Foreign Language Learners ' Behavior On Captioned Videos

Foreign language classes are often put off until high school due to the fact that this is when people believe students are most ready to learn another language. This belief is widely accepted despite the fact children are able to learn to speak like natives in foreign languages, whereas teenagers and adults usually are not able to learn how to do this. Speaking “like a native” entails being able to think in a foreign language without having to translate (Nadia 1). The ability to speak like a native in a foreign language can be easier to obtain when taught the foreign language during elementary school. Once a student passes the prime learning stages, learning a foreign language can be extremely difficult. Adults starting to learn a language have to work through an established first-language

As Zentella has studied within these three families, she finds an assortment of variation, even in individuals that come from the same family. The author argues that children coming from similar backstories range differently in their expertise in the language of their immigrated parents and the standard language of their residency. She concludes that because each family’s outlook on learning a second language and each individual’s preference challenges one another, one’s ability to learn a second language varies as well; there is no solid explanation as to why some people from the same background are more advanced in Spanish rather than English, and vice versa. Most people would not have taken into account of all the different contributions that this author describes, including gender, social preference, location, and personal beliefs. The common person would assume that acquiring a second language is possible for these families because they are surrounded by it, and that they would be able to maintain both their primary and secondary language. However, the author does analyze the contrasting opinion through observing the differences found in her study. She finds that the development of each person greatly varies to where each has different learning abilities and preferences. Where they live, whom they are in contact with, gender, and even their own personal behavior affects their unique growth. Since all have varying opinions, their decisions and values are placed accordingly to their own desire; in conclusion, these are all major factors in how people’s language skills

Purpose: To highlight the difficulties students have at school and at home when it comes down to learning a language which they aren’t acquainted to and the consequences of such, depending on their social background.

For this research requirement I chose three different experiments to examine thoroughly. The first of these experiments came from the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. The study done in this journal was an examination of orthographic learning and self-teaching in a bilingual and biliterate context. The aim of the study was to figure out the advantages and/or disadvantages of a student learning a native language when they are either monolingual, bilingual, or biliterate, and the study was focused on learning English because this is the most commonly learned non-native language in the world.

People can also participate in study abroad programs as a way to improve their ability with a foreign language. Two such programs that are being offered to Spanish 300 and 400 students is the opportunity to study abroad in Costa Rica or Spain. There are several reasons as to why participating in a study abroad program is more advantageous than simply studying in a classroom. The largest advantage that participating in a study abroad program is that by being in a foreign country where the language you are learning is the primary language is that since you are immersed in the language, one’s proficiency in using the language will increase more quickly when compared to those that are only attending a class for their foreign language simply due to the fact one must use that language all of the time. Study abroad programs also have the added benefit of improving one’s knowledge about a particular country’s culture and traditions. Lastly, study abroad programs allow one to become friends with many new people and make many new friends. It is for these reasons of improving language proficiency, learning more about a country’s culture, and meeting new people and making new friends that I am interested in participating in a study abroad program in the

The dissertation that met the action research (AR) this student found to examine was “The Biliteracy Achievement of Latino English Learners in Two-Way Immersion Elementary Programs.” This study focused on the “biliteracy achievement of Latino English learners in two program models of two-way immersion to determine if learning two languages sequentially is indeed more effective for English Learners” (Moraga, 2010, p.74). There was several research questions discussed throughout this study. However, the one question this student mostly interesting on was “How are data used at school site level to determine the biliteracy attainment of English learners?” (p. 74). This question was the most relevant to this learner because she wanted to examine

Students have enough opportunities to practice the target language, in pairs, individually and as a whole class. They practice the language in speaking and written form.

It was also found that 60% of students believed that their reading ability had an effect on their achievement in French and Japanese. As aforementioned in the Literacy Review that suggested bilingualism improved brain function because of this students who have a higher understanding of languages over then English are more likely to be in the upper academic brackets. Due to this collation between bilingualism and academic results it can be summarised that students who are achieving higher results in languages because of their reading ability are likely to be in a higher academic

During this observation I was able to view Ms. Yanik Second grade English as a Second Language classroom. This specific classroom was a pullout instructional format and they were focusing on science weather lesson. In this classroom, there are six students, half of which were from Haiti and the other half were from two different Spanish speaking countries. Due to the fact that the students were not all from the same country the English proficiency varied from the beginner to some students who were considered at the intermediate level. In this classroom, there were two specific students that did not speak a word of English, but they could comprehend what was being said to them.

This was experimental study where they were looking for difference between students who participated in the Language-Focused Intervention LLLI and the students who remained on the normal curriculum.

That is because bilinguals’ switching between two language systems provide them with a larger linguistic reservoir, which includes “metalinguistic” skills, knowledge can potentially be transferred between language and thus may be helpful when acquiring a new language. However, they suggest that students who speak another language at home tend to lag behind their monolingual peers in the majority language of the community, and this gap in the language of instruction can affect their academic performance across learning domains (Maluch, Kempert and Stanat 6). They think weak majority language student might have trouble in “comprehending explicit information” and might “have limited resources with which to engage linguistic transfer” (Maluch, Kempert and Stanat 6). In brief, bilinguals have more advantage in cognitive and other skills than monolinguals do, yet several factors like background characteristics and language proficiency can affect this result.

The implementation of the dual language program that we will discover from this school is from the 2nd grade of Elementary level’s classroom. This grade is taught by 2 class teachers. There are 19 students in this class. The students’ language background distribution in the class is approximately 40% ELL, 60% non-ELL no Spanish and some Spanish background. Students are classified as ELL, Spanish speaking, and English speaking. The 60% is a mix of both the Spanish speaking and English speaking.

Those who agree with this statement argue that bilingual education produces a safety net that widens the gap between the cultures and makes it difficult for a student to be successful when dealing with other subjects, such as math or science, in their nonnative language. As research has shown, the reality is quite the opposite when a second language is taught correctly from an early age. The teaching of a foreign language actually helps connect foreign language students with their peers, allowing them to share their culture and strengthens the brain in a way that actually helps a student throughout their schooling and in

The United States education system lacks a national foreign language education requirement, which has resulted in a decline of foreign language learning opportunities. (“Education,” 2010). Foreign language requirements and opportunities in the nation’s schools are decreasing due to budget cuts (Skorton & Altschuler, 2012). Out of the 50 states, only 10 states have a foreign language graduation requirement set for students (“Education,” 2010). From 1997 to 2008, the number of elementary schools offering a foreign language decreased from 31% to 25%, while the number of middle schools dropped from 75% to 58%. Foreign language opportunities in high schools remained the same at around 91%; however, from 1994 to 2010 the percent of colleges that required foreign language study dropped from 67.5% to 50.7% (Skorton & Altschuler, 2012). The result

The setting of the study was an Inter-American magnet school was one of the oldest dual immersion schools in the US. It populates about 640 students ranging from pre-k to 8th grade. There were 52 participants. 30 of them were heritage speakers and age they began learning English was :(9 of them by birth, 14 since preschool, 5 since kinder or first, 2 since 3rd or 4th grade) 17 knew Spanish as a second language and ages they began were (6 since preschool, 8 in kinder or first, 3 in 3rd or 4th grade) and 5 were late arrival in which all 5 arrived in US during 6th or 7th only two years before study. The measures were focused on dual immersion students overall written, reading, and oral abilities. Two measures were used to test students’ oral Spanish. One was the Spanish Language Assessment Scales-Oral, a standardized exam. It includes identifying vocabulary items displayed in ten drawings, a multiple choice listening comprehension section, and listening to a story and then retelling it while viewing picture prompts. Another way they were tested was by the Foreign Language Oral Skills Evaluation Matrix (FLOSEM), The FLOSEM assesses oral language proficiency in five domains: