The Effects of Blended Learning Approach through an Interactive Multimedia E-Book on Students’ Achievement in Learning Chinese as a Second Language at Tertiary Level

Second Language Learning

Communication is an essential element in human interaction. Effective communication enhances many aspects of human life. According to Tonkin (2003, p. 2), David Crystal has defined language as “the systematic, conventional use of sounds, signs, or written symbols in a human society for communication and self-expression”. This means that language is obviously a vital tool for social communication between human beings, and in a society. Throughout history, different people in the world have developed different languages as their specific means of communication. Consequently, there are thousands of different languages and dialects in the world. Languages differ in many ways such as their structures, writing systems, vocabularies, and so forth. Every language has its own specific features.

Language is generally ignored by its native speakers. The native language or first language is the language that a person first acquires naturally during their early childhood in the rich native language environment. The first language comes natural to native speakers as does breathing and is an automatic behaviour. In this age of globalization, learning a foreign language as a second language (or sometimes as a third language) has become a necessary tool to broaden the horizons and gain a better understanding of foreign people and their cultures. El Bahr (2007) noted that second language is any language a child learns after the first language or mother tongue. He added second language becomes umbrella terms for second and foreign languages. Ranjini (2009) asserted that foreign language plays a magnificent role in the domain of science, foreign affairs, publicity, tourism and communication.