Video Entry 1
While most of my family is fluent in both Spanish and English, I am not. Both of my brothers learned Spanish in school, while my parents learned it from my grandparents. Ortega (2013) states second language acquisition explores the how much a person can learn another language after learning the first. I am curious to know if my brothers' success in learning Spanish late in life is a coincidence, while my failure is not or vice versa. When I met other Hispanics like myself, who only know English, it makes it nice to know that I am not the only person who does not have that connection with their heritage. I hope I will eventually become fluent in Spanish because it would be nice to have a complete conversation with my grandmother and the rest of my family. Ortega (2013) also proclaims that children complete acquiring the basics of language by age six. It leads me to wonder if most adults miss their chance at fluency if they do not obtain a second language by this age. Throughout elementary onto high school, I did not know a lot of people who knew more than one language, however once I moved on to college, I found a lot more people knew at least English and Spanish. Most of them learned both languages at an early age and very few learned Spanish while in high school. This seems to suggest that adults do in fact lose their chance if they do not learn while they are children.
Hi Veronica, to begin, I would say it is not suprising to me that the classes that you took throughout your life were not successful at making you a biligual speaker. After all, the bulk of language is acquired between 18 months and three to four years of age. (Ortega 2013). However, I do believe that a certain amount of emersion, especially by spending time with your family, could help you learn the language and become fluent, and perhaps your grandmother would enjoy hearing you speak in her native tongue. It is however, really amazing that you learned so much after your Spanish courses.
ReplyDeleteIt’s interesting to think that the bulk of language is acquired between 18 months to 4 years of age. Gass and Selinker explain first language acquisition which is where a child begins to learn their primary language (2013, p. 30). They describe a child’s journey to speaking by going through the different phases children use when trying to communicate. The children learns different sounds, pronunciations, and syntax. In the same way to second language acquisition, a person beginning to learn a new language must go through almost the same process. However, people can make connections between languages where as children cannot.
DeleteGass, S. (2013). Second language acquisition: An introductory course. Routledge.
Hi Cierra, you are completely correct, my grandmother would love for me to speak to her in Spanish and I have made steps to do so but have not been persistent as I would like in my endeavor. The bulk of language is acquired between 18 months and 4 years of age but Krashen, Long, and Scarcella found evidence that adults and older children learn more of a second language at a faster pace than younger children although it mentions it could be due to maturity (Ortega, 2013). While true, I learned quite a bit of Spanish in school, I did retain my knowledge.
DeleteReferences:
Ortega, L. (2013). Understanding second language acquisition. Routledge
Hello Veronica, Amanda here, thank you for sharing your video and reflection with us! I really enjoyed learning about your family, particularly, about your family dynamics regarding language. I am monolingual and fluent in English. However, my son's father had a very similar home environment in which Spanish was the native language of his parents. It is interesting to see how some of the siblings became bilingual in both Spanish and English, while other siblings did not. It is interesting for me to hear you say that you can understand Spanish but have difficulty speaking Spanish. Again, reflecting at my son's father, he is very similar in that way. I really liked that you commented throughout your video connecting the dots and acknowledging that at times in your learning (Spanish) there was a lack of motivation. Ortega explains factors that assist in individual differences. Ortega states that two essential individual differences are an individual's language aptitude and motivation. Language aptitude refers more to a cognitive basis and motivation links to social psychological basis (Ortega, 2013, p.9). Therefore, perhaps this helps account for the differences between your Second Language Acquisition versus your siblings. My take away from your video is that you appeared less motivated to learn Spanish in Middle School and High School because of the technique of teaching to the test and the teacher calling you by the wrong name. By the way, that is terrible! Yet, when you were in college, you seemed to be more motivated to learn because of the relevancy and connections to the real world. In conclusion, perhaps Ortega has presented valuable insight to factors that explain such individual differences.
ReplyDeleteI think the reason I was able to understand Spanish was because my grandmother would only speak to me in Spanish when I was younger - at this point she was learning English - however, I would only speak English, setting precedent for our future. However, I am far from perfect in understanding Spanish. Second Language learners are more resolved in their First Language pattern recognition (Ortega 2013). As I grew older, I would have trouble understanding her though inflection.
DeleteAs teachers, it is important for us to understand that age plays a big role in a child’s ability to learn a second language. I want to teach 5th grade students, and it will be a lot more difficult for a student in this grade to acquire a second language than it would be for a kindergarten student that is just beginning their formal education. Ortega discusses the critical period for language development in children, which is from birth to around 4 years of age (Ortega, 2013, p. 22). You also talked about patience, and I believe that plays a huge role in educating. As teachers, we cannot get frustrated by a student’s limited English proficiency. You and I both would need be understanding that it is difficult to learn a second language considering that we are only fluent in one.
ReplyDeleteAge makes a large difference in capability to learn another language in addition to the first. In 1999, James Fledge found "phonetic categories or mental representations of speech... are stabilized by age five to save. After that point, new phonetic contrasts will be processed through such an L1 filter, making it more difficult to [learn a second language]" (Ortega, 2013). This rings true for your example of learning a second language in kindergarten as compared to fifth grade.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteMorgan brings up really interesting points. However, I believe that, despite having lost the "window of opportunity" for learning a language, people can still achieve this (Ortega, 2013). Personally, I am only fluent in English, with only a limited, basic understanding of Japanese and Spanish, with an even less successful understanding in French. I think that students, regardless of age, can and do learn languages so long as there is a strong motivation to do so.
DeleteAs teachers, if we were to create an environment where acquiring second-languages was not only encouraged, but cultivated, would this help increase motivation? What do you think Veronica? Is this something we can realistically do as teachers, and if so, how?
I truly believe if we put an emphasis on learning a second language where it is "encouraged" and "cultivated" it would unmistakably increase motivation. After all, we are in the minority for for growing up speaking only one language (Ortega 2013). My uncle has lived all over the world and said most children and adults he encountered on his travels knew English in addition to the native country's language. I am not completely sure as to what we would do other than educate them as to how the rest of the world learns at least one other language.
Delete