Entry 4: Reflection
Throughout this course this semester I have learned
what Second Language Acquisition really means. According to Ortega (2013) SLA
is defined as “…investigates the human capacity to learn languages other than
the first, during late childhood, adolescence or adulthood, and once the first
language or languages have been acquired” (p.1). At first when I read the title I just thought
that that it was about us students learning a new language, but it never
crossed my mind that it was going to be about how people acquire a new language
and about L1’s and L2’s. By reading the material I now have a better
understanding of SLA.
By reading the material about SLA, this class has
prepared me by keeping in mind the needs of my L2’s and knowing the difference
between an L1 and an L2. Also, by me having to acquire a new language at an early
age is going to help me by having empathy towards the students that are ELL’s.
Being able to better understand them and know the obstacles that the ELL’s have
to go through is going to change how I am going to adapt my lessons in order to
better help them in learning the material for class.
A topic that I
found most interesting was about the motivation of L2’s. “…understanding
language learning motivation, however, is to explain what variables contribute
to increases or decreases in motivational quantity”, which it is good to know
the level of motivation of the student because that way the teacher is going to
be able to know what motivates the student and use that so that the student can
be motivated to learn the content (Ortega, 2013, p. 170). Another interesting
thing that I found while reading is that SLA is not the same as being bilingual.
According to Ortega (2013), “…bilingualism and SLA can overlap in the early
years, making it at times difficult to draw the boundaries between the two
fields. Nevertheless, they are clearly two distinct disciplines…” (p. 4).
Having to do a Vblog was a new concept for me. This
has been the first time that I have done a blog of any kind. Honestly, I didn’t
quite enjoy the experience of having to do a Vblog. Having to do videos for
three of the posts was difficult for me because I don’t like to be recorded.
Instead of being a wonderful experience, I was dreading when I had to post. I
must say that one thing that I like about the Vblog is that I got to read the
experiences of some of my classmates. By reading and watching their videos I
was able get their perspective of the material and what they found to be
interesting about Second Language Acquisition. Having to do the Vblog didn’t
give me the motivation needed to learn more about Second Language Acquisition
because having to comment and reply was tedious work in my opinion. Also, the
blog didn’t help me with my writing skills and it didn’t quite help with the
content of the class. I think that instead of the Vlog there could be something
else that the students can do in order to learn more about Second Language Acquisition.
Ortega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2013. Print.
I am sorry you feel so about the vblog. I think everybody has different opinions about assessment and this blog had the intention to make you show me how and what you were learning, to take theory to reality and to interact with your class. If you can think of another way to achieve those objectives, I will be more than glad to hear them. As a future teacher, you will have to make decisions about how to assess your students learning. I do not trust traditional exams since I do not think that they are able to show what students are really learning. I like to include other things but in an online class where I never get to see or interact with my students, it is really hard to do. What do you propose? It is easy to criticize things but coming up with suggestions is not that easy. As we read in this class, attitude is really important for learning and you had a negative attitude towards the activity, you probably did not learn much by doing it. However, that is not the case for every student and I wonder if in the future, I can propose traditional assessment like a weekly quiz for those who do not want to create a vblog like yourself. What do you think?
ReplyDeleteDr. Avellaneda,
DeleteI agree with you about the aspect of criticizing something and not having a suggestion. It is hard coming up with a solution because not everyone thinks alike. Also, what works for one person might not work for another. I like your idea about having weekly quizzes for those students that don’t want to do the Vblogs. The quizzes should be given in a timely manner that way the students are going to know when to expect the quizzes. Another suggestion is that instead of having the videos, the students can just post the reflection like we did for entry 4.
After going through this class, I feel that I too will have a better understanding and have a higher level of empathy for my ELL students. This aspect of teaching is something I truly never even considered before this class.Ortega states"..... under such premises empathy and affinity for the minority L2 group may help encourage learners to seek more L2 contact, which in turn may boost their confidence." As an educator I must give my ELL students the confidence to have an intrinsic motivational approach. I will do my best to differentiate my lesson properly so I can suit there needs and reach their level of understanding. I agree, the Vblogs started out pretty rough but cleared up towards the end. I enjoyed them, and that was where I received the majority of my minut Spanish vocabulary.
ReplyDeleteHi Lawrence,
DeleteBeing empathetic towards the students is something that I am going to strive to do. There is a difference between having sympathy and empathy towards a person and I think in education one has to be empathetic in order for the students to feel comfortable around the teacher. If the students feel that the teacher feels sorry for them than that is going to cause a rift between the teacher and students.
I also agree that the SLA course has also helped reinforce that we future teachers should be more empathetic towards our English language-learning students. Empathy opens up that pathway to a friendlier and better relationship with students that encourages them to actively want to communicate more and contact the people they know who speak in the L2. Ortega says “…it has been well established that WTC in the L2 is largely predicted by L2 communicative confidence… and to a lesser but nevertheless considerable extent by L2 attitudes.” A student’s confidence directly affects their willingness to communicate, and it’s on educators to create an environment where students learning an L2 feel safe, encouraged, and confident enough to speak despite knowing they would make mistakes. A student can’t develop their L2 if they are not willing to communicate, and from an educator’s point-of-view, trying and failing is better than not trying at all. I also did not enjoy doing the vblogs because I hate recording myself too. I personally prefer simple audio recordings, and audio files are just as capable of communicating our peers’ interviews as well as videos.
ReplyDeleteHi Tracy,
DeleteI agree with you about the student’s confidence directly affecting the willingness to communicate in a classroom setting. If the student doesn’t feel comfortable or thinks that the teacher is going to make fun of him or her than that student is not going to try to speak English in that classroom. The teacher is the one that sets the mood inside the classroom. In reference of the Vblog I agree with you that simple audio recordings would suffice for the assignments.
ReplyDeleteHi Rosa,
This course was also my first time having to create a Vblog. I thought this concept was a nice feature for an online course so that we can share our assignments and communicate with our peers. I also wasn’t a huge fan of the videos we were required, but I did particularly enjoy the reflections for each entry. I think many of us benefitted from the Vblogs but are unaware. Ortega (2013) states, “Technology-based communication affords L2 learners’ rich opportunities for identity negotiation and reconstruction and social and cultural learning, as well as unprecedented support for literacy development” (p. 235). I agree with Ortega and think that the technology we used in our Vlogs and language learning experiences really helped me with my L2.
Ortega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2013, Print.
I understand how daunting the blog was, especially if you had never taken part in one with another class. I took SL methodology last semester and it was an experience in regard to the blog videos. Your comment that “many of us benefited from the Vblogs but are unaware”, reminds me of a situation within the readings were Ortega states that “a common obstacle is when assumed shared knowledge is actually not shared” (Ortega, 2013, p237). In this case it is referring to the conversation between a student and teacher whom were referencing a show assuming that others in the class understudy the references and were taking away from their conversations. This could also be the case with our blogs, though some information and application of the information in our readings could have been understood to a point through our reflections, other members of our class could have formed misconceptions involving the information.
DeleteOrtega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2011. Print.
Rachel,
DeleteMuch like you and Rosa, I was not a big proponent of the vblogs as I found I was often more concerned with meeting the deadlines rather than comprehending content. For me a big factor in completing the vblogs was extrinsic motivation. Ortega states, “When individuals construe their behavior as structured by a means–end, pragmatic–instrumental causation that is imposed from the outside, their sense of self-causation and autonomy is low, if present at all, and they are said to be extrinsically motivated” (Ortega, 2013, p 176). I believe that like myself, many students complete assignments for the sake of outside factors such as grades. While this gets the job done, I believe it is better for students to be intrinsically motivated as they understand the benefits for learning.
Ortega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2013. Print.
Hi Rosa,
ReplyDeleteClearly your feelings toward the VBlog and likely the Language Learning Experience Videos are exemplified in what Stephen Krashen defined as the Affective Filter. Your feelings towards being recorded created a block. Better said, doing something you did not feel comfortable with may have created a high anxiety and low motivation environment for you which effectively prevented you from receiving the input from the instructional videos. We do all learn different, I too do not prefer to be recorded but after seeing my ugly mug on video enough I decided “what the heck”. I think if I would have had a different attitude from the very beginning the quality of my work would have been improved, but this is why we reflect, so we can improve in the future.
Rounds, M. (2010, October 15). Stephen Krashen on Language Acquisition. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiTsduRreug&t=1s
Hi John,
DeleteI personally did not know what to expect from this course. I just have an optimistic view about things, so everything was taken in stride. The social dimension referred to as knowing of self could have increased to overcompensate for lack of motivation. By already knowing you have an "ugly mug" would have helped to to make more stronger videos and stay in a positive light. At the some time I can see you and Rosa unconsciously noticed certain likes and dislikes you both shared that you maybe had not noticed before. "Instances of noticing can be driven from within the learner, as when she struggles to put a sentence together and express her thoughts and in the process
discovers something new" (Ortega p 65). In my reflection essay, I discussed how we could all take practices from this class and apply them to our lives, and noticing is one of them. You can take this time to reflect on issues with the class you noticed, honestly express your thoughts, and recreate a new idea about the situation altogether.
Hi John,
DeleteYes, my feelings towards being recorded created a block and it made doing the Vblogs cumbersome. I didn’t have motivation to do the Vblogs and the only thing that pushed me to do them was that I knew that I was going to get graded for doing them. Maybe if I had changed my attitude about doing the Vblogs I could have had a better experience doing them and I could have gotten more out of them.
Lam,
ReplyDeleteIn your reflection you mention the importance of giving students meaningful assignments. Ensuring required work is meaningful relates to the students’ motivation level. 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). If students feel that the work they are doing is meaningful, their intrinsic motivation increases.
You brought up points pertaining to the vblog and how this course has affected your motivation to comprehend second language acquisition, and I could not agree more. I found that vblogs to be helpful in the sense that I was able to communicate and share ideas with my peers, however, I also found it to be a bit tedious. Nonetheless, I was still able to learn from my peers and take something away from this course.
Great reflection, thank you for sharing!
Ortega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2013. Print.
Hi,
DeleteGiving the students meaningful assignments is an important part of being an educator because through those assignments the students are going to be able to find importance to the concepts that they are learning. At first it might be hard to find assignments that are going to mean something to the students, but after getting to know the students one can get ideas of what assignments to present to the students. Therefore, the students finding meaning in the assignments are going to have motivation to do them.
Rosa S.
ReplyDeleteI also found the topic of motivation within the SLA process and the learning process in general to be a very interesting one within our readings. Though the three dimensions (effort, enjoyment and investment), seem to be very basic when considering them to be attributes to higher motivation in learning it was an enlightening way in which it was stated within the text. Ortega stated that “the ‘truly motivated individual’ scores high on all three dimensions” (Ortega, 2013, p170). Out of the three dimensions, enjoyment in what was being learned by the individual seemed to be a large factor in their motivation. This note has made me what to ensure that my lessons are engaging and enjoyable, not “fun” lessons just for the sake of being fun, but fun because the way in which the students are taking in the information encourages them to continue wanting to learn the topics in the classroom but on their own time as well. Ortega mentions that “it would seem as if enjoyment is where the only difference between the two learners lies. It is on this dimension only that Watson would be rated extremely low (to the point of aversion), whereas Kaplan would be raged extremely high” (Ortega, 2013, p170).
Ortega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2011. Print