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Entry 4: Final Reflection on Second-Language Acquisition

Hi Everyone!

I suppose I should start this section by thanking everyone for participating on this blog! I loved hearing your different points, and enjoyed reading your comments and answers to the many questions I posted on your own blogs. This was an excellent experience, and I hope to see many of you this coming fall semester!

Now, although this class was condensed into 4 short weeks in comparison to the nearly 4 month long course during the academic year, I still enjoyed the content. I am currently working on a senior thesis for the Honors College, and seeing as diversity is the main theme of the research paper, this class had invaluable knowledge for me to access. Ortega, Gass, and Rowland were the main researchers I connected with in terms of their ideology and contribution to my own experiences (2011). However, I was also able to branch out and find other researchers, such as Frankl, who have such universal concepts that I can apply to my teaching as well as my personal life. After all, finding and maintaining meaning and purpose in life can help one achieve personal and professional goals (2006). I cannot express the gratitude I have for hearing about everyone's experiences with second-language learning and acquisition. I loved the researchers and the essay we wrote; all of the topics discussed make me intensely happy to have taken this course.

The blog was a sore subject for me, as I have no software or video-editing tools at my disposal. I felt that, because of this lack of access, the quality of my videos would suffer and none of you would want to comment on this blog. However, my friend allowed me to use his own apps and drawing tools, so I was able to create something unique and memorable for all of you! I think my favorite interview was the discussion I held between myself and my mother. I can honestly say that speaking with her has made me feel a renewed love for teaching and taken me back to what it means to be an effective teacher. It is more than just researching methods and analyzing the best way to defuse a class. Teaching is an immensely personal career - we are effectively shaping and altering the minds of the future generation - and this concept had been lost to me for the past year.

I never gave much thought to second-language learning, yet I have developed a deeper understanding of the importance of sharing and communicating with my students in various methods - not just through the content - but through L2 as well. I now recognize that helping my students feel safer in relation to their second-language acquisition skills and growth is just as crucial as their self-confidence in the subject matter. I especially love the concepts proposed about motivation and environments shaping student success. I cannot wait to implement these ideas into my own teaching. The community surrounding this blog was one full of professionalism and engagement. I am glad that we - as a class - were so willing to participate and create a successful learning environment for ourselves. Before this class, my motivation to keep up with my learning Spanish and Japanese were limited to internal factors. However, now I also have strong external motivations to learn the languages beyond simple phrases and conversational tools. I am excited about the languages again, and feel happier when I think about the connections I can make with these languages in the future.

I am grateful to have conducted these interviews, and shared my thoughts with all of you. I hope we can all enjoy the rest of our summers and meet again!

Thank you and Good-Bye!

Comments

  1. AmandaJuly 3, 2018 at 10:02 AM

    Ila,
    FIrst of I want to acknowledge how I love the font you used! It is catchy and fun! I could relate with the whole implementation of the whole VBlog portion. Although, I have the tools to create the videos physically, I lack the motivation and expertise in the whole technology blog area. It reminded me of "Musically" and all these applications my daughter is creating and watching! However, I do agree that there were substantial benefits to the implications of utilizing technology in the manner in which we did. It provided us an opportunity to not only connect and learn about each other, but also a variety of perspectives from all the individuals who were interviewed. Each sharing their unique experience and insight. Like you, I never really gave much thought to SLA. I mean of course I was aware of it, but not the "behind the scenes" awareness. This class was beneficial because as a future educator I needed to have this brought to light in my life in order to be the best that I can be for ALL of my students'. As you mentioned, self-confidence is crucial to our ELL's growth. Ortega states that communicative confidence in the L2 greatly contributes to her or his willingness to communicate in the L2 (Ortega, 2013, p.202-203). Now that this has been brought to my attention I will be proactive in being more consciously aware of my ELL's anxiety and self-perceived confidence as an individual in hopes that together we can experience positive language learning.

    Ortega, L. (2013). Understand second language acquisition. London and New York: Routledge.

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    Replies
    1. Ila HyamsJuly 3, 2018 at 7:13 PM

      Amanda, thank you for your comments, they have made me think and reevaluate my own thoughts concerning L2 in classroom settings. I am glad that you mentioned your experience in technology, as I feel that this is crucial for the modern teacher. Rowland mentions technology in classrooms in relation to L2 learning (2014). However, I feel that this blog immensely helps us to simulate the type of work we will do later. Communication and ongoing conversations are important for building L2 skills, so I am glad that this blog interested you enough to comment!

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    2. Nancy EscobarJuly 4, 2018 at 6:37 AM

      Hi Amanda, I also found these Vblogs to be a bit challenging at first, but nevertheless possible to make. On another note, your insight on students' willingness to communicate is on point. Ortega mentions that anxiety can influence students' willingness to communicate as far as causing lack of self-confidence and belief in their language competence (2013). Therefore, I do find it crucial that as educators we pay attention to those signs of shyness and fear, and create a safe learning environment to decrease anxiety levels.

      References:
      Ortega, L. (2013). Understanding second language acquisition. Routledge.

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    3. Ila HyamsJuly 4, 2018 at 11:53 AM

      Nancy, you make an extremely valid point. While Ortega discusses the affects of anxiety on students' second-language skills, it lacks any macrocosmic evaluation (2011). To fully understand and help our students achieve their goals, we must first ensure their environment is both safe and productive. It is vital that teachers recognize the influence we have on our students' lives, and ensure their academic experiences are enriching and supportive. Especially for those students who lack the support at home, or feel anxious about their L2 skills.

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    4. AmandaJuly 5, 2018 at 11:43 AM

      Ila,

      You replied to Nancy regarding teachers recognizing the influence we have on our students' lives and ensuring that their academic experiences are both enriching and supportive. I like how you furthered that by stating especially for those students who lack the support at home, or feel anxious about their L2 skills. I think that it is vital for us to to be aware of outside factors, such as the home, and create an environment to help assist the ELL's with the feelings of being anxious. I keep going back to the article from Kaboody, for this article really resonates with me. Kaboody talks about the importance of establishing a class atmosphere that creates a mutual trust and respect with the learners. We can do this by promoting respect and trust through our very own interaction with the learners on a personal level. This will show them that we care about their issues not only in the classroom but also outside of the classroom, like the home (Kaboody, 2013, p.49). I feel like this rapport will help us gain perspective of their home life, as well as, ease their anxiety because they will feel more comfortable and trusting talking about the challenges they may be experiencing.

      Kaboody, M. (2013). Second language motivation; the role of teachers in learners’ motivation. Journal of Academic and Applied Studies, 3(4), 45-54.

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  2. Yazmin MendezJuly 3, 2018 at 2:53 PM

    I am thrilled to hear that your interest in learning more languages has been renewed! As Ortega (2011) states “many people will be forced by life circumstances to learn enough of the additional language to fend for themselves in selected matters of daily survival, compulsory education or job-related communication” (p. 1). Essentially, learning a new language, or new languages, is something natural that is somewhat required by everybody for one reason or another. You also stated how through the vblog interactions you have been able to learn different viewpoints. One of the possible reasons for this is that you began discussions on topics and tried to connect them to the classroom. Through this, you and those who commented on your vblog, were able to access different takes on topics. Similar to you, one of the topics that interested me was motivation and its effect on acquiring a second language (Ortega, 2011). Were there any moments in which the research on the effects of motivation took you by surprise, or simply enlightened you?

    References:
    Ortega, L. (2011). Understanding second language acquisition. London: Routledge.

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    Replies
    1. Ila HyamsJuly 3, 2018 at 7:15 PM

      Yazmin, you have been the most consistent in commenting on my blog, and your input has been insightful and full of interesting points. Ortega's ideas on multilingual studies and the value of L2 skills in the modern student are completely valid (2013). I am glad that you recognized the importance of an ongoing discourse between students - like through these blogs - as I am interested in using similar models in my own classroom to facilitate a deeper understanding of the content.

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    2. Yazmin MendezJuly 4, 2018 at 4:46 PM

      I appreciate your kind words, Ila. Similar to second language learners, interaction is a beneficial key to learning anything (Ortega, 2011). Interaction can take the form of conversations between students, or simply exposure to something. As Ortega (2011) states, “the best kind of comprehensible input learners can hope to obtain is input that has been interactionally modiļ¬ed, in other words, adjusted after receiving some signal that the interlocutor needs some help in order to fully understand the message” (p. 61). This not only applies to learning a second language, but also learning material such as the content of this course. It would be ignorant to fail to recognize the importance of interactions in any kind of learning.

      References:
      Ortega, L. (2011). Understanding second language acquisition. London: Routledge.

      Delete
  3. Traci AdamsJuly 6, 2018 at 9:35 PM

    Aww, Ila,
    I can feel your authenticity from your sincere words. This 16-week course jammed into four-short weeks came with a lot of BANG. Combing my admiration for all things personalized, with my interests in technological advances and my unwavering desire to be the best educator I can be, this class was designed for me! I was able to converse with other intrinsically and extrinsically motivated teacher-candidates, as well as learn to upload videos to YouTube! Though I am a monolingual student, my ability to relate to English Language Learners assisted me throughout this course. Being a student with a learning disability and anxiety- intense feelings of apprehension and fear (Ortega, 2013)-, I can relate to feelings of inadequacies, loneliness, being misunderstood and even lacking motivation.
    Ila, it has been a pleasure to get to know you and take a seat alongside you on your remarkable academic journey. I hope the melting-pot of people you met in this course helped personify diversity for you.

    Source:
    Ortega, L. (2013). Understanding second language acquisition. London: Routledge.

    ReplyDelete

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