Entry Two: Interview With Bilingual Speaker
Vitoria Viera
For this entry, I have decided to interview Victoria Viera - my mother. Victoria was born in El Salvador and moved to the United States when she was six. At this time her only language was her native language, Spanish. She now found herself living in a country where English was the main language. This being said, Victoria was forced to learn English. She began to learn at school and picked up vocabulary from watching television and socializing with her peers. After many years of study here in the U.S., Victoria now finds herself fluent in her L2.
Throughout Victoria's life, she found herself to fall under several categories of bilingualism. During her childhood, from birth to teenage years, she had learned both Spanish and English. Although both these languages had not yet been mastered, she would be considered an early bilingual (Gass & Selinker, 2013, p.27). In her interview, Victoria mentions that she did not necessarily learn how to read and write in her native language due to her migrating to the United States. She can fluently speak it but has never been taught grammar and literacy in Spanish. Instead, she learned in a naturalistic manner how to read and write. Nonetheless, she hardy writes and reads in Spanish mostly because she is more comfortable just speaking her L1. This being said, Victoria would also be a receptive bilingual (Gass & Selinker, 2013, p.27). Looking at Victoria's language ability as a whole, she would also fall into the category of functional bilingualism. This simply means that she "can operate in two languages with or without full fluency for the task in hand" (Gass & Selinker, 2013, p.27).
In her interview, Victoria points out that she started to learn English when she moved to the U.S. at the age of six. According to Ortega, this age is on the verge of the 'biological window' for learning a language (Ortega, 2013, p. 12), yet she was able to pick up the language fairly quickly and was able to become fluent in her L2. This could have been a result of her plasticity since work in neurolinguistics of Penfield and Roberts (1959) and Lenneberg determine that humans undergo loss of plasticity by the age of nine (Ortega, 2013, p. 12). In other words, her brain at this age was still in good shape to be able to learn and pick up a new language and this is exactly what happened. Victoria also mentions that around age nine and ten she moved to Quebec, where they mostly speak French. She said she was able to learn the language, but it was a bit tougher because of her age. I found this super interesting because this timeline matches perfectly with the neurolinguistic research mentioned in Ortega's Understanding Second Language Acquisition, 2013.
I have always been aware of my mother's story, and how she managed to learn all her three languages, but looking at it now with some understanding of second language acquisition makes it much more interesting. It has opened up my eyes to see that learning a second, or third language deals with much more than I had originally thought.
References:
Gass, S. (2013). Second language acquisition: An introductory course. Routledge.
Ortega, L. (2013). Understanding second language acquisition. Routledge.
Hi, Alexander! Your mom is so pretty! My mom also came to the United States when she was young and had to learn English through complete immersion. In Second Language Acquisition: An Introductory Course, the authors state that being completely isolated from a child’s first language forces a child to have meaningful interactions with an L2, thus actually producing language transfer (Gass & Selinker, 2013, p.123). Like your mom, my mom also had conversations with native English speakers and picked up English from the TV shows she watched. What Gass and Selinker are talking about in their book explains a little bit of why your mom and my mom were able to learn English quickly and now are able to speak as if they were native speakers. I really liked your video! Your mom seems like such a wonderful and positive person!
ReplyDeleteSources: Gass, S. (2013). Second language acquisition: An introductory course. Routledge.
(I deleted my last comment because I forgot to include the source. Sorry!)
Hey there, Dahlia! I really liked the points you made in your comment about our mothers being able to learn their second language so quickly. In Ortega’s Understanding second language acquisition she talks about how language is not driven by an innate faculty, but instead driven by the complex linguistic opportunities provided by one's environment (Ortega, 2013, p.220). In other words, our mother’s peer interactions and conversations with native speakers are what drove both our parents to be able to learn their second language so quickly. These opportunities that Ortega mentions may also come from the television shows that our mothers watched and just being forced to speak the language with others. Thanks so much for your comment!
DeleteReferences:
Ortega, L. (2013). Understanding second language acquisition. Routledge.
Hello again! I agree with your comment that having meaningful interactions with native English speakers definitely drove our mothers to acquire the English language so quickly. I think it is really interesting how people are able to acquire language in so many different ways. I think a lot of language acquisition also has to do with how people’s cognition works. I believe that sometimes people are able to acquire a good understanding and ability to speak a certain language from an instructional method, even though it is said that interactions are the driving force of language acquisition (Gass & Selinker, 2013, p.62).
DeleteSources: Gass, S. (2013). Second language acquisition: An introductory course. Routledge.
Hello Alexander. I really liked watching your interview with your mom. According to Ortega, "SLA research has unveiled a number of universal influences that help shape the nature, pace, route and finish line in the path towards learning a second language" (2013, p.9). These influences include age, mother tongue, environment and cognition. In your mother’s case, her young age helped her absorb the languages around her. Having the ability to speak in Spanish, her mother language, helped her learn and become fluent in other languages. I feel that the environment has the greatest affect on her. She learned to speak English in the United states and learned to speak French in Canada. She also explains how she can also think in different languages.
ReplyDeleteOrtega, L. (2013). Understanding second language acquisition. Routledge.
DeleteThank you for your comment, Maria! Like you mention, the environment in which one grows up and lives in is crucial in learning a language, especially a second language. I too feel that my mother’s environment had the greatest effect on her as she learned English here in the United States, and French in Quebec. If it weren’t for this simple universal influence, she would have probably not been able to learn both languages as proficiently. After all, Ortega does mention that “recent strands of research suggest that a number of environmental factors are important predictors of success at earlier as well as later starting ages” (Ortega, 2013, p. 27). I believe the environment is an important factor to keep in mind when expecting for someone to learn a language. Thank you so much for your comment!
References:
Ortega, L. (2013). Understanding second language acquisition. Routledge.
Hi Alexander, I think it is great your mother is able to speak 3 languages, it has probably opened so many doors for her! I find it great that English is her most dominant language, considering she now lives in America and it is a bare necessity to be able to speak English. I believe that age does have an effect on ones ability to learn another language, though her first language was Spanish because it was what was spoken at home, all of her schooling being in English was probably a big factor in why it is her dominant language. It is good that her school environment and friends all spoke English because that potentially provides better practice for her in speaking English and also helping build upon her vocabulary.
ReplyDeleteHello, Nayab! As you mentioned, being bilingual has plenty of advantages for people and even opens up many doors along the way. These “doors” are often associated with career opportunities and economic advantages. Though this is a major plus in learning a language, Baker and Prys Jones (1998) state that being bilingual also comes with “communicative advantages, cultural advantages, and cognitive advantages” (Gass & Selinker, 2013, p.28). Opon reading more of what they had to say it was interesting to see that learning a second language allows you to do so much more than one can think of. I think it is great that you pointed out that being multilingual has opened many doors for my mother, because it has made us realize the true advantages of knowing more than one language. Thanks for your comment!
DeleteReferences:
Gass, S. (2013). Second language acquisition: An introductory course. Routledge.
AMAZING interview. I really admire people who are able to speak several languages.
ReplyDeleteAlexander, I like that you acknowledged that people can change their classification of bilingualism according to Gass' definitions (2013). Would you say that people are in a constant state of change, or that at some point they reach a final stage of classification?Personally, I think that, eventually, people either lose interest in keeping up with the language, or become fluent enough that they no longer have to constantly worry about using the language for fear of losing their proficiency.
ReplyDeleteI also feel that I have gained a deeper respect fro those who speak more than one language after taking this class. It is exceptionally difficult what these people go through, and what they had to overcome. What kinds of things will you be looking out for when you become a teacher? I will most likely try to incorporate more teaching styles to better reach a wide range of students, as well as use second-language acquisition in more than just sentence stems and basic vocabulary.
Hey there, Ila! Thank you so much for your comment. Your question regarding someone's classification of bilingualism really caught my attention. I had not thought of it the way you asked me, but instead thought of them as labels we could use to better identify the way someone learned their second language. For example, Gass and Selinker mention that “there are numerous situations in which individuals use two languages,” which then makes “it is difficult to pigeonhole all types of bilingualism” (Gass & Selinker, 2013, p.123). I guess referring back to your question I believe that those who learn a second language are constantly changing with and ‘updated’ label of bilingualism. In my instance, I was an early bilingual at one point when I first started learning my L2, but today I would consider myself a functioning bilingual. This doesn’t take away from the fact that I still was an early bilingual, but instead just replaces my label to a functioning bilingual. Moving on to your second question, I too see myself incorporating more teaching styles into the classroom. Specifically, I would use multi-sensory techniques to be able to reach every student. I find this super important as every student has a different way of learning, and taking a multi-sensory approach ensures that every student is learning in the best way they can.
DeleteReferences:
Gass, S. (2013). Second language acquisition: An introductory course. Routledge.