You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.
Nowadays, more and more foreign students are going to English-Speaking countries to learn the “international language – English”. It is undoubtedly true that studying English in an English-speaking country is the best way, but it is not the only way to learn it.
Do you agree or disagree with the above statement?
You should write at least 250 words.
Use your own knowledge and experience and support your arguments with examples and relevant evidence.
Model Answer 1:
(Agreement: It is NOT the ONLY way to learn it)
There is no debate that being in a real English language environment will help anyone to master the language in the fastest and most effective way and many international students prefer to go to English-speaking countries to study and learn the international language. I agree that this is a good way, yet students can learn English in other useful ways and those can be even better than the first approach.
Being in an English speaking country helps students learn English in many ways. Firstly, the surroundings and environment influence our learning. We are forced to speak, read write, and slowly we start even thinking in English since we have to. Secondly, quick learning of the language can become a strong motivation because, in turn, we will get quick feedback that lets us find what we learn really benefits us in life and education. This inspires us to continue to learn more. It’s a positive reinforcement Learning builds on progressively. The initial learning serves as the basis for further learning. Thirdly, in an English-speaking country, you will be learning from the life and culture which is not present off that land.
However, in this age of cross-culture communication and Internet, learning English in an English-speaking country is not the only way. The English language learning opportunities are available in many countries. Nowadays people are able to find various ways of learning the English language in their home country that are highly effective and productive. Watching English movies, television, listening to English music and browsing Internet can open up a vast plethora of English materials. For instance, one can make use of the vast storage of materials (video, sound, graphics, etc.) on the Internet to facilitate language study. Sometimes non-English speaking students may need a different approach for learning English. The principle of “different students, different teaching”, by the famous saying by Chinese guru Confucius, maintains that different teaching approaches are useful for different segments of students. The way a foreign student learns a language is quite different from those of an English native speaker. For example, a foreign student higher level; however, it is unnecessary for a native speaker. Last but not the least, on some occasions, students may find teachers in their own countries do a better job in figuring out their exact weak points and the remedies for them. A teacher of a non-English country understand the basic of a student and can combine both the native language and English to make the study plan and this might be more helpful than a native English teacher’s approach of studying.
In conclusion, I believe studying English in English-speaking country is a good way but in many cases, the other ways can be proven to be more efficient than being in an English speaking country.
(Approximately 448 words)
(This model answer has been prepared by the site developer. However, please note that this is just one example out of many possible answers.)
(Disagreement: It is the only best way to learn it)
Language is a skill and like any other skill, it can be best achieved through practising. Being in an English speaking country gives a competitive advantage of learning it faster and in a more efficient way than other ways and that why I consider learning English can be best achieved by being in an English speaking country.
Many people would argue that, if learning English in only possible by living in an English country ho come people with really good English can exist when they have never been to an English-speaking country. Yes, it is true that proper study and determination to grasp the language can bring success to a person without living in a non-English-speaking country but there are some gaps yet. The amount of effort someone needs to put in learning the language would be much more compared to someone living in an English speaking country.
Firstly, being in an English speaking country would make the learner to communicate in this language all the time and being in such a situation helps learn faster and more competently. They would learn the language through practical experiences and that is more important than reading tomes of grammatical rules from textbooks.
Second, the language is not merely how it is defined in the grammar books and how the words are spelt. Rather it is a natural ability to express the feelings and thought to someone else in an effective way and it is quite impossible to become a natural thinker of a language without actually being in an environment where this is the only language.
Learning from experience is better than learning from text and that makes an English speaking country living person more competent than a non-English speaking country living person in terms of the command of the language. When the first person communicates naturally and without any brainstorming, the later one would do that as less accurately. Pronunciation and language style is very important in terms of communicating English and that can be best learned from the native speakers of this language and that’s why being in an English speaking country to learn the language is the best way. Because of this realisation, thousands of people from different parts of the world are coming to English Speaking countries to learn the language.
In conclusion, though a language can be learned through reading, practice and other good ways, being in a country where this language is the native language is the best way to learn it.
(This model answer has been prepared by the site developer. However, please note that this is just one example out of many possible answers.)
Model Answer 3:
(Agreement: It is NOT the only way to learn it)
Living in the 21st century, there is no doubt that English is the most commonly used and important language for communication, education and career. Not surprisingly, a lot more foreign students are studying abroad in English-speaking countries to learn English, as many people believe that it is the best way to learn it. In my point of view, I agree that it is not the only way to learn English and I will be explaining the reasons in the following paragraphs.
To begin with, English can be learnt anywhere by practising more. People believe that studying in an English-speaking country is the best way. It is awfully correct simply because foreign students are forced to speak in English instead of their mother languages. There would be no people to communicate with if they speak in their own languages. If foreign students speak and practice more in English in their own countries with their friends and families, they can still be very fluent with native speaking skills.
Furthermore, foreign students can learn English easily through the media. They could watch the BBC news and English drama without subtitles to enhance their listening skills. Foreign students can write down the frequently used words and phrases that they hear from the show or drama, and thereby learning more vocabularies. Moreover, they could read articles and blogs written by BBC as it is an institution that is trustworthy and has accurate and complex vocabularies.
In conclusion, studying in an English-speaking country is not the only way to learn English and also is not always affordable for most families. There are a large variety of ways to learn it even if it is not an English-speaking country.
(Approximately 282 words)
(Written by Harry C. Lim)
Model Answer 4:
(Agreement: It is NOT the only way to learn it)
It is true that being in a real English environment will help anyone to become an expert at learning the English language as compared to learning the same language in a country where people do not have that language as their mother tongue.
I am agreed that most of the people prefer to go to the English speaking countries, in order to learn different skills like learning English language or to improve some other abilities. With the use of available technology and owing to the globalisation of the world, it has become very convenient to learn any language while being present at home country. Despite the fact that home country does not have that language as its national language but there are many language learning institutes available where people can join to learn different languages from the mentors, those are highly qualified experts. These teachers might have acquired their capabilities from English speaking countries to get the full exposure to the environment and being taught by such teachers who were having full command on that language.
Therefore, as far as learning is concerned with language, it is possible to learn the language from any country, not necessary being in an English speaking country. For instance, in my country, there are many language centres available in which people not only learn to speak English but also these institutions cater students with listening, reading, writing and provide guidelines for appropriate uses of grammar.
Furthermore, many people would like to learn different skills like diploma courses, some students want to get foreign degrees; they decide to go to the English speaking countries for knowledge and awarding certificates. It is due to reason that English is international language and majority of people wish to live in such country where English is spoken by the residents to become part of the workforce or for job recruitment.
In the conclusion, it would be more convenient to learn English language being physically present in an English speaking country but it could be possible enough to learn English being anywhere, from the centres where highly qualified tutors are available to learn language skills in the home country where some other language is predominantly used by people.
(Approximately 362 words)
(Written by Nency Goemz)
Sample Answer 5:
There might be some advantages of learning the language while someone stays in an English-speaking country but it does not guarantee that he will be able to use English better than those who have learned the language in non-English speaking countries. Let me site an example that proves this. In my country- the Philippines, English language is integrated into our curriculum from the elementary to the tertiary level. It is imperative for us to learn the language since it is also one of the communication tools that professionals use. In fact, they use the English language more often compared to our mother tongue, the Filipino language. Thus many of them have a greater command of the language even they have never been to a foreign country, let alone an English-speaking country.
I think the best way to learn the language is to start its introduction from the childhood, and continually being exposed in learning the language until someone becomes fluent. It may be a skill, attitude or a language when being introduced to someone at a younger age has a better chance of learning it. Young children have the tendency to grasp things that they come across especially since their minds are very inquisitive and have a faster learning ability. They gain the mastery on a certain language that they have learned in order to achieve self-actualization, which is included in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Since it is inculcated earlier at a young age, there is a greater possibility of mastering the language as they go through using it in their everyday life. Compared to those migrating to English-speaking countries but does not have previous exposure to the language they would still find it very hard to learn the language.
In conclusion, I would like to say that learning English in an English-speaking country is not the only way to learn the language as there are still some better ways to learn it. We may be surprised that there are those who can speak English more fluently than those who have learned the language in an English-Speaking country.
[Written by – Christine Hazel]