Today I had the opportunity to interview
one of my friends, Ana Gonzalez. While speaking with Ana, she informed me that
she and her family moved to the United States when she was only four years old.
When they came to the United States, they lived in Texas and they have remained
here ever since. Ana was kind enough to share some background information on
what it was like to learn English as her second language, which can be seen in
the video.
In the interview, Ana spoke about some of
the difficulties she had as an English language learner, and sometimes still
struggles with today. One of the main things she struggled with, she says, was
grammar. She explains how different English and Spanish are and how a lot of
times words and phrases don’t translate the same from one to the other. Susan
Gass speaks about this in Chapter 1 of her textbook. Syntax, according to
Gassis, “…what is frequently known as grammar, referring primarily to the
knowledge we have of the order of elements in a sentence” (Gass, 2013).
Ana also spoke about what language is most
dominant for her, and she claimed that English is the language she finds
herself speaking most often. At school, work, and with her English-speaking
friends, that is the language she speaks. While at home, though, Ana speaks her
native tongue, due to the fact that her parents and other family members are
not fluent in English like she is. After Ana provided me with this information,
I was able to make the connection to what Gass mentions as “heritage language”.
Ana’s circumstances are almost identical to what Gass describes in the
textbook:
“Some learners may have been raised by parents who only spoke
the heritage language. However, as soon as they begin to attend school, ther L2
generally becomes their dominant language” (Gass, 2013).
Ana is thankful for her ability to speak
both Spanish and English, and although there might still be some syntactical
barriers at times, she has and continues to thrive in school. Speaking with Ana
helped me make real-life connections to some of the things that have been
discussed so far in this course. I am looking forward to making even more
connections during my next interview with my mentor teacher, who has and
continues to teach ESL students.
References:
Gass, S. M. (2013). Second language
acquisition: An introductory course. New York, NY: Routledge.
Hello Dani! The person I interviewed also had issues with grammar. I think that Gass said it well when explaining how we tend to take our knowledge of grammar for granted since we grew up with the language as opposed to someone who has to learn it from scratch (2013). Do you think that, as future educators, we can do something about this disparity between native speakers and second-language learners? Or is this a problem we must simply let them figure out on their own?
ReplyDeleteI am inclined to believe we can at least help our second-language learners by trying to integrate a variety of aids so that they can pick up the language - specifically the grammar and structure of the language - faster. What are your thoughts?
Hi Ila!
DeleteThank you for your response. I think the disparity between native speakers and second-language learners is something that will always exist, unless there are professionals who are trained and equipped with the knowledge to help second-language learners succeed. In addition to aids, as you said, I think it is important for teachers to be extensively and properly trained so that they are capable of teaching ELLs to the best of their ability. In addition to this, when Ortega discusses SLA he states plainly in his text that, "Using the L1 or metalanguage during these events may aid learning" (Ortega, 2013). I think that allowing ELLs to use their native tongue as needed is necessary for them to learn to the best of their ability. If there are strict rules that prevent this from happening, the question then becomes, "Is this really the most accurate way to teach?".
Ortega, L. (2013). Understanding second language acquisition. Routledge.
I am glad we agree on the disparity. It is something I hope to focus on in the future, and agree that there should be more professionals working on closing the opportunity and ability gaps for our students. I think that, if we can close these gaps early on, they will be far easier to work with as our students progress into high school. I have grown to hate the logic behind Ortega's "critical period" and found the recent video essay the professor gave us informative - especially the fact that there are different definitions and hypotheses behind each idea of when the "critical period" is (2016).
DeleteAnd I love your point about what is deemed "necessary" v. "alienating". Personally, completely restricting the use of native languages sounds excessive. I think it undermines the student's already established connection to their family and any social groups who also speak the language.
Hi again Ila!
DeleteI think the undermining you spoke about is a very real thing when the restricted use of a native language takes place. Susan M. Gass talks about "heritage language" in her text. She states that, "Heritage language speakers are, broadly speaking, those who have been exposed to a language of personal connection" (Gass, 2013). In some cases, since this is primarily the language that is spoken at home, I am hopeful that ELLs continue to speak their native tongue regardless of the restricted use at school. But I can't help but think that unfortunately this is not the case and that sometimes students lose their heritage language.
Gass, S. M. (2013). Second language acquisition: An introductory course. New York, NY: Routledge.
ReplyDeleteHi Dani!I found it interesting that Ana mentions her struggles with grammar, as an ELL, I too struggled and continue to struggle with grammar as Ana does. Gass and Selinker discuss that “it is important to note that syntax is complex, often abstract and in many instances difficult to describe (Gass & Selinker, p.11).” As a Spanish speaker, I can understand the mixing of sentence structures that can occur and that “for many speakers of English these are strange sounding, for others they are perfectly acceptable (Gass and Selinker, p.11).” I have found in my field placement that this is occurs often with children and that it continues to occur even into adulthood. How do you think as future educators we can combat this issue with our second-language learners?
Hi Alexis, thank you for your response!
DeleteLike you, I have noticed this in my field placement as well. What I've also noticed is that when students use improper sentence structure or they have grammatical errors when speaking, it's almost as though it is a reflex for teachers to correct them (without any explanation). A native speaker might not think anything of correcting someone because, "...native speakers of a language know which are possible sentences of their language and which are not" (Gass & Selinker, 2013). The problem that arises from this reflex correcting is that there is no explanation beyond "Oh no, that's not right". So to answer your question, I believe that in order to combat this issue we first need to recognize that, as teachers, we have a responsibility to make sure that our students are not just being "corrected". They should be taught that there are rules in grammar that have certain explanations as to why they are used. We then need to put these practices into place by 1) making sure we have the proper training necessary to teach ELLs, and that this training and learning is continuous and 2) implementing the knowledge that we have about SLA in our classrooms.
Gass, S. M. (2013). Second language acquisition: An introductory course. New York, NY: Routledge.
Hi Dani! While reading your blog and watching your video, I noticed many similarities between your interviewee and mine. They both stated that they struggle with syntax, which is completely understandable. There are grammar rules that can be difficult to learn, according to Gass and Selinker “Another aspect of language that we know is how meaning is effected by moving elements within a sentence. For example, adverbs can be moved in a sentence without effecting the meaning, whereas nouns cannot” (Gass and Selinker, pg.10, 2013). Sentences can be perfectly understandable in one language, such as German and then not make sense when translated to English because of the different grammatical rules.
DeleteReference:
Gass, S., Selinker, L. (2013). Second language acquisition: An introductory course. New York: Routledge.
Hi Samantha, thank you for your reply!
DeleteI actually took Reading and Phonics Instruction with Ana in 2017 and I can remember her struggling with the phonics aspect. She spoke about this, but it wasn't included in her interview. In addition to grammar rules, phonology is an aspect that English Language Learners may tend to have trouble with.
In chapter 6 of Gass's text, she speaks about phonology and avoidance. She states, "For example, avoidance is a common L2 strategy used when a syntactic construction is recognizably beyond one’s reach" (Gass, 2013). This is something that I have certainly noticed in my field placement with my ELL students. What strategies do you think would help students overcome this "avoidance"?
Gass, S., Selinker, L. (2013). Second language acquisition: An introductory course. New York: Routledge.
Hi Danielle! Ana mentions she tried to learn Korean but she found it a lot harder than when she was younger. The rules of L1 are reflected on L2, which is called transfer (Ortega, 2013). However, Ortega states, "the order of acquisition may play a role, in the sense that perhaps the most recently learned language... shows a stronger influence than the language learned earlier" (2013, p. 50). This means English has a stronger influence in her learning Korean more than Spanish did.
ReplyDeleteOrtega, L. (2013). Understanding second language acquisition. Routledge.