FP003 – SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

ASSIGNMENT
General instructions:

The assignment in this subject consists of writing an expository-argumentative document in

pairs in which answers are given to the questions posed below. The assignment must
satisfy the following formal requirements:

● Length: 5 pages (excluding instructions, statements, bibliography and annexes -if

any-).
● Font: Arial.
● Size: 11 points.
● Spacing: 1.5.
● Alignment: Justified.

The assignment should be carried out in this Word document following the rules of
presentation and editing in terms of citations and bibliographic references (see Study
Guide).

Submission must be done following the procedures described in the subject’s evaluation
document; under no circumstances should it be submitted through the professor’s email.

On the other hand, remember that there are evaluation criteria which are considered
extremely important for the student to follow. For further information, please refer to the
subject evaluation document.

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ASSIGNMENT
Write an expository paper reflecting your linguistic profile (languages spoken, level of
proficiency, contexts of habitual use). Then write an argumentative piece containing a
detailed analysis of the process of acquiring these languages and contrast each other's
experiences. The assignment may be a set of answers to the following questions:

● At what point do we come into contact with language? In what context.

● What level of competence do we have? How do we reach that level? Has it always
remained stable?
● What difficulties have we encountered in the process? Have we overcome them all?
How were they overcome?
● What are the differences and similarities in the linguistic experiences of each? What
can they be due to?

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Student first and last names:

Ada Socolich Manrique

Cláudia Garcia Gonçalves

Dulce Ernestina Olvera Cabrera

Marjorie Soldatelli

Group: FP003

Date: 31st, October 2022

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 FP003 – SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

ASSIGNMENT

Ada Socolich Manrique

Cláudia Garcia Gonçalves

Dulce Ernestina Olvera Cabrera

Marjorie Soldatelli

Group: FP003

Date: 31st, October 2022

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The four members of the group come from Latin American countries with the native
languages as Portuguese for 2 of them and Spanish for the other 2. Through analysing their
experiences, we will look for some similarities and differences in their acquisition of English
(L2) which have shaped and affected the different levels of competence they have
developed.

Personal experience Ada

My first exposure to English was during the preoperational period. I was enrolled in an
American school, and I learned the language through the interaction with native speaking
classmates and teachers. This allowed me to be immersed in the language in a natural
context and to learn it without any affective factors that could interfere with the acquisition
of the language as I was just having fun and interacting with new friends. The learning
process was unconscious and unintentional. I would say that the level of English acquired
during this period allowed me to communicate like an 8-year-old native speaker as I had
been exposed to the language 7 hours per day, 5 days a week. My interaction with friends
after class hours was also using English. The only contact I had with my native language
(Spanish) was the hours I spent at home interacting with my family. At this early age I would
say that my competence in English was better than in Spanish. This situation lasted almost
two years but changed abruptly, having to learn Spanish again and reducing the use of
English to a minimum.
During my school years I continued my contact with the language in an educational context:
I had already developed the intuition of a native speaker and was not able to explain the
rules behind a grammatical structure but to recognize the correct form because “it sounded
right”. My level of competence did not improve during those years and at that stage my
competence in Spanish was better than in English. Reflecting on that period of my life I can
now identify phenomenon like interference and fossilization present in the interlanguage I
had at that stage of acquiring English. The lack of contact with English native speakers and
not needing it in my environment eventually made it very difficult to overcome.

The improvement in the acquisition of L2 started when I formally started studying English
to teach it. I became aware of the errors I made and mistakes I was usually making while
communicating (Brown, 2000). Even though I knew the rules I was still making mistakes
when speaking. Through applying Krashen´s Monitor Hypothesis I could reflect on the
deficient use of structures, some lack of vocabulary and therefore improve it. My level of
competence as well as my performance both in written and spoken language have improved
through the years thanks to my permanent contact with the language and the constant
revision of structures when teaching them.

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Personal Experience Marjorie

On my English learning journey, I started acquiring it by identifying the differences between

English and my native Portuguese. I was very young, so I was not consciously learning the
language. I found out that Portuguese and English grammars were fairly relatable since
both languages belong to the Indo-European family. However, since Portuguese and
English belong to separate branches within the Indo-European languages – Portuguese is
a Latin language, whereas English is part of the Germanic-languages subfamily – they were
different in several aspects. Sentence order is one of them. Words were used in different
ways than my native L1. I could definitely notice some backsliding and fossilization of my
learning when studying in Brazil.

I began with other students participating in a shared experience abroad. Through that
experience, teacher-led discussions provided me and my classmates with the opportunity
to hear, learn and use new vocabulary related to what we were seeing, hearing, feeling, or
thinking. We wrote and read back this shared vocabulary to extend our oral language
competences and connect spoken and written English.

By rehearsing my writing orally, exploring the difference between spoken and written
language, and having our teacher introducing new vocabulary and encouraging its use in
context, I ensured concept development and vocabulary growth.

When learning English, I also found out that some of the talk in my native language was
unconsciously wrongly structured and I am still doing my best to improve that.

Personal experience Cláudia

My first contact with English was in junior high school. Although my classes were presented
in Portuguese, I sometimes had some listening comprehension exercises and sentence
repetitions. As far as I can remember it was basically the grammar- translation method in
which classes consisted of vocabulary and grammar . There was no worry about speaking
the language. The focus was on reading and writing. This situation continued the same up
to the beginning of high school. Then I started my English Course. I studied at Cultura
Inglesa. I took the 7 -year- course and took some Cambridge exams. Cultura Inglesa had a
little of each method. A little of grammar, music, reading comprehension, listening activities
but principally it was a course that focused on speaking. Classes were never the same.
Teachers could vary the learning techniques as much as they wanted. That was what I liked
most.

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Before I finished the English course, I started my course of Letters and English Literature
at Uerj. At the University I had all my classes in English too but then the focus was on
teaching. It was basically understanding grammar so as to teach.

When I started teaching in a course, I was still taking the course of Letters. Everything
happened very fast. I didn't enjoy the method very much, but I consider it was a good
experience.

To conclude, I would say that my fluency in English is due to the great possibility of studying
a good course and because I have always been a dedicated student with a lot of motivation.
I always enjoyed listening to music, watching films and bringing the English language to my
everyday life. I believe that contributed a lot to increase my level of competence in the L2.
Evidently, I made some mistakes and errors, but this is acceptable in the learning process.
That is what I try to do with my students in the classroom. I invite them to breathe in English
and avoid using the mother tongue as much as they can.

Personal experience Dulce

My first contact with English was in pre-school (4 years old). I attended a bilingual
kindergarten, and it was there where I started my journey through English. I also studied
primary school in a bilingual school. Half of the day was English and the other half Spanish.
Ever since I can remember, I always had a facility for the language. I could even say that
more than in my native language, I found it easier and more entertaining.

In secondary and high school, I changed to a Catholic school which had a very low English
level, but it had a great advantage. It had schools in many cities around the world and as
soon as I finished high school, I had the great opportunity to go to London. During the 6
years I was at school, my English was very weak, and when I arrived in London, it was as
if I had to learn it from scratch. Although I must admit that the grammatical foundations, I
was given in primary school were very solid and it only took me a few weeks in London to
feel confident again. What was going to be one year turned into 10 years; 6 and a half years
in London and 3 and a half years in Scotland, where I found a new challenge; English with
a Scottish accent, which was totally different to what I was used to. It was as if they were
speaking another language, but living immersed in the country and living only with native
speakers helped me to overcome that barrier and in a few weeks, it was already natural for
me.

On my return to Mexico, my adventure in the world of language teaching began. I studied a

degree in English Teaching, and was certified by the UNAM and Cambridge.

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Nowadays, English has become a basic necessity in Mexico. To satisfy this essential need,
teachers committed and prepared to teach the language are indispensable. Teaching is an
art that must be in continuous evolution in order to provide students with the tools to go out
and conquer the world.

Some of the problems I faced when learning L2 were, to make the transition from he/she
coming before any object in my mother tongue to not having it present in English, and the
fossilized error I had until recently, was not including the pronoun ‘it’. I always omit it, for
example, ‘Is 1 pm’, instead of, ’It is 1 pm’. It is also worth mentioning the use of Spanglish,
because I did not know the correct vocabulary to express myself.

Differences and similarities in the linguistic experiences

After analysing the experiences of the four members of the group, we realized that the
experiences had both similarities and differences in the process of acquiring L2. We will
compare and contrast the experiences based on the L1 each student has (Spanish,
Portuguese).

After sharing our experiences in acquiring English as a second language, we came to the
conclusion that in the case of Ada and Dulce, whose first language is Spanish, their first
encounter with L2 was very similar and started at an early age. In an almost natural context,
which allowed them to develop the intuition proper of native speakers, both of them refer to
using it in order to identify correct structures in the L2. The loss of stimuli and the change in
the environment in L2, developed a regression in the performance of the L2. At that time,
they were competent in the language, but they had to rely on their intuition in order to
continue using it, even though the exposure to L2 was limited.

Dulce was later involved in an English spoken environment where the stimuli was always
present and recovering the natural context by being immersed in the language (non-formal
acquisition). On the other hand, Ada reached up the language in an educational context
(foreign language FL), activating her conscious reflexion in order to advance in the
language.

During the time both of them were not exposed to the language, fossilization was present
and the development of their interlanguage was zero, as the exposure to L2 was limited, as
well as interference from their L1.

Through their professional development, they have overcome some of the errors they had
due to the interference of the L1, mainly by studying the language and also by being in
contact with native speakers, which gives them a natural context of the language.

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By comparing our experiences in English learning, we could see that Marjorie started having
contact with it a little earlier than Cláudia. However, both had their beginning being exposed
to a lot of grammar and vocabulary in Brazilian schools. They both applied structural and
semantic simplifications to their early process of L2 learning.

Then, Marjorie had an immersive experience in the English language because she lived in
the United States. This situation gave her the possibility to talk to native speakers and
consequently offered her a lot of comprehensible input to hasten her learning process and
prevent fossilization because of her need for immediate communication and context.

Both Claudia and Marjorie had a long-term period of learning before they became teachers.
They both took the same course of Letters in a Brazilian university. Despite all of the
drawbacks, they are dedicated students who are determined to succeed in their language
learning studies.

In a final summing up, even though the members of the group had different native languages
(Portuguese and Spanish) through their process of acquiring English as a second language,
it would seem that they have faced similar issues throughout the process.

One of the aspects that differs in their experiences is the period of life in which they had
their first contact with English. Ada, Dulce and Marjorie acquired their L2 at an early age
which helped them develop the intuition proper of a native speaker. Whereas Claudia´s
contact with English was in a formal educational context with a different kind of input. The
result of this is that the time needed to acquire the language varied and it took longer for
Claudia to achieve the level she was searching for. Being exposed to it at an early age
favoured a more natural acquisition for some of them.

Each member of the team went through a process of developing their interlanguage and
were able to improve through various events such as cultural immersion, formal education
and contact with native speakers. All the members of the group have achieved a level of
competence and proficiency that allows them to communicate and teach the language.

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