Introduction
English is utilized and studied by people from all over the world, not only those who reside in nations where English is the primary language (Villegas, SaizdeLaMora, Martin, and Mills, 2018). Because of these discrepancies, many students studying Basic English have difficulty advancing to higher levels. Several elements of the language bring about these difficulties. The elements like morphology, lexis, semantic meaning, grammar, and pragmatics may challenge new language learners in that they may not have had the opportunity to learn them in their first or second language. This paper will emphasize how the various elements of the English language may be challenging to understand for adult multilingual learners of English as a foreign language at Upper Intermediate (CEFR B2) level. To achieve this goal, the paper will use an article, “Offsetting carbon emission: ‘It has proved a minefield’” (Vidal, 2019) to explain how the different items in the English language are used in the text and how they may pose a challenge to these learners.
Pronunciation
Pronunciation and intonation are two components of English fluency that directly affect a person’s capacity to learn a specific language (Yowan, 2021). There is a link between the instruction method and the significance of pronunciation. Because of what was thought to be a lack of relevance to real-world situations, the traditional grammar-translation approach gave less weight to the importance of pronunciation. According to Hancock (2018), practice is not just about repeating sounds repeatedly to achieve proper pronunciation. Language in its various guises (grammar, vocabulary) and linguistic competency go hand in hand (pronunciation) (listening and speaking). In recent years, there has been a trend toward emphasizing teaching students how to pronounce words correctly (Zoghbor, 2018). Studies of pronunciation in the context of English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) have received a significant amount of attention. Even though these pronunciation studies are currently being carried out, there is still a need for additional research in EFL classrooms (Farhat Jahara & Hussein Abdelrady, 2021).
In the text “Offsetting carbon emission: ‘It has proved a minefield’” (Vidal, 2019), there are different words that can pause challenges to multilingual learners of English as a foreign language at the Upper Intermediate (CEFR B2) level. For example, the word “Guardian” is a word that may have a challenge. Usually, the word should be pronounced as “GAA-dee-uhn” with a clear articulation of the words. However, this may not be the case with new learners. Most learners may ask how the combination of two vowels changes their sounds so that ‘ua’ changes to ‘a. Since these students do not use English in daily conversations, identifying silent letters in words may pose a challenge.
Other words that may pose a challenge to the learners at this level may include
- Carbon dioxide – Kaa-buhn-dai-ok-said.
- Unsophisticated – uhn·suh·fi·stuh·kay·tuhd
- Organizations – or-ga-ni-ZA-shun
- Journey – juh·nee
- European – yuor·ruh·pee·uhn
These are among the many words that may be difficult for learners in that grade to learn because, in some of them, there are silent letters, vowels sharing sounds with alphabets, and other alphabets sharing sounds with other alphabets. Therefore, these challenges may make it very hard for learners to read sentences containing these words.
Morphology
According to Nordquist (2019), morphology is the study of how words are constructed using grammatical rules. Because it teaches students how the words in a given language are constructed and related to one another in the context of sentences, it is an important area of study in linguistics. It investigates the process of creating new words through “free morphemes,” which are morphemes that are not limited to being combined with other morphemes or affixes. For example, Arbi et al. (2022) claim compound words are combined with two free morphemes, whereas complex words are made up of one free morpheme plus an affix (or multiple affixes). These affixes, also known as bound morphemes, can be divided into two categories: the first, known as derivational, focuses on the creation of new words, and the second, known as inflectional, separates words into their various forms. Both the grammatical and word classes of a word are altered, as well as the meaning of the word, when a derivational morpheme is inserted into it. Nevertheless, the grammatical category of the word to which an inflectional morpheme is added does not change when the morpheme is added (Arbi et al., 2022).
First, a derivational affix or derivational morpheme is a type of affix attached to the base words and changes the grammatical class or class word. Another name for this type of affix is a derivational morpheme (Hippisley and Stump, n.d.). Additionally, it alters the meaning of words with which it is combined. The term “derived the word” or “new word” refers to the word that has been created by attaching this affix to an existing word (Metro State University, 2020). In Vidal’s article, several potential challenges can make understanding the text hard. New learners, like the adult EFL in the Upper Intermediate (CEFR B2) level, may find it difficult to understand how some words in the text were made. When using the text in the classroom with these adult learners, it is hard to understand how they were formed. For example, Vidal (2019) states, “But realistically, I must fly the 10,200 miles to and from Lilongwe – and I want to offset my emissions somehow.” In the statement, it may be challenging for the students to understand how the word ‘realistically’ was developed and why it should only be used like that. In Morphology, the students.
According to Arbi et al. (2022), identifying the meaning and grammatical category of complex and compound words is the challenge students encounter most frequently. In complex and compound words like correctly, emissions, cynicism, worthwhile, painfully, Accountability, and many others, it may be challenging for the learners at this level of a foreign language to understand and separate the root words from the prefixes and the suffixes. Taking the example of cynicism, it may be difficult for the learners to differentiate the root word from the suffix. The fact that text employs several morphologies. By failing to identify the root words, they may find it difficult to classify them and understand why the author used them in the article. Additionally, the learners are not very proficient with the knowledge of words; it is quite challenging to write the exact compound words when left alone. Usually, it is proved that to be proficient in a language to add morphemes to words; one must have mastery of at least three hundred words and above (Rabadi, 2019).
Semantics
The study of meaning as it relates to language falls under the purview of the subfield of linguistics known as semantics. The field of study known as linguistic semantics investigates how meanings are structured within and conveyed by languages (Nordquist, 2020). In English, a single word can have more than one meaning, and multiple words can have the same meaning. Words can have meanings other than their literal definitions, and the context in which they are used can also alter how they are comprehended.
When the article by Vidal (2019) is used in a class with Upper Intermediate (CEFR B2) level EFL learners, understanding the meaning of some words, phrases and sentences may become difficult. One word can be used in a sentence to mean something apart from its true meaning. This means that it may be straightforward for an EFL learner to apply the exact meaning of those words. For instance, in the statement, “I must fly the 10,200 miles to and from Lilongwe – and I want to offset my emissions in some way,” the word fly has been used to represent movement by air using a plane. However, a learner may understand it as a literal person flying in the air.
The statement, “As the market grows, it throws up anomalies and prompts accusations that it legitimizes the growth of emissions.” The phrase throws up may pose a challenge to the learners. They may not know it because it is used precisely before a vocabulary. Again, using common words while in quotation marks may also alter the meaning of a statement when used in a text. For example, “But there is no doubt that companies, individuals, nonprofit groups, even cities are now using offsets to go “carbon-neutral” or even “zero carbon .”The compound words Carbon-neutral and zero carbon may have meanings that are not just literal. This statement might mean that the corporations are hiding behind offsets to earn more with the claim to achieve a zero-carbon footprint, which may not be practical. Therefore, if the learners use the text in their class, it may be challenging for them to understand actually what the author meant when they used those words in the statement.
Grammar
Grammar is generally a system of language that defines how the language makes sense. While others argue that grammar is a rule of language, it can be argued that there are no rules in language because if there were, people would be given a manual of rules before they could start speaking their languages (English Club, 2022). However, in learning English as a second language, the learners need to understand the basic order or structure that words follow to produce the best spoken and written language (Ghounane, 2018). Essential things are necessary for a beginner in learning a particular language, like understanding the meaning and the use of all the punctuation in the language of interest. However, at the intermediate level and the advanced level, there are things like proper use of conjunctions that might be challenging (Kormos, 2020). For example, when the article “Offsetting carbon emission: ‘It has proved a minefield’” is used, the article’s title may be challenging for the students to understand faster. The learners would not be able to understand why the word minefield is used in the title of offsetting carbon emission.
In the article “Offsetting carbon emission: ‘It has proved a minefield,'” several punctuations have been done, especially in reporting the words that individuals had spoken. These punctuations might also cause trouble to the learners at this level because they may not understand why and how they are used. For example, in the statement, “Offsetting must go hand in hand with an ambitious internal reduction strategy,” says Leugers, “The priority should always be to reduce your footprint before offsetting, but the reality is that not every individual or business can do that quickly.” It may be hard for learners at this stage to understand how to put the reported speech. In most cases, new language learners may struggle with reported speeches (Rizki, 2019). For this level, it may be easy for them to understand that the speaker of the quoted words is always found at the beginning of the sentences or the end. However, in the statement above, the author is written in the middle of the two statements. The learners may be defeated to tell who said the second part of the speech.
Conclusion
People all over the world, young and old alike, are learning English because of its increasing prevalence in everyday life. Individuals progress at their own pace in learning it. Adults learning a second language at the upper intermediate level may struggle with idiomatic expression. While reading the attached text, the author of this essay noticed four areas of language (pronunciation, morphology, semantics, and grammar) that could prove difficult for students at this level.
References
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