Here is my interview with my friend whose second language is English.
Second Language Acquisition Interview
My friend Chenda is Cambodian and speaks the language of Khmer. She was born in the United States but grew up speaking Khmer as that was the language her parents and extended family spoke. She was fluent up until she started going to school where she started to learn English. She grew up surrounded by people who spoke Khmer to her, and this helped her learn this language growing up. However as she grew up, the surrounding environment involved the learning of English. As she watched American television and went to school, the need for her to learn English as a second language increased. Schumann was correct in his prediction that the more acculturated a learner can be can correlate to how successful they are when learning another language (Ortega, 2011, p. 59). The environment plays a large role in language acquisition, and the motivation for learning that language increases when the surrounding community speaks that particular language. Now she feels that English is the language that she is the most comfortable with and speaks the most often. In public school, she learned English in an ESL pull-out program and gradually did not need the extra class anymore. According to Ortega (2011), practicing helps proceduralizaing new knowledge as it helps information become long-term. As Chenda was exposed to more and more English in school and even with her siblings, she gained practice that is now automatic and can be accessed without effort and optimal performance can be achieved (p. 85). From this interview, I can see that although she grew up speaking Khmer, her English is almost as good as a native speaker.
Second Language Acquisition Interview
My friend Chenda is Cambodian and speaks the language of Khmer. She was born in the United States but grew up speaking Khmer as that was the language her parents and extended family spoke. She was fluent up until she started going to school where she started to learn English. She grew up surrounded by people who spoke Khmer to her, and this helped her learn this language growing up. However as she grew up, the surrounding environment involved the learning of English. As she watched American television and went to school, the need for her to learn English as a second language increased. Schumann was correct in his prediction that the more acculturated a learner can be can correlate to how successful they are when learning another language (Ortega, 2011, p. 59). The environment plays a large role in language acquisition, and the motivation for learning that language increases when the surrounding community speaks that particular language. Now she feels that English is the language that she is the most comfortable with and speaks the most often. In public school, she learned English in an ESL pull-out program and gradually did not need the extra class anymore. According to Ortega (2011), practicing helps proceduralizaing new knowledge as it helps information become long-term. As Chenda was exposed to more and more English in school and even with her siblings, she gained practice that is now automatic and can be accessed without effort and optimal performance can be achieved (p. 85). From this interview, I can see that although she grew up speaking Khmer, her English is almost as good as a native speaker.
Ortega, L. (2011). Understanding second language
acquisition. London and New York: Routledge.
Jennie, you brought up an excellent point- you said that your friend’s English speaking is almost as good as a native speaker. Studies have found that “…learners who begin acquiring the L2 before a certain age, which these studies locate to be around puberty, will tend to exhibit intuitions that are very close to those of native speakers of that language” (Ortega, 2011). Because your friend began learning English before puberty, I am sure that she speaks very good English. I also think it is interesting that she learned English by being immersed into the language. We spent a great deal of time discussing this last semester in Second Language Methodology. I am interested in learning the more about how SLA and SLM coincide.
ReplyDeleteOrtega, L. (2011). Understanding second language acquisition. London and New York: Routledge
Thanks for the response Kaela! I agree with you in that learning a new language before puberty can definitely increase one’s knowledge and proficiency in their second language. I grew up speaking only Chinese and although that was my native language, English is now my main language that I speak the most fluently as English is the language that I use on a day-to-day basis.
DeleteJennie, you brought up an excellent point- you said that your friend’s English speaking is almost as good as a native speaker. Studies have found that “…learners who begin acquiring the L2 before a certain age, which these studies locate to be around puberty, will tend to exhibit intuitions that are very close to those of native speakers of that language” (Ortega, 2011). Because your friend began learning English before puberty, I am sure that she speaks very good English. I also think it is interesting that she learned English by being immersed into the language. We spent a great deal of time discussing this last semester in Second Language Methodology. I am interested in learning the more about how SLA and SLM coincide.
ReplyDeleteOrtega, L. (2011). Understanding second language acquisition. London and New York: Routledge
Nice video ! At the end Chenda says that being fully immersed in the language is an efficient way of learning a new language. According to Ortega (2011), “Many others will be forced by life circumstances to learn enough of the additional language to fend for themselves". I like that she mentioned immersion, I think that the fastest way to acquire a language and its subtleties is to be fully immersed in the culture with limited interaction with people speaking languages that you are comfortable with. The more you immerse yourself in the foreign language , such as reading, listening to the radio or speaking to people , the more rapid your progress will be. It correlates to Ortega because you are forced to learn to fend for yourself. What do you think about immersion ?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the reply Aundria! I agree with you about immersion. The more interaction learners have with other native speakers, it puts them in an environment where they can apply communication skills in real-life contexts. The more interaction they have, the more opportunity the students have to practice their fluency.
DeleteHello Jennie, thank you for sharing this insightful video interview into the language history of your friend. Her answers to the questions brought back some memories from when I was in elementary school and had some friends that were not completely fluent in English because they would prefer their native language. It is so true that if a language is not used often enough then the person may lose a lot of their speaking capabilities and may have to relearn part of it whether it was first or second language. It is stated in the text that “many people around the globe may learn, forget and even relearn a number of languages that are not their mother tongue over the course of their late childhood, adolescence and adulthood” (Ortega).
ReplyDeleteOrtega, L. (2011). Understanding second language acquisition. London and New York: Routledge.
Thanks for the response Bryan! I agree with what you said about some people having to relearn a language they may have already learned as over time, the lack of use may cause one to regress in the learning of that language. It is similar in my case in that I have forgotten some Chinese, however, I am trying to relearn some of it to ensure that I do not lose it as I want to continue to be able to speak and understand Chinese.
DeleteGreat interview, the questions you asked Chenda really helped me understand how she learned English and the struggles she has in both of her learned languages. One thing that caught my attention in this interview was that fact that she still has troubles with reading and comprehending English. This stood out to me because she has been learning English for many years and is fluent in English, but she still had trouble when comprehending at times.
ReplyDeleteAnother statement that stood out was the fact that your interviewee tested out of her ESL program in school at a young age. According to Ortega, “One way to investigate humans’ capacities for learning second languages is to inspect the oral and written records.” (Ortega, p. 6, 2009). This statement from Ortega connects with what your interviewee went through because she also had to present oral and written assists to test out her ESL class. Again, great post, you interview really explained how that person learned their second language.
Thanks for the feedback Shawn! I found it interesting as well that she still had some trouble with speaking and getting her thoughts across in English after learning English for such quite some time now. I have a similar experience in that I was in my school’s ESL program when I first started school. I was also tested out as my English progressed from daily interactions from my classmates and from watching television as well.
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