Interviewing Connie was an amazing opportunity! As a bilingual degreed woman with experience in teaching English Language Learners for over 10 years, Connie offered some valuable insight. Connie shared her experiences of what it is like to work with ELL's within the classroom.
Connie stated that many ELLs struggle with understanding the meaning of idioms. Students did not grasp the meaning of "hold on" or "she got up on the wrong side of the bed." ELLs also struggled spatial words like "away from" and "on top of." Ortega states that crosslingustic influences go beyond form-form or form-function correspondences, and that L1 knowledge across all layers of language can influence L2 solutions at the levels of form, meaning, and function (Ortega, 2013, p.47). Therefore, it is understandable that the ELLs struggle with comprehending the meaning of these words. How can we help these students?
Well, let me begin with the little boy in her classroom who only spoke Chinese when arriving. Connie mentioned that when the student would speak she would repeat back in English what she thought he was trying to communicate. Connie and this student used clarification requests, negotiated for meaning, and utilized confirmation and comprehension checks. Ortega describes these as interactional modifications (Ortega, 2013, p.61). Connie describes that she motivates her students through competition within the classroom. Furthermore, Ortega states that the more the L2 learners notice, the more they learn (Ortega, 2013, p.63). Communicating, using interactional modifications all assist these students in language comprehension and acquisition.
The last topic I would like to comment on is the motivation aspect. As I have previously stated within my previous blog entry, Ortega emphasizes that motivation and language aptitude are two factors that play a vital role in second language acquisition (Ortega, 2013, p.9). When I think of the two students Connie described entering her room, each only knowing their L1, one has progressed throughout the school year, while the other has not. Upon her description, the little boy who only knew Chinese progressed significantly more than the little girl. I believe that one of the factors that played a role in the different outcomes of these two students involved motivation. The little boy was highly motivated and the little girl was not. Ortega also states that grammar acquisition cannot be successful without applying interest, attention and hard work (Ortega, 2013.p.58). In addition, there are studies that show an empirical link between interaction and acquisition. I believe that when Connie uses competitive games as a motivation within the blended classroom (native speakers and L2 learners) that the ELLs are benefiting in acquiring the English language.
In conclusion, I really appreciated a perspective of what it is like to work with ELL inside the classroom. I look forward to gaining insight and utilizing the knowledge within my classroom to better assist my ELLs.
REFERENCES:
Ortega, L. (2013). Understanding second language acquisition. London and New York: Routledge.
Amanda, I love your use of Ortega's positions in relation to the importance of communication and motivation on second-language learners' abilities to comprehend the meaning of said language (2011). I personally value communication in my teaching as I feel that it is one of the central pillars of any social relationship. Whether it is a relationship between students, teacher and student, or teacher and student family members, communication determines how successful a student will be. Similarly, motivation dictates how a student performs, and thus is directly tied to their achievement levels. I appreciate how passionate you are about assisting your ELL students in their academic careers as I feel we are seriously lacking such determination in the current teaching field.
ReplyDeleteIla, thank you for reading my post! Yes, a good rapport between, teachers, staff, parents, and students is extremely important. Those relationships are valuable. Thank you for the compliment regarding the passion I have for assisting our ELL's. If I am transparent, my passion goes far beyond just our ELL's. I am full of determination to assist each and everyone of my students' in their journey. Ortega discusses a study which concluded that those who expressed more satisfaction towards their teacher and curriculum tended to be those who also reported higher motivation (Ortega, 2013, p.183). Therefore, if I can show my students' how much I care about their future and work together as a team, my prayer is that together we can motivate each other to be the best us, team!
DeleteOrtega, L. (2013). Understanding second language acquisition. London and New York: Routledge.
Connie mentioned some things that I had never considered before as a challenge in the English language. I never realized how many ways there were to describe an objects relationship to another object. She explained that spatial transitioning words (such as on top of, inside of, etc.) are challenging for ELLs to learn. Rowland mentions that spatial relations words in English are represented differently in other languages such as Korean, and this can make it very difficult for a Korean speaker to know how to distinguish between these terms (2014, p.54). I never truly realized how complex language systems are and how much it takes to truly know a language. The conversations in each interview bring forth new knowledge and information for me to consider regarding how much an ELL is required to in all at once.
ReplyDeleteRowland, C. (2014). Understanding child language acquisition. New York: Routledge.
I agree, Connie did share some valuable insight into challenges that our ELL's experience. I think that when it comes to learning a L2 there are many difficulties. I was commenting on someone else's blog in our class and also informing them of something I read from Ortega. Ortega states that in L1 a 5-year-old child begins school with an established vocabulary of approximately 5,000 word families. Whereas our L2 users, new vocabulary presents a formidable challenge as they need to learn about 3,000 new words in order to minimally follow conversations in the L2, and about 9,000 new word families if they want to be able to read novels or newspapers in the L2 (Ortega, 2013, p.88). Thinking about all the ways to describe an object is complex. With our L1 we have had years of experience before entering schools. However, our ELL's are lacking these years of experience. It seems at times we overlook these insights, but when we stop and take a step back I feel that it makes sense. I also remember in the video we watched, "How Do Kids Learn a Second Language?," they mention that in Chinese there is no true equivalent to the English word "share." In Chinese, the closest word is to "give." I am sure that having words in their L1 that do not translate to their L2 also could impose on their learning of the language.
DeleteEducationRoundTable. (2014, August 2014). How Do Kids Learn a Second Language? Part 1. Retrieved June 19, 2013 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvXnkEuW46g
Ortega, L. (2013). Understanding second language acquisition. London and New York: Routledge.
Hi Amanda! It stood out to me when Connie mentioned how her new Chinese student would speak to her in broken English and she would use confirmation checks to make sure she understood what he said. I think it is important how she would repeat back to him to make sure there was no misunderstanding between them. Unfortunately, while they say they understand, they may actually be pretending do to so. Sometimes ELL pretend to understand to "avoid length and cumbersome negotiations, and they may do so motivated by the very human need to be polite and save face" (Ortega, 2013, p. 77).
ReplyDeleteOrtega, L. (2013). Understanding second language acquisition. Routledge.
Veronica, I never even thought of that! I am certain that is true. Even I am guilty of that at times! That is why I feel comprehension checks are important, not only on the surface, but on a deeper level. In addition, incorporating other interactional modifications may assist the teacher in providing input in a variety of ways. Through interactional modifications, there is the potential to bring about comprehension in a more individualized or learner-contingent fashion, with repetitions and redundancies rather than simplification. By doing so, these learners are potentially engaging in "just-in-time" learning (Ortega, 2013, p.62). So I think it is important to find ways to be sure that our ELL's truly are comprehending what we are trying to communicate and it is our responsibility to be aware of the possibility of our ELL's "pretending to understand to avoid length and cumbersome negotiation out of politeness and to save face."
DeleteOrtega, L. (2013). Understanding second language acquisition. London and New York: Routledge.