Effect of Listening and Reading on Second Language Acquisition on the 5th Grade Students in a Private School of Lahore

Abstract

The current study recorded the impact of input skills on the acquisition process of the ‘Second Language’ which will prove to be helpful for language practitioners in Pakistan. It will further open vistas for quality “English Language Teaching” and the factors which expedite the acquisition of language. The study aimed at determining the impact of input, keeping in mind the ‘Input Hypothesis’ of Krashen (1982), in form of listening and reading, on the acquisition of second language. The aim was to determine whether or not students who were involved in listening and the extensive reading program acquired language smoothly. These two receptive skills (extensive listening and extensive reading) were used as scaffolding for language acquisition process. Before and after the procedure, pre- and post tests were performed on the control and the experiment sample. One twenty (120) students from two branches of a private school (named as school 1 and school 2) of Johar Town Lahore were chosen as a sample for this study, in form of intact groups. Extensive reading and listening exercises were conducted in the class for the experimental group. The theory “Second Language Acquisition” of Krashen’s (1982) with specific reference to “Input Hypothesis” was used as theoretical framework. ‘KET’ of ‘Cambridge ESOL’ proficiency test was used as instrument of this study and it was marked while using “CFER” for “A2 proficiency level” for primary children. This work will be very helpful for English language teachers to enable them to help students acquire English language to make them proficient in it. Through the data findings, it is recommended to school administration to incorporate listening and extensive reading in curriculum. FLLAS, a close- ended questionnaire was conducted to determine the factors of anxiety among the learners of second language. The data results were calculated using paired SPSS and independent sample t-tests.