{"id":2998,"date":"2016-12-06T14:58:11","date_gmt":"2016-12-06T07:58:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/teraju.id\/?p=2998"},"modified":"2016-12-09T09:32:05","modified_gmt":"2016-12-09T02:32:05","slug":"communication-conflicts-breakdowns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/teraju.id\/berita\/communication-conflicts-breakdowns-2998\/","title":{"rendered":"Communication Conflicts and Breakdowns"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Siti Dwi Karmila Ilhamuddin<\/a><\/p>\n

English is my second language and its acquisition took place in two countries, Indonesia and the United States. I had two different acquisitional experiences in those countries. These different experiences have shaped and enriched my second language acquisition. These acquisition still take place and I believe it will keep taking place for a long time. I was born and grew up in Indonesia, a country where English is a foreign language. Mostly Indonesian children start learning English in the middle school; some start earlier by going to private schools or going to English courses.<\/p>\n

What about me then?
\nI would belong to the first group. I started learning English in middle school. However, I had been interested in English since I was very young. Back then, I accidently watched an American TV series: Full House, in my friend\u2019s home. Full House made me think that living in America would be very fun. It also showed me the beauty of San Fransisco – the setting of the series \u2013 that I thought American would be like. It caused me to have a dream to go and to study in America. I realized that my American dream required me to learn English. Unfortunately, I did not come from a rich family which could merely send their children to the private school or English courses. However, I did not give up. I really wanted to learn English<\/a>. Therefore, I started to learn it by myself through collecting vocabulary. I created my own dictionary. I disciplined myself to memorize the vocabulary everyday. I had not started learning English formally until I was in middle school; however, I have started learning it informally since I was very young and will keep learning it in my whole life.<\/p>\n

In Indonesia, English is commonly taught through grammar translation approach. Therefore, we learn about grammar a lot instead of English for communication. Thus, in whole my L2 acquisition in Indonesia, I learned about grammar, writing and reading a lot, not speaking or communicating orally. I used to memorize vocabulary everyday and to learn grammar every day. At that time, I thought I had learned English in the correct way. One experience that made me like English more was when I took an English national standardize test. I was in the 9th grade that time. Surprisingly, I got a perfect mark in that standardized test. This perfect mark made me want to learn English more.<\/p>\n

Another thing that reinforced me to learn more about English was my experience teaching English for 9 year-old boy when I was in high school. That boy seemed to enjoy studying with me and he turned out to understand what I taught him. I felt very accomplished when I saw his face. He was very happy when he could solve the English problem. What I saw on his face was priceless. I felt so amazed and accomplished that I affirmed in my heart what I wanted to be in the future, an English teacher. That time, I realized my passion was teaching English. Then, two years later, I enrolled to English education department for my undergraduate degree.<\/p>\n

I started my study in English education department in 2001 in a small university, Tanjungpura University, in my hometown. In the second year of my study, I had started teaching English in courses and education center in my hometown. Unfortunately, I taught the students just like how my teacher had taught me in the school. I continued teaching the students through grammar translation approach. Just like I have mentioned in the previous paragraph, I thought it was fine back then. Being able to write and read in English or having students be able to write and read in English seemed like I had learned or taught English in the correct way . I kind of forgot that English is a language of which function is as a mean to communicate. At that time, using English as a mean to communicate did not matter, at least in Indonesia. But, it did matter when I really went to America to pursue my master degree.<\/p>\n

I had an opportunity to study my master in America because I got scholarship from Fulbright. I am studying my Master\u2019s degree in teaching English as a second language in Auburn University, Alabama. Living and studying in America where English is the language people use to communicate made me realize that being good in grammar, writing and reading was not enough. I had communication conflicts and breakdowns. I experienced these conflicts and breakdowns\u00a0 even on the first day I got to America. I met other Fulbright scholars from other countries. I felt a little bit intimidated. They spoke English perfectly. I felt that I still had communication boundaries. I kept doing \u201ctranslation\u201d process in my brain every time I wanted to say something.<\/p>\n

Each time I had something to say, it took me forever to prepare the words and structures to express what I wanted to say, so by the time I was ready to speak, the moment to say it had already passed. I just wanted to speak grammatically correct. Unfortunately, instead of speaking grammatically correct, I turned out to speak less than I had used to be. I became to be less confident to speak in English. I became reluctant to talk with people, especially American people. I was scared to make mistake and they would make fun of me. Having issue in communicating orally made me realize one thing: communication involves not just learning grammar and vocabulary but specific norms of language use.<\/p>\n

This feeling continued haunting me even when I started my study in Auburn University. Auburn University is located in Alabama. It is in the southern part of the United States. The southern people have their own accent that they call the southern accent. The accent is quite different with the accent that I usually heard in the American movies. However, the southern accent was not the only problem. I got another problem regarding to the habit of American people who love talking using phrasal verbs, and slangs. Since I used to translate literally or word\u2013by\u2013word when I spoke English, I found myself lost sometime when they spoke with me. The unfamiliar accent. phrasal verbs, and slangs increased my nervousness. Because of the nervousness, I often forgot all vocabulary, grammar or anything that I had learned and memorized. I just felt that my English was getting worse and worse.<\/p>\n

Then, I realized that I could not keep feeling inferior. I decided to break through my nervousness. I figured out that it was not my linguistic proficiency to blame, but there was a body of sociocultural knowledge that I had not had and I needed to gain in order to use effectively the linguistic knowledge I had. Living and studying in America was my chance to improve my English, especially my oral skills. The environment supports me to increase my English competencies. Hence, I started building my confidence. I initiated to talk with American people. It was kind of suprising for me that they did not make a fun of my language. They spoke in the rate of speech that I could understand. They still used many phrasal verbs but they did not mind explaining to me or repeating what they had said if I did not understand them. I paid\u00a0 attention their word choices. I also tried to imitate how they said the words or how they opened their mouth when they said the words. Then, I started learning about phrasal verbs and slangs used by American people.<\/p>\n

I keep hanging out with American people and learning how to communicate naturally. I realize now that I not only get my oral skills improved but also have my socioculture developed. Even though I have not spoken like native English speakers yet, I know that I have made significant progress as now American people speak to me with the normal speech of rate. I also can more understand what they say without asking them to explain or repeat for me. Moreover, now, I can say what I want to say without taking a long time to prepare the language. I still feel that I am doing \u201ctranslation\u201d process in my brain when I communicate but I am sure that the process gets faster and much less than before. However, I realize that I still need to improve the pronunciation, the slangs, the phrasal verbs and slangs.<\/p>\n

From the story of my acquisition experience, you probably can take some lessons from it. To acquire a second language or foreign language, it is important to learn through appropriate approach or strategy. We also need to anticipate the environment where we live that usually barely supports us to develop our foreign or second language. If your environment does not support you to develop you foreign language, you need to have a high motivation or reason to keep you learn English. The requirement to learn it at school will not help you enough to keep learning it more.<\/p>\n

Therefore, I personally picked up some lessons from my own experience: having English acquistion in the English-speaking country – the United States.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0I did have communication conflicts or breakdowns there. If you happen to experience the same thing later in the future, I may suggest not to blame your linguistic proficiency without realizing that there is a body of sociocultural knowledge that you probably do not have and you need to gain in order to use effectively the linguistic knowledge you have. Then, you should realize that language is not only about grammar and vocabulary but also about communicative competence. We, non-native English speakers, need all aspect in language to help us understand the conflicts that happen because of socio cultural misunderstanding. Hence, if we are a foreign or second language teacher, we need to remember that language is not only for academic purpose but also for communication purpose. Both of them should be synchronized in balance. Therefore, I promise\u00a0 to myself I will make a change, at least on my own teaching style first, when I return to Indonesia. I need to make sure that my students in Indonesia will learn all English skills and aspects. They will learn English not only for academic purpose but also for communication purpose. In doing so, I need to enrich my teaching strategies, teaching methods, and teaching approaches that allow me to teach them English for those two purposes.<\/p>\n

Author: Graduate Student of ESOL Program Department of Curriculum and Teaching College of Education – Auburn University Auburn, AL<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"