Second Language Acquisition

Talking Points:

“Matching the silence, I started hearing in public was a new quiet at home. The family's quiet was partly due to the fact that, as we children learned more and more English, we shared fewer and fewer words with our parents.”

This was heartbreaking.  The parents, eager to have their children succeed, pushed them to assimilate.  Being children and in school they were able to far outpace their parents which ultimately created a cultural barrier within their own home.  It is noteworthy that their parents supported this, perhaps not knowing what the result would be on the family dynamic, they wanted to help their children integrate and even encouraged them to make a game out of practicing at home, participating with their kids as well.  I would imagine this had a tremendous effect on Rodriguez’s successful acquisition of English, and it makes me wonder how many of my MLLs lack this support at home.

 

"They do not seem to realize that there are two ways a person is individualized. So they do not realize that while one suffers a diminished sense of private individuality by becoming assimilated into public society, such assimilation makes possible the achievement of public individuality."

This is an interesting take.  Most stories I’ve read, watched, or heard regarding non-native students learning English in American schools lament the seeming loss of culture that results from assimilating into U.S. society.  While this is addressed in Rodriguez’s story, his view seems more positive, seeing the benefits of assimilation outweighing the loss of culture at home.  As I have not had to go through a similar experience in my education, I put a lot of weight in the experiences of those who have when it comes to advice regarding second language acquisition.

 

“Whenever speakers of two languages come in contact with each other, these three natural processes occur: code-switching, language influence, and word borrowing. Code-switching, the most creative and dynamic process of the three, is highly structured.”

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“Code-switching by students should be accepted, and not penalized.”

This is in line with what we learned in TESL 539, that code switching is an advanced form of language use and an indicator of proficiency.  Historically, the view in education theory has been that this should not be allowed, and that learning English as a second language in an English dominant society requires abandoning native languages in the classroom to provide immersion.  More recent research and theory has instead shown that allowing students to use their native language during second language acquisition is beneficial and aids them in gaining proficiency.

 

Argument Statement:

There are proponents for both full assimilation when learning English as a second language, and of multi-language instructional methods.  Both seem to have their success stories and their tales of failure.  What ultimately seems to be the deciding factors are motivation and ample support from family and faculty.