Assignment Title

Which secondary language is worth studying today?

Good morning everyone, my name is __________ and I am here to present my speech on the
topic “Which secondary language is worth studying today”. First of all, I am very honoured and
proud to have all of you as my audiences. Thank you for being here today.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Let me ask you a question: How many languages do you think you are able to speak, read and
write and of course the level of fluency is high? Now, let us talk about languages. Language is a
key part of any family, community, culture and the human race. Without language the world today
would be much different. From cavemen, to the Egyptian use of hieroglyphics, to Old English, to
more than 6,500 languages spoken around the world today, the advances that humans have made in
language is remarkable and inspiring. The ability to speak, read, write and understand more than
one language is also remarkable and expands the liberties in life, especially for young people.

Let me first tell you a little bit about the English language. English is a West Germanic
language that was first spoken in early medieval England and is now a global lingua franca.
Named after the Angles, one of the Germanic tribes that migrated to the area of Britain that
would later take their name, England, both names ultimately deriving from the Anglia peninsula
in the Baltic Sea. It is closely related to the Frisian languages, but its vocabulary has been
significantly influenced by other Germanic languages, particularly Norse (a North Germanic
language), as well as by Latin and French.

English has developed over the course of more than 1,400 years. The earliest forms of English, a
set of Anglo-Frisian dialects brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the 5th century,
are called Old English. Middle English began in the late 11th century with the Norman conquest
of England and was a period in which the language was influenced by French. Early Modern
English began in the late 15th century with the introduction of the printing press to London, the
printing of the King James Bible and the start of the Great Vowel Shift.
Through the worldwide influence of the British Empire, modern English spread around the world
from the 17th to mid-20th centuries. Through all types of printed and electronic media, and
spurred by the emergence of the United States as a global superpower, English has become the
leading language of international discourse and the lingua franca in many regions and
professional contexts such as science, navigation and law.

English is the third most spoken native language in the world, after Standard Chinese and
Spanish. It is the most widely learned second language and is either the official language or one
of the official languages in almost 60 sovereign states. There are more people who have learned
it as a second language than there are native speakers. English is the most commonly spoken
language in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, Ireland and New Zealand,
and it is widely spoken in some areas of the Caribbean, Africa and South Asia. It is a co-official
language of the United Nations, the European Union and many other world and regional
international organizations. It is the most widely spoken Germanic language, accounting for at
least 70% of speakers of this Indo-European branch. English has a vast vocabulary, though
counting how many words any language has is impossible. English speakers are called
"Anglophones".

Modern English grammar is the result of a gradual change from a typical Indo-European
dependent marking pattern with a rich inflectional morphology and relatively free word order to
a mostly analytic pattern with little inflection, a fairly fixed SVO word order and a complex
syntax. Modern English relies more on auxiliary verbs and word order for the expression of
complex tenses, aspect and mood, as well as passive constructions, interrogatives and some
negation. Despite noticeable variation among the accents and dialects of English used in different
countries and regions – in terms of phonetics and phonology, and sometimes also vocabulary,
grammar and spelling – English-speakers from around the world are able to communicate with
one another with relative ease.

Knowing how to speak and write English is one of the most important skills you can have in
today’s interconnected world.
From enhancing your education to increasing your value as an employee, from facilitating a
smoother communication with foreigners to earning more money, knowing English is a valuable
asset which will pay off huge dividends in your life and career.

The question is – how well is English taught in Malaysia? Are Malaysians offered access to good
materials which can enhance their English skills?

Since the Malaysian declaration of independence in 1957, the debate on the presence of English
language in schools has been going back and forth in various ways.

There are a handful of social studies which have been carried out which can help us better
understand the situation .

A study in the Malaysian’s education system has shown that even though there are English
teaching classes both in primary school and in university, the degree of proficiency of the
students varies greatly.

One of the most impactful factors which influences this is the presence of what is called
“language anxiety”. Language anxiety is defined as the feeling of tension and apprehension
experienced by learners in the classroom.

Overcoming language anxiety is paramount to developing fluency, both in writing and in

speaking. However, not all students are willing to fully engage in the learning process and
overcome this obstacle because it involves maintaining a positive attitude in spite of occasional
frustration and boredom.

Another study concluded that even if macro-level, national policies are enacted in order to
improve overall English education in Malaysians, the most important factor remains the method
of implementation of these macro-level measures at a micro-level.
In other words, even if the government adopts productive measures in order to increase the
comprehension and fluency of English in schools, the micro-level implementation of these
measures is where the real challenges and results lie.

This means that a more open and communicative collaboration is needed between the macro-
level decision makers and the people who benefit from these measures (namely teachers and
students) so that these policies will have the desired results.
Otherwise, there will be a growing gap between what “should” be implemented and what is
really implemented, as well as a gap between the real needs and results of the educational
process of learning English.

The English language was seen in a positive light by the students while proficiency and
motivation did not present obvious barriers to developing social networks with the target
language speakers.

However, the data from this study indicates that personal language learning goals may not have
been met while it is important to notice that other goals were indeed achieved.

As a result, that article suggested that an increased explicit attention to language learning in the
language teacher education program may facilitate English language proficiency development, as
opposed to focusing on other activities.

In 2009, the Malaysian government decided to abandon a six-year experiment to teach math and
science classes using English in state schools. The experiment was initiated with the hope that
fluency would be attained in a more fluid manner and that there will be more Malaysian global
communicators.

Many people protested on the streets against this measure and according to a poll posted hours
after this measure was publicized, 84% of people who answered were against this measure. This
shows that Malaysians want to at least be able to choose if they want to be taught in English or
Bahasa Malay, as they seem to acknowledge the importance of the English language in their
career.
The explosive rate at which information technology (IT) is growing and the speed of
globalization process which Malaysia is also experiencing are two of the most important factors
which argue for the importance of being fluent in English.

The economical and social development of Malaysia is also directly correlated to the number and
fluency of its English speaking citizens. That is why it is becoming imperative that English is
learned by as many Malaysians as possible, in order to secure a prosperous future and a
fulfilling, well-paid career.

Well, for us Malaysians, our first language is Bahasa Melayu. But through educations that are
provided in our country nowadays, we are able to see that our government is encouraging us to
learn and participate in the learning of the international language, which is English itself. Although
some people may find it difficult to speak this language, yet most Malaysians are showing a
positive reaction towards learning the English language. But there’s a slight problem that I think is
the most common in our country, people tend to laugh when another person tries to speak the
English language. And that is why Malaysians have the anxiety of learning this language.
Whenever there is a talk that is conduct in English, people tend to avoid from being a participant.
That’s why we play an important role as the motivators to our future generations and to ourselves
as well to avoid these kinds of culture in our society.

Why do I personally think that the English language is worth studying as a secondary language?
Here are my point of views.

Learning a second language opens up a ton of career opportunities. In this case, we’re not just
talking about freelancing or working location-independently either, though these are excellent
ideas which everyone may personally used. There are lots of other ways that speaking two or
more languages can improve the employment prospects.

The world is changing fast. More companies than ever are doing business in several – often
dozens of – countries around the world, but they can’t do it without hiring globally-minded
people who can speak at least one foreign language. Ever wanted to be like those people you see
in the airport travelling to foreign countries “on business” all the time? That can be you or
anyone in this room.
Even in small, local companies, chances are that the ability to speak a second language will set a
person apart from the other applicants.

Speaking a second language each day really can keep the doctor away! Study after study has
demonstrated the cognitive benefits of learning another language, no matter how old a person is.
Memory improvement, longer attention span, and a reduced risk of age-related cognitive decline,
are just a few of the known positive effects of speaking two or more languages.

In communication, languages become the primary mediator for delivering or sharing

information. One of the most widely used languages in the world is English. English is well
known as an international standard language and it is very important for those who life in this
globalization era. There are over 750 million people who speak English as a foreign language
and in the year 2000 the British Council said that there were about a billion people learning
English. English is increasingly used in many places and seems it has been dominate the world
communications. “A man who does not know foreign language is ignorant of his own”. There
are so many benefits of learning English and they can be found in many sides such as in
international business community, technology field, education, and in the social life.

In international business environment, English holds an important rule to make the business goes
well. English is very useful when company build cooperation with another international
company from different country. To become the winner of the hard competition in business
world, businessman must be able to understand and use English well. Besides that, a company
prefers to hire an employee who has a good skill in language, especially English. However, by
understanding English will improve the prospect for employment in business environment and
help the businessman able to handle the business problem efficiently.

Furthermore, English also takes a large part in the growth of technology. Almost every
electronic devices use English especially computing and internet. That is because most of
scientists write in English although some of them use English as their second language. English
is not only use in the hardware but it is used in the software also. Every command in the
computer is in English and to operate it people should understand English first. In the internet,
there is a lot of information written in English such as e-mail, blog, and social network. It shows
that learning English gives many benefits to the advance of technology.

In education, the international student should have capability to speak, read, and write in English.
A student can access any information in the books, internet, and magazine with the help of
English. Successful academic career depend on how deep the understanding of student in English
because in international standard education English is the primary language which used in
learning process.

Besides that, if the students know English well, they also will be able to read and understand the
great work in literature that related with their study which written in English. In this case,
English can be assuming as the root of the international education.

As a social creature, people will continuously interact with the other in various social lives. In
this case English become unifier of the difference in language. People will be easier to express
their idea about something or exchange information in English to the other people from different
country. English is the tool for digging information deeper and deeper again to know what
actually happen in the world. If people have a good capability to speak in English, it will be
widening their knowledge because they will be able to understand more information than those
who are not god in English. In other side, understanding English mean easier to make a friend.
English will be much use for those who love to interact with new people from different country.
It also helps tourists when they visit another country because people absolutely will speak in
English when they talk to the foreigners who come to their country. These prove that the social
benefits of English are very large.

In conclusion, as the most spoken language in the world, English holds a huge part in the
communication. International business goes well because of English. It helps people when they
are using technology products although growth of technology increasing continuously. English
also helps student to understand the subject that is written in English properly. Besides that, it
makes the people keep in touch although they have different language and come from different
country. Finally, believe or not, English cannot be separated from human life.
Thank you all once again for your attention to my speech today. I hope I make my speech today
is interesting and you gained a picture of what advantages that we can gain through learning a
secondary language other than our native language.