Ch. 1 and 2, Freeman

Ch. 1 Freeman

I have learned a lot about language acquisition over the past five years (I started the MA-TESL program in 2004, then took a break to start my career).  I think I have gained a pretty good understanding of the theories and stages of both first and second language acquisition, but I am still amazed by the actual process, and by the ability of the human mind to learn so much language within the first few years of life!  One of the most important aspects of language acquisition for my own teaching is the understanding that when children (or language learners of any age) overgeneralize features of grammar, it's actually a good thing, and an important part of their language learning process.  It keeps me patient in my interactions.  :)  I found it surprising that correcting children can actually be worse for their learning!  I had just assumed that it sort of didn't matter.

Ch. 2 Freeman

I was surprised as I continued to read that the authors began to describe the differences between a word recognition approach and a sociopsycholinguistic approach, which I have read about in an earlier book by Freeman and Freeman, Teaching Reading and Writing in Spanish in the Bilingual Classroom (mentioned on p. 30).  It was a good refresher of the two approaches for me.  I don't mean to sound like I already know everything about this; I am just glad that I have some background on this section.  I imagine they are using it to help set up the concepts addressed later on in the book.  Hopefully having read the other book will help my learning in this class.  I bought the Teaching Reading and Writing in Spanish... book last year because I switched from a regular monolingual (English) classroom to a bilingual classroom, and I wanted to gain a better understanding of the instructional differences between the two languages.  I was really drawn to the psycholinguistic approach to teaching reading and writing... the book articulated much of what I was already moving towards in my own classroom, based on what I was seeing in other classrooms and learning from various workshops and professional books.

As I was reading the next part of this chapter about the order of acquisition of linguistic features in a second language, I started thinking about the parallels I see in first-grade children learning to read and write (in their first language).  I came to realize within the first two or three years as a first-grade teacher that some students are truly not developmentally ready yet to learn certain skills.  It's impossible to push a child to read at a certain level if they have not acquired readiness skills in a particular order.  Teachers can definitely help students along, but there is only so much they can do if a child simply isn't ready yet.  I have worked with many students who seemed to be stuck and making very little progress for much of the year, and then one day seem to "magically" bloom and make great improvements.  I really think that during that time when it seemed as if nothing was happening, they were quietly internalizing bits and pieces of the language/reading/writing skills they needed in order to make more visible progress.  I wonder if it's similar for the order of acquisition in a second language.  Obviously most ELLs are older than my first graders, which changes the developmental aspect of it all, but I think there is some parity when you consider the long-term process of acquisition.

I really liked this statement on p. 39: "It may be that speaking and writing a second language help bring aspects of the language to a conscious level, and, as a result, students can use those language forms in the future."  That makes a lot of sense to me both as a second language learner remembering my own L2 learning experiences and as a teacher working with students in their first language.

The section about the critical period hypothesis was very interesting to me.  I have always wanted to be fully fluent in Spanish, and so the CPH scares me a bit because I'm afraid I'll never reach native-like proficiency!  But it did say that some adults acquire their L2 and develop a native-like accent, so maybe there's hope for me yet.  ;)  I also found all the information about affective factors and fossilization fascinating.  It's amazing how much people's perceptions and attitudes can affect their language learning (and/or acquisition)!

The final section on bilingual education is well-known to me.  I am partially done with my APP, and my topic is about the factors causing the marginalization of native Spanish speaking ELLs in Texas, and how program models can affect that marginalization.  While working on my review of the literature, I have read lots and lots of articles about both the spectrum of program models used by schools and about the heated political debate surrounding bilingual education.  So if anyone needs any resources related to the "English-only" vs. bilingual education issue, I have lots of information available.  :)

I hope I'm "retelling" and "reflecting" correctly... I feel like I'm doing more reflecting than retelling.  I hope that's okay, Dr. Smidt!