How are languages learned?

How are languages learned?  After reading “How Languages Are Learned” by Lightbrown & Spada, I have a sense of how languages are learned but, language learning depends on the individual learner.  After going over the popular ideas about language learning, I have come up with a couple conclusions.

Highly intelligent people are good language learners.  According to evidence found in the book as well as a course I took about IQ testing, I believe IQ testing measures grammar rules and vocabulary items.  It does not test learners with a wide range of intellectual abilities, especially in the classroom.  

“The best predictor of success in second language acquisition is motivation.”  Although I believe motivation is a key element in learning a second language, I strongly believe that as teachers, we have to make the classroom comfortable enough for our learners to experience success.  I never really thought about learners’ motivation, except that I could be that teacher to motivate my students.  For example, some students are forced into learning another language because their first language is not offered as the primary language used in the school and/or classroom.  “The principal way of motivating my students is by making the classroom a supportive environment which students students are stimulated, engaged in activities that are age appropriate to their ages, interests, and cultural backgrounds”(185).

The last idea presented in chapter seven was, “Students can learn both language and academic content simultaneously in classes where the subject matter is taught in their second language.”  I am obviously a true believer of this because I am a future Bilingual educator.  Ample amount of research has confirmed that students in content-based immersion programs develop comprehension skills, vocabulary, and general communicative competence in the new language.  Moreover, every learner learns differently.  Although getting to know our students on a personal level will take time, it is definitely necessary in creating a engaged classroom environment.

Learning to Get By

        Chapter 6, “Acquiring Knowledge for L1 Use” written by Muriel Saville-Troike was a very interesting chapter.  I especially liked this chapter because it posed the same questions that I have for my research paper I am working on.  He explains that there are two very different functions of learning a second language.  Academic competence which serves the knowledge by learners who want to use the L2 primarily to learn about other subjects and interpersonal competence which serves the knowledge required of learners who plan to use the L2 primarily in face-to-face contact with other speakers.  To break it down, academic competence entails the goal of learning a second language for school focusing on reading and listening.  Interpersonal competence entails the goal of learning a second language to communicate with others focusing on listening and speaking skills.

As a future Bilingual teacher, our main goal is for our students to learn for interpersonal and academic competence.  My research paper asks the question of how ESL teachers can benefit from Bilingual teachers approach to learning?  The progress of my research explains that ESL Pull-Out classrooms aim to assimilate the student to English as quick as possible, whereas Bilingual classrooms aim to add English to the student’s existing L1 in a timely fashion.  Although I am just beginning my research I find it hard to believe in ESL Pull-Out classrooms.  

Hopefully at the end of my research I will have a concrete answer to my question through factual evidence I will find.  How can you have language learners interested in learning for academic purposes, such as, standardized testing and have language learners interested in achieving native like fluency while conversing with others?  Through authentic resources?  Or, if you do present students’ with these different types of second language competences, will this help?  And, if the students’ are interested in both competences, how will you as a teacher meet the standards by the State and your own Standards you have set for your students?  These questions are very hard to answer because I am not actually in the classroom yet, but hopefully after researching, I will find an answer.

The Unexpectedness in Multilingual Communities

The article, “Lingua Franca English, Multilingual Communities, and Language Acquisition” took me on a whirl.  After reading the article, I put it down and had to question SLA experts.  Some questions I have are; How are SLA experts correct?  Are they really correct?  I realize that Lingua Franca English is the universal language of communication, but how are SLA experts so sure that form is so important?

“It is now well recognized that the dominant constructs of SLA are founded on monolingual norms and practices” (934).  The article talks about language acquisition and use in multilingual communities.  The author explains that in these communities it is often difficult to identify one’s mother tongue or native language.  These communities are so multilingual that they even share mixing of diverse languages, literacies, and discourses. Moreover, when people are conversing with one another, they are open to the unexpectedness.  

These multilingual communities are so open to one another that it kind of reminds me of Utopia community.  As a future language teacher, I am finding it difficult to teach the “correct” dialect of English to second language learners.  I feel as if I am cheating them of what other dialects are out there.  I realize that I have knowledge about introducing different dialects into the classroom using authentic resources, but I guess I never really thought of teaching the Lingua Franca English.  We must give some students some choice in the matter while giving them the truth of the dialect of English we use in our schools and the teaching of that specific dialect.  

"We're in America, Mama. Speak English!"

Branch 5-2 “We’re in America, Mama.  Speak English!” (167)

Maria: I don't want to go with you.

Lucia:  Porque no?

Maria:  Because you always talk in Spanish.  It sounds stupid.  When you speak Spanish, everyone knows we come from Puerto Rico.  Why don't you talk to me in English?

Lucia:  Tu familia habla espanol.  

Maria:  English is better.  All my friends speak English.  Anyway, I dont understand Spanish.

“To honor home languages and cultures, we need to bring bilingual and bicultural models into our classrooms and we need to change the climate-the culture of our classrooms, to foster respect for all languages” (168).  After reading Chapter 5, I realized Bilingual education or additive English immersion programs is the answer.  We need to keep the culture of our future students, and eliminate conversations such as the one above with Maria and Lucia.  As a senior of ISU with a major in Bilingual education and a minor in TESOL, and the knowledge I have gained from these courses, I believe adding the existing linguistic and cultural repertoire of a child, rather than replacing a home language with English is imperative.  

Double consciousness coined by W.E.B. Du Bois explained the persistence of the “color line” and the persistence of prejudice and stereotyping.This double consciousness lets the person see themselves through the revelation of the other world. Their behavior is influenced by what the other people think and is distorted through others’ negative image of their race. This leads to low self-esteem because of the racism.  

It is hard to learn a second language.  But, it is even harder living in the country of that learned language.  Most families try to assimilate, but that is not the answer.  As I said before, I believe adding, not subtracting a second language is very important.  Instead of seeing yourself through the eyes of others’, retrack and see yourself as yourself.  In about a year, I am going to be student teaching in a bilingual classroom.  I am sure I will see families that just want their student to speak English and English only, but I hope to eliminate that “double consciousness” and let them see what their child can gain out of preserving their home language and learning a second language.

Kairos & Freire

        After reading Chapter 4; Learn by Doing, I began thinking about my retreat experiences during high school.  My junior year at Loyola Academy, I had the opportunity to go on a retreat called, Kairos.  The theme of the retreat was to Doubt the1st, Cry the 2nd, Trust the 3rd, and Live for the 4th.  The theorist Freire believed that, “for learning by doing to occur, there must be reflection.  Reflection occurs through dialogue with other oppressed people and those who seek to end oppression.  Freire considered dialogue to be the practice of freedom” (134).  Moreover, for reflection to occur during the four days at the retreat, there must have been some dialogue.  

Throughout the retreat, many of my peers held back and were not opening up about obstacles in their own personal life.  Although the retreat had to reflect on some aspect of God acting in your life, for some people that wasn’t the case.  It was their time to converse with other “oppressed” and reflect on how that may have made them a better & stronger person.

       I believe in Freire’s theory on learning by doing because just as the Kairos retreat helped many of my high school peers to reflect and realizethat they really are good humanized people, Freire’s theory also applies to second language learners.  On page 136-137, there are some key ideas to learning by doing that relate to Freire’s belief.  One very important one that I saw work on the Kairos retreat is one that I will take in my classroom.  It states, “Finally, as teachers, we need to be aware of who is served by knowledge. A literate person has opportunities to influence the world; a non-literate person can reach fewer people and has less of an opportunity to develop a comfortable life.  The purpose of teaching literacy is to give students greater choices, which leads to humanization, in the terms of Confucius and Freire” (137).

Annotated Bibliography

Questions that are a part of my project proposal:

Why are people eliminating Bilingual education in some states where there is an overpopulation of English language learners?  

Which is better; ESL classes or Bilingual classes?

Why is Bilingualism so important in the United States?  

What are the statistics of the pros/cons of Bilingual education?  

1.  Gottlieb, Margo H. Assessing English Language Learners: Bridges from Language Proficiency to Academic Achievement.  Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin, 2006. Print.

To begin with the process of my research, I am going to use a book that was used as a textbook is one of my bilingual classes which offers a variety of statistics which will help me with my other posed questions, such as overpopulation.  There is a huge portion in the book that describes these statistics, some of which will be very useful to me.  They are as follows: the greatest numbers of our English language learners live in California, with over 1.6 million; however, each of give other states has more than 125,000 identified English lagage learenrs: Arizona, Florida, Illinois, New York, and Texas; nationwide the top 5 of the 240 reported languages, along with their precentage total, are as follows: Spanish (79.2%), Vietnameese (2%), Hmong (1.6%), Cantonese (1%), and Korean (1%); and the July 2003 update of the 2000 census reveals a continued surge in the Hispanic population, with an increase of 9.8%.

2.  Hardin, Valentina Blonski. "Literacy Models and Diversity: Challenges Facing Bilingual 

Preservice Teachers Tutoring Bilingual Kindergarten Students in an Urban 

Context." Online Submission (2010): ERIC. EBSCO. Web. 15 Mar. 2011

The present study was undertaken to find ways to help bilingual preservice teachers become more aware of diversity and more questioning of methods for literacy development in order to address issues of critical literacy. Twenty-five bilingual preservice teachers, enrolled in a Spanish Reading Methods at the university tutored 25 kindergarten bilingual students for 20 sessions for 12-weeks. The research sought to find: how did tutoring influence preservice teachers' perceptions of literacy development in Spanish,  how did the use of poems, rhymes, and repetitive-pattern books affect their perceptions of literacy development, and  whether tutoring and the use of genuine language activities promoted questioning as to whether phonics is the most effective way of literacy development in Spanish.  The researcher classified categories of themes from the reflections into those that were similar and those that were unique. The results indicated that 7 (28%) out of 25 preservice teachers would incorporate these activities in their future instruction, 8 (32%) would continue to use phonics, and 10 (40%) would not commit one way or another. The researcher concluded that the tutoring, instructional activities, and discussions brought about perception change only for a minor number of Teacher Candidates. 

3.  Purcell, John. "The Foundations and Current Impact of California's Proposition 

227." (2002): ERIC. EBSCO. Web. 15 Mar. 2011.

California's Proposition 227 requires that all children be taught English by being taught in English. This proposition, which basically outlaws bilingual education, is the newest chapter in the history of how non-English speaking and limited English proficient (LEP) students should be educated. After presenting the historical, social, political, and legal foundations of Proposition 227, this paper describes its current impact. Proposition 227 allows only 1 year for LEP students to acquire enough English to do regular classwork in the mainstream. Many researchers suggest it takes 3-5 years to develop appropriate English skills, so Proposition 227 is unrealistic. Other researchers note that Proposition 227 fails to ensure a supportive school wide climate that values LEP students linguistic and cultural backgrounds and does not mandate appropriate training for teachers of the 1-year English immersion classes. The paper describes the political players behind Proposition 227, then discusses how it is in conflict with many laws and educational policies. Finally, it examines modifications that California must undertake in order to successfully implement Proposition 227, concluding that it is not healthy for education in California and ought to be dismantled.

4.  Soltero, Sonia W. Dual Language: Teaching and Learning in Two Languages. Boston: Pearson/A and B, 2004. Print.

Another question that I am interested are the pros and cons of ESL classes vs. Bilingual classes.  While this book does not offer a set opinion on the issue of ESL and Bilingual classes, it does offer me factual evidence, thus allowing me to propose my own opionion on the issue.  For example, ESL classes are subtractive with monolingualism in English and can be pull-out or in class with a short term of 1-3 years.  Bilingual classes can be additive or subtractive where the content is usually in the L1/L2 with a long term of 6-12 years.

Acquisition VS Participation

        In chapter 3 of the book,  “Dialogic Approaches to Tesol”, the focus was turned on the acquisition of learning a language vs the participation of learning a language and the idea of problem posing.  Acquisition of learning is described as the use of linguistic structures, ignoring classroom discourse.  On the other hand, participation highlights power relations where learning is achieved through collaborative problem solving.  Rather than taking a student’s mistake as a failure, the teacher should use the problem posing approach using a variety of assessments to make these mistakes as opportunities for learning.  From the information stated above, I believe learning acquisition is based on a set of rules, whereas participation is the actually doing of the acquisition, which is a lot more useful in the classroom and in everyday life. 

I really enjoyed Charlie and Dana’s problem posing examples during their student teaching experiences.  For example, Charlie’s class, the students learned about standard measurement, for example, through engaging with the problem of communicating about length.  Charlie allowed his students to use physical tools to make measurements and symbolic tools to discuss those measurements.  

These examples in the book had me thinking of what I have learned in my previous classes at ISU.  Scaffolding techniques, portfolios used for assessments, and creating open-ended questions to engage students’ in critical thinking are all components the book briefly describes.  “A problem posing approach to TESOL emphasizes the process of learning as much as material or canon to be mastered.  Students must play an active role in their education, and they will if they are a part of a community of learning involved in dialogue questioning debate and analysis” (87).  This approach, to me, is very important in the learning process, especially for language learners.  Although there are many rules and guidelines to follow, it is important that students participate to actually gain an understanding of these rules and guidelines.