Entry 2 Interview with an ELL
Reflection:
Link to my interview: Vlog 2
I Interviewed my mother, Rocio Sanghavi who was born in Guadalajara Mexico. She later on moved to the United States where she learned English in grade school. Throughout the interview it was said that she struggled with an array of various aspects when learning English. These aspects included pronunciation, semantics, and switching between both English and Spanish. My mother stated that when she was learning English she struggled with pronunciation often. She said that she still struggles with pronouncing a couple of words. For example, she said she often tries to avoid words like “Pizza” because has difficulty saying it without an accent. “Foreign accents may arise…because one has learned to pronounce the L1 so well” (Ortega, 2013, p.23).
She
also noted that she had a challenging time with semantics. “The study of
semantics refers to the study of meaning” (Ortega, 2013, p.12). She noted that
when she was in school she would hear her peers say words like “cool”. When she
would hear that, she would get confused because she thought “cool” was defined
as being cold in temperature. By being exposed to English by her peers, she
learned that the word “cool” had another meaning as well. “Native speakers [of
English]…[are able] to distinguish between the meaning of the leaf of a
tree and the leaf of a table…For a learner, of course, it is not so
easy, as he or she might struggle to imagine a table with tree leaves.”
(Ortega, 2013, p.12).
Once
she learned English, she said she noticed that sometimes when speaking Spanish
she would forget certain words and accidentally speak in English. She said she would also use a
combination of both English and Spanish.
According to Ortega, “ bilingual speakers switch and alternate
between their two (or more) languages, depending on a range of communicate
needs and desires" (Ortega, 2013, p.3). Overall, my mother can switch between Spanish and English as needed.
Ortega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London:
Routledge, 2013. Print.
Hi Ruth!
ReplyDeleteThis interview was quite insightful. It sounds like Rocio was able to develop her English because she was in an environment that provided many opportunities to practice speaking her L2. According to Ortega, "...environmental and socio-affective factors may mutually interaction and become important indicators of success...."(Ortega, 2011, pg. 27). Although she learned Spanish first, she claims that she is English is now her dominant language due to how often she uses each language. Would Rocio consider teaching her daughter Spanish as well?
Rocio said that going between her household that only spoke Spanish and the school she attended that only spoke English confused her. Was she able to get that support she needed in the classroom and did that contribute to her language learning?
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DeleteVivian,
DeleteI like the quote that you included about environmental and socio-affective factors. From experience, this is very true. Much like Rocio, English is my dominant language. I can relate to her because in my environment, I had the biggest opportunity to learn to speak and write English, but it was also required for me. With that being said, the more we were exposed to English, I believe that our understanding of Spanish and speaking skills began to slowly fade away. Therefore, I would consider myself and maybe Rocio, a recessive bilingual. Gass and Selinker state that a recessive bilingual is "someone who begins to feel some difficulty in either understanding or expressing him or herself with ease, due to lack of use" (Gass & Selinker, 2013, p. 28). I can definitely relate to this because often times I do find it difficult to speak or communicate in Spanish.
Gass, S., & Selinker, L. (2013). Second Language Acquisition: An Introductory Course
DeleteHello Vivian,
According to Ortega, “ Exceptional learners [with] outstanding pronunciation [can make them] pass for native speakers of English.” (Ortega, 2011, pg. 200). I think this is the case for my mom. She put a lot of effort towards learning English but there were some struggles. She has told me in the past that when she was in school, she would sometimes get anxiety when speaking English. However, I do agree that social and environmental factors did help her. She did have teachers that would assist her and listening to others speak English helped her so she was eventually able to speak the language fluently.
Hi Kenia,
DeleteI can relate to you and my mother as well. I grew up being able to speak, read, and write in English and Spanish. Unfortunately, as I got older I stopped using Spanish as often. Due to that, I now experience some difficulty speaking it. I believe this makes me a Recessive bilingual as well. However, I do believe I also qualify as a simultaneous bilingual. According to Gass and Selinker, a simultaneous bilingual is, “someone whose two languages are present from the onset of speech” (Gass & Selinker, 2013, pg. 28).
Hi Vivian! I think it is interesting how you pointed if Rocio received enough support. In my experience, having to speak Vietnamese at home and English at school actually helped me become a bilingual speaker; "bilingual speakers switch and alternate between their two (or more) languages, depending on a range of communicative needs and desires” (Ortega, 2011, pg.4). I find it so interesting that there are people who have had the same type of environment, but end up speaking one language more than the other.
DeleteOrtega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2013. Print