LEARNING LANGUAGE THROUGH SELF-INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS

Leslie Dickinson, in his 1987 article titled, Self-instruction in in language learning, defines it as, “a learning mode in which a learner, with others or alone, is working without the direct control of a teacher.” This implies that the responsibility of gathering and organizing the required material to managing the time rests solely on the self, rather than on a teacher or institution. While this definition gives us a general idea as to what is involved in the process of self-instruction, it is quite broad in the ideas it encompasses. Jones, in his 1998 paper, Self-instruction and success: A learner-profile study, gives a narrower definition: “a deliberate long-term learning project instigated, planned and carried out by the learner alone, without teacher intervention.” As there are various schools of thought on this subject, for the purpose of this paper, we will stick to Jones’s definition. In this era where the plethora of information available in the forms of books and online material in incredibly vast, the potential for learning English by oneself without subscribing to any curriculum, is huge. When confronted with this much information, it can be a daunting task for someone who is new to the language to find meaningful material that they can use to yield satisfactory results. This paper explores the various options readily and easily available for learning English and how useful and effective they are. These methods are not necessarily all academic but rather serve to develop fluency in the learner. Also, we will be looking at the various pros and cons of using self-instruction as medium to develop English skill