https://www.wevideo.com/view/1212328495
A common problem for ELL students occurs when they are working in subject areas that require meaningful comprehension or present a lot of the new vocabulary within a short period of time. According to what Ortega talks about in chapter 5, this is considered a dual-task condition that involves two tasks trying to occur
at the same time, (Ortega, 2011, p.84). The student is not
only trying to process new vocabulary, but also trying to comprehend the text
containing the new vocabulary. This is
slower for ELL at first because it takes time to perform these dual-tasks, but
with practice will become more automatic.
During Reading, vocabulary can be especially difficult for some and also affected
their comprehension skills. Comprehension and vocabulary are difficult for ELL
because as Ortega says, “New L2 knowledge is stored in the mind and has to be
accessed and retrieved every time it is needed for use in comprehension or
production,” (Ortega, 2011, p.83). So, at the early stages of ELL acquisition
the learner takes longer to access and retrieve information and like vocabulary
words and their meaning. This time lag
causes comprehension to slow down. This can be especially difficult for learners because they may not want to speak up if they do not understand. Cognition and ELL get better with time and practice. Amazingly, some of students who are really motivated to learn can actually surpass some monolingual
students over time.
My interviewee mentioned to me that in the upper grades she could see more differences between monolingual and ELL, but that in kindergarten her students are very much
more similar. The younger students depend more on visual
pictures and cards and they utilize the word wall more. She also said that these students are also similar in that some
are in their first year of public school and may have not had an opportunity to
practice their formal language and speaking skills at home. In his video, Dornyei, talks about the importance of engagement, he describes it as indispensable. He also mentions how engagement is more challenging than ever in this day and age because of all the external distractions, (Dornyei, 2018).Therefore, teachers have to look at different ways to address today's learners. It is very important to engage students and encourage them to speak often in class. This oral speaking practice with peers in
class not only practices language, it also forms friendships between
students. Ortega mentions this building of
friendship as a motivation to learn the language more proficiently. Even though the students do not necessarily realize
it, according to Ortega they are, “…fostering general friendships with members
of the target language,” (Ortega, 2011, p. 173), by practicing with their peers. Gass and Selinker say, “The idea is that if
the child has target language peers, there is a greater social context where
the child learns the L2 rules as if the L2 were an L1, with no language
transfer occurring,” (Gass and Slinker, 2008, p.123,124). The more
opportunities language learners have to practice, the quicker their language
will progress. Therefore, it is important to provide plenty of opportunity for
language practice throughout the day.
[Cambridge University Press]. (2018, April 19). Zoltan Dornyei-Engaging language learners [Video File]. Retrieval from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hg6BSbpVgVU
Gass, Susan, M. and Selinker, Larry. Second Language
Acquisition. New York: Routledge, 2008. Print.
Ortega, Lourdes.Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2011. Print.
Ortega, Lourdes.Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2011. Print.
Stacey,
ReplyDeleteI really like how Mrs. Gates mentioned that the type of motivation that helps students the most is giving them the opportunity to talk to their peers or the teacher in a non threatening way. Ortega states that "In addition to the reason that cause people to want to learn an L2, attitudes towards the L2 and its speakers will contribute to increased or diminished L2 motivation" (Ortega, 2013, p. 174). I think as a teacher, having a positive attitude and creating a non-threatening environment plays a big role for the student. I believe many times teachers put students on the spot to answer a question during a discussion and essentially, leaves the student feeling embarrassed or self-conscious. I think giving them the opportunity to interact with their peers and maybe having one on one conversations will definitely help the ELL.
References: Ortega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2013. Print
Kenia Reyes,
DeleteI agree, I think sometimes, we as teachers, do not realize how we put students on the spot to answer questions orally. In an effort to include everyone, we need to remember that ELL students need that extra time to make the connections between the language is so they can find the words they are looking for to form their answer. This is interlingual identification and according to Odlin students need time to make a” … judgment that something in the native language and something in that target language are similar,” (Ortega, 2011, p. 33). Once they have time to make his transfer they will be ready to give an answer.
Ortega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2011. Print.
Kenia,
DeleteMotivation definitely plays an important role an ELL’s experience. Ortega states, “Motivation is usually understood to refer to the desire to initiate L2 learning and the effort employed to sustain it, and in lay terms we all understand it to be a matter of quantity, as in the everyday observation that some learners are highly motivated and others have little or no motivation” (Ortega, 2013, pg. 168). Whether the motivation is intrinsic or extrinsic, it contributes to a student’s willingness to learn and their willingness to communicate.
Ortega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2013. Print.
Hello Stacy, I noticed that we were both able to make a connection between our interviews and the idea that it becomes harder for ELL students when they not only have to speak in English, but when more difficult levels of comprehension are being demanded. My interviewee mentions this in correlation to the ELL students she teaches not beginning to learn English until the sixth grade when comprehension and application is becoming more difficult than it was in elementary school. I find this connection interesting since your interviewee is a kindergarten teacher and also noticed this correlation. Ortega states, “Under this dual-task pressure, because the distracting task consumes attention away from the primary task, performance on the main task may become variable and vulnerable,” (2013, pg. 84). Essentially, both of our interviewee’s beliefs supported this idea that when ELL students are having to practice their English and work on a difficult task or at a difficult level of comprehension then they will likely work slower or struggle.
ReplyDeleteChristine Gadbois,
DeleteI agree practicing English and learning a new task is like doing two different assignments especially when your L1 is not English in an English environment. In Kindergarten, some of the students are using their L1 in a new setting and being expected to learn a L2 while they are also learning the curriculum. It is also a challenge for the primary grades because students develop at different rates. These developmental rates also affect L2 acquisition. Ortega states,” In other words teachers can only hope to teach successfully when learners are developmentally ready to learn,” (Ortega, 2011, p. 138). So as teachers, we do the best we can to try to help not only student development, but also language development.
Hello again Stacy, I agree that it can be exceptionally challenging for students in the primary grades because they are developing at different rates. Ortega states, “Thus, language teachers should carefully consider what their students are developmentally ready to learn,” (2013, pg. 138). As teachers it will be incredibly important to determine this for our ELL students. By choosing activities that are developmentally too low for them, they might not develop as quickly as they could. By choosing activities that are developmentally too hard for them, they might become frustrated and not develop as quickly as they could either. It is necessary to find what is developmentally appropriate for each child to help them grow and succeed.
DeleteHi Stacey,
ReplyDeleteReferring to what you said about ELL students not having help at home, I agree with you. Many ELL students do not have the opportunity to practice their L2 at home. It is not only kindergarten that has this struggle. This can make it much more difficult for ELL students to learn their second language since they are not able to practice at home. Susan Guss states, “…the amount of input in the home, ranging from only the heritage language spoken in the home (with perhaps parents only speaking the heritage language) to those situations in which the heritage language is spoken only sporadically” (Second Language Acquisition, 2008, p. 24). A heritage speaker is a student who was raised speaking another language. There are many different outcomes for these heritage speakers. Some students learned their L2 and it eventually became their dominant language while others only received very little of their heritage language at home. “Nonetheless, it is generally accepted that the nature of language learning for heritage language learners differs from language learning involving non-heritage language learners” (Second Language Acquisition, 2008, p. 24)
Gass, Susan, M. and Selinker, Larry. Second Language Acquisition. New York: Routledge, 2008. Print.
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ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteHello Stacey,
You mentioned that during reading, vocabulary can be especially difficult and effect the readers comprehension skills. “Vocabulary knowledge strength concerns the relative ability to use a given known word productively or to recognize it passively” (Ortega, 2009, p. 88). ELL students must work extra hard to develop their vocabulary knowledge since they have vocabulary words from 2 different languages to decipher between. My interviewer mentions that how quickly they are able to pick up on vocabulary words in their L2 is dependent on if they have even learned that word in their L1. Depending on different families some students may have not been exposed to these new vocabulary words in their L1 or L2 so they will need a longer time to process the new word to understand it.
Ortega, Lourdes. Second, Language Acquisition . London: Routledge , 2013. Print
Hello Stacey,
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned in your reflection that making good friends in the target language is beneficial for the students trying to learn the L2. Ortega states in her book that "Orientation refers to the reasons for learning the L2..." (Ortega, pg. 173) and these are one of the five reasons that she lists out. If a portrays wanting to learn the L2 to get closer to their friends, this is a great opportunity for the teacher to pinpoint this want and allow the ELL student to sit closer to said peers. Having this type of orientation really benefits the student because it allows them to learn and increase their skill in the L2 while not really notice they are learning while having fun playing and talking with their peers. Students that are more introverted will have a hard time finding peers like this because of their shyness, thus extroverted students will have an easier time in the L2 than the introverted.
Ortega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2013. Print.
I also believe that those students who want to learn the target language to make friends would be an intrinsic motivation because they are wanting to learn the target language. I believe that students who are intrinsically motivated to learn the target language are more inclined to want to try harder to work to become proficient in the target language. I do not necessarily agree that extroverted ELLs have an easier time learning their target language because I believe that their motivation to want to learn the target language plays a bigger role in the ELL learning the target language.
DeleteHi Stacey,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed watching your interview! My interviewee also talked about how her English Language Learners struggle with the same things: comprehension and vocabulary. She talked about how this becomes difficult for them to then understand what they are reading. They are struggling with the comprehension and vocabulary of a reading which can be very frustrating for them at times. Ortega (2013) states, “prolonged and repeated practice changes the knowledge representation itself by making the stored knowledge become more elaborated and well specified” (pg. 85). The more that these ELLs are exposed to the language, the more they practice with the target language. I agree with you that even through these struggles and frustrations they may be going through, they are still extremely motivated!
Ortega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2013. Print.
I also agree that English language learners need prolonged exposure in order for them to become fluent. They should practice the basics such as alphabet, pronunciation, spelling, and grammar rules rather than throwing them in headfirst into the language without some help in a sink-or-swim scenario. Learners should be provided with “information that about the ungrammaticality of their utterances” (Ortega, 2013, p. 71) in the form of feedback from their peers. Ortega says the feedback comes in several forms, with negative feedback, clarification feedback, and explicit corrections. I find that some feedback types work better than others, as long as one doesn’t punish the student for getting something wrong in their language learning experience because that would result in students being more reluctant to continue learning.
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