge in order to work and migrate in the United States of America because living in
Latin American countries is hard due to economic circumstances. Learning the
language had become an asset to a lot of them since English is known as the “Universal
Language.”

.
In order to gather responses, the researchers formulated questions and it is mostly
centered about their approach towards the English language.

The following are the questions asked to the respondents:

1. The name of the respondent(s).

2. What country do you live in?

3. What is your nationality?

4. What is your educational background?

5. In what age you learned the English Language?

6. Are your parents and/or relatives can speak English Language?

7. Did you struggle learning the language? If so, what are the factors that made
language hard for you? If not, what makes it easy?

II. Method

Before the researchers conducted the research, they looked at different sites, fan
based groups and interests and it happens that there are some nationalities that share
the same interests, so the researchers initiated conversation with them. The first
nationality is a Brazilian and his name is Lucas Markezini Camilo age of 24. He lives in
Brazil and he has an Italian decent. He studied in Brazil during his elementary up to
college. He learned English when he was just nine years old. Also, some of his relatives
and parents can speak fluent English. Lucas did not struggle learning the language but
he had a hard time keeping up the vocabulary since he does not use it very often.
Lastly, he admits that he does not speak fluent English.

The second nationality is also a Brazilian and his name is Rafael. He lives in
Brazil and he studied at Brazil during his high school years. He did not pursue college
anymore. He learned English when he was twelve years old. His parents and relatives
do not speak English because they only speak Portuguese and Brazil is a Portuguese-
speaking country. Rafael does not speak fluent English, only from the basics up to
intermediate and he said that he only learned knowing most pronunciations. His dream
is to be fluent in English because he said that English is better than Brazilian
Portuguese.

The last nationality is Mexican and her name is Yajaira with the age of 21. She
lives in Mexico and according to her she learned English when she was five years old.
She studied in Mexico since she was at elementary and up to college. None of her
relatives and parents speaks English. Yajaira did not have a hard time learning the
language. She said that when she was a child it was so easy for her because music is a
great factor that helped her to learn the language

III. Results

The researchers found out that they did not really learn English during their
academic years. Also, they found out that the respondents studied English when they
were really young. Most of them are from the continent of Latin America. Most of their
relatives don’t speak the language. They did not struggle but they learned some aspects
only. Music also helped the respondent to learn the language. On the other hand, they
did not answer the question the way the researchers wanted the respond to look like.
They had a different on a specific sentence and it appears different from us when they
had answered it. For example, in the Question no. 4 we are expecting them to answer
the question about educational background, meaning from Elementary to College years
but two of them only answered their college years, thus a communication breakdown
happens because on how we interpret or understand something varies from country,
culture and/or general knowledge.
IV. Discussion

Listening to music and reading a lot of English books and novels to help them
enhance their vocabulary skills. Also, trying to use the language from time to time to
help practice grammar. They recommend that they should find different techniques
suitable for their situation to help them throughout learning the language. Age also
affects the language learner. Lucas learned English when he was 9, Rafael when he
was 12 and Yajaira when she was 5 and as what the researchers observed, Yajaira is
quite articulate when it comes to expressing what she means. All of or interviewees
came from Latin American countries like Brazil and Mexico and it is evident that some
of them had a hard time learning the language and some of them are not. It is indeed a
prerogative if he/she wants to learn the language at an early age or to have a formal
education in school.

According to Prioleu (2016) although Latinos had enough background about the
language, they think it is not enough because they are striving to learn the “perfect”
English. As much as they wanted to initiate conversations using English, they feared
being misunderstood, laughed at and ridiculed. A lot of Latino thinks that if they moved
to United States, they can learn to speak the perfect English since they are going to
adapt to Native speakers because what they learned in school is so different from the
conversational English that is often used.
V. Documentation

A. Lucas Markezini Camilo.

He learned to speak English when he was 9 years old.

He is from Brazil. He is a Brazilian-Italian.

B. Rafael

He learned to speak English when he was 12 years old.

He is from Brazil and majority of his family members are speaking Brazilian-
Portuguese.
C. Yajaira

She learned to speak English when she was 5.

Listening to music contributed largely in her journey in learning the language.

VI. References

Prioleu (2016) “A Latino Family Shares Their Struggles with Learning English” Retrieved
from https://www.wlrn.org/post/latino-family-shares-their-struggles-learning-english