Learner Language Analysis : I Had The Pleasure Of Interviewing My Coworker Brenda

All languages are important and realizing it will make you become a stronger, more diverse human being. We need take make an effort not only for ourselves but for other citizens living in the United States who don’t speak English; we need to make them feel welcomed into our country. Marjorie Agosín described that,”here in the United States, where I have lived since I was a young girl, the solitude of exile makes me feel that so little is mine, that not even the sky has the same constellations, the trees and the fauna the same names or sounds, or the rubbish the same smell. These are the dilemmas of one who writes in Spanish and lives in translation”(Agosin 599). Agosín has lived in the United States for quite some time now, yet still feels like she is living a life through “translation”. She should not feel this way, Agosin should feel apart of our country and feel as if she is a citizen. It is important for us to take a stand now to make language become apart of the curriculum within our school systems starting in Kindergarten, so that our children have a more diverse life filled with opportunities. One thing we know about the future for sure is that we will still have our knowledge about language, but it is how we use that knowledge that will depict how we will succeed in life and as a

Amy Tan, a Chinese-American immigrant, classifies and divides in order to bring awareness to the linguistic struggles immigrants face. She does so through a personal and didactic tone to convey a theme of cultural rejection and prejudice against immigrants. Tan utilizes the rhetorical appeals through her strong emotion, enlightening diction, and personal and didactic tone, parallelism (repetition), and antithesis to emanate the mode of classification and division. To begin with, Tan's usage of rhetorical appeals is conveyed through her strong emotion, enlightening diction, and personal and didactic tone. "... the fact that people in department stores, at banks, and at restaurants did not take her seriously, did not give her good service, pretended

When reading Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza, I was reminded about the struggles of being an immigrant in the United States with all of the barriers with learning a new language and culture. I really saw this when it came to all Spanish words that are written in the book. To be able to understand her own culture, the reader has to have a basic understanding of Spanish. Culture is really taught through language, and there is a lot missing if the reader does not have this basic understanding. When immigrating to the States, people have to learn English not only to communicate well, but to fill out paperwork, and to understand the culture. For this essay I am going to focus on one story that resonated a lot with me when I was reading

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

What's influenced me about living and working in this community is, not to take for granted all the opportunities that are offered. I am so lucky to be bilingual because having that ability can open a lot of doors for me. The hispanic community is increasing which makes businesses and health related offices eager to hire bilingual speakers. It’s important to take advantage of opportunities that offer to help you because of your background and skill that you’re able to speak two fluent languages. Some people want

Language is much more than a method of communication. Permeated within it are traditions, customs, and legacies of one’s culture. The identity of an entire population is in the distinct vocalizations of their native language. Unfortunately, as a wave of immigrants enters the United States at young ages, many face language barriers that pose significant challenges. Language barriers affect a multitude of immigrant populations to different degrees. This, in turn, causes many of them to abandon not only their native tongue but a piece of their ethnic identity, as well. In Maxine Hong Kingston’s personal narrative,“The Language of Silence,” she describes the difficulties she experienced throughout her childhood with a language barrier as a

I am a U.S. born citizen. My parents moved to the United States in 1984 without knowing anything about this country. Looking for a fresh start and new opportunities, my parents settled in Houston. With hardly knowing any English, my parents knew this was the place to make dreams become a reality. Luckily, I had older siblings to look up to whenever I needed help. Like Lahiri, I was trapped in between two different cultures while I was growing up. At home, I only spoke Spanish, but in school it was English. My habits and customs were different than others. Life as an immigrant’s offspring can be very difficult. As I grew older, I allowed myself to open my eyes and see the beauty of being an American from Hispanic descent.

Clearly, the author’s goal when writing this article was to get people to wonder about their perspective on how they view the acumen of those who do not have perfect English. The article includes different examples of events that happened to Amy and her mother because of her mother’s "broken English". The events indicated they thought she had a lack of intelligence. Amy's goal is grand because she is making people become aware of something she

In the article How to Tame a Wild Tongue written by Gloria Anzaldua covers a real life story that Gloria lived. She was born into a Mexican home in the United States during the 1970s. She was looked down upon by her peers due to the fact that she spoke Spanish. When she was in school they got her in trouble because she spoke Spanish in one of her classes. Gloria also never knew that Spanish words were not all male dominant, they also applied to females. The biggest struggle for Gloria was that she often used both English and Spanish when she would talk to her peers. While some argue that she was in the wrong, I believe that she has a right to keep in touch with her roots because nobody should be ashamed of where they come from.

Many considered the Chicano language to be improper, but Anzaldua has redefined how we should embody the language. Anzaldua speaking Spanish in America is one of the few things that remind her of her Hispanic heritage. Languages are diverse and cannot always prove our ethnic background, but it is one of the many things that are significant to our identity. Language can legitimize our culture and has the ability to connect us despite distance. We should embrace our identities and recognize them to avoid negative stereotypes, which create predicaments for the stereotyped group. As a Chicana, Anzaldua, like many others, has trouble identifying herself, which has caused her to feel embarrassment and makes her question whether America is a welcoming place for Chicanos. As Gloria emphasizes the importance of embracing one’s culture, she also finds herself later realizing that we should stay true to one’s self and disregard what others have to say.

In other words, her mother had been influenced by American values. For this reason, she pushed her daughter to become more like the dominant society (American) and less like the minority group (Mexican). As Anzaldúa integrated to American culture she continued to experience discriminatory circumstances. For instance, while she attended “Pan American University” she had to enroll in speech class “to get rid of [her] [accent]” (Anzaldúa 374). Then, when she “taught High School English” she was discouraged by the principal to using Chicano literature in her class (Anzaldúa 379). On the other hand, the resentful minority group (Spanish speakers) expected her not to use the “oppressor’s language” (Anzaldúa 375).The impact of all these events, influence Anzaldúa to believe that “by the end of this century English, and not Spanish, will be the mother tongue of most Chicanos and Latinos” (Anzaldúa 378). This is important, because Anzaldúa writes, “ethnic identity is twin skin to linguistic identity” (378). If her prediction becomes reality, then most of what surrounds me (and others like me) will disappear.

My group chose to elicit information from a Georgian speaker. I really enjoyed sitting in on the session and getting the opportunity to ask questions about her language and culture. The speakers name was Larisa and she was born in Georgia. She came to America when she was in her 30’s. Larisa attended college while in Georgia and studied English in school. Her mother’s friend offered her an opportunity to travel to America with her daughter who did not speak English. Larisa took that chance and came to America. I know personally, I would find it really hard to get up and leave my family. I could only imagine the struggle she had coming to a new place not knowing anyone. Luckily, she found an agency that provided her with work. This gave her the opportunity to get a job, which a lot of English language learners do not have the luxury of doing.

Language has also shaped Stephanie’s world view in that she grew up in a house hold that only spoke English. This means that Stephanie may automatically assume that all of her clients will

Anzaldúa grew up along the U.S. and Mexican border, and her native language is a mixture of English and Spanish languages called Chicano Spanish. After she grew up and left home, she found that those who speak Standard English and Standard Spanish look down on her when she speaks “Spanglish” because they view it as a bastardized version of a “pure” language. On the surface, influencing someone to assimilate sounds innocuous but the ramifications are deep. Anzaldúa says that language is identity, and the

Many researchers in the field of error analysis have stressed the significance of errors of second language learners. Corder (1967), for example, in his important article, notes that "they are significant in three different ways. First, to the teacher, in that they show how far towards the goal the learner has progressed. Second, they provide to the researcher evidence of how a language is acquired, what strategies the learner is employing in his learning of a language. Thirdly, they are indisputable to the learner himself because we can regard the making of errors as a device the learner uses in order to learn" (p. 161).One of the most difficult challenges handled by non-native speakers of English is understanding the system of English articles. This study aims at providing a comprehensive account of the types of errors produced by Persian speaking learners of English in their use of articles. Data were collected from 120 sentences produces by Persian speaking learners of English which written in error analysis and interlanguage analysis book by M. Bemani Naeini (1387). Analysis of errors in students’ written samples revealed that while students made a considerable number of errors in their use of articles, omission errors were the most frequent, while substitutions were the least frequent. Additionally, among all types of omission errors identified, the omission of the indefinite article ‘the’ was the most frequent. In sharp contrast, the use of the indefinite article ‘a’