Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Heather Grover-Farris
Foundations CIL-500
November 28, 2010
Chinese, Greek and Polish. All three had different experiences learning their
second language. Some had positive experiences learning English and some
did not. The two things these women had in common is their idea of the best
way to learn a second language and why they or their family came to the United
States. They all thought to learn a second language you need to be immersed in
the language and culture. The second commonality was that the United States is
known for the land of the free and opportunities. These ladies of their families
Two of the interviewees were born outside of the United States. Xiujuan
was born in Guangzhou, China. She learned English at school in China and
came to the United States at the age of twenty-six. Valerie came from Greece to
the United States when she was five years old. No one in Valerie’s family spoke
English when they came to America. The third interviewee was Amanda, who
speaks Polish, was born in the United States, but didn’t start learning English
Since all three of the interviewees are in their mid thirties or forties, they
status did play a part of the English learning. The ladies did have parents with an
extensive education background or parents that valued education and felt that it
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was important part of being a citizen of America. Amanda and Valerie’s parents
made them study and read in the English language and had books at home or
visited the local library. It is proven that students with limited English proficiency
risk for failing high school. This includes first, second and even third generation
immigrants who have attended American schools. Some reasons are language
and just adjusting to American life. All three ladies graduated high school. Both
Xiujuan and Amanda graduated college. Valerie dropped out of college after her
language at the young age of five. The affective filter was a huge factor in her
risk producing imperfect language, especially for older students. Valerie didn’t
like her younger years of kindergarten through about third grade Valerie said
that she was pulled out to see a “special teacher” when she was younger to learn
more English. Val didn’t like the teacher and said the teacher was frustrated
when Valerie didn’t understand the English translations and words. This
experience with education didn’t help Valerie’s language acquisition nor the
because she didn’t want to say anything wrong. Valerie does feel that the
negative influences affected her learning the English language. She had a lot of
has many clues to help with social interaction and comprehension. Facial
expressions, pictures and even real objects help the person understand the
conversation.
Valerie said it wasn’t until about end of elementary school years, about
five or six later immersed in the English language that she started to understand
proficiency (CALP) was starting to develop for Valerie. This is probably when
Valerie felt she was catching up academically with her peers in the English
language. This is when she started to understand the classroom for lectures and
discussion and understood the terminology for subjects like science and
develop CALP and that is just at the 50th percentile on the achievement tests. To
have a positive experience and academic success in school both the BICS and
the CALP needs to be developed. Valerie said she struggled all through school
until she quit college her first semester. She didn’t like reading and what got her
reading again was when she had children. She reads to them every night and
English. Since Xiujuan came to the United States in her twenties to pursue a
college education. She realized that her English wasn’t as good as she thought
and struggled her first year in college with the English language. She feels that
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her older age and her struggle with the English language played a part of the
negative experience in college. Xiujuan thanks her extended family who helped
Amanda said that she didn’t have any negative experiences as a second
language learner. She attended and English preschool and remembers learning
English from her parents and watching Sesame Street. She has a outgoing
personality, which probably helped with being comfortable in school and willing to
take risks in making mistakes during her language acquisition in English. She
played with her neighborhood friends and felt she wasn’t every discriminated
against. Amanda also attended Polish school on Saturdays to learn about her
It seems that all three ladies had a good common underlying proficiency of
their native language and missed the critical period of language learning. If the
ladies missed the critical period, they could have gaps in both languages and
might even have limited bilingualism. They were literate in their language for
their age. Both Amanda and Valerie “read’ in their language when they were in
kindergarten (if you think a few words is reading, according to Amanda). Amanda
felt like she didn’t have problem learning English and felt that maybe it was
because she knew her Polish so well. The interdependence hypothesis says that
when a child is educated the fundamentals of reading and thinking in the first
language will perform well when learning a second language. Even though
Xiujuan took English classes in China, it was hard to learn American English.
She said that she caught on quickly a few months being in the United States.
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She had the concepts and skills already in her primary language that helped form
the foundation of learning in English in China and again when she lived in
America. Xiujuan also has the advantage of her age and education to be able to
help her learning of English. She could transfer her knowledge and skills
skills.
Xiujuan did have some positive experiences that pushed her to English
proficiency. She said that her extended family and friends helped her transition
to the American culture and even taught her American English socially. Some
college students and professors helped her with her studies. English nothing like
what she learned in Chinese school and it was her extended family that helped
Valarie had positive experiences learning English. Her parents made her
go to Greek school on Saturdays. She LOVED Greek school because she knew
the language and understood what the teacher was saying. She also found her
best friend (and other friends) who was willing to help Valerie learn some
experienced peers or teachers like Valerie experienced. Valerie also said that it
is because the low anxiety and self-confidence at Greek school that she learned
When I asked if there were any strategies that their teachers or instructors
used that they felt were effective, all the ladies didn’t remember what their
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teachers did. I asked mostly Amanda and Valerie because they attended
pulled out of her class at all or even treated differently. Valerie, on the other
hand, was pulled out of her regular classroom for reading and writing in English.
The other language domains are listening and speaking. Those domains aren’t
as well remembered for Valerie 30 years ago, but she probably learned them
also.
Valerie is worried that her three-year-old son is going to have the same
experience as she did going to school. I assured her that English Language
Learner programs in the schools have changed a quite a bit since she went to
school 30 years ago. There is a lot more support and guidance that schools
great way to support English Language Learners. Oral language occurs first, like
a discussion on a topic and then writing is second. This is effective strategy for
Xiujuan is the only interviewee that still thinks in her native language.
Even though she has gotten a lot better thinking in English in the last 20 years,
she still code switches. Code switching is when you switch two languages either
especially when she doesn’t know what the English word or can’t remember what
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the Chinese word would be when talking to her Chinese friends. There are words
that universal now, that sometimes she has to stop and think if the word is the
Amanda and Valerie said that they do talk in their native language when
they are with groups or family that speak that language but mostly think in
English. Amanda said it is hard to transition to Polish when she has been talking
and thinking in English all week. However, both Amanda and Valerie said that
they do code switch when they get frustrated and stressed, like yelling at their
husband. Since both Amanda and Valerie learned English before puberty, they
do not have an accent in English. Infants are born being capable of listening
and producing sounds in all human languages. The child begins to learn what
sounds are important in his or her language and disregard the rest. The older
you get the harder it is to learn sounds that are part of a different language. This
is might be why Amanda had an easier time learning English. Even though she
didn’t know English until preschool age, hearing it around the neighborhood and
being exposed to the American culture since she was born probably helped her
acquire the second language easier and faster. Valerie who moved to the United
States and had to learn the culture and language at the same time had a rougher
time at school. Two major events that are hard to adjust to. Xiujaun does have
an accent in English, since she didn’t take her English seriously until she came to
America.
Xiujaun doesn’t feel she is losing her native language of Chinese while
being in America. Having friends that speak Chinese helps and she talks to her
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family weekly in Chinese. Valerie and Amanda feel that they “think” in English
more than their native language and Amanda does feel that she is losing the
“Polish” language. According to Alejandro Portes and Lingzin Hao, most second-
generation native speakers (forty-eight percent) are like Amanda where they are
proficient in English but don’t know their heritage language as well. This is also
called English monolinguals. English monolinguals often report conflicts with their
family because of estrangement from the culture and communication. She said
that the only family that she speaks Polish to is her family and they moved back
to Poland a few years ago. Fluent bilinguals, which twenty four percent of
second-generation native speakers, are proficient in both English and their native
When I asked all three women if they wanted to add anything. All three
said that they know that speaking two languages proficiency is asset in the job
world. In this economy, they feel more secure with their job because they switch
to their native language when needed (for Amanda she has been a translator a
few times). The ladies don’t use their native language on the job often, but
enough that the company knows they speak another language besides English.
what would it be? All the ladies agreed that the best way to learn a second
you listen to the language being spoken around you and partake in all cultural
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customs. I think Xiujuan said it best: “live with the local people is the best
Resources:
Crawford, James. Education English Learners: Language Diversity in the
Classroom.
Hilliard, John F. PowerPoint and lectures
Rothernberg, Carol and Douglas Fisher. Teaching English Language Learners: A
Differentiated Approach.