Entry 2: Interview with an English Language Learner
I interviewed a close friend of mine, Karla Olivo-Trevino, who learned English as her second language. She does not remember exactly what age she began learning English, but recalls being rather young when she started speaking another language aside from Spanish. Growing up her household spoke both languages. Her older sibling is also bilingual and her parents wanted them to know English because of their school. Because of this, Karla feels she was comfortable speaking both languages by the time she reached first grade. Gass and Selinker describe this as a balanced bilingual, which is having the mastery on two different languages (Gass and Selinker, 2008, p. 27).
In my interview with Karla, I learned that it was a rather easy transition for her in school because a lot of her knowledge on both languages was learned at home through her family and friends. Rather than receiving most of her instruction of the English language from school, she actually began learning English at home at a young age. Although she spoke Spanish as her first language, by the time she was 4 or 5 she was already speaking both languages. It was so interesting for me to learn this and really see how much of a sponge the human brain is at a young age.
Although we did not discuss it much in the video, Karla is actually an education major at the University of Houston and is a semester behind me. We often talk about school because I have gone through some of her classes already. She wants to be a Spanish teacher and admits that even though she has spoken both languages for so long, that she still has more to learn. I found this super interesting because it really brings us to the question Ortega asks which is how much does age have to do with a second language acquisition (Ortega, 2013, p. 27)? This just goes to show how complex language can be. A language can be learned and understood at an early age, and yet still bring about new things years later. I really want to learn multiple languages and I enjoyed how much Karla was encouraging of that.
Hi Remy,
ReplyDeleteYour friend Karla seems to have had an amazing second language acquisition process. Having the bilingual courses in the elementary schools does seem to help English language learners adapt to growing in their English proficiency at a faster rate. From observations of an elementary bilingual class I noticed that the students seemed to be more advanced cognitively than students who only spoke and understood one language. This correlates to what Rowland (2014) mentions regarding the different types of control people that are bilingual must have when switching from one language to the next (p. 198). The fact that Karla wants to teach Spanish is really neat because she is still practicing both her L1 and her L2 regularly. Balanced bilinguals are extremely uncommon according to Rowland (2014, p. 181). I find it extraordinary that she has been able to hold onto both languages equally.
Hey, Emily! I think it is extraordinary as well how well Karla has held onto both languages. She is so confident in transitioning between both languages and it is so interesting to witness. I like how you mentioned how much control she must have, which is something Rowland talks about. This control becomes beneficial in many other daily activities. Rowland goes on to talk about this by giving examples such as driving and having that ability to switch attention quickly (Rowland, 2014, p.198). I think this control Karla has and her success maintaining both languages will benefit her moving forward in becoming a Spanish teacher.
DeleteHi Remy, I can relate to your friend Karla so much! I too, felt comfortable speaking English at home which I believe is important because it encourages someone to keep learning. It seems as though Karla has mastered both languages very well and I do believe this has a lot to do with the age. Little kids are much like sponges and both of you mentioned and it also helps that they’re not too concerned with mispronouncing words, therefore, they feel more bold to speak. I enjoyed seeing how she was bilingual at home also because according to Gass and Selinker, “the term bilingual implies not only the ability to use two languages to some degree in everyday life, but also the skilled superior use of both languages at the level of the educated native speaker” ( 2008, pg. 26). I believe this happens very smoothly because of that support from home in this case it was a safe environment and her older sibling helped her. By the way tell Karla that my mom refused to take me out of bilingual classes as well because she feared I’d forget the language and thanks to her decision I am bilingual, just as the book defines it.
ReplyDeleteHey, Cesia! I think acquiring both languages at such a young age, which Gass and Selinker define as an early bilingual, helped Karla in becoming as comfortable as she is today (Gass and Selinker, 2008, p.27). Not only learning at such a young age, but also learning both at home and in school as you mentioned. I agree that learning at home likely made it a much smoother transition for her when she was at school. I will definitely tell Karla about your Mom's decision to keep you in bilingual classes. She will love hearing that someones shares that experience. I am curious if you have ever had interest in becoming a Spanish teacher, since you've expressed many similarities between Karla and yourself.
DeleteHi Remy! It was really interesting hearing Karla recount her experience learning English, especially since it was similar to my experience. I also grew up in an almost 100% Spanish speaking household, with siblings that knew some English. It sounds like Karla learned English through an instructed way, though school and tutoring from her sister (Ortega, 2013, p. 6). It is nice to hear that because Karla’s sister knew English and Spanish she helped Karla bridge the gap between the two languages in a comfortable way. It is so interesting to hear all of the ways that people come about learning English.
ReplyDeleteHey, Karen! I completely agree, I have found it very interesting about how people came about speaking English. Ortega mentions that people tend to think children learn languages speedily and effortlessly (Ortega, 2013, p. 16). I feel like that is so true, considering that has always been my thought. However, after hearing about all these stories I'm discovering it is not always the case. Many learned primarily from home, while many only had help from school. Karla received help from sister which made the process easier, but I certainly wouldn't call it effortless. After interviewing Karla I've really become interested in hearing how her past experiences are going to benefit in her future as an educator.
DeleteRemy,
DeleteI've always believe that myself as well. But, after viewing some of the interviews it wasn't always an easy process. I find it interesting that Karla still had a difficult time even though she began learning it at an early age both in a naturalistic and formal instructed setting and well within her critical period for optimal second language acquisition (Ortega, 2013, pg. 6). It goes to show that we can make assumptions but that's all they will ever be is assumptions. But, my friend actually felt it was easy but she definitely said it had its challenges.
Hi Karen! I agree with you that Karla’s experience is interesting because she learned English while being in a predominately Spanish speaking household. It is also really beneficial and valuable that Karla’s sister helped her learn English, Im sure this made a drastic impact on her development of the language. Ortega states, “Most people, therefore, learn additional languages from a mixture of both naturalistic and instructed experiences” (p. 6, 2013). This is probably what Karla experienced in her development of her L2.
DeleteI liked hearing Karla’s second language learning experiences. I like you guys went into depth with her educational experiences. I think it is very interesting how she was able to learn English after knowing Spanish at such a young age. Ortega mentions that “instruction cannot override development, but it has been shown to result in clear benefits in the areas of accuracy and rate of learning for both syntax and morphology (p.143, 2013). By being in those bilingual classes, I think it was very beneficial to her learning a second language at such an early age.
ReplyDeleteHey, Asia! I completely agree that the bilingual classes Karla took helped her in learning her second language. I also think the support she received at home from her sister played a huge role in her success. It goes to show how confident Karla was at a young age. Ortega mentions that it takes a lot of attention to learn a language and that it a central part to understanding (Ortega, 2013, p. 107). Ortega also says it takes intention and awareness. Therefore to hear how successful Karla was at a young age makes her story even more interesting to me.
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