Hello Everyone!
For this blog entry, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing my sweet friend, Grace, a native speaker of Mandarin and 10-year veteran of teaching Mandarin at the high school level. Please click here to watch: Interview with a HS foreign language teacher
REFLECTION:
Before our interview, Grace and I reviewed the questions I would
be asking her just in case she had any problems with the vocabulary or content. In spite of our “pre-interview run through,” we
still had a few communication breakdowns, as clearly evidenced by her answers
to some of my questions. Whenever this
happened, I did my best to rephrase my question so that she would have a better
understanding of what I was asking. As I
later reflected on how the interview had unfolded, I was reminded of Long’s Interaction
Hypothesis (Ortega, 2009) and how my interaction with Grace was a good example of how two
speakers negotiate for meaning.
Grace’s method of administering corrective feedback to her
students was great. When giving oral exams to students in order to
check for correct pronunciation, she does not simply provide the correct answer
(e.g., recasting), but instead gives them clues as to how they may want to
change their answers (Harvey & Velasquez, unknown date). I really like this because it gives both she
and her student the opportunity to laugh and perhaps break some of the tension
and anxiety that comes with performance type of language assessments.
Ortega (2009, p. 148) indicates: “We all have admired someone who
seemed to have ‘an ear’ for foreign languages, ‘a knack’ for language
learning.” Grace mentioned “hearing” as
part of a student’s aptitude for learning Mandarin. This resonated with my own
L2 learning experience. I am a longtime vocalist and am particularly
adept at recognizing pitch and quality of sounds, especially birdcalls. Looking back, I believe that my aptitude for
sound helped me learn Spanish during my high school and college years. Grace also suggested that because she is a
native Mandarin speaker, her students have an advantage in their Mandarin learning
compared to what she experienced learning English from a native Mandarin
speaker (e.g., inauthentic English accent).
Being able to hear, and thus mimic, the authentic intonations and
accents of the target language is a valuable asset to any L2 learning
process.
One of the most useful personal insights I gained from this
interview is the value of negotiating for meaning. Sometimes having a conversation with someone
whose L1 is different than your own can be a little frustrating. However, taking the additional time necessary
to better understand each other is well worth the time.
Hey Susie! I really enjoyed watching your interview with a Mandarin speaker! Grace seems to really enjoy what she does and seems passionate about teaching her students. Ortega (2013), mentions the antecedents investigated in L2 learning and concluded attitude and orientations as two of them (pg. 172). Based on Grace's interview, I see that her students' reasons for wanting to learn Mandarin is for finding jobs and dealing with business, which refers to instrumental orientation (pg. 173). These students' motivation are clearly extrinsic, however they seem to have a positive attitude towards learning the language. Mandarin is a difficult language to learn and from the example Grace said in the video, I watched it twice and still heard no difference in the word she said but they are two different words. I love seeing teacher's point of views especially with students who speak a second language or are learning a second language. I know Grace said not being able to communicate with anyone in Mandarin outside of class is the most difficult part of learning the language. Do you think this is what Ortega meant when he said there are so many students who take years of foreign language classes in America but still can't speak it? Do you think it's because we don't have that support to communicate and practice with? Or is it because students are extrinsically motivated to learning a second language and only learn what they need to in order to pass the class?
ReplyDeleteHey there Susie, I really enjoyed your interview and getting to know more about Ms. Grace’s experience with teaching Mandarin. I would also have to agree with Farah that I also heard no difference in the examples Ms. Grace gave us. Farah to answer your question about why some students whom have taken several years of a foreign language but are not able to speak it after completing are a mixture of both being extrinsically motivated and lack of practice. Speaking from personal experience I completely forgot all the information I learned from my high school Spanish classes during the summer since I lacked the motivation to practice since I was not being tested on this information. I thought it was quite interesting that there is research, but that she also believes that students with dyslexia have more of an advantage when learning Mandarin. Overall I really enjoyed this interview.
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DeleteFarah, thank you so much for your comment. It seems that many high school (and possibly college) students who take a foreign language are required to have several years of second language credits in order to graduate. Clearly, this type of extrinsic motivation is not enough to learn and maintain an L2. I think an L2 learner’s orientation, an antecedent for motivation, is a far better indicator of whether or not they will be successful in their L2 acquisition. That is, “those reasons for learning the L2, because they contribute to the setting of goals that will propel and sustain motivation of varying intensities and qualities” (Ortega, 2009).
DeleteHey Dalis! I appreciate you taking the time to comment on my blog. It is interesting, though not completely surprising, that both you and Farah heard no difference in Grace’s spoken example of two different words. Mandarin Chinese is a very tonal language. Words that are essentially spelled the same change meaning when the same syllable is pronounced with a different tone. Clearly, this can be a source of frustration, but also (given Grace’s example) can result in some pretty hilarious miscommunications among language learners.
DeleteLike you, I also was intrigued by Grace’s observation that dyslexic students seem to learn Chinese characters easier than students with no learning impairments. I am not sure if this counts as having an aptitude for Mandarin, but her firsthand observations are very interesting just the same.
Dalis you make a great point! I think this goes back to making meaning of what we learn. We also read in Chapter 9 of the textbook where it talks about L2 confidence and how it has such a big impact on students' acquiring a second language. Research also claims that the use of L2 is low because the opportunities to use them are low (Ortega, pg. 213).
DeleteSusie, I completely agree! Just knowing we have to learn a foreign language so we can graduate, is the lowest form of motivation! When I took Spanish in high school, I was so interested and loved the opportunity to learn it! That was motivation from within. Unfortunately, not all students feel that way. That extrinsic motivation is not enough to sustain the language. Love your insight!
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