Entry 2


Hi! Click→ here to watch my video!💕
In this video, I interviewed my boyfriend, Sergio who is 24 years old. After listening to his feedback about learning English as his second language, I found out some new things about him that I didn’t know about before. Growing up speaking only Spanish in his household seemed to not conflict much with his journey to learn English. According to the interview, he learned mostly from his peers around him not just in the academic setting, but outside school as well. This meant that he learned English in a more naturalistic manner. In the text, Ortega explains,” naturalistic learners learn the L2 through informal opportunities in multicultural neighborhoods, schools and workplaces, without ever receiving any organized instruction on the workings of the language they are learning” (Ortega, 2013). Although he did learn in a more naturalistic way, that does not mean there was no exposure in his academic setting. He explains that his teacher would also translate words for him and scaffold information that he did not understand. This means that he also learned English in an instructed manner as well. Ortega also elaborates that, “most people, therefore, learn additional languages from a mixture of both naturalistic and instructed experiences”, (Ortega, 2013). In other words, this means that he experienced a mixture of naturalistic and instructed learning.  It was very interesting to learn that he believes his first language is still predominantly stronger even after all these years of being labeled bilingual. I feel that most people are not as confident with their second languages as they are with their first, which does make a lot of sense. Overall, I’m very grateful for this opportunity and learned a lot more from a personal point of view regarding second language acquisition. 
References:
Ortega, L. (2013). Understanding second language acquisition. Routledge.

Comments

  1. Chronicles of a Millennial EducatorMarch 3, 2019 at 6:40 AM

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  2. Chronicles of a Millennial EducatorMarch 3, 2019 at 6:54 AM

    Thank you for your blog and your commentary. I really enjoyed your post. When listening to him speak I recall him saying that he did not have any trouble learning English because he was so young when he began to learn the language. Ortega (2013) made the claim that “the more fully developed the L1 system is when L2 learning commences, the more strongly the L1 will influence the L2” (p.24). Being that his primary language system was hardly developed, it could have contributed to the ease of learning English in his youth. Another thing that I noticed was that he attributed to his language learning was social interactions with his friends. In chapter 4, Ortega (2013) discusses the need for comprehensible and challenging input, along with the opportunity to communicate, which encourages risk taking and producing messages. By having friends who spoke the L2 fluently, he had various opportunities for input and output.

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

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  3. SLACardenasValerieSpring19March 3, 2019 at 10:01 PM

    Hi Nicole! I really enjoyed your video and post. I enjoyed getting to learn about his journey with learning English. He mentioned that it was easier for him to learn Spanish at a younger age. I spoke little to no Spanish at all as a child. So being twenty two now, learning another language is very difficult. However, there was a part of the video that stuck out to me to the most. When he mentioned that he speaks his L1 at home and his L2 when he's out. To me, this was a connection to the text when it says "languages are almost always learned with and for others" (Ortega, pg. 55). Being at home he was surrounded by Spanish, so it was easy for him to pick up on it. Then learning English, he was surrounded by his friends and peers.

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

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    Replies
    1. Minh NguyenMarch 10, 2019 at 7:54 PM

      Hello, Valerie!

      You brought up a really point when you mentioned that languages are learned with others. When I first came to the United States, I didn’t know any English. I learned my second language purely through social interactions. I think this is because young students are sociable. They learn a lot from their peers and are motivated by them. Language learning is a social activity, and it also enables us to pick up on pragmatics. This is something we can’t learn through worksheets and lectures. To further back this up, Gass & Selinker states that, “learning is seen as anchored in and through the social practices the learner engages in” (2008, p. 282).

      Gass, S.M., & Seliner, L. (2008). Second language acquisition: An introductory course. (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.

      Delete
    2. Ayodele ShofoluweMarch 11, 2019 at 7:16 AM

      I agree with your point that social interactions contribute to second language acquisition. A majority of second language learners benefit from this method of learning. I think it is because you are given an opportunity to have a live experience with others regarding to learning a new language. Practicing a second language with native speakers can accelerate your ability to obtain fluency regarding that desired language. I think this is why Sergio found it relatively easy to learn English as a second language.

      Delete
  4. jonathanwomack17March 5, 2019 at 11:09 AM

    Hello Nicole! I really enjoyed your interview! I also interviewed someone who learned english not only in the classroom but also through friends and every day social interactions. I think this shows how important learning an L2 at a young a age can be! Not necessarily because of age, but because of the opportunity to be in school which gives them the chance to learn the language both formally and in a more naturalistic manner like you mention. I believe it helps in other areas as well. Ortega mentions that comprehension and acquisition arent necessarily related "Several researchers have noted that comprehension and acquisition are two distinct processes (e.g. Sharwood Smith, 1986), and some studies (e.g. Doughty, 1991;Loschky, 1994) have shown that learners can comprehend more than they acquire and can acquire more than they comprehend."

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

    ReplyDelete
  5. Eric WinklerMarch 6, 2019 at 1:52 PM

    This is the first interview where the person says that it was really easy to learn. I find it very interesting that you learned from your peers rather than in school given that you feel you picked on the language so fast. I absolutely agree with you that he learned naturalistically and instructionally.
    "Second language socialization studies have further revealed that learning
    outcomes can be greatly improved when L2 learners are not construed as
    definitional novices and instead their invisible expertise is made visible during
    socializing events" (Ortega, 2013)

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

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ayodele ShofoluweMarch 10, 2019 at 9:15 PM

    Hello, Nicole. This was a interesting interview between you and Sergio regarding second language acquisition. It is impressive how he was able to learn both English and Spanish simultaneously with little difficulty. It seems that he had a great amount support while learning these languages through the means of his academic and social circles. It also seems that Sergio was highly motivated in his process of language learning which explains his speedy acquisition of English. I think he benefited from learning English with other native speakers generating "linguistic evidence, rich or poor, abundant or scarce, that surrounds learners" (Ortega, 2013, p.55).

    ReplyDelete

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