Language Assessment for Korean High school students learning English Essay

Language Assessment for Korean High school students learning English - Essay Example Once the correct techniques and tools are adopted, the learning of English language, like any other language, becomes extremely easy and an effortless exercise. Not only learning a language but testing the skills acquired by learners, is also paramount in achieving the goal of teaching English to students from the non-speaking English background. It is seen that there has been a tendency among social class to attach social values and prejudices to different types of language use, depending on the circumstances they are exposed to. Language socialization is a newly emerging area of study that concerns the process in which a language learner, either a child or an adult, acquires the communicative competence of a target language, and function of the language in that process (Hymes, 1972). In the language socialization perspective, the relationship between the caregivers or teachers and children or students is critical, where the language is the key means of socialization. The major international routine of foreign language classrooms focuses on the initiation, response, and follow-up (IRF), where initiations turn could be a greeting, a question or a drill prompts; a response turn may elucidate an answer or response: and a follow-up turns an evaluation or comment. (Mehan, 1985; Ohata, 1994: van Lier, 1988).  As we have seen, th e need for the English language as the global language for any transaction is often emphasized and the proficiency in the English language communication is a must in the development of individuals, thereby of the global economy. According to Wentworth (1980), the socio-cultural meaning is constantly created and reformed through social interaction between the members and novices of society, and language plays a great role in this process.