Entry 2: Interview with a..
Hello everyone,
For my second video blog I decided to interview my mother Giovanna Arthurs,she was born and raised in Panama and her first language is Spanish, she also learned English as her second language. In the video, my mother mentioned that she learned english natuarally as a child at home with her family whose first language is English. But when she came to the United States at the age of 13 she was placed in ESL classes. Even though she knew english she needed additional help with reading and writing. My mother social enviroment allows her to use her dominant language, which is spanish on a daily basis because she gets the opportunity to interact with speaking people.
As a child my mother grew up in Panama speaking spanish and english at the same time. This idea corresponds to what Ortega (2013) states that "in any parts of the globe, most children grow up speaking two or more languages simultaneously.
According to my mother, she believes that it is easier to learn a second language when you are young rather than learning it when your older. Even though my mother has been in the USA for over 30 years she still has a strong accent and she finds english a challenge to master,because of the silent letters and pronounciation of certain words. Compared to the spanish language, the words are straightfoward. If it was up to her she would probrably just speak in spanish, at times i see some frustration in some of the words she tries to say.
Refrences:
Ortega, L. (2013) Understanding Second Language Acquisition. Routledge
Click here for video
For my second video blog I decided to interview my mother Giovanna Arthurs,she was born and raised in Panama and her first language is Spanish, she also learned English as her second language. In the video, my mother mentioned that she learned english natuarally as a child at home with her family whose first language is English. But when she came to the United States at the age of 13 she was placed in ESL classes. Even though she knew english she needed additional help with reading and writing. My mother social enviroment allows her to use her dominant language, which is spanish on a daily basis because she gets the opportunity to interact with speaking people.
As a child my mother grew up in Panama speaking spanish and english at the same time. This idea corresponds to what Ortega (2013) states that "in any parts of the globe, most children grow up speaking two or more languages simultaneously.
According to my mother, she believes that it is easier to learn a second language when you are young rather than learning it when your older. Even though my mother has been in the USA for over 30 years she still has a strong accent and she finds english a challenge to master,because of the silent letters and pronounciation of certain words. Compared to the spanish language, the words are straightfoward. If it was up to her she would probrably just speak in spanish, at times i see some frustration in some of the words she tries to say.
Refrences:
Ortega, L. (2013) Understanding Second Language Acquisition. Routledge
Click here for video
ReplyDeleteHello, Katiana! I really enjoyed watching your video. Salsa dancing looks so fun! I could not imagine living in Brooklyn. It seems like such a busy city. Spanish is an interesting language, and I am sure that your language learning journey will be successful. According to Gass & Selinker (2008), “Bilingualism, or at least some form of knowledge of more than one language, is so common throughout the world that Cook has proposed that the “normal” propensity is for humans to know more than one language” (p. 30). Although your mother’s family is originally from the Caribbean, would you consider Spanish your heritage language, because of your mother’s connection to Panama? Fishman (2001) notes that heritage language has to do with “exposure to a language of personal connection” (Gass & Selinker, 2008, p. 23). In other words, Valdes (2001) asserts, “it is the historical and personal connection to the language that is salient and not the actual proficiency” of the speaker (Gass & Selinker, 2008, p. 23). These are more open definitions of heritage language and heritage language speaker, while Polinsky is more restrictive, depicting heritage language as the first language acquired and only mitigated by another dominant language (Gass & Selinker, 2008). I know there are many stances on heritage language, but which do you find applicable to you?
Hello Audrey, language learning is definitely common through out the world. Something interesting I found about Katiana's mom was that she learned her L2 naturally. “Naturalistic learners learn the L2 through informal opportunities in multicultural neighbourhoods, schools and workplaces, without ever receiving any organized instruction on the workings of the language they are learning” (Ortega, 2013, p. 6). I think this awesome that she was able to pick up the language just by being surrounded by it.
DeleteOrtega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2013. Print.
Katiana,
ReplyDeleteIt was interesting to learn about your mother’s history in learning a second language. You mentioned your mother’s belief on learning a second language in regard to age. She states that she believes it is easier to acquire a second language at a young age, rather than later in life at an older age. While is definitely a factor in acquiring a second language, so is environment. “Age may exert universal influences on the learning of a second language, but context moderates these universal effects and needs to be considered carefully” (Ortega, 2013, p. 17). While Ortega understands the important role age places on acquiring a second language, she also understands the importance of other contexts.
Thank you for sharing, I enjoyed watching your video!
Ortega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2013. Print.
Hi Melissa, I also think it is interesting to hear that Katiana's mother thinks that learning a second language is easier when you are younger. That is actually something my mom thinks as well. While Ortega mentions that some of the grammatical errors that people make when they speak their L2 are errors of commision. She said it can be traced back to relevance to their L1, and that “Chinese and Japanese L2 writers made strikingly few errors in relativization,” however “they also produced very few relative clauses” (Ortega, 2013, pg 40). Seeing how L1 and L2 correlates makes me draw the conclusion that the longer someone spends speaking a language the more that language’s rule is embedded, which show when they learn a second language.
DeleteOrtega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2013. Print
ReplyDeleteHello Katiana,
After watching your video, I was able to learn that your mom learned both languages at the same time. Ortega mentions “ Two or more languages are represented in the brain and how bilingual speakers switch and alternate between their two (or more) languages" (2013,p.30). The friend I interviewed also learned English and her first language at the same time. Vietnamese was her native and first language, but English eventually became her first language once she started attending public schools in the United States. For me, I also use my dominant language more often than my second language (English). Doing so has caused me to maintain a very strong accent - similar to your mother's case. I would also say my English grammar is my weakest quality.
Hi Lori, I think it is interesting that you brought up how you speak your dominant language more often than English. It makes me wonder when you started learning English. I started learning English when I was young, and so I speak English more prominently. Ortega mentions a study about ultimate attainment, Julie, and how she learned Arabic "entirely naturalistically and regularly passed herself off as a native speaker" (Ortega, 2013, pg 14). She was a L1 for British English, yet she eventually spoke Arabic dominantly. Do you know or ever wonder why you speak your native language more often than English?
DeleteOrtega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2013. Print
Hello Katiana,
ReplyDeleteIt was great watching your video about your mother! You state that in you reflection that even though your mother has been in the U.S. for 30 years, she still has a strong accent. Ortega states in her video that "..speech has a special status when it comes to critical periods because 'pronunciation is the only part of language which is directly "physical" and which demands neuromuscular programming." (Ortega, 2013, pg. 22) What Ortega states is that the pronunciation and enunciation portion of language has a lot to do with our physical body and muscles. After a person has so many years of speaking their L1, their muscles will be settled into that language which is why accents are so hard to get rid of no matter how many years of learning and practice of an L2 that a person has. Accents are a part of language learning and I hope your mother continues to practice and I hope she does not think of anything of her accent!
Ortega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2013. Print.
Hello Joseph,
DeleteYou are absolutely correct accents are apart of language learning, and my mother practices alot. I help her with her english and she helps me with learning spanish. Ortega states, "The details of people’s L2 learning histories can vary greatly, depending on where their studies, their families, their jobs and careers, and wider economic and political world events, take them." This quote correlates with my mom she speaks spanish with her parents majority of the time when they talk on the phone, and in the household she speaks English.
Hi Katiana,
ReplyDeleteIt is nice of you to have interviewed your mother. Like your mother said that in her home she was learning English, but in other homes they weren’t, I have a friend that is from Panama and she didn’t learn English until she came to the United States. Also, your mother said that she thinks that learning English at a younger age is better because as a child can learn the language easier than an adult. According to Ortega in a research they “…found that adults and adolescents were better than children in terms of what they could learn…” (Ortega, 2013, pg. 16).
Ortega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2013. Print