For my VBlog Entry 2, I interviewed Kenia Reyes. She was born in Guatemala and came to The United States when she was just 2 years old. Her family mostly speaks Spanish and mentions in our interview that even though her family mostly speaks Spanish, she is more comfortable with English. Kenia was in ESL classes from pre-k to 2ndgrade. She mentioned that since there were other kids in her class that spoke Spanish, this helped her a lot when learning the new language as well as how to socialize with others. She also mentioned that in her class there were different cards that had objects labeled with a picture, an English word for the object and a Spanish word for the object. "Learners obtain comprehensible input mostly through listening to oral messages that interlocutors direct to them and via reading written texts that surround them, such as street signs, personal letters, books and so on" (Ortega, 2013, p. 59).
Since she learned through teachers in her school and the peers in her classroom, this seemed to help her greatly. She speaks great English and you may never know that her first language was Spanish! Kenia did talk about how she regrets not practicing Spanish as much, because she wishes that she could speak Spanish in a more proper manner. She said she has more of a slang type of Spanish. In the future, she wants to incorporate Spanish into her household. She wants her future kids to speak Spanish so that way they have a “tool” to use in the future.
I found it interesting that she feels more comfortable with English than she does with Spanish. I found this interesting because her family speaks Spanish at home. I would have thought that since it was her L1 and the language is used at home, that she would feel more comfortable with it, but with Kenia, that was not the case.
Ortega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2011. Print.
Here is the link to my video: Click here! (I had to upload it through Kenia Reyes's YouTube because I was having issues with my iMovie, but this is my video!)
Mackenzie,
ReplyDeleteI really identify with Kenia's story. While I was not born in a different country, I do believe that English has been my dominant language for a very long time. I do believe that it has become my L1 because I am more fluent in it than I am Spanish. Ortega states that an L1 is the language that is first learned (Ortega, 2009). I believe that Kenia and I have switched English to be our more dominant language because it is used so much. Growing up, we are taught in English. We read books in English and maybe even listen to music or watch television mostly in English. I believe that since we use English more than our native language, Spanish, then we practice it more and we ultimately become better at it due to all the practice and exposure that we have to that language. I also believe that Kenia learning English at such a young age explains why she does not have an accent. Gass states that those who learn another language at a young age, before puberty to be exact, have a lower chance of learning the new language without an accent (Gass, 2008). I believe this is true because I do not have an accent either since I learned English at a young age as well. On the other hand, my family members who know English have a thick accent because they learned English when they were already adults. While age has nothing to do with how easily we will learn a new language, it has a lot to do with whether we will develop an accent or not. Overall, I really enjoyed hearing your interview with Kenia and appreciate her taking the time to share her story with us!
McKenzie,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your interview. It was noticeable from Kenia’s speech that she certainly has mastered English as L2 due to the fact she learned it prior to what Ortega (p.12) calls the Critical Period, in her case as early as age 2.
Being exposed to English after age 2, it is evident that her school socialization and immersion very likely played the most important role in her ability to learn English to the point where it has become her main language.
Even though she mentioned that she struggled with reading comprehension in the third grade, this could also be true of any other child in that age group as their brains are in the beginning stages of development of their first language.
John,
DeleteYes, Kenia has certainly mastered her L2 which is English. I agree with what you and Ortega are saying that she learned the language at a good time in her life. Kenia’s socialization in school helped her greatly! Ortgea states, learners obtain comprehensible input mostly through listening to oral messages” (Ortega, 2013, p.59). I think that socialization and interacting with her peers was the greatest benefit for her to learn the language as quickly as she did.
Ortega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2013. Print.