Entry 2: An interview with...
Hello and welcome to my second Vblog entry!
After reviewing and reflecting on my interview with Danial, I was able to make several connections between what he mentioned about his process of learning the English language and what researchers mention. When I asked Danial if he felt like learning English at a younger age was an advantage to him, he mentioned how his relative who began learning English as an adult is still not very proficient in English, while he now considers English his most used language. Ortega (2013, p. 16) mentions that "older is better initially, but that younger is better in the long run." This proves true in Danial's case since as an adult he is more proficient in English than his aunt who still struggles with her English language skills. Ortega (2013) discusses how adults were able to retain more, but for shorter periods of time, while younger language learners were able to retain new words and phrases for longer periods of time. Danial goes on to mention that he has not forgotten how to speak in his native language. Ortega (2013, p. 89) claims that "when bilinguals recognize or produce words, information encoded for both languages, not just the one of current use, is initially activated." It is interesting that Ortega mentions this because although Danial mentioned that he has become more proficient in English than his primary language, Urdu. I can imagine that there is a link between words he knows in English and words he knows in Urdu. Building these subconscious connections are essential to retention and fluency in language. Furthermore, Ortega (2013, p. 95) mentions that while learning without intention is possible, people learn faster, more and better when they deliberately apply themselves to learning. Since Danial learned Urdu from his parents as a child, he probably learned it without intention or conscious effort. He is able to remember what he already learned and understands to communicate in Urdu, but is not as proficient in the language as compared to his English. On the other hand, Danial actively attempted to learn English and mentions that although he is proficient in English, he is still interested in enhancing his English language vocabulary and skills when given an opportunity.
Hi Angle! It was refreshing to hear Danial talk about learning English as a second language. One particular thing that I found interesting to hear Danial talk about is how his English skills had diminished when he moved to Pakistan and stopped using English as much as he used to. To me this sounds like Danial had not yet added all of the English words he learned to his long-term memory and that because of the lack of English in his surroundings in Pakistan he had a hard time remembering English when he returned to the U.S. (Ortega, 2013, p. 88).
ReplyDeleteHello Karen,
DeleteI considered what you mentioned about Danial not storing English vocabulary in his long-term memory. It is also possible that Danial did store his English vocabulary in his long-term memory, but this memory was not active or used for such a long time that he needed cues to help him remember what he had learned prior to moving to Pakistan. Ortega (2013, p. 90) specifically mentions that under normal conditions information can be remembered in working memory for about two seconds only. After that brief span, the representation is rapidly forgotten, unless it can be rehearsed sub-vocally in what Alan Baddeley, memory authority in the United Kingdom, called the phonological loop, so it can eventually enter long-term memory. In Danial's case, it is not possible that all of his prior English vocabulary had been stored solely in his short-term memory since he mentions that he was somewhat proficient, but merely forgot some of his English.
Hey Angel, Danial had a very interesting experience in second language acquisition. Aside from receiving more support coming back from Pakistan, It was clear to see that learning English at a young age really helped this acquisition the most. It was most interesting to compare directly with someone who was a late starter in SLA. Ortega notes that “post-pubertal learners, however, are not likely to perform in the native speaker range” and no matter how long they reside in the L2 environment (2009, p. 28). This makes me wonder what other differences were the two had in their SLA. Does a elementary school environment promote SLA more than a community college environment?
ReplyDeleteOrtega, L. (2009) Understanding Second Language Acquisition. New York, NY: Routledge.
Hey Franklin,
DeleteIn regards to your question, Ortega (2013, p. 29) mentions that some adult starters can achieve native-like levels in their L2, or at least extremely high levels that are near-native, while an early start does not guarantee complete and successful L2 acquisition in all cases. Ortega (2013) goes on to mention that in the first case, exceptions appear to be related to unusually high motivation and high quality of instruction, whereas in the second case they appear to be associated with high L1-use levels. I believe that in Danial's situation, he had a high quality of instruction and spent less time using his L1 when in the U.S. It is intact interesting to consider that Danial had forgotten some of his English when he moved to Pakistan, but was able to develop proficient English skills regardless. It appears that L2 language development differs on a case by case basis making it difficult to pin point any particular cause for lack of language development for late starters. I do believe that the school environment has a great impact on a student's overall language development, but this is not a sole factor to consider.