Reflection
This class has been very beneficial in allowing me a chance
to learn so much about second language acquisition, which as a future teacher
is essential. I will encounter ESL students in my classroom so I need to be well
equipped to be able to help accommodate them and meet their needs. This class
has help taught me about how important it is for ESL students to feel safe and
comfortable in the classroom. If they are satisfied with their teacher and
instruction they will be a lot more motivated to learn English and interact
with others (Ortega, p.190). They can be motivated either intrinsically by
their need and want to learn English or extrinsically to do well in their
classes or to get a good job (Ortega, p. 176). It’s important to help keep that
motivation alive whether it is intrinsic or extrinsic.
ESL students will learn more from their everyday
conversations as oppose to the information that they could read about or from just
hearing English being spoken to them. It is important for them interact with
native speakers and learn English through conversation; their mistakes
will help them grow as their inter-language develops into proper English. Negative
feedback can also be effective in helping L2 learners improve their
understanding of a second language such as their grammar or form. It is okay to
correct your students English by asking them clarify what they said or having
them try to correct their mistakes (Ortega, p. 71). As a teacher we should not
let our concern of embarrassing them stop us from correcting their mistakes
because that is how they will learn. This class has taught how there are so
many factors that influence learning a second language such as memory capacity,
attention, intention, noticing, as well as their first language (Ortega, p.
91-97). Their first language can negative or positively affect their ability to
learn a second language depending on differences or similarities that can be
found among their first language and English. As a teacher I need to be aware
of this and understand that a student may struggle with the
grammar rules or form in English because it is so different from their native language. I learned that having a
positive attitude is not enough for a student to learn an L2. All the key
ingredients need to be there. In the book Wes was unable to master English as a
second language because he did not pay attention to his mistakes in English or
try to correct himself when his English confused others around him. He did not
put in the effort needed to successfully speak English (Ortega, p.58). I will
keep these important facts in mind when working with ESL students to help them
be as successful as possible.
As for the blogs we did in this class, they were very helpful
in allowing me to connect what I read each week to actual experiences by my
classmates, second language speakers, and ESL or Bilingual teachers. I got to earn about my classmate’s experience and journey with learning a second language
in their first blog. It was interesting to see how all of our experiences
of learning an additional language were similar. I learned about how important
being dedicated to learning a second language can be no matter how old you are.
In Blog 2 I was able to get a glimpse into the lives of other second language learners
and their real life struggles. This will help me identify with my future ESL
students and be more mindful of what they are going through. From blog 3 I was
able to learn from different teacher’s perspectives what working with ESL and
bilingual students is like. I was not aware of how important visuals and hand
gestures can be in the learning process. I was able to understand even more how
important motivation is in the learning of an L2. I realize now how the teacher's role is in providing the best instruction by using different strategies like sentence stems and group work.
Lastly, one change in this class that I think would contribute to the
learning process would be to have this class in person. Each week there was a
lot of material to cover including readings and videos so I think meeting in
person and being able to discuss the readings and videos weekly would have been
more helpful for me personally.
Your blog entry is really interesting. I really like how you summarized the different activities that we did in the blog. However, I wonder how much learning about S LA that was due to the interactions you had with your classmates. Was there any time when you felt that what your classmates were saying contradicted theory?
ReplyDeleteYou also mentioned about the importance of having a face to face class. Nevertheless, the reason why this class is online is to accommodate teacher candidates who need time to go to schools. What ideas do you have to make both things happen? Do you think that a hybrid class would be a better option? That means we would meet every other week or once a month to go over the main topics.
I really felt I have learned so much from my interactions with classmates by reading their blogs and through their comments. Learning about these different factors like motivation played a role in the lives of actual second language learners really put second language acquisition into perspective for me. Their blogs really supported the theories I read and hear about in the videos.I don't remember any of my classmates contradicting any of the theories.
DeleteI really like the idea of a hybrid class. I think the blogs we did online are too valuable of a real life experience to lose. In addition, meeting in person would have also been beneficial in further understanding what we read and saw in the videos weekly whether it once a week or month.
Hello Nadia, great reflection! What I found interesting about your reflection was the topic of viewing mistakes as a natural part of the learning process and not being skeptical about correcting students. That is a great example of modeling a growth mindset with students, because they are able to understand when learning something new mistakes are common, but the most important thing is to learn from them. One of the misconceptions about learning language is, " one should be able to study vocabulary and grammar and then speak or write without mistakes, that learning a foreign language well means being able to pronounce it like a native speaker" (Ortega, (2006) pg. 201). I think if we communicate with our students that the more we make mistakes the more we will learn, it will change the perception of mistake making. I also agree with the class having more clarity of the chapters for the week, because the material we have to read are very dense.
ReplyDeleteI like how you brought up the growth mindset. I think promoting a growth mindset over a fixed mindset will definitely benefit ESL students by increasing their confidence and decrease their level of anxiety. I definitely think they will more intrinsically motivated to learn daily and be more successful in learning English.
DeleteHello Nadia, Second language acquisition is certainly a topic that will be used into our future professional careers. I agree this class is truly essential for us since we are striving to become well trained educators. This class gave us the opportunity to gain great knowledge where it can help us when we encounter ESL students in the classroom. In the end, we will feel satisfied and at ease that our SLA background helped ELL students interact and participate in the classroom.
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ReplyDeleteHi Nadia! I enjoyed reading your final blog for this class. Your comments about corrective feedback gave me reason to pause and review the article by Vasquez and Harvey – not a bad thing. As future teachers, we absolutely need to understand how to provide our ELLs with error correction in their L2. My biggest concern is whether or not I can stay tuned in to whether or not my ELL students are benefiting from it (Vasquez & Harvey, 2011), or if I am in any way negatively affecting their attitude toward the L2 community and its speakers (Ortega, 2009, p. 172).
ReplyDeleteYou commented that it would be helpful to have this class in person. I agree with you 100% on that idea, and would add that having some kind of lectures to help us determine the highlights of the reading would be most helpful as well. I wish you the very best in your future as an educator. Your ELL students will most certainly benefit from your past experiences with learning a second language, and will be blessed to have you as their teacher.
Hi Nadia! Thank you for writing such a thought-out reflection. I like how you wrote about negative feedback and how it can help L2 learners improve their understanding o a second language. I think this is very important to be aware of as a teacher. Negative feedback can be offered in many ways such as asking for a clarification request which conveys to the learner an indication that something needs to be addressed (Ortega, 2013, p.71). You mentioned that it is important for ESL students to feel safe and comfortable in the classroom, which I think will help create an environment where students feel they are able to speak freely and make mistakes.
ReplyDeleteThe blogs were helpful to me as well because I was able to see some of the readings put into practice. I also agree with the suggestion to have this class offered in person. It would have been nice to be able to discuss the material in a in-class setting.
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ReplyDeletelike how you stated that the student has to be satisfied with the teacher in order to be motivated. In a lot of my previous classes in midde and high school, some of my teachers couldn't care less about whether or not we were satisfied with their class. We had to accommodate to them, and if we didn't, we failed! It's great to know you'll enter the classroom with this mindset.
ReplyDeleteHey Nadia! I resonated with the part of your reflection where you stated that we should not let the fear of embarrassing students stop us from correcting their mistakes. I am very concerned with creating a classroom environment where that will lessen student anxiety, however while creating this open and welcoming classroom, I must be mindful that I'm not overly concerned with mitigating anxiety that I am not correcting mistakes as necessary. Great reflection, Nadia.
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