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Assignment (2) - Razan
Assignment (2) - Razan
Assignment 2
439202772
ENG 401
Marianna Pascal
Marianna Pascal talked about the factors that prevent non-native speakers of English from
using English to communicate effectively, instead of perfectly. I admire her observations and how
natural she reached them. She did not go out of her way to find the answers to her questions,
instead she observed the people around her and compared them to her students. Pascal is not the
only one who wondered why some low-level English speakers have more confidence than the
high-level ones. I always thought about the same thing. The realization I reached from her video is
that it depends on people's view of themselves, and the language. Those who are so self-critical
find it harder to reach the aim of the conversation, that if they opened it in the first place, because
they focus on their mistakes and others' judgments. People who learn the language to
communicate, on the other hand, focus on the effectiveness and result of the conversation which is
why languages are there in the first place. I reflected this on two cases I encountered. The first case
is an intermediate speaker of English who had learned the language long time ago and lacks
knowledge of new vocabulary words, however, she speaks confidently and without hesitation with
everyone she meets who speaks English. She makes many grammatical mistakes and explains a lot
of words that she doesn't know, but she communicates well and gets a lot of compliments on her
language and communication skills. The other case is a high-level speaker of English with a huge
knowledge of vocabulary and grammar; however, she still lacks confidence in her ability to speak
the language appropriately. Besides, she focuses a lot on what she lacks, which is a native-like
accent, never ending lexicon, perfect grammar, etc. Moreover, she hesitates when she speaks and
criticizes herself a lot, which leaves others no choice but to say, "your language is great, but you
lack confidence, '' or ''you just need more practice''. Since she puts so much value in others opinion
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of her skills, these comments put her under so much pressure and cause her to use the language
even less. Therefore, she rarely practices which disrupts her progress. After watching this TEDx
Talk, I will make sure to recommend it to the 1st one to encourage her, and the 2nd to help her get
out of her comfort zone. Lastly, practice makes progress. Without practice no one would be able to