Teaching English

5 Responses to “Can an ESL learner be better than a native speaker of English?”

1. Alliete Says:
   September 21st, 2009 at 5:45 pm

   Alliete A learner will never have the same ability to speak as a native one, regardless the language, in this case English.
   But you let me thinking….. maybe could be better if the ESL learner speaks in a clear pronunciation of english without slangs or mixing/joining words. And a native english speaker will always have all the ways learnt and adopted in their life.
   i.e. What your gonna do? instead of What are you going to do?
   Proper pronunciation and grammar I think is an important role when you want to speak good english.
   So I think here is not the point of be BETTER THAN a native english speaker, but to be BETTER in pronunciation and respecting the grammar.

   Cheers!

2. latin friend Says:
   September 23rd, 2009 at 5:44 pm

   latin friend what do you mean by “better” exactly?
   If you mean a person who learns to speak a language can pronounce it better, I’m afraid that would be very difficult. When learning a second language it is better to it before you are 13 years old, otherwise you’ll retain an accent.

   On the other hand, If you mean a person who learns a second language can communicate better and use the language better, then I would say yes. People who learn a second language pay more attention to grammar, spelling and word order rules than native people. Some native speakers do not care much for the way the spell words or they don’t know grammar rules, because they did not study them.

3. tjsgigante Says:
   September 24th, 2009 at 9:12 pm

   tjsgigante I would tend to think so. It’s been my experience that native speakers can be very lazy when it comes to their language, and not follow all of the rules. When a person really studies the language (from pronunciation to the grammar rules) they can be a lot better at it then some native speakers.

4. PurpleBlob Says:
   September 25th, 2009 at 12:15 pm

   PurpleBlob It depends what you mean by better. There are many native English speakers who use the language incorrectly, but don’t notice their mistakes. Someone who has studied the language and is confident in it can easily identify grammatical and spelling mistakes.

   Mistakes don’t matter so much, though, if the message is clear and to the audience. I think it is generally harder for an ESL learner to express a message clearly to an English-speaking audience than it is for a native English speaker.

5. RE Says:
   September 25th, 2009 at 6:57 pm

   RE Yes, but it is rare. Two great writers whose second language was English were Joseph Conrad and Vladimir Nabokov.

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