Blog Entry 2
Researches
of strategies used in the classroom have long been a staple in education. In
fact research of strategies is why the education field keeps growing with new
ideas and new ways to teach emerging children. The research of education
strategies helps teachers, administrators and parents come up with the best
strategy they think will help their children or students learn most efficient. One
topic in the education field that has been getting a lot of attention is second
language acquisition. Some research questions that may challenge SLA, “suggest
that the challenges that second language learners face may be due to age
effects, the existence of an entrenched first language grammar, L1-influenced
processing preferences, as well cultural and personal motivation factors among
others.” (Costa, 2014). These research
questions should be the ones that guide teachers to want to find the best
strategies to help these second language learners. The best they can so that a
second language can be learned at a much faster rate, with the correct fluency
and pronunciation.
Research
impacts teaching today in many diffenrt aspects, but one aspect I found in my
research was about speech. Lomba states that “speech is fundamental in language
acquisition” and learners excel in language acquisition when they apply what
they learn as they learn it. (2012). this statement shows that research has
some impact on second language acquisition. Knowing that speech is fundamental to
learning a new language, teachers should take this into consideration. Teachers
in should incorporate speech into second language learners rhetoric as soon as
possible so that students can make the biggest strides when learning a new
language.
Another topic teachers should practice
is attrition, or the loss of a language. When students begin to learn a new
language they tend to forget their original language and focus on the new
language so that they can learn it quickly. As Schmid describes, “This suggests
that attrition is the outcome of two systems of linguistic knowledge
interacting, to some degree, in language processing during production and
comprehension, and does not change the underlying knowledge system.” (Schmid,
2011). Just as Schmid states in her article, learning a new language will merge
with the old language at some point. But it’s the teacher to practice ways to
break attrition from happening. So the research of attrition in second language
acquisition is a great practice for teachers to use.
Overall
I think that second language acquisition has a lot of research that impacts
teaching. As teachers use the information given, they will see a correlation as
their students gain their new language faster and then before. The research given
will also just help teachers learn the best procedures to teach a second language
and the best practices. Like practices of speech, or vocabulary, repetition or
any other strategy used to acquire a second language. So with the research of
second language acquisition, better teaching and learning will be available.
References
Albert
Costa, Núria Sebastián-Gallés, How does the bilingual experience sculpt the
brain?, Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 2014, 15, 5, 336
Five
Stages of Second Language Acquisition. (n.d.). Retrieved September 24, 2017,
from http://education.cu-portland.edu/blog/news/five-stages-of-second-language-acquisition/
Monika
Schmid, Barbara K¨opke. Second language acquisition and attrition. Language
Interaction Acquisition, 2011, 2 (2), pp.185-196.
Hi Shawn! I agree with you that research of education methods and strategies are ways to help teachers find and make new and improved methods to use if their future classrooms. It helps find the most effective methods to use to teach a second language. I also have experienced the loss of language or attrition myself. After learning English and focusing on learning it so much, my Vietnamese did get worst and I started to forget how to speak it properly. If I would have practiced my Vietnamese more while learning English, I believe I would be a lot better than I am now. This is why finding the right method and teaching student another language at the right pace will not only better their understanding and learning of the new language, but they will also be able to focus on the other languages that they speak. This goes back to the quote that I really liked in the book that says, “Your responsibility as a teacher is to choose the best of what others have experimented with and then adapt your insights to your own situation” (Brown, 2015, p. 28). I agree that research is very important and that as a future teacher, we must find our own methods that works best for us.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment Julie,
DeleteI really like the quote you added in your comment. Choosing the best practice to teach your students will help them become more advanced in the language they learn. I’m sorry to hear that your Vietnamese language faded away while learning English. Hopefully you can try to relearn it, and hopefully I can learn a second language also.
What a fantastic quote! Teaching is based so much on research but that extra bit as "an art" is needed in to adapt to your own situation. We, as educators, need to know what current research says and be able to use it in our classrooms. I think that practicing Vietnamese at any chance you get would help to recover some of the language.
DeleteHello Shawn! You are right research is the reason why the education system continues to flourish. This not only applies to education but everything in life. We need research to help create and apply the strategies for our students. It was interesting to read what a large impact speech has on our students. The practice of attrition I feel played a role in my language learning and not a good one. Thank you for sharing your blog!
ReplyDeleteHey Desiree,
DeleteYes, research helps teachers choose which strategies are best for students. It was very interesting to see the impact speech has on learning. I never knew that learning a second language sometimes leads to students being more adept in the classroom. So, these finding are interesting to read about, as I learn everyday about teaching language and education in general. Thanks!
I think that your are correct when you stated that second language acquisition had a lot of research attached to it. These researched educational methods and principles could be utilized in teaching most subjects in my opinion. This is because the one that have been proven most effective have mostly been learner centered (Brown 2015, pg.45) Research is very important and only leads to better teachers and students who are actually learning. Second language acquisition is such a complex concept. It would be a mistake not to utilize information that is available in order to thrive in the classroom environment and beyond.
ReplyDeleteShawn, you brought up several valid points in practices in the classroom when it comes to language acquisition. The points that you mentioned illustrate the importance of research and how implying it effectively in the classroom can create a greater knowledge of the overall language. Also, I was intrigued by the topic of attrition, it is a helpful concept to reflect on when you're considering teaching a language to somebody because you have to have a research background to how it affects the students' ability to speak their initial language.
ReplyDeleteHey Shawn! I liked what you stated about research being the reason why the field of education keeps growing! Just like you said, through that research we find the best strategy to teach students efficiently. I found what you stated about the practice of attrition interesting because I feel like that is what happened to me when I started learning English. My ESL teacher must have known about this too as she tried her best to break attrition from happening by supporting my home language as best as she could. So, she defiantly used research to help support her when teaching English to me. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDelete