VBlog II Interview

https://youtu.be/mBc1JzUg4NY 

Interview Reflection

I interviewed my wife, Trang, as her L1 is Vietnamese and L2 is English. I enjoyed this assignment because I learned something new about my wife, and I could connect it to what we are currently learning in SLA. I appreciate these assignments because we learn through doing, and not just reading the book. Ortega explains, “Pre-existing knowledge of the mother tongue influences interlanguage development by accelerating or delaying the progress learners make along the natural, developmental pathways” (p. 53). Trang learned English at seven years old. She explained why it was difficult to use the right tense (present/past/future), and how the Vietnamese language has several accents, while English has no accents. She also explained that it was easier for her to learn at a young age compared to her mother when they first moved to the United States. There was difficulty translating some English words to Vietnamese, and because of this, Trang and her mother would not agree on certain things (saying the wrong words to each other). Ortega’s research and collaboration of data are proving to be factual; Trang is living proof. As far as Ortega’s cross-linguistic views are concerned:

For successful grammar acquisition, attention to form is probably necessary. This attentional focus on form can be externally achieved by instruction or internally sought by self-study and self-directed analysis of the linguistic material available in the environment (p. 79).

Trang mentioned how she used television and speaking in public to strengthen her phonetic and syntax skills with the English language. She utilized the resources given to her at the time to make her proficient in the English language. I concluded the interview with a question regarding advice to a new English language learner. Trang stressed the importance of not being afraid to be wrong or incorrect in the way you pronounce words or sound while pronouncing them. That is the only way to learn. Learning from mistakes is still learning in general.




References

Ortega, L. (2014). Understanding second language acquisition. Routledge.

Course Introduction

Hello everyone. My name is Chris Lees and I am a senior at the University of Houston. I am pursuing a B.S. Teaching and Learning for 4-8 Grade Math. I am looking forward to getting to know my fellow student teachers. This semester is already moving at a fast pace, at least for me, and I am confident we can all have a memorable experience in this course. Below is a link to my video. Enjoy!

Intro Video

Hello everyone!

Here is my intro video.
https://youtu.be/-sKbqYffBsw

Thank you!

Apologies for the previous entry without the sound.