Hi Everyone,
Welcome back! For this entry, I
decided to interview Ms. Lopez. Ms. Lopez is a 3rd grade teacher at
Morton Ranch Elementary. She is also my mentor teacher. Ms. Lopez is within a departmentalized
classroom, meaning she only teaches Math, Science, and Social Studies. Ms. Lopez is also monolingual and ESL certified. Please
watch my video as she shares with us what it is like having students who are
English language learners in her classroom.
For students whose first language was not English, it can be
a challenge trying to complete some of the coursework that is expected amongst
all students. Based on my interview, English language learners tend to struggle
the most coming from second grade, going into third grade. This is due to the
fact that third grade is a huge jump from second grade. Third grade consist of a
lot of low frequency words and higher-level thinking. This jump can have a
major effect on ELL’s comprehension and vocabulary. In some cases, that alone
can hinder some students’ developmental learning progress. For some students, this forces them to work twice as
hard as other students who are not English language learners. They are also in
need of that extra-wait time in order to complete their work. In the early stages of ELL acquisition, students take longer to complete their work because not only do they need to
process what they are reading, but translate the content into their L1, then
re-process how they want to respond to it within their L2 language.
Another analyzation I was able to determine from this
interview is that holding ELL’s at the same academic
expectation as students who are not ELL’s, is not only inappropriate for their level of development,
but it is can also lower their intrinsic motivation. In many cases, educators need
to evaluate what level their ELL’s are at (beginner, intermediate, advanced, advanced
high) in order to determine how they must differentiate their work. For
instance, for a student who is at the beginner/intermediate level, it will not
be suitable to have them write a full page on describing the three parts of government.
Instead, it will be more suitable to have those students write only one or two sentences
describing each level of government. This
will not only allow the teacher to assess that the student has grasped the
content, but the student will not feel as discouraged since they were not
required to write as much detail. Over time this will build that student’s
intrinsic motivation. In the end, having ELL’s write the same amount of content
and detail compared to students who are not ELL’s, realistically only hinders their rate and progress in their school work and development in their L2 learning because it is not developmentally appropriate (Ortega, 2013, p. 34).
Overall, based on this
interview, I was able to grasp a great amount of knowledge on how ELL’s develop.
I was also able to analyze how motivation plays a big part for ELL’s, based on
how the classroom teacher holds them accountable for certain areas. One thing I
forgot to mention is how verbal praise can increase a ELL’s motivation level. A
simple “I loved how you wrote a complete sentence on..” can go a long way for
them. Even giving them verbal praise on areas they should already be doing. That verbal praise alone can help reshape an English language learner’s overall
outlook on their L2 learning because it helps them realize that they are making progress. Over time, this motivates our English language learners to create that willingness to continue their L2 learning progress. Even Ortega would support the advantages of how "Aptitude and motivation alone are the two best-researched sources of
individuals differences in L2 learning (Ortega, 2013, p. 145)."
References
Ortega, Lourdes. Second
Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2013. Print.
Priscilla,
ReplyDeleteI can definitely relate to your and your mentor teacher when she mentioned that she has students who are learning a different language at home. Many of my students are learning to speak Chinese at home and attend Chinese school on the weekends. I was also told by one of their parents during parent-teacher conferences that their family ONLY speaks Chinese at home. Ortega defines the definition of cognition as "...refers to how information is processed and learned by the human mind (the term comes from the Latin verb cognoscere, 'to get to know')" (Ortega, 2013, p. 82). I can definitely see how learning/speaking a certain language at home, and having to switch when you get to school can affect a child's cognition in a good way or a bad way. Like your teacher stated, some students actually benefit from learning a different language and it could also influence their L2. As for some students, it may be too much for them and meanings in English can get confused with the meanings in the different language they are learning.
References: References: Ortega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2013. Print
Reply to Kenia Reyes under Priscilla Sambrano
DeleteLearning a second language, whether it be at home because of culture or at school because it’s the language of the school environment, can be difficult. This can be even more challenging if the student has little aptitude for the L2. If the Chinese is the L1, then the English could be difficult. We do not discuss aptitude for L1 unless there are cognitive deficits in the student’s language learning. Gass and Selinker say that aptitude, “… Refers to one’s ability to learn a new language,” (Gass and Selinker, 2008, p. 417). So, the higher the aptitude, the more quickly the L2 will be acquired.
Gass, Susan M., and Sleinker, Larry. Second Language Acquisition. New York: Routledge, 2008. Print.
Stacey, I agree with you that if the student has little aptitude for the L2 it can be much more difficult to learn the L2. “Aptitude and motivation alone are the two best-researched sources of individuals differences in L2 learning" (Ortega, 2013, p. 145). As Ortega mentions, aptitude is one of the top researched reasons for differences in people learning a L2. Some students have a stronger ability to learn the language than others whether it is effected about by their intelligence or environments they are surrounded by daily, students aptitude does play a major role in learning a new language or learning any new content in school.
DeleteHi Kenia,
DeleteHow ironic, I actually had a parent-teacher conference with one of my student's parents a couple of days ago as well. During the whole interview my student's sister had to translate for us. I was very intrigued by that interview. I feel like it really allowed me to grab an insight on my student's home life in relation to him being an English language learner. I was taken by surprise when I found out that my student speaks ONLY his L1 at home and there was little to no English speaking. I would have never guessed that based on how quick he is to give responses in the classroom, and how he is able to explain his thinking in such a critical way. I was able to determine that my student is probably at the advanced level. I feel that my student is in that stage of his L2 language learning development where he is able to make that distinguishment from his L1 and his L2. It definitely could be he has very high comprehension abilities across both languages. There are moments where I witness him not knowing what a word in English means, but he is able to use those context clues in order to identify what is the meaning of the word. Then there are other moments where he is able to quickly comprehend what is being asked from him (with little to no wait time), specifically in math word problems. Ortega would best describe this as "automatic processes that require small effort and take up few cognitive resources (Ortega, 2013, p. 83)." These points, are signs of having a good amount of comprehension across both languages. This kind of makes me wonder, how exactly he is at the level of development, knowing he only speaks his L1 at home. Unlike some of my other ELL's who have at least one English speaking parent, however they are not advanced as this one student in particular is.
Thank you,
Priscilla Sambrano
References:
Ortega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2013. Print.
Priscilla Sambrano,
ReplyDeleteMs. Lopez has a very challenging grade to teach since it is tested formally by the state. Her job is also challenging when it involves teaching many skills while attempting to help students learn a second language. My hat is off to her! Ms. Lopez mentions that students were mixing their L1 and L2 while writing. Ortega speaks about this when he explains, “For transfer to occur learners have to make an interlingual identification, defined by Terrence Odlin as ‘the judgement that something in the native language and something in the target language are similar’” (2003, p. 454) (Ortega, 2011, p.33). This explains why the students benefit from having additional time when writing. It gives them the time to make the language identifications. I think it is great that Ms. Lopez actually pays attention to her students and is able to identify problem areas and then address them with accommodations that lead her students to experience success in the classroom.
Ortega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2011. Print.
Hello Stacey,
DeleteI can agree that transfer is important for English language learner students. I believe that when the students reach a time where they are able to transfer, that it will be a critical moment. I believe that once that happens, they will reach success and would have acquired the language at that point. As stated by Ortega "bilingual speakers switch and alternate between their two (or more) languages, depending on a range of communicative needs and desires" (Ortega, 2011, p. 4). Once the students are able to do this I think they will be considered bilingual and it would be evident that transfer did occur.
Hi Stacey Stary,
DeleteDefinitely! Ms. Lopez has a very challenging group. However, I am astonished and how she is very knowledgeable measures have be taken based on what she has been able to notice from their work. During my placement, I have been noticing the same things that she has been noticing and that is particularly with comprehension and vocabulary for our ELL's. Her and I can agree that that some of that difficulty underlies from most of them not getting enough practice in their L2. During some of our parent teacher conferences, we realized that a lot of our students only speak their L1 at home and very little of their L2. So, the reason for this delay is highly due to having that high cross-linguistic influence from their L1 to their L2. Of course, I am not saying that it is a bad thing they are still practicing their L1 at home, however only practicing their L2 at school is having a huge effect on their rate and progress of building that sense of comprehension and overall natural development of their L2 (Ortega, 2013, p. 34).
Thank you,
Priscilla Sambrano
References:
Ortega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2013. Print.
Ms. Lopez brings up great points with how to better meet the needs of her English Language Learners. She brings up using images to help out her ELLs which I think is very important. She also brought up the fact that every ELL is different. There may be some ELLs who, like she states, are high up there when there may be some who struggle to create a sentence. I have seen this first hand in my placement, and I believe that it is something that we do not really think about. She states that she uses pictures to help her students better understand the vocabulary, and since pictures are universal they really help. Ortega states that things in their native language or something that they are familiar with can help them to understand vocabulary better (Ortega, 2013).
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
Delete
DeleteHi Jennifer,
Yes! Ms. Lopez is very knowledgeable and aware of what level her students are at and what kind of resources are necessary for them. Even for myself, I am starting to get a good idea at what level my students are at based on what we have been learning in our SLA class. Like for some of my ELL's I notice that a good majority of them are at the beginner/intermediate level they because they are still having trouble with those lower level thinking questions and of course those higher-level thinking questions as well. This definitely could be that they have not yet built that automaticity from their L1 to their L2. Not only that, on top of having to just retrieve that basic information, they are also being required to apply that information to a new scenario (critical thinking). Ortega would consider this as being a dual-task condition that involves two tasks trying to occur at the same time (Ortega, 2011, p.84). However, like Ms. Lopez said, 2nd grade is a huge jump to 3rd grade, which could a big factor as to why our students are still struggling.
Thank you,
Priscilla Sambrano
References:
Ortega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2013. Print.
Priscilla,
DeleteI have to agree with you that these courses have been helping me to understand what level my ELLs are at. I have noticed that all the ELLs I have this year are at the Advanced High level because of not only how they answer questions but the way they speak and how high their DRA levels are at. I know that it varies from year to year, but I am excited to be able to gauge what level my students are at because of these courses. I also believe that 1st grade to 2nd grade is a huge jump as well, so many of my students, not just ELLs, have been struggling too. This also plays a huge factor into how my ELLs develop.
Hello Priscilla,
ReplyDeleteIn the interview, Ms. Lopez noted that when a student feels discouraged it is harder for them to complete a task and learn. This corresponds to what we have been learning in class and how attitude is an important factor when learning another language. As stated by Ortega, “positive attitudes towards the target language…[is] certainly important” (Ortega, 2011, p.72). Ms. Lopez also noted that when learning English, many of her English language learners struggle with vocabulary. Due to some students being discouraged and struggling with vocabulary, I feel like they would benefit from learning emotion control. According to Ortega emotion control is “Overcoming negative moods and affirming emotional stability” (Ortega, 2011, p. 212). In the text, it is noted that emotion control is best used for when a student is stressed about learning vocabulary. This is because emotion control can allow the student to calm their emotions in order to get work done.
Hi Ruth,
DeleteI can also agree that having positive attitudes towards the target language is certainly an important factor in second language acquisition. I can also concur that emotional stability aligns in the scheme of L2 learning. The component that is made when they mix these two together is a rapidly emerging bilingual student However, these are internal traits that, in some cases can't be created. Some people will simply have it within them and some won't Certain personality traits may favor interest in the study of an L2 and increase the likelihood of success (Ortega p. 213).
DeleteHi Lawrence,
I do agree that there are some internal traits that can be a determining factor of success when learning an L2. I also agree that internal traits cannot be created by the individual. Either someone has the trait or they don’t and one cannot choose to have it. As stated by Ortega "Many introverts are...attracted to the study of foreign language" (Ortega, 2011, p. 213). Being an introvert is an example, of a trait that cannot be created by an individual willingly.
Hi Ruth,
DeleteNow that you mention it, yes. My student's attitudes are in fact hindering their development in their L2 learning. I have noticed several moments when my students would be given a task and instead of trying to read the instructions and seeing if they can do it on their own, they immediately just shut down, instead of just trying or asking for help. There are other times when they also do not really want to respond to mine or my mentor teacher's questions, even when we know they are able to answer them. It's like they have it already engraved in their brains that they do not know the content, so why bother even trying. This is highly do to not having that high sense of intrinsic motivation and willingness to communicate. As teachers of ELL's, we need to understand that motivation (especially intrinsic) is one of the biggest factors on the rate and progress of a student's L2 language learning development. We need to get them to that level where these students are showing genuine interest in learning the language and also showing "initiative to communicate (Ortega, 2013, pg. 213)." Once we have that understanding of how our students can progress and what exactly can hinder their progression, then that allows us as teachers to differentiate and provide the necessary resources that they need for their development.
Thank you,
Priscilla Sambrano
References:
Ortega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2013. Print.