Blog 4: Reflection
Hello!
First I would like to thank all of those who have participated in my blog over this semester. It was so wonderful to watch your videos and hear your perspectives!
Thank you,
Amber Hernandez
First I would like to thank all of those who have participated in my blog over this semester. It was so wonderful to watch your videos and hear your perspectives!
In this Second
Language Acquisition course I have learned quite a few things that will help me
in my goals of teaching English language learners. The theme of my
understanding of this class is that second language acquisition is influenced
by multiple pathways including age, linguistic environment, cognition, cross-linguistic
influencers, aptitude, motivation, and individual differences, among other
things. According to Ortega (2011), these universal influences help shape the
nature, pace, route and finish line in the path towards learning a second
language by mutually interacting.
The influencers that were most
highlighted for me throughout this course were age, motivation and environment.
It seemed like through my interviews these topics were covered in more depth than
just the textbook explanations because it gave me a real-life application of
the information. When it comes to L2 learning, adults and older children have
been said to have an initial advantage over younger children, however after 5
years the younger children will be able to catch up and be more successful in
the L2. Learning before puberty has been said to be the best time for someone
to learn a second language with the skill of a native speaker, however it has
been debated highly that with motivation it can be achieved (Ortega, 2011). This
along with the testimonies I have heard during the blog interviews performed by
me and my classmates leads me to conclude that it is important for me to
instill a lot of motivation into my students and my curriculum. Ortega (2011) states
that attitudes towards the formal learning context make a lasting influence on
motivation and that strategies must be intertwined with the curriculum. When it
comes to aptitude vs. motivation, it is important to remember that although a
student may not exhibit the highest aptitude for learning, the motivation may
be the thing to get them to succeed through enjoyment and consistent effort.
The environment is also a very important
part of L2 learning. There are many factors that contribute to the linguistic environment
including, but not limited to, attitudes and comprehensible input. According to
Ortega (2011), what matters in the environment is not only the physical and
social environment but how the learners process (or don’t process) linguistic data
and experience that environment. And the last influencer on L2 that stands
apart from the rest after this course is the individual differences which is
something very important to consider in your teaching of L2 learners. Some
students will experience foreign language anxiety, will be more open and have
more self-confidence, will be more willing, etc. which is important to consider
when implementing strategies.
In my own classroom I hope to
consider all of these universal influencers when I am implementing instruction
for my ELL students. I will work to create an environment where my students
feel motivated and safe to make mistakes and learn from them. I will get to
know each of my students and place effort in learning their individual
differences and needs to ensure they receive what they need to help them
succeed in second language learning. Students will also be going home to
different linguistic environments that will impact their L2 learning, it is
important for me to understand this and be aware of the support the students
require for L2 acquisition. Essentially the success of my students will be far
greater if I take into account their individual needs and provide an
environment that facilitates the L2 learning.
This course helped me gain a lot of
insight into the intertwining influences on second language learning. I liked
the blogs because it gave a lot of real life application to the information in
the text books and lecture videos. My only complaint about this class would be
the structuring of the textbooks. I found it overwhelming to try to use three
textbooks to gain the information presented through the course. It was hard for
me to feel organized when learning the content. I felt like if it weren’t for
the blogs and reading what the other students were making of the information as
well as what mine and their interviewees had to share, I would have felt a lot
more lost. However, I liked that the blogs helped clarify what seemed to be
like mountains of information. Overall, I feel this class will help me with my future
teaching second language learners and it also has helped me understand what
would help myself learn a new language as well.
Thank you,
Amber Hernandez
Hello Amber I loved how you brought up age, motivation, and environment into your reflection because I myself was also influenced by these topics. In the textbook there were several explanations for the observed age effects have been proposed and are considered plausible by different SLA researchers. Some of those researchers of a critical period explain that after a certain age, it is biologically impossible for the human brain to use the same processes that were involved in learning the L1 (Ortega, 2010, pg. 29). Instead, other methods such as reasoning and problem solving, are summoned during post-pubertal L2 learning. I sincerely thought it was quite interesting to know that age really does play a huge role when learning a new language. I myself learned my L2 growing up and I would have to say that it was easier for me to learn it at a young age compared to now because our brain works different depending what stage you are at. I think that learning English at a young age you developed the language and the grammar with time but you accomplished having it master down compared to an older age. I say this because my husband learned English already as an adult and it has been very difficult to him compared to me when I learned it at a very young age. As teachers we should be aware on how our ELL students process the new language and always motivate them as they are learning their L2.
ReplyDeleteGriselda,
DeleteYou as well as Amber mentioned motivation in your post/reply and I couldn’t agree with both of you more! As teachers, we will have to motivate our students, as you stated this to be most interesting to you. This is so because “motivation is usually understood to refer to the desire to initiate L2 learning and the efforts to sustain it” (Ortega, L. 2011. pp 168). I think throughout this entire course motivation is what stood out the most to me. I feel like experienced seeing it with our own professor and watched it as I interviewed different teachers within this class. This course has helped me view teaching from all different aspects and promoted me to want to do more. I feel as this class helped produce some very important and responsible future educators including you and Amber! I wish you both nothing but the very best in all your future endeavors!
Hello Jolie, thank you for commenting towards my most interesting topic, which is motivation. I do believe that motivation comes so far when teaching students because we as teachers should be encouraging students to learn and for example not feel embarrassed to speak their new language. Motivation will increase student’s cognitive skills and give them the ability to adapt to the new language. In my placement of student teaching I have a student who was having trouble with the grammar and syntax of the language but within time he felt confidant and this all happened because we motivated him to try.
DeleteHello Griselda and Jolie,
DeleteThanks for sharing you and your husbands experiences learning a second language. I learned from Ortega (2011), that age is a factor in difficulty learning a new language. While it is stated that students who learn a second language at an older age have an advantage over younger learners eventually, the younger learner eventually passes up the older one. So, it makes sense that your husband would have experienced more difficulty learning his new language than you did as a younger child. When you are younger it is easier and more natural for the brain to take the new information and sort it out, as when you are older it will take more effort. I think it is so interesting that although it is more difficult for the adult brain, it is still possible to attain new language at the native speakers level. I agree that it is the teachers job to encourage students to be motivated and not be afraid of practicing speaking the new language. Jolie, it is great to hear that this course has helped you view teaching from different aspects. I agree, this look on teaching focuses on what we as teachers can do to help students achieve success in a new language. It was a lot different than any of the content classes that we have taken.
Amber, I love the image of the quote you posted! I now want to have that somewhere in my future classroom. I actually never really considered talking about environment, I am glad that it did have a great impact on your learning. The environment where students learn affects the learning process, and as teachers, we need to make sure to create an environment where the students can learn (Ortega, 2011). We must do this by creating a safe and motivating environment. After all, we have learned so much about motivation and how to motivate our students. I think this is the topic that has stuck with me the most. I believe that when you are trying to motivate students, the teacher needs to really think about his/her students’ interests and apply strategies to help them get motivated. I will work my hardest to ensure my students are not just willing but wanting to learn. I am sure you will be a great teacher that truly cares for her students. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteOrtega, L. (2011). Understanding Second Language Acquisition. London and New York: Routledge.
Thank you for your reply Maisa,
DeleteI find it interesting that motivation stuck out to you the most. I agree that it was a big take away from this course. According to Kaboody (2013) teachers play a big role in the increasing or decreasing of student motivation. Part of a teachers responsibility in increasing motivation lies in the environment that the teacher creates. The teacher should aim to create a safe, positive environment that allows for the use of many strategies to reach a variety of learning styles as well as to keep things interesting. It will be hard for students to feel motivated in a classroom that causes anxiety and is boring from doing the same old drills all the time. Thank you for your compliment, I know you will take this new information and use it to help your students as well. Good luck girl, these kids are going to be lucky to have ya!
Hi Amber. I really liked how you mentioned the learning environment and their aptitude to learning. According to Ortega, “Contemporary SLA researchers who investigate aptitude and memory capacity appear to have little interest in pursuing case studies of individuals who are exceptional (with or without a pathological profile) and concentrate instead on studying within-normal ranges of individual differences in group performances (Ortega, 2011. Pg 155). There are many different ways we as teachers can measure their short term memory. By testing it, we can test their ability to learn vocabulary and their capabilities of using vocabulary. I think teachers focus so much on memorization instead of actually learning it. It is up to us future teachers to make learning fun and retainable.
ReplyDeleteOrtega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2011. Print
HI Jessica!
DeleteThank you for your comment. I think one of the biggest take away lessons from this course was the learning environment. I felt like most of the concepts in one way or another could lead back to a discussion about the environment. Take for example motivation, they say that part of motivation is affected by the environment. According to Kaboody (2013), the environmental atmosphere can determine motivation and teachers should create a safe classroom environment where students feel that they belong and are involved in the learning process. This goes to show that the environment has a big impact that can reach many aspects of second language acquisition.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHello Amber! I’m glad you also enjoyed and learned a lot from this class like I did. I also really enjoyed learning about how age is a large factor in learning a second language. I was also intrigued that the adults and older children have an initial advantage to learning a new language, but children in the long run are more successful in learning the L2 (Ortega, 2011). I also liked that motivation for students made a lasting impact on you from the class. I also find it important to understand a student’s motivation for learning a second language as this information can come in handy for us future educators as our demographics here in Houston is very diverse. Thanks for sharing your thoughts about this class!
ReplyDeleteOrtega, L. (2011). Understanding Second Language Acquisition. London and New York: Routledge.
Hi Jennie!
DeleteThank you for your comments. This class definitely has given me a lot to consider in the future when I am dealing with my ELL students. I would not consider things like their age, their influences from the first language, the environment and motivation. I like your comment about understanding what the motivation behind the student learning a second language. Whether a student is learning because of an intrinsic motivation or an extrinsic motivation can determine the success of a student as well as should determine how you present instruction to the student. The way I try to motivate a student who wants to learn because of an inner desire would be different than how I would try to motivate someone who is learning a new language based of necessity. Thank you also for sharing!
Hi Amber,
ReplyDeleteI really like that you propose motivation as the bridge to success when lower aptitude for learning is present. I cannot agree more. I always had a higher aptitude for learning without motivation and therefore was not successful. Ortega says motivational is comprised of effort, enjoyment, and investment (169). If we can increase these factors in our students there success with be present even if they have that lower aptitude. Therefore I need to find ways to implement these into my classroom as motivation is crucial for learning anything new. This also reinforces my beliefs to not give up on any students yet to tailor their learning specific to their needs.
Hello Amber. Thank you also for the great work you did with your comments and suggestions over the semester. I like your thoughts about being reflective and effective as depicted in your poster picture, as surely our course reflections have helped us in our understanding of the SLA. This will certainly help us as we move forward to help our students reach their goals. I see clearly your thoughts about SLA being influenced by the various pathways or factors, which shape the future, by mutual interaction. Surely, you would be great in your classroom as you implement what being taught in our class. I feel strongly that you will create that learning environment that influences instructions that motivates students. Keep up your scholarly and insightful writing, as I am always able to seek your points clearly.
ReplyDeleteHi Amber,
ReplyDeleteBefore this class, I had no idea how much age, location, and other factors had such a large impact on second language acquisition. Previously, I thought that learning a second language was practically impossible after a certain age. I had never actually learned anything in my languages classes throughout middle and high school, so I believed that it was impossible to acquire a new language that late in life. My views have definitely changed after taking this course.
Hello Amber,
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love that the first topic you approached was how important all of the aspects of an individual are when it comes to them learning a language. You covered almost every influence when looking at how a person learns. I agree with you that age, motivation, and environment seemed to be the biggest influences on a student when it came to language acquisition. I saw that most of the interviews I watched focused on these areas the most. This shows that the text-to-world connection seems to be verified. Ortega states, "Cognitive-interactionism is associated with the work in developmental psychology by Jean Piaget (e.g. 1974) and refers to the position that multiple internal (cognitive) and external (environmental) factors reciprocally interact (hence the word ‘interactionist’) and together affect the observed processes and outcomes of a phenomenon – in this case, additional language learning" (Ortega, 2013, p. 55). We have to take the understanding and environment of the student into consideration when supporting them.
Hi Cece!
DeleteThank you for your comments. I love that you pointed out the text-to-world connections we have experienced throughout this course. That is one of the coolest things about doing student teaching. We are able to actually see real life examples of the content we learn in class. According to Kaboody (2013), "Dörnyei (2001) suggests that
teachers should make materials as relevant as possible to the students’ lives and, if necessary, teachers should supplement some activities in textbooks with more relevant materials that can motivate students to learn because they can apply it to their own experiences." I think our student teaching experiences allow for this class and our other classes to be as relevant as possible to our lives. I am sure I can speak for our classmates and say that knowing what we are learning is relevant and will be helpful to us has motivated us to complete our courses and try to really take away meaningful learning. Thank you for your comments!