Reflection 9

Emotional language for me can be expressed in both my L1 and L2, even though I am more fluent in English I can also get very emotional in Spanish. I think it also has to do with who and where you are expressing yourself. If it is with my mom that speaks Spanish then I will speak in Spanish but if it’s with my brother and sister then it will be in English. Any language can be emotionally richer because the emotions come within you, so it’s the person who makes the language richer when speaking. It’s like Carol mentioned in class about German, it is known as a harsh language but depending on the way you speak it can sound very not and not so harsh, to people who don’t know the language. Regarding the speech communities I think it all has to do with who you are talking to and whether that person knows your language, even if you start off in one and then as your emotions start to come you can tend to code switch if you feel more at ease doing it in your L1.

Reflection 8

I think a combo of both, in teaching you cannot have one single way of teaching as we’ve learned in this class children acquire information in various forms, therefore our teachings have to be in various forms as well. It is important to be form focused because you do want them to learn the appropriate grammar but you also have to have them practice that grammar you are teaching them. What a better way to have them practice then with each other. Children tend to learn or pick up things if they are in a conversation with other peers, they don’t feel the pressure of looking dumb because one of their friends corrected them. Communication is needed in all classrooms but when it comes to SLA it really plays an important role. In study 37 shows a good example of how both approaches will work. In this sudy they used focus on form through collaborative dialogue here it showed that the learners engaged in collaborative talk on the language which led them to understand the correct use.

Reflection 7

I don’t teach yet but I believe affective factors have a lot to do with the child’s learning. With shy children you need to worry about them because they are the one’s that are least likely going to be able to express themselves in the classrooms making it hard on the teacher to get to know the student. With the more rebellious child the teacher has to worry about how this student will do on work when they are rebellious they tend to be more outspoken and trouble some interfering with there school work so you as the teacher need to tame that child. In both cases the teacher needs to be able to get to know the student to be able to connect with them to better help them learn.

Motivation is something that is within you but in some cases you also need someone to motivate you. I think everything is situational, depending on that situation you might be motivated and in other instances you might need to be motivated. In class Alfonso mentioned finding their interest and using that to make a lesson so they can be motivated to learn. In my C&I class this was one of the topics we spoke about a lot especially in reading how do you get a student to be interested in reading well the motivation came form having them read things that were related to them culturally and personally. They need attention grabbers and what better than things they find fun.

Reflection 6

A particular language influences the thought of its speakers. Different patterns of language yield different patterns of thought. Whorf believed that what one thinks is fully determined by their language. He also supported linguistic relativity, which states that the differences in language reflect the different views of different people. I believe that certain words or phrases cannot be fully translated into the other language, sometimes the translation changes the meaning of what you are trying to say making it harder for the second language learner to understand. When a second language learner is making that translation they believe the word they are using is correct but it is not because it changes the meaning of the word making their statement or phrase wrong.

Well the way I would address culture in my classroom would be going over the main celebrated holidays but also inquiring from each student what their culture is and what important holidays they have. Then you can have classroom activities so they can all participate.

Reflection 5

CAH claims that the barrier to SLA is L1 interference. The difference between CAH and CLI is that CLI recognizes the significance of the role of the first language in learning a second. Error analysis is something that should be documented in the SLA of a student however you need to be aware of the difference between mistakes and errors, and the teacher should not become to preoccupied in noticing the errors. With the errors should come praises, the student should know that you know that are doing well in class, and not only notice when they make errors. These types of errors should be analyzed and feedback should be provided to the student with instructional strategies or methods where they can correct these errors. Sometimes I think as teachers they focus too much on these types of things and perhaps don’t address them accordingly. For every error or mistake there should be some kind of corrective feedback, and praise for what they did correct especially if they have partial errors.

Reflection 4

I believe it is difficult for researchers to agree on the CPH because the Critical Period Hypothesis states that the first few years of life is the crucial time in which an individual can acquire a first language if presented with adequate stimuli, the book also states that if you acquire a second language after puberty then you are over the hill and if you do are you successful because you will still have the issue of the accent to deal with. Research is ongoing during the years everyone is an exception when dealing with any type of learning because as we all know we each learn differently. Researchers don’t agree because they find something new after they or someone else has found new data on CPH. For example the book states that neurological development affects SLA and that the left side of the brain deals with language functions and the right side deals with the emotional and social needs. Lenneberg states that lateralization is a slow process and that each individual assigns certain functions to each side of their brain this process also takes place within the age of 2 and is completely by puberty. Scovel proposed a relationship between lateralization and SLA in where the brain prior to puberty can allow a child to obtain not only their first language but a second one as well. The main argument deals with the time of lateralization because Lenneberg states that lateralization is completed around puberty Geschwind states that lateralization occurs at a much earlier age, and then you have Krashen who states it should be completed by the age of 5. So are they ever going to agree probably not.

Reflection 3

I don’t think I have specific learning style, I’m a little of everything depending on the subject I’m learning, for example for math I would need a lot of examples, seeing the teacher go over several examples would help me grab the concept of the material being taught that day. For all other subjects or content areas being a native speaker I believe they are easy for me no matter how the teacher teaches it. I don’t have classroom experience yet but hearing from the teachers we have in our classrooms they all have said the same thing, which we all know is true, that everyone learns differently. To me the challenge is what is the midpoint where you say I’m using this learning style, obviously there isn’t one, because from what I’ve heard the teachers use several learning styles to address a certain content area. Well my mother always instilled in us that we should be proud of our race and no one can tell me when and where I can speak my language. She always pointed out that being bilingual is a positive thing and she never had us hide our race, but I guess in the time I grew up it was different from other students. Also the area in which you live in can have something to do with it, especially if you grew up in a primarily Anglo community.