Entry 2- L2 Interview.
For my entry 2 I decided to interview my older brother. It was interesting to hear about his learning experience, even though we grew up in somewhat the same situation. The link to my interview is below, enjoy!
Interview Reflection
For
this entry I decided to interview my older brother Armando. We both grew up
in the same household, but since he is older we grew up at different times so I
would think he had a different experience. This interview allowed me to learn a
little more and see the differences between my brother and I’s language
development.
In
this interview my brother explained how he learned English at around the age of four. He said that watching a lot of cartoons on television was what really
helped him learn how to speak the language. He would hear the characters’
voices and how they would pronounce words. Another thing that he mentioned was that he learned English by being immersed in a classroom with many
students who only knew English. This is exactly what was discussed in the video
Why Is Learning a New Language Harder
After Childhood (2010). In this video it was mentioned that some students
learn by immersion and there is fake and true immersion. I think although my
brother was not fully immersed in the language 24/7 he was partly immersed in
it for most of the day. I think this mixed with the the instructional way
(Ortega, 2013) he learned in school helped him develop his language better.
Another
point that he stated was how translating words was a little difficult for him. He
said how our parents would say words using the rules they learned for Spanish
and that would cause him to say words incorrectly. This was best explained in
the video titled Transfer in Second
Language Acquisition (2014) when it was said that “depending on what
language your starting from the mistakes you make in your L2 will be different”.
I think this is why he would make mistakes when translating words in English.
He would use the rules and words he would learn in Spanish, and although they
were correct in Spanish, they are not correct in English.
In
conclusion, I think this interview was a very interesting learning experience. Now
Armando feels like he is more fluent in English. Although he speaks Spanish
regularly at home he is exposed more to English. This assignment has made me
look at learning development in a different way, and I have learned a lot through
it.
References
Ortega, Lourdes. (2011). Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge
The Ling Space. (2014). Transfer in Second Language Acquisition. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UB18y2ZYBiY
Why Is Learning a New Language Harder After Childhood. (2010). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DryHvm8-jxw
Hi Axa,
ReplyDeleteAccording to your interview with your brother, you can tell that he learned through a naturalistic way. This is when people learn through informal opportunities without receiving actual instruction on the language (Ortega, 2013, pg. 6). He says he learned English and picked a lot of it up from watching TV shows and hearing it spoken around him. He was immersed in the language when he was put in day care and pre-K. I think this sped up his rate of learning the L2 because he had to learn the language in order to communicate with his teachers and peers. I relate to him because I also learned English through immersion in day care and schooling. I had to take ESL classes, I was wondering if he had to take an ESL class too? Your brother says that he think he is more fluent in English now, do you feel the same way?
Hey Jenny,
DeleteI think my brother learned English through a combination of naturalistic and instructional way. He had a combination of both since he had to take an ESL class when he was younger. Just like Ortega mentioned, I think the combination of both is what helped him become more fluent in English now. I agree with my brother in the sense that I think I am more fluent in English as well. I think this is because I am immersed in that language more than in Spanish.
Axa,
ReplyDeleteYour video was a pleasure to watch. When my cousin came from Syria about 15 or so years ago, she would watch a lot of Disney Channel, notably Lizzie McGuire. I remember her telling me years ago that watching a lot of television was a big help. I definitely agree with this. Whenever I feel my Arabic gets a bit rusty or so, I start watching more Arabic soap operas, and it helps a lot. I agree with your reflection that depending on the environment and what language is spoken more, that language will become the more dominant one, for obvious reasons. It also seemed that your brother had lots of motivation, which is effort and desire put into a new language to learn it and use it (Ortega, 2011). Your brother had to learn it to be able to communicate with friends and teachers, which is more than enough motivation to learn a language, especially at a young age.
Great video!
Hey Hussein,
DeleteI think it’s so funny how your cousin used to watch Lizzie McGuire because I remember loving that show when I was growing up. I think it is true how Ortega says that motivation is a big factor when learning a new language. My brother always liked being at the top of his class that I think that was a big push for him to learn the language faster.
Hello Axa,
ReplyDeleteI really admire the interview with your older brother . I find it very clever how you used a family member to interview for this blog . Unlike you , I spent my time looking for people to do this interview with me. I never thought once of using my own family . I wish I could go back and do this assignment all over again . Your older brother experience reminded me of one of my cousin . He learned English through watching enormous of cartoons . In my opinion , I think T.V is a great resource to use to pick up a new language . You can see and hear the language at the same time . I learned working with English Language learners the best strategy is to use visualize . I see that your brother had trouble sometimes transferring ideas from L1 to L2 . Ortega stated , " knowledge of the L1 impacts on L2 acquisition subtly and selectively ., sometimes resulting in strikingly different negative and positive consequences " ( Ortega , 2013 , pg.31 ) . I think that might have cause some of his trouble . I want to know your experience to see if there is any similar things between you and your brother .
Hey Emmanuel,
DeleteLike Ortega mentioned my brother’s L1 had a very big impact on how he learned English. I think we both had the same issues when it came to that. We learned some rules and pronunciation in Spanish that when translated to English were incorrect. I think this is the biggest difficulty my brother and I had when it came to speaking English.
Emmanuel,
DeleteI thought that interviewing was a great idea as well! We all have our own viewpoints about reality, but sometimes "reality" looks different from others' perspectives. I, also, had never thought of television as a visual aid for language acquisition! The students are able to be see what the characters are saying while also hearing the language. I know that Dora the Explorer was useful for both of my daughters because they could see the item that was being said. It was also useful that they would normally follow the Spanish word with the English word. I know most research shows that visuals can be helpful for ELLs with vocabulary and having them watch television shows, i.e. watching The Magic Schoolbus for support in content matter in science, may be a useful tool for myself in a future classroom.
Nice video! Armando mentioned that he struggled with grammar when it comes to speaking and writing in English, being that he never had that foundation. I think it is so important that he mentioned that, because it shows a direct relation to how it is necessary to know grammar because it helps with your linguistic skills (Gass & Selinker). Grammar, regardless of the country or the language, is the foundation for communication. Being that he missed out on that I can see why he feels that he feels like he struggles . Grammar provides you with the structure you need in order to organize and put your messages and ideas across. It is the railway through which your messages will be transported. Without it, in the same way as a train cannot move without railways, you won’t be able to convey your ideas to their full extension without a good command of the underlying grammar patterns and structures of the language. What do you think about your brother and his struggles with grammar? Do you believe that grammar paves the way to learn a language successfully?
ReplyDelete