Reflection
For this assignment, I chose to interview my fellow classmate, Mary De Leon. She was born in Watsonville, California to her parents of whom are of Mexican origin. Due to her family background, Spanish is her first language. According to Mary’s story, she learned Spanish at home. We can safely assume that she learned Spanish naturalistically, which Ortega (2011) defines as learning the “L2 through informal opportunities...without ever receiving any organized instruction on the workings of the language they are learning” (p. 6). However, she states that she learned her second language, English, through schooling. This is best described as instructed learning, in which “learners learn additional languages through formal study in school” (Ortega, 2011, p. 6).
Specifically, she began learning her second language during the first grade, which is equivalent to roughly about 6 to 7 years of age. Mary believes that due to her young age when learning English, and the increased practice of it at school, she was able to acquire the L2 faster than the L1. Ortega (2011) tells of a study by Sebastián-Gallés et al. in which “their participants did best in the language they were more actively and consistently using in daily activities at the time of study,” (p. 26) supporting Mary’s belief of acquiring her L2 faster than her L1 due to daily practice. This may also attribute to her dominance in English, which classifies her as a dominant bilingual (Gass, 2013). Rowland acknowledges that “for most [L2 learners], one language is dominant, and this is often the community language rather than the home language” (2014, p. 176).
Mary also states that although English is her dominant language, she still “speaks Spanglish.” This term has been unofficially recognized as the interaction between the Spanish and English language. As for the way she uses both languages, she uses words from one language in order to fill in the gaps for completing sentences in another language to make herself be understood. This is most closely related to studies Rowland has mentioned, in which “the children were much more likely to slot words from the ‘wrong’ language into their speech when they did not know the appropriate word in the ‘right’ language” (2014, p. 179). Interestingly enough, “why one cannot keep languages and interlanguages apart and why the mixing and merging of various languages known and being learned occurs are issues at the heart of research” (Gass, 2013, p. 22). Hopefully future studies give us even more insight as to possible causes of the mixing between and merging of languages, and how that helps second language learners advance in their learning.
Specifically, she began learning her second language during the first grade, which is equivalent to roughly about 6 to 7 years of age. Mary believes that due to her young age when learning English, and the increased practice of it at school, she was able to acquire the L2 faster than the L1. Ortega (2011) tells of a study by Sebastián-Gallés et al. in which “their participants did best in the language they were more actively and consistently using in daily activities at the time of study,” (p. 26) supporting Mary’s belief of acquiring her L2 faster than her L1 due to daily practice. This may also attribute to her dominance in English, which classifies her as a dominant bilingual (Gass, 2013). Rowland acknowledges that “for most [L2 learners], one language is dominant, and this is often the community language rather than the home language” (2014, p. 176).
Mary also states that although English is her dominant language, she still “speaks Spanglish.” This term has been unofficially recognized as the interaction between the Spanish and English language. As for the way she uses both languages, she uses words from one language in order to fill in the gaps for completing sentences in another language to make herself be understood. This is most closely related to studies Rowland has mentioned, in which “the children were much more likely to slot words from the ‘wrong’ language into their speech when they did not know the appropriate word in the ‘right’ language” (2014, p. 179). Interestingly enough, “why one cannot keep languages and interlanguages apart and why the mixing and merging of various languages known and being learned occurs are issues at the heart of research” (Gass, 2013, p. 22). Hopefully future studies give us even more insight as to possible causes of the mixing between and merging of languages, and how that helps second language learners advance in their learning.
References:
Gass, S. (2013). Second language acquisition: An introductory course. New York: Routledge.
Ortega, L. (2011). Understanding second language acquisition. London: Routledge.
Rowland, C. (2014). Understanding child language acquisition. New York: Routledge.
Hi Yazmin! I did not know all of this about Mary, so I feel that I have a better understanding of her and how she handled her transition into learning English. I like that you mentioned Gass' point on how some students end up having their dominant language becoming the one they speak most often, and not necessarily their native language (2013). Do you think that this is something we should encourage as teachers, or prevent? Personally, this does not seem like something we need to worry excessively over unless the student feels like they are losing their heritage or connection to their language. I think it would only become a problem if the student feels upset or they feel alienated from their families.
ReplyDeleteThank you for taking the time to watch my video, Ila! To answer your question, I think that as teachers we should neither encourage, nor prevent, the use of their second language as students’ dominant language. As a second language learner myself, I would prefer the decision to be up to the parents or the student, because essentially it will be the students’ life that is affected. If we encourage it then students are at risk for losing proficiency in their first language, but if we prevent it then that will be an opportunity lost in learning another language fluently. We must also take into consideration the “possibility that there may be a ceiling to L2 learning, in the sense that it may be impossible to develop levels of L2 competence that are isomorphic to the competence all humans possess in their own mother tongue” (Ortega, 2011, p. 12). What this means is that even if we were to try to encourage students’ second language to be their dominant one, they may not reach full proficiency. Rowland (2014) goes to state that “there is evidence that children develop the grammar and phonological systems of their two languages in parallel and to the same developmental timetable as monolingual children, as predicted by the autonomous systems view,” (p. 189) so I believe we should try to have our students be as equally dominant in both of their languages as much as we can.
DeleteReferences:
Ortega, L. (2011). Understanding second language acquisition. London: Routledge.
Rowland, C. (2014). Understanding child language acquisition. New York: Routledge.
That is an excellent point, Yazmin! I like your use of Ortega's ideas on the limits of second-language learners (2011). I also think that we should encourage our students to become as proficient as possible in their second-languages without stressing them out. I am glad you brought up the fact that some students may lose their proficiency in their native languages if they are pushed too hard to learn their second-language. This happened with my friend, Nate, and now that he is trying to gain that lost proficiency back, it is harder than if he simply retained the skills to begin with.
DeleteHello, Yazmin! I thought your video was really cool. A common theme that I have found with these entries is that English becomes the dominant language for many people, and they start to lose their other language. In Understanding Child Language Acquisition, Rowland talks about how English becomes a lot of people’s dominant language because so many jobs around the world require a good foundation of English. In the book, Rowland states that “English is perceived as the language of opportunity” (Rowland, 2014, p.197). My mom came to this country not knowing any English and now considers English her dominant language. It would make sense why so many people lose some of their skills in their first language if they constantly have to use English in their jobs, at school, and in everyday situations such as going to the grocery stores or going to restaurants.
ReplyDeleteSources: Rowland, C. (2014). Understanding child language acquisition. Routledge.
Yes, I agree that one of the reasons why English as a L2 becomes someone’s dominant language is because of jobs around the world. This could more specifically be due to the fact that “in many parts of the world, or in many industries or professions, English has become the virtual lingua franca, or language used for basic communication” (Gass, 2013, p. 22). In other words, English has become an unofficial worldwide language, and so its proficiency is in high demand. As for your statement in regards to English becoming the dominant language, this can be due to the fact that differing amounts of exposure to a certain language can affect its learning (Ortega, 2011).
DeleteReferences:
Gass, S. (2013). Second language acquisition: An introductory course. New York: Routledge.
Ortega, L. (2011). Understanding second language acquisition. London: Routledge.
Hi Yazmin, it is interesting to watch your interview video with Mary. As Mary said she learned English as her second language in first grade at the age of 6 or 7, she can be described as many different types of bilinguals. According to Gass and Selinker, early bilingual is defined as someone who has acquired two languages early in childhood. She is also described as dominant bilingual, who is someone with greater proficiency in one of his or her languages and uses it significantly more than the other language(s), because she uses English at most of her time on the daily basics. Moreover, she can be defined as an ascendant bilingual, who is someone whose ability to function in a second language is developing due to increased use (2013, p. 27). It is so impressed that you can defined a person with many types of bilinguals they can be based on their language fluency ability.
ReplyDeleteReferences:
Gass, S. (2013). Second language acquisition: An introductory course. New York: Routledge.
Thank you for watching my video, Trinny! I completely agree that there are so many different labels a person can have, based on their language fluencies. Rowland (2014) states that “just like monolingual children, bilingual children are affected by the amount of language that they hear. The more language a child hears, the quicker she will develop language” (p. 193). With this being said, it becomes a given that if a child uses one language more than another, that they will be more proficient in it.
DeleteReferences:
Rowland, C. (2014). Understanding child language acquisition. New York: Routledge.
Great interview. Once clarification. Code switching or using words from English when speaking Spanish is not the same as Spanglish which is the use of English words following Spanish morphology such as mopiar, troca, mol,.
ReplyDeleteThank you for watching my interview and for the clarification. Although Mary uses code switching and speaks Spanglish, I incorrectly made a connection between the two. Spanglish is more closely linked to cross linguistic influences, an area of second language acquisition I seem to have overlooked. I draw a connection between the two because cross linguistic influences have also been found “occurring in the opposite direction, from the L2 to the L1” (Ortega, 2011, p. 50). As you stated, Spanglish is the use of English words following Spanish morphology, and thus Mary’s L2, English, is having an impact on her L1, Spanish.
DeleteReferences:
Ortega, L. (2011). Understanding second language acquisition. London: Routledge.