I decided to interview one of my good friends Joaquin Blanco on this assignment. I feel like we share a lot of the same values being first generation children born in America from Hispanic parents. He is definitely proud of his culture and practices it currently with his family and would like to keep the tradition going with his own family.
I thought it was very interesting when he agreed that he struggles at times recalling certain words from his memory when speaking in one language, but thinking of the word in the other language. I also found it to be interesting that while growing up he only spoke Spanish, but as he grew older his dad told him that he had to learn English, therefore he stopped speaking in Spanish for quite some time. While learning English he mentions that it was both learned naturalistic and instructional. He practiced the new language by playing outside and interacting with other children his age and then when once school started he was able to continue learning the L2 (Ortega 2013). However, I also learned that when he was learning the L2 he was silent for quite some time trying to hear the new language he was learning (his mom mentioned it after the interview). His mom also told me that when once he learned English it was hard for him to speak in Spanish for a few years until his parents decided to go back to only speaking Spanish in the house.
Overall, it was really interesting to hear a bilingual individual tell me his story as we read and learn about language through this class ourselves.
Gracias,
Laura Hernandez
It is an interesting interview. There are many ideas that you should address here such as the fact that his father asked him to stop speaking Spanish. What have we read about this issue? Should we ask our students to stop using their first language so that they can learn their L2 faster? Why is the role of schooling in language learning in general?
ReplyDeleteWhy stated that bilinguals have more difficulty accessing words in the language that they are less proficient. What do you think? He states "I do not know what it is" and you should address this issues in this discussion.
Hello Mr. Avellaneda,
DeleteI don’t think that we should ever ask our students/children to ever stop practicing their native language, because they will pick up the English language after a certain amount of time. Reason being is because English is the native language in the United States and they hear it, see it, and will eventually need to practice it little bit at a time. In Jr’s case when it comes to mixing the languages or not being able to recall certain words in English, but can think of the word in Spanish might be because his first language was Spanish. Language mixing is common among most bilinguals and it occurs with adults as well.
Hey Laura, your interview was really good! Your interview questions and follow up questions definitely allowed us to further understand Jr’s SLA. Jr said he first acquired Spanish and that English was his second language, but by the sounds of the interview, I feel like he picked up both languages pretty simultaneously. This would make me think he experienced bilingual acquisition (Ortega, 2013). Jr also mentioned that he picked up English from watching others and from instructed learning, which is interesting and it correlates with Stephen Kashen’s theory about instruction not being completely ineffective. I would like to know more about Jr’s experience with his bilingual classes in school. It would be interesting to see how his two languages interacted with one another. something that also stood out to me was the fact that he felt more comfortable with a certain language depending on who he was around and that’s because bilingual children switch between languages in response to the language proficiency of their listener (Rowland, 2014). I can relate to that, since I experience the same thing. Also, I thought it was funny how he mentions he uses google translate when he has trouble recalling a word in a certain language. Language mixing is pretty common and it occurs with adults too (Rowland, 2014).
ReplyDeleteHi Angelica,
DeleteI have to agree with you, although Jr grew up in an all Spanish speaking home he didn't have trouble learning English because he was surrounded by the language. Therefore, he did learn both languages simultaneously. As a bilingual speaker myself, I understand why Jr decides to switch languages depending on the language proficiency of our listener it just makes it easier for everyone although it can be challenging at times if we forget or mix the language we are speaking in or try to translate from one to another in our mind
Hi Laura! Thank you for sharing Jr’s story with us. I found it interesting that Jr first began speaking Spanish, but when he learned English he stopped speaking Spanish for a while. You bring up that a lot of the learning experience was through naturalistic and instructional experiences which is pretty in line with how Ortega states we learn languages. In your interview, you guess discuss that sometimes Jr has trouble accessing words from memory when speaking in English but knows the word in Spanish. Ortega states, “At a fundamental level, a word is established in long-term memory when the link between a form and its meaning is made.” (Ortega, 2013, p.88). Do you think that words Jr has trouble remembering in English is because there is no link between a form and its meaning like the book states? Do you believe that there is a stronger link to those words in Spanish because that was the first language he learned?
ReplyDeleteHi Daijah,
DeleteIt’s hard to say, but I believe that the reason Jr has trouble accessing words from memory at times is because Spanish was his first language. As bilinguals we at times have a difficult time translating certain words from one language to another. If the word is cognate (meaning they sound similar in both languages) then it’s easy, but sometimes its completely different and it just makes it so much harder to find the correct word.
Hi Laura, thank you to both you and your friend Jr for sharing some of his story with us. I found this interview to be very interesting and you were able to get some really good content out of it. The questions you asked were some that I could easily relate to this course and it was very simple to follow along with some of the research behind your questions. I think it is interesting to note how although Jr picked up Spanish first he began to almost shift gears and completely turn to English. Jr addressed his problem with pronunciation especially in the Spanish language and I can definitely understand how that could have come about. According to Ortega, people who have struggle with L2 pronunciation may present low L2-use profiles and spend much of their time using the L1 (2012, p. 26). As Jr diminished his use of Spanish he begun to lose his proficiency which lead to his struggles. Although Spanish was his L1 it seemed to become almost a second language to him after his father asked him to stop speaking Spanish. I enjoyed your interview very much!
ReplyDeleteThank you Karina,
DeleteHis case as well as many of us are indeed very interesting. Although Jr grew up in an all Spanish speaking home he did mention that after his father asked him to speak in English its almost as if Spanish became his L2. However, once his family switched back to Spanish it was as if he never stopped speaking it. I’ve known Jr and his family for quite a few years now and I know that he is more comfortable speaking in English, but there are times when he is able to express himself better in Spanish. It might be because it was his first language growing up
Hi Laura, thank you for sharing Jr.'s story with us. I found his story to be very interesting. He stated when he first learned English, before the start of school, that he only wanted to speak English and his parents became a little worried. I wonder if his willingness to prefer to speak English over Spanish was apart of him adapting to a culture and the language within that culture. In example, Ortega discusses that appreciating apart of a culture is a motivational factor to learn the language of that culture. I also found it interesting the way in which he introduce both Spanish and English to his son. He stated that when he taught his son Spanish, he only spoke to him in that language, and he did the same for English. I believe that it was a great method, because it gave equal exposure to both languages. He also stated that his son is more fluent in English , in which I found very interesting.
ReplyDeleteHey Laregilon,
DeleteI think your theory is correct. I believe that Jr was leaning more towards speaking English, because of our culture in the United States. We speak the English language on a daily basis and therefore practice it a lot more when we’re outside our home. I also think he’s doing a great job raising his son Alejandro and making sure he understands and can communicate in both languages.
Laura, thank you for sharing your SLA interview with your friend, Joaquin! I had a fun time watching! It’s fascinating to me that he grew up speaking Spanish as his first or native language and as he got older, he learned English naturally and through formal instruction. I understand the concern his parents had in regards to continue speaking Spanish. Learning and practicing languages is wonderful, but sometimes it can be easy to “forget” a language when you solely focus on another.
ReplyDeleteHello Alora,
DeleteI couldn’t agree more with you! If we want our students/children to be fluent in both languages then we need to make sure that both are being practiced. Therefore I am glad his dad decided to switch back to an all Spanish speaking home once they figured out that Jr preferred the English language rather than being fluent on both languages.
I am glad that you were able to relate to your friend through your interview! Learning another language can be difficult so It understandable to struggle with certain vocabulary when it comes more naturally in one language but you have to communicate it in another language. I definitely feel that way when It comes to speaking Urdu. I don't speak it often but when I do Its hard to translate certain words from English to Urdu. I should definitely try using google translate since it seems to help your friend a lot.
ReplyDelete