Understanding the History of the English Language as an Aid to Learning and Communication

The English language has a long enduring history, which scholars often divide into three main periods: Old English (450-1100), Middle English (100-1500) and Modern English (1500-present). Two major historical trends during the past 1500 years have been the spread of the language from its origins, to becoming the leading worldwide language of todayone of the most influential languages worldwide nowadays, and the development of the English language in terms of etymology the compositions and meaning of the words. This essay will discuss the advantages available to language learners who have developed an understanding of the origins of English, and how they can use this knowledge to improve their learning and communication skills. The understanding the history of English language will prove to be beneficial and advantageous for those aiming to learn English and improve their English communication skills.Comment by Wit: Consider adding more info regarding each period e.g. their differences.Comment by Wit: Not appropriate to use this essay in an essay

Throughout its history, the English language has adopted and adapted words from other languages, most notably the Germanic languages, French, Greek and Latin. Learners who are aware of this can begin to analyse vocabulary vocabularies in search of their etymological roots. One example of how this process might work in practice is as followsfollowed: the learner might discover during a dictation exercise that dictation is based on the Latin verb dicere with the meaning to speak. The learner may then see the word predict and be able to infer that when the Latin prefix pre-, meaning before, is added to dict, which is based onmeans to speak, the result will beresulting in a word with a meaning of to speak before. Without having seen the word before, or learned the word explicitly, the knowledge that many English words have their historical roots in Latin can help learners who know some Latin to determine the meaning. For English learners who do not have previous knowledge of Latin, the recognitionrecognizing that many English words are based onderived from Latin words can still be applied in seeking out the components pre- or dict in other words, such as prepare, prevent, verdict or abdicate.Comment by Wit: Add proper nounComment by Wit: The learners is the one who without having seenComment by Wit: Consider changing the sentence to

The learners, armed with the knowledge that many English words have their historical roots in Latin, can determine or infer the meaning of unfamiliar words, even without context or prior knowledge of such words.

The understanding of history of English language is is a particularly advantageous for English learners who speak other modern languages which are based on French, German or Latin, . because it It can be easier for these learners to guess the meanings of many English words, knowing their etymological roots. However, this advantage is not exclusively for those who speak other modern languages. even Thai speakers can benefit in some cases, even though Thai and English languages are not closely related. The Thai word for Monday, wan jan, has a clear link to the moon, and thus to monandaeg in Old English the day of the moon. Furthermore, the Thai day known as wan suk doesnt obviously connect to Friday, but dao suk is the planet Venus, linking to the days vendredi in French or dies veneris in Latin. Venus is the Roman goddess of love, while the Norse goddess of love was Freyja hence Friday.Comment by Wit: Not sure how this argument proves your point. Try to clarify.

Cognitive Load Theory holds that students are better able to learn and recall new information when they can link new knowledge to their existing knowledge. Historical awareness provides a stronger knowledge base on which to build, allowing learners to assimilate new languages by relating it them to things they know about theirits origins. This can improve the learners acquisition and retention of new vocabulary vocabularies and will enable them to read and understand complicated texts much more easily.Comment by Wit: Add citation