Blog Entry 4
Throughout
this class I have learned a lot about second language acquisition. When I
started the course, I did not know how children and students learned a second
language or the steps it took for people to learn a second language. So, throughout
the course, l learned things that affect second language learning like
motivation, aptitude, environment and age. These things that were talked about
in the book were somewhat new to me and were an interesting part of second
language acquisition.
My understanding
of second language acquisition has increased at a high rate. Like I said
before, I had no idea that factors such as age, motivation or environment could
play such a huge role into learning a second language. Throughout this course
learning has happened by reading the book, interviewing professionals and second
language learners and lastly by participating in the blogs. For example, from
reading the book, I learned that learning a second language includes many factors.
But one factor that could affect that rate at which someone learns a second language
is their motivation. If I person is highly motivated to learn English, they will
perform and accomplish their goals at a faster rate as opposed to someone that
has little or no motivation to learn a second language. Although this is just small
fraction of factors that go into the learning of a second language, knowing
that motivation can contribute to the learning of a second language can help students
and teachers alike because it can serve as a pathway for learning a second language.
These resources alone have allowed me to expand my learning of second language,
as try to convert what I learned in this course into the classroom.
This class
has impacted my professional practice quite a bit. It has helped me learn strategies
to teach a second language and to help students in my classroom that are second
language learners. The constructs we have learned in this course have already trickled
down into the way that I teach now and should continue to form the way I continue
to teach in the future. This course has also allowed me to see the relationship
between SLA and ELA. While learning strategies to teach second language
learners I was able to make connections to what we have learned and use them in
the RELA class I am doing my student teaching in. I was able to use some of
these strategies, like prompting students with sentence stems. Strategies like
this has impacted my teaching practices so that I will be able to use it in the
field.
While reflecting
on the course I could not think of any changes or additions that would be
needed. I thought the course was well managed, and structured. There were
specific dates for when things were due and directions for each assignment were
clear. I liked the way the blogs worked also. I though it served as a great
tool for students to share ideas and knowledge about what they have learned
about SLA and for other students to read and learn from that. So, I don’t think
anything should be changed.
The role of
the blog in my learning process was a big factor in how I learned in the class.
The blog assignments allowed me to interview individuals in the field of second
language and people that have learned a second language to really pick their
brains and learn how they teach second language acquisition and or learned
their second language. So, this part of the blog aspect was great, it really allowed
my me to gain knowledge just off the interaction I made with other individuals.
The other portion of the blogs, which was viewing other classmate’s blogs,
watching the videos and reflections and commenting was also great. It allowed
me to see other viewpoints and the connections that were made in this course.
This allowed me to learn more because it showed another people’s experience
learning a second language or teaching a second language. Viewing the videos
helped me learn different strategies I could use in the classroom or strategies
used to learn a new language which in turn will help me in the field.
