Learning more about the theory behind learning a second language in this course has immensely helped me understand the process of the matter. When reading various content of second language acquisition from Gass, Selinker, and Ortega and watching YouTube videos, it gives me a better understanding on the process of learning a second language and how I can help my future English language learners. This course’s organization and productivity compared to last semester’s second language methodology changed drastically. It was definitely more manageable and clear, which I appreciated. The weekly announcements and taking away the quizzes also helped a lot. If I had to change one thing, it would be the grading. There were times where I had points taken off for something that was not even stated on the rubric. Also, some of the feedback was off topic and about the people I interviewed, which was out of my control and not my fault, so I feel like sticking to the course material and the matter of the assignment would be more beneficial to me as a student. Other than that, I thought that this semester was so much better!
As far as the blog, I do think it is beneficial, especially for an online course. It inspires me to have my future students make a blog as well, of course scaffolded down for them. Especially since you can see videos of your online classmates, I feel like I know them and it does build a sense of community, which I think is really important. I learned a lot from my other peers and my favorite part was seeing how they connected the theory of second language acquisition to their blog entries. It was interesting to see everyone’s perspective, implications, and applications. Talking with others back and forth in the comment section allowed me to think more critically as well. Since the professor enforced us to cite a book or video in our comments, it really kept our conversations content-based, which I think was an important rule to stay on the right track of our learning in this class.
This class has already helped me in my student teaching experience with an English language learner I have, and I cannot wait to apply what I have learned to my future English language learners. Using a blog to build a sense of community connects with my teaching philosophy which focuses on the relationships built with my students. I want to use this strategy in my classroom and hopefully it will impact my children like it has impacted me. Learning what works with English language learners regarding how to help them acquire English is something I really needed as a future teacher. Without this course, I would not be as qualified, and it has motivated me to become certified in ESL as well. I strongly believe in setting my students up for success, and not failure. Communicating clearly and fairly is crucial and this class helped me understand the importance of this.
Tuesday, April 3, 2018
Sunday, March 4, 2018
ENTRY 3: INTERVIEW WITH SECOND LANGUAGE TEACHER
With my mother also being a second language learner, she is also a second language teacher! My mother has a Master's degree as a reading specialist and has taken many theory classes, but in all honesty, my mom doesn't worry about matching what she does to research or theories. She teaches based off of her students' needs and what she feels to be right, which is why it is eye-opening to see how my mom's natural teaching pairs with the readings. After reflecting on the video, I found that my mom believes that "speech cannot be taught directly, but "emerges" on its own," as said in Gass & Selinker's chapter 10 (Gass & Selinker, 2001, pg. 303). A question I should have asked should have been about the topic of input and output. I wanted to see my mom's insight and stance on the behaviorist view or "focusing on innateness and the innate system" (Gass & Selinker, 2001, pg. 308). If I had to guess, I would believe that she would gear towards focusing on innateness. She is big on building relationships with the students as said in the video and giving them the experiences and opportunities they need in order to grow as individuals. I think that with my mom being a second language learner herself, she has a lot of empathy and insight for her English language learners. It has truly been a privilege to see her in a different light and to experience what a great teacher she is.
Here is a link to the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yopRB_9Lft0&t=13s
Sunday, February 11, 2018
ENTRY 2: INTERVIEW WITH MOTHER
I found out more about my mom’s upbringing and her transition to living in America than I knew before. It was an eye-opener to hear that she felt like she needed more support in the classroom. Maybe it was because of the school she was at, but maybe back then, teachers did not have the resources or research to help support English Language Learners. She expanded on the fact that English grammar rules are really hard to learn as a child. When connecting this theory to research, “Japanese college students would learn an English grammar rule better without or with rules,” which shows that you can learn English grammar more through immersion of the language (Ortega, 2009, p. 100). This applies my mom’s experience with learning the English language. She also mentioned that she thinks casual conversations helped her learn more than being in the classroom. Her experience going to school was negative, and she spent most of the time simply listening and observing to help her. She paid attention to body language and facial expressions. I can only imagine how confusing it would have been for her. Maybe if she used the strategy of talking to American born Vietnamese peers who “share the same ethnic background,” it would have helped her more (Ortega, 2009, p. 249). This is because having the same ethnic background and sharing a common ground can help someone feel more comfortable speaking another language. We also discussed how we thought that learning another language as an adult was harder, when Ortega says that it is actually easier. It was interesting getting to understand my mom’s second language acquisition.
Here is a link to the interview:
Here is a link to the interview:
Thursday, January 25, 2018
ENTRY 1: SELF INTRODUCTION
https://youtu.be/-YJDtCg3EYo
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)