Blog entry video 1: https://youtu.be/TnqTTeO5e1U
As a monolingual, I sometimes fear how I will be able to best
assist my ELL students in my classroom. An ELL (English Language Learner) is a
student who is learning English as a new language. In other words, English is
not their first language. “Human language manifests itself in spoken, signed
and written systems across more than 6,500 languages documented to date” (Ortega,
2011, p.2). This number was shocking to me. Students can come to school
speaking any one of these 6,500 languages, and it is our job as educators to
assist them in learning academic content area language even though their L1 is
not English. The great thing about this is although there are 6,500 different languages,
acquisition of learning a new language can be taught in the same way regardless
of what the child’s L1 language is.
For me, as someone born and raised in the United States and who comes from a family of all English speakers, it is important for me to understand language on a deeper level to be able to relate to these ELL students. “A different approach to explaining language as a human faculty is to ask not what or how, but whence and why questions: Whence in the evolution of the human species did language originate and why?” (Ortega, 201, p.2). Focusing on the evolution of language first, will help me take steps in moving towards teaching a new language to students. By researching and reading more about the evolution of language I can start to make connections between English and the other languages my students may speak to compare the similarities and differences between the languages which will better prepare me to teach them.
For me, as someone born and raised in the United States and who comes from a family of all English speakers, it is important for me to understand language on a deeper level to be able to relate to these ELL students. “A different approach to explaining language as a human faculty is to ask not what or how, but whence and why questions: Whence in the evolution of the human species did language originate and why?” (Ortega, 201, p.2). Focusing on the evolution of language first, will help me take steps in moving towards teaching a new language to students. By researching and reading more about the evolution of language I can start to make connections between English and the other languages my students may speak to compare the similarities and differences between the languages which will better prepare me to teach them.
Ortega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge,
2011. Print.
Hello Torri,
ReplyDeleteI found it very interesting that although you grew up 100% monolingual and were surrounded by family who spoke only English, you found yourself learning how to speak another language later down in life. Ortega states “whether we grow up with one, two or several languages, in most cases we will learn additional languages later in life” (Ortega, 2013, p.1). I believe that the many years that you have taken Spanish courses has helped you greatly, especially on your Mexico trips! As I continued to watch your video, I noticed that you stated that your experiences with learning Spanish in middle school and high school were very different. I can definitely relate to you. My Spanish course experience was much similar to your high school experience. Although I was already fluent in Spanish when I was taking the course, I still found it difficult for me, even as a Spanish speaker, and noticed that my teacher did speak fast, much like yours. I too, remember having a lot of worksheets. I agree with you that it would’ve been helpful for our teachers to first speak in English, then translate it to Spanish.
References: Ortega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2013. Print
I am sad to hear that you had the same difficult experience as me with your Spanish in class. I think doing the worksheets was the cause of this difficulty because I do not believe it was the right strategy to use. Effective was to teach language is often debated. "This is the question of effective instruction, which plays out across many educational contexts in the form of tensions between formal and experiential approaches to learning" (Ortega, 2013, p. 8). Formal approaches are things like worksheets and memorizing vocabulary. I believe experiential approaches like surrounded students with other native speakers is the best approach.
DeleteOrtega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2013. Print
Tori,
ReplyDeleteI, like you, are monolingual and wonder about my success in helping L2 learners to succeed in school. Different studies show different success rates depending on the age that a second language is introduced. In chapter two, in a study done at both Harvard University and New York University it was reported that after studying younger and older L2 learners that the,” then young starters were clearly better than adult starters” Susan Oyama (1976) and Mark Patowski (1980) (Ortega, 2011, p.20). According to these results, this makes it very important that as teachers we do all we can to help L2 learners be successful. I enjoyed your blog, enjoy the rest of your year.
Ortega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2011. Print.
I agree Stacey, I am monolingual and question how successful I will be with keeping L2 students successful. I wonder if maybe I could take an online course to learn some Spanish but then think how not all our L2 student’s L2 will be Spanish. Even with that said, according to Ortega (2013), when a second language is learned at a younger age the child learns slower than adults. In other words, children who grow up learning L2 they have the ability to mature cognitively rather than taking a class.
DeleteStacey I agree with the study you mentioned that says that the younger starters were better than adults. This is a little discouraging since I am already an adult and wanting to learn Spanish now but I have hope after reading what Ortega says. "Whether we grow up with one, two, or several languages in cases we will learn additional languages later in life" (Ortega, 2013, p.1). After reading this it motivated me to continue trying to learn Spanish since most people end up learning 2 by the end of their lives.
DeleteOrtega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2013. Print
Rachel, although you are right that the student will learn at a slower rate at a younger age Ortega also states that a younger student will retain more information (2013). I think that students should be required to take their required foreign language classes at a younger age, than being required to take it in high school. I think that I would have retained more of the Spanish language that way.
DeleteHey Tori, I can relate to your experience with your Spanish class in high school. I had a difficult time picking up on the content because of the way I was being taught. Like we have learned in our past education courses, having strategies in place are important to learning. According to Ortega (2011), “…strategies are conscious mental and behavioral procedures that people engage in with the aim to gain control over their learning process” (pg. 208). Including different learning strategies will be a great way to reach every student. Not all students learn by the same strategy so teaching it in different strategies is great learning opportunity for the students.
ReplyDeleteRachel, I agree with that it is important for teachers to teach students good strategies to use in order to develop a new language and other content area knowledge. Another factor that has been proven to help acquire knowledge on top of strategies is being an intrinsic learner and getting involved in your own learning process. "These early findings quickly indicated that beyond natural language ability (i.e. aptitude) and personal commitment to learning (i.e. motivation), these ‘good’ learners were also characterized by a high degree of active involvement in their own learning processes (Ortega, 2013, p. 208). To get students to be involved in their own learning processes I think it is important to teach them why learning the new language is important.
DeleteOrtega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2013. Print
Chao Tori. Having origins in different countries, have you ever felt inclined to learn Italian. Intrinsic motivation is the strongest predictor when learning a second language and it wonder if having a connection to Italy due to your ancestors motivates you to learn this language.
ReplyDeleteHola Dr. Avellaneda,
DeleteAlthough my ancestors are from Italy I have actually never had a strong motivation to learn the language because sadly I do not think it would be that useful to me here in America. I hear more people speaking Spanish than I do Italian, so I think I could benefit from learning Spanish more. Ortega states, "Among these, the most important and well-studied sources of universal influence are age, mother tongue, environment and cognition" (2013, p.9). For me, the source that motivates me to want to learn Spanish as my L2 is my environment.
Ortega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2013. Print
Good point. However, sometimes we feel incline to learn a language instrinsically and sometimes that comes from a inside desire to learn the language of your ancestors, even if that language is not very useful in the context where you are.
DeleteHi Tori! I found that me and you are alike in the sense that we have both learned more Spanish by being around others than in an actual classroom. Ortega says, "Naturalistic learners learn the L2
ReplyDeletethrough informal opportunities in multicultural neighbourhoods, schools and workplaces, without ever receiving any organized instruction on the workings of the language they are learning." (2013) You have been fortunate to be in Mexico and around those who speak Spanish and its great to see that you have used your resources.
Hi Allison,
DeleteI see that you found being around Spanish in the real world was more beneficial for learning a second language than being in the classroom. While I believe I am a naturalistic learner, and I do not agree with worksheets and memorization, some of those strategies did help me with learning the rules of the language for past and present tense. "Most people,therefore, learn additional languages from a mixture of both naturalistic and in structured experiences" (Ortega, 2013, p. 6). I think I fall under this category since I have learned Spanish in both the naturalistic and structured setting. Combing my vocabulary knowledge from surrounding myself around native Spanish speakers and taking what I learned in school has helped me able to form complete and proper sentences in Spanish.
Ortega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2013. Print
Hi Tori, I too grew up in a monolingual household. One of my biggest fears is not being able to reach the ELL's in my classroom because of a language barrier. I would hate for a truly smart student to not exceed expectations in school due to their language barrier.
ReplyDeleteI like the quote you used from Ortega (2013) about the why questions. I think understanding anything needs to be a why question answered. I don't believe that understanding of a topic can come from memorizing facts. I think a person has to know why, and by knowing how something works, or the reason behind something is the only way to truly understand the content. This was also discussed in an exerpt I read from one of Carol Tomlinson's books on lesson differentiation in the classroom. This reading was assigned for another class of mine, but I can send you a copy of the exerpt if you wish to read more on why questions. It is something I enjoyed, and thought to all aspects of academia.