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Case Study Assignment
Basic Information/Summary
The name of the individual who participated in the case study was a 28 year’ old
gentleman named Jorge. He has lived in the United States a little over five years. Jorge
has been speaking English for 5 years. He has two brothers here in the United States. He
has two young nieces and one has just finished kindergarten. Jorge feels that she speaks
better than he does. She is able to shift between the two languages. Jorge sometimes feels
uncomfortable when he is not able to understand English.
One thing that was very interesting about Jorge was he didn’t want to answer any
questions in regards to his family back home. He avoided all family questions which I
found strange. I wasn’t able to get the family description I was hoping for to get a better
understanding of his family’s native culture and linguistic patterns. I believe he is not
exceptionally close to his family back in Mexico.
Slang is very difficult to him and causes him a lot of confusion. When people use
text abbreviations and acronyms, it is assumed everyone understands but it causes
confusion. He learned to recognize logos and advertisements first. While the interview
progressed, Jorge relied more and more on the translator. I think as he got more
exhausted as English became more difficult for him. I believe this was a sign of the
affective filter coming into play that I will speak more about later in this case study.
We met later in the evening (his choice) during the week, so we started at about 9
pm at a Waffle House and talked until about 11. Also, he watched the recorder a lot.
Once I turned off the recording, I could tell he was more relaxed and focused on the
meaning of his sentences instead of stumbling for proper syntax and pronunciation.
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Case Study Assignment
I believe Jorge had a high rate of anxiety, which affected his willingness to
communicate during the interview. According to Lightbown & Spada adults tend to get
frustrated easily is saying what they mean if they feel they haven’t mastered the
language, making them feel inadequate. I think the recorder made his error monitor
sensitive and caused him to talk less. He seemed to rely more heavily on the translator
and would speak in Spanish where he felt more comfortable in communicating his
thoughts.
I noticed there were differences in the features of Jorge’s native language of
Spanish in comparison to English. During the interview I was able to analyze his
performance in English. I was able to observe Jorge’s interlanguage skills and it gave me
a pretty good understanding of his current input of the English language. I was also able
to understand the learning conditions Jorge was exposed to acquiring a second language.
Jorge’s first exposure to English as a second language was in the work setting
using real communication. Since Jorge initially acquired English as a second language at
work, he experienced most input through interlocutors from work. The experience of
developing a second language in social settings tends to overlook errors made by the
learner. If the error didn’t affect the meaning of the message, the interlocutors are less
likely to give corrective feedback. He eventually started taking classes receiving a more
formal language and corrective feedback in comparison to the social setting at work.
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Case Study Assignment
TRANSCRIPTION
KEY:
Q=Interviewer/Questions
R=Responses/Interviewee
T=Translator
Q:
R:
Q:
R:
Q:
up?
R:
Q;
R:
Q:
R:
Q:
T:
Q:
R:
Q:
R:
Q:
R:
What is your native language?
Uh Spanish
How long have you been speaking English?
For five year
Where did you learn English? Did you learn it in school? Or did you just pick it
Uh I go to school like for learn English. Proelly few months.
Did you do that here in Georgia? Or did you do that where you’re from?
Here in Georgia, like um... I learn a lot of English in my werk too.
And what do you do, what is your work?
I werk with the horses. Like...horses.
Oh that’s how you guys know each other.
He’s a groom at the stable.
Do you feel like learning English and is it difficult for you?
Bery difficult.
Because you seem really confident with it.
Yea {laughs}
What makes it difficult for you?
Like uh... you know the berbs can uh.. the regular berbs you
know...mixed with puase and future... are so very different. Regular berbs you
can create hard.
Q:
So the grammar of it. The grammar of it so not fun. How old were you when
you started learning English?
R:
Twenty...tree.
Q:
So you think that it was more difficult to learn English because of your age?
Or do you just feel like English would have been difficult no matter when you learned
it? Like if you had started it when you were little. Like when you were young. Would it
have been easier?
R:
Yeah, proelly gonna be easier when I younger.
Q:
Really?
R:
Yea
Q:
What makes you say that?
R:
Because when you younger you can go to school. Learn very well, English.
So yea.
Q:
I think your English is pretty awesome, for only having taking what you said,
three months.
R:
Uh, in a school, bud uh lader on then the werk. I werking here for... proelly
fine years.
Q:
Now have you always been in Woodstock?
R:
Yea
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Case Study Assignment
Q:
You have.
R:
Yea
Q:
And where are you from originally?
R:
Uh, from.. Acapulco. It’s uh in Mexico.
Q:
When you are thinking about things, do you think it in Spanish and then try to
translate it or what is the thought process for you?
R:
Like uh, learn. A lot of words you can hear English and Spanish is the same.
Like that one is bery easy bud the other ones you can see in the dictionary or you
can go learn in school.
Q:
Do you feel like it’s easier for you to communicate speaking to someone or in
writing?
T:
Like texting someone? Is texting someone easier, than speaking it?
R:
Like uh... to to talk you know to speak is.. is good. It’s bedder for me because
you speak, bud for write English, you can write different how you speak. Like that’s
hard too. Bud... that’s it. Ques me more? Como
T:
Con les tomas, vas... si tienes ques escribre or tienes que hablar?
R:
Ah...it’s easy to speak.
Q:
Easier to speak?
R:
Yup
Q:
I think that it would be easier for me to speak something because you hear it
and then you repeat it, but it’s like you’re saying when you write it, it’s not always the
same as it sounds.
T:
Well too, the sounds in English are different.
R:
Yeah, all...yeah a lot of sounds... kind of different.
Q:
Did you study English before you came to Georgia?
R:
Uh...I take like proelly... one year in a school. Yea...bud that na help...when I
come here...all it... it’s all very different.
Q:
Was it easier for you when you were learning it in your native language and
then translating it to English? Or was it just easier to you to come here and learn
it...like..in school did they teach it more formerly where’s it’s not how we speak?
R:
Uh... proelly.... I....ttttink...like...was easy when...was younger when.. was in
school, bud the problem when.. you know talk to other people speak English...you
know, learn nothing. It’s better you learn here... because you all the time, you know..
speak English.
T:
Well you are forced to do it too here.
R:
Yea
T:
You don’t have a choice.
R:
Yeah, when....
T:
If you want to communicate with someone here, you have to speak it.
R:
Yes.
Q:
So what was your primary reason for learning English?
R:
…
T:
What was your motivation?
(ordering food)
Q:
So when you have normal interactions with people, do you prefer to speak in
your native language or in English?
R:
Como?
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T:
(Translating in Spanish)
R:
Wus...If if...its speak Spanish, it’s Spanish. Yeah. We we have like you know
if I’m gonna friends that speaks Spanish I also speak Spanish.
T:
So that’s still your preferred...like..
R:
Yea
T:
Even with me...like 90% of the time, when he’s talking to me he’ll speak in
Spanish. Even though his English is really good
Q:
It’s amazing
T:
But it’s just I think it’s more natural. Would you say that for you?
R:
Yea yea. Like it’s more easy for me bud..you know I try to speak English with
you know because I want a in it because for werk and for have more friends like can
speak you know around me. Yea.
Q:
That makes sense I mean if you have to interact with people who speak
English you kind of need to be able to communicate with them.
Q:
Okay how do you feel when you speak English?
R;
Umm...sometimes when I don’t understand like..it be like...can can feel
confused sometimes because I don understand when I talking when other people
and I don understand everyting. It’s.. maybe it feels weird talking about bud
sometimes like you know like when you speak with a friend all the time..already
like... it’s good.
T:
Does it ever make you feel nervous?
R:
Yeah sometimes...
Q:
You’re really good at it though.
R:
{laughs}
Q:
Are there any words in English that really stump you a lot? Or that you have a
lot of trouble with? I know you mentioned that irregular verbs earlier. Are there any
other words in your everyday interactions that kind of take you by surprise?
R:
Yeah like the irregular ber...berbs is the hard one, ting bud you know the all
the time I learn..al..nel..like wards that get me to start, I need to learn a lot more.
Yea.
Q:
So how do you normally go about learning new words?
R:
Right now, I’m go to take another course, it’s going to start like next week.
Q:
Mmm.
R:
Yea.
Q:
But you learn a lot of it conversationally then?
R:
Yea.
Q:
Yea.
R:
Ummm...I think like...I conversations a lot people werking with me like a farm
that’s because I learn more actually.
Q:
Mm Hmm.
R:
Yea.
Q:
So do you have family here with you?
R:
Yea, I have two brodders.
Q:
And so you kind of already have a support system too, with family? Did they
speak English fluently?
R:
A lil bit, yea a lil bit.
Q:
And how did they learn?
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Case Study Assignment
R:
I think the same like me. They learn some uh.. werk, at werk, uh some uh...
two of them goes to the take some classes like it’s the same as me. Yeah.
Q:
How did you the find the job you’re in now?
R:
How I find my job here?
Q:
Like what led you to that?
R:
Uh...When I get here, like my cousin was here bedefore me, like he knows
the werk before me and he...is easy to do werk there because he’s there...like..
Q:
So you knew people at your work?
R:
Yeah
Q:
Okay, that makes sense. I wasn’t sure if you already worked with animals in
the past and that’s how you chose that job. I was curious about that, it hasn’t nothing
to do with your language.
R:
I wasn’t werk before with horses. I learn here.
Q:
So, when you’re learning English in the classroom or the classes you take, do
you feel they are effective?
T:
(Spanish Translation of the Question)
R::
Yes, because uh...in the class, it’s proelly like 10 or 14...you know people
around. We talk each odder, English, we try to, you know speak English there. It’s
very, help a lot, it’s bery good.
T:
Are all the people in your English class, are they all Spanish speakers?
R:
Yea, because they are Latin.
T:
See I’ve noticed just in my class that it’s really interesting to watch some of
my kids who their primary language is Russian, this kids primary language is
Vietnamese, this kid is from El Salvador, but if they want to communicate with each
other that is their common thread. Is they have to try to speak English no matter
what different level they are all on. So I’ve noticed with my Spanish speaking kids at
least sometimes they’ll fall back on that Spanish , like if they don’t know a word, they
won’t try to substitute another word or figure it out, they’ll just go back into Spanish,
because it’s easier. But you guys always speak in English in your class?
R:
No, not really. (Laughing) Sometimes we, you know the other friends have
like with Spanish liercy. Spanish connection, da helps a lot.
Q:
So how confident are you in your English proficiency at this point right now, at
this point?
T:
(Spanish Translation)
R:
(chuckle) I dunno how much learn. I tink I learn a lot because like proelly five
years ago I da speak any English bud right now I can talk, to people and I learn
more. I understand more den like 5 years ago like I feels good, bud I think I need to
learn more.
Q:
Okay, so why do you say you think you need to learn more?
R:
Because...
Q:
What is it that you want to learn more about? More words?
R:
Because it’s a lot more to to learn. Because it’s lot things I don understand.
And..I dunno...I think it’s lot more to learn.
Q:
What kinds of things do you still have trouble learning?
T:
(Spanish Translation)
T:
Pronunciation, like if you’re trying to pronounce a word?
R:
Yeah, I tink the pronunciation is kinda hard because uh...you know the letters
(starts speaking in Spanish to translator)
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T:
Depending on the word, the letters can sound completely different from one
word to another especially the vowels, right?
T:
So it really just depends on the word is, it can sound one way, and then it
sounds completely different in a different word.
Q:
Do you feel like there are any similarities with Spanish and English that make
it easier for you? In any categories?
R:
Yea, you know the the words kinda same is kinda bery easy. But the proelly
the pronunciation uh na, when you hear some words, can..na, like uh, hear like the
same. Like when you say... Ke ke ti ti what we learn in da school, say, you can hear
like, like da same like when you write it’s kinda different, from when you talk it is
when you find what you talking about.
T:
I think he means homophones.
Q:
Yeah, that’s exactly what I’m picturing.
T:
Those are tricky.
Q:
Those are tricky native English speakers.
R:
(Speaking in Spanish to translator)
T:
Yeah, just listening to it, it sounds exactly the same, but when you write it out
it’s a completely different word. It means a completely different thing.
Q:
So when you read, do you prefer to read in Spanish then?
T:
Like if you’re going to read a book?
R:
I..I like to learn in English, I I like to read in English too, but yeah but if da
book is in Spanish, I read in Spanish. If I have book in English I just try to read in
English, you know.
Q:
Do you feel like you read as fast in English as you do in Spanish?
R:
No really..nah, not like because uh da’s what it say, you need to see why you
reading and where you’re talking about. And Spanish it’s kinda like... natural
language...can read bery fast so...
Q:
It’s kinda automatic...autopilot. So there’s anything else about English that
you want to get off your chest about why you love it or hate it?
T:
(Spanish Translator)
R:
Uh...like..I like to learn English. It’s it’s another language to learn. It’s bery
good. Like I...some people like speak like two or tree languages is bery good, you
know. It’s good, like it’s I want to learn more is bery good.
Q:
So once you feel proficient in English would you learn a third language?
T:
(Spanish Translation of the question)
R:
(Laugh) I dunno...Maybe...depends how hard is. Maybe. Yes.
Q:
Well do you have any questions for me; I feel like I have been bombarding
you with questions, I feel like it’s unfair.
R:
Uh... (laughs)
Q:
You don’t have to, I just want to give you that opportunity.
R:
Uh... You don speak any Spanish, right?
Q:
No, I don’t.
R:
You try to speak Spanish to learn?
Q:
I have not officially tried. When I was in school I tried to learn German,
because that was the only thing offered at my school, the year I was taking a
language. Um, it was very difficult for me so I only took two years, the only required
two years for high school. I always said I’d like to learn Spanish, but I feel like
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Case Study Assignment
everytime I hear someone speak Spanish, they talk so fast I can’t distinguish the
words.
T:
Was it the same for you? When you were first learning English, it sounded so
so fast?
R:
Yea, dis the same. When you...Like uh.. prolley the first year..you get here, all
the people like talk bery fast, you know don understand anyting. It’s the same for me.
When you starting learning some new language wit me.
Q:
The only word I was able to pick out of the conversation when we were
walking in was, she said, “school.” And I only know the word school because I work
in a school. And the kids say that all the time. So I managed to learn that means
school. And I probably should have picked up more Spanish than I have by now, but
it’s very challenging for me. I don’t feel like I’ll ever be a point where I’m as fluent in
Spanish as you are in English. I mean your fluency is really impressive.
T:
Especially if you don’t have anybody to practice it with is the thing. Because
you learn it in the classroom for an hour a week, two times a week maybe. And then
you leave and that’s it. Like if you’re not practicing it other than that, then it’s like
you’re in a bubble.
Q:
I think it’s very impressive that you managed to learn so much English, I’m
impressed. Are there any other things you want to share about how you learned
English, like any of the struggles that you had?
T:
What about when you were first learning, and you went into a store? Not a
Hispanic or Mexican store.
R:
Yea, some stores just speak English.
T:
Like was that terrifying at first, like if you needed something. If like if you had
to ask for something. What did you do?
R:
I really don remember what I did, bud I jus..tink it was bery hard. Proelly the
first year, proelly the two, tree, the two first mons it’s too hard. Because you...have
all bery different to your country. It’s all bery hard. Bud..I tink you start learning some
uh words in da in the book and tis how learn. Prolley..the word help me a lot.
Q:
So you kind of just immersed yourself in the language and picked it up as you
went.
T:
(Spanish Translator)
R:
Yes, das true. I learn because everybody... like all around here see English
you know, it does how we because I learn more.
Q:
Now when you got your driver’s license and things like that, was there difficult
in language trying to get those?
R:
(laugh) I dunno know about dat...
T:
You know they actually put out the driver’s manual in Spanish.
Q:
Mmmhmmm, but when you go in and when you’re talking to them, standing in
line. Do they have interpreters there, for that too?
T:
Sometimes
R:
Yea, like uh...I have a friend he tot to get uh his driver license in uh
Washington umm..den there two language, have it in English and Spanish, da help
him a lot because two language.
Q:
How do you feel like English is perceived in your native country?
T:
(Spanish Translation)
R:
Uh... I tink...uh in Mexico right now, like uh.. in da school, dey learn more
English like den like five, or ten years ago. Right now, like, prolley more people in
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Mexico speak a lil more English, but you know peoples in da United States day
speak bery well English. Especially the ones uh learn here in school, probably talk
like uh...90..80% our language. Das good. Das it. For me, like uh... da people speak
two language, tree language, day are bery good.
T:
So it’s almost like more normal now, there?
R:
Yea.
Q:
So here’s the big question: when you dream, do you dream in English or
Spanish?
R:
Prolley in Spanish (laughing) yea
Q:
That seems to be what many people say, no matter how long they speak
English.
Kennesaw State University 10
Case Study Assignment
English Learner Description
Our case study subject was a 28 year’ old adult male named Jorge. He is
originally from Acapulco, Mexico. He has lived in the United States a little over five
years. Jorge has resided in Woodstock, Georgia ever since he’s been here. He has two
brothers and other relatives that live in Georgia too. Jorge works as a groom at a stable
for a living. One of Jorge’s cousins helped him get a job working with horses at the
stable.
Jorge has been attending English classes for a few months to help build on his
proficiency in English as a second language. He took an English course back in Mexico,
but claims it didn’t help him. So he started acquiring English by the environment he was
living in when he first moved to Georgia. Jorge claimed he started learning English at his
job. The theory of behaviorism is existent in Jorge’s case based off the information he
provided from his interview. The theory believes the environment plays an importance in
promoting learning. Jorge’s work environment has helped him to imitate the language
that is formed by his co-workers around him. He has used their language to help acquire
the pronunciation of the English language. The practice he received in his work
environment led to the habits he has developed for the language.
Jorge has two nieces that attend school here in Georgia. One of them currently
finished her first year in kindergarten. Jorge feels that his niece is more proficient than he
is in the English language. He believes if he had the opportunity to learn English at an
early age, he would have been more successful in being proficient in English. He
mentioned it would have been easier learning English at a younger age because he would
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have had the opportunities in school to acquire it. I believe this relates back to the idea of
the environment playing a major factor in second language learning.
Research on learner characteristics such as the age of the leaner has shown other
conditions such as the environment as an influence and not just biological differences
proposed by the Critical Period Hypothesis associated with the innatist perspective.
Younger individuals like Jorge’s niece is in a learning environment that is informal and
has more time allotted for learning English. The opportunities of being in school eight
hours a day, gives more opportunities to listen and apply the language in environments
where there is no stress to being proficient in the language initially. Learners like Jorge
who is older tend to face higher demands of more advanced language and the
communication of more challenging ideas.
Jorge’s current English course consists of ten to fourteen individuals that he
believes are all native speakers of Spanish. I believe his motivation for attending this
class falls under the category of integrative motivation. It seems that he is learning
English as a second language to be more knowledgeable about the culture and
community of the predominant spoken language in his current environment of living in
the United States. He wants to feel more confident in using the target language he is
acquiring to be proficient in.
Jorge and his two brothers are currently taking English classes to help with
becoming proficient in English as a second language. Jorge mentioned that all the
individuals in his English class were Latin. While in class they are able to connect better
because they have a Spanish connection according to Jorge. He said it helps him a lot
having this Spanish connection. I believe having the same ethnic group affiliation is able
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to help promote successful learning in Jorge’s class because of the strong relationship of
social factors on second language learning.
Second language learners according to Lightbown and Spada are not always
aware of their learning styles. Usually older learners like Jorge have a preference in how
to be taught. The beliefs in how one should be taught are believed to be effected by
experiences developed from the learner’s first language. I believe they all share similar
learning beliefs due to a common first language and that is why they are able to have
such a strong bond.
Jorge prefers acquiring learning English through basic interpersonal
communication skills. He mentioned he has taken an English class prior to moving to the
United States, but it didn’t help. He also felt he learned more through social interactions
than in a formal setting like a classroom. He would rather be engaged in conversations
that offer various cues like facial expressions and gestures for learning. Conversations
can provide concrete objects of reference, while in a classroom setting, there are less nonverbal cues and language is more abstract. Interpersonal skills are less demanding
cognitively because language is less complicated and tends to use simple language
structure. I could gather this from Jorge’s discussion of social interactions at work and
with his classmates in his English course.
Synthesis of Historical/Contextual Information
&
Language Learning Interview
After completing an error analysis on Jorge’s interview I realized he had
difficulties with English phonology. The sounds from his native language were affecting
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his pronunciation of certain sounds in his second language. Some examples would be
when Jorge kept pronouncing the word, /think/ as /tink/ and instead of the word /the/ he
would say /da/. He was unable to pronounce the voiceless /th/ digraph because it doesn’t
exist in his native language. Another frequent word Jorge would use a lot was /very/ but
pronounced it as /bery/. He was using his interlanguage, where he knew the “v” sound
produces a /b/ sound in Spanish, but unfortunately in English that is not the case.
Jorge mentioned that he felt verbal language was easier than the written form of
English. He thought the written form of English was challenging because a single letter
can have multiple sounds. It depends on the placement within a word, which makes it
more difficult and morphophonemic. He revealed that he was aware how difficult it is to
pronounce written words due to the lack of consistency of the letter to sound
correspondence. I was pleased to know that he displayed knowledge of the challenging
characteristics of metalinguistic awareness in the English language.
The complex written portion of English relates back to Justice’s chapter on
phonology focusing on spelling. The spelling of words in English is not guaranteed to be
phonetic all the time. That is why Jorge preferred the verbal form of English, because it
wasn’t as complex as the written form. Some phonemes have various allophones in
English. At the underlying level, letters are just symbols that have multiple sounds. The
surface level is where the awareness of different allophones made by vowels is apparent.
In my thorough error analysis I realized Jorge was still trying to master the place
of articulation in the English language. During the interview he would leave off the /t/
sound in the /don’t/. He would pronounce it as /don/. Another word that he would make a
similar error was in the word /but/, Jorge would pronounce it as /bud/. I discovered that
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the reason why Jorge was not pronouncing the word with the correct pronunciation was
because of the place of articulation varied from Spanish to English consonant phoneme
/t/. Once again this was a sign of his interlanguage coming into play. In English the /t/
sound is produced with an interdental position of the tongue, while in Spanish it’s
produced with a dental position of the tongue. In other words, in English it’s produced
with the tongue being placed in between the teeth, while in Spanish it’s only produced by
placing the tongue against the back of the top teeth.
I was amazed to see that Jorge was aware of the semantic features of the English
language. He pointed out that he was aware of cognates and false cognates. He said some
were easily identifiable, while others were a little more complicated. He said the ones that
were more complicated he would use a dictionary or find out from his class. Jorge’s
metacognitive awareness was evident when explaining how he gains the meaning of new
or unfamiliar words. His conscious ability to explain different strategies in how he learns
new meanings of words was a sign of that.
The morphology of English is what Jorge mentioned to be the most complicated
thing about the English language. He felt irregular verbs were very difficult, which I can
understand due to the fact of not always following a simple pattern of inflection like other
verbs. Jorge tried conveying his thoughts on how past and future tense verbs can be
mixed, meaning that they don’t always follow a set pattern. Some verbs are made past
tense either by changing a consonant or vowel within the word. I can imagine how this
must be stressful for learners of English.
When Jorge was verbalizing the difficulty of verb tense in the English language, I
realized he mispronounced the word /mixed/. I caught this mispronunciation during my
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error analysis while listening to the recordings from the interview. He was using his
interlanguage of using what he knew of the past tense sound of /ed/ not realizing there are
variations at the surface level. Jorge has yet to acquire the intelligibility of past tense
pronunciations. In order for Jorge to have pronounced the word /mixed/ with the [əd]
sound, he had to stop the manner and articulation of the sound being produced to make
the [əd] sound. The reason why the correct allomorph for the word /mixed/ would be [t]
is because you don’t have to change the position of your tongue and mouth to make the
sound.
Another rule of inflectional morphophonology in English that was mispronounced
by Jorge due to his interlanguage was the plural of nouns. He mentioned he worked with
horses at a stable for a living. When Jorge pronounced the word /horses/ he added the
plural ending sound [s] instead of the allomorph [əz]. Once again, I was able to determine
that Jorge had the inability to realize there are various allomorphs for the plural of nouns
in English. He still had the basic understanding of plural nouns at the underlying level.
He was actually making the pronunciation of the word /horses/ more complicated by
changing the position of his mouth and tongue to add the incorrect allomorph [s] to the
word /horse/.
During Jorge’s interview he had a major tendency to stumble a lot in hopes to
produce proper syntax. He would utter his thoughts in phrases usually inserting the word
“uh” in between. Jorge is still working on incorporating major and minor classes of
words to create proper syntax. He has difficulties forming simple sentences, which
includes a subject and its predicate. Jorge’s interlanguage of flexible word order in
Spanish has caused him to develop incorrect syntax in the English language. The change
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in order in sentence structure in English is not flexible like his native language. It can
actually generate multiple meanings making a sentence ambiguous.
I noticed Jorge’s error monitor was becoming sensitive throughout the interview.
He was concerned about producing correct language. He would stutter as he spoke and
would say /you know/ often as if he was seeking confirmation of his attempt on being
proficient in the language. His utterance began leaning away from fluency and was
gearing more towards accuracy input. He would frequently glance at the recorder which
generated anxiety. I knew Krashen’s affective filter hypothesis was coming into play.
Jorge’s metaphorical barrier was present because he was feeling uncomfortable. He
wouldn’t talk in English as frequent and would revert to talking in his native language to
the translator. I could see how his affective filter was not allowing comprehensible input
to occur due to his emotions.
Recommendations for Instructional Practice
&
Assessment
I believe the first recommendation for instructional practice would be providing
an environment that will support learning. I would want to make sure Jorge’s affective
filter was low so that he feels at ease, and it eliminates any anxiety while learning. It’s the
first step in promoting learning. I would use modified interaction, which involves
elaboration, a slower speech rate, and gestures when teaching. This would help make the
language comprehensible while preventing the rise of the affective filter.
As a teacher for instructional practices, I would provide opportunities that would
allow Jorge’s interpersonal intelligence to grow. Some teaching activities that would
support his interpersonal intelligence would be cooperative learning, peer tutoring,
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Case Study Assignment
community involvement, and social gatherings. I would use the instructional strategy of
collaboration to help build on it.
I know providing opportunities that would allow Jorge’s linguistic intelligence to
grow would be beneficial. Some teaching activities would include word games,
discussions, storytelling, choral reading, and journal writing. The use of books, tape
recorders, computers, and books on tape would be great resources to use to help assist in
promoting development. I would use instructional strategies of reading, writing, talking,
and listening to help reinforce this area of learning.
My knowledge of Jorge’s struggles of the levels of articulation would help in
planning to overcome the phonological influences he has when learning English
pronunciations. We would work together on the tongue involvement needed to produce
the desired sounds of the English language. It becomes a challenge to build correct
pronunciation and comprehension to build vocabulary because of the difference in
consonant and vowel sounds. The awareness of introducing the sounds that are not
present in the Spanish language system such as the letter “j” and the digraph /th/ sound in
English would help promote fluency in reading and speaking. In order to help with these
obstacles, teachers should use flash cards that focus on minimal pairs to achieve
pronunciation of all sounds in the English language.
Teachers could help guide Jorge in becoming a great speller in English with the
knowledge of how English doesn’t follow a guaranteed letter to sound correspondence
like in the written form in Spanish that Jorge mentioned in the interview. Great writers in
English can be shaped by the awareness of the syntax flexibility in Spanish, like in the
case where an adjective can follow a noun. Exposing Jorge to the written form of English
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Case Study Assignment
will help to build upon the variation of sounds that phonemes can generate depending on
the order of letters within a given word.
Verb agreement can be a challenge for Jorge learning English, so practice in
matching all verb tenses to make the sentence valid would be great for increasing
proficiency in grammar. So to help assist Jorge in being aware of the differences in tense
usage, the use of cloze activities would help to master this skill. Jorge would practice
filling in the correct tense in the missing parts of a passage. He will be able to build on
his fluency and comprehension skills.
It is important to take into consideration preliminary assessments. I know Jorge is
an individual who grew up in another country. I would assess his language acquisition
background to know what languages he was exposed to already. I would look at the
geographic origins of him and his family to learn about their linguistic patterns. I would
check to see how long Jorge and his family have lived in the United States to see if they
have adapted to the culture. I would want to know about his linguistic history and
educational background to know if he has been in a monolingual or bilingual classroom.