My understanding of the learning of an additional language
has changed drastically with the information I have learned thus far. I came to this class assuming that since I have
experience in learning a second language I would have an upper hand in this
class. Boy was I wrong! The “A” in SLA, “mean the process of learning
additional languages” (Ortega, 2013, pg. 5) was not even what I thought it was
going to be. My definition only skimmed a minute part of the term. Learning a new language is a lengthy
process. However, the information this
course provided was so much deeper and richer than I originally thought. According to Ortega, “…attitudes towards the
L2 and its speakers will contribute to increased or diminished L2 motivation”
(Ortega, 2013, pg. 174). I was motivated
on starting this journey and it reflected in my understanding of learning
Spanish for our language blog. Also, it
helped me connect with my Spanish-speaking peers and gave me pleasure knowing I
mastered greetings and introductions in the targeted language. This experience
aided me in understanding the steps behind learning an additional language. It
gave me a different perspective on SLA.
This class
has broaden my view because I was able to observe SLA as both student and
teacher mode. My time practicing Spanish
with the stems provided from our learning blogs gave me the opportunity to put
myself as a beginner learner. I practice
pronouncing the new terms and only used the language I learned with my peers I
am comfortable with. The more difficult
the Spanish words were for me the more nervous I was in speaking the words
aloud. Ortega mentions, “some
individuals report experiencing intense feelings of apprehension, tension, and
even fear, when they think of foreign languages” (Ortega, 2013, pg. 200) Since
I have this same nervousness of speaking a foreign language I give my ELLs the
opportunity to participate in speaking discussions if they choose. Also, in my planning I give more thought into
planning my lesson in how to differentiate my lesson for ELL students. I am practicing on giving students more wait
time. I think overall I am more
conscious of everyone’s learning style and I want to give my ELL students the
same opportunity.
I found foreign
language aptitude the most interesting.
Going back to my experience as a young child I was able to grasp the
understanding of speaking, reading and writing quicker than my other Vietnamese
classmates. “People greatly differ in how fast, how well and by what means they
learn an additional language” (Ortega, 2013, pg. 145). In comparison with my peers, we had the same
bilingual teachers and all came from similar backgrounds. We all grew up in a really tight-knit
Vietnamese community all within a few blocks of one another. So how come the changes among us varied
greatly? This topic also mentions
cognition, conation and affect as concepts researchers studied to understand
differences. Because of my childhood
upbringing this topic really interest me.
I have a
love/hate relationship with our Vblogs. I
learned a lot from the interviewees I did for my post. Reading my classmates reflection gave me
their point of views so I was able to see how they relate to what we were
reading that differs from mine. Some of
my peers were creative in making the language blogs and it made me think how
come I did not think of it first. All in
all the connection I felt posting the comments and replies felt like community
of learners. We all shared a common goal
and that is to be future educators. The
not so good news I have about our Vblogs and I know I am repeating myself on
this, but for someone who is not technology savvy it took a tremendously amount
of time transferring my interviews onto my computer. It took me even longer to figure out what all
I needed to do for the mp3 audios. There
has to be an alternative to make the assignments more efficient in sharing
within the class.
Ortega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2013. Print.
