Chapter One
One part I found particularly interesting in Chapter one was on diversity in learning and learners. While teaching bilingual first grade for the last three years, I have questioned and researched why some L2 learners are more successful than other. It was interesting to me to read how the thoughts of linguists, psycholinguists, sociolinguists, and social psychologists all differ in their response to why some L2 learners have more success than others. Psycholinguists make distinctions based on individual aptitude for the L2, which include different learning strategies. I have found it to be true that students are more successful when a variety of learning strategies (hands-on activities, songs, visual, etc.) are used in the classroom when learning a second language.
Chapter Two
Chapter two gives a good introduction to the foundations of second language acquisition. The approaches to the study of SLA address the what, how, and why questions researchers ask about second language acquisition. Chapter two explains the different perspectives and frameworks including linguistic, psychological, and social. In addition, this chapter explains in more detail the role of natural ability to learn languages. This is interesting to me because I started learning Spanish at age 15, which means according to the critical period hypothesis, it would be very difficult for me to reach native fluency. When I speak to native Spanish speakers, they are able to tell I am not a native speaker by the way I pronounce some of the words or letters. I would have loved to learn more languages at a younger age when I was still developing. I think it is amazing that children have the capacity to learn all languages around them!
Early Theories in Second Language Acquisition
In this article, Vanpatten and Williams explain Behaviorist Theories and how language learning is seen as the acquisition of a new behavior. Children imitate sounds and structures they hear in the environment and reproduce them. What I found interesting was research on transferring knowledge about the L1 to the L2. I had always thought this was a positive thing, but in the article they talk about how it can have negative effects as well. The article also explained Krashens’ theories on SLA. One hypothesis I can identify with is the Affective Filter Hypothesis. When I was learning a second language in college, I could easily speak and understand Spanish when I was in a comfortable, natural setting. However my affective filter was raised when I was in the classroom and felt like I was under pressure to say the right things. This still holds true in the graduate classes I am taking where the course is instructed in Spanish.
Tara,
ReplyDeleteI absolutely loved reading your blog post because I feel like I am getting some awesome information from hands-on experiences in a bilingual classroom. You brought up that your students are more successful with a variety of learning strategies take place in your classroom such as, songs, hands-on activities, and visuals. You also explained that you didn't understand why some learners don't have a high aptitude for learning and others do not. After taking so many Bilingual classes here at ISU and reading, it really depends on the individual learner. Maybe some of the learners were just going through the silent period, which is where the learner sits back and listens to the language. Then much later, after their affective filter has lowered, the students feel comfortable enough to communicate with their peers. =)