Link to my video: https://youtu.be/XtrWewSE3Lw
I interviewed my boyfriend's mother Herminia Bello who was born and raised in Sonora, Mexico. She did not come to the United States or begin to learn English until she was 13 years old. Mrs. Bello mentions one of the biggest struggles she had while learning English, and something she still struggles with now, is the phonology and pronunciation of the English words. "Ironically, then, foreign accents may arise‘ not because one has lost the ability to learn to pronounce, but because one has learned to pronounce the L1 so well" (Ortega, 2013, p. 23). While trying to pronounce words in English Mrs. Bello has a very strong accent that is very detectable in the vblog video. I think this is because she spoke only Spanish for 13 years before being introduced to English so she really knows "Spanish so well" after all of those years, as Ortega mentioned in the quote above. To prove this theory Ortega also mentions, "we have said that there is clear evidence that accents are likely to develop when the L2 is first learned later in life" (Ortega, 2013, p. 23).
Something that helped Herminia be successful in learning a new language as an adolescent, in a new country, away from her family were her teachers and peers. Herminia says that her peers included her in all of the activities they participated in. She said she would just listen to them speak orally to discover new vocabulary words and meaning to words in the English Language. " Learners obtain comprehensible input mostly through listening to oral messages that interlocutors direct to them and via reading written texts that surround them, such as street signs, personal letters, books and so on" (Ortega, 2013, p. 59). As Ortega mentioned in the quote above Herminia obtained comprehensible input through listening to her teachers and peers.
Herminia story inspired me to keep trying and to have perseverance while trying to learn a new language myself. She came to the United States all by herself to live with an American family who took her in as an exchange student and attended all regular classes in high school without knowing one word in English and succeeded at learning the language fluently in just 1 short year. She was a very motivating person to chose for my interview.
Ortega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2013. Print.
Hello Tori, I enjoyed watching your video because I was able to find a lot of commonalities between Herminia’s responses and what we are learning. The most common theme I am finding among these interviews and our texts is the effect of age. Ortega states, “The evidence for a critical or sensitive period for first language acquisition in humans is strong…” (2013, pg.13). My interviewee, as well as yours, both mentioned that they believed this statement to be true. Ortega also states, “Knowing about the language benefits afforded by the environment is thus important for achieving a good understanding of how people learn additional languages,” (2013, pg.55). In Herminia’s case, she mentions that her peers impacted her learning greatly, and that their patience and kindness helped her learn English. I think a positive environment can have an impact on someone’s ability to learn a second language.
ReplyDeleteChristine,
DeleteI agree, I think the environment has a tremendous impact on successful language acquisition. In chapter eight, on motivation, it says, that motivation is, “Instrumental when pragmatic and utilitarian reasons are important, such as getting a better job or pursuing a higher level of education in the L2,” (Ortega, 2011, p.173). This sounds like the motivation that Hermenia had when she chose to come to the United States and attend college. She was a very brave and strong person to relocate to a new place and continue her English and her studies.
(Ortega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2008, Print.)
Christine,
DeleteI agree that a positive environment can have an impact on someone's ability to learn a second language. From experience, learning how to speak and write English while having support from your teachers and peers creates a more positive attitude within yourself and you become more confident and more eager to learn. With that being said, Gass and Selinker state that "The communication gap widens with the unfortunate result of noncommunication between parents and children". (Gass & Selinker, 2013, p. 28). I believe this to be true with many of the interviews. We come to the United States with a goal, to learn the language of our new home. While doing that, our parents continue to speak the native language, unable to help us with our L2 and therefore creating that gap of not knowing the language of their new home as well.
Gass, S., & Selinker, L. (2013). Second Language Acquisition: An Introductory Course
Hello Kenia, thank you for sharing your personal experiences with me. As someone who group up here only speaking English I enjoy hearing the thoughts of those who learned English as a second language. As a future educator I enjoyed hearing your experiences because you learned English within the education system. You were an instructed learner for English; “Instructed learners learn additional languages through formal study in school or university, through private lessons and so on,” (Ortega, 2013, pg. 6). When I have my own classroom, I will have students whom are instructed learners as well and I would like to remember that a positive and supportive environment is important, and that sometimes they might be going home where a different language is spoken.
DeleteHello Stacy, I completely agree with you. I think environment can have a huge impact on learning a second language, and our texts have supported this as well. Ortega states, “In the end, these other recent strands of research suggest that a number of environmental… and socio-affective factors… may mutually interact and become important predictors of success at earlier as well as later starting ages,” (2013, pg. 27). I believe since she was in a positive environment she was supported her and helped her stay motivated to learn English.
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ReplyDeleteThe person I chose to interview also came to the United States in her teenage years. Unlike Ruth in my interview, your boyfriend’s mother Hermenia began school in all English-speaking classes. That must have been difficult. Mrs. Bell does have a very pronounced accent, I enjoyed listening to her speak on your video. Your subject had help with English from her teachers and peers. My subject began her public education in an ESL classroom before being transferred into the regular English-speaking classes. Both Hermenia and Ruth learned their second language within one year, in two different contexts. Gass and Selinker refer to this as coordinate bilingualism, “Someone whose two languages are learned in distinctively separate contexts,” (Gass and Selinker, 2008, p.27). They both had a language one of Spanish from their home and then they acquired their language two of English in a public-school environment.
I think Ruth was so successful and learning English because of her attitude towards learning the new language. She was motivated to try and do the best she could to do well in school. As Ortega mentions, “Indeed, knowing that many of them are highly motivated students who also enjoyed high-quality instructional experiences,” (Bongaerts, 1999, Moyer, 1999) … (Ortega, 2011. p.28) It is mentioned several times in the book as well as the videos how important motivation is in second language acquisition. Our two subjects did well in their L2 acquisition because they wanted to. It was their choice to well in their L2, they were not just fulfilling a school credit.
Gass, Susan M., and Selinker, Larry. Second Language Acquisition. New York: Routledge, 2008. Print.
Ortega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2011. Print.
Stacey, I agree that with both of our subjects motivation and peers were a commonality they shared that helped them learn their L2 English. "Knowing about the language benefits afforded by the environment is thus important for achieving a good understanding of how people learn additional languages,” (Ortega,2013, pg.55). As stated above Ortega mentions that when learners see the impacts and benefits of knowing the new language has on their surrounding environment it helps motivate them and I find this to be true for both Herminia and Ruth.
DeleteOrtega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2013. Print.
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ReplyDeleteI appreciated that Mrs. Bello shared some much about her personal experience. Start speaking English until she was thirteen, and from what it sounds like, she was a foreign exchange student in high school. Her host family was very patient and kind, and the family’s four children attended school with her. Therefore there were ample opportunities to socialize. She mentioned that every day she looked forward to attending her Spanish class with Mr. Gibson, and that is where she learned the most English. In this environment, she got to learn from and teach other students, while being surrounded by comprehensible input, adjacent to her native language. Mr. Gibson had knowledge of Spanish, so he was also capable of providing comfort and support. All of these aspects combined with her eagerness to learn the language are reminiscent of sentiments from Schmidt. “Schmidt concluded that positive attitudes and an optimal environment will afford the linguistic data needed for learning, but that the learning will not happen unless the learner engages in active processing of those data. In other words, grammar acquisition cannot be successful without applying ‘interest’, ‘attention’ and ‘hard work” (Ortega, 2009, p. 58). Fortunately, Mrs. Bello enlisted all of these qualities while learning her second language.
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