Vblog Entry 2
In this video, I had the opportunity to interview a young adult who learned English as his second language. Kevin came from El Salvador to America when he was in the First Grade. According to Rowland, "One factor that has a major effect on multilingual language development is the age at which the child starts to learn each language" (2014, pg.175). Kevin was fortunate enough to move to America at a young age, so that now he is fluent and understands English very well. Although he is still considered bilingual, due to the lack of use of Spanish outside his home, he is losing memory of the language. As mentioned in the interview, Kevin states that he is now more dominant in English. This goes to prove Rowlands statement "For most, one language is dominant, and this is often the community language rather than the home language" (2014, pg. 176). Now that he has lived in an English speaking community for the past ten years, English has now become his strongest. Kevin luckily had lots of help learning the English language through his teachers, classmate and friends. I have truly enjoyed getting to learn about Kevin and his experiences when trying to learn a new language. As he was telling me things, I started to notice and pick up on some things and make connections to our previous textbook chapters. It makes me truly excited for my future as a teacher to be able to help other children similar to him, succeed.
References:
Rowland, Caroline. Understanding Child Language Acquistion. New York: Routledge, 2014
Hey, Harlie! On other people’s blogs, I have noticed that a common theme with entry 2 of the vblogs is that English has become the dominant language of bilingual speakers. Even though it is awesome that bilingual speakers learn English so quickly, it is also sad that they lose their skills in their first languages. In Understanding Child Language Acquisition, Rowland states that bilingual speakers may be more inclined to talk about certain topics in different settings. For example, Rowland says that children who speak Hindi at home “may be better at talking about home-related topics in Hindi” (Rowland, 2014, p.176). This would explain why bilingual speakers can lose some of their first language, since they would not be talking about home-related topics at school. Very cool video!
ReplyDeleteSources: Rowland, C. (2014). Understanding child language acquisition. Routledge.
Hello Dahila! I have noticed that same thing as well watching our classmates videos as well. It is sad that they lose the knowledge of their first language, but it is due to the community's dominant language. Now that he is forgetting some words in his first language, he sometimes now mixing the languages. According to Rowland, "Most common seems to be lexical mixing, where one or two words from one language are inserted into a sentence made up of words from another language" (2014, pg. 177).
DeleteRowland, C. (2014). Understanding child language acquisition. Routledge.
Hello again, Harlie! I remember another classmate’s interview video where the interviewee was talking about “Spanglish” and how that has become more normal for her than speaking solely in one language. I think that is really cool because it really demonstrates how people can think in dual-languages. Even though it may seem sometimes like people are losing their skills in their first languages, if there is no practicing of talking about certain topics then it makes sense to not have those types of topics right at the front of their minds. In Second Language Acquisition: An Introductory Course, it is stated that learners of a second language have some choice over what parts of the language they will utilize and practice (Gass & Selinker, 2013, p.231).
DeleteSources: Gass, S. (2013). Second language acquisition: An introductory course. Routledge.
Hi Dhalia and Harlie! I noticed how you both mentioned how most of the interviews from our classmates resulted in the interviewee acquiring English as their dominant language, and losing skills from their first language. I wanted to provide you both with a different scenario, in which my friend that I had interviewed in fact kept her first language, Arabic, as her dominant language. It was quite surprising to me as well, however, she mentioned how her mother did not let anyone speak in English at home, therefore Arabic became her more dominant language. She also mentions how lately she has been interacting and socializing a great deal more with Arabic speakers, hence her Arabic has become more dominant through a multitude of factors. On that note, she also mentions how her older sister's dominant language in fact is English, even though they grew up in the same household. This goes to show that my friend may have put in a bit more effort in speaking in Arabic over her sister, which is why Arabic is her dominant language.
DeleteHello Aleena! From reading your comment, it seems to me that the person you interviewed did in fact put in the extra effort to keep her first language more dominant. According to Gass and Selinker, "The communication gap widens with the unfortunate result of non communication between parents and children" (2013, pg. 28). From what you said, I would believe that she was very family oriented and communicated in Arabic always to her family members.
DeleteGass, S., Selinker, L. (2013). Second language acquisition: An introductory course. New York: Routledge.
Hey Harlie! It sounds like, from reading your blog and watching the video, that Kevin is what Gass and Selinker would define as a dormant bilingual. According to Gass and Selinker, a dormant bilingual is “someone who has emigrated to a foreign country for a considerable period of time and has little opportunity to keep the first language actively in use” (Gass and Selinker 2013, pg.27). It sounds like from your blog that the only time he really gets to use his second language is at home, meaning that he does not have the opportunity to practice outside his home. I think that even using the language at home could help him not to lose the language completely.
ReplyDeleteReference:
Gass, S., Selinker, L. (2013). Second language acquisition: An introductory course. New York: Routledge.
According to Gass and Selinker, "Heritage language learners have knowledge of two languages (the home language and the language of the environment/school), and they are usually dominant in the second language" (2013, pg. 23). Since he lives in a community where English is the dominant language, he hears and speaks English more. However, agreeing with Gass and Selinker, he is still bilingual due to the home language only being Spanish.
DeleteGass, S., Selinker, L. (2013). Second language acquisition: An introductory course. New York: Routledge.
Hey Harlie! I found it interesting that Kevin is now more dominant in English. The person I interviewed said that she is pretty equal in both because of the fact that her parents only speak English. Both of the people we interviewed would be considered sequential multi linguists because according to Rowland, "other children start to learn one language first and then learn another later in life. Many of these children are from migrant families who have settled in a country where most people speak a different language" (2014, page 175). In our case this would be English! I am glad to hear that Kevin had a lot of help from his teachers and classmates. This is something I plan on doing in my future classroom because ELLs definitely need all the support they can get!
ReplyDeleteRowland, Caroline. Understanding Child Language Acquisition. New York: Routledge, 2014.
Hello Marissa! It took a while for Kevin to become more dominant in English than Spanish, but due to the community he lives in, he speaks and hears more English. Rowland says, "Children who have learned Hindi at home and English at school may be better at talking about home-related topics in Hindi (cooking a meal, doing household chores, talking about family members) and better at academic topics in English (math, history, literature)" (2014, pg. 176). I think that Kevin relates to this very closely since he typically only speaks Spanish at home.
DeleteRowland, Caroline. Understanding Child Language Acquisition. New York: Routledge, 2014.
It makes sense that the community he lives in really played a role in his bilingualism. According to Rowland, "age of acquisition, the amount and type of input, and the attitudes, behavior and beliefs of the family and wider community all play a role" (2014, page 200). The wider community is the reason that there is a difference between how well Kevin acquired language and other bilinguals who possibly have other factors such as the person I interviewed. She speaks Spanish and English equally because she only speaks Spanish at home, but also speaks it at school, work, and with some of her friends.
DeleteRowland, Caroline. Understanding Child Language Acquisition. New York: Routledge, 2014.
Hello Marissa! Quick question, does the girl your interviewed parents speak only Spanish or bilingual as well? In Kevin's situation, his mom only knows and speaks Spanish. According to Gass and Selinker, "the children learn the new language and only barely understand the language of the parents, having become fluent in the language of the new country, whereas the parents do not learn the new language of the environment" (2013, pg. 28). This is what has happened in Kevin's life, I was wondering if it was a similar situation in your friends?
DeleteGass, S., Selinker, L. (2013). Second language acquisition: An introductory course. New York: Routledge.
Her parents only speak Spanish but somewhat understand English. The one English they really speak are greetings such as hello and goodbye. That does not apply to the girl I interviewed because she stated that she still used Spanish just as much as she uses English due to her going to nursing school as well as some of her friends being bilingual as well. What Gass and Selinker stated makes sense but according to Rowland, "children who are equally competent in two languages are relatively rare" (2014, page 176). This is called a balanced bilingual which is what the girl I interviewed would be considered.
DeleteRowland, Caroline. Understanding Child Language Acquisition. New York: Routledge, 2014.