How Context Aids (or hinders) Language Learning

Context is the world that you live within. It includes all the things that influence and affect you. If you are learning a language, in this example English, the more removed your context is from the target language, the more likely the language will require learning (as opposed to acquiring). As a result, it takes longer to master the target language and is much more difficult to achieve a native-like level.

When every aspect of a context uses English as the medium of communication, it is an English-embedded context. This is a context that creates native users of English. On the opposite end of the spectrum, would be an English-removed context, here English is taught only as a foreign lesson in a child’s life. These two extremes exist on a vast spectrum.

The more English can be embedded into the context, the quicker and fuller the acquisition of the language will be.