April 12, 2017

 

KAMPAR: Some people may meet with a situation when they learn English, find that it is a language that easy to learn, but hard to master.

 

Aiming to improve students’ interest in learning English and to answer some questions from the lecturers who teach English, UTAR Department of Language and Linguistics has organized a public lecture that open to all staff and students.

 

Professor Sebastian Andreas Hoffmann, who is from Trier University German, was invited as the speaker of the lecture.

 

It was not the first time Professor Hoffmann visits UTAR Kampar and give talks, as he also serves as the external examiner for English Language program.

 

“I always feel the warmth when I visit here and it is such an honor to be here again,” said Professor Hoffmann before he started his lecture.

 

During the two-hour long lecture, Professor Hoffmann has shared his personal experiences when teaching English, resonated with the lecturers who had attended the lecture.

 

“Sometimes language just couldn’t have a clear-cut categorization and boundaries which make us as teachers difficult when teaching as students always expect a clear answer,” he said.

 

As he continued, some of the nouns have many meanings, thus to identify their meanings we have to look into the sentences’ context.

 

Meanwhile, he gave an example of “What is the word class of apple?”

 

He was then received a few responses from the audiences, generally viewed the word apple as a noun.

 

“Can it be an adjective?” Professor Hoffmann continued, which has instantly sparked a small debate among the audiences.

 

Professor Hoffmann was then explained that apple sometimes could be used as an adjective.

 

“For instance like apple pie, the apple is a description of the flavor of the pie,” he said.

 

English Language student Audrey Chong listened attentively throughout the lecture, and she found the lecture was easy to understand.

 

“Professor Hoffmann able to simplify the complex theories of language, and I enjoy the lecture very much,” said Chong.

 

Kelvin Chen is an English Education student and he found that some of the points discussed by Professor Hoffmann in a very interesting perspective.

 

“I like the way how he discusses some of the theories in a different perspective from my lecturer, and the questions he addressed really make me think over,” said Chen.

 

The two-hour long lecture was then ended with a group photo session.