I came into this class knowing very little about second language acquisition. The most I knew about SLA, was the idea it was better to learn a language at a young age due to personal experience. I am leaving this class understanding second language acquisition is so much more than when is the best age to learn another language. SLA is a combination of age, linguistic environment and more, but overall it is "scholarly field of inquiry that investigates the human capacity to learn languages other than the first, during late childhood, adolescence or adulthood, and once the first languages has been acquired" (Ortega, 2013, p. 1-2).
There are a number of factors that effect how a person learns a second language. Ortega defines this as universal influences compromised of "age, mother tongue, environment, and cognition" (2013, p. 9). The factor that stood out to me most was the linguistic environment because it plays a large roll in how a student learns their second language. More specially, Mackey's "positive findings for the link between interaction and acquisition" (Ortega, 2013, p. 65). In her study, she found the English language learners encouraged to communicate and interact were those who showed the most progress. Therefore, as teachers we should encourage our ESL students to speak in English and interact with their peers. If our ESL students consistently interact, they will gain longterm benefits (Ortega, 2013).
I found the age to be another interesting factor because it corrected my thought it is easier to learn a second language a younger age. For example, Snow and Hoefnagel-Höhle (1977, 1978) found "that adults and adolescents were better than children in a 25-minute instruction session" (Ortega, 2013, p. 16). Although, "younger is better in the long run," it surprised me to learn there were any findings where adults learners had an advantage over younger learners (Ortega, 2013, p. 16). However, I found it most surprising that those who learn from eleven to seventeen keep their advantage over young learners because it is older than young learners and younger than adult learners (Ortega, 2013). When I become a teacher, I shouldn't be discouraged if my students are having a hard time learning the English because eventually they will catch up.
I was wary of the vblogs process at first, but I have found the process to be decidedly informational in all aspects. Creating the videos and then reflecting upon them gave me an opportunity to connect what I have learned from the book and from someone who has gone through the process. Reading other people's vblogs and their comments to my post furthered my knowledge because some of them made connections I did not make. I particularly liked the interview aspect because everyone has a different story and it gives us multiple real life examples.
Overall, I enjoyed this course. It allowed for a level of understanding very few courses are able to induce. There will be second language learners in my future classroom and this course will help understand them. I learned a lot from this class and my peers I am delighted to take part of this course.
Ortega, L. (2013). Understanding second language acquisition. Routledge.
