Blog 2- Interview with SLA Learner
I interviewed my friend, James. He learned English later in
life after living in Germany for the first few years of his life. He is
extremely adverse to being videoed, so his face is not shown. Please click the
link below to watch the interview.
Reflection
After interviewing James, it is
clear that his linguistic journey is unique. Listening to his journey made me
think of what Ortega said: “Sometimes, however, the individuals learning an
additional language are still young children when they start acquiring the L2,
maybe as young as three or four years old (remember by this age most of the
essential pieces of their mother tongue may already be in place)” (Ortega,
2011). James said that he spoke German for his first four years of life.
However, I wonder if the “essential pieces of [his] mother tongue” were in
place or not. Ortega also says this about early second language acquisition,
“Thus, bilingualism and SLA can overlap in the early years, making it at times
difficult to draw boundaries between the two fields” (Ortega, 2011). Based on
James’ responses, he considers himself a SLA learner of English, but according
to Ortega it is “difficult to draw that boundary.” Therefore, I suppose one could label him as
bilingual since he learned English so early in his life.
Age and L2
attainment are two factors that the researchers in the SLA field have studied
closely. They 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). This explains
why James sounds like a native English speaker, whereas his parents do not, for
his parents learned later in their life.
Reference
Ortega, L. (2011). Understanding second language acquisition. London and New York: Routledge.
Reference
Ortega, L. (2011). Understanding second language acquisition. London and New York: Routledge.
Hi Kaela. I like your choice of interviewee, namely someone who spoke German, and who was exposed to a bit of English at the age of four years. I also like how you put across the questions regarding the age James began to learn as being a hindrance or benefit to him. As a result, I could only imagine what is in the minds of persons who speak German and having to learn English. This happened to him upon coming to the US at that early age. He did point out that he had no memory of learning German and I think that his exposure to different languages, being parent learnt and in school was a great insight that created much cross linguistic influences. This creates “a better understanding of the forces that shape cross linguistic influence” (Ortega, Lourdes. 2011. pp. 33), with the learners’ psychological perceptions of the L1-L2 similarities and differences. Also, having taken Spanish in grades four and five must have been really challenging. I note that he finds French as interesting but has a great desire to learn more about German, his native tongue. Great job.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your reply, Susan. James is not fluent in Spanish, but he was being very modest like always. He has a great language sense, meaning that he is better at languages than the average monolingual person. I have learned from one of my education courses that people who speak multiple languages tend to do better academically than those that do not. I also over heard a teacher at my school say that her ESL students are doing incredibly well academically. I am looking forward to learning more about the correlation between SLA and academics.
DeleteNice interview ! In the video James mentioned that "there were some words in German that overlapped into the English language". Although he was unable to identify rather or not this benefited or hurt him , I think in many ways this benefited him. According to Ortega, "Pre-existing knowledge of the mother tongue influences inter-language developing by accelerating or delaying the progress learners make along the natural, developmental pathways”(Ortega, 2011, Pg. 53). Being that the German language correlates with the English language, I think that this accelerated the process of learning English. This is a major plus point when it comes to learning English from a starting point of understanding German, as it is often possible to guess what some words mean. Those cognates build an obvious bridge for him to the English language.
ReplyDeleteI believe you are correct, Aundria. James was able to learn the English language quickly because of the cognates in German and English. His age also helped him with his English learning. Lastly, James was immersed into the English language where not much German was spoken. I learned in my Second Language Methodology course last semester that being immersed into the English language in a real world context helps people learn an L2. As stated in my reflection, it is uncertain whether James was an SLA learner or Bilingual learner.
DeleteI enjoyed listening to James life story how he learned English. And it’s very true that most children when they learn English at a young age do not tend to have such a strong accent compare to the ones that learn at an older age. Since James learned at a young age he sounds like a native English learner. “It is possible to conclude that age-related differences exist in how a skill or ability is learned, and to propose explanations that do not invoke preprogrammed biological changes in the brain as an underlying cause” (Ortega, 2011, pg.41). It was interesting to hear that James only has more memories of learning English and not German. This can be because the social world we live in is mainly spoken English. The older you get and you start forgetting about your native tongue it makes it harder on you to speak it again but I liked how James mention that he would like to start speaking and learning more of his native tongue. “In terms of L2 ultimate attainment, most learners who begin acquiring the L2 before a certain age, typically before puberty, will develop levels of
ReplyDeletemorphosyntactic and phonological competence that are very close to those
of native speakers of that language” (Ortega, 2011, pg. 46). This can describe James very much, and why he has been able to speak English like a native speaker would due to the age he started learning it.
Thank you for your reply, Griselda. I think James meant that he wishes he could use more of his native language. He still knows how to speak German, but he barely uses it anymore. His parents both speak English primarily as well. As I mentioned in my reflection, James could’ve actually been a bilingual instead of an SLA leaner based on the age at which he learned English. That is probably why he doesn’t have an accent.
DeleteHi Kaela!
ReplyDeleteI think it’s super interesting that your friend James grew up speaking German until he was about 4 years old when he started learning English. I have found it common with other ELLs that their English is quite fluent when they have started learning English at a young age. Ortega (2011) concludes that there is a correlation between age and how a skill or ability is learned (p. 24). The younger a child is when learning another language benefits them with fluency in the long run when it comes to picking up a new language. I think it’s also neat that he’d want to try and study more on German as I think it’s great to continue to work on being bilingual. Thanks for sharing!
Ortega, L. (2011). Understanding second language acquisition. London and New York: Routledge.
Yes, Jennie. Ortega also states that if a child is three to four years of age and is learning an L2, it is unclear whether or not they are bilingual or an SLA learner (Ortega, 2011). I find this incredibly interesting. Perhaps the reason why ELL’s achieve fluency when they learn an L2 at such a young age is because they are actually bilingual and not an SLA learner.
DeleteKaela, I think you asked great questions. I can relate with your interviewee since I used to speak German myself. Like your friend mentioned, when he got to the USA, he didn’t have any friends that spoke German, so he had to try twice as fast to learn English in order to be able to communicate with others. He mentioned a few times that he believes that because he came to the states at such a young age, it allowed him to learn English quickly. Researchers have found that German speakers have some difficulty pronouncing certain words in English that end in voiced consonants (Ortega, 2011). That is why a German’s accent sounds so strong when speaking English. That is probably how his parents’ accents sound. I am glad that he is interested in the French language and that he also would like to practice German since he hasn’t really used it since he got here. I wonder if he speaks German at home with his parents, or with family back in Germany. Maybe this is something you could ask him and let me know.
ReplyDeleteReference
Ortega, L. (2011). Understanding second language acquisition. London and New York: Routledge.
Great question, Maisa. James actually speaks English with his parents at home, for his parents wanted to primarily speak English since that is the dominant language of the U.S. He has told me, however, that they say certain phrases in German when they speak to each other. I will have to ask him whether or not he speaks German with his distant relatives.
DeleteHello Kaela, thank you for sharing this insightful video interview into the language history of your interviewee. He mentions that his parents have a strong accent and it reminded me of my parents because sometimes their accent may get in the way when they are speaking certain English words or phrases.
ReplyDelete