Vblog Entry 3
VBlog: https://youtu.be/1sIT4NxYRS4
I had the pleasure of interviewing Ms. Smith who works as a first grade English Language Arts teacher at McNeill Elementary School in Lamar Consolidated Independent School District. She has a great amount of experience from working with several English Language Learners and specializes in second language acquisition. A majority of her students speak another language other than English so I decided to interview her to get a closer look at how she approaches teaching English as a second language to her students.
In response to my first question regarding the areas of English that she noticed her English Language Learners having the most difficulty, she said the comprehension aspect of acquiring a new language. She went on to say that her English Language Learners usually come from different countries where customs and lifestyles differ from an American context. Her students are now faced with the challenges of culturally immersing themselves in a whole new environment which can be initially overwhelming and raise their anxiety levels.
She did say there are benefits in regards to speaking a second language for English Language Learners. In our interview, Ms. Smith spoke of the positive effects on their cognition. Learners in the process of acquiring a second language build upon their vocabulary knowledge strength which is “the relative ability to use a given known word productively or to recognize it passively” (Ortega, 2013, p. 88). Building vocabulary plays a critical role in acquiring a second language for English Language Learners. The cultural immersion within a new environment encourages learners making the process of learning a second language a desire in order for them to communicate with their peers.
Hi Ayodele! I loved watching your video about Ms. Smith. It appears that your mentor teacher is culturally responsive and knows her students beyond pure academics. She noticed her students were struggling with the comprehension aspect of language acquisition. According to Ortega, the two processes are separate and, “Interactional modifications are initiated by moves undertaken by either interlocutor in reaction to (real or perceived) comprehension problems, as they strive to make meaning more comprehensible for each other, that is to negotiate for meaning,” (Ortega, 2013). Her students probably utilize context clues in conversations and guessing to attempt to comprehend what is occurring during class.
ReplyDeleteReferences:
Ortega, L. (2013). Understanding Language Acquisition. New York, NY: Routledge.
Hello, Meagan! Thank you for your comment. Ms. Smith is definitely culturally responsive to the unique needs of her students. I believe that her students benefit from their interactions with each other. These interactions make them more aware of how to appropriately use their second language by acquiring it through practice. The errors they may have with the second language actually motivate them because they are able to learn from their mistakes through conversations with their peers. When second language learners feel apart of a team, it encourages them to go even further in gaining fluency in their desired language.
DeleteHello Ayodele! Thank you for sharing your interview with us! People sometimes don’t realize how much of a role culture and community play in learning. Ortega states that language socialization theory sees language learning and social learning as constitutive of each other; it investigates how, through social activity with willing experts, newcomers gain not only language knowledge but also membership and legitimacy in a given group or community (Ortega, 2013). When different communities or cultures are brought together in one room, people tend to focus on how different they are when they should be focusing on the similarities. Even though they may all come from different countries, it is important to build a sense of camaraderie among your students. Let them know that they are all “in it together.”
ReplyDeleteOrtega, L. (2013). Understanding second language acquisition. Routledge.
Hello, Zoe! Thank you for your comment. I strongly believe that there are several commonalities that we share with each other that outweigh our differences. In light of our differences, we can discover similarities between our cultures that can accelerate the second language acquisition process. Community plays a critical role in language learning because when individuals have an adequate amount of support around them it further encourages the pace of their acquisition.
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ReplyDeleteHey Ayodele, thank you for sharing this teachers experience as a ESL teacher. It is interesting how your teacher mentioned students coming from different cultures and environments tend to struggle a little more. According to Ortega “children in difficult circumstances tend to develop language more slowly..." Children who are moving and coming from different parts of the world need time to adapt to their new surroundings before they can instantly start learning an entire new language.
Rowland, C. (2014). Understanding child language acquisition. New York: Routledge
Hello, Payton! Thank you for your comment. Initially, it can be very difficult to adapt and learn an entirely new language due to circumstances of moving to another country. It takes time to get acclimated in a different environment where customs and traditions may differ from your own. The most important thing is to have an encouraging and supportive community present throughout the process of learning a second language while adapting to the culture of a given environment.
DeleteHey Ayodele! It’s interesting that Ms. Smith mentioned that English Language Learners will have more difficulty comprehending the language. I am glad that she brought this up during the interview because comprehension is a big part of acquiring a second language. Ortega shares that “according to Krashen, learning happens through comprehension, and that the more one comprehends, the more one learns” (2013, p.60). I agree with Krashen because it’s critical for the L2 students to understand the meaning of what they’re reading or listening to.
ReplyDeleteReferences:
Ortega, L. (2013). Understanding second language acquisition. Routledge.
Hello, Mariana! Thank you for your comment. Comprehension is a common area of difficulty in regards to individuals learning a second language. Although it is important for language learners to learn through conversation and practice, it is also important that they are taught the semantics of the language they are in the process of acquiring. Visual representations have been proven to be very effective in regards to assisting second language learners with their acquisition and comprehension skills.
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