For my interview, I interviewed Tammie Smith. She has been in education for 25 years, and has a ton of experience and knowledge in the education field.
Ms. Smith talked a lot about areas I which ELLs struggle in. She mentioned how in some areas that ELLs struggle in was decoding words. She talks about how phonics and site words are beneficial to help a student begin to learn a new language. She mentioned how decoding is important because if a student isn’t able to decode a word, then they can’t comprehend what they are reading which then in turn affects the content in which they are supposed to be learning.
Ms. Smith also talked about how social interaction is important to beginning to learn a language. She talked about it from a child’s point of view and how these students want to make friends and therefore use the social interaction to help them to learn the language as well. Ortega talks about how building relationships/friendships with others is a form of motivation to learn a language. Building positive relationships is very beneficial to these ELLs. Ortega states, how their attitude “towards the target language and its members” (Ortega, 2013, p.59) can be a great factor to their knowledge and how quickly they can learn a new language.This relates back to what Ms. Smith was talking about in regards to how a student learns a language. How if they interact with one another they will get that positive learning experience. Ortega also states that children need, “oral interaction with one or more interlocutors”(Ortega, 2013, p.60). I feel that these statements really emphasize what Ms. Smith was talking about in regards to the social interaction that students need.
I enjoyed the idea that she brought up about their resiliency. Students have such an amazing amount of resiliency that sometimes we forget what they really are capable of.
I enjoyed getting to interview Ms. Smith and am very thankful for her opinion and time to answer my questions!
Refrences:
Ortega, L.(2013)Understanding Second Language Acquisition. Rutledge
Click here to watch my interview :)
Hi Mackenzie!
ReplyDeleteI loved getting to listen to your mom talk about her experience with ELL's. She mentions how with decoding, there is an issue with being able to comprehend what is being taught to them. I never put the two together. According to Ortega, "Learners obtain comprehensible input mostly through listening to oral messages..." (Ortega, 2011, pg. 59) When reading this I assumed that ELL's would comprehend what was being taught to them only through instruction and oral administration. I never took into consideration that these students have to read textbooks, notes and other resources given to them by teachers. I can only imagine how difficult that may be to someone who cannot fully understand what they are reading.
Allison, I never thought about decoding words when thinking about ELLs comprehension of their L2. I always read about the naturalistic method to teaching a new language by listening to peers and learning the language in this way. Listening to peers will not help with reading words when it comes to passing state exams. Students be know the sounds the letters make In English to be able to read. “Knowledge of the sound system (phonology) of our native language is complex” (Gass and Slinker, 2008, p.8). Because of the complexity and differences in the English alphabet and alphabet and letter sounds of other languages it is tough for ELLs to read. To help them, I think having words in English written below pictures would help them learn the letter sounds quicker.
DeleteHi Allison,
DeleteYes you’re right, she felt very strong about decoding. She feels that decoding is extremely important when it comes to understanding what they are learning and reading. You mentioned how Ortega talks about how they get input from oral messages. I feel that this is to be true. I feel like social interaction and repeating of different words is very beneficial. Ortega states, “prolonged and repeated meaningful practice changes their knowledge representation itself; with repeated access, the stored knowledge becomes more elaborated, well specified and analyzed” (Ortega, 2013, p.106). When the language is repeated more and more they are able to understand it and decode it, which in turn makes them able to comprehend what they are reading.
Ortega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2013. Print.
I never realized how much decoding comes into play when talking about comprehension. It is something that I have overlooked until your mom spoke about it. I also agree with your mom that if a student cannot read then they are basically lost because everything requires reading. I have noticed this with a couple of my students who are not necessarily ELLs but have low DRA levels. I believe that helping our ELLs with something as basic as phonics can help them be successful. I also believe that adding pictures to our directions or vocabulary can help them out tremendously so that they are able to see that universal symbol of a picture. Lastly, I believe that also helping to develop their intrinsic motivation to want to learn the language can help them out a lot. Ortega defines intrinsic motivation as motivation that comes from within (Ortega, 2013).
ReplyDeleteHi Mackenzie,
DeleteI think for a student to be able to decode or break-apart a word so they can make meaning of those words will take alot of practice. I believe for Elementary age students this take years to build to. "Skill acquisition theory defines learning as the gradual transformation of performance from controlled to automatic" (Ortega, 2013, pg. 84). ELL students needs to experience a lot of practice. Of course with practice they will be able to build up to a higher level of L2 processing. It will take less and less time for ELL to access the information previously. These students just need a little more time and practice and they will thrive.
Hi Thom,
DeleteI agree with you that being able to break a part a word will take a lot of practice. Decoding and reading takes a lot of practice. Ortega states, “New L2 knowledge is stored in the mind and has to be accessed and retrieve every time it is needed for use in comprehension and production (Ortega, 2013, p.83). This can take a lot of work and time when a large amount of new information is being stored in their mind. These students need practice with using their new L2 and accessing that information quickly. I like how you said with time they will thrive, I feel that is very true!
Ortega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2013. Print.
Hello Mackenzie,
ReplyDeleteIn your reflection, you being a really good point in English language learning when you talk about the decoding of the language and words. Phonetics is a big part of any language learning and if the student cannot make out and decode the words, they will have a hard time understanding the word and the sentence the word is used as a whole. Ortega talks about phonetics and says "phonetic categories or mental representations of speech sounds in the L1 are stabilized by age five or seven." (Ortega, page 23) This means that a child is locked into the phonetic language of their L1 by this age and an other language that comes to their minds, will be filtered through the L1 phonetics that has already been established. This is why L2 learners may have such a difficult time with phonetics and decoding.
Ortega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2013. Print.
Hello Joseph,
DeleteI also agree that Phonetics is a big part of learning a new language, it enables ELL students to better understand and speak the language they are learning. Ortega states a number of disciplines within the language sciences aim to provide an accurate
and complete description of language at all its levels, such as sounds phonetics
and phonology.