DISCUSS FIVE ISSUES ARRISING

FROM LANGUAGE AND

EDUCATION
INTRODUCTION
Language refers to the principal method of human communication,
consisting of words used in a structured and conventional way and
conveyed by speech, writing, or gesture.

"A study of the way children learn language"

Education on the other hand refers to the process of teaching, training

and learning, especially in schools, colleges or universities to improve
knowledge and develop skills (according to Oxford Dictionary).
Relationship between language and
education
 Teachers and students use spoken and written language
to communicate with each other -to present tasks,
engage in learning processes, present academic content,
assess learning, and display knowledge and skills.
 No matter what the subject area, students assimilate
new concepts when they listen, talk read and write
about what they are learning.
 In the relationship there are issues that arise from
language and education. These issues include;
a. Language barrier.
 Language barrier refers to the difficulties people or groups who natively
speak different languages deal with when trying to master a new language
or even just to communicate effectively in the day-to-day life.
 Language barrier is one of the issues arising in education and language
more so in countries that have two official languages and many local
languages. 40% of school-aged children don’t have access to education in a
language that they understand. Language barriers in the classroom leave
kids behind from the start.
 Despite years of schooling, many language minority students end up
essentially illiterate.
 Students learning a second language often struggle to express themselves if
they don’t have a full command of that language. This can lead to
emotional stress and affect their ability to learn .
b. Social differences
Social differences refer to situations where people are discriminated on the basis of
social, economic and racial inequality. In other words, one class, group or culture is
given preference over another on the basis of their social, economic, cultural and
racial inequality
children who come from homes with lower socioeconomic status acquire language at
a slower rate from those from homes with a higher socioeconomic status. Specifically,
studies have shown a vocabulary gap that suggests that at age three, children in
wealthier environments have been exposed to up to 30 million more words than
counterparts in poorer settings.
Socioeconomic status and education can also impact how language develops over
time as well as people's patterns for expressing themselves. We usually learn to talk
and otherwise communicate in the context of our home culture. Families with a great
deal of education tend to prioritize language and verbal skills over other kinds of
communication. As a result, children growing up in these families develop more
verbal skills and are more inclined to express themselves through language.
c. Bilingual education program
controversy and unavailability
 There exists an astounding relationship between language
proficiency in general, and English language proficiency
specifically, and language development activity in the classroom.
As documented by research studies, students with the least oral
language skills spend the most time in desk oriented, non-verbal
instructional activity. The converse is also true, students with the
most oral language skills spend the most time in verbal
instructional activities.
 Either in bilingual or monolingual programs, the most pressing
need of limited English proficient children is language
development. Since oral language development usually precedes
written language development, written activity is relatively non-
productive without the prerequisite oral language capability. In
general, this need is not being met.
d. Difficulties in developing literacy
skills
 Literacy skills refer to ability to read, write, speak and listen in a way that permits
communication effectively. If a student is having problems with literacy skills, it can
affect their performance across the school curriculum and have a negative impact on
motivation and self-esteem
 Typical reading difficulties of adolescents with mild disabilities include problems with
vocabulary, word recognition, reading comprehension and reading rate. Reading
appears to affect performance in all other academic subjects as well as to impact
vocational needs and options (Feagans, 1983; Hallahan, Kauffman & Lioyd, 1985).
Mercer (1987) denotes several types of reading problems that are typically found
among students such as reading habits, word recognition errors, comprehension errors
and miscellaneous symptoms. Smith et al., (1985) also lists several common problems
experienced by some students who suffer from reading disabilities.
 These include: omitting letters, syllables or words; inserting extra letters, words or
sound; substituting words that look or sound similar; mispronouncing words; repeating
words and using improper inflection during oral reading .
e. Language minority
 Students who speak a language other than English will often learn
to speak and understand English before learning to read and write
it, in and out of school. Much of this English-language acquisition
and development depends on the age of their arrival in U.S.
schools.
 The earlier they arrive, the more they are exposed to English–and
the earlier and more easily they acquire a native-like pronunciation
of the language. However, the older they are in age when they
arrive, the more easily they are able to develop vocabulary in
English (and the more likely they are to acquire English
pronunciation with an accent).
 How much prior schooling students have received in their country
of origin is also a factor affecting English-language acquisition. The
more schooling they have had before they enter U.S. schools, the
quicker they are able to adjust and excel.
 CONTINUATION
 Language minority students will often learn a conversational form of
English before they learn an academic form of the language. It may take a
relatively short time (one to three years) to gain fluency in conversational
English, but it will take longer (five to seven years) to be proficient in
academic English, assuming adequate instruction.
 The acquisition and development of English reading and writing for
language minority students who are limited in their English proficiency
depends as well on whether the students have already learned to read and
write in their non-English language. If these students have learned to read in
their native language first (mother-tongue, or native-language, literacy), then
much of the general knowledge about reading (e.g., one can make sense of
print) can be transferred to learning English reading and writing (second-
language literacy). If a student's native language uses a phonemic or
alphabetic system of writing, then additional knowledge about the writing
system can also be transferred to second-language literacy in English.
Conclusion
 In as much as there is a strong relationship between language and
education, many other issues arise from the two. These issues affect
teaching and learning in different ways. That is, from the way
students associate with each other, to the way they perform.
 Education and Language is affected leads to many issues some of
which are discussed above. The use of different languages In
Education bring about different issues some of which affect
drastically the performance of the students being taught. A good
example is the introduction of a second language to students who
know about there native language. They may end up experiencing
different problems such as feeling like they belong to a minority
language or their language is not appreciated, some of them may
have challenges due to direct translation from their local dialect to
the acquired language say English for example.