For this entry, I interviewed Mrs. Briseno. Mrs.
Briseno is a Special Education ELL teacher in Corpus Christi ISD, and she has
been teaching ELL’s for about 14 years.
I have known her for many years as we both grew up as neighbors in a
small town in the Rio Grande Valley. She started off her educational
endeavors with a bachelor’s degree in Social Work. She then decided to pursue a master’s degree
in Special Education. Mrs. Briseno is
now a first year doctorate student, pursuing a degree in Education and
specializing in literacy. She was an ELL
student herself.
One of the things I asked Mrs.
Briseno was about ELL’s and cognition. She
mentions that comprehension is not really an issue when students speak an L1
they can transfer from. Students use the
L1 to drive L2 learning and they are able to use cognates. I feel as though this works if the L1 is something
that they can drive from. For example, Gass
and Selinker mention than when using presenting Spanish and Arabic speakers with
questions in English, the Spanish speaker did better because there are more
cognates. This can be true for a Spanish
speaker trying to learn French (Gass & Selinker, 2008, p. 139). I do agree with Mrs. Briseno in that her
aptitude to learn an L3 or L4 is greater because of her existing L1 and
L2. According to Ortega, evidence shows
that being bilingual makes the acquisition of a 3rd language easier
(p. 49).
When speaking with Mrs. Briseno about motivation, she
notes that many of the ELL students she has taught are intrinsically
motivated. This also applies to her own
experience when going through the second language acquisition process. According to Ortega (2013), this is the ideal
mind set for students to learn. They
should want to learn for the purpose of feeling accomplished and to just gain
more knowledge, and if students are intrinsically motivated it shows greater
levels of achievement (p. 176).
Mrs. Briseno speaks in detail about her own experience, which I directly
relate to. I feel that she is the
perfect example of someone who exemplifies the self-determination theory. She is obviously driven by being a life-long
learner and continuing her education to better help her students with all the
knowledge she acquires.
Ortega, L. (2013). Understanding second language
acquisition. New York, NY: Routledge.
Gass, S.M., & Seliner, L. (2008). Second language
acquisition: An introductory course. (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.
Hi Mayra! Thank you and Ms. Briseno for this interview. Something that struck out to me was how Ms. Briseno tries to motivate ELL students because she was an ELL student herself and knows that hard work pays off at the end. ELL students are known to have foreign language anxiety that causes them to be shy and hide away from others. But their anxiety also tends to interfere with their education. According to Ortega (2013), foreign language anxiety can "Lower speed in their learning and processing of L2 materials, a tendency to underestimate their true L2 competence and a propensity to engage in risk-avoiding behaviours, such as speaking less and attempting less complex messages" (p.201). Ms. Briseno seems to have a lot of experience working with ELL students and it is amazing that she has the ability to learn an L3 more quicker due to her L1 and L2.
ReplyDeleteReferences:
Ortega, L. (2013). Understanding second language acquisition. New York, NY: Routledge.
HI Lucero
Deleteto add to your comment i myself was a very shy student and i did not ask for help, and if i ever did it would be to my peers. I think that we as future teachers should learn to gain our students confidence and help them walk through those obstacles with them. Engaging them to activities that they can both learn and enjoy can help them increase their terminological language, also just like my interviewee mention that using multi-sensory stimulus can transfer their experiences to their writing or speaking.
References:
Ortega, L. (2013). Understanding second language acquisition. New York, NY: Routledge
Hi Mayra, I agree with your teacher that ELL students may struggle with putting their writing into words. Sometimes students have much to say, but it is a bit difficult to translate it into English words. As it is stated in the textbook, Gass and Selinker believed that ELL students should have more time to complete their writing assignments because it can be a bit difficult for the students at first (Gass & Selinker, 2008). Furthermore, I agree with your teacher, and like that she provides her ELL students with accommodations/modification to do well in their classroom.
ReplyDeleteGass, S. M., & Selinker, L. (2008). Second language acquisition: An introductory course. New York: Routledge/Taylor and Francis Group.
Hey Mayra! I agree that it’s beneficial when students speak an L1 that they can transfer from. I’ve been student teaching in a math classroom and have observed how teachers emphasize math cognates to facilitate students learning. From the reading, we learned that “incidental learning is most likely to occur when the words in the two languages are cognates when there is significant exposure, and when L2 words are known” (Gass and Selinker, 2008, p.465). I think that when teachers emphasize the cognates and students can comprehend the words then students can focus more on learning the content.
ReplyDeleteReferences
Gass, S. M., & Selinker, L. (2008). Second language acquisition: An introductory course. New York: Routledge/Taylor and Francis Group.
Hi Mariana! I wish I had experienced the process of teaching ELL students in my student teaching placement, but I did not have any in my classroom. I agree with you that learning the content is easier if the students are not worried about picking up the meaning of certain words as well. Our book states that learning new words, their meanings, and how to use them does not come instanteneously, so like you said cognates are super helpful.
DeleteGass, S. M., & Selinker, L. (2008). Second language acquisition: An introductory course. New York: Routledge/Taylor and Francis Group.
Hi Mayra! I enjoyed reading about Mrs. Briseno, I find it very motivating how she continued her education in the Education field and shows her passion for students. I really like that because bilingual teachers grew up how their students did, there is a stronger connection. Students feel comfortable knowing that their teacher understands their struggles and are willing to help them as much as they can. According to Ortega. "...the L2 environment engenders in learners certain attitudes that have affective and social–psychological bases and that must be considered if we want to understand L2 learning..." this ties into the positive attitude and motivation, which gets ELL learners wanting to keep trying.
ReplyDeleteReference:
Ortega, L. (2013). Understanding second language acquisition. New York, NY: Routledge