Christian Autonomous University of Nicaragua UCAN – Chinandega CHRISTIAN AUTONOMOUS UNIVERSITY OF NICARAGUA UCAN Theme: Lack of English skills development in the touristic area Jiquilillo El Viejo-Chinandega during the period November 2019 to February 2020. Tutor: Lic. Yoer Betancourt. AUTHORS Kelvin Moisés Olivas Martínez. Mayerlin Vanesa Cáceres Soza. Cindy Eniel Salinas Alonso Purpose: Monograph sudmitted to get for our fourth year. Major: Licenciatura en Inglés Chinandega, February 22nd, 2020. 1 Christian Autonomous University of Nicaragua UCAN – Chinandega . Problem: What English skills provoke more difficulties in the people from Jiquilillo El Viejo who speak the foreign language? Sub-Problem: Why people who speak English in that touristic area do not have mastery of all language skills? . 2 Christian Autonomous University of Nicaragua UCAN – Chinandega ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: First of all, we dedicate this work mainly to God, for giving us life and allowing us to reach this important moment of our professional performance. We also want to thank our parents for being the fundamental pillar in our lives. They always show us their love and support to achieve our goals. In the same way, we thank our teacher Yoer Betancourth Varela, that thanks to his advice and knowledge with research papers, we have finished this work. 3 Christian Autonomous University of Nicaragua UCAN – Chinandega Introduction: English is now used by millions of speakers for a number of communicative functions. It has become the preferred language in a number of areas like business or education. It is also the language chosen for academic discussion as most students face the need to learn for their personal formation. English language plays a big role in the life of people nowadays, in touristic areas people who star to speak English need to prepare to confront foreigners or the new world. Speaking and Listening seems to be the most important skills since commonly we do not understand what foreigners say, we might not be able to communicate with them. The most difficult problems when someone starts to learn English are the Reading and Writing skills, because most of the people think that it is very complicated Read and Write than talking with English speakers, the main causes are, the lack of practice, the environment, and the confidence. According with studies, researchers think that it is not a problem if you find a solution for this. One of the problems with these people is if they let to practice both skills as Reading and Writing; they forget the knowledge learned, because they are not in contact with the English language. Nicaraguan people are not generally considered good at learning English, especially, when we refer about the skills, because it is a difficult language. Therefore, most Nicaraguan people have started to study English, because it is a good major with a great demand since it offers good benefits. 4 Christian Autonomous University of Nicaragua UCAN – Chinandega Theme: Lack of English skills development in the touristic area Jiquilillo El ViejoChinandega during the period November 2019 to February 2020. 5 Christian Autonomous University of Nicaragua UCAN – Chinandega Justification We have chosen this topic because we know the difficulty of the Writing and Reading skills; these are the biggest problems; it has been part of our personal experience as students of English major at UCAN university. The fear is one of the most difficult tasks to overcome. Today that we are in the culmination of our third year we can appreciate that speakers from Jiquilillo are confronting a problem with those skills. This research that we are performing, show the data of the most common difficulties that speakers from Jiquilillo are carrying related with English Skills. After our experience as English major students, we have noticed that Speaking and Listening skills area very important part in relation to the acquisition of English and the most difficulties are Writing and Reading and we have also asked to the learners in order to know their thoughts in relation to what we think and they assure that these skills need to be developed because learners, during their work they only use Speaking and Listening than Reading and Writing skills. 6 Christian Autonomous University of Nicaragua UCAN – Chinandega 7 Christian Autonomous University of Nicaragua UCAN – Chinandega General Objective: To find out how much English has developed in Jiquilillo Community? Specifics Objectives: To identify which English skills are more developed in the area. To discover factors that hinder the development of the skills. To realize the process who people use to learn English language. 8 Christian Autonomous University of Nicaragua UCAN – Chinandega Hypothesis: If English learners from Jiquilillo take English lessons and educative workshops frequently, they would improve the English Skills. 9 Christian Autonomous University of Nicaragua UCAN – Chinandega 10 Christian Autonomous University of Nicaragua UCAN – Chinandega Writing Skill: Writing skills are an important part of communication. Good writing skills allow you to communicate your message with clarity and ease to a far larger audience than through face-to-face or telephone conversations. You might be called upon to write a report, plan or strategy at work; write a grant application or press release within a volunteering role; or you may fancy communicating your ideas online via a blog. And, of course, a well written CV or résumé with no spelling or grammatical mistakes is essential if you want a new job. 11 Christian Autonomous University of Nicaragua UCAN – Chinandega Grammar, Spelling and Punctuation: Correct grammar, punctuation and spelling are key in written communications. The reader will form an opinion of you, the author, based on both the content and presentation, and errors are likely to lead them to form a negative impression. All written communications should therefore be re-read before sending to print, or hitting the send button in the case of emails, as it is likely that there will be errors. Do not assume that spelling and grammar checkers will identify all mistakes as many incorrect words can indeed be spelt correctly (for example, when “their” is used instead of “there” or “principle” instead of “principal”) or entire words may be missing. If at all possible, take a break before re-reading and checking your writing, as you are more likely to notice problems when you read it fresh. Even if you know spelling and grammar rules, you should still doublecheck your work or, even better, have it proof-read by somebody else. Our brains work faster than our fingers can type and accidental typographical errors (typos) inevitably creep in. Improving Your Writing Skills: The good news is that writing is a skill which can be learned like any other. One trick for checking and improving your work is to read it aloud. Reading text forces, you to slow down and you may pick up problems with the flow that your eye would otherwise skip over. 12 Christian Autonomous University of Nicaragua UCAN – Chinandega Speaking Skill. It is a common desire for all of us to speak a second language well. To do this we need to know what skills are required to become a good speaker. This short article will help you to understand four important skills that you need to develop: 13 Christian Autonomous University of Nicaragua UCAN – Chinandega Fluency: Fluency is about how comfortable and confident you are in speaking English. If you can speak for an extended period of time, that is an indicator of strong fluency. It is also about showing a clear connection between each point that you are trying to make. This skill means that the listener can follow what you are saying and does not get lost. Vocabulary: Of course, if you don’t have the words to say what you want to say, then you cannot say it. Being a good speaker means constantly growing your vocabulary. The more interesting words you know, the stronger your speaking skills. The best way to grow your vocabulary is to read in English and make a note of any new words that you encounter in a vocabulary notebook. Grammar: The dreaded G word! Grammar does matter and the fewer mistakes you make, the better your speaking skill will be. However, do not worry about making mistakes either! A good speaker does not have to use perfect grammar. Certainly, though, it is a good idea to make sure that you have mastered the major tenses. Pronunciation: Pronunciation is a complex area, with a lot of sub skills that can be practiced. The basic rule of thumb is that an average speaker can speak and be understood. A skilled speaker can use the sub skills of pronunciation to emphasize and make the communicative effect of their speech more impactful. The sub skills of pronunciation include: word and sentence stress, intonation, rhythm and the use of the individual sounds of a language. A good way to practice your pronunciation is to copy! Simply listen to how someone with good pronunciation speaks, and try to imitate them as closely as possible. 14 Christian Autonomous University of Nicaragua UCAN – Chinandega What is Speaking? Speaking is the delivery of language through the mouth. To speak, we create sounds using many parts of our body, including the lungs, vocal teeth and lips. tract, vocal chords, tongue, Speaking is the second of the four language skills, which are: Listening Speaking Reading Writing In our own language, speaking is usually the second language skill that we learn. This vocalized form of language usually requires at least one listener. When two or more people speak or talk to each other, the conversation is called a "dialogue". Speech can flow naturally from one person to another in the form of dialogue. It can also be planned and rehearsed, as in the delivery of a speech or presentation. Of course, some people talk to themselves! In fact, some English learners practice speaking standing alone in front of a mirror. Speaking can be formal or informal: Informal speaking is typically used with family and friends, or people you know well. Formal speaking occurs in business or academic situations, or when meeting people for the first time. Speaking is probably the language skill that most language learners wish to perfect as soon as possible. It used to be the only language skill that 15 Christian Autonomous University of Nicaragua UCAN – Chinandega was difficult to practice online. This is no longer the case. English learners can practice speaking online using voice or video chat and services like Skype. They can also record and upload their voice for other people to listen to. Types of Speaking Since speaking is regarded as one of the language productive skills, Brown (2004) has stated five types of speaking according to the speakers’ intentions: imitative speaking, intensive speaking, responsive speaking, interactive speaking, and extensive speaking. Imitative Speaking Imitative speaking is the ability to parrot back or repeat the other’s speech as a word, phrase or a sentence. This kind of repetition may include different properties of language as grammar and lexis in order to convey a meaning or even to interact in a conversation, by paying attention to pronunciation as an attempt to help learners to be more comprehensible (Brown, 2004, 141). Intensive Speaking Intensive speaking is defined as the production of short stretches of a discourse through which they demonstrate competence in a narrow band of grammatical relationships such as intonation, stress and rhythm; here the speaker must be aware of the semantic properties in order to be able to respond. This type of speaking also includes some assessment tasks like reading aloud, sentences and dialogue completion, and so on (Brown, 2004, p.141). 16 Christian Autonomous University of Nicaragua UCAN – Chinandega Responsive Speaking This type of speaking involves brief interactions like short conversations, small talk and simple requests in order to preserve authenticity with only one or two following up questions or retorts as Brown (2004, p. 142) shown in the following short conversation: A. Marry: Excuse me, do you have the time? B. Doug: yeah. Nine- fifteen. Interactive Speaking Interactive speaking differs from responsive speaking in terms of length and complexity of interaction, this type involves two forms of languages; transactional language and interpersonal language. The former is aimed at exchanging specific information whereas the latter has the purpose of maintaining social relationships. In this form of language (interpersonal), oral production can become more complex with the use of colloquial language, ellipsis, slang and so on. Interactive speaking includes some assessment tasks such as interviews, role play and discussion activities (Brown, 2004, p.142). Extensive Speaking The final type of speaking that was stated by Brown (2004, p. 142) is the extensive one. For him, extensive speaking or monologue includes speeches, oral presentation and story-telling, but the language style that is used in this type of speaking is more deliberative and formal for extensive tasks, because we cannot rule out some informal monologues like a casually delivered speech and so on. 17
