Entry 1: Introduction
Hi my name is Nancy Escobar, I am going into my senior year at the University of Houston. I plan on graduation spring 2019 and I am eager to start my student teaching semester this fall!
Click here to watch my introductory video.
Click here to watch my introductory video.
As explained
by Ortega, we tend to learn at least one more new language at some point in our
lifetime due to certain circumstances (2013). I am proof of this idea due to
the fact that even though I first learned Spanish, I still had to learn English
because going to school in the United States one has to communicate for the
majority of one's academic life in English. In addition, I must say that being
able to learn a second language at a young age has made it possible to learn
more than two languages. For example, in high school I took French class and I
was surprised to see the many similarities between French, Spanish, and English.
As mentioned by Ortega, many different languages despite their differences
share common fundamentals, which is why it can be easier to understand and catch
on to other languages after you have learned two or more (2013). As
well, after reading the first chapter, Ortega mentions that bilinguals or
multilinguals are actually those who learned a second language by the age of
four, or have been speaking two or more languages by the age of four simultaneously
(2013). I found this interesting since there is a thin line between what
bilingualism is and what second language acquisitions is. This means that
technically I would fall under the study of second language acquisition rather
than bilingualism since I had not acquired any other language besides Spanish
by the age of four until I stared preschool.
References:
Ortega, L. (2013). Understanding second language acquisition. Routledge.
References:
Ortega, L. (2013). Understanding second language acquisition. Routledge.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteNice to meet you Nancy. I find the connections you were able to make between French, Spanish, and English very interesting. I have not learned, or taken classes for, another language other than Spanish and English, but I do believe I have an easier time understanding other Romance languages because I know those two languages. Such languages I have encountered include French and Portuguese. In all honesty, if I keep encountering these languages outside of school, I may become a naturalistic L2 learner, per Ortega’s definition (2013, p. 6). The similarities between certain languages are great and I hope to use that to my advantage in order to learn a third language.
ReplyDeleteI would also like to point out that it is fascinating to learn that my classmates know more than one language. Similar to Ortega, I find it interesting “how bilingual speakers switch and alternate between their two (or more) languages” (2013, p. 4). I, personally, have difficulty switching from my dominant language, English, to my less dominant language, Spanish. However, in more informal settings I can easily switch between the two and use them simultaneously, as I do not have to worry about being proper. I would like to know if you have had such experiences, or if you have had trouble alternating between languages, and the unique challenges knowing three languages might have depending on the situation at hand.
References:
Ortega, L. (2013). Understanding second language acquisition. Routledge.
Hi Yazmin, thanks for your comment! To answer your question, yes, I do find myself having to switch from both Spanish and English quite a bit with my friends and family who speak both languages. When I don't know a word or a phrase in English I'll say it in Spanish and vice versa. As for French, I only practiced it in high school so I really don't remember much anymore. Ortega states that although adults have a better chance of learning L2 faster than younger children, this only lasts for short-term unlike younger children who might take longer but will learn the language for long-term, which is what I believe happened to me with French (2013).
DeleteThank you for responding. I, too, have found myself replacing words I do not know in English with ones in Spanish, and vice versa. Gass refers to this “common phenomenon among bilingual speakers as code-switching, which essentially refers to the use of more than one language in the course of a conversation” (2013, p. 29). However, we have come to informally call this practice “speaking Spanglish,” which would be the code-switching between English and Spanish specifically. It is actually interesting that you bring up this topic considering that “why one cannot keep languages and interlanguages apart and why the mixing and merging of various languages known and being learned occurs are issues at the heart of research on multilingualism” (Gass, 2013, p. 22).
DeleteReferences:
Gass, S. (2013). Second language acquisition: An introductory course. New York: Routledge.
Great video Nancy. You had a very cool upbringing, I wish I would have been able to learn another language as a child. Ortega (2013) talks about "Naturalistic learners" who are individuals who have a mother language and learned another language informally. It is really beneficial to learn be taught as a "Naturalistic learner" because the cognition that is used is taught informally and is probably retained much more effcienctly. For example, you living in Mexico and speaking Spanish at home with your family gave you a better sense of the language than if you were to just study Spanish. Again, I am jealous that my parents were not able to teach me another language when I was a child.
ReplyDeleteReferences:
Ortega, L. (2013). Understanding second language acquisition. Routledge.
Hi Jerome, thanks for your comment! You know it's never too late to learn a new language! Although being a naturalistic learner at a young age seems to be the most effective way to learn a new language as mentioned by Ortega through everyday experiences (2013). Ortega also mentions that between young children and adults, adults have a greater advantage at learning L2 through instruction (2013, p.17). Therefore, it would be nice to be exposed to it naturally, but through our advanced cognitive skills it's still possible.
DeleteThat is true. Even though I do not believe I can actually "speak" Spanish. I do know words and phrases from when I was growing up in Las Vegas. I worked at a fast food restaraunt and worked with some employees who were Mexican and from just being around them and interacting with them I learned a few basic words and phrases. Ortega (2011) talks about the universal influences that help shape the path to learning another language. "Among these, the most important and well-studied sources of universal influence are age, mother tounge, enivornment and cognition." (p. 9) So by just being in that enviornment at work I was exposed to Spanish more and in a more naturalistic setting as oppose to a more instructed setting.
DeleteHi Nancy. I found your video to be really interesting. You said learning another language at a young age made it possible for you to learn another language. Ortega (2013) talks about "critical and sensitive" sense of age for second language acquisition, where it best to learn the second language before a certain age, which supports how you are fluent in both Spanish and English. I learned how to speak Spanish throughout middle school to college yet I could not hold on to my knowledge of the language. Perhaps if I learned within the critical age, I would be fluent as well.
ReplyDeleteReferences:
Ortega, L. (2013). Understanding second language acquisition. Routledge.
Hi Veronica, thanks for your comment! I do believe that age has an important role on the level of proficiency one has on the language, nevertheless Ortega does mention that in some cases even children who begin to learn a second language at a very early age will not be as successful if they don't live up to the expectations and therefore, " present low L2-use profiles" (2013, p. 26). Perhaps this is what happens to the some second language learners who can feel discouraged and then just loose the motivation to keep practicing.
DeleteReferences:
Ortega, L. (2013). Understanding second language acquisition. Routledge.
Nancy, I think you story is very inspiring. The fact that you started out speaking Spanish, and then you were thrown into an English-speaking pre-school but overcame that language barrier is amazing. I think it helped that you started learning English both English and Spanish at a very young age. Ortega Stated that while it may take children longer to learn the language, they retain the information much easier (Ortega 2013, pg.16). I think this is why you are still able to speak and understand both languages fluently. What I was shocked at was when you said that English was actually your stronger language. Considering you spoke Spanish first, why do you think this is?
ReplyDeleteReference:
Ortega, L. (2013). Understanding second language acquisition. Routledge.
Hi Haylee, thanks for your comment! To answer your question, I find English to be my dominant language mostly in part because I didn't have the opportunity to practice speaking, reading, and writing in Spanish at school even though I had bilingual classes at first because the focus was most on learning English. You would think that it was enough that I used Spanish at home every day, but it wasn't because there was so much more around me that was in English. I believe I am what Rowland states as a balanced bilingual whose "competence may differ according to the situation" (2014, p.176). Therefore, if you ask me to speak and read in Spanish I can with minor errors, but please don't ask me to write in Spanish.
DeleteReferences:
Rowland, Caroline. Understanding Child Language Acquisition. New York: Routledge,
2014. (Chapter 7)
Hey Nancy! It’s really amazing how you were able to catch on to English at such a fast pace growing up. According to Rowland, Volterra and Taeschner had created a three-stage model of bilingual development (2014, p.177). In this model it stated that in stage one, children had one language system where words are learned from both languages. At this stage, children use the languages intertwined and without separation. In stage two, children are able to distinguish languages but not able to use different syntactic rules. It isn’t until the third stage where they begin to use two separate lexicons and systems of grammar. There is no time span listed for these stages so im assuming that this is just a general three stage model of bilingual development.
ReplyDeleteReferences:
Rowland, Caroline. Understanding Child Language Acquisition. New York: Routledge, 2014. (Chapter 7)
Hi Nancy! Having been thrown into an English speaking classroom at a young age, I can relate to your story of being thrown in during your pre-school years. I find it interesting that you pointed out that technically you are not considered bilingual due to you learning English at a later age. Ortega points out that there are differences between bilingual acquisition and second language acquisition. “SLA often favours the study of late-starting acquirers, whereas bilingualism favours the study of people who had a very early start with their languages,” so you would be correct in stating that you are not technically bilingual (Ortega, p.4). Knowing the difference between the two fields of study is extremely important, especially in a classroom setting. I think that we so often rely on the use of “bilingualism” that we often do not see the bigger picture.
ReplyDelete