This course helped me understand
what individuals experience when learning a second or additional language. As an
educator, it is important to understand this process of learning, so you can give
the language learner the best experience in your classroom. I was able to
understand the motivating factors that the language learner may experience, but
also learn about the struggles they may face. ESL teachers must recognize signs
of struggle or apprehension, such as foreign language anxiety, and they must
also be familiar with positive reinforcement and intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.
I have been able to apply
terminology and theory learned in this course to my current experience in
pre-service teaching by having my own student to evaluate in my class. I was
fortunate to have a student in my classroom, the only ESL student, that has a
home language of Vietnamese and speaks English at school. Speech is her only area
keeping her from exiting the ESL program. I have been able to make connections
to why she may be solving problems a particular way. When I was given a cognitive
interview assignment for my math coursework, I specifically chose this student
so I could also assess her communication and explanation of math. In this
interview, she said, “Oh, it’s 6! Because, you can do this by subtract.” I connected
this to the concept of underuse and overuse as explained in Ortega (2013). In
my student’s case, she would be exhibiting underuse, the failure to use a suffix. I felt rewarded when I was able to connect the content in the textbook to experiences with my ESL student.
I found it important for
teachers to know about the anxiety children may face with acquiring another
language, whether it be a student learning English or a student learning another
language academically. This is especially the case for teachers who have not experienced
learning another language. Often, I have seen individuals become upset with ELLs
because they have trouble understanding them. If a teacher responds negatively
or shows frustration with communication with the ELL, it could affect their communicative
self-confidence. Ortega (2013) states, “attitudes towards the L2 and its
speakers will contribute to increased or diminished L2 motivation. These
attitudes come from the collective values, beliefs, attitudes and even
behaviours that are rewarded and modelled for the learner in the communities in
which he or she participates” (p.174). It is so critical for educators to be
mindful of how they are interacting with L2 learners when it so strongly
affects their motivation and ultimately their rate and accuracy of second language
acquisition.
Creating a vBlog has allowed me
to apply my learning of second language acquisition by using a different medium.
Instead of simply writing, I was tasked with making a video in addition to a written
reflection. By using the video format for my interviews in vBlog 2 and 3, I was
able to create an engaging media piece for others to learn from and for myself
to experience. I could not imagine reading a simple transcript from the
interviews that took place between myself and my peers. Hearing many of the
interviews supplemented my learning experience. Given the task of citing in APA
for every assignment, I feel like over time, I have experienced great
improvement with appropriately citing and making connections to cited material.
This is an asset to have in higher education.
References:
Ortega, L.
(2013). Understanding second language acquisition. Routledge.
